Jodha Akbar 104: The tilting of the scales

Folks,

In the whole of Jodha Akbar to date, in the context of the epic love story that we have been promised, but which seems to be perennially receding like a mirage in the Sahara, there was one remarkable scene in the Friday episode that re-anchored this promise firmly in the fabric of the narrative. Its symbolism was so heavy and in your face that it was inescapable; it practically knocked one over.

It was thus all the more remarkable that in the several multipage theses littering the forum over the weekend, dissecting each eye glance, each word and each facial muscle twitch of Jalal, Ruqaiya & Jodha, past, present and future, no one, bar a single member who started a practically unnoticed thread on this point, seemed to have given the real significance of this seminal scene even a passing thought. If the CVs do scan this forum, they would have been bitterly disappointed at this near total disregard of their tour de force.

So I decided to boost their spirits a bit with this post. En avant, then, with the

Sri Jodha Tulabhaaram: I know, I know, it does sound rather sacrilegious, equating even our Amer ke Registan ka Gulab with her aaradhya Lord Krishna, but I am sure the Lord with forgive me for this, seeing how great a bhakt of his Jodha is.

So then, we have this unprecedented event in the Agra palace, with Jodha Begum being weighed, a la the Ameri practice on her birthdays, in a tulabhaaram, against jewels, gold, silver, and other assorted bundles of no one knows what in velvet pouches. The donors include not only her adoring saas and the rest of her Three Musketeers - Gulbadan Begum and Jijianga - but Salima Begum and Bakshi Banu (her shauhar Sharifuddin glaring from a distance in impotent fury at this supplementary waste of his hard-earned wealth!😉).

Then there is a gaggle of Jalal's courtiers, obviously shanghaied into making donations for this good cause and undoubtedly worried, as they dropped their pouches into the overflowing bucket on the scale, whether this depredation on their purses was to become an annual feature😉.

Even after all the pouches are in place, the scales are still tilted by a good 5-10% on Jodha's side. Assuming that she weighs 125 pounds, normal for a woman of her height, and adding the the 25 pounds that would be a conservative estimate for her heavy joda and jewellery, we arrive at 150 pounds in all. Taking even the lower figure of 5% , the collective offerings fall short by at least 8 pounds, and very likely more.

Keep this in mind, folks, for here lies the crux of the tale as the CVs saw it.

At this point, when the donors are all done and no more nazrane are in the offing, the Shahenshah rises from his faraway seat and moves towards the platform, on which all this is going on, at a stately, unhurried pace. He arrives at the tula, casts a considering look at the opposite pan, and at the tilted beam. He does not look at Jodha Begum at all.

He then deliberately removes a single ring, a heavy, ornate one, true, but a plain gold one that could not have weighed more than 70-80 grams at the most. He circles it 3 times round Jodha's head in the traditional nazar utaarna, but he neither smiles at her nor does he meet her eyes, though she has been looking up and around, wondering what he is going to do.

He moves to the opposite scale and, very gently, places the ring in the pan with the other gifts. Lo and behold, the 75 gm ring suddenly weighs more than 8-10 pounds, for the beam tilts sharply away from Jodha! The loyal courtiers break into relieved (as no supplementary offerings will be expected of them now😉) exclamations of Subhanallah, subhanallah!

Jalal does a Rukmini: Shahenshah-e-Hind Jalaluddin Mohammed has, unbeknownst to himself, done a Rukmini .

His heavy gold ring might not have been as dramatic as the single tulsi leaf with which Rukmini outweighed her Lord in the tulabhaaram scales at their palace in Dwaraka, thus shaming the arrogant Satyabhama in the Sri Krishna Tulabhaaram katha, but the spirit behind the two scenes was the same.

The parallel was crystal clear and inescapable: that Jalal's devotion to Jodha outweighs (or would eventually outweigh) even the collective affection and caring of all the others, just as Rukmini's single tulsi leaf outweighed the combined offerings of not just Satyabhama but all of Lord Krishna's other queens (oh yes, he had many of them in Dwaraka, even if not quite 64000, like the gopis in Vrindavan. But then the Lord had a great advantage over poor Jalal; he could be with all his wives at the same time if he so chose!😉) .

Or rather, it should have been crystal clear and inescapable, but apparently was not. Either way, it was an exquisite piece of scripting, and executed to perfection by Jalal, with such impeccable dignity that Rukmini would have approved.

