Devki
I like the Jalal in JA, despite the many frustrating sub-plots. But I liked the Akbar in the "other" show too, in the Chittor track.
I do not understand hero-worship. Can we selectively like some aspects of a person and decide he is our hero, and so we will close our senses to anything that goes against the image we have of him?
I respect and admire Akbar. I think most people in India do. We have all grown up reading only about the positive impact Akbar had on India, his "golden rule", his navratnas etc.
But now I am mature enough to read the darker side of Akbar too. Heroes do have feet of clay.
If we adopt an ostrich-like attitude and always let sleeping dogs lie peacefully, we would never learn about a lot of our past and why some communities feel / think the way they do. Which can seriously hamper our understanding of present issues and ways to address them.
Chittor happened and it is painful to go through the Fathnama-i-Chittor.
I believe I still have a lot to read before I can understand the puzzle called Akbar. He was much too complex a man to be classified in simplistic terms like white, black or even grey.
I felt sick to the core when i read the accounts of the Chittor war and what has been shown in the other show is barely a patch on what happened then.
It is unbelievable what those people in Chittor went through, each and every one of them. Yes, you are right. For them, Akbar was nothing short of an outsider, at least in Rajputana. Though he is very much Indian for us in the modern context.
Their history has to be told too. Not for political or religious reasons, but for historical reasons. We need to remember that here was a brave warrior class that was ready to fight till death for its homeland against one of the mightiest empires in the world.
Was MP fighting for Mewar or India? Well, don't we call 1857 the first war of independence (for india)? This war can be questioned too. Were those people fighting for India or their own respective kingdoms? Most of our historical legends have been associated with their own dynasties / empires. Yet we don't hesitate to call them India's heroes / heroines and our icons. So just as Shivaji is a national icon for some, so is MP for some others. (The other show is from his perspective and how HE saw Akbar. )
Some say Akbar was trying to establish an integrated India. Was he? Wasn't he also fighting for his own kingdom?
I respect MP for his commitment to his ideals and his desire for self-respect and independence.
And I respect Akbar for his stupendous journey from Chittor to become Akbar the Great. It takes a rare man to overcome his nature, the values indoctrinated in him and stiff opposition from the religious orthodoxy of his time to preach sul-i-kul and embrace din-i-ilahi.
Not everyone who supports Akbar is a pseudo-secular person nor everyone who criticises him a bigot. I think we need to look beyond labels and try to understand and accept differing viewpoints.
Radhika,
I agree that we cannot decide who our heroes are by just taking some aspects of the person.
I come from the land of Shivaji Maharaj, I am a Pune girl (born and raised). Shivaji is not just a national icon for us, he is our identity. Diwali for us as kids was about sweets and firecrackers like anybody else but more than that it was about building mud forts and placing figurines of Shivaji and his Mavlas fighting the Mughals.(oh, how I miss those days). You would be hard pressed to find anything negative about Shivaji in Maharashtra and especially Pune, where he was raised.
A few months ago I was talking to friends of mine from Gujarat who told me that he was not popular in the Surat area😲 and people there called him a not so pleasant name. THis was due to the fact that he and his men had looted and plundered in the region. Now this info you will not find in our history books. Did my respect and love for Shivaji Maharaj go down? No. I am now mature enough to understand that that was the way back then and people in general and rulers more than ordinary people have different sides to them.
What I am trying to say is that Akbar is not the only ruler/leader that is shown in the positive light, most other rulers are unless they were really unpopular like Aurungzeb(where the reverse is true).
To think that MP was all about just his land and morals and self respect and did not have any negatives would be naive. But do we know anything else about him apart from his upright moral nature?
I do not think that we should look for a daily soap which is meant for all ages, some viewers not mature enough(in age or otherwise) to understand certain things, to shed light on each and every aspect of an iconic personality like Akbar. People who are interested enough(like many of us here) can do so on their own.
The serial did show quite a few things about Akbar. His bravery, fairness, ruthlessness(to some extent), his interests, were all touched upon one time or the other. Importance was given to his family life and especially to his relationship with Jodha which I guess what the show was supposed to be about to begin with.
I am glad that the other show touches upon the more ambitious, aggressive side of Akbar. As long as it is shown in a way that does not brainwash young kids into believing that Akbar was only that and nothing else. My friend who watches that show with her kids calls Akbar a "villian" in the show.
@bold: agree. And that goes for all national icons.
Devki
Edited by devkidmd - 10 years ago
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