The Great Indian Novel [Paperback]

Shashi Tharoor (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1993

In this award-winning, internationally acclaimed novel, Tharoor has masterfully recast the 2,000 year-old epic, The Mahabharata, with fictional but highly recognizable events and characters from twentieth-century Indian politics. Chronicling the Indian struggle for freedom and independence from Great Britain, Tharoor directs his hilarious satire as much against Indian foibles as the bumbling of the British rulers.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The delightfully suspect and satirical tone of Tharoor's title informs and enlivens his monumental tale. In an opening disclaimer, the author cites the Mahabharata , an ancient Hindu epic, as the source of his inspiration. The story he retells, however, is also a thinly veiled account of the people and events that shaped India during the struggle for independence from British rule. Tharoor recasts these in a mythological, fictive realm, skillfully interweaving elements of traditional Eastern and Western literature. The epic, the sonnet, the novel and the folk tale all help to shape the narrative, just as history and myth, dream and reality intertwine in every chapter, calling into question the validity of categories. "One must be wary of history by anecdote," warns the narrator; one must be wary of "history" itself, suggests Tharoor. Despite his stereotypical treatment of British and Indian characters, he animates history with the imagination of an artist and the philosophy of a sage. Throughout, Tharoor appropriates titles, phrases and figures from the work of a pantheon of "first-world" writers, ranging from E. M. Forster and Rudyard Kipling to Ernest Hemingway and Arthur Koestler (and even including his contemporary Salman Rushdie)--a subtle but potent reversal of the traditional tide of cultural colonialism.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Basing his convoluted story on the Mahabharata , with its 18 chapters or Parvans and similar incidents or characters (e.g., a blind king; five brothers sharing one wife), Tharoor coalesces myth, dreams, folklore, religion, and legend in this first-person, near-death life narration of Ved Vyas. The reader suspends disbelief as the garrulous old man omnisciently relates secret conversations, lustful couplings, the assassination of Ganga Data (read Ghandi), and the intimacies of Lord and Lady Drewpad (read Mountbatten). Overambitious Tharoor amalgamates the epic's components with India's freedom struggles with Great Britain. Intermittently humorous, satiric, and fantastic, with word-play and recurrent verse, this work is most effective when discussing Data/Ghandi: his enemas, celibacy, hunger strikes, and tragic failure to bring peace and well-being to India, where today corruption and double-dealing insidiously multiply.
- Glenn O. Carey, Eastern Kentucky Univ., Richmond
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Arcade Publishing (April 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1559701943
• ISBN-13: 978-1559701945
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,153,137 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Great Stories, January 22, 2003

By 

Richard Wells (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Great Indian Novel (Paperback)

Whether it's the "Iliad," exploring the nature of the warrior, or the "Mahabarata"," explaining politics, the great stories are always with us and provide illumination to our seemingly modern lives. With "The Great Indian Novel," Shashi Tharoor shows us that "everything old is new again." "The Great Indian Novel," is a re-interpretation of the Mahabarata framed in India's struggle for independence, and the political aftermath of colonization. The famous make their appearances under altered names, and Mr. Tharoor manages to make the Mahabarata current while making modern Indian politics somewhat understandable. The book is also very funny. I don't know if this is a book for the casual reader, but if you're interested in India I think you'll find it quite fascinating.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nothing new under the sun., December 26, 2001

By 

Patrick Carroll "Winebibber. Java/JEE Develo... (Atlanta, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Great Indian Novel (Paperback)

For me, the book works in a number of ways:

1. Recasting the Mahabharata into modern India.

Two bits struck me: the story of Karna, the driver's son, and Drona teaching the Panduva. The first because of the way personal brilliance can be discounted on the basis of family tree; the second for the retelling of aiming at the crow and Drona's promise to Arjuna.

2. The names.

Apart from the characters from the Mahabharata, there's also whole new cast of characters who reflect the modern world. Two names stand out in my mind. "Gaga Shah" is the story's name for the Aga Kahn. Given the antics of the various Aga Kahns, "Crazy Emperor" is not a bad characterization. Then there's Zinna as Karna - "The Hacker Off" - hacking off Pakistan - "Karnistan" - for himself.

3. Showing the relevance of myth.

Personally, I have a tendency to discount the mythos in favor of the logos, but mythos comes first, and recurs. Casting the Mahabharata onto modern history is a great way to show there's nothing fundamentally new under the sun.

This book made for a great over-Christmas, by-the-fire-with-an-adult-beverage read.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Now I want to read the Mahahbarata, June 1, 2004

By 

Ronald Pompeo "Raparchie" (Japan) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Great Indian Novel (Paperback)

Being interested in India and having traveled there twice recently, I stalked up on all sorts of books dealing with the country. This is one of them. I started this one and immediately kept reading with great interest, as his story-line unfolded flawlessly.

I feel ashamed to admit it, but I am not familiar with Indian mythology and specifically with the Mahabharata, so I cannot comment as others did on how well he melded that epic tale with the modern, historical figures. But even without knowing how that one aspect fell into play within the whole story, I thought the work was absolutely brilliant. His satire on characters from recent Indian history is hysterical. If you have any knowledge about who Ghandi or Indira were, you will obviously spot WHO he is talking about, even though the real names are never used.

Finally, Tharoor's grasp and usage of English is awsome. I enjoyed the way he delivers passages full of sentiment and emotion, yet with witty, tongue-in-check narration. Plus, he wrote many, many inspiring passages that were so aptly phrased--simply the thoughts of a geneous--that I was inspired to highlight them with a neon pen. Truly excellent ideas put on paper!

The reason I didn't give it 5 stars was because I felt it ended rather abruptly or hurried, and it needed, in my opinion, a little more historical/politcal plot to finally bring it all together without a sense of being rushed at the end. (Maybe it's only me who feels this way.)

So, even if you don't know the Mahabharata or much of Indian history/politics, this book will keep your interest and whet your appetite to read even more on the fascinating country.