Sahitya Akademi

Myth in Contemporary Indian Fiction in English

Author(s): C.N. Srinath
Source: Indian Literature, Vol. 47, No. 2 (214) (March-April, 2003), pp. 149-159
Published by: Sahitya Akademi
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/23341397
Accessed: 21-04-2019 15:14 UTC

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide
range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and
facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at
https://about.jstor.org/terms

Sahitya Akademi is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Indian
Literature

This content downloaded from 117.240.50.232 on Sun, 21 Apr 2019 15:14:40 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 Myth in Contemporary Indian
Fiction in English

C.N. Srinath

Theconfluence
longer the history of a nation or people the deeper the
of myth and history, each nourishing the other, their
borders merging. To a creative writer, though the contemporary reality
is the only authentic field of his activity for its perception and
imaginative apprehension, history and myth have been great sources
of creativity. But in a country like ours where there is not much
of a historical tradition, myth has become a powerful instrument of
preservation of both history and culture. Such a pervasive, percolated,
mythical climate has been dynamic in nature with a great potential
to merge with and even mould contemporary reality. History has
a past whereas myth is ever present. It is here that the Indian writer,
more than most writers elsewhere, has the advantages of abundance
of resources for his writing. Of course, a clever writer has to pay
a price for a superficial use of the readily available mythical stock
just as he can fall into the trap of the medium by solely drawing
upon his talents of craft. We have seen this happen in the case of
Indian English fiction writer's of the eighties and nineties, whose
language has a dazzling brilliance of a fire- cracker making the ensuing
darkness darker without light. Use of myth as a strategy to present
contemporary truth, however, effective, can impose certain challenges
on the writer. If he is not a beneficiary of the sustenance of the mythical
tradition, his use of myth on a technical, skillful plane only will lead
to either distortion, willing or otherwise, or stereotypical yoking of
myth with reality. It was Thoreau who said, that a fact should flower
into truth in the hands of a writer. Similarly myth should flower
into truth.
Now let us take a look at some examples of Indian fiction in

This content downloaded from 117.240.50.232 on Sun, 21 Apr 2019 15:14:40 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
English where attempts have been made to creatively use myth to
present the real, the here and now.
If in Raja Rao's Kanthapura, an Indian English novel which is
truly unique in its theme and technique, myth plays a serious role.
In G.V. Desani's All About H Hatten if the role of myth is comic
and farcical, in S.Ananthanarayanan's only novel The Silver Pilgrimage
which unfortunately has not grabbed limelight, probably more because
of the dazzling light of the Booker prize novels of the recent times.
It is the comic-serious. In R.K. Narayan's fiction which is written
in the realistic mode, contemporary reality itself is given a mythical
dimension where Malgudi and its inmates acquire a mythical aura.
In later novels such as Arun Joshi's The Strange case of Billy Biswas
there is an attempt to present the anarchy of contemporary life and
a search for enlightenment and order, which has echoes of the Indian
archetypal myth supported by history—that of prince Siddhartha
seeking enlightenment by sacrificing worldly pleasures.
In Kanthapura, a rural novel, the myths of the folklore, songs
in the name of the village goddess, the sthala purana (legend of the
place) are all evoked with such striking authenticity as the breeze
of the peepal tree carrying the sonorous sound of the flow of the
river Hemavathy, blowing on the paddy fields and clay tiled house
roofs of Kanthapura. It is a village novel, rustic to the core but a
socially and politically awakening one too. Women in the novel are
so vibrant and responsive, young men with leaders like Murthy
respond spontaneously to Gandhiji's call for independence. And so
in a novel where the myth and legend of Rama resting on a rock
and Sita washing her feet in the river give identity to the landscape,
current affairs and contemporary situations which are too real and
near are fused with the mythical so as to give them a certain identity
to wrestle with. Hence Harikatha Ramachar, by telling the story of
Rama, introduces Gandhi and his struggle against evil. The novel
as a narrative is in fact in the puranic tradition as a tale interminably
told. The injustice of the Red man, the local brahmin priest turned
Zamindar Bhatta, the pious Murthy, the sensible Rangamma, and
the various minor characters come out alive as if to give sustenance
to this contemporary myth of the Independence Struggle.
In All About H Hatten we find the novelist employing the
archetypal myth of the Guru - Sishya relationship enshrined in the
Upanishads, various puranas, legends and folk tales that give credence
to his mock-serious, farcical attempt to mould the narrative of deceit
and cunning so skillfully practiced by the fake sadhus and gurus
of contemporary society. All the sages that appear in the novel have
a notorious background. 'The sage of wilderness' who has the reputation

