Sunday November 29, 2015
Kuldip Singh Dhir
The best thing about history is that it can serve as an
early warning system. History revisited in Ocean of Cobras has definitely some
lessons to share, for it draws our attention to the gory details of an epic
battle for secular India. It views the conflict between Dara and Aurangzeb as
not one for the throne but between two ideologies. Dara’s love for all
religions and secular thinking are poised against Aurangzeb’s staunch Islamic
beliefs. Hindus and Muslims have lived together for centuries with little conflict,
until alienated by Aurangzeb’s unyielding orthodox beliefs, resulting in
widening antagonism in succeeding years.
Muslim and Hindu fundamentalists will find Dara’s
exploration of their core philosophies hard to deny. Though Aurangzeb managed
to eliminate all his rivals to rule the mighty Mughal Empire, yet he failed
miserably in stopping its relentless slide into ruin. Although it staggered on
for another 150 years, it had shattered in body and spirit by the time he died.
Aurangzeb was otherwise a remarkable ruler, intelligent
planner, shrewd guide, and wasn’t attracted towards vice, luxury or sloth. A
liberal secular empire assiduously built by Akbar was destroyed by his own
grandson who mutilated this character with his inflexible bigotry. Murad Ali
Baig has portrayed all this in an unputdownable novel. To add drama to dry
historical account and transform it into fiction, the novelist has deftly used
some literary devices. Mubarak Ali, a fictional eunuch in the imperial Zenana,
known to all the princes and princesses, is the narrator of the story. The
tools of astrological predictions, soothsayers and omens which was so common in
medieval India, have been used to provide psychological justification for
behavioural prejudices. Intimate description of moments of romance and
desperate yearning make the reader flip pages.
Except for certain brief flashbacks, the narrative moves
almost as a whole in a linear manner from 1630 AD and ends with the execution
of Dara in 1659 AD. The epilogue takes it further to make the curious readers
aware of the fate of all main historical characters in next 50 years, which
reads more like history than a novel. The storyline starts with young prince
Aurangzeb slipping a small frog down the back of his sister Roshanara’s dress,
earning his father’s wrath. Juxtaposed with it is Dara’s similar prank of
smearing honey inside Aurangzeb’s cap, which attracts an army of tiny ants
making him leap about in frenzy. Unlike Aurangzeb, Dara is not reprimanded.
Ordinary events like these have been presented that sow the seeds of distrust,
bitterness, prejudice in the psyche of various members of the royal
family.
Kind and merciful Dara’s lofty ideas about unity of all
religions and sly and ambitious Aurangzeb’s inflexible orthodoxy are pitted
against each other. These leitmotifs take us deeper and deeper into the
mysterious ocean of cobras, which is a metaphor for Aurangzeb and his
accomplices. Incidentally, the metaphor and the amazing event related to it
have been recorded in Storia do Mogor written by Victorian gunner Nicclao
Manucci, who served with Dara and the imperial forces in 17th century.
Training and growth of princes, their military expeditions,
Deccan diversion, death of Mumtaz, illness of Shah Jahan and the battles for
the throne are the foci around which the narrative revolves. This bloody struggle
for empire cost more than two lakh deaths in battles at Dharmat, Bahadurpur,
Samugarh, Khajua and Deorai. Young men of an entire generation perished in
these futile battles. The ruthless killing of Dara is heart wrenching. The
novel takes the reader through royal palace into the harem, to royal hunts and
to the kingdoms of rivals and rulers.
Mubarak Ali, the narrator, fights in the armies of rival
princes and describes the bloody battles. His adventures take the reader from
the limpid lakes of Kashmir to the deserts of Sindh and the lush forests of
Central India.
This is a highly readable and informative tale of
adventures, reckless courage, cunning and tender romance, and heart wrenching
tragedy, in which fundamentalism vanquished the secular voice. The victory,
however, ultimately spelt ruin not only for the victorious ruler, also for his
co-religionists and there lies a lesson for us all.
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