Folks,
Last night, I was keenly awaiting only one thing, the arrival on the scene of Sisygambis, daughter of King Artaxerxes Memnon and the mother of Darius III.
Sisygambis and Alexander :
Many of you might have read of the famous scene at Issus when Alexander, accompanied by Hephastion, goes to visit the family of Darius in their tent, having had them reassured earlier thru a Persian speaking aide that Darius was still alive. Sisygambis, who wanted to plead for their lives, knelt in front of Hephastion, assuming him to be Alexander as he was the taller of the two (it is the same in our serial!). Alexander cut off her embarrassed apologies when she discovered her mistake, saying " Do not worry, Mother, he too is Alexander", meaning that there was no difference between them. The painting below portrays this scene.
- By the famous Italian painter Paolo Veronese (1565-70)
Alexander treated all the women of the Persian royal family with great consideration and respect, and they travelled with his army till 331 BC, when he established them at the royal Persian capital of Susa.
Sisygambis despised her cowardly son so much for abandoning his family to Alexander's mercy and running away from the battlefield of Issus, that later, when he actually died (assassinated by his ally and satrap Bessus some time after his defeat at Alexander's hands at Gaugamela in 331 BC, two years after Issus), she refused to mourn him, saying that she had only one son (Alexander) and he was the ruler of all of Persia. She presided over his marriage to her granddaughter Barsine, aka Stateira II, in 324 BC, and she had enough influence with Alexander to be able to dissuade him from destroying the Uxians.
No greater proof of her love for Alexander could be offered than the fact that when the news of his death in Babylon in 323 BC reached her, she lost the will to live. She had herself sealed in her rooms and starved herself to death.
The Missing Mother: OK, to revert , last night, instead of the above-mentioned, perfectly sensible sequence, we had a high pitched melodrama with Stateira, Darius' wife, and their two daughters Barsine and Drypetis, all lamenting their anticipated fate, and preparing to die to save their honour.
How they think that the weedy soldier whom they recruit for the task would be up to beheading all of them at one stroke boggles the mind.đ Cutting off someone's head with a sword needs great muscular strength, as the spine has to be severed. And that shrimp of a soldier was going to behead all three of them at one go???đĄ
In the event, Alexander's dramatic entry puts paid to this plan, and all three females goggle at him in horror. No Hephastion in sight to be mistaken for Alexander. And what was worse, no Sisygambis either!đ
If they do not produce her on Monday, I plan to do a dharna in front of the Sony TV office!đ
The Battle of Issus: Day 2: While historically there was no second day for the battle, the depiction of the second day's clash was well done (and surely expensive!) . The overhead shot of the serried ranks of the Macedonians, the Companion Cavalry ahead of them, and right in front, Alexander on Bucephalus, flanked by Hephastion and c***eus, was magnificent, as were the shots of Alexander in full gallop, with his two aides in tow.
The Alexander-Darius confrontation of the day before could naturally not be equalled, not to speak of exceeded, but this one, and the duel (that never took place in reality) were quite well done. I specially liked Alexander's arrogant assertion that he was aaj ka khuda, the one to decide who would die and who would live, and he had decided that Darius was to die that day.
Immediately after this, I was in stitches when he was telling Darius, sprawled flat on the ground, that before he put an end to him, Mujhe tumse Bharat ke baare mein bahut se sawaalat karne hain!! He seems to expect that Darius would oblige him with such a Q&A session on Bharat, and then quietly offer his throat to be cut!đ
Darius does an Usain Bolt as he scoots on foot from the battlefield,đ leaving behind a flummoxed Alexander.
The sight of him riding facing the horse's tail seemed entirely appropriateđ, though I could not understand why he killed the rider with an arrow in order to dislodge him and ride off himself.
That Alexander was seriously wounded in his right thigh during this battle is historically accurate, but the odd thing is that when he returns to his troops, there is no blood on the dress or his leg!!
The killing of so many civilians by Alexander's troops as a consequence of the stone throwing was only to be expected, and the locals must have been very stupid to indulge in such folly, especially having heard of Alexander's reputation for great severity. In this case, however, I doubt if he had any idea of what was being done in his name.
It is not clear where all this took place. Issus was a mere village, and this looked like a city, complete with a substantial palace and a giant statue of Darius III. It could not be Persepolis, which is near Afghanistan, so it must be Susa, the imperial winter capital of Darius I the Great, which was close to the battle site.
Harry Potter stunt: It was comical to see Puru, teleported mysteriously to Persia from somewhere along the Jhelum, lurking behind a stall, and lamenting Alexander's kroorta, the pet word of the Porus CVs.