150 / Indian Literature : 214

This content downloaded from 117.240.50.232 on Sun, 21 Apr 2019 15:14:40 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
of practicing several antique rites and for having written a commen
tary on Pannini's Sanskrit grammar, has been a dealer in second
hand goods. The commentary on Panini's grammar was one of the
second-hand goods that came to him which he was clever to claim
as his own, the sage is exposed as a hoax, as indeed are all sages
who appear later in the story, thus illustrating the theme of appearance
and reality.
The machinery of the novel becomes operative in the sage -
disciple relationship though there are also other numerous and subtler
issues, incidents, and experiences that invest the work with complexity
and richness. The meeting of the sage and the disciple gains some
meaning also apart from being a mere technique. It is in the Upanishadic
tradition of the joint quest for truth by the teacher and the taught.
The guru who guides is the intellectual commanding power born
of knowledge and wisdom and the fall of the sage here is tantamount
to the fall of the modern intellectual who has betrayed society by
looking after his own interests. All the sages here are 'counterfeit
chaps' but interestingly enough they exhibit a remarkable awareness
of the serious things of life and are even poetic to an extent. The
Naga's acumen in giving out details about the secret medical lore
that Soong Wong imparted to him and the confident professional
tone employed is amazing.

Know, also the celebrated formulary of the onion. It

is a great panacea of many distempers. Roasted under
hot ash after the embers have died and blended with
honey and rue, the electualy breaks tough phlegm,
palliates gripes, acts as a laxative in the day and as
an astringent by night, purges the head of noises and
clears the blood. The same vegetable, bruised and
scrambled in syrup of the ripe red pomegranate, and
mixed with laudanum, that is sublimed by slow fire,
is good for horror of dreams of the young. The onion
is an opener, and if cooked, in jackets of corn flour
dough, and eaten with sea-dust and pepper to taste,
it promotes the courses, dissolves the tumors, clears
the complexion, and softens chapped hands.

Life is contrast, as Hatterr pronounces at the end, and through

out we see a demonstration of this realisation of the author. For how
else can one explain a Naga (belonging to a particular group of
mendicants) waxing eloquent over the merits of an onion before a
stranger at the dead of night all alone in a cemetery sitting in a pit
'peeling his dinner'—potato and sliced carrot—obtained from Hatterr'
dry gourd? Incidentally, the pompous word 'dinner' like textile for

C.N. Srinath / 151

This content downloaded from 117.240.50.232 on Sun, 21 Apr 2019 15:14:40 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
a slip of cloth on another occasion is appropriately in tune with the
comical situation.
Besides such tickling minor anti-climaxes there are plenty of
major ones that seriously involve Hatterr and occasionally make him
a detached witness too.
The presence of the Ganga in the novel becomes a beatific
experience in the way the actual and the mythical mingle to b
powerful image. The holy Ganga....She is beautiful, the river Ganga
the little goddess, Mother Ganga.
Hatterr's experience and encounters with life have made him
a philosopher who is never tired of saying that life is contrast:

And I say to posterity, in Twentieth century. 'Life is

contrast.' That is my crux-statement. Damme, look at
Life! Life is ups and downs, light and shade, sun and
cloud, opposites: even the van belonging to our dear
Dumb Friends, League! Hell, the dumb are barking!
Damme, you need salt to season salt-water fish! Take
anything and you will find the opposite! Banerrji,
imagination boggles at the contrasts I have indexed
for reference purposes! I have been working very hard
old, feller. If I cannot leave anything to posterity, I
should like to leave them this self-realised medico
philosophical conclusion as to life. Life is contrast!

