Yesterday as I was idling around, I decided to watch TV. A programme called Maharana Pratap is being aired on Sony Entertainment Television nowadays. I love to gorge on history, so I chose to watch it rather than Shinchan or Ninja Hattori.
So, some fast facts on the Maharana:
| Maharana Pratap Singh | |
|---|---|
| The Ruler of Mewar | |
 |
|
| Reign | 1568–1597 |
| Born | May 9, 1540 |
| Birthplace | Kumbhalgarh Fort, Rajasthan, India |
| Died | January 19, 1597 (age 57) |
| Predecessor | Udai Singh II |
| Successor | Amar Singh[1] |
| Consort | Maharani Ajbade Punwar[2] |
| Issue | Amar Singh Bhagwan Das Others |
| Royal House | Sisodia, Suryavanshi Rajput Raja of Mewar |
| Father | Maharana Udai Singh II |
| Mother | Maharani Jaivantabai[2] |
| Religious beliefs | Hinduism |
My concern is not for this great patriot of India who fought endlessly to keep India away from Mughal Empire and had fought in the Battle of Haldighati.But what has kept torturing me since yesterday is this:
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Can you see the flames in the picture? This is a traditional jauhar ritual going on. This potrait refers to the First Jauhar of Chittor conducted when Allaudin Khilji attacked Mewar.
Jauhar refers to the ancient Indian Rajput Hindu tradition of honorary self-immolation of women and subsequent march of men to the battlefield (against any odds) to end their life with respect. It was followed by the Rajput clans in order to avoid capture and dishonour at the hands of muslim invaders.
Jauhar (also spelled jowhar) was originally the voluntary death on a funeral of the queens and female royals of Rajput kingdoms defeated by Muslim rulers. The term is extended to describe the occasional practice of mass suicide carried out in medieval times by Rajput women and men. Mass self-immolation by women was called jauhar. This was usually done before or at the same time their husbands, brothers, fathers and sons rode out in a charge to meet their attackers and certain death.
After reading the meanings of all these, I was literally shocked. For the fear of defeat, the Rajput women chose death rather than being taken in chains by the Muslim invaders, mainly refering to the Mughal Empire. But why?
Mummy explained: “After being caught by the Mughals, the Rajputs would have been tortured severely. Men would have been killed, either during the war or after being captured, while women and children were molested and children too, killed. In this way the Mughals could instill fear in the people of their new kingdom. Then only the people will be subordinate to the king.”
Now I understood. To save their honor, the women decided to kill themselves rather than fall prey in the hands of the lust locked enemy. Really, its a feat, a great achievement as there was no other body at that time which could save these brave ladies. I salute them.
My eyes were filled with tears by the time I read the whole article in Wikipedia.
Here’s my summary of the results of the wars in 16th Century India: a MURDER system
Mass killings through war
Underestimate
Rape and molest
Dictatorship
Enhance power
Radiate to new kingdoms
And so, it went on…………………and continues to exist till today. Surprised? No surprise. Till recently, the practice of sati[ forcibly putting the widow on the pyre of her husband] was going on in our so called Independent India. Fortunately, with the help of common people, social activists and the Indian Government, this shit has come to a shutdown.
But the story of molestation never ends.
There has been a sharp fall in the number of foreign tourists. India is not a safe place for women. Infact, it is getting on at par with Islamic countries where most of the basic rights for women are denied. Everyday in the newspapers we read about girls being molested and killed. We also hear about prostitution, child trafficking, and what not. All of us are equally responsible. True, we are speeding like anything on the path of education and technological development, only to simply cancel it out in this negative direction though this shameless acts. Wolves are everywhere; at the marketplace, work place and amongst our near and dear ones. They keep on terrorising us. My parents never leave me alone outside. They know what type of kid I am: A foolish and stupid kid who understands nothing about this world, this cruel and wicked society. Whenever I go out alone to the neighborhood market, guys do stare at me. Some give a slight chase and then give their best smiles and speed away on their bikes. I am not beautiful. Then why me???????
We readily come up to light candles when anyone has passed away due to such henious act, but never have the courage to wipe out those goons completely. We never mind things until and unless they happen to us. This modernisation has deprived us of selflessness and humanity. Movies affect a lot of youngsters to try out these blasted things but the movie makers don’t attempt to stop these. They just check out the box office, that’s all.
In an article I had read that the attitude of paedophiles makes us remember about the ancient Homo sapiens. This behaviour is considered to be very primitive as it was related to increase the population of the species. Now the situation doesnot demand that. Then why are men showing up such peculiar behaviour?
