Raṇa Curran : In 1893, when Sri Aurobindo joined Baroda State Service & had to learn Gujarati as one of the official languages, the only Gujarati historical novel was Karan Ghelo–the last Rajput King of Gujarat by Nanda Shankar T. Mehta, first published in 1866 (the third historical novel in an Indian language, the first two being Bankim Chandra’s Durgesh Nandini 1865, & Kapāla Kundalā 1866), & reprinted countless times. It deals with the historical Solanki-Vāghela king Rāi Karṇadeva II of Gujarat whose capital was Aṇhilwād Pātaṇ (not to be mixed up with Sōmanātha or Prabhāsa Pātaṇ). Aṇhilwād (now Siddhpur after Siddharāja Jaisingh) is c.87km NW of Idar & not far from Gujāria where Sri Aurobindo was first posted as an official of Baroda. Thus he was as fully aware of the historical background of Idar & its fortress as of the historical Bāppā Rāwal who began his reign from Idar, his father’s kingdom. Sri Aurobindo knew that in 1297, the armies of the Turkish-Afghān ‘Alā-ud-din Khalji Sultān of Delhi overran Gujarat, plundered it down to its bones, & carried away Queen Kamalā Devi to his Harem. King Karṇadeva escaped to Devagiri (q.v.). In Mehta’s Karan Ghelo, Karan the Besotted, when his prime minister was fighting a losing battle against Khalji’s hordes, Karan happened to catch a glimpse of the prime minister’s wife. And, when she rebuffed his advances, he sent his guards to kidnap her. Her brother-in-law & his men died trying to protect her. When word reached the prime minister, he withdrew from the battlefield (see Gujarat).
Share your feedback. Help us improve. Or ask a question.