But there is an order, a pattern in this apparent jumble of contrasts

and paradoxes:

Life is no one way pattern. It's contrasts all the way.

And contrasts by Law.
Not just motley-mosaic, not just run-and-go-do-as
you-please contrasts, but design in, em. There are
flowers that bloom at certain hours: a human dinner
plate' to the circus lion:

A more convincing example of this contrast principle is given with

reference to Hatterr being 'a human dinner plate' to the circus lion:

Suppose he had been a man-eater, and I had me

despatched hellwards?

The cosmic clerk of the court would appreciate the occurrence as

follow:

H Hatterr, accused, broke the law of commonsense

by getting within the reach of a man-eating lion, viz,
Charlie. But observed the law of Digestive juices, by
being digested to the said Charlie. Not guilty of
breaking Law.
152 / Indian Literature : 214

This content downloaded from 117.240.50.232 on Sun, 21 Apr 2019 15:14:40 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
Hatterr surrenders himself to the Law and Shows deep humility:

Things are. They are there. Good and Bad. To hell

with judging, it's take it don't leave it and every man
for himself.

It is this philosophy of life, a metaphysical attitude to life as leela

or play that is the distinction of Desani's Hatterr, a truly Indian story.
For one who has such an attitude to life the sharp differences between
Good and Evil sink at great moments:

This, all this contradiction, this merging of beauty with

brutality, this non-seperation between Evil and Good,
this unity, this oneness, this evidence, made me feel,
perhaps there is no Good: and there is no Evil. Perhaps
both are just phases: "two ends of a line, two facets
of the same dice.

One is reminded of Blake's "Tyger", "Siva", the Destroyer

Transformer, and Emerson's "Brahma" which ends with these lines:

But thou, meek lover of the good!

Find me, and turn thy back on heaven.

Desani himself is explicit when he says: "all apparent opposites and

approximates are mere manifestations, somewhere certain to con
verge."
Religion as it is understood by the ignorant and the fraud, is
made fun of ironically but Hatterr himself is religious in a way as
only a Vedantin is when he beholds the river Ganga, an experience
which he cherishes till the end, and which brings out the best in
him. The presence of the Ganga in the novel becomes a beatific
experience the way the actual and the mythical mingle to be a powerful
image.

The holy Ganga...

She is beautiful....

She is beautiful, the river Ganga, the little Goddess

Mother Ganga!

Unlike any other beautiful beloved thing in the world....

She is betimes, like an exquisite woman: winning,

Overpowering, awe-inspiring!
And the little mother has moods!

C.N. Srinath / 153

This content downloaded from 117.240.50.232 on Sun, 21 Apr 2019 15:14:40 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 The music made by Ganga, the roar wrought by Ganga, the
peace blessed by Ganga, is like nothing else in the world!

That night, I knew the Holy River.

That night, I adored Her.
Adored the Mother of man, the Angel, she

She the high-wrought, she the fascination, the comely, flower

decked, dew-laden, fair one: dainty, elegant, gay:

Oh, a lovely supurb! The maid she, the child she,

the Babe she; over-coming, coming-running, running
coming, from the trident-shaped cliff, her home, away
in the misty summits, the lordly hills of man's earth,
my earth!
There, up the lofty rings of icicles, a poem in
shimmering white—a poem, yea, and awesome beau
teous poem by the celestials so shaped, dwelleth,
dwelleth, gurgles ever gurgles, coiling, ever-coiling
they the round-rings-round of sonorous sound, ro
tund, oval, circle, curling, yea, the resounding glory
of Ganga, the hymn of the hills, to she, the Angel,
the Angel Bage! Dwelleth, dwelleth the Baba, dwelleth,
She dwelleth amidst the summit and the snows, in
hermant, in sarad, in sisir alike, yea the Angel abideth,
abideth upon this earth, this man's earth, our earth,
my earth, oh, by Thee, Thee, Babe! This bless'd, thus
Bless'd!

And I prayed....
On that Indian night, face of face with the grandeur
of the holy river, a loving dread overpowered i.e: the
dread of Lord God!