Maybe Science has the answer. Or History. I just have no idea. The possibilities are endless. Everything is related in this world. I connected jauhar with molestation and learnt so much. Next day someone might connect it with another item with solid evidence.
I promise I won’t call TV an idiot box anymore.
@Debashrita
Courtesy: Wikipedia
THE FUNKY WRITER 
nicely written and in a very true sense feel like its all what i feel..thanks
Thanks for dropping by and sharing your valuable thought……
good article
Thanks for the comment. It really means to me a lot……………..
the serial brings tears to my eyes too abt knowing abt jauhar n saka……from last 1 month i always thinking about it even in the clinic……the things shared by you (my dear sister) are correct…..all india requires is a person like adolf hitler to create strict law and order against the bastard animals….these people cant be considered as animals coz animals are still better than bastard indian generation….
I also cried when I saw the serial. Really a great one. We need to learn history and be proud of it.
Thanks for dropping by my website! I’m really attached to this article.
But Adolf Hitler was also not a nice guy. He was worse than these kings!!!!!!
well done ,we all need friends like you.
i would like to tell an incident.i was in a bus and a man was sitting and i was standing and he started rubbing his knee on my bum, i simply stated in a voice loud enough to hear for everyone”either keep your knee to yourself or i will cut it off with a knife and keep it permanently to myself” after that there was a pin drop silence and all the way was smooth until i got down.
I really appreciate your effort! Congratulations. Actually, we all need to be brave. But we keep silence………that’s where the problem starts.
And thanks for visiting my blog……your comment means that I’m doing a right thing by spreading awareness………..
Well done again! You are brave. And I’m proud of you.
Well written text Debashrita. You are a very smart girl. This Indian History of Rajputana brings tears in my eyes. Do you know that some Rajput kings were giving their daughters and daughter-in-law to Akbar in marriage or simply sending them to his Harem?
http://maharana-pratap-exhibition.blogspot.ca/
Ya I know that. Its really pathetic that kings loved their positions more than their daughters.
Thanks for giving me support. You gave my writing wings!
i’m really proud of all of them who are still attacked to our history
Same here.
It is real. But the fact that the Mughals molested the Rajputnis are false. They made the petty servants of their palaces marry them and kept them as downtrodden as possible. The Mughals also had mothers and wives.
You maybe right. After all, who has seen those things with their own eyes? Though documents and proofs exist, they mostly speak volumes about the glories of the ruler. But I think some sort of torture would have been in the King’s dictionary to show the Rajputs that The Mughals were the boss.
really it’s a proud feeling thing we took birth in that country in which such a brave & dedicated people sacrificed their life for self-respect & our country’s prestige.
Yeah I agree.
Thanks for your appreciation.
I am proud that I am a indian and I am so proud my ancesters were so great.
Yeah
Nice article, I’m glad you were intrigued by our history. I’ve been watching the show since the start since my parents are Rajput so they really wanted us children to learn about heroic people in our history. If you read about Maharana Pratap more, you learn that his grandma performed Jauhar and so did a previous generation of women in Mewar. Women were treated with upmost respect in many parts of India. Not every Rajput king was a saint obviously, but I’ve learned that Maharana Pratap was one AMAZING person. Once his own son came across Mughal women whose husband was planning to attack Pratap and Pratap instantly sent the women back safely and did not misuse his power. There are many more incidents recorded by other kings as well. It’s very sad to see how deep India fell.. there were days when women were valued (not all of India) but a huge chunk of it was known to protect their honour, their land and their people. Now everyone uses the excuse that men’s minds are naturally oriented to be thinking about ‘those’ things. All those people who believe in such nonsense need to know that there’s a difference between humans and animals, we have a brain that lets us control and enforce rules, be disciplined, etc. One of the things I hope all women start doing is fighting to find men that are real, that value them as someone like Maharana Pratap would have. Also, women need to continue educating themselves and not let men impose anything on them, it’s nice having that ideal protective husband but not all men are good, not all will protect your dignity, we have to fight ourselves. Maharana Pratap’s personality has taught me to fight for what is right until death, to never give up and to work hard to become stronger so no one can touch you. If enough of us fight, we will win. Today’s situation in India is sad though, we need to wake up. If Maharana Pratap was here, I know he would be disappointed in all of India.
Thanks for the support. I agree with what you think.
I don’t think u have heard of “who wins takes the cake”. that’s exactly what happened with all the rulers. So stop talking rubbish about both sides.>>> exactly you were not there to c what the truth so stop speaking shit about both.
