“It is the biggest religion to protect the dignity of woman, even if she belongs to our enemy”, a dialogue from play ‘Asmita’ expressed the divine character of great warrior, which revived the glorious saga of history where MaharanaPatap ruled the kingdom of Mewar from 1572 to 1597.On the occasion of 478th birth anniversary of MaharanaPratap on June 16, the Maharana of Mewar Charitable Foundation organized various activities in ZenanaMahal at The City Palace. Solo play ‘Asmita’ exhibited Pratap’s ideology and respect for women to tourists visiting City Palace, students of VidhyaBhawan Society and Army personnel. The function started with showering the flowers on the statue of MaharanaPratap followed by the inspirational play based on significant incident of his life. Enacted by Manish Sharma, produced by Martand Foundation, Udaipur and written by Dr. Chandra Shekhar Sharma, the story was focused on an event where Abdul Rahim Khan Khana, a Muslim Warrior leader of Akbar changing in to Sufi. The play was conceived and directed by Vilas Janve. The play deeply affected the audience. Battle of Haldighati was not the battle of religion because many Rajput leaders fought from Mughal Emperor Akbar’s side while Pratap’s army was commanded by Hakim Khan Sur, and few Rajput Commanders besides Bhil soldiers. MaharanaPratap fought to maintain the freedom and dignity of Mewar. After this battle, Akbar orders Abdul Raheem Khan Khana, the Subedaar of Ajmer to capture Pratap. Khan Khana proceeds to Mewar with all arrangements; he even takes ladies on this mission. After camping at Shergarh he along with his army goes in search of Pratap. But his camp was attacked by Amar Singh, son of MaharanaPratap, who takes all his valuable jewelry, soldiers and also KhanKhana’s Begum (wife) and brings in the camp of Pratap.
On knowing Khan khana’s Begum kidnapping, Pratap scolds his own son for disrespecting ladies and asks to ensures the values laid down by their ancestors. He orders Amar Singh to take back Begum to her camp with utmost care and dignity. This generous and divine act of MahranaPratap creates indelible impact on Begum and when she returns to her husband’s camp, she calms down furious Abdul Rahim Khan Khana and explains how well she was treated in Pratap’s camp. Highly impressed by divine humanity of RanaPratap, she praises Pratap and his values for freedom. She convinces her husband to seek freedom for Mewar from Mughal Emperor Akbar. Motivated by act of Pratap and encouraged by Begum, Khan Khana went to Akbar and advises him not to disturb freedom of Mewar. After his valuable suggestions, hr turns Sufi from Subedaar of Mughal Courtyard.This story not only exhibited the morals and values of MaharanaPratap towards safeguarding the dignity of ladies but also threw light on the rich philosophical poetry of Khankhana. The entire story was dramatized and presented by versatile actor Manish Sharma. Being the single actor on stage, he entertained and engaged the audience during play by his narration, dialogue delivery and impressive acting of various characters. Director Vilas Janve has emphasized on physical, verbal and harmonious acting rather than outer appearance. The narrator while telling story suddenly used to enact different characters and soon resumed his informal story telling. It helped in building strong bond between audience and performer. Viewers got dual benefit from the show. Firstly, they get to know about principles of MaharanaPratap and secondly on literature point of view they learned few couplets of Sufi Rahim Khan. Most of them never knew that the philosophical couplets they read in text book belonged to the Khan Khana who was inspired by the divine character of MaharanaPratap. Samarth Janve’s music added an extra feather on a cap. He brilliantly merged music with the acting which made performance interesting giving peaceful and relaxing effect at the end. Sound and Music was looked after by Bhuwan Sharma and backstage activities were assisted by Vishal Jain and Prof. Arun Jain. Students of VidhyaBhawan Society who came from Uttarakhand had their first encounter with the theatre performance. Play was highly appreciated by the Army personnel of EklingGarhCantonment. This play needs to shown to more and more places for different audiences for educating people about the virtues of Mewar. The members of Royal family including Smt. VijayrajeKumari Mewar, Smt. NivrittiKumari Mewar, BaisaMohlakshikaKumari, Maharaja KanakVardhan Singh Deo of Patna Balangir, Maharani SangeetaKumari Devi of Patna Balangir, KunwarPranayvir Singh Dadwal of ChaukiPatiari, KunwaraniTanisha Singh Dadwal of ChaukiPatiari and KunwarAadyahvir Singh Dadwal of ChaukiPatiari witnessed and appreciated the play. The MMCF distributed sweets, souvenir and brouches of MaharanaPratap to all the attendees. They exhibited the books on life of Pratap and some of his articles published in paper for sale. Entire city palace was decorated with elaborate lightings. A concert of songs on MaharanaPratap was also organized after during the ceremony - Rekha Sisodia