The Ganga is a great experience felt and communicated in one

breath—the style resembling the course the river takes. The Ganga
is enacted in images bringing out, incidentally, a tender affection
and a deep reverence for the 'holy river' reminding one of the Ved
hymns sung in praise of the elements by the early Aryans. The sty
now jerky, now spontaneous, often defiantly unconventional, bring
out the excitement and authenticity of the experience.
Thus we see that it is through the contrast between such rare
and profound experiences and the innumerable events of deceipt an
charlatanism of fake sadhus that Desani creates a comic/farcical
atmosphere which is more conductive for a metaphysical vision of
life in the comic rather than in the tragic mode.
It is in The Silver Pilgrimage we find the use of myth in a very

154 / Indian Literature : 214

This content downloaded from 117.240.50.232 on Sun, 21 Apr 2019 15:14:40 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
subtle and creative way, the myth of the Silver Pilgrimage to Kashi
that triggers the narrative for Prince Jayasurya's journey to Benares.
It is obvious that the novelist adopting the classical device, the
picaresque, sends the reader back to this very suggestive and symbolic
theme as dramatised in some of the ancient classics.
The description of a town, temple, river, the King's Court and
philosophical discourse metaphysical speculation, anecdotes, legends,
myths, a practical sense with the necessary spicing of wit and humour
and an aesthetic intution for the beauty and grace of life and women—
all these sneaking contemporaneous tone. It is the tale of a prince
who undertakes the journey to Kasi on foot accompanied by his newly
wed bride and Tilaka, the wise man. As the novelist himself says
in his Prolegomena, there are three types of pilgrimages:

Of Pilgrimages there are three sorts, Gold, Silver and

of Lead (inferior Metal). The pilgrimage of Gold is
Kailasa Giri; the abode of Lord Siva himself, in the
regions of Himavant. It must be accomplished on foot,
with a staff and a begging bowl, over six years of
travail and snows. It secures final cessation from
rebirths. It is possible only with the grace of Devi and
Her worship in the Sree Chakra is an essential pre
liminary. The Silver Pilgrimage is to Kashi, on foot.
Accomplished, it reduces future births to a single digit,
for a reckoning of hundreds.... Pilgrimages to other
shrines of the Chosen Deity are of inferior and not
Royal metals, but yields proportionate traits.

This is from the old Tamil treatise on pilgrimages. It is significant

for our purpose in defining a modern classic that Prince Jayasurya
in the novel undertakes the Silver Pilgrimage to Kasi, the Eternal
City. It is a journey to a place and of a time but Benares as reader
of Raja Rao's The Serpant and the Rope recognise, is a city beyond
time and space. And hence the added relevance of the work for us
We find echoes of both the Ramayana and the Mahabharata in
Prince Jayasurya's pilgrimage accompanied by Valli, the woman who
is instrumental in initiating him into the world. Rama's journey to
the forest along with Sita, the feminine principle, is a necessary
experience aiding him in self-exploration and then self-realisation
The same is true of Pandavas who were exiled in disguise. Signifi
cantly, this element of disguise or the mask itself becomes the means
of self-realisation. Even in the upakathas as in the Nala - Damayanth
story King Nala is disguised as a cook and under goes intense suffering
which chastens him at the end. Dionysius in Aristophanes' Frogs
undertakes a journey to the underworld in disguise and ultimately
the comical character that he was in the beginning of the play grow
C.N. Srinath / 155

This content downloaded from 117.240.50.232 on Sun, 21 Apr 2019 15:14:40 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
mature and even sits in judgement over Aeschylus and Euripedes.
It is interesting to note that the theme of quest or journey invariably
involves both the protagonist and his companion. Don Quixote, Frogs,
All About H.Hatterr and Kim, to mention a few, are examples of classics
dealing with this theme, Prince Jayasurya even reminds us of Prince
Siddhartha leaving the palace in search of enlightenment, accompa
nied by Chenna, the charioteer.
To come back to the novel, it is necessary to note what motivated
the pilgrimage. King Simha of Lanka decides to send his only son
to Kasi on the advice of Sage Agasthya who makes an appropriate
analysis of the prince's character. What prompts the king to approach
the sage is the funny temperament of the prince who is devoid of
normal human feelings. Jayasurya is referred to as the 'flinty prince'
and 'marble prince'. Incidentally a penchant for characterisation,
creation of atmosphere or a mood which is evident throughout the
novel is again a marked classical trait. For example:

