Mastani
ISBN-10: 8129119331 Kusum Choppra
Mastani, daughter of
Chhatrasal Bundela, the second wife of Bajirao Peshwa was not welcome in the
Peshwa family. Baji was not even able to perform their son, Krishnasinh’s
upanayanam. His first wife Kashibai led the Brahmin opposition to Krishnasinh’s
integration into the household and the Bhat Konkanasth community. Kusum
Chopra creates two alternate scenarios to fit known facts – and both scenarios
are startling. (I would not want to rob the readers of their moment of
discovery by telling the details of the story.)
It is difficult to
read the novel – it is sad to realize politics and greed in a family can
destroy a nation and a dream. Hubris and egoism added to the poisonous
mix that prevented Baji, his brothers and his Sardars from working together in
achieving their goals.
I share the author’s
self-confessed obsession of Mastani. She remains the heroine of folk-lore
in spite of having all accounts of her being expunged from the Peshwa
Bakhars. Ms. Chopra has painted Mastani as a very beautiful, brave,
talented woman, utterly in love with the Peshwa. She must have
been. She also characterizes the Peshwa Baji Rao as an extremely talented
warrior, who while capable of formulating the policy to free the country of the
enemy, was somehow emotionally weak, incapable of that killer instinct to
strike that final blow to finish off the enemy. (It was Baji who
articulated the philosophy of the Maratha nation – let us strike at the trunk
of the withering tree and the branches will fall off themselves…) Again, it is
entirely plausible. She offers as an example, Baji’s incapacity to
deliver the final assault on the Mughal throne during the Battle of Delhi in
1737, when he went as far as the outskirts of the City and retreated towards
Bundel Khand.
There is a quite
plausible account of palace politics that describe the interactions between the
Chattrasal household and the Peshwa household. Baji’s insecure wife
Kashibai comes off as conniving and weak. Baji’s mother Radhabai comes
off as a domineering matriarch too fond of controlling the family. The
political savvy of the Peshwa women is portrayed as highly questionable. Again,
this is a very believable scenario.
These were, in all probability, extremely ambitious wives of highly
capable men folk, but too newly elevated to wealth and power – and predictably
of limited world view. The cloistered
Brahmin upbringing would not have contributed much to their getting a broader
outlook on life.
Kusum Chopra has
done a great job researching a topic that is not found much in primary source
material. She has stitched together a tale that holds true to
history. It is admirable in an age when authors falsify historical facts
in the name of writing historical fiction. (For example, I particularly find a
novel/film a la mode ‘Jodha-Akbar’ deplorable, where a Jodha character is
largely fictional.) The gallant but tragic story of Mastani comes
through cleanly. She exposes the less than idealistic spouting of the
Chitpavan Brahmin coterie that would not even leave Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj
in peace. (Paraphrasing Dr. Jadunath Sarkar, the empire that Shivaji
created carried in its DNA the seeds of its own destruction. “The first danger
of the new Hindu kingdom established by Shivaji in the Deccan lay in the
fact that the national glory and prosperity resulting from the victories of
Shivaji and Baji Rao I created a reaction in favor of Hindu orthodoxy; it
accentuated caste distinctions and ceremonial purity of daily rites which ran
counter to the homogeneity and simplicity of the poor and politically depressed
early Maratha society. Thus, his
political success sapped the main foundation of that success…”)
It is heartbreaking
when you go beyond the tragic destruction of two grand human beings as portrayed
by Chopra, and consider the larger untold stories that the novel hints at but
leaves out.
First,
Krishnasinh. Can you imagine how a six-year old boy who has lost both his
parents must have been brought up Muslim in a strict and disapproving Chitpavan
Konkanasth household? The slow and inexorable, and utterly needless
alienation of your own? Chopra makes a point of spelling out the fact
that until the time of Ali Bahadur, the Chitpavan traditions persisted in
Banda.
Second, a willful
destruction of Chhatrasal’s dream. (Chhatrasal deserted from the Mughal
army to meet Shivaji. He offered to join Shivaji in his work of building
the Swaraj. Shivaji encouraged him to carve out an independent
Bundelkhand, and promised help if needed. Chhatrasal sought Baji’s help
in repelling Muhammad Shah Bangash’s attack.)
Third, the seeds of
a defeat at Panipat were sown when the dissentions that were allowed to fester
during Mastani’s life in Pune were not appropriately resolved. If Kusum
Chopra’s story is correct, Balaji Baji Rao must have had a somewhat fractious
relationship with Gopikabai.
I am a purist when
it comes to writing style, and I think Kusum Chopra’s liberal use of Hindi and
the Hindi vernacular in an English novel take away from her message. When
Ms. Chopra discusses Mastani’s dress and accoutrements, somehow, Mastani comes
off as less than regal. Mastani’s torment could have been made more
poignant. But Kusum Chopra should be commended for not making the book
into a tear-jerking, maudlin tragedy. While not completely stick figures,
the characterization of both Mastani and Baji could have been fleshed out
better.
Kusum Chopra has
done a remarkable job of researching the material for this novel. In the ‘Afterword’, she shares her findings
briefly. She has personally interacted
with the descendents of the Peshwa and Mastani.
In the section ‘Aftermath’, she describes in brief the events that
happened after the deaths of the main protagonists of the novel – after the
time span of the novel, if you will. All
in all, this is an extremely important book. I don’t read Marathi, and I
feel the lacuna keenly. This book is a very important addition to the
library of an English language reader seeking to learn about this period.
