As Ram Worships Bhagwan Shankar ....

The only good thing about the lockdown is the replaying of Ramayana and Mahabharat on Doordarshan. The kids are watching both the serials and thoroughly enjoying themselves. Unlike kids, I can’t watch all the episodes. But on & off I get to watch some episodes or parts thereof. Despite having watched and read different re-creations of Ramayana and Mahabharat, there is always something new to learn every time you watch or read Ramayana or Mahabharat.

For instance, this morning’s episode of Ramayana showed the tactics and strategies adopted by Ram and Ravana in preparation of war. As the final act of preparation, Bhagwan Ram, an incarnation of Vishnu, worshiped his आराध्य देवता, Bhagwan Shankar, to seek his blessings for success.

In the British era there was a lot of animosity between Shaivas and Vishnavas. Historically there has been no ill-will between Bhagwan Shankar & Bhagwan Vishnu, and no ill-will between those who primarily worshipped Bhagwan Shankar and those who prime diety was Bhagwan Vishnu. These divisions and the animosity were created and cultivated by the British to divide Indians.

Similarly the division between so-called Aryans & Dravidians were created by the British, and sustained by pseudo-intellectuals of independent India, who have been more British than Indian in their outlook. Peoples of this land united by Adi Shankaracharya’s travels from Kaladi in Kerala to Kandahar, to Kashmir, to Kamakhya (in today’s Assam), and back to Kanyakumari are all one as Indians/Hindus, and every other identity that we may have is inconsequential in comparison.

A Tribute to India's Greatest Hero

This morning in my office I saw a person wearing saffron kurta and jeans. Immediately I was reminded that it is Shivjayanti today. Later I saw many folks dressed in saffron - boys in saffron kurtas or T-shirts, girls in saffron dresses or sarees. I liked this trend of wearing saffron as a mark of respect to India's greatest hero of the second millenium - Chattrapati Shivaji!!

Tanhaji

10 months ago we thoroughly enjoyed watching ManikarnikaTheFilm. Before watching the movie, I thought that I knew all about Rani Laxmibai from what I had read in school history text books and from studying Subhadra Kumari Chouhan's epic poem "खूब लडी मरदानी, वह तो झांसी वाली रानी थी". Yet there were many things about the great warrior queen that I had not known. After seeing the movie I read about Rani Laxmibai again, to separate fact from fiction, as many historical movies depart from facts to meet their box office targets. Interestingly the story line of the film was a fairly accurate depiction of history. ManikarnikaTheFilm was an excellent movie and a must-watch for every Indian.

I am now looking forward to see TANHAJI this weekend. And I am hoping it turns out as good and authentic as Manikarnika. Most viewer reviews on the internet of TANHAJI are positive, so I am keeping my fingers crossed.

I had often wondered why there were no Hindi movies on Shivaji, despite the history of Shivaji being so fascinating! So many events in Shivaji's life - Tanhaji's conquest of Kondhana, Baji Prabhu Deshpande's defense of Ghodkhind, Shivaji's midnight attack on Shaesta Khan at Pune's Lal Mahal, the battle of Pratapgad, to name a few - are incredible tales of exemplary valor and wit. It was surprising that no one had made a Hindi movies on any of these events.

Now Ajay Devgan has brought "The Lion" Tanhaji Malsure to life on screen. It is good to see films depicting lives of real heroes of India now being made by a few honest film makers in Bollywood.