Shashi Tharoor - The Great Indian Novel

I see the look of dismay on your face. I am sorry, Ganapathi. I shall have a word with my friend Brahm tomorrow. In the meantime, let us begin again.

They tell me India is an underdeveloped country. .

Many of the characters, incidents and issues in this novel are based on people and events described in the great epic the Mahabharata, a work which remains a perennial source of delight and inspiration to millions in India. I am no Sanskrit scholar and have therefore relied only on a highly subjective reading of a variety of English translations of the epic. I should like to acknowledge, in particular, my debt to the versions of C. Rajagopalachari and P. Lal, respectively the most readable renderings of what scholars call the southern and northern rescensions of the work. The two differ sufficiently in approach, style and narrative content to be complementary, even though they both deal with essential aspects of the same story. I have relied greatly on both of them.

While some scenes in The Great Indian Novel are recastings of situations described in translations of the Mahabharata, I have taken far too many liberties with the epic to associate any of its translators with my sins. Those readers who wish to delve into the Mahabharata itself in search of the sources of my inspiration need look no further than Lal’s ‘transcreation’, Rajagopalach-ari’s episodic saga or Prof. J. A. B. Van Buitenen’s scholarly, thorough but incomplete translation for the University of Chicago Press. While this novel was with the publishers I also discovered Jean-Claude Carriere’s stage script of the Mahabharata in Peter Brooke’s most readable translation, and recommend it highly. The responsibility for this entirely fictional version is, of course, mine alone.

Of the many Indian words and expressions in this book, the meanings of most of which are readily apparent from their context (or from the glossary), the one term it may be necessary to elucidate is ‘dharma’.

Dharma is perhaps unique in being an untranslatable Sanskrit term that is, none the less, cheerfully defined as a normal, unitalicized entry in an English dictionary. The definition offered in Chambers Twentieth-Century Dictionary is ‘the righteousness that underlies the law; the law’. While this is a definite improvement on the one-word translation offered in many an Indian Sanskrit primer (‘religion’), it still does not convey the full range of meaning implicit in the term. ‘English has no equivalent for dharma,’ writes P. Lal in the Glossary to his ‘transcreation’ of the Mahabharata, in which he defines dharma as ‘code of good conduct, pattern of noble living, religious rules and observance’.

My friend Ansar Hussain Khan suggests that dharma is most simply defined as ‘that by which we live’. Yes — but ‘that’ embraces a great deal. An idea of the immensity and complexity of the concept of dharma may be conveyed by the fact that, in his superb analytical study of Indian culture and society, The Speaking Tree, Richard Lannoy defines dharma in at least nine different ways depending on the context in which he uses the term. The nine (with page references to the Oxford University Press paperback edition in brackets): Moral Law (xvi), spiritual order (142), sacred law (160), salvation ethic (213), totality of social, ethical and spiritual harmony (217), righteousness (218, 325), universal order (229), magico-religious cycle (233), moral, idealistic, spiritual force (294). Lannoy also quotes Betty Heimann’s excellent version in her 1937 work Indian and Western Philosophy: A Study in Contrasts: ‘Dharma is total cosmic responsibility, including God’s, a universal justice far more inclusive, wider and profounder than any Western equivalent, such as “duty”.’

The reader of The Great Indian Novel is invited, upon each encounter with dharma in these pages, to assume that the term is used to mean any, or all, of the above.

Shashi Tharoor

(All the words defined are from Sanskrit and/or Hindi, except where otherwise indicated) aarti — Hindu religious rite involving the ceremonial waving of lighted lamps before the object to be worshipped or honoured Angrez — Briton (colloquial) Arthashastra — classic political treatise ascribed to Chanakya (Kautilya), a Machiavellian statesman-philosopher of the fourth century B C ashram — the hermitage of a spiritual figure and a retreat for his disciples ayah — nanny babu — low-level functionary, clerk Bakr-Id — Muslim festival at which goats are sacrificed barfi — Indian sweet made of milk, often covered with edible silver foil (vark). bhai — brother chakra — wheel chakravarti — universal emperor chappals — slippers chaprassi — peon chela — pupil, acolyte dal bhaat — rice and lentils (i.e. the basic staple) darshan — inspiring vision or sight, used to refer to audience granted by king or holy man dharma — see note opposite dharna — act of political agitation or demonstration, usually involving the agitators sitting at the door of the authorities concerned until their demands are granted dharti — earth dhobi — washerman dhoti — ankle-length waistcloth, traditional male attire in most parts of India doodhwala — milkman durwan — guard, watchman gurudwara — Sikh temple Holi — Hindu spring festival marked by the splashing of coloured water janmabhoomi — motherland jawan — soldier — ji — suffix denoting respect karanavar — a Malayalam word meaning landlord, elder of a joint Kerala family karma — Hindu cycle of predestined birth and rebirth; destiny khadi — homespun Indian cotton kukri — Gurkha knife kundalini — vital force of cosmic energy embodied in everyone, and pictured as a coiled serpent at the base of the spine kurta — loose collarless shirt lathi — bamboo or wooden stave used by Indian policemen maidan — playing-field Mathrubhoomi Azhichapadippu — popular weekly journal in Kerala meghdoot — cloud messenger (from a classic poem by Kalidas in which a cloud is implored to convey tidings of a lost wife) MLA — Member of the Legislative Assembly (of a state, rather than the national Parliament in Delhi whose members are called MPs) mofussil — outlying, provincial, rural moksha — salvation mullah — Muslim priest mundu — South Indian dhoti (see above) namaskar, namaste — traditional Hindu greeting, usually with the palms joined Naxalites, Naxals — violent Maoist revolutionaries, particularly active in Bengal in 1967-71 neta — leader padayatra — long journey on foot, usually undertaken for social or political purposes through an area affected by calamity panchayat — village council pandal — temporary covered structure for outdoor receptions, ceremonies, etc. patideva — respectful term for husband patwari — village official puja — ritual players Puranas — ancient collections of popular Hindu myths and legends of religious and social significance razai — quilt rishi — holy man, sage sadhu — Hindu holy man sainik — soldier sannyasi — Hindu holy man, usually an ascetic satyagraha — literally ‘truth-force’, used by Mahatma Gandhi to define his non-violent agitation satyagrahi — one who undertakes satyagraha saunf — aniseed Shaitaan — Satan shama — songbird of the thrush family shamiana — large tent shastras — Hindu holy books, especially those laying down laws and precepts sherwani — traditional North Indian knee-length jacket Shri — Mr sloka — verse subedar — non-commissioned officer Sudra — member of the lowest Hindu caste swadeshi — indigenous, i.e. Indian swaraj — self-rule Swatantra Sena — (fictional) Independence Army swayamvara — ceremony in which a noblewoman chooses a husband from amongst assembled suitors tamasha — fun, spectacle twice-born — upper-caste Hindu, one who has undergone a ‘second birth’, i.e. a spiritual one; generally used to refer to Brahmins veda — one of four principal sacred texts of the Hindus — the Rig Veda, the Yajur Veda, the Sama Veda, and the Artharva Veda — composed circa 15001200 BC and consisting of sacred Sanskrit hymns yuddha — war zamindar — landlord zenana — women’s quarters zilla — sub-district zindabad — long live