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Kaappiri myth lives on
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The book ‘Maya’ celebrates the myth of Kaappiri, a slave brought to the shores of Kochi by Vasco da Gama
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Timeless chronicle George Thundiparambil in front of the Dutch Cemetery in Fort Kochi
The legend of Kaappiri lives on, celebrated in ‘Maya,’ a book by George Thundiparambil. Immortalised as one dressed in a stylish suit, solar topi and a cigar to his lips, is the mythical figure of Kaappiri, the African slave who was murde
red in cold blood by the Portuguese. The belief was that his spirit would protect their buried wealth when the Dutch overran them (1663). This is the character worshipped in shrines at Fort Kochi and Mattancherry, a character who now lives on as a god.
In ‘Maya,’ he is the protagonist, the hero overtaken by fate, dragged from the shores of Africa through turbulent times and finally killed heartlessly but not to die. Says Thundiparambil, who now lives between Freiburg, Germany, and Kerala, “The Kaappiri myth was always on my mind.”
Fact and fiction
But ‘Maya’ is not only about Kaappiri but a wonderful melding of history and fiction, of incidents real and fictitious, of ancient customs, beliefs, adventure and adversity. Its research will let you on to angles in history spanning six centuries and the consequent fallouts. Gama, hero and adventurer to the Western mind, a marauder and murderer for the Indians, remains one of the most compelling characters in history. Though Gama is not so strongly delineated, he is the symbol of Western imperialism and Christian conversion. Thiripad, a Namboodiri tantric, who like Kaappiri, travels through time and space, in the story, is the other major character. With him come Hindu mysticism and caste wars.
Maya is the modern, young beautiful woman, the key to Kaappiri’s ‘moksha,’ his release from births and rebirths but only if she will hear his story. She is also a foil to his desires. Kaappiri is the homogenous being, naked and invisible but only sighted by Maya. There’s love that blooms between the two, love that finds consummation as that of the ‘gopikas’ and Krishna. The allusions lift the text to a higher plain with prose getting richer.
Real incidents
The protests over the Gama anniversary celebrations in 1998, and its final cancellation, the theft of cows and their slaughter by new converts, the complaints lodged by the Nairs over the issue to the Cochin Rajah are incidents that happened, but then Maya is illusory, a figment of imagination. She binds the incidents together, finally hearing the complete tale of Kaappiri and his release from the trap of births and deaths.
“The book is predominantly fiction and I have taken liberties with chronology,” says Thundiparmbil, who as a child was warned about the bogeyman, Kaappiri. “Even today you find people worshipping Kaappiri and offering toddy coconuts and cigars. Many light candles to the spirit,” informs Thundiparambil.
Not a historical novel in the true sense of the word, ‘Maya’ weds history and fiction, sweeps the entire gamut of human emotions and through that stand, strongly portrayed, the amorphous, jelly like form of Kaappirri, the cruelty of Gama, the surreal world of the Namboodiri, the freshness of Maya, the comic relief from Kaapiri’s tricks, the brutality of the Portuguese towards the slaves, the slave trade and so many nuances of a history that is not celebrated like so many other histories.
It is perhaps for the first time that an attempt to demystify Gama and place events of that time in fiction is done.
‘Maya’ is published by Gauli Books and priced at Rs. 375.
PRIYADERSHINI S
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Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Madurai
Mangalore
Puducherry
Tiruchirapalli
Thiruvananthapuram
Vijayawada
Visakhapatnam
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