Garuda, Sheshnaga and Kalla Ji

My curiosity for Kalla Rathore had arisen on previous day, during our visit to Neelapani when Mahendra sa had mentioned that his ishta dev (chief deity) was Kalla Rathore and he had acquired all his siddhis i.e. powers from him. He also told me that he was in a continuous communion with him. Before that, I had never heard the deity’s name as it is not as popular as the main gods and goddesses of Hinduism like Shiva, Rama, Krishna and Amba. However, after a spine chilling adventure at Neela pani, I had almost forgotten about my question.

Next day, I was invited for lunch at Mahendra sa’s haweli where I had a sumptuous meal of an inch and half thick corn chapattis dripping with ghee and, urad dal heavy with spices and cilantro, which was followed by a huge tumbler of buttermilk (chach). This kind of meal is very popular in this area and it can easily send you into a slumber of two to three hours. But when one comes out of it, he/she feels a state of bliss, perfect tranquility and heavenly tipsiness. It was 4 o’clock when we got up. Although it was 4 o’clock but the day was still scorching hot marked by eerie silence, and loo winds.  We were waiting for our four o’clock tea. When British left India they took all the punctuality with them barring our tea timings. We are all very particular about our four o’clock tea. But for some reason tea had not yet arrived. Suddenly, my eyes fell upon a picture in which a person had a human face and a body of a Sheshnag (mythical snake of Lord Vishnu which has 1000 mouths and on which Vishnu rests). When I asked Mahendra sa, he smiled with a pious feeling of devotion and said, “Hukum , he is Kalla Rathore, my lord. Oh yes, I remember, you had asked yesterday also about him. Khamma hukum (apologies), I almost forgot”. And, then he started narrating the story of Kalla Rathore.

“Nauroz invitations were being sent to the princely states all over India. The Rajputs of Rajasthan had almost surrendered their suzerainty to the mighty lordship of Jalauddin Muhammad Akbar. Powerful kings of Rajasthan like Kachchavas of Amer, Rathores of Jodhpur were all sending their royal ladies to participate in the Nauroz festivities in Agra. The newly-wed queens and princesses were all dressed up in the best of their attires, diamonds and gold were getting into the dolas(medieval carriages placed on human shoulders, used to carry royal ladies) which were leaving for the Mughal court in Agra. After his marriage with Harkha bai, daughter of Bharmal Kachchava of Amer, a new era of Mughal-Rajput bonhomie had begun and Akbar was absolutely smitten with the Rajput beauty and their sensuality. Having gone crazy for Rajput females, he had devised strange customs which crossed the boundaries of decency and morality. It was rumored that when Rajput girls used to watch Naoroz, Akbar would himself dress-up like a woman, and wander freely in the area reserved for Rajput royal ladies. He would see them, play with them and then would invite a select few to sleep with him, which was considered a mark of respect, honor and deep humiliation by Rajput states”, said Mahendra sa with those remorseful eyes which were still wishing to go back in the history and undo the sins of his Rajput ancestors.

While I was listening to the story, my attention was distracted by two beautiful eyes who offered tea in a voice which was melodious, devotional and sensual at once, “Hukum , arogo sa”. Those almond shaped eyes and aquiline nose reminded me of Hellenistic princesses who used to frequent India in Mauryan times. Priyeshwari Singh Sisodia, who looked a character coming straight out of the ‘Bani-Thani’ paintings of Kishangarh, was the daughter of Mahendra sa. I said thanks to her keeping in mind my limitations as in the traditional Rajput families of Rajasthan, girls rarely speak to males from outside their household. But, Priyeshwari did not look or sound very traditional. When I asked her about her ambitions, she told that she wanted to do masters in physics and become a lecturer. Soon, she left us with our tea and the rest of the story of Kalla Ji.

“When Kalla Rathore, as a young Rajput lad and an heir to Rawal Achal Singh of Mertiya Thikana  in Marwar, saw this, he was quite disturbed. Upon asking his mother, when he was told the purpose of sending royal ladies to Mughal court, he was red with rage. Highly infuriated, he vowed with water in his hand that from that moment onwards he will not live even for a second in the state which has lost its self-respect and is selling its daughters to Mughal king to avoid the fire of Mughal cannons. The young Rajput wanted to go kill himself for this shame which Rajput kings of Marwar had brought to his community, but then he got to know that Mewar was the state which was still fighting its battle for survival against the mighty Mughal king. Kalla Rathore migrated to Mewar state where his brother-in-law Jaimal had already taken refuge. Upon his recommendation, the rana of Mewar sent Kallaji to suppress the rebellion of a bhil sardar Pemla Gameti (bandit or a local chieftain whose territory was being preyed upon by Ranaji just like his was being preyed upon by Akbar). Bhil Sardar Pemla was a notorious fighter who was feared for his cruelty, courage and guerilla tactics. He lived in the Bhoraigarh region near Salumbar principality of Mewar state. He had already butchered 35 qiledars (fort commanders) who had been sent earlier to imprison him. Kallaji with a band of just 200 rajput soldiers pounced upon him in narrow ghati (valley) and butchered his bhil army into pieces. He brought the butchered head of Pemla to the rana of Mewar as a mark of his victory. Rana ji was so impressed with his valor that he awarded him the jagir of Ranela near Bhoraigarh”, told Mahendra sa with a sense of pride and valor which could be seen in his eyes which displayed a spark which comes when a Rajput warrior is either about to go for a war or when a poem is narrated in Dimgal by a charan poet reminding him of his supreme valor.

Mahendra sa continued further in a tone of a devotee with staunch faith in his lord, “Hukum, Kalla Rathore was not an ordinary human being. He was divine. He was an incarnation of Lord Sheshnaga, just like Lakshman (brother of lord Rama) and Balram(brother of lord Krishna). Once, there was a fight between garuda (vehicle of lord Vishnu) and Sheshnaga (seat of lord Vishnu) over their respective importance to lord Visnhu. Garuda, in a fit of rage left Vishnu lok i.e. Ksheer Sagar (mythical sea where lord Vishnu resides) and went to Amarkot (a Rajput principality in medieval India and now in Pakistan) and told his King that the one born in your palace will be the ruler of the world and he will destroy the ‘dharma’ or the order of righteousness. When Sheshnaga came to know about this, he told lord Vishnu that the mighty lord would have to permit him to go to earth for short period and foil the task of the king who would be born in Amarkot and ruin dharma. Hukum, as you know the mighty king Akbar, who ruled India, was born at Amarkot when his walid (father) was running away to Iran, after the usurpation of his throne by the Pathan Sher Shah Suri. Akbar had come to destroy dharma, violate the purity of Hindu traditions and Hindu ladies”.

 I was just wondering that either Akbar was not as great as he is made out to be or Kalla Rathore was not as divine as he is made out to be. But then, my heart turned to mythology and concluded that both were as mythological as garuda and sheshnaga and as real as a Mughal king and a local chieftain. Choice of a historian will certainly be different from that of a writer but for this post my heart goes out for the choice of a writer who is little partial towards a mythological hero who is out to save the order of righteousness!!!!!

“Then there was a war, Banna. The mighty fort of Chittor was surrounded by Mughal armies on all the sides. Rana Uday Singh had left for Udaipur, leaving his trusted Sardars (commanders) behind in the Chittor fort, who were being led by Jaimal and Fatta. Jaimal sent a message to Kalla Rathore to join him in the battle. Kalla Ji who was getting married to princess Krishna Kumari Ji of Shivgarh(in the present Dungarpur district), received the message in the middle of the wedding rituals(when he was at the toran gate). He immediately left and while leaving when he saw tears in the eyes of the young bride Krishna Kumari, he promised her that even if he died in the battle, he would come back to see her.

Inside the fort, there were 30,000 civilians who included farmers from the nearby areas and 2000 Mewari Rajput soldiers. Mughals had cut-off the water and food supplies to the fort. They were left with two options: either die of hunger and thirst in the fort or fight the Mughals and die in the battle field. The brave Rajputs decided to go with the second option. They took the blessings of the Goddess Kali and Bhawani (goddesses of death) and decided to open the front gates of the durg (fort). Before that, all the Rajput females jumped into the well of fire and committed Jauhar to save their dignity.  1500 females became Sati in the fires of sacrifice, valor and purity. Even, to this date one can see the stones darkened with raging fires and cries of those pious females in Chittor fort. When Jaimal ordered to open the gates, he found a monstrous army of 1 lakh and 76 thousand Moghals outside the fort, ready to pounce upon the Rajput warriors. Jaimal commanded his troops to plunge headlong and not return alive. When he was butchering the Moghals, a cannon ball went past his thigh and severely injured him rendering his leg totally dysfunctional. He fell on the ground. Kalla Ji, seeing his commander falling on the ground swiftly turned to the spot where Jaimal was lying injured on the ground. He lifted Jaimal and placed him on his shoulders. Now two of them were fighting in this position i.e. jaimal was sitting on Kalla Ji’s shoulders with his two swords and fighting and Kalla ji continued severing the heads of Moghals soldiers with this two swords.

