Nehru notes that amidst all these internecine feuds, the peasant is unaffected, as there is no advantage in dispossessing him. In the ensuing battle under Achyuta Raya, the ace rebel Shilappa is taken prisoner. Trouble is brewing in Chudamandal under Udaya Varman and needs to be subjugated. Rama Raya, Krishna’s powerful son-in-law, thwarts Achyuta Deva Raya, royal treasurer and the nominated successor of Krishna Deva Raya, in his aspiration for the throne. The scene shifts to the declining Vijaynagar Empire and its decadent feudalism. The lady still insists on getting Mallige settled after five months, when the desperate couple catches hold of the Naik, the higher intermediary and seeks his intervention, which finally comes. Undeterred, they pursue Swamiji to his urban ashram and he now advises them not to go against the lady for six months. The Iovelorn couple takes recourse to a holy Swamiji who advises prudence and declines to intervene. Enacting episodes from Masti’s Kannada novel Mallige, the landless labourer, Saguna, and his fiancee are accosted by the revenue-collector’s wife who lords over them, having fixed Mallige’s marriage somewhere else. The scenario opens with a bullock-cart race, which the common man is hugely enjoying. Thus, the individual peasant paid his due to the aristocrat revenue-collector who, in turn, paid it to the king. In India, in contrast, the king had the right only to collect taxes from the land and the revenue-collecting power was all he could delegate to others. In a hierarchy of authority, both the land and the people belonged to the feudal lord. Nehru recounts that while India had widespread monarchy, the hold of its power differed from that of European feudalism where the king had the authority over all persons and things within his domain. With Salim Ghouse as Ramaraya, Ila Arun as Heggaditi, Pallavi Joshi as Mallige, Siraj Khan as Saguna, Ajay Kumar as Achyutadevaraya, Vijayan Nair as Pedda Tirumala, Vijay Rani Nair as Varadamba, Sudhir Kulkarni as Selappa, and Bhupendra Sandhu as Javara. A Production of Doordarshan, the Government of India’s Public Service Broadcaster
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |