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Myth and math
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Manil Suri’s second work in the trilogy on the Trinity, “The Age of Shiva”, is a post-colonial novel that centres around maternal love and the growth of a nation
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PHOTO: S. THANTHONI
It’s India again for me Manil Suri
Manil Suri combines the lyricism of the poet with the precision and analytical power of a mathematician in his writing. His exploration of his characters’ psyche has yet another dimension — the sharp, penetrating touch of the surgeon with his scalpel. After the overwhelming success of his first novel “The Death of Vishnu” comes the second in the trilogy on the Trinity, “The Age of Shiva”. The “post-colonial” novel is at once a paean to maternal love and a narration of the growth of a nation. At the core of the work is the myth centring around the asceticism of Shiva, and Parvati’s all consuming love for her son. Issues of religion, politics and personal narrative intertwine like the coils of the snake around the neck of the powerful god.
On his visit to Chennai for the launch of his book by Penguin Books India, Bloomsbury, and the Taj Connemara, Suri fielded a range of questions. Excerpts:
How difficult was it to write the second novel, under the tremendous pressure of expectations?
It was extremely difficult; horrifying. Just a few months after the first was launched, people would ask me “have you finished the other two books?”- as if I was writing one with each hand! Luckily in the Maths department (University of Maryland Baltimore County where he is professor), people let me be a mathematician. Maths has been a saviour for me.
Did the second novel grow out of the first?
I was asked, “so what are you going to write next”? There are two other deities. So why not a trilogy, I thought. I changed the name from “The Life of Shiva” because it might fall into the same formula as the first novel. I wanted it to be as different as night from day, in mood, time and flavour. I thought it would be located partly in the U.S. But it didn’t turn out that way. I’ve thrown away 100 pages of the third book set in the U.S. It is India again for me — the first book about India of the 80s and 90s, the second from Independence to the Nineties and the third from now to the future.
A remarkable aspect of this novel is how you have captured the women’s perspective so well.
The choice of woman’s perspective was again to distance myself from the first work. Some reviewers of it called me a misogynist, they said only the male characters were after spiritual transcendence, not the female (which is not true).The first two pages of this book just came to me. But it took some time to get into Meera’s mind, to learn what her emotions, thoughts and feelings would be.
How did you manage to get the nuances and details of lower middle class life accurately, despite having been away from the country for more than 20 years?
Good question. I’ve not been away so much. I come at least three times a year to see my mother. The president of my university who took a liking to my first book asked me about the joint family system in India and how couples share intimacy within a confined space. That was the challenge — to think it through. As for rituals such as the Karva Chauth, I did research and also asked people about it. Beyond that it is just osmosis.
The Hindu-Muslim issue and secularism are intrinsic to the book.
I have a very stereographic view of it. I grew up as a paying guest in Bombay. There were three other families apart from mine sharing the same kitchen and bathroom. And they were all Muslims. My parents were from Rawalpindi and were greatly affected by the Hindu-Muslim split. I wanted to explore how important secularism has been in India’s evolution, the role Nehru has played and how important it is to India’s future.
Why did you choose the myth of Andhaka on incest?
I wanted to stay away from the usual myth of Shiva as a destroyer and also the one of the Shiva lingam. What else does Shiva stand for? “Asceticism” and this is tied up with the creation of Andhaka. But then Shiva destroys the lust of Andhaka. I am proud that the Indian myth is much older than the Oedipal Greek myth. But what works for the ideal won’t work when human beings interact.
Why is there much focus on the figure of the mother in your work?
It is not central to the first book. But this one is the true mother book. In India, the mother is a larger than life figure — Kali, Mother India. I wanted to explore the other aspects obscured by this perfect image — the voluptuousness that can exist between sons and mothers.
KAUSALYA SANTHANAM
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