Book Review #33: The Pregnant King By Devdutt Pattanaik

My fawning over the tales of Mahabharata and its oddities never stops. It is rich, it is endless and it is window to witness what one could’ve only imagined. I have become a great fan of Devdutt Pattanaik after reading his Jaya (Retelling of Mahabharata), Sita (Retelling of Ramayana) and Business Sutra (Management from Indic point of view). He is a true master in compiling the mythological stories. Pattanaik, a medical doctor by profession and Mythological writer by passion, Pattanaik have written his first ever fictional tale that will juxtapose against the tales of the Mahabharata.

I took this book by only reading the title of it. It is strange, isn't it ?. How on the earth ***** ? As you can exclaim!! :). This is the tale of Yuvanashva, the king of Vallabhi, a descendant of Turvasu clan. Vallabhi a city placed adjacent to the kingdom of Kauravas, the Hastinapur.

The novel picks up really well with the introduction of Yuvanashva parents, his father Prasenjit that dies very early, which leads his mother Shilavati to rule the kingdom. Here author brings up a very interesting argument over, why women cannot become the king and sit over the throne, which is a must read from the book. All the villagers and other neighbor kings were not really in acceptance mode, when shilavati was ruling. This was adharma according to them. Hence, Shilavati just became a proxy ruler, until his son is blessed with a child, that’s the right time to allow him to become the king.

To everyone’s dismay, Yuvanashva remained as childless though he was married to 3 different queens. His first wife Simantini, Second wife Poulomi and third wife Keshini. These characters are just the filler roles for this novel. There is not much about them that you can guffaw over it. Hence, Yuvanashva conducts a ritual by calling the sages Yaja and Upayaja to prepare a magic potion by offering richly to the gods through Yagna. But, unfortunately, Yuvanashva drinks this potion accidently and he becomes pregnant! :)

What follows after this accident is a splendid art work of fiction. Author had brought the woman in Yuvanashva through his tales of emotion, happiness and feelings. Yuvanashva's dilemma/jignasa over whether his firstborn son Mandhata, should call him MOTHER or FATHER ?. Whether he can announce the world that, he has given birth to Mandhata ? Whether the world will agree to such story?, etc.. To his surprise, when he revealed this secret to his son Mandhata a few years later, Mandhata also silences Yuvanashva citing the reason “Whatever happened has happened, now I am your son and you are my father”. Yuvanashva pleading his son Mandhata to call him as MOTHER at least once is one of those highly charged scene from the book.

Though this entire story takes place at the time of Mahabharata, The story of Vallahi and Yuvanashva takes the cake. The people of this kingdom were least bothered about what’s happening in Hastinapuri. One such example is when a bard comes and announces that, all the Kaurava army was destroyed in the battle of Kurukshetra, everyone exclaims “Oh, is it so??”, then they carry on with their regular chores. :)

Yuvanashva is one of those kings who don't participate in the battle of Kurukshetra, reason being obvious, he is pregnant. There are multiple references to bulls, fields, soil and seeds as euphemisms for sex and conception, and to illuminate the vexing question of “ownership” that arises when a woman is made pregnant by someone other than her husband (famously called as NIYOGA system). And then there are those troublesome dead ancestors, the “pitrus”, waiting for the arrival of a child so they can be reborn in the land of the living. Taking the form of crows, they perch outside bedchambers, waiting for quick results, flapping their wings impatiently when foreplay goes on for too long. (“Does it not bother you that your son’s seed is weak?” one of them indelicately asks Shilavati.) The book is bit "for adults only" too, that doesn't mean that, it is disgusting to read. I guess it is appropriate for the tale that the author is describing.