His (prince's) attendants were heavily bribed to pour

love philtres, guaranteed infallible by a retired sorcerer
of the palace, into his roast fowl or leg of mutton
garnished with a delectable sauce of spice and garlic.
But the prince was heart-whole and disgustingly
cheerful. The love philtres did not even induce an extra
movement of the bowels. Simha was of course, after
seeing man in his own way. He did not permit the
rigorous and presumably susceptible prince to de
velop repressions, inhibitions and other Freudian
maladies unheard of in those frank, sunlit times.
Swiftly the prince gathered to himself a small but select
retinue of queens. They were all unquestionably
beautiful, clean and scented and slender as bamboos
swaying in the moonlight.

The novel has the parallel significance of being a treatise on

philosophy, poetry, music, medicine, architecture and such other arts.
The world of contemplation is ably supported by that of action and
it is the fusion of the two that acts as an experiential pressure in
the maturing of the prince to view life with reverence.
R.K. Narayan's fiction thrives on urban social comedy. His
Malgudi is a small world of petty industries, middle-class people
whose technology is still gracefully human enough to create an
amiable ambience. Though the mode is realistic the way Narayan
creates his characters and situations against the too familiar Malgudi
landmarks one gets the impression the real loses its fierce sharpness
to become the mythical.
The Nallappa grove, the Albert Mission School, the printing
156 / Indian Literature : 214

This content downloaded from 117.240.50.232 on Sun, 21 Apr 2019 15:14:40 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
press, the Sarayu river, and the Banyan tree—all lend a mythical
aura to Malgudi rather than making it appear real. It is a feat of
the novelist that the real is made mythical and the myth of Malgudi
is used as a backdrop for the play of real common men, women
and children.
From Swami and Friends to The English Teacher to Financial Expert
to The Guide to Man-eater of Malgudi to Vendor of Sweets it is the same
background, the same heat and breeze of Malgudi, the same common
people, some with extraordinary characteristics. If the puranic myths
are loud and aggressive, in Narayan, because of the use of the comic
mode, and the vision, which by implication, is mature, there is a
low-key function of the myth. Even the myth of Bhasmasura, the
self-destroying demon, is subtly and creatively used in the Man-eater
of Malgudi.
In The Strange Case of Billy Biswas Billy's exit to the forest from
civilisation reminds us of Siddhartha's exit to the forest in search
of enlightenment. The night before Billy took the momentous decision
to escape is presented as if it were some sort of a mystic experience:

I came out of my tent and once again sat on the

rock. The moon was nearly full as today. Its light was
everywhere drenching the tree-tops, softening the stone,
bathing the bush with mystery. They all seemed to
be waiting and watching and staring at me. It was
as though I was not Bimal Biswas, graduate of
Columbia, the only son of a Supreme Court Judge,
husband of Meera Biswas, and father of a handsome
child: it was as though I were not all this but the
first man on earth facing the earth's first night The
wind cried in the leaves, the little insects in the
underbush: the water trickled over the rocks, and they
all said, come, come, come, come. Why do you want
to go back? This is all there is on earth. This and the
woman waiting for you in the little hut at the bottom
of a hill. You thought New York was real. You thought
New Delhi was your destination. How mistaken you
have been!.... Take us until you have had your fill....
It is we who are the inheritors of the cosmic night.

Once he joins the tribals in the forest with whom he had a

nodding acquaintance on earlier expeditions we find Billy behaving
just like them, drinking liquor, participating in their rituals, and
waiting for the moon to rise. He catches himself actually waiting
for the moonrise just like all the others assembled there as if it is
the only thing in this world that is worth living for:

C.N. Srinath / 157

This content downloaded from 117.240.50.232 on Sun, 21 Apr 2019 15:14:40 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 Earlier he had waited for degrees, for lectures, for
money, for security, for a middle-class marriage, for
the welfare of his child, for preserving the dignity of
his family, for being well-dressed, and for being normal
and all those things that civilised men count as their
duty or the foundations of their happiness or both.

