The Great Indian Novel : Book Review

The Great Indian Novel By Shashi Tharoor

Writing a book review for ‘The Great Indian Novel’ has been the toughest of all the book reviews, I have written so far. I have heard and read a lot about Shashi Tharoor as an acclaimed writer. And here, I finally read one of his finest writings.

Forget about writing the book, hats off to this very thought of retelling and recasting the Mahabharata, the ancient epic of India, in the context of Indian independence movement and three decades post-independence.

‘The Great Indian Novel’ is a satirical novel but to understand this satire, the reader should be well versed with all the events of Mahabharata along with the history of India during independence and post-independence. As a reader, I wholeheartedly accept that I did lose the track at times while reading as I couldn’t recall all historic movements especially post-Independence.

As per my understanding, I have tried my best to map the Mahabharata characters with that of Indian History:

• Mahatama Gandhi has been mapped to Bhishma Pitamah
• Jawaharlal Nehru as Dhritrashtra
• Mohd. Ali Jinnah as Karan
• Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose as Pandu
• Indira Gandhi as Priya Duryodhani(Duryodhan)
• 5 Pandavas as 5 pillars of independent India: 

1. Yudhishtir: the judiciary and the idea of justice
2. Arjun: free press and the idea of liberty
3. Bhim: the army
4. Nakul and Sahadev: administrative and foreign services of new nation

• Kaurava party as the Congress party

P.S.: The comparison of our Historical legends to Mahabharata is metaphoric and is completely based out of the role they have performed during Indian independence movement and has no connection with their personal life. Also, nowhere in the book the author has used or referred to any of our Historical legends’ names. It’s completely as per my understanding of the book. Feel free to correct it.

As the chapters keep switching swiftly between Indian Independence movements and Mahabharata, it was difficult to grasp them at times and required re-reading. It won’t be an exaggeration for me to say that this book did drain out my energy at times but this interesting concept kept me going with the read.

Now focusing on the content of the book. All the incidents of Mahabharata have been linked with events in Indian History in a very exquisite way. There are few extracts which I found impressive and have penned them down:

•  Firstly, the story of Jarsandha who was torn into two and flung into different directions has been mirrored with the 1971 breaking of Pakistan : Pakistan and Bangladesh
• Secondly, there is an interesting conversation between Kunti and Pandu where Pandu said to Kunti though he can’t bear a child, there are ways mentioned in our scriptures how a man can have 12 kinds of sons and 6 of these may become an heir.
• Thirdly, principles of Gandhi ji have been well explained for which he stood for and practiced. But at the same time it has been implied again and again in different scenarios that his principles had always been admirable, however, they are easy to admire than follow. For Gandhi ji, Truth was his cardinal principle - for him truth not only meant what was accurate, but what was just and therefore right. And truth could not be obtained by unjust or violent means.
• Fourth, slogan “fasting is my business” as said by Gandhi ji, when he was fasting against the Bristishers,  even today no one is sure on where the great man has laid emphasis and he himself never used it again but it is now etched in history and has conveyed all 4 meanings depending where you put the emphasis on : ‘fasting is my business’, ‘fasting is my business’ , ‘fasting is my business’ , ‘fasting is my business’
• But With fasting, Gandhi ji, taught us to resist injustice with arms that no one can take away from us.
• ‘Meaning of philosopher: a lover of wisdom. All knowledge is transient, linked to the world around it and subject to change as the world changes.Whereas true wisdom is eternal, immutable. To be philosophical, one must love wisdom for its own sake, accept its permanent validity and yet its perpetual irrelevance.’
• ‘One strength of Indian mind is that it knows some problems cannot be resolved, and it learns to make the best of them, and that is the Indian answer to the insuperable difficulty. One does fight against that by which one is certain to be overwhelmed; but one finds the best way, for oneself, to live with it.’
• ‘Indians very easily see the several sides to every question, which makes us such good bureaucrats and such poor totalitarians.’
• ‘Life is a Kurukshetra. The struggle between dharma and adharma is a struggle our nation, and each one of us in it , engages in on every single day of our existence.’

In the last chapter,author has poured out his feelings while writing about what our ancestors, who have struggled so hard and sacrificed their lives for our independence, never expected India to be:

‘A land where dharma and duty have come to mean nothing; where religion is an excuse for conflict rather than a code of conduct. A land where brides are burned in kerosene-soaked kitchens because they have not brought enough dowry with them; where integrity and self-respect are for sale to the highest bidder; where men are pulled off buses because of the length of a forelock or the absence of a foreskin.’

The book ends with the striking conversation between Yudhishtir and Dharma, where Yudhishtir ended the argument with the following stance:

‘Accept doubt and diversity. Let each man live by his own of conduct, so long as he has one. Derive your standards from the world around you and not from a heritage whose relevance must be constantly tested. Reject equally the sterility of ideologies and the passionate prescriptions of those who think themselves infalliable. Uphold decency, worship humanity, affirm the basic values of our people-those which do not change -- and leave the rest alone. Admit that there is more than one truth, more than one Right, more than one dharma…’

After which Ved Vyas ji woke up from his dream and realized that if the dream meant anything at all, it means that what ever story he had told so far is from a completely mistaken perspective and must be retold.

 The lines which I liked the most are: 
 ‘Great discoveries are often the result of making the wrong mistake at the right time. 
 ‘Lack of preference is itself a preference.’ 
 ‘There are some realities it is better not to see.’ 
 ‘Vinasha kale,viprarita buddhi. Its Greek version: whom the gods wish to destroy, they first make mad.’
 'There is more than one truth, more than one Right, more than one dharma.'

  
       
      Rating : 3.5/5