But curiously enough, Jodha, such a devout Krishna bhakta, never seemed to note the symbolism that practically jumped out at her. Instead, with her usual obtuseness, she was cribbing that the Shahehshah was not likely to give her anything more than jewellery.

I hope he sends her a single rose, along with the lost single payal from Amer in a box.

A few supplementary points: Those of Jalal's begums who were not part of the event, for obvious reasons, were probably having a meeting of their own, to set up a little trade union to demand, with justification, identical treatment on THEIR saalgirahs, complete with their being weighed solemnly in gold ornaments, not in some downmarket stuff like sugar! Jalal would have very soon run out of rings, and the Mughal treasury would have been emptied long before Shahjahan got around to nearly bankrupting the Mughal Raj while building the Taj. 😉

Secondly, I agree with shan2430 that the whole tulabhaaram scene was OTT and not at all credible. It would have only stoked general resentment in the palace against this obvious and excessive favouritism being shown to a begum who had, so far, done nothing to deserve such pampering. It was not as though she had produced an heir for the throne, after all! Jalal and Hamida could, as shan2430 has pointed out, done a jashn in the evening and given Jodha lavish gifts, but a tulabhaaram ceremony? This copying of the Ameri custom would not have gone down well with 90% of the palace.

Morever, did they do it even in Amer for Sukanya and Shivani? Not that one knows of.

The true significance of the Tulabhaaram : But this criticism, valid though it is, misses the whole point of the exercise, as the CVs visualized it. That was to underline that Jalal's love for Jodha would, in due course, be as strong, as undemanding, and as totally absorbed in the beloved as that of Rukmini for her Lord.

To cite a nazm that brings out this deewaangee, but in different words:

Yaar mera Kaaba Kashi, Yaar bin khali rooh ki pyali, rooh ki pyali..

Yaar mera Eid Diwali Yaar ke bin yeh tanman khali...tanman khali

Yaar basaloon rom rom, deewana ban jaaon Aur kahan rab dhoondun, yaar mein rab paaun

Tu karam hai, tu dharam hai

Tu hi mera kalma hai

Teri khatir, tere dum se

Raahe ishq pe chaal na hai

Tu hi saya. ashk bhi tu

Rooh mein bhi tu rehta hai

Tu hi main hoon, main hi tu hai

Tera haaji kehta hai

Ek boond ishq pe hoon zinda

Ek boond ishq pe hoon zinda

Tu hi tab tha, tu hi ab hai Jag hai jab se tabse tu hai Meri hasti, mera rutba Meri daulat, shoharat tu hai

Ek boond ishq pe hoon zinda Ek boond ishq pe hoon zinda

Our Jalal is not quite there still, of course, for one does not see even ek boond ishq coming his way as yet.

Plus a lot of messy, ugly things will still clutter Jalal's path to this state of self-sufficient bliss, but he will get there, and so will we. I am not all that sure of Jodha, neither now nor any time soon, but that hardly matters. I suppose she will get somewhere halfway to this, and if Jalal is content with that, who am I to quibble that my boy has been shortchanged ?

That, to my mind, was the sole point of the last episode. The rest, which I will cover for the sake of form, hardly mattered. In fact, the desperate eagerness to decipher the Jalal-Ruqaiya-Jodha equations, now and in the future, that was so evident across the forum, reminded me of nothing so much as the medieval theological debates in Europe, in the Middle Ages, as to how many angels could dance on the head of a pin! No, I am not joking; this was seriously debated by monks and the clergy in those days!😉

Jalal-Ruqaiya: I have always liked and respected Jalal as a character, and I always believed that having had very few relationships in his very troubled life, he attaches tremendous importance to maintaining those that he has, and right now that does NOT include Jodha.

One can love a person, or be obsessed with that person without understanding or being close to, or even liking him/her. But friendship is different, especially one of such very long standing as the one he has with Ruqaiya, who has been with him thru thick and thin. Whereas Jodha has not, and in fact so far she has done nothing but take from his, mostly with little or no gratitude.

So, if Jalal were to ditch Ruqaiya now for Jodha because he is of late obsessed with the latter, I would lose all respect for him, whatever the frantic forum might think or feel. I am glad that he is not doing any such thing, and I was amused by all the hyperventilation across the forum last night.

I thought that he was pitch perfect with Ruqaiya yesterday in both their scenes together, especially the second one. He soothes her the way one soothes an angry, miserable child which feels that the parent does not love it.

