Word: rajput
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...scenes of poverty and death that fill this film might be expected to make it a depressing one, but curiously they do not. For one thing, the radiant beauty of the picture continually lifts the spirit. With a grace reminiscent of the old Rajput painters, Moviemaker Ray arranges his visions of the natural world-the water flies that flicker on a pond, the lily pads that flap in a sudden gale, the rain that batters at a young girl's face-in frame after frame of temperate loveliness. Moreover, the family somehow transcends its tragedy by the very energy...
...Actually, our choices balance each other quite well," said Sue. "Rajastan is part of the old prince-ruled India, and Madras was 'British India' and is more modern. In Rajastan, we lived with the Thakur of Bissau, a nobleman of old Jaipur state and a member of the Rajput warrior caste, and we shot quail and partridge on weekends. Then we moved to the south, where they are more non-violent. Instead of shooting on weekends, we went birdwatching with our Brahmin editor friends...
...Long Vow. Abandoned, Chitor became a haunt of tigers, one of a thousand Hindu shrines, and today the only recurring evocation of its stirring last days is the curse which may sometimes be heard on Indian lips: "By the sin of the sack of Chitor." The Rajput armorers became a tribe of wandering blacksmiths called the Gadia Lohars, big, fork-bearded men in pink turbans, women wearing silver bangles and big silver nose rings, and untouchables worshiping the smallpox goddess, Sheetala. Without quite knowing why, they still observe their ancient vow: never do they sleep under a roof, but live...
Last week from all over India the Lohars converged on Chitor. In the great plain below the landship fortress, their 4,000 bullock carts were drawn up in huge circles like the covered wagons of American pioneers. Over their wagons flew tattered Rajput sun flags (symbolizing the god Rama) and banners reading, "Hail Emperor Nehru." Few of the tribesmen had ever heard of Prime Minister Nehru, but they knew that a great badshah (ruler) had offered to succor them at Chitor, a place they had always avoided in their wanderings...
...fort's seven iron-spiked gateways, wide enough for two elephants to pass abreast. Here he ceremoniously applied the vermilion-tinted rice dust to the forehead of the leading Lohar, while the Indian flag was raised on a 120-ft. marble tower erected to commemorate a Rajput victory in the 15th century. "Brothers, come on. Let us enter our fort," cried Nehru...