Posted:
Folks,
No, I have not (yet!) lost it. I am not mistakenly writing Alexander instead of Puru. For death need not be only a matter of physical dissolution. It can also be the loss of a great reputation, the besmirching beyond recall of a name that resounds down the corridors of time even more than 2300 years after Alexander of Macedon's passing on to the Valhalla where, in Nordic mythology, the great heroes of the ages are honoured.
Alexander the Great.
For it is he, rather than Puru, who seemed to have died at 9:30 pm IST tonight.
When I first saw that scene, of Puru, having ended his Tarzan style roar ( the only thing he didn't do was to beat his chest like the Lord of the Jungle, in raw triumph), being reduced to a pincushion by eight arrows shot by Alexander's archers, and slumped to the ground, my heart sank right down with him. I felt sick to the pit of my stomach.
I did not think that Puru was finished. Of course Puru, the titular hero of this determinedly ahistorical saga, cannot die, and will not die.
What I thought was that the CVs had finally completed their hatchet job on Alexander, which has been in the works right from the beginning. Those of you who have read the half a dozen earlier posts that I have done in this forum, would remember the proofs I had offered to back this conclusion of mine. Tonight's denoument seemed, at first sight, to be setting the coping stone on that structure of systematic and deliberate distortion.😡
It seemed that the CVs had finally, after various preliminary attempts at painting him in various shades from light to dark grey, now managed to reduce Alexander the Great --- one of the most redoubtable warriors and commanders the world has ever known, who never lost a battle, who has never been accused, even by hostile historians, of resorting to deceit to win a battle or a war --- to an out and out villain, who had an unarmed man shot down by his archers in cold blood when he could not be checked in the arena.
Nothing could have redeemed Alexander's character after this, and as for the CVs, they had, I felt, plumbed the depths as far as script writing was concerned.
I practically decided to quit Porus from this week, for I could no longer stand such vicious character assassination of a man whose name still shines bright after more than 2 millennia
But then, almost against my will, I rewatched that scene, painful as it was. Then I realised that Alexander did not want to kill Puru, but rather to check him and immobilise him for the present.
He realises that if the gladiatorial bout is continued, Puru will emerge as the unquestioned victor, and then he will have to be set free, to wreak further havoc in Faras. The only alternative would be for Alexander to fight Puru himself, which would be beneath his dignity as the Shah-e-Faras, for he still has no idea that Puru too is of royal blood, and a crown prince to boot. Alexander would be confident of winning in such a bout (he does not reckon with the CVs!😉), but it would hardly do Macedonia's prestige any good if their king is forced to descend into the arena to keep their flag flying high.
So I think we will find that the arrows have been so fine tuned as not to hit any vital spot. Yes, it does sound unbelievable, but seeing how things go on in this script, nothing is impossible!😉
I would even hazard the guess that just as he did with the severely wounded Purushottam after the battle of the Hydaspes, now too Alexander will have Puru treated and restored to health.
He will do this so that, after having studied Puru's fighting tactics - while the Macedonian toughs were being clobbered one and all by Puru - with lynx eyed keenness, and the complete detachment of a scientist looking at a specimen in a microscope, Alexander will now want to pick his brains further about Bharat, so as to hone his fighting machine for the confrontation that lies ahead. For by now, Alexander has grown to appreciate Puru's grey cells a great deal. His highly perceptive comments during the gladiatorial encounter make this crystal clear.
It was a treat to watch him, relaxed and unruffled as his men were getting a drubbing from Puru, discuss the Bharatiya's acute intelligence, and praise him for nearly having made off with Barsine in the teeth of the Macedonian army. This is perhaps the beginning of the admiration for Purushottam that eventually made Alexander, after the very hard fought battle of the Hydaspes, give him back his kingdom, and entrust him with the overlordship of other areas as well. He not only admired Porus, but he trusted him.
A really great man can recognise, appreciate, and value another such.
To revert, Alexander also realises - for his mind is as sharp as a Toledo blade (another anachronism, for the matchless Toledo swords appear only in medieval times in Europe, not in the 4th century BC!) - that if Puru, who could easily have escaped after his attempt to take Barsine away had failed, had chosen to stay on, there was some other reason for it. That he wanted (here, Alexander's enunciation was not quite clear and I could not make out the word, but this is what could be called an educated guess) to assess the strength of the Macedonians.
Of course Alexander's intelligence service has flopped, and he has no idea that Puru's fellow musketeers are planning to sink as much of the Macedonian fleet as they can. Never mind that the so-called Macedonian man of war bears an uncanny resemblance to the ship on which Ripudaman met the Dasyu queen, and then in which Puru & Co. set sail for Faras,😆 a tinpot affair that could hardly be called seaworthy, and looks smaller than a weekender sailboat.
So I am going to possess my soul in patience, and wait for the game plan of the CVs for Alexander to unfold tomorrow. It was significant that the precap had nothing about Puru; they mean to spring the surprise on us tomorrow. Only it will be no surprise!
For once, I enjoyed the Paurava Rashta segment too. Malay is adorable, and I was delighted that without any more twists and turns, Anusuya reached the throne hall with Malay in tow, and halted Kanishka's yuvarajyabhishek. She will now, hopefully, realise her utter folly, and that of Raja Bamni, in not only forgiving the vicious Shivdutt, but of restoring him to his old position of power and prestige. This time around, Bamni will not only have him locked up again, but he will throw away the key!
I shall look forward to hearing your takes on what I have discussed above, ahead of what should be the revelation tomorrow night.
Finally, my usual request: if you liked this post, please do remember to hit the Like button.
Shyamala Aunty/ Di
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
