A new week, a new controversy centred on Hinduism has erupted. The latest victim of heated debates on primetime television is famous filmmaker Mani Ratnam\u2019s latest movie Ponniyin Selvan \u2014 1, the film adaptation of Kalki\u2019s revered historical fiction novel.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The film itself has put a smile on the faces of everyone associated with it, on account of its remarkable success, having collected almost Rs 350 crore globally. It has been appreciated for its economical writing, striking performances, and above all, for achieving the impossible task of condensing Kalki\u2019s novel of five volumes \u2014 which, marrying history and fiction, presents a compelling story about the rise of Raja Raja Cholan\/Arunmozhi Varman (played by Jayam Ravi). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Considered South India\u2019s most powerful king, Raja Raja Cholan is revered for his able administration, striking territorial expansions, and the creation of timeless temple architecture \u2014 including the famous Brihadheeswara Temple in Thanjavur. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s the identity of this king that has now come into question a thousand years after his lifetime \u2014 his 29-year reign having ended with his demise in 1014 AD, coincidentally, exactly one millennium before political colours changed in contemporary India. That seeps into the way primetime anchors, political personalities and social media influencers are setting up a heated discourse around him centering on one question: whether Raja Raja Cholan was a Hindu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Those on the right are celebrating him for being a \u2018Hindu\u2019 king \u2014 no doubt, ascribing to him present definitions of \u2018Hinduness\u2019. And notable personalities from Tamil Nadu, including Kamal Haasan and Vetrimaaran, have weighed in on the side of a historically more nuanced argument: that the notion of \u2018Hinduism\u2019, as defined today in an all-pervading sense, did not exist during the king\u2019s time and that those who are projecting that idea backwards are falling prey to the fallacy of presentism. A more accurate label, they say, would be Shaivism \u2014 the worship of Shiva \u2014 which has an ancient and robust non-Vedic lineage in Tamil lands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With the resistance to the \u2018Hinduism\u2019 label seeming to be a response to perceived \u2018saffronisation\u2019, it is a difficult debate to settle \u2014 and an unfortunate one to envelop a film in. But there is a history to this: a few years ago, a furore erupted over the religious identity of Tamil poet-philosopher Thiruvalluvar after he was depicted in saffron robes in a tweet by the BJP state unit. Some see a systematic politicisation here. Others are offended by the resistance to it. Everything, it seems, depends on where you stand in the political spectrum. In this post-truth era, there are no facts \u2014 only beliefs that strengthen your worldview and solidify your identity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Loving documentary of fabled good time<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Ponniyin Selvan 1 is a loving documentation of a fabled time when the rivers in our land ran full, when the earth had not been plundered. There are lessons to be learned from how life was lived then, and yet, it is a marker of our times that a film intended to celebrate a glorious period in our history has instead resulted in squabbles over an identity nuance the film doesn\u2019t exactly concern itself with. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Was Raja Raja Chola a Hindu? Was he a Shaivite? Will they even care after the next big release?<\/p>\n\n\n\n nie<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A new week, a new controversy centred on Hinduism has erupted. The latest victim of heated debates on primetime television is famous filmmaker Mani Ratnam\u2019s latest movie Ponniyin Selvan \u2014 1, the film adaptation of Kalki\u2019s revered historical fiction novel.\u00a0 The film itself has put a smile on the faces of everyone associated with it, … Continue reading Ponniyin Selvan puts identity and history of Cholas at centre of primetime debates<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,4,18,20,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16762","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-amazing-feats","category-arts-culture-entertainment","category-business-economy","category-history","category-records-india-national","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.globalrecordsindia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16762","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.globalrecordsindia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.globalrecordsindia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalrecordsindia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalrecordsindia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16762"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalrecordsindia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16762\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16765,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalrecordsindia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16762\/revisions\/16765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.globalrecordsindia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalrecordsindia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalrecordsindia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}