When the Mughal commanders, including Akbar saw four swords fighting simultaneously, they first thought of it as some divine force unleashing death on Mughal forces. The rage of four swords was like a death personified and Mughal soldiers were falling on the ground like vegetables being chopped. However, Jaimal received one another blow on his shoulder and collapsed. Now Kallaji was the only one fighting. Rajputs soldiers were shrinking in numbers and there were a very few left to fight with KallaJi. When Kallaji was trying to separate the dead body of Jaimal from his shoulders , a big blow of sword came straight on Kalla Rathore’s neck and his head was on the ground. By then almost all the Rajput soldiers had died. Moghal Sardars were jubilant with the victory, but then they saw Kalla Ji’s body killing Moghal soldiers. It was a body without a head. No one could stop it. It seemed the Bhawani herself had come to the battle ground and Shiva was unleashing his forces of ultimate destruction. The dance of death could not be stopped. When Akbar’s finest generals failed to stop Kalla ji’s dhad (body) , then he asked Bharmal (king of Amer) to advise him. Bharmal told him, “ hukum, he is a Rajput and Rajputs are hungry of respect so please surrender your weapons in front of him and he will stop”. Akbar followed his advice and surrendered his arms. Kalla Ji stopped fighting after eight hours and accepted Akbar’s offer of respect to his valor. 

Kalla Rathore then immediately remembered his promise and went to Ranela to meet his wife. Finally, he was buried near Ranela and his wife Krishna Kumari committed sati with him”, finished Mahendra sa. “But, how could that happen?, how can a body fight for eight hours and then go back to its home?”, asked I, like the blind Dhritrashtra who was pestering Sanjay even after the death of Duryodhan. But Mahendra sa was lost into the realm of his own thoughts which were oscillating between the worlds of history, mythology, fairy-tales, lies, caste arrogance, vendetta and devotion. He was quiet as if he was Sanjay and had lost his supernatural ability to see the war that happened almost five hundred years back.

The weather outside had become pleasant and we decided to have some more tea. But, I was still not willing to come out of the battle field where Kalla Ji was slaying Moghal soldiers for eight hours after his head was cut. Historical records do not mention much about Kalla Ji’s valor, but in that war Moghal armies murdered 30,000 civilians and this remains the biggest blot on Akbar’s character. After the war, Akbar was so impressed with the chivalry of Jaimal and Fatta that he got their statues erected outside the fort of Agra. It was a great sign of respect shown to Rajput bravery. It also showed his ability to go beyond the injunctions of Islam which forbids human statues. But still, I was not sure of the story. Akbar, who was the only secular Muslim king and had brought religious harmony between Hindus and Muslims, was regarded as the destroyer of Dharma by Garuda. And, Sheshnaga i.e. Kalla Ji though fought with divine valor, even brought Akbar to his knees (as told by Mahendra sa in his story) but still he could not defeat him. Akbar ruled for 30 years after that war and went on to become one of the greatest kings in the history of India. But, nevertheless, the heinous act of killing 30,000 civilians can never be condoned and whenever Akbar will be remembered, some thoughts will always go to the innocent souls of the civilian farmers.

But, after the war Kallaji became a prominent local deity and it is said that he visits people in their bodies. His several temples can still be seen in Mewar. I was about to leave. I said goodbye to Mahendra sa. He said good bye too. But When I was crossing the gates, he shouted, “wait, wait, wait; I have to tell you something”. Banna, if you ever spot an orange colored snake in the region, it is Kalla Ji. He is a Jagrit dev (God who is still alive and comes to help its devotees at the earliest intimation)”.

 I smiled and said good bye. While going back I was thinking of finding an orange colored snake or Kalla Ji who fought for eight hours without head!!!!!!!!!!