I could not, as with Alexander at Halicarnassus, make head or tail of these proceedings. How on earth did the reformed vishkanya get them to Susa so quickly? She must either have recruited flying snakes, or procured four or five units of Harry Potter's fastest broomstick, the Nimbus 2000.
And where did they get their horses from, when they were left with only the clothes on their backs after the boat foundered?
BrienneOfTarth (Ankita) should take a bow at this point. đShe had predicted on one of my threads that the vishkanya would fall for Puru, and accompany him to Persia, which is exactly what has happened. But I do not accept the rest of her scenario, that Puru would ask her to poison Alexander. Apna doodh ka dhula Puru would never suggest anything so immoral (and practical !). Neither would Alexander, if he got the chance in the opposite direction.
If the vishkanya tries this stunt on her own, she is in for a shock, for Alexander is vish-proof! Maybe she will die in the process. Let us see.
What is most likely going to happen is, I think, that Darius having run away without answering any of Alexander's questions about Bharatđ, Alexander will now substitute him with Puru, who would have met him as a sadharan Bharatiya. They will have extended interactions, like those that Alexander had later with Porus after the battle of the Hydaspes, and in the process, Puru will learn a lot about Alexander and Alexander about India.
Alexander and Hephastion: Now we come to the best part of last night's episode, the short but deeply emotional scene between Alexander and Hephastion. It was a tour de force for Rohit, as it was a very difficult, tight rope walk sequence, but he pulled it off superbly. As did the young man playing Hephastion.
Before I discuss the scene, I would request you to clear your mind of the inevitable undertones and overtones about their relationship, and not watch this sequence through that prism. You will then, I am sure, see that it was not a love scene, but a scene of love. Which was all about trust and the need for reassurance.
Alexander and Hephastion are symbiotic. Aristotle once said of them that they were two bodies with one soul. Alexander compared them to Achilles and his bosom friend Patrocles, but nowhere in Homer, or the other Greek writers, is there anything to indicate that Achilles and Patrocles were lovers. It is the same with Alexander and Hephastion. If they had been blood brothers, their relationship could not have been any stronger.
They love each other deeply, that is very clear. For what is love but to care for another more than oneself?
And of the two, it is Alexander who is the emotionally dependent one, mostly because he is so lonely. It is always lonely at the top. When he catches hold of Hephastion's hand, and opens his eyes, they do not hold the least hint of desire, only of a seeking for reassurance that this companion of his heart will always be there for him. It is telling that he places him at par with his mother Olympias: Agar maa ke baad, maine kisi par aur koyi mujh par itna yakeen karta hai to wo tum ho, Hephastion!
These are the only two who love him for himself, who have trust in him no matter what, and he needs them, needs the strength they give him, at all times.
His mother is far away, but Hephastion is at hand, and he is perhaps afraid, somewhere deep in his psyche, that he too might go away some day, leaving him, Alexander, alone and bereft of all emotional support. Whence the nearly anguished plea, holding Hephastion's hand between his own, almost clinging to it: Wada karo ki tum mujhe kabhi nahin chhodoge! It is what the French would call a cri de coeur, a cry from the heart.
Hephastion hears it and responds: Uske liye waade ki kya zaroorat hai, Alexander? Tumhein chhodkar main kahan jaaunga? True, for without Alexander, he too would be lost and incomplete. So was Damon with Pythias. Hephastion's eyes are clear, pellucid, comforting, for he knows what Alexander needs just then. And he provides it.
It was a remarkably beautiful scene, rich and deeply emotional. See how much impact can be produced with so few words, whereas long bhashans replete with cliches leave one cold!
Hephastion died just eight months before Alexander, of typhoid, very soon after they had simultaneously married the two Persian princesses - Drypetis for Hephastion and Barsine/Stateira for Alexander. One can well imagine the crushing burden of grief that must have crippled Alexander. In fact, some historians felt that it was this grief that weakened Alexander even physically, and made him more susceptible to the infection that killed him in June 323 BC.
OK, folks, this is it for today, and I am sure you have had enough as well!đ Incidentally, I got egg all over my face with my prediction that Barsine might have gone to Alexander the night of the first day, and pleaded with him to spare her father's life. The girl is so scared of his reputation as a darinda, (which in the Persian equivalent for kroor, nirmam vyakti!đ) that she would never have dared to confront him. I should have known that!
Please do not forget to hit the Like button if you happen to like this post. I always want to know who my readers are. And please comment if you can.
Shyamala Aunty
PS: There was a very curious goof up in the Thursday night precap, which showed the Granicus shot of Alexander sprawled on the ground, staring up at the assailant who is about to kill him. I naturally assumed that they were going to repeat that stupid and unbelievable segment, which was an insult to the memory of a great warrior like Alexander, but it was only a slip up, thank the Lord!
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