There are other supplement tales. Two best friends Sumedha and Somavat(i), their tales of how they were supposed to get married and it was severely dealt by Yuvanashva, by burning them alive. Later they became ghosts and were tormenting Yuvanashva.  These ghosts are responsible for Yuvanashva drinking the potion that was meant for his wives. It’s an interesting section to read. Shilavati, who cannot rule as a king because she is a woman. Pruthalashva (grandfather of Yuvanashva), who must sire a child because he is a man, a Yaksha named Sthunakarna, who surrenders his manhood so thatShikhandi (a woman) can become a man and a husband, and later reclaims it, and of the great warrior Arjuna with his many wives, who is forced to disguise himself as a woman (Brihannala) when a nymph (Urvashi) castrates him. And in this journey, we witness King Yuvanashva's struggle to be just to all, his conflict with himself, and his duty to bring about Dharma in his kingdom.

The climax part is what gave an amazing conclusion. Yuvanashva decides to renounce as a king and becomes a hermit. He wanders through the forests meeting sages and other learned rishis. He realizes there is more to life than what he had imagined. He slowly raises his consciousness and becomes Nilkanth Bhairavi or Yuvaneshwar.

Overall, this is a sporadically successful, intriguing, spectacular, beautiful, yet thought provoking book that tells an engrossing, subversive story but meanders a little too much.

Some of the quotes which I liked from all the characters:

- "What sounds sweetest, being called Mother or being called Father"?

- “Does it not bother you that your son’s seed is weak?”

- "You are assuming you know the boundaries of nature. You don't. There is more to life than your eyes can see."

- “Who is a King? Who can claim to be mother or a father? Who is the rightful heir to the throne?”

- "To be a woman is like becoming a prey, her every move watched by hungry predators. Every glance of man is a violation. No one is spared. No one. Not mother, not sister, not daughter. It is only fear of Dharma that keeps men in check. (Arjuna describing his story to Yuvanashva when he became Brihannala for one long year)"

The realization quotes of Yuvanashva:

- “It will not make sense to your logical mind. You will say, a parent is a parent, whether you are father or mother. But it is not the same. I cannot explain. You have to experience it. All I know is what I feel. I feel, while there is sweetness when your son calls you “father”, there is more sweetness when he calls you “mother”.

- “I am not sure that I am a man…I have created life outside me as men do. But I have also created life inside me, as women do. What does that make me? Will a body such as mine fetter or free me?”

- “That’s what they were. Vehicles of an idea. Two ideas. No. One idea, two expressions. Two halves of the same idea. Mutually interdependent” - (on being Male and Female).

- “Within you is your soul, Adi-natha as Shiva, silent, observant, still. Around you is matter, Adi-natha as Shakti, ever-changing, enchanting, enlightening, enriching, empowering”.

- “The imperfection of the human condition and our stubborn refusal to make room for all those in between”

Endnote (Quote) by the author:

“Did the events actually happen? Does it matter? Is it really about Shilavati, Yuvanashva, Shikhandi or Somvati? Or is it about love, law, identity, gender, power and wisdom? The impossibility of universal fairness?”

My Rating:
5/5

Book Review #21: Breaking India: Western Intervention in Dravidian and Dailt Faultlines By Rajiv Malhotra and Aravindan Neelakandan

There are few books that leaves its readers with dismay. Readers feel a sense of lost after reading this massively researched book. Spread across a mammoth 650+ odd pages, having end notes and glossary worth 80 pages and its bibliography extending to more than 50 pages, makes this book a massively researched book.

Breaking India, penned by the authors Rajiv Malhotra and Aravindan Neelakandan is a myth shattering book. It exposes various facades of cultural malice veiled as a humanitarian agenda. This book documents 'what is known', 'what is unknown' and 'what is known and neglected by mass Indians over the centuries' about the danger that western interventions poses threat to our very cultural, spiritual and religious foundations of great Bharat. With majority of Indians (read as Hindus) believed that, their culture, heritage and great history and their SANATANA DHARMA will be preserved throughout many centuries undisturbed, must read this book in order to learn about the various atrocities and ill-motivated propagations that western offices carry out in India in the name of Social Service, Poor Upliftment and what not.

Breaking India is not about political rabble rousing; it records the misery of a deeply aggrieved civilization of India that may in the future die a slow poisonous death. The ongoing christian evangelical missionary activities and its stronghold campaignings across the country has callously devalued and eventually devastated other ancient cultures and people. This book sparks an honest debate on the extent of human rights and other "DALIT EMPOWERMENT" projects.

