Lucknow dastango duo at Prez house recounts lore of Ahilyabai, who refused Sati to serve masses
Lucknow: In a proud moment for Lucknow, two renowned Dastangoi storytellers from the city, Himanshu Bajpai and Pragya Sharma, got opportunity to narrate the life and glory of Ahilyabai Holkar, queen of Indore, at Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi.
In the two-day event (May 29-30) that marked 300th birth anniversary of Ahilyabai Holkar, Himanshu and Pragya narrated 'Dastan-e-Ahilya', organised by Union ministry of culture and Sahitya Akademi. Inaugurated by President Draupadi Murmu, the event was themed 'How much has literature changed'.
The duo began with the incident of Raghoba's wife, Anandi Bai, sending her maid to discover secret of Ahilyabai's popularity.
The maid tells her that Ahilyabai lives a an austere life, with neither jewellery, nor any ostentation, but is famous because of her great thinking and welfare of common people.
How Ahilyabai meets Malhar Rao Holkar, becoming daughter-in-law of the Holkar dynasty and then becomes a widow was narrated along with the highpoint of the legend in which she stops herself from performing Sati (jumping into her husband's funeral pyre) for the sake of her subjects and instead, devotes herself to public welfare.
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The queen was famous for her fairplay and trait of upholding justice at any cost. She sentenced her son Male Rao to death because he had killed a calf by crushing it under his chariot.
The storytellers recounted that Ahilyabai was not only devout but a warrior too. She defeated Chandrawat of Rampura thrice. The last section of the narration describes how when Ahilyabai died, a large number of people gathered in Maheshwar.
Due to her contribution to the masses, Ahilyabai was termed a goddess while she was alive.
Previously, in 2020, Himanshu had the opportunity to narrate the Kakori Conspiracy episode at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Among the listeners were Sahitya Akademi president Madhav Kaushik, secretary Srinivas Rao, poets Arun Kamal, Ashok Chakradhar, Lakshmi Shankar Bajpai and Rajshekhar Vyas.
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