14  January 1761

It is mere coincidence that a few days after I read the Novel Panipat and posting my blog on it , the author Shri Vishwas Patil himself  wrote an article in Marathi daily Sakal on eve of the  publication of 30^th edition of the Novel by Rajhans Prakashan to earmark  the 250^th anniversary of the War at Panipat on forthcoming 14^th Jan 2011

I was more than delighted to read it. The article is titled ‘The wet wounds of Panipat” but in reality he narrates the vibrant process of creating  an exceptional entity ‘ Panipat’

He first refers to the then Defense minister of India,Shri  Yashwantrao Chavan and tells us of an anecdote where, while driving from Punjab to Delhi, as his cavalcade approached  Panipat, he suddenly makes his convoy halt and goes to the Kala Aam or the Black  Mango tree and sees grave stones of unknown Maratha Warriors .Shri Chavan sat on that ground and picking up the soil wept   like a child . Later when he came back into his own he addressed the gathering telling them the relevance of the place and the martyrdom of the Marathas during the third war at Panipat ,a place quite near the Kurukshetra where the great battle of Mahabhatata between Kauravs and Pandavs was fought .The incident describes the sensitivity of earlier politicians who were more of leaders than opportunists.Shri Y.B chavan was a erudite scholar and not just a Maratha strongman. But there could be another version for the sentimental reaction .It could well be the fact that as a strong contender for the PMs post, he could never be chosen in spite of being an eminent Maratha to replace sophisticates in Indian politics who ruled the roost for their kinship with fellow British who chose them as heirs to rule the country even in their absence as they spoke their language and with whom they could relate better due to their western education. However also , it is very likely that Y.B.Chavans own ancestors were in the thick of the Panipat war some of them attaining martyrdom.

From what the author narrates it becomes more clear that the historical fiction was a result of very systematic  and intense hard work done at a young age of 25.The task that lasted for a full three years to see the light of the day in 1987  as a masterpiece  compendium and reference  on Panipat merging  into a creative magnum  opus that combined  time management skills with writing skills  by the author shuttling between his work in government office and his recluse. An Indomitable spirit matching the valor of the martyrs who fell fighting for their country on the sacred soil on banks of Yamuna.

He tells us about the pangs of the birth of the novel and the early attempt which is aborted in the initial stages by him due to the creation not getting the form that he has visualized to become a winner. Some of the most dramatic sequences being put together in one night and at times in a trains compartment while travelling. His sojourns into the battlefields areas to relive the history and to get into the roles to feel and experience the emotions felt by the great Bhaurao are exemplary. He ultimately recreates and resurrects Sadashiv Rao Bhausaheb from the fallen to a gallant neutralizer of Afghan designs in India at the cost of his life.

Writing on an historical reality with colossal cosmic ambit, churning out  volumes in the face of complicated circumstances requires diverse abilities and responsibility  .It requires to be extremely emotive about the characters while consciously refraining from  distorting truth. It requires maintaining the timeline and chronology to corroborate authenticity of the established scholastic opinion. It requires a thorough study of the geography of the region and the cartographic details to be as congruent to the field realities impacting different scenarios. Finally it requires creativity to keep the reader engrossed and involved in the story not of victory but of failure and devastation. The reader has to get a vantage view of the champion and the challenger albeit secretly and surely while he emerges as a   sympathizer of Militant Marathas .It requires the maturity and focus of a historian and dictum of story teller rolled into a seamless metaphor .Vishwas Patil could achieve this due to his dogged desire to actually know what happened in reality during those days of confrontation and final Armageddon on the fateful day.

