JLF 2022, Day 3: "Embarrassed by that part of our history"

What do you think about princes who ruled the states while Britishers were seen as the only true rulers in India? The mediator of the conversation that took place at a session on the third day of JLF, Ira Mukhoty said she was quite embarrassed by that part of our history.

Manu, however, begs to differ in his new book 'False Allies: India's Maharajahs In The Age Of Ravi Varma'.
The third day of Jaipur Literature Festival saw an interesting and medival conversation about False Allies where Dr Shashi Tharoor and Author Manu S. Pillai delved into a conversation about how the book breaks the conventional idea of princely state rulers just wearing silk, oppressing their subjects, and watching devadasis.

As the discussion flags off, Manu talks about his alternative idea of history and how book journeys through 5 princely states of India where the painter Raja Ravi Varma made several portraits of kings, queens, ministers, and devadasis, alike.

"Many of us are shameful about the princely rule and they were just seen as allies to the Britishers. This is untrue, because 40% of the rule was still with the kings, and its a major percentage. They have falsely claimed allies and with my book, I am trying to shift to a different and disruptive perception," said Manu.

Talking about Manu's book, Tharoor pointed out, "British raj cannot only be reduced to Britishers. Most of the first serious movements for Dalits, girl education actually took place in these princely states."

Tharoor, Ira, Manu also talked about the post-British rule in 1947, and how the princely states were deeply connected to the workings of Congress. They talked about how Congress and Rajas did work hand in hand. 
"Princes were supportive, but only to an extent. When democracy became a mass movement, that's when Maharajas were threatened. They were enlightened autocrats, but they were still autocrats," said Manu.
"Many kings had ambitions, that went right up to independence," said Tharoor.

The discussion set its course with a discussion about the structure of Manu's book where Ira asked how Manu was able to conceive all the princely states and many many paintings in the book.
" I chased Raja Ravi Varma's story. He was part of the colonial community where princes would communicate politically via his portraits. Readers would find a single thread spun in the entire book. It's not scattered," said Manu.