The Great Indian Novel

- Shashi Tharoor

Akshay Paranjape

Sushant Verma

Biography of Author

• Indian Politician, Writer, Diplomat

• He was born on 9 March 1956 in London,United Kingdom

• He has done his Bachelors from St. Stephen’sCollege, Delhi, Master and Doctorate fromTufts University

• He is a member of the Indian NationalCongress and twice elected MPfrom Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala

• He was previously Minister of State forExternal Affairs (2009–2010) and HumanResource Development (2012–2014)

Shashi Tharoor

• His other famous novels include - India: From Midnight to theMillennium and Beyond, Nehru: The Invention of India, Riot etc.Many of his novels are related to the Theme of Politics.

• His book The Great Indian Novel won the Commonwealth Writers'Prize for the Best Book of the Year in the Eurasian Region.

Summary of the Novel

The great Indian Novel is fictional work that takesthe story of the epic of Hindu Mythology,Mahabharata and recasts and reset it in the contextof our Indian Independence. It’s a satire on Indianpost-independence politics.

What’s Mahabharata ?The Mahabharata is an epic tale describing

the historical dynastic struggle over the throne ofthe kingdom of Hastinapur between the Pandavasand the Kauravas, two branches of the heirs of theKing Shantanu.

What’s The Great Indian Novel?Great-Maha + India-Bharat = Mahahbharata

The novel has 18 chapters same as that of Mahabharata which has 18 books and theBattle of Kurukshektra lasted for 18 days

Timeline : Roughly around birth of Gandhi 1870 till three decades post-Independence orthe rule of Indira Gandhi 1980.

Ved Vyas = Rajagopalachari

Amba/Shikhandin = Nathuram Godse

Ganga Dutta serve as the regent of Hastinapur. He embark on his first protestcampaign after seeing the people of Motihari suffering. British Resident ofHastinapur Sir Richard.

Dhritarashtra and Gandhari get married. Pandu suffers from coronary disease. Kuntithe wife of Pandu reveals about her son who was left into the river in a basket, whohappens to be Karna, who resemble Mohammad Ali Jinnah the father of Pakistan.Gandhari give birth to just one girl child unlike the real Mahabharata, PriyaDuryodhani.

The incident of Bibighar Garden Massacre resemble Jallianwala Bagh massacrewhen Hastinapur is annexed to British Presidency. Gangaji launces Quit IndiaMovement. Pandavas come to birth.

Sarah Moore, sister of one the jute mill owner, persuades her brother to offerbonus to the workers. Ask for Gangaji help. Pandu taking the harder path than theGangaji for the Independence leaving the Kaurava Party. High tax on Mango leadGangaji to start Great Mango March (resemble The Dandi March).

Karna becames the member of the Kaurava Party. Gaga Shah invites Karna to formMuslim Group.

Summary Cont…

Priya Duryodhani tries to poison Bhim but fails. Pandavas meet Dronacharya,here Jayaprakash Drona. Pandu decides to take the Presidency of Kaurava Partyand later gets elected, but loses the post due to non-confidence vote. Pandu laterform allies with Nazis. Pandu dies of heart attack and plane is shot down.

Aswathaman, son of Drona joined as student with the Pandavas. Eklavya refuseshis thumb unlike the original Mahabharat and flees away in fear. The absence ofthe Kaurava Party in the administration (during second World War) benefits theMuslim Group, which later demand for separate Muslim state, Karnistan.Independence : partition of India. Amba assassinated Gangaji.

Drona does not revenge Heaslop when he gats chance after becoming Minister ofState for Administrative Reform. Georgia Drewpad, who had affair withDhritarahtra on 26th Jan 1950 give birth to Draupadi. Issue of Manimir (Kashimir).Drona leaves the Government and do contructive work in rural development.Later Pandavas joined him. Meanwhile, Karna dies when he tries to pull a car outof the mud. Vidur helps Pandavas for hiding.

Summary Cont…

The Chakars (China) annexe a piece of Indian territory and the humiliation breaksDhritarashtra's heart and he dies. Priya Duryodhani is annoyed that Draupadi isdrawing the attention away from her lectures and orders Ved Vyas to getDraupadi married. Draupadi Swamvar. Shishu Pal (2nd PM) dies of heart attackafter signing a cease fire when Karnistan again invades Manimir.

