In Defense of Porus

Puru was brought up as a dasyu a pirate who stole to survive by a loving father n a very not so loving mom n bro. He came to paurav rastra n met a mad lady n instantly connected with her because she had no son n he had no mom he craved a mom love n she craved to give it to a son. He might have even felt jealous of his own imaginary self. he truly felt like he had got a mom for atleast one night by his ready calling of the lady as mom. Lachi sees that puru wants to take her along but she says anusuya should be in PR as her family is here. So puru leaves her in a safe place n goes. But I dont think puru was right there leaving her at dasyu hideout in PR was wrong he not only broke his promise but also exposed her to danger. But once puru realized his mistake or should I say he was waiting for reason to take anusuya with him because as soon as he learned she was taken by PR soldiers he went back for her now he could say he wanted to save her life from soldiers. He realized his mistake of leaving her in PR. He n anusuya again went to PR due to circumstances where it led to darius n shivdutt game to kill anusuya(shivdutt plan) and puru and bamni(darius plan). It is true that puru judged bamni by falling for darius n barsine n even chintan tale. But Bamni too judged puru on the basis of kanish n shivdutt n darius tales. Bamni believed puru hurt kanish n destroyed his festival without reason. Kanish n shivdutt n darius put the blame of destroying the ships n the festival n hitting kanish n destroying the inn on puru the same way bamni was blamed for everything the villians did to anusuya. Puru was a commoner n pirate even though he is a warrior he didnt know politics n further bamni was a n enemy king hence he can be forgiven what he heard on the streets. I was in fact he defended bamni in barsine bedroom that he might not know what was happening n shivdutt might be the reason even though he clearly disliked bamni. He believed barsine and fought bamni when fake circumstances were created like barsine tale corroborating chintan tale n anusuya necklace n her presumed dead body. Puru lost control n was devestated when anusuya was shown dead n bamni had just come out of the prison and anyone would presume bamni was involved so Puru in his anger went to fight bamni. I think puru was right there but when he attacked bamni after knowing anusuya was alive I was confused but when I thought over it think he did it because he believed anusuya was tortured by bamni because both barsine n chintan implied bamni did things to anusuya n her kid they implied that her body was not even found she was kept as slave. All this point to a situation worse than death. So anusuya told him the identity of Bamni n their relation n stopped himself doing a sin.

Puru the Prince:

I found him very flawed as a prince he blamed bamni for Ripu death n never listened to him. It was like a temper tantrum 1 2 3 and nth time. He didn't realize his father was not just a father but also a king, who inspite of being blind would always follow the law. Both father n son are emotional n impulsive during this phase.This led to puru being given death penalty the father didnt investigate n the son made very emotional decision that caused so many problems. Without lachi n anusuya he would have died. Right after he was cleared he decides to go to faras which was and will be the most illogical track in the whole serial just like alexander coming to PR to kill its king. The only good thing was puru went to faras to keep his promise to barsine and as Jalal would say I never take back what I say that shows honour but the rest of the track was irritating.

Now coming to the PR coup and puru's role in the coup: Let me just say Puru after landing in PR became for me a character that I envisioned. There is lot of criticism on this forum it was because puru was in faras that PR coup happened. No puru is in no way responsible for it. It was shivdutt n kanish all the way they planned to kill puru as soon as puru was announced as heir. The coup would happened even if Puru was in PR. Further Princes are sent away on wars, exiles secret missions etc from the palace that does not mean there will be a coup. A coup is aimed against the king n then the king heir is most probably killed or imprisoned by others. The administration fails mostly because the king loses support n a general or minister or a prince take control. The king losing power leads to crown prince losing his right. It can happen if the whole royal family is in the palace or outside it. So blame on Puru it was shivdutt n kanish who is at fault.

Puru in Taxila:

Puru went to taxila to treat bamni with chankya help at the advice of ambhi kumar there was no political decision on puru part. While bamni was being treated puru gets to know alexander has reached India. It was ambhiraj who suggests that the problem of alexander should be dealt with n tells puru it says basically surrender or die. Then chankya tells they should accept the treaty to buy time n keep army ready The fact that alexander gave a choice to taxila makes chankya realize his aim is puru even though alexander did not tell his motive to chankya but later accepted it. Here chankya is using kut niti to defeat alexander. Puru prepares for fighting with alexander though he is suspicious of ambhiraj. Puru has been criticised as a bhagoda n using unfair means.What was puru supposed to do he came to taxila n alex was at its gates should he run away saying i am an exiled prince my father is hurt n i cant fight because i dont have an army n this is not my kingdom. They saved bamni n puru leaving the above excuses would have made him a coward. He still fought even though he was suspicious of taxila after chankya warning. I must say i liked the battle because puru used his brains n did tactical thinking unlike in the case of his fight with darius where he literally shut off his own thinking n walked into an ambush. Puru learnt his uncle cant be trusted n got dasyus n elephants without telling his uncle.When he saw alexander fighting back and he was about to lose he signalled the dasyus to leave because he didnt want them hurt n fought single handedly. Now about the fact puru tricking alexander and leaving battle field this at first blush would seem to be puru pulling a darius this couldnt be further from the truth. Darius v Alex Darius had the bigger n the so called best army in the world than Alex he had more resources that the king of macedonia who he underestimated because his age n his smaller army. On the other hand Puru v Alex Taxila was going to betray puru n PR army was unfaithful to the king n queen because of the Coup so they wont be faithful to an exiled prince. He had elephants n tribals. Tribal though fierce warriors cannot stand against the best army in the world of the world greatest conqueror.Alex as the shah of macedonia could defeated the world's best persian army so now he is shah of the biggest empire with the best army in the world all the tribals in the world won't be able to defeat alexander. It makes sense to go for guerilla warfare because a smaller army will be slaughtered otherwise. Duke of Wellington n european powers used this tactic against Napolean inspired by the spanish revolt this was even after the fact that the english had the most powerful colonial empire n they had naval superiority over the French. This tactic was used by shivaji against the mughals. So puru using this is not unethical as tactical attack n retreat when you are numerically or otherwise in a disadvantage shows puru used a strategy even after being in disadvantageous position👏 I am happy he didnt try to use his super strength like in all his other fights n battles. What darius did was when he had the advantages he still lost n ran. Puru used a tactic many people used in future n even today to destroy as many as possible and escape like wellington n shivaji . If puru used super human powers it would be ridiculous as the previous times. Either way puru would been criticized or made fun of. If Puru used his kryptonian powers he would be made fun of by a few people. If used his brains in battle n had atleast some strategy he is being called a bhagoda. He did the blast to make alexander believe he was dead to buy time if not alexander would have pursued puru to PR like he pursued Darius n Kanish would have joined with alex n killed puru. Puru atleast learnt something from faras that alexander pursues his enemies till they are dead I don't agree puru is a coward he is using his brains. Thank god I always wanted to see a king who used his brains like my favorite Jalal though he later leased it out to Jodha.

Puru the King:

Now puru realizes he needs power of king to stop a king. Further he wants revenge for what was done to his parents. Yay I am happy puru is taking advice for the first time. He is following the orders of Chankya. He is so used to following his own counsel n bending others to his point of even at least for one or two episodes he is taking advice. This is good. However in tommorrow episode puru will again disobey chankya most probably leading to chankya leaving. I would want puru follow chankya advice it won't happen because alexander himself is confident puru will not do something which would let anyone point fingers at his ideals of bharat. Alexander can't die at anyone hands that is a line no CV will cross. Puru not following Chankya order though foolish like prithviraj v Ghori and Prithvi vallabh v Tailap scenario in my opinion. It is still praise worthy because it shows puru has some independent thinking and not unduly influenced by teachers or so called choti mas. (In case Puru is not stopped by anu or anyone else) If someone does stop him then it means he won't sacrifice his ideals for his benefit I assure you darius or kanish would not have controlled their temper and listened to others if they get the oppurtunity to kill their enemies. Puru further believes in punishing the culprit now that he is set to be king earlier he saved hasti n asked for pardon for shivdutt but when he realized some people don't change he ensured they got punishment. He realized his mistake I was almost expecting Puru to forgive Kanish after Kadika emotional black mail or anusuya to support Kadika like it happens in most serials. I am happy that didn't happen and anusuya supported the decision too. This shows that Puru is willing to learn from his mistakes n take tough decisions in spite of emotional relations.

I would have read this post in any case, for I have often felt that there was a sore lack of clear headed posts in favour of Puru in this forum, which is in any case a tiny one.

But by the time I had come to the end of it, I was also touched by your dedicating it to me. Touched, and flattered. Thank you for the kind words about me, which of course means for my posts. This said, I must add that I would have preferred it if you had read and commented on several of my recent efforts!

Coming back to your defence of Porus, it is a splendid effort.👏 It is not a joke to sum up the whole arc of Puru's character till yesterday in a single post, but you have managed it. As I read it, I must confess that I felt slightly dizzy with the endless recitation of events, for it is a complex and at times confusing story, as are all our serials, socials or (pseudo) historicals. But you have clearly managed to keep your head above water, while still commenting on the plot and character developments as lucidly as possible, which is quite an achievement!

I shall come back here in a day or two to add my comments about the post, for that will need a good bit of typing. I would agree with large chunks of it. For example, I would never have called Porus a bhagoda even if he had just run away once his elephants had been neutralised by Alexander. He would, as I wrote here, have merely been running away to live and fight another day. That is commonsense, an essential quality for any warrior.

But here he does have a back up plan, which is very clever, even if very risky, for he could easily have been killed in the blast.

One presumes the bridge was soaked in the same inflammable liquid in which Shivdutt was doused later! It is comic, the bombs and explosives scattered so freely all over this script, and that in the 4th century BC! But by now one is used to all this arrant nonsense, and even I no longer have the energy to rail against it. When you can have Puru plucking 8 arrows out his body and jumping 30 feet up to the royal balcony, you can have anything. But this kind of absurdity, which would appeal only to 8 year olds, makes me long for the 1990 Chanakya and the 2012 Chandragupta Maurya.

As I said, I will be back, and I will try to be absolutely objective about your Porus, for all that he reminds me, most of the time, of Jodha Begum and her endless speeches and in your face mahaanta. I would have infinitely preferred far less speechifying and more shrewdness, deviousness and astuteness, in short a Porus who could give Alexander a run for his money and beat him at his own game. For all said and done, one wants to root for one's own national side! But I could never stand Jodha Begum, and much of this Porus falls, for me, into the same category.

Unfortunately, the CVs are convinced that the janata which watches their show would neither understand nor appreciate such subtle portrayals, which is a great pity, for Laksh has a lot of untapped potential that has been wasted here.

See you again soon.

Shyamala Aunty