Stature, statute and statuary

Few historical figures are as revered and as abused the great Maratha hero, Shivaji Raje. In the state of Maharashtra, he enjoys demi-god status, immortalised in ballads, lore and legend. So great is Shivaji’s grip on the popular Marathi psyche, that any political entity hoping to gain mileage in the state makes it a point to stake a claim to the legacy of Shivaji. And whatever the historical facts may be, it is true that in popular imagination Shivaji was the noble warrior who, battling impossible odds, held his own against a powerful antagonist with unparalleled martial, administrative and political genius. He is a sort of combination of Chanakya, Machiavelli, Bismarck and Guevara. For the people of Maharashtra, Shivaji epitomises the kind, just and noble people’s ruler – the Janta Raja. It is hardly surprising that so potent a symbol has been misappropriated so many times in the recent past.

Successive governments of Maharashtra have fallen over themselves to outdo their predecessors in proving their Shivaji-devotee credentials. This has yielded a rather rich irony. Many of Mumbai’s landmarks (the zoo and the museum, for instance), and nearly all of it’s major transport hubs have been renamed after the fabled king, often by statutory deeds rushed through the legislature by politicians eager to appease the masses. And this is not the case in just Mumbai. Few towns in Maharashtra lack a public square, a bus terminal or at least a street named after Shivaji. This is particularly ironic because on not even one of the many forts he conquered, restored or commissioned did the great Shivaji have so much as his name etched! Generation after eager generation of political wannabes has built statue after statue of the Janta Raja, while the king’s true legacy, the scores of hill forts that dot Maharashtra’s rugged landscape, lie crumbling in disrepair.

And now, we are to have a newer, grander statue of Shivaji in Mumbai. This one will be in bronze, will rise from the Arabian Sea to dominate the Marine Drive skyline and will cost $ 4.5 million to erect (see reports here and here). One might argue that this is a wasteful expenditure of public money. On the other hand, what could be a better place than Mumbai or a better time than now for such a flamboyant gesture of pride? Surely, it is apt that Shivaji should be the subject of such a statue, for no one casts a longer shadow over the historical consciousness of Maharashtra. What is mildly irritating is that civic officials have chosen to compare the proposed statue to the Statue of Liberty and have gleefully pointed out that it will be as tall as or taller than the New York landmark. Why would you compare the statue of a real 17^th century hero to that of an imaginary entity fabricated in the 19^th century? It’s not that the latter is not a marvel in its own right. It is. But even when we glorify home-grown giants of our own history, the parallels we seek are not our own. That is the symptom of a colonised mind. And here lies the richer irony. Our city fathers with their colonised, West-aspiring minds, are about to erect a monument to a man who, to most who revere him, represents the struggle of the people against tyranny, oppression and colonisation!

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