Pavankumar Shinde
300, the movie
The Hollywood movie, which depicts how 300 Spartan soldiers fought hard with thousands of Persian troops, arrived in 2006. It was such a popular movie among the youth of India.
137 years ago, in 1883, Jotiba (Krantiba) Phule had in the book ‘Shetkaryancha Asud’ (‘Cultivators Whipcord’) written that the aristocrats and peasants should be inspired by the 300 patriotic soldiers of Sparta who fought against the army of Xerxes to save the republic.
Yes, 137 years ago! Krantiba Phule is the first person in Marathi literature to draw inspiration in the history of various countries of the world including Sparta, Rome and so on.
Notably, the famous historian James Todd called the war at Koregaon Bhima the war of the Indian Thermopylae. Thermopylae is the same mountainous terrain where the Persian and 300 Spartan soldiers fought.
Rome and Nero
During this Corona (COVID-19) crisis, the entire Indian society is struggling with economic, mental, social and health issues. We see several posts on social media mentioning Nero and Rome on the betrayal of the citizens of India. The ruler of the Roman nation, Nero, was playing with a fiddle while Rome was burning. If the king was playing the fiddle, then you can imagine what other officers were doing.
So this Roman king Nero is mentioned in his literature by Krantiba Phule,in the Preface to the book, Gulamgiri (Slavery). Referring to Machiavelli along with Nero, Mahatma Phule said that Nero (and Machiavelli) would pale in comparison with the selfish, cruel, inhuman, infamous Parasuram!
Nero kept playing the fiddle after Rome, but the mindset of India’s ruling class is to set itself on fire and to do anti-social politics. Not only that, this ruling class not only fiddles with the fire itself, but can also convince Indian citizens to celebrate the ‘event’ with taalis (claps), drumming on thalis (plates) etc. Brahminical media is certainly responsible for this. The manufacturing of consent is carried out by the Brahminical media.
The new generation should understand the ideas of revolutionary Jotiba Phule, on his anniversary. They cannot live without realizing how relevant they are today. For the liberation of ordinary Indians, the philosophy of Jotiba Phule has to be put into practice.
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Pavankumar Shinde is a promoter and follower of ‘Pragya Suryacha Prakhar Tejakadey – Chala Babasahebanchya Mool Granthakade Mahabhiyan’, National Hitkarini Sabha, Parbhani (Maharashtra) and is an active voice on Social Media to promote literature of Dr.Babasaheb Ambedkar.
The original article was published in RTI Marathi and was translated by Vinay Shende.