I had never heard of this proverb. Thanks for the info. By the way it was not my intention to hurt you. I was just supporting The Maharaja because I think he was a great person. I also think nice about Akbar…about his rules and policies. It’s just that I didn’t like his idea of marrying raj put princesses for getting an empire…marriages aren’t contracts or somrthing… think…how did he do justice to all his wives? I was not there to see but I rely on my 6th sense and Wikipedia. I trust my instinct and I really know that if the Mughals were so good then they would not have been able to conquer the whole India. And by the way if you think that women are a piece of cake then please change your view. By the way I also respect your thoughts. After all you have the right to express yourself. Thanks for visiting and I highly appreciate your criticism. You have helped me to become better.
but how did maharana prataps mom jaywantabaiji actually die?was it jauhar in her case?
I’m sorry I’ve no idea.
Your article would have been greatly appreciated had it been an unbiased one. We being Indians, admire Maharana Pratap as much as Akbar, because both have contributed to Indian History greatly.Unfortunately your bias ruined the effect that reading your article would have had otherwise. If you speak about jowhar, yes we admire that the women were really protective about their honour. But you mixed that, with criticism of muslim rulers alone.
You say you trust wikipedia and your instincts..
So I offer you this :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisoners_of_war_in_Islam
If the Mughal rulers were so evil my dear, they wouldn’t be holding such a significant place in History. Also, if you ask about Akbar doing justice to his wives, Wikipedia states that Maharana Pratap had 11 wives too.
Please, do not just focus on one side of the story. There’s always another side worth listening to.
Peace.
Yes thank you. I completely agree. We need to stop generalizing and targeting a certain race alone sure there have been lots of cases that have been well deplorable but that in no way is an indication of their entire race.
Thanks for the precious comment.
I’m sorry for hurting you, but I am not criticising Muslim rulers. I love their architecture and history. I’ll edit that part.
Thanks for making me a better human.
nice article.keep it up
Thanks
Whereever i read about mughals , a feeling of hatered has developed.
Though none ruler was real ruler,they were more dictator and did every thing to justify themselves & for their enjoyment.
Muslim rulers can never make a country democratic.
Nicely written..Thanks.
Thanks to you, Sir, for checking out my blog! Hope that you follow it as well 😀
I have read all the comments. Not surprised that Muslims who have commented have been critical of your excellent article. One Muslim commentor has remarked that Akbar was a great person and that is why he is spoken so highly in history. Let me tell these ignorants that Indian history has been thouroughly distorted by the spineless Congress governments just to appease the Muslim community and get their votes. The reality is, Akbar never ruled whole of India. His influence was confined to what we today know as Western Uttar Pradesh and few pockets in MP. Mugals were foreign invaders who did irreparable harm to this country. All the vices against women started after they came as they were barbarians and did not respect women.
People do have anger against the Mughals, and it is even true that foreign invaders tortured women like hell. But now we should not actually target Muslim people to appease them and get their votes. Like we cannot simply go and kill Britishers just because their forefathers ruled India.
We still need to know a lot about Mughals….Indian history is so immense and vast…I have written an article on the Delhi architecture. Perhaps you’d like to read that as well.
Thank you for your valuable comment.
Regards
Debshrita
post on this site clearly mentioning that did the mother of maharana pratap jaiwanti bai died in or conducted jowhar.or she had natural death.
I love to research on indian history in my free time.i will visit site tomorrow
Even I don’t know about this…much of the history is just story so you can’t even trust on the most trusted sites.
Well written….
And what I liked most is the manner in which you are handling negative comments…
Personally Akbar will always be my most favourite ruler….but after watching this serial, a deep sense of respect has grown in me for Maharana Pratap.
I agree with people here….We should not attack one community….nor should we think that all men are bad…bcoz there are wonderful men like Maharana Pratap too..There’s good n bad in everything. However…I also feel that thousands of women did not jump into fire for nothing. They must have feared something greatly evil….
Nonetheless…great article.
Thank you very much! 🙂
Great article, keep the good work going.
Thank you very much!
Hi
Liked your article . It’s sad but the truth is same which u mentioned on this page. In rajputana history it describe 5 main jauhar which carried out out of it 3 were at chittor garh , one at jaisalmer n one at Ajmer (maharani sanjogita did) but one similarity in all 5 is all of them carried out due to Mughal or afghan rulers . If a Hindu king fight with other Hindu king they use to give them equal respect even after they lost the war but these foreign rulers doesnot showed this quality so finally jauhar n saka were performed. In chittor garh n jaisalmer fort we can see some hints of jauhar like hand prints of royal ladies n jauhar kaksha too.
Thank you