It is difficult to perceive the battles fought in medieval era   and the finer nuances as the author is no soldier or a specialist on cavalry or elephants or artillery .He is no specialist on canons or ammunition .He is no specialist on physical combat although he uses the apt vernacular terms for the war heads and the hardware he does falls short at times on the logistics and technicalities the text becoming descriptive and prosaic. At times he is oblivious of individual shortcomings of soldiers barring the hunger and non availability of salaries. He has no details of the provisions and the mechanism of distributions. Neither is he informed of the Afghan side about the man- animal interactions pertaining to camels and elephants. Although he does give details of the bulls and their failures due to lack of fodder. As a typical middleclass writer he is more aware about the aspirations of the clergy and the womenfolk on the Maratha sides. However ,Patil succeeds in  developing the compulsions of Bhaurao vividly .He also details the deceitful diplomacy of the Northern provincial strongmen and their mutual one-upmanship to gain from the awkward circumstances due to entrapment of Bhaus forces in the fortressed town of Panipat.

As he produces four files of manuscript he hazards rejection and refusal due to being naïve in the field of authorship and literature. It is merely by serendipity that he finds common interest in Delhi with a Marathi publisher that his work is picked up with speculation and risk with a bank loan .However after publication of the feat he earns laurel from all sides with the likes of Shanta shelke ,Shivaji Sawant of Mritunjay fame and V.V Shirwadkar who later secretly confessed  his own design to write something on Panipat a wish remaining unfulfilled .He also finds a great supporter in P.V .Narshima Rao a linguist scholar from Pune before he became the PM, who referred it to Gyanpeeth for a Hindi translation which broadened the readership in the North.One interesting prophesy which Patil  tells us is that of the great Marathi litterateur V.S. Khandekar who had declared his gut feeling that ‘very soon some  dynamic upcoming writer would rise on the horizon to write a cosmic epithet on the  epic of Panipat’ .

Panipat is in reality a tribute just like Mritunjay is a tribute to Karna.It is a tribute to Sadashiv Bhau,to Dattaji Shinde,Jankoji Shinde,to Vishwas Rao, to Pant Bundele, to Shamsher Bahadur and finally to Ibrahim Gardi.It is putting on record the contribution of these gems and 35000 men who fell and merged with the soil to deter the onslaught of Afghans and their unsecular designs. It documents the great Maratha legacy and supremacy with acts of valor and self annihilation for territorial rights and justice. Finally it also vividly brings out a familial and cultural conflicts to the fore establishing them as dominant factors in failure of wars and battles undertaken as military expeditions and engagements. There are many shortcomings which the author must have eventually realized which he must have improved in his editions as a realistic story teller however this critic has no knowledge of this aspect.

Finally the merit is evident with very respectful treatment of the adversary Ahmed Durrani by the author as he has gone on records in his memoirs to commend the valor of gallant Marathas quoting that ‘ if Legends from Kandahar (Afghanastan and Kabul)  ,Iskandar and Rustom had witnessed the bravery of the Marathas ,they would have been shocked to see the valiant  Soldiers from Deccan(Margattha) giving a   fight to finish even in face of famine and disease’

Abdalis forces suffered heavily after winning the war due to lack of monetary support forthcoming from those who benefitted from it, especially Najib .They rode back on long journey with nightmare of the battle due to weariness .Abdali could never gauge the net credit of the entire mission and was happy that he went back alive from Hindustan.If Holkars had not deserted or had he stuck to the plan of Ibrahim Gardi probably the war would have been won by the Marathas and the British would have never been able to stabilize their Union Jack in India .India would have been as independent and prosperous as Europe. However , dissensions, caste politics, regionalism  and religion fragment the Marathi populace keeping the entire state anaesthetized and stoic serving as a buffer between North and South with minimal representation in Delhi Government or Bureaucracy since  the British  willed so. One reason was the great guerilla warrior Shivaji and the other was the absurd logic of PANIPAT

Guest from Morocco

Guest From Morroco

For two months she had stayed at Nasik as a valued guest of my sister,we admired her and secretly wished that she spend time with us too. And god answered the desire. On her way to Morroco she was to spend two days with us .Lucky we were.

I picked her up at the Pizza Hut. She was fair and petite with beautiful hair and teeth. She travelled light. I tried to make her comfortable chatting with her and knowing her background. She was wrestling with her destiny. A vagabond son, failing health and Downturn in US.

