‘Take a break, read something nice and enjoy a whole new world of literature!‘ Thus exhorts @Readomania.
I did so and read ‘Padmavati – The queen tells her own story‘.
This epic tale has been superlatively penned by Sutapa Basu, who has a thirty-year old professional career as a teacher, editor, author, poet and publishing consultant. Sutapa Basu describes herself to be a compulsive bookworm and an irrepressible story teller.
Most of us have read this story in our childhood. When so much is known, yet unknown about Padmavati, how far can a spinner stretch the same, within the fettering limitations? That too, without letting the readers’ interest sag? Sutapa Basu manages this difficult feat, adroitly. Her infinite writing experience, comes to the fore, in making this literary outing, a tour de force. The tale is peppered with intricate details. With its vivid imagery, the setting almost becomes a fourth protagonist along with the loving king and husband Rawal Rattan Singh and the depraved Khilji.
For example: ‘An oval emerald, snugly nestling in tiers of frothy white lace, floated in the crushed silk of turquoise seas. It was the enchanted island of Singhaldweep, off the eastern coast of Bharatdesh.’
‘The fort of Chittor was laid out on its escarpments. Roughly oval in shape, it looked like a fat fish.’
The sensitivity with which Jauhar has been handled, gives the reader, an ample hint of what to expect.
“In the centre of all the chaos, only one figure remained serene and motionless. As the gold, saffron and blue blaze made rings around her, rising higher and higher, slowly enclosing the New Queen, she was like a sculpture, absolutely still. Nothing seemed to touch her; not the torment, not the grief, not the fear. It defied all principles of logic. Where did a girl find such strength, not garnered even by the meditation of ascetics, to tolerate the torture of being burnt alive? Her dark silhouette, in lotus pose, palms folded, was a sublime sight.“
Though Sutapa says her novel is a work of fiction, Padmavati’s psyche has been explored so deeply, that she breathes out as a gentle and thoughtful soul.
We live in troubled times, where anything and everything could be termed as offensive and an affront to dignity. That’s why it makes more sense to read this, where the writer stretches at her creative horizons and yet remains true to the saga, adding a veneer of intellect, blended with divine grace to Padmavati.
Therein lies the beauty of this tale.
As Sutapa Basu says,
‘The jauhar took hardly a few minutes to extinguish Padmavati’s living mortality but gifted her with indelible immortality; a significant niche in the history of India. Time could not dim her charisma nor age wither her stunning beauty. For centuries to come, the supreme sacrifice of this legendary Queen of Chittor would attain a place of undying pride and honour in the hearts of all her country’s people.’
The tale is narrated to Mrinalini, a cynical journalist who doesn’t believe the stirring saga – Will she come away convinced?
This question forms the crux of this absorbing tale.
Wouldn’t you want to do the same? Find the Answers?
AkkaAcerbic 