It is not escape from order and form into reckless freedom and
wilderness that we see in Billy's life now. For, interestingly enough,
his second phase as a tribal reveals order and form of a different
kind. We gather from Dhunia, Billy's closest friend among the tribals
as well as Bhilasia's uncle, that Billy has been a priest and some
kind of magician to these tribals. And more:

He is like rain on parched lands, like balm on a wound.

These hills have not seen the like of him since the
last of our kings passed away.

Dhunia also comes with a folk-legend that there was a king

who lived thousands of years ago in these parts. He was a great
king, an ardent lover and an excellent sculptor. He wanted to build
one temple which would excel all the others he had built and so
he undertook to make the chief idol himself. He worked on it day
and night and ten years passed and on the last night of the last
year, under the light of a full moon, the king produced an idol which
was so beautiful that the god decided to enter it and told the king
to ask for a boon. The king did not have anything to ask for but
the god gave him a day to think it over. That night the brothers
of the king who got scent of this divine benediction on their brother
poisoned him, and the queen, Devi, immolated herself prophesying
that she would return when her husband returned to the forest. And
at her return Chandtola, the peak, would glow again on moonlit
nights. And so, Dhunia continues, Billy is that king after whose return
Chandtola has started glowing. When Romi asks him why Billy took
that momentous step in his life, Dhunia comes out with an explanation
that is so poetic:

When the Kala pahar calls you, Collector sahib, there

is nothing you can do but go. The first time I heard
his drumming I know the Rock had called him. It
is like a woman calling you, you become blind. All
you see is the Big Rock. All you hear is its call, day
and night it calls you. Night and day. And you go
like a fish hooked on a string in spite of yourself,
bound hand and foot. There is nothing you can do
but go. When the Kala pahar calls you. Yes, Collector
sahib, the Black Rock is the mother of us all.

158 / Indian Literature : 214

This content downloaded from 117.240.50.232 on Sun, 21 Apr 2019 15:14:40 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 The quick succession of short sentences here suggests the nature
of the overpowering effect of the big rock on Dhunia who verbally
sways to its spell. Dhunia with his tribal instincts can sense the
extraordinary rhythm of Bill's drumming which, after all, is a powerful
medium of expression for the tribal.
For Billy, however, this choice of his is not especially drastic.
He can analyse the working of the human mind with such clarity
and wisdom, justifying at the same time, his own action:

Any choice worth its name is drastic. It is another

matter that we whittle it down or gloss over it until
it ceases to be drastic. At the same time it ceases to
be drastic. At the same time it ceases to be meaningful,
either. Sometimes I think the human mind is equipped
with a built-in apparatus for compromises. As soon
as you are faced with a difficult choice this apparatus
is switched on. It runs about here and there, brokering
between various parts of man, rationalising this,
postponing that, until what is left is the conventional
expedients of the age and hardly a choice. Deep down
we are afraid that the price of making such choice
is terrible, not realising that the price of not making
them is even more terrible.

It seems to be the novelist's judgement too but presented so

dramatically and movingly in this strange tale of a king of the
underworld, as it were. What may appear to be a thesis novel on
the surface is saved by the mode of narrative, the tone of which
has a combination of concern, disinterestedness, casualness—but all
under superb control. It has the facade of formal report of the strange
case of Billy Biswas but the important achievement of the novel is
the dramatic presentation of the complex character of Billy whose
values are profoundly human and yet aspiring after something beyond
the human.

I have not mentioned any recent novel in my discussion. I realise

my reading of the very recent fiction is not deep but then that it
has not the depth of the earlier fiction is not just an excuse to cover
my ignorance. I have more often come across in recent writing a
dreadful fascination for the medium, the word bereft of meaning
buzzing light-winged in darkness. It's the dazzle of a cracker that
the writer employs in prose, leaving more darkness than before. The
magic of the word has become a big trap both for the Indian novelist
and poet today but only what can one save is the authenticity of
experience.
□

C.N. Srinath /159

This content downloaded from 117.240.50.232 on Sun, 21 Apr 2019 15:14:40 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms