The English translation of a novel ‘Maharaja Dahir’ authored by Kolkata-based renowned novelist Debasree Chakraborti in Bengali language. The novel has been translated by Rajesh Giri
Dr. Iqbal noticed on another page that Maharaja Dahir had written about his war preparations; in such a situation he was also worried about his mother Kali of Aror, if daily ritualistic worship of her mother’s would be done properly or not. He expressed concern for his pets. He had heard that the Arabs did not take proper care of their domestic animals; they use an animal as much as possible, then when the animals became sick due to overwork and lack of proper food, then the Arabs leave them to die.
Maharaja Dahir writes that if he is defeated, thinking of the plight of his pets brings tears to his eyes. He is praying in his heart that their lives will be lost on the battlefield, so that they will not have to endure so much suffering afterwards. As a father, he is wishing the death of his children! His eyes are filled with tears.
Dr. Iqbal can see marks of tear drops. Surya Devi was also emotional like her father. Because he saw marks of tear drops on the pages of the diary of Surya Devi too.
Maharaja Dahir expressed great concern for his children like subjects. He wrote that it seems that a horrendous demon is slowly devouring Mother Sindhu. This demon is beheading the men, meaning that if he is defeated, all the men in his kingdom will be beheaded. Maharaja writes that daughters of Sindh are Devi Lakshmi to him. If he is defeated, they will be sold in the Arab market. He wrote that if he could go back in time, he would have corrected all his mistakes, then Sindhu Maa would have been saved. He is praying to Mother Goddess to give him the strength to fight against this adverse situation.
While reading Maharaja Dahir’s diary Iqbal remembered his grandfather. Dadu talks about Maharaja Dahir. Dadu says tolerance is not for this age, if you remain unarmed, you give kindness and love to others, but in return he cuts your throat and leaves; that is not right at all. Dadu’s house in Mirpur was attacked by Khansena one night. Dahir’s family has a lot in common with my Dadu’s family. May be that is the reason for which God has chosen him for this special task.
Dr. Iqbal is now getting a little sleepy due to long fatigue. He puts Maharaja Dahir’s diary in the metal box and lay down on the four-legged bed. As soon as he closed his eyes, it was as if he had arrived in Bangladesh in the 1971; the jute fields around Mirpur– the grandfather’s village, and the earthy road passing through the field entered into the village. Right at the entrance of the village there is a huge Kali temple, he heard from his grandfather that his grandfather Kalipada Sen was a devotee of Maa Kali, and he founded this temple. The name of Kalipada Sen was inscribed on the white stone plaque cemented on the red wall of the temple. On both sides of this path are green forests; sometimes one or two small hatched houses. As Dadu described, Dr. Iqbal aka Panchajanya’s mind kept seeing the same scene. A huge house is seen in front of this road. This is exactly how the mansions of zamindar looks like in the movies. Suddenly the darkness of the night descends all around, the clouds are roaring in the sky, the lightning flashed over the big house in front. All of a sudden the front door of the house is opened, then many men and women along with their children entered the house from both sides of the door. When Iqbal’s consciousness entered this house, he could not see anything, because of the terrible darkness all around. Now he can only hear heavy breathing sound. He smelled a very foul odour, surroundings were slowly illuminating now, he could see a teenager, very scared sitting behind a huge chamber. He heard from his grandfather that they had arrangement of a temporary latrine in the village house; his grandfather used to sit behind the latrine chamber to escape from the khan soldiers.
Dr. Iqbal’s consciousness came out from that and saw men standing in a queue in the middle of the courtyard, and a group of Khan’s soldiers standing opposite to them.
Within a moment gun shots rang out; slowly men are toppling down and the earthy yard turned red with blood. He now heard the screams of the women. What a terrible scene. In a while a sari flew in the blow of wind and starts falling on the pool of blood in the courtyard; along with the sari hair strands, torn hair, broken pieces of bangles all started accumulating. These piles covered the vision forward. Then darkness again. Out of the darkness the howl of jackals and dogs emerging out, then all become still. Dadu was the only chap who survived that journey. Here Dadu can only be compared with Maharaja Dahir’s son Jaisingh. Like Jaisingh, Dadu managed to save himself and carry forward his lineage. Dadu says God has a great purpose behind every event. This time the purpose of his coming to Pakistan and why he was selected for this job became clear to him. After a long overdue exasperate, he sleeps peacefully. (Continues)
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Debasree Chakraborti is a renowned novel writer of Bengali language. Based in Kolkata, West Bengal, India, she has done Master’s in Modern History from the Kolkata University, and authored some thirty books, mostly the novels, with historical perspective and themes. Her most recent novel is ‘Maharaja Dahir’ that covers the history of Sindh from 662, the year of first attack on Sindh by the Arab armies till date.
Rajesh Giri, born in Kolkata, had his early schooling from Kolkata and then from Medinipur—a village in Bengal. He graduated from Calcutta University with Physics and Maths and Master’s from Burdwan University in 2016. Now he is associated with Adhdhyaan educational institution teaching Physics. History enthusiastic Rajesh Giri is particularly interested in the ancient civilization of India and other regions like Egypt, Mesopotamia, and North America. He loves traveling.
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