Priya Duryodhani becomes 3rd Prime Minister. Arjun is banned from his conjugalrights for a year. Arjun meet Krishna the local Kaurava Party Secretary. He falls inlove with his sister Subhadra, and marries her.

Ashwathaman, Drona' son and the leader of a socialist splinter party, is invitedby Priya Duryodhani to join the Kaurava Party Working Committee. Deputy PM asthe Yudhishtir. Kaurava party gets split into two group. Jarasandha Khan (militarydictator of Karnistan) election Gelaban People wins and demand for SeparateGelaban Desh (Bangladesh).

Duryodhani declare the emergency and arrest her political opponents. Post toemergency declare election. The Janta Party wins and Yudhishtir is honoured asthe PM. After much internal controversies on the PM Yudhishtir (Morarji Desai),Priya Duryodhani again gets elected in the next general election.

Summary Cont…

Important Themes

1. Politics

2. Family

3. History

4. Preaching

Politics

Story of Mahabharata is highly political, and so our Indian post independence history. Right from the reign of Nehru to the Indira Gandhi Emergency, the internal politics of INC is described in fictional manner connecting with the characters of Mahabharata.For example:

Morarji Desai who was initially in the INC and was given the post of Deputy PM and who later formed his own Janta Party and was elected as 4th PM of India in the general election after Emergency same role is played by Yudhishtiraof Mahabharata in the novel who is the head of Pandavas.

Family

All great Mythologies of India areundoubtedly based on the family, it’s internalrivalries; and so the writer has made a familytouch. He has shown the Indian Politician asthe family member of the Mahabharata the‘Pandavas’ and ‘Kauravas’; With NetajiSubhaschandra Bose, Jawaharlal Nehru andSardar Valllabhbhai Patel as the Pandu ,Dhritarashtra and Vidur. Gandhiji, known asthe ‘Father of Nation’ is paralleled by theCharacter of Ganga Dutta or the Bhisma inMahabharata who is Father like character inMahabharata and he is also the mainprotagonist of the first half of novel.Furthermore, Priya Duryodhani (IndiraGandhi) daughter of Dhritarashtra leads theKaurava Party after his death.

Poetry as a literary device:Many incidents are described by the usage of prose which may be perhaps

to resemble the epic Mahabharata but it also adds to the beauty of the literature.Example:1. Pandu’s Tale2. Arjun Conversation with Krishna (which is actually the Bhagavad Gita )

Style

Arjun saw Fathers, Uncles, CousinsTeachers, Preachers, Grandsons, FriendsArrayed before him in several dozensConvinced their means justified their ends.Pity filled him. He spoke with sadness:'Krishna, this is simply madness.All this foes are our own kinsmen;Who will wash away their sins, then?My will fails me. My throat is parched.I think of it, and feel a shiver.I've always been for life-a liver.Though I was ready; my bow was arched,My mind 'in a tumult. I can't continue.My resolve trembles in every sinew.

Political SatireSatire on the Political Incident mainly 3 decades post to Independence.

Narration styleVed Vyas is narrating the story to Ganapati, so it can be said as third

person narrative. Its also a partly third-person omniscient narration as Ved Vyasknows almost all facts from his sources.

CharacterizationThe author doesn't have to do much with the characterization aspect - for

almost every character of this novel usually stands for a character from theMahabharata or a figure from India's political history, but he does well to remainfaithful to his inspiration by incorporating as many attributes as possible. Some ofthe politicians are left in the discussions.

Fictional names for real placesChakra used for China

- ‘chakkar’ Hindi synonym for ‘cheeni’ which means China in HindiManimir for Kashmir and etc.

The suspense maintained in the story time will make you complete the bookas soon as possible. Language is difficult but its readable and the story islinear and well connected.

Liked the concept of writer’s linking the historical characters to thecharacters of Mahabharata which is no easy task.

This book is a work of political satire, therefore it only makes sense that thereader be fairly knowledgeable about the Mahabharata as well as majorevents in India's political history.

But if you aren’t, try to get aquatinted to them at the same time of reading,which happened in our case; and once you link up the facts you will reallyappreciate the writing.

We strongly recommend this book to be read….. Really it deserves it’s name

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