# How to Die in a Rajput Way **Presenter**: [[Aleksandra Turek]] **Session**: [[Session 5. Rajput Kingship and Masculinity]] **Abstract**: The objective of this paper is to undertake a detailed analysis of the poetic imagery of death as found in Hālā̃ Jhālā̃ rā Kuṇḍaliyā. This brief but profoundly influential sixteenth-century poem, comprising fifty stanzas, was composed by the Rajasthani poet and saint Īsardās (1538–1618). The work has made a substantial contribution to the evolution of the Dingal literary idiom and the formation of the Rajput ethos, which was subsequently emulated by other poets. It epitomises the valour and death of minor, local warriors in the battle fought between Rāy Siṅgh Jhālā of Haḷvad and his brother-in-law, Jasājī Hālā of Dhroḷ. Rather than offering a historical or quasi-historical account of the battle, the poem presents a creative and poetic image of honourable death in a regional and vernacular context, told from the perspective of the heroes’ wives. While Rajput women have traditionally been associated with the Rajput way of dying through practices such as sati and jauhar (collective self-immolation), this is not the case in the poem under study. Although the women are lyrical subjects, they nonetheless represent the male gaze, thus contributing to the projection of the idea that a violent death in combat is the ultimate sacrifice for a noble cause. The introduction of a female lyrical subject serves several functions in the work. It adds emotional depth and a touch of sarcasm, which enhances the expressive power of the message. This technique is not commonly employed in Indian literature. Hālā̃ Jhālā̃ rā Kuṇḍaliyā also reinforces the notion of the eroticisation of death within Rajput culture, a motif that recurs with some regularity in Rajasthani literature. The concept of death as an erotic act will also be explored in this paper, drawing some parallels with the French concept of la petite mort (the little death) as a metaphor for orgasm. This connection emphasises the symbolic link between the climax of sexual activity and the experience of death. It serves as a metaphor for ultimate surrender, with death representing the climax of human experience and the convergence of life and death.