She was a real estate dealer in NY with the Japanese and Chinese as her clients. She was knowledgably a very enlightened person. When we chatted with her into the night we realized that she had grown wise over time. She was in this country for the mystique and divine grace of the almighty. She had spent a major part in a secluded Ashram in Bihar doing service and meditating all the while.

In Nasik she taught yoga and meditation to my sister. Yes, she was methodical and dedicated and retained what she was taught at the Ashram. When she showed me the brochures, I was impressed. Surely will visit that place if time permits, I told her.

In the morning when I did pooja, she stood beside me and observed me very intensely .She wanted to know the meaning of the rituals and the Mantras. I told her about the Rudra and the divinity of Shiva the lord of lords.

Next day I saw that she had inflammation in one eye. I enquired. Do you have any eye drops at home She asked. I looked for some, but it had expired. Then it suddenly struck me .I had carried some herbal eye drops from Amarkantak .It was basically a flower extract .I offered her clarifying that I have never used it and it would amount to making her a guneapig. She had more faith in India and its heritage as compared to me. Of course you can use it on me. I instilled the drops into the inflamed eye. Next day she was fine.

I had bought a book from crossword on Shiva mythology .I gave it to her as a gift. She was moved at my generosity. Next day when she left we embraced her and bid her a very gracious journey of life.

Now I learn from face book she teaches Yoga in Morocco!! Surely I will be her guest if god wills! Insha’Allah!!

wordscape: Panipat

wordscape: Panipat: "PanipatGranthali has ‘firte granthalya’ ie moving bookshop on wheels and on one weekday while driving to the office, I advised my driv..."

Panipat

Panipat

Granthali  has ‘firte granthalya’ ie moving bookshop on wheels and on one weekday while driving to the office, I advised my driver to stop suddenly.I hopped out of the car ,entered the van and quickly purchased around 7 books paying  in cash.

One was ‘Aryanak’ translated from Bengali,other was ‘Chakwa chandana-Ek Vanopanishad’ by Maruti Chitampalli  and yet the third was ‘Panipat’ by vishwas Patil.The First two were completed  in gusto being a nature lover.The third  a 553 pages treatise  had to wait for an year as I am not being an avid student of history.As history has challenged my memory with places ,names and dates and I have been humbled by these memorabilia time and again.

Panipat  is a Kaadambari or a Novel based on the great Maratha War fought in 1761 at Panipat a town and a Mughal stronghold 80 kms North of Delhi .This was not the only war fought here but earlier two had been fought at the same place.The first in 1526 between Babar and Sultan Ibrahim Lodi who was killed in the Battle leading to downfall of Delhi sultans and establishment of Mughals in India.The Second was between Akbarson of Babar and Hemu in 1756 .The third was between between Marathas led by Sadashiv Bhaurao and Forces of Afgan Ahmedshah Durrani .The book is acknowledged as one of the largest selling Marathi novel of half century between 1947 to 1997.Published on 20^th October 1988,it was translated in Hindi by Bharatiya Gyanpeeth foundation.The novel also  won best Indian literature award in Kolkata ,Nathmadhav Puraskar in Goa and priyadarshini Award in Mumbai.The foreword dated on 23-09-90 is by the doyen of Marathi literature ,the great poet Vi Va Shirwadkar or Kusumagraj,who has called it a magnum opus with a very large ambit .It is believed that Vishwas Patil  refered around 110 references out of which 46 are from English .Around 36 articles from Marathi tabloids and periodicals.61 Books and archives with 2 Hindi History books.It stands illustrated by 8 maps drawn by noted historian Prof T.S.Sejwalkar

