TRANSLATION
Revolutionary ideas
RABAB NAQVI
|
The basis for Divya is history, but all the characters are fictitious.
|
Here too is the biting satire of society as seen through the savage eye of an uncompromising non-conformist.
Divya; Yashpal, translated into English by Anand, Sahitya Akademi, Rs.135
THIS book is a must read for anyone who holds the perception of Indian women as submissive and incapable of self-determination. It is the story of a woman determined to live her own life against all odds in a male-dominated society. In many ways, Yashpal was ahead of his time. Human rights, the condition of women, the plight of untouchables and backward classes are hot topics of discussion and government reform in India today. Yashpal addressed these issues in Divya and his other works more than 60 years ago.
Background of conflict
Divya is a historical novel set against a background of conflict for supremacy between Hindu and Buddhist ideologies in India in the first century B.C. Divya, the grand-daughter of the Brahmin chief of Madra republic, is the most talented dancer in the republic. Prithusen, Divya's lover, is an ambitious youth. His father, the merchant-prince of Madra, was once a slave. Prithusen is declared the champion of martial arts, but the Brahmin aristocracy refuses to accept him as their equal.
Divya, pregnant with Prithusen's child, leaves her grandfather's house. A Buddhist monastery refuses her shelter because, as a woman, she is dependent on her husband or father. She assumes a new identity as Ashumala, the court dancer in the neighbouring Shursen. Ultimately, Divya returns to Madra as the court dancer. But the Brahmin rulers refuse to allow a Brahmin girl to be a dancer. Instead, the Brahmin chief, Rudradhir, asks Divya to marry him. Her former lover, Prithusen, now a Buddhist monk, proposes shelter in a Buddhist monastery. She turns down both offers because they entail losing her freedom. Self-confident and courageous, she firmly declares, "the mistress of a noble family is not a free woman, she is not independent like a disreputable courtesan".
Such assertions outraged Yashpal's contemporaries and created a widespread furore when the novel was first published in Hindi in 1945. Over the years, Yashpal's reputation as a writer has solidified. Bernard Queenan, a Canadian literary reviewer, who collaborated in the translation of Divya, compares Yashpal as a social to George Orwell. "Here too is the biting satire of society as seen through the savage eye of an uncompromising non-conformist. The tribulations of the central figure underline the pernicious forces — religious, social and political — that attempt, but fail, to stifle the aspirations of the human spirit."
Some anomalies
As a historical novel, there are some anomalies relating to the prevailing political, social systems of the time. The description of rituals, festivals and the exact mixing of the Greek and Indian cultures may not be fully accurate. The author has taken some poetic liberties, not unusual in creative writing. It is, as the author said, "history coloured with imagination". The basis for Divya is history, but all the characters are fictitious. It does not centre on any historical figure or event.
Divya was a soul-searching exercise for the author. He said, "History is not a matter of belief, but of analysis. History is self-examination by man of his past."
The English rendering is straightforward and lucid. Anand and Queenan have succeeded admirably in capturing the essence, flavour and the subtleties of the original. Ancient India comes alive in all its glory and vigour in this remarkably readable work of fiction.
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Literary Review
