Journalism of Courage
In the 250th year since the third battle of Panipat,Dr Uday Kulkarni rationalises the war through a book
His eyes twinkle as he starts talking about a subject he is passionate about history. My grandfather was a history teacher and he passed on his love for the subject to me too, says Dr Uday Kulkarni. He served for 16 years in the Indian Navy as a surgeon. Today,he practices in the city and has recently written a book,titled Solstice at Panipat 14 January 1761 ,about the third battle of Panipat.
It was no easy task. Kulkarni researched for over two years,perusing through thousands of documents and letters,often written in Marathi and Persian. At first,Kulkarni thought of just writing an essay,but as the amount of material grew,he quickly realised that a mere few pages would not be enough to chronicle one of the greatest battles of the 18th century. My initial plan was to release the book on the 250th anniversary of the battle,which was on January 14,but there was just so much material that the date got pushed further. What started off as an essay turned into a 50-page paper,before turning into a full-fledged book, he says. The book was finally released in mid-April.
But why write about the battle of Panipat now? If you browse through the history section of any book-house,you will find books on Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and the Mughals,and then there will be a jump straight to the period when the British arrived in India. There is a huge gap,between 1707,when Aurangzeb died,and 1803,when Lord Lake first engaged the Maratha armies. So little has been written on this topic that this period seems to be missing from our historiography, says Kulkarni. But this is not the only reason. In the midst of 12 hours of fighting on 14 January,1761,the number of people killed was so large that the world has never seen anything like it since,not even in World War II. The irony is also that the Marathas,who spent much of their time fighting the Mughals,were in fact fighting this battle ‘for’ them,in an attempt to not allow the Afghan commander Ahmed Shah Abdali’s influence to grow in the country, he says.
The battle is also one of the most complex examples of political alliances and treaties. There are 115 main characters in my book,and in reality,there must have been far more. There were multiple power centres at work; for example,though the battle was primarily between the Afghans and the Marathas,the North Indian rulers had invited Abdali into the country to overthrow the Mughals. In addition,the Marathas,fighting for the Mughals,had been trained by the French, says Kulkarni.
The book is an attempt at a balanced perspective of the battle,though Kulkarni acknowledges that history cannot be unbiased. He has also chosen to write the book in English. This book is not for Maharashtrians alone. The battle of Panipat was of great national significance,because it eventually led to events like the Sikh uprisings and the expansion by the British, he concludes.