This book constantly unmasks the various missionaries, US funded evangelical organizations and other internal rabid hindu haters. One such example I must have to mention, is about a person called Kancha Ilaiah an activist and a writer who wrote a book titled "Why I Am Not a Hindu: A Sudra critique of Hindutva philosophy, culture and political economy", where he goes on ranting about Hindu cultures, and with a single sweep, he rejects all our ancient scriptures as the scriptures that propagates the violence.

Authors goes onto expose some of the grave realities of the western cooked-up stories of our India and its ancient culture. One such incident, where they try to separate the Dravidians a.k.a South Indians in the name of Myth Aryan invasion theory. They try to bring up the Tirukkuraal and try to portray the author of the Thirukkuraal Thiruvalluvar as a christian!!. Several evangelical organizations and its representatives have argued over many years on this issue, especially, Deivanayagam, a former Hindu and a converted christian who wrote many articles, books and so called research papers on these topics.

Authors has also exposed some of the evangelical organization's idea of depicting our ancient Indians dance forms such as Bharata Natyam by christianizing it. A well put up blog about this can be found here Christian Denigration of Indian. An art form of Bharat Natyam is depicted as a Yavoha dance form in the following LINK.

Authors had left no stone unturned in demasking these two faced chameleons. One more such example, which is happening in our very own kerala is "JESUS NAMASKAR". A lifted phenomenon from our ancient Yogic practice of Surya Namaskara. Several converted Christians have undoubtedly contributed to such stupid false stories. This section of the book leaves readers with much disappointment. How low one can go to propagate their religion in the name of Human Rights.? God Knows. Our Indians must not fall prey for these thugs and accept whatever they say. India is a land of sages, land of the divine. If this propagation continues, there is no option left but, to wait and watch as India Breaks.

Dravidian Christianity

In a blog written for Huffington Post religion section, Rajiv Malhotra stated various facts about this age old myth called Dravidians were the descendents of Christians. Rajiv emphasized in one of his blog about the european mischievous acts of making Sanskrit as an european originated language, showing Aryan's race have born and prospered in Europe first. On a similar note, Rajiv exposed this Dravidian Christianity. He writes that, 

"Dravidian race theory originated in 19th century European scholarship when colonial and evangelical interests used linguistics and ethnic studies to formulate imaginary histories and races. While European scholars were busy appropriating the Sanskrit classics as the heritage of Europeans, British linguists Francis Ellis and Alexander Campbell worked in India to theorize that the south Indian languages belong to a different family than the north Indian ones. Meanwhile, another colonial scholar, Brian Houghton Hodgson, was promoting the term "Tamulian" as a racial construct, describing the so-called aborigines of India as primitive and uncivilized compared to the "foreign Aryans." 

The narrative that author used is that St. Thomas, the apostle, visited south India and taught Christianity to the great sage, Thiruvalluvar, who was inspired by Christianity, but did not capture St. Thomas' message accurately. This is often portrayed in recently published paintings showing the sage sitting at the feet of St. Thomas, taking notes. Sanskrit is downgraded as a language created by St. Thomas to spread the Christian message to the uncivilized north Indian races.

At the "International Conference on the History of Early Christianity in India." The then senator, Hillary Clinton says:  

"I am confident that the breadth of resources presented during the conference will shed light on the impact of Christianity on medieval and classical India and its effects on the cultural and political climate of India..."

Overall, as far as I can see, the important message of Breaking India is: Do believe in your country, be a patriot, respect your dharmic values. Don't go behind westerners in the name of modern values. You must love India as a country, that has greater values than what most of us knew till date. 

This book sure its a wake up call for every Indian to think deeply and maturely about the future of India and stand up to these western threats, within and outside, so that we may allow our future generations to benefit from the foundation of our eternal sanatana dharma. As the famous Sanskrit verse goes, "Dharmo Rakshati; Rakshitaha" which means, "Protect Your Dharma; Dharma will protect you in-turn". Period.

My Rating:

5/5 (This book is beyond rating!!)