Customer Reviews

Samskara: A Rite for a Dead Man (Oxford India Collection)

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There are two outstanding features of this book. The first being brilliant storytelling. The tale is a critical look at the life style of the "upper classes" of Hindu society during the early part of the twenthieth century. The plot is deftly interwoven with Hindu philosophy and the result is quite remarkable. The second feature is the tralsation. Having read the original Kannada version, I found the traslation to be very lucid . This is a must read for everyone familiar to the the Indian social setup and also for those who are interested in getting introduced to it.

I was not excited when I learned that I had to read this for my Religion 1 Class at Dartmouth College because it looked long and boring. In reality, it was a gripping story that ranks up there with the greats. And if you liked Hesse's Siddhartha, you'll like this too.

A wonderful translation of a outstanding book from its Kannada original. The book traces events in an orthodox Brahmin village in Karnataka. It gently and very sensitively pokes holes in the close mindedness that has typified the so called higher castes in India. The book was writen in the 1960s, but remains relevant today. Accompanied by an outstanding glossary (it is worth buying the book just to read the glossary).

Samskara is a book about a village of Brahmins in India. One man, Praneshacharya, is considered to be the 'holiest' of men. Chaos enters everyone's lives when a very unpopular and 'unholy' Brahmin unexpectedly dies. There is a definite comic element throughout the novel but the consequences of the petty arguing and greed of this colony of Brahmin are quite severe. Throughout it all, Praneshacharya continues on his own journey of spiritual growth. Samskara is simple in language, although full of characters with very similar names. Beneath the simplicity of the language, there is a profundity and complexity of thought, metaphor, and analogy that I never tire of rereading.

I just finished reading the novel "Samskara" written by UR Ananthamurthy in the mid 60s. This was also made into a movie in 1970. I vaguely remember watching this controversial movie that disturbed some orthodox Brahmins. It was written in Kannada language and now any one can read this in English version available through Amazon. Reading this book brought back my childhood memories of typical village life in Southern Karnataka. It is of course a novel but I found it realistic in the way people understood Hindu philosophy of Karma and Dharma and practically lived it out. It is worth reading for any seekers of ritualistic Hinduism.
There is a synopsis on the web page [...]
In the novel the key figure Praneshacharya is rooted in the concept that salvation has to be earned. His thinking is to earn salvation by becoming a man of the highest goodness, being born into Brahmin family, then studying and mastering the Vedas/ scriptures, successfully arguing with the masters/pundits in Kashi and earning the title of crest jewel of Vedanta philosophy, purposely marrying to an invalid wife to show his self sacrifice, taking care of his sick wife daily as a duty, very regularly doing the acts of worship, reading scriptures and chanting mantras/stotras and doing all the penances, all to strive for perfection in the pursuit of salvation.
As we read further in the story his whole life becomes a mess, a disappointment and he faces huge dilemmas. He finds the truth that it is difficult to be good consistently and one always falls short of perfection no matter how much one strives. The question"how good is good enough?" is unanswerable.
Had he discovered that "I am a man of Goodness already, not I will become a man of goodness" his life would have been much different? It is through goodness not penance that sacrifice and service will come out truly and one finds the Grace of God.
I find the village character "Putta" in the second half of the book giving a powerful message. I was fascinated with his relentless following of this total stranger Praneshacharya and his patience goes beyond description. Praneshacharya tries to escape with no success. Putta, innocent but with a big heart was always there behind Praneshacharya. My take is this is how God pursuits human beings despite of our refusal to accept our imperfection.
I just loved this book.

This is quite an interesting book. It's a shame that Ananta Murthy seems to have lost inspiration two-thirds of the way through the book, and fails to provide a conclusion. As any storyteller, Indian or otherwise, will tell you, a good story requires a beginning, middle, and end. I hope that more publishing houses in England, India, and the U.S. take the initiative to publish such graceful translations of literature from the rich traditions of India's many regional languages.

Mr. Murthy's book is delicately told, with exquisite attention to detail. I did one of the inside jacket illustrations for a book of his when I was six, and have liked the man and his work ever since. Look for the new Penguin Paperback of his, _Bhava_ (co-translated by my mom... OK, so I am unfairly partial to his work). Read it and decide.

People who know the author know very well of the background of this book. The book was not written in good will. Only the poverty of a country is visible to outsiders does not mean there is no richness in there. Same applies to culture as well, but it depends on the way people project their culture to others. When a person vows to spread his negative thoughts on a culture or religion, you see a book like 'Samskara'. People who might think otherwise of this review, please tally it to the contents of the book and you will find this reviewer is just analyzing at the way positives are just twisted in negative ways to please the communist ideology.

The Samskara gives out the exact character of a normal brahmin. He practices the rituals blindly, but he can't think it scientifically. The humanity is the best ritual, irrespective of time and space i.e. the message of this novel. His one more novel Bharathipura is having the clear idea about the samskara.It may be the extended work of Samskara.