Write a case analysis on taroors depiction of history in the great indian novel
Answers
Answer:
CHAPTER I1
THE MYTHOPOETICS OF HISTORY
IN THE GREAT INDIAN NOVEL
Every strong culture has a vital epic tradition. Epics account for
the 'beginnings' of a civilization, and are enduring tales of reality, myth
and history. They offer a commentary on the ancient heroic codes,
associations of class, gender, sexuality, justice, war and other processes
of a predominantly oral culture. While many great civilizations of the
world-Mesopotamian, Sumerian, Egyptian, Aztec, to name a few-
have disappeared without leaving behind a substantial literary record of
the past, India has maintained a rich and enduring literary tradition of
puranas and itihasas, jatakas and anyapadeshas, natakas, mahakavyas,
champus and folktales, which even to the present day marks the
foundation of Indian popular imagination. In contemporary postmodern
times, it has been the redaction of epic narratives that is a favourite
technique with storytellers.
Tharoor's The Great Indian Novel (1989) bases itself on the plot
of the Mahabharata. The author resorts to two translations of the epic,
viz. that of P. La1 (Poetry) and C. Rajagopalachari (Prose). Though the
history of the twentieth century in India is an archetypal pattern between
the epic and history, it is not a complete parallel. Though there is satire,
it is not very serious or agitating and the unmistakable typifying ofcharacters gives us a lot of new versions of our contemporary political
position. This parodic redaction of the Mahabharata teams with
parallelisms in individuals, places and events. Where one character has
no exact counterpart, he can be assumed as a symbol or an event or a
situation. According to Robert Goldman, ". . . two somewhat
disparaging subjects, the Mahabharata and the History of Modern India
are cleverly and pointedly intertwined in this remarkable book"
(www.indiastar.com). Twentieth century political history with its
archetypal pattern between the epic and history is discernible in the
novel, but it is not a complete parallelism. History and epic are treated
not very seriously or solemnly but with satire and humour. Tharoor has
managed to drive the point home and keeps up the tempo effectively
from the game of dice to the end of the novel. It may be surprising that
while the original Mahabharata centres around the battle of Kurukshetra,
the battle as such is totally absent in Tharoor's version. The battle of
Mahabharata or "the Great India" is being constantly fought. The battle
for power, ego clashes and personality problems of megalomaniacs are a
day-to-day battle fought among the power-crazy in the country.
Shashi Tharoor's greatest work as well as the most complete
work of Faction is The Great Indian Novel (1989), which documents his
postmodern impressions of contemporary history. When a narrative of
such vastness and magnitude comes under serious study, it is impossiblefor any research scholar to cover everything in a single project. Hence,
the method adopted here is to list select parallelisms, allusions and
provide an appraisal of the situation, a critical review and a more
elaborate reading from postmodernist and allegorical Factional aspects.
The Great Indian Novel is in first person narration. According to
Kanshika Chowdhury, "An analysis of the historical legacy of
colonialism, however, does display a certain degree of uniformity in the
postcolonial condition" (43). An attempt has been made to bring out the
yoking of myth and history, as Ved Vyas in the novel says, "History. . .
is full of savage ironics" (74). He also says "Facts-that is all I intend to
record, facts and names. This is History" (86). Parody, satire, comedy,
pun, wordplay, light verse, irony, sarcasm, jokes, witty digressions, self-
reflexivity, biography, dramatization, literal and emblematic modes and
semaphoring are interwoven to highlight the Factional fabric in the
novel. The narrator is Ved Vyas. On his request, Brahma gives him a
scribe, Ganapathi. This is the story told by Ved Vyas, shortened to V.V.
in the text, 88 years old, and therefore "full of irrelevancies" (18).
Tharoor weaves the real and colourful history of twentieth century
politics against the backdrop of the epic and blends poetry and prose in
an experimental style that helps him shift from serious and sublime
moods to the highly ridiculous.The table given below provides an overview of the close
parallelisms in the novel between the characters and their epic
counterparts:
The Great Indian Novel is a satirical novel by Shashi Tharoor, first published by Viking Press in 1989. It is a fictional work that takes the story of the Mahabharata, the epic of Hindu history, and recasts and resets it in the context of the Indian Independence Movement and the first three decades post-independence.