Maharashtra needs to get rid of the ghosts of history, once observed T.S. Shejwalkar, acclaimed early 20th century historian. It is an old problem now intensified by politicians. The curfew imposed in Nagpur, the hometown of chief minister Devendra Fadanavis, demonstrates this. The curfew came after violence in the city, following demands to desecrate Aurangzeb’s tomb in Khuldabad near Aurangabad. The city is now renamed Sambhaji Nagar, after Sambhaji, Shivaji’s son who has been lionised with exploitative and crude violence in the recent commercial Hindi film Chhava.
Maratha history has strongly influenced Marathi theatre for over a hundred years; some plays have gone into hundreds of shows. The character of Aurangzeb has been played so forcefully by some actors that they have got a big applause from the audience for their portrayal, however, this does not mean the crowds are supporting the Mughal emperor.
The latest historical drama is on Tarabai the woman warrior, who, after Sambhaji’s death, defeated Aurangzeb’s forces in battles for several years up to his death in 1707. Of the years 1700–1707, Jadunath Sarkar, the prominent Indian historian, especially of the Mughal dynasty, has called her “the supreme guiding force in Maharashtra”.
The recent play, Rana Ragini Tara Rani (Battle Queen Tara Rani) opened in Shivaji Mandir theatre in Mumbai on March 20, produced by former Congress MP Brig. Sudhir Sawant.
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One of the most memorable roles of Aurangzeb was played by Keshavrao Date in the early years of the 20th century. Date was unforgettable, wrote the distinguished contemporary actor Nanasaheb Phatak about his performance in the play Agryahun Sutaka (Shivaji’s escape after long confinement by Aurangzeb). The way Date uttered the command ‘Khamosh’ in the Mughal court, had a great impact.
There were controversies over the Shivaji theme even then. During a performance in Jalgaon, some Muslims objected to the portrayal of Zebunnisa, Aurangzeb’s daughter, going to meet Shivaji. This hurt our feelings, they said, and the British collector promptly banned the performance. He agreed only when another lady, a Hindu, was shown to be meeting Shivaji with a message on behalf of Aurangzeb.
A descendant of Shivaji, Jadhavrao, objected to the portrayal in the play Shivasambhav in the 1930s. But he was overruled by the Kolhapur ruler Shahu Maharaj. When there was a scene of the celebration of the birth of Shivaji, Shahu rose from his seat to show respect as did his men in the audience.
The Mughal regime under Aurangzeb enjoyed such dominance in world trade and image that in the ruler’s own lifetime, a play was written on him by John Dryden, the first English poet laureate. Produced in 1675, Aureng-Zebe was John Dryden’s last rhymed play and it is considered his best. In this tragedy, the plot is loosely based on a contemporary account of the struggle between the four sons of Shah Jahan for the succession to the throne and also about Aurangzeb’s love life.
Prabhakar Panshikar as Aurangzeb in Kanetkar’s play ‘Ithe Oshalala Mrutyu’. Photo: Author provided.
There is a forceful portrayal of Aurangzeb in Vasant Kanetkar’s play Ithe Oshalala Mrutyu (Defying death) which brought Dr Shriram Lagoo as Sambhaji to the fore. The play was first performed in 1968 at Mumbai Marathi Sahitya Sangh in Girgaum. Prabhakar Panshikar as Aurangzeb had the best scenes from the beginning to the end.
At the end Aurangzeb falls to the ground chanting a prayer, utterly defeated, Sambhaji had been jailed for days, humiliated with a parade on a donkey, tortured to death but he refused to surrender and remained defiant till the end. That really hurt the emperor’s pride. He wonders in the play what keeps these Marathas waging a fight against the mighty empire. He admits defeat. But while it is referred to, there is no torture scene on stage, unlike the blatant violence shown in the film Chhava.
In the first scene, we get a glimpse of his character, life and the period of history he belonged to. Aurangzeb is shown stitching caps and asking his aides for payment so that he could donate the money from his own earnings.
Sambhaji has raided the important city of Burhanpur and then the emperor is shown thinking how he also has to deal with foes elsewhere, like the Rajputs, the Adil Shahi kingdom, Siddis of Janjira in the Konkan, the Portuguese and the English in Surat. Surat was then a cosmopolitan city with traders from all parts of the world meeting there. Tolstoy wrote a short story about such a meeting in a café in Surat.
Kashinath Ghanekar as Sambhaji in Vasant Kanetkar’s play Raigadala Jevha Jaag Yete. Photo: Author provided
In 1962, Kanetkar also wrote a very popular and sensitive play Raigadala Jevha Jaag Yete (When Raigad – Shivaji’s fort – Wakes Up) portraying the psychology of Shivaji and his son Sambhaji, the generation gap, the conflicts between them after Sambhaji had joined the Mughal camp for some time, then the return in forgiveness, their love for each other.
Sambhaji has his own psychological problems – he had lost his mother when he was just two, then he did not get his father’s love for sometime as Shivaji went for long campaigns and battles. They were also not together when Shivaji died. In the end Sambhaji realises that he had misunderstood his father Shivaji, who had affection for him.
The play produced by the Goa Hindu Association in 1962 turned the young Kashinath Ghanekar as Sambhaji into a star who always got a big applause with his first entry on the stage.
Maratha history also evokes caste conflicts to this day. For example, no Maratha sardar came forward to cremate Sambhaji for fear of punishment from Aurangzeb but a member of the Dalit community stitched the body and cremated it as a story goes. The Dalit community has taunted the Marathas about this.
There was a very negative portrayal of Sambhaji in an early play Rajsanyas by the reputed playwright Ram Ganesh Gadkari. This may be because Gadkari was very young. He died at the age of 34 in 1919 and did not have access to records that later became available, said Vishwas Patil, a prolific and recognised Marathi writer and bureaucrat who has written a lot of fiction and plays based on history.
Almost a century later, Maratha youths of the Sambhaji brigade vandalised Gadkari’s statue when they found it had been installed in 2017 in a park in Pune named after Sambhaji.
Perhaps, a fresh poignant tragedy on Aurangabad can now be written with more revelations about his life. Historian Audrey Truschke’s book Aurangzeb, The Man and the Myth, quotes some of the letters he wrote on his deathbed to his sons which show that he recognised the utter futility of power.
He was the richest man on the planet at the time but on his deathbed he realised that his life had been in vain; he became aware of his impiety and feared God would punish him. He flinched at the idea of entering the afterlife saddled with the weight of his sins.
In a way, his grave itself tells us a lot about the man. He chose to be buried in an open air grave far away from Delhi, while Humayun’s red stone imposing tomb stands as a world heritage site in Delhi.
Clearly, the topic is not as simple and crude as Chaava suggests. The people and political leadership in Maharashtra need to develop a more liberal, modern approach to history and to this subject.
Vidyadhar Date is a senior journalist and commentator based in Mumbai.