One more point. Jalal knows Ruqaiya inside out, and so he probably discounts her frantic insistence that the only thing she resents is the possible loss of her auda in the palace/harem, and that she is NOT jealous and NOT afraid of losing him to Jodha.

He realises that the lady doth protest too much. That what Ruqaiya asserts is not true at all, that what she fears in the innermost recesses of her being is precisely that she will lose him to Jodha. Not so much in the physical sense - she does not mind that - but in the psychological sense of having decisive influence on him and his thinking. And that she cannot stand.

Which is why he repeatedly tries to get her to come out and acknowledge that she is indeed jealous of Jodha, and by extension that she cares for him, Jalal, at the emotional level as well. Maybe he does that because it would be cathartic for Ruqaiya.

Maybe he does that also because, after having rejected the very idea all his life, he now seeks and needs that expression of emotional attachment to him from his dearest friend. Jodha does not love him or even care for him, and he cares nothing for any other begum. So perhaps, now that he has hitherto unknown feelings for Jodha that are clearly one-sided (as yet), he also has this strange new need for emotional support and caring. And for that, whom else can he turn to but his Gatti?

Lastly, he very likely sees that this whole balancing and adjusting exercise as vital for preventing Ruqaiya from going off the rails, and perhaps taking her fury and her frustrations out on Jodha.

I do not see what Jalal is doing as a preparatory exercise to help Ruqaiya adjust to a life without him .She will always be a part of Jalal's life, and a very dear one, as his chief begum. She is not going anywhere. Jodha will have her own compartment and Ruqaiya hers. But Ruqaiya has to be brought round to accepting and not furiously resenting the very large part of Jalal that Jodha will eventually appropriate.

That is what Jalal is now working towards, even as the contours of his eventual relationship with Jodha are as yet unclear. He needs to keep his Gatti on a reasonably even keel all thru and that will take all his skills at cajoling, charming and persuading her that her importance for him will never be diminished come what may.

And if in the process, he has to indulge in a bit of suppressio veri at one time (as not revealing to Ruqaiya that it was he who told his Ammijaan about Jodha's birthday) , and a bit of suggestio falsi at another, why, one never tells children more than what is good for them, does one?

Shyamala B.Cowsik

PS: Folks, I am in a mess with the formatting of the nazm, and I will try and improve it, but till then, please bear with it ! I cannot understand why the lines get into such a disorderly form as soon as I post. for they look ok in the draft!!😭.

Aunty, this post enlightened me! Thank you for the explanation of the tulabharaam scene; I did not know the story of Lord Krishna and Rukmini and I'm grateful to have learned it.

I completely agree with you in regards to Jalal-Ruqs-Jodha. Jalal and Jodha are not close, they have only just barely begun to be cordial with each other, so I didnt have any problem with his pacifying Ruqs. It was a relief that he did that; I found the recent "romance" too much to bear all at once. I'm glad we've taken a step back and hope to see a slow progression of Jalal-Jodha's relationship.

I would elaborate more on your post but it's 4am here and I should really be going to bed. Good night Aunty, and thank you for ending my night on a positive note!

Sunday morning and the forum suddenly feels homely again after having read your analysis - with all of its chiding, musing and pondering!

Thank you aunty for the booster... Your post is Incredible as always ... with all the spices needed for a good write.up..
Started with humor on the tulabaram... .oh my goodness .."the collective offerings fall short by at least 8 pounds, and very likely more. ...Lo and behold, the 75 gm ring (of Jalaal) suddenly weighs more than 8-10 pounds, for the beam tilts sharply away from Jodha! The loyal courtiers break into relieved (as no supplementary offerings will be expected of them now) exclamations of Subhanallah, subhanallah! " 🤣 i am a big fan of your satires... i dont know how many times i have read your post after the tiger attack episode...Lovely

Then the most significant one --- Jalaal as Rukmani and the significance of the tulabaram... beautiful... Jalal's love for Jodha would, in due course, be as strong, as undemanding, and as totally absorbed in the beloved as that of Rukmini for her Lord... i totally agree.
this is the crucial phase of their relationship i feel ... so exiting to know how it unfolds.
I am completely agree with what you have stated about Jalaal Ruk and Jodha angles.. what an excellent take... He cannot leave away his old/existing relationships for the new one ...also the one which is not even emerged...I also feel Ruk place in Jalaal should not be changed even if he falls for Jodha completely.
Thank you again ...

