Neele Ghore Ka Savar by Rajendra Mohan Bhatnagar

Few days back I borrowed a book from Mr. Arun Sahlam, 'Neele Ghore Ka Savar' in devnagiri 'नीले घोड़े का सवार', by Dr. Rajendra Mohan Bhatnagar. In English, it means: The Rider of Blue Horse. Finished it long back, wanted to write about it then only but alas! I hadn't had a blog :~)

The novel is in Hindi (as the name suggests) and completely based on Maharana Pratap. I have no idea how many other books are available on Maharana Pratap and where this book stands among them. The publisher is claiming that it has received some 'Sarraf' award(I don't know what is this award all about and what is its value!). But as a
matter of fact, whatever place this novel has in Hindi Literature, its completely forbidden on internet, at least. I couldn't find even a single link, which talks about this novel.

I liked the novel. The book is only 365 pages long. Writer has written it as a pure historical novel, he has mentioned appropriate dates of the incidents occurred to make things more accurate. Dr. Rajendra Mohan seems to have a good study of that era. He has brilliantly described the story. He has also used local dialect words in the
conversations, songs, poetry etc.

This novel is not a biography of Maharana Pratap. It begins when Maharana's father was about to die. There were chaos concerning the next Rana of Mewar. Reading this novel is not at all a fun, it mostly depicted insights of Rana's various dilemmas, reluctances for the wars etc. The other leading characters of this novel are Akbar, Rani Ratnavati(Rana's youngest wife), Bhamashah(Rana's Prime Minister), Amar Singh (Rana's Son), Rani Avajande Parmar(Eldest Wife) and Maan Singh.

After Pratap, my favourite character of the novel is Queen Ratnavati. She is youngest wife of Maharana Pratap, but I guess most intelligent. She refused to accept Pratap as his husband. She hated polygamy (Maharana already had many wives) so badly that she gave a descent lecture to Pratap the same night of their marriage and make him realize that he shouldn't have married more than once. However Ratnavati became the best friend and consultant of Maharana Pratap later, moreover she offered Rana to go with him in the war.

Maharana Pratap is not a victor in the novel, he had been shown struggling all the time. However author has presented too many facts to make us proud on Maharana Pratap and feel why he is considered to be a great warrior. He was the only Indian king to oppose Akbar and refused to present himself in front of Akbar's court. He decided to go for a war rather than putting his weapons down against Akbar. He fought Haldi-Ghati war against another Rajput king Maan Singh. The Haldi-Ghati war was cut to be very short, it could be streched in few more pages.

The novel has a good story-telling style along with better content from the history point of view. It can be a good read for guys seeking history of Mewar. The book is in Hindi and I don't think it might have any English translation, so some of you might be disappointed.

Despite of being a hardbound version, paper quality is not great and you will find so many typographical errors in it, its one of the rare cons, I could find in the novel. Overall a good read. 4/5 :~)

Complete Book Details:
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Neele Ghore Ka Savar,
By Dr. Rajendra Mohan Bhatnagar,
ISBN: 81-7028-049-4
Publisher: Rajpal & Sons
Binding: Hardbound
Pages: 365
Price: Rs.250/-