The Novel is actually a clever synthesis of Book of History and a highly readable nonfiction creation. It first traces the war between Najib and Scindias and later the grand march of 70,000 maratha infantry and horsemen northwards to check Najib.The Marathas  after the victory at Kunjpura ,gain entry into the Panipat town north of Delhi and become resident caretakers. They are now sourrounded by 1,20,000 combined Afgan and Muslim shia soldiers who cutoff all their rations inflicting malnutrition and frustration.They cut off the communication between the forces of Bhaurao and Nanasaheb Peshwa in Pune .At last brave heart Bhaurao with the help of Ibrahim Gardi who has a  strong firepower acquired by the Guns gained from the Portuguese launches an offensive with famished soldiers with scindias and Holkars forced to desert the forces due to loss of Vishwasrao and Shamsherbahadur. Bhaurao who is a capable warrior ultimately gets onto the  battlefields due to loss of younger kin to become martyred  on the battlefield.

This conflict at Panipat is not a battle .It was a war fought between Maratha Generals of diverse regions and the Northern Muslim forces collected together due to contemporary regional politics with Delhi as a centre.The war gave a setback to the Maratha supremacy and which was avenged eventually by Madhavrao Peshwa.Nanasaheb later moves northwards due to lack of information and when informed of the loss laments the death of his cousin and succumbs to slow death by disease and depression.It is said that the Marathas lost nearly 35,000 people on the battlefield amounting to 10 people from each town or village.The book narrates the valiant martyrdom of Jankoji shinde and many Marathas compatriots in and around Delhi including of Ibrahim Gardi who remains faithful to the Marathas.The book at the end has a glossary of 26 topics where the author summarizes the process of collecting information and his trips to Panipat.It is here that he hears of a Ballad sung by local jogis with lyrics of the story of Bhau in form of a conversation between his mother who fears the Afgan and Bhau who assures that he will return to Pune with victory.The author  also traces a place called Bhaupur and a small fortress called ‘Bhau ka Killa’ .History portrays Bhau as a egoistic and megalomaniac  leader ,but the author refutes these charges and salutes the administrative and war tactics of Bhau.It is the ultimate impatience of the Holkars and scindias that led to the break in the formation as decided before the aggression the chief deciding to do away with guerilla strategy with a regular strategy as the battle field happens to be plains of Yamuna river and not hills and valleys.

The  dance of desolation and death and the massive bloodshed gives the reader goose skin and fills him with remorse.The entire novel explains the circumstances of the battle including the fall of a huge meteor causing the land to vibrate. It details the devastation of the morale of the forces and the bold decision to do or die in face of being vanquished by famine and destruction.Marathi readers are forced to sit on the edge of their seats making them aware of the Maratha ambitions and the backstabbing and double crossing ,deceit by their own brethren and advocates in the court of northern kings. It also describes the capacity of durrani and his men and their perseverance to cross the Yamuna river to gain vantage ground to rally forces around the city of Panipat.

In the end the reader comes to a conclusion that defeat comes to those who choose to be negligent of realities and who play the card of emotions and hatred and who take things for granted and who remain closeted in vengeance and ignorance. Bhaurao undertakes the military feat under duress and compulsion.Earlier defeats have blinded them with anger and earlier victories brought about by Bajirao and Holkars have heightened their own expectation and military desires.Their calculations and presumptions prove erroneous and force defeat due to blind faith and assumptions.

The novel is a ‘Must Read’ for Maratha Politicians who seek power in Delhi.The entire exercise is a learning process and has plenty of carry home messages. Ample lessons are to be learnt by the contemporary stalwarts in Maharashtra polity. The role of the Brahmins and the limited role of religion in assuming power in north breaking a lobby of the combine north-south supremacy have to be systematically developed with a common agenda. And the agenda can only be Language and Unity.

Panipat has bared the deficiencies in Maratha wisdom and limitation of regional politics in federal India.It is ultimately the win of the virtuous over less virtuous and never a win of good over bad or true over false or strong over weak.It is a win of less over lesser. It is a win of lesser wise over more lesser wise.It is never like the war of Kurukshetra as future wars will be fought in kaliyug where more sinners will loose at the hands of less sinners. Panipat thus forewarns and throws dreams out of the window lock stock and barrel.