Skip to main content

Yudhishtiras and holy cows

"The devil called god must indeed be marvellous," exclaims a character in Subhash Chandran's Malayalam novel,  'Manushyanu Oru Amukham,' (A Preface to Man).  The novel has already won many eminent and well-deserved awards.

The protagonist argues that the dog which accompanied Yudhishtira to heaven must be a stray creature and the moral is that a man who ignores his fellow creatures in his single-minded pursuit of heaven is no better than a stray dog. Yudhishtira had not cared to throw as much as a loving gaze at his people who were falling dead on the way.

Contemporary Yudhishtiras are beseiging the gates of heaven accompanied by holy cows.

Comments

  1. Had never thought of this interpretation!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Chandran's novel is teaching me a lot of new interpretations. Hope someone translates it into English soon so that some of the Yudhishtiras may learn some new interpretations.

      Delete
  2. Interesting interpretation.
    As a kid, I used to ask whether Krishna talked (in Bhagwad Gita) about Yudhistira (Dharmaraj) when he talked about corrupt Dharma. I still think about it. After all, he was the man who sat playing dice, putting his whole family in peril, and Krishna had to rescue his wife from evil men.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dharma is very subtle, said Bhishma. The dharma of the Mahabharat is incredibly subtle. Krishna practised pretty much deception to win the war.

      Delete
  3. Mathiekal do read Gurucharan Das 's excellent book The difficulty of being good - it's an interpretation of the Mahabharata and is an excellent read. He mentions the fact that Yudhishtra was the only Pandava granted access to heaven....don't remember much else. This post is intriguing ...is Chandran's book available in English?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've read it, Lata, and have a personal copy of it.

      Chandran's novel has not been translated yet.

      Delete
  4. Since I haven't read the novel it may not be wise to comment. Nevertheless, pulling out one incident and twisting it to belittling someone seems to be in tune with our times.

    If anyone of us would have been in Yudhisthira's place, then we would have acted differently. For example, when the Yaksha kills his four brothers and then later is happy with his answers and grants him a boon to get one of his brothers back, Yudhishthira didn't choose his strong brothers like Bheema or Arjuna. He choose Nakula who is his step-brother on the logic that if two brothers are to be alive then he being the son of Kunti, the other one to be alive should be his step-mother Madri's son. I can't think of anyone acting like Yudhisthira or virtuous like him. Let a hundred Subhash Chandran find faults in him, it doesn't diminish Yudhisthira.

    On another note, May God give the modern cow protectors as well as all the self-proclaimed protectors of God some enlightenment. God (of which ever religion he/she might be) doesn't need us mortals to protect him/her. Else how can God be God.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Novelists make use of certain parts of epics or scriptures for aesthetic purposes. The reader has the duty to understand it in the context.

      Even Krishna appears as a fraud in some parts of the epic!

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Adventures of Toto as a comic strip

  'The Adventures of Toto' is an amusing story by Ruskin Bond. It is prescribed as a lesson in CBSE's English course for class 9. Maggie asked her students to do a project on some of the lessons and Femi George's work is what I would like to present here. Femi converted the story into a beautiful comic strip. Her work will speak for itself and let me present it below.  Femi George Student of Carmel Public School, Vazhakulam, Kerala Similar post: The Little Girl

In this Wonderland

I didn’t write anything in the last few days. Nor did I feel any urge to write. I don’t know if this lack of interest to write is what’s called writer’s block. Or is it simple disenchantment with whatever is happening around me? We’re living in a time that offers much, too much, to writers. The whole world looks like a complex plot for a gigantic epic. The line between truth and fiction has disappeared. Mass murders have become no-news. Animals get more compassion than fellow human beings. Even their excreta are venerated! Folk tales are presented as scientific truths while scientific truths are sacrificed on the altar of political expediency. When the young generation in Nepal set fire to their Parliament and Supreme Court buildings, they were making an unmistakable statement: that they are sick of their political leaders and their systems. Is there any country whose leaders don’t sicken their citizens? I’m just wondering. Maybe, there are good leaders still left in a few coun...

Death as a Sculptor

Book Discussion An Introductory Note : This is not a book review but a reflection on one of the many themes in The Infatuations , novel by Javier Marias. If you have any intention of reading the novel, please be forewarned that this post contains spoilers. For my review of the book, without spoilers, read an earlier post: The Infatuations (2013). D eath can reshape the reality for the survivors of the departed. For example, a man’s death can entirely alter the lives of his surviving family members: his wife and children, particularly. That sounds like a cliché. Javier Marias’ novel, The Infatuations , shows us that death can alter a lot more; it can reshape meanings, relationships, and even morality of the people affected by the death. Miguel Deverne is killed by an abnormal man right in the beginning of the novel. It seems like an accidental killing. But it isn’t. There are more people than the apparently insane killer involved in the crime and there are motives which are di...

Whose Rama?

Book Review Title: Whose Rama? [Malayalam] Author: T S Syamkumar Publisher: D C Books, Kerala Pages: 352 Rama may be an incarnation of God Vishnu, but is he as noble a man [ Maryada Purushottam ] as he is projected to be by certain sections of Hindus? This is the theme of Dr Syamkumar’s book, written in Malayalam. There is no English translation available yet. Rama is a creation of the Brahmins, asserts the author of this book. The Ramayana upholds the unjust caste system created by Brahmins for their own wellbeing. Everyone else exists for the sake of the Brahmin wellbeing. If the Kshatriyas are given the role of rulers, it is only because the Brahmins need such men to fight and die for them. Valmiki’s Rama too upheld that unjust system merely because that was his Kshatriya-dharma, allotted by the Brahmins. One of the many evils that Valmiki’s Rama perpetrates heartlessly is the killing of Shambuka, a boy who belonged to a low caste but chose to become an ascetic. The...

When Cricket Becomes War

Illustration by Copilot Designer Why did India agree to play Pakistan at all if the animosity runs so deep that Indian players could not even extend the customary handshake: a simple ritual that embodies the very essence of sportsmanship? Cricket is not war, in the first place. When a nation turns a game into a war, it does not defeat its rival; it only wages war on its own culture, poisoning its acclaimed greatness. India which claims to be Viswaguru , the world’s Guru, is degenerating itself day after day with mounting hatred against everyone who is not Hindu. How can we forget what India did to a young cricket player named Mohammed Siraj , especially in this context? In the recent test series against England, India achieved an unexpected draw because of Siraj. 1113 balls and 23 wickets. He was instrumental in India’s series-levelling victory in the final Test at the Oval and was declared the Player of the Match. But India did not celebrate him. Instead, it mocked him for his o...