Lashy dear,

I think Jalal's detached look had already started in his rooms, when he says he will see Jodha in the evening and leaves her there and pushes off. Maybe he is irritated by her constant suspicions and her hectoring questions at every single meeting. All his earlier enthusiasm might have evaporated at that latest accusation that he was having her spied on.

At that point, he does not mention that he is going to see her at the tulabhaaram ceremony.

What one can deduce from that is that no one told him about this ceremony till later, for after all it is Hamida who mentions it to Jodha, and he might have been informed of it only in the nick of time, Maybe he feels it is too much, which it is. Maybe he thinks he should not look overly pleasant and invite some other snub from Jodha. There is only so much the male ego can stand, that too an imperial ego.

I am totally exasperated with those lines; I retyped them all over again and STILL they come out all awry. So I have left them as they are, hoping the beauty of the words will compensate for the higgledy piggledy appearance!

Thank you for missing me, sweetheart. I was astonished that no one, bar that one member, even noticed the real significance of that scene, which is tremendous. I hope that at least some people read this post and realise it. Jodha's lack of understanding of this parallel foxed me; I would have expected her to be on to it first thing!

Shyamala Aunty

Originally posted by: lashy

Sunday morning and the forum suddenly feels homely again after having read your analysis - with all of its chiding, musing and pondering!

Beautiful analysis aunty...you've read my thoughts on the Jalal-Ruqaiyya equation - I enjoy the enigma that this triangle is. In Friday's episode I don't find anyone particularly right or wrong in this - they're all just people with different shades/layers/situations!

As I mentioned elsewhere, they could have left the enigma of this Jo-Ruq relationship be as it is (which is a novelty in itself) and moved on to other important issues in Jalal's life instead of bringing a nonsensical fake pregnancy track for the sake of drama.

The tulabharam scene I really did enjoy - its the sword-on-your-neck-spoilers that have dampened my enthusiasm about dissecting every aspect of the episode though!

Obviously Jo being the heroine of the serial gets pampered...,much like most other rich-house heroines in serials and movies...we never get to watch their siblings or their bhabhis birthdays celebrated with such ado because it does nothing much for the story and its not time/money-wise economical for the producers 😆

Btw, I had a question to ask - why do you think the Jalal who was extra-sweet to Jodha during the Payal and Bhajan incidents suddenly had a very stern face when giving her birthday wishes and even more so during the tulabharam scene? Its like they were two different Jalals! THIS is the thought that's eating me. Watch his face while doing the nazar utaarna - he really DOES look like he's doing it only for his Ammijaan...😕 Who would have thought this was the same Jalal who spoke to Rahim about making preparations for the Saalgira!

Sometimes, I feel the actors' unexplained shifts in behaviour (like after the Mohan episode) is nothing but a screenplay/editing disaster that leaves us reading 2 deducing 22 and evolving with 222 answers for what was otherwise nothing but simple 'overlooks'

Or am I wrong and was there genuine reason for what looked like Jalal's 'I'm-only-doing-it-for-Ammijaan's' expression throughout the day! [And to top it all, this teenager-puppy dog-look when Ruqs asks him about the 'tofa'!LOL]

Beautiful analysis aunty 🤗 miss your presence here

Fabulous write-up aunty.. 😊

Though the tulabharam scene did show what Jalal s one teensy ring did to the scales & show what his value was going to be in Jodha s life, I didnt place too much significance to it. Thanks for bringing its import out so beautifully . I had indeed forgotten Rukmini & Lord Krishna s story on it 👏 . And regarding Jodha pondering on it, hope one day soon, they show one introspective scene where Jodha thinks about what all has transpired post her marriage & especially Jalal s behaviour to her, post her suicide attempt, & she s shown to realise & rue her behaviour atleast in a small way. I ll be more than satisfied if it s shown as a short scene too 😊

i just wanna say i love ur post

many times i m opposite of ur thoughts

but u present it in such a manner that it forces me to think again

👍🏼

.Shyamala ..Thanx a ton for creating a post on this topic and for enlightening us on the actual purport of the scene. Really glad yu understood where i was coming from and u were bang on the reasons for the same. Coming from you, it means a lot. 😛 I admit I didn't at the time connect it to Krishna-Rukmini. It simply looked unrealistic to me and hence didn't enjoy it much,may be because of Jodha's customary sarcasm of jalal post the event. But am now able to appreciate it better, now that I can see its significance.