Indian Narratology 8120725026

Citation preview

GRAD PK 2941 .A991 2003

Digitized by

Google fl.

FEBO6 2004

Digitized by

Google

Original from

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

Digitized by

Google

Original from

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

Indian Narratology

Digitized by

Google

Original from

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

Digitized by

Google

Original from

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

INDIAN NARRATOLOGY

K. AyyappaPaniker ~

INDIRA GANDIIl NATIONAL CENTRE FOR THE ARTS STERLING PUBLISHERS PRIVATE LIMITED

Digitized by

Google

Original from

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

G,(?,-tJJ

~K

J'7'1 ( ftf:Ft I I

~(kµ Published by INDIRA GANDHI NATIONAL CENTRE FOR THE ARTS JANPATH, NEW DELHI-I 10001

in association with

STERLING PUBLISHERS PRIVATE LIMITED A-59 Okhla Industrial Area, Phase-II, New Delhi-110020. Tel: 26387070, 26386209 Fax: 91-11-26383788 E-mail: [email protected]. in www.sterlingpublishers.com

Indian Na"atology © 2003 Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts ISBN 81 207 2502 6

All rights are reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission of the original publisher.

PRINTED IN INDIA

Published by Sterling Publishers Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi-110 020. Printedat SarasGraphiCJ, Mayapuri,New Delhi.

Digitized by

Google

Original from

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

PREFACE

This monograph presents the result of the research undertaken by me with a fellowship from the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, New Delhi. I wish to thank the authorities of the Centre for the facilities offered to me for the successful completion of the project. My gratitude also goes to all the authors and editors whose works I have drawn upon and quoted from, and to all friends and colleagues who have provided sustained inspiration and generous cooperation. I should like to add here my deep appreciation of the facilities provided to me by IGNCA for conducting research in Indian literary tradition during the period of my fellowship-the travels made possible for the collection of data and checking of materials, the purchase of books on ancient, medieval and modern Indian narratives in different languages, interviews with scholars, etc. After the preparation of the draft of the monograph, I was encouraged by the positive response shown by Professor N.R. Shetty, the Member Secretary of IGNCA, for the early publication of the work. I am grateful to him for taking immediate steps in this matter. My thanks are due to Dr. Lalit M. Gujral, Hony. Advisor to IGNCA, for his sense of commitment and expert supervision of the printing of the book as well as his sensitive handling of the typescript. I also wish to thank my old-time friend, Mr. S.K. Ghai, Chairman of

Digitized by

Google

Original from

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

Sterling Publishers, who are co-publishers of this book, for the quick and efficient manner in which he and his staff have managed to produce this book in a very attractive format. The publications of IGNCA are an asset to the nation and a substantial contribution to the cultural heritage of India. I am happy and grateful to all concerned for having had a chance to play a humble part in this magnificent enterprise of cultural integration as well as the rediscovery and retrieval of the national tradition.

K. AYYAPPA PANIK

Digitized by

Google

Original from

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

ER

CONTENTS

Pages

Preface 1. The Theory and Practice of the Narrative in India 2. The Vedic/Encrypted Narrative: ~g VedaModel 3. The Pura,:ra/Saga Narrative: BhagavataModel 4. The ltihasa/Epic Narrative: Ramaya,:,a/Mahabharata Model 5. The Sr,ikhala/Chain Narrative: Katluisaritsagara Model 6. The Anyapadesa/Allegorical Narrative: PancatantraModel 7. The Mahakavya/Grand Narrative: RaghuvamsaModel 8. The Buddhist/Jain Narrative: The JatakaModel 9. · The Dravidian Narrative: CilappatikaramModel 10. The Folk/Tribal Narrative: Multiple Models 11. The Misra/Miscellaneous Narratives 12. Narrative versus Narratology Appendix: The Asian NarrativeTradition Bibliography Index

Digitized by

Google

V

1 18 28 41 58 72 84 97 108 120 134 153 160 169 191

Original from

UNIVERSITYOF MICHIGAN

Digitized by

Google

Original from

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF THE NARRATIVE IN INDIA

The narrative in Indian languages has had a long and varied history. In terms of sheer bulk it can compare favourably with that of any other country during the ancient or medieval period. The oral or unwritten narratives, many of which have not survived to our times due to the tyranny of historical forces, display a wide variety of themes and techniques, some of which may still be discerned in the stage practices of diverse tribes and groups in the country. It is not easy to set up a comprehensive typology in view of what has been lost, but what is still available to us in oral and written texts is an indication of the richness and density of the Indian narrative, especially the traditional, before foreign influence dwindled and dwarfed the narrative tradition of the land. Only the high _peaks of narration can be presented in a monograph like this, but what is outlined here briefly should be taken only as a working model for the purpose of analysis and not as a full-fledged history of the Indian narrative. The emphasis here is not on exhaustive chronology or on comprehensiveness of survey, but on quality and kind, the potential sweep of the Indian narrative imagination.

Digitized by

Google

Original from

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

Indian Narratology

2

Like perhaps many other human groups scattered across the