Chapter Text
Written in blood
Written in blood
If someone asks me a summary or an opinion on history, i wouldn't say, it was still; Nor was it perfect, Like Future it was not set or written in stone; In fact i would say it was written in blood,
maybe tha's why it is so messy, as if the ink of blood dripped down the pages and had spread itself around.
History is never the complete truth, just decades of misgivings from one person's mouth to another, Heredotus or whomever you believe to be the father of history, was just another person who gave his perspective and passed away,
Not all heroes were heroes and not all villains were villains.
I said 'Not all.." okay?
Some of them clearly have no excuse.
Like Hitler or General Dire. (only indians would know)(
But i am talking about people who had been misunderstood and trampled upon by the people of their time, and now are being loved posthumously.
It is truly said that dead people receive more flowers than the living ones.
so,
History, back we go,
Something that fascinates me the most that most often than not, the most humane, silliest, most eyebrow raising facts from history are often unwritten, from folklore,
and then we also know history is also passed down from generations, transitioning languages, breaking barriers of past.
Take a lore for an example, i am asuming that we have all heard the lore of the counting crows, where we mixed up Tenali Rama and Birbal's pov, where they tell the king if he's unsure about their account of total crows in the kingdom, he's free to check it himself.
If the world knew how history repeats itself would it be cautioned?
Or would it ignore the fact?
History is not a lore too fragile to be said,
too fragile for to be recalled by only wars,
only millions of different empires,
I once wrote the poem
"Cradle me in your arms, and tell me a story,
Of past kings and queens minutes from glory,
of a lover who wasn't able to say to his lover a sorry,
Cradle me in your arms, and tell me a story."
Now this may feel like self promotion, trust me it is,
the thing is History was not written in blood only through wars.
Blood of war doesn't always make up history,
but also the people who lived, and went on,
who never knew that they'd be leaving a footprint behind,
We cry for the fire of alexandria,
Revel in the knowledge of pyramids,
laugh at the silly name carvings across caves across Europe,
Smile for the fact that we still don't know where punt is,
Worry about the genetics that our distant ancestors left behind,
Study the golden ratio of the Universe,
How can History not be written in blood or to say the very souls of these people who once lived?
Smuged across registars and scrolls, dripping on the parchments,
You must be thinking how much bull i spew on, like i am some philosopher,
How can i be different from all those authors who try to interpret 'the curtains were blue' as 'the oc was sad'
Well for starters,
I only write what i truly believe upon, what i really really think about in the moment,
and if you don't agree with me on parts, you don't have to make yourself nor hate me,
trust me if you don't owe me love, then you certainly don't owe me hate either.
Second, i could've told you some headless philosophy like,
"History is a bird with a broken wing', i'm not shaming you if you truly believe it,
the thing clashes when it doesn't align with your line of thought,
Then you won't be able to explain it, and it would really prove their (haters, skeptics) point that it was a theory/philosophy pulled out of your butt,
Like how you have to love, to be loved,
I have to beleive in order to be believed,
My mind doesn't imagine History as this fragile, lithe thing to be protected, to be altered as you will.
It has been kept alive one way or another by the mouth, the hand or specifically as i believe Written in blood.
"truth can be hidden but cannot be destroyed'
And besides, it doesn't need effort for me to state my original thoughts, the most headless ones like personification of History.
Most authors do not explain the thought process that went in to their headless thoughts nor do they find the need to give examples for the reader to understand.
For me most of my headless thoughts come as poetry,
Seriously everything i do becomes poetry
(Again this is not self promotion, nor am i complaining)
I like the dhun (Rhythm) and the taal (tune), the parameter in every one of my writings,
Even if i control it, it just turns on me one way or another (not bragging),
I am just explaining how my mind works.
ANYWAY,
BACK TO HISTORY,
We all loved Ea-nasir's copper fiasco,
Hatred for Ibn Batuta's obnoxiousness,
Razia Sultana's take over of throne,
How Seleucus I nikator and Chandragupta I had a marraige alliance,
How Alexander the Great conquered all the world and yet gave in at India's soil, after seeing Paras's valor,
Like how my father says,
" A man can fight the whole world singlehandedly and yet lose miserably in the battlefield of his home.", we all can belive Alexander had a little home here, with his friend.
We all loved how the lore goes,
'Khoob ladi mardani thi, wo to Jhansi wali rani thi.' (Epitome of real knightly valor, she was the Queen of Jhansi)
How we liked how Shajar-al-durr didn't leave her kingdom Kingless,
How cleopatra laughed at Mark anthony's misery,
How Ashoka, the greatest ruler of Mauryas , was moved by the single bloodbath of Kalinga war,
how Illiad and Odeyssey, the greatest epics, came from a blind wandering bard who asked for food in exchange for his tales,
How Shivaji outsmarted the mughal royals and won his swaraj,
How Taj- Mahal was built for Mumtaz Begum, who was politically active, had immense respect and played an active role in Royal matters,
How during French potato famine, king just gave the orders to guards to let the people steal from his garden and saved them,
History was written around the hearth near sacrificial grounds, in the tea stalls that once housed our Prime minister, in Marie Antionette's parties, in the great british bake offs.
We often overlook the fact that blood doesn't always mean war, soemtimes its a carrier of a generational bond, messy and unfinished, unhurried.
History is you, It is me,
Its a lore that you tell to your future generations, to make them think,
Look we left those footprints behind and soon it will be your turn.
If that doesn't tell you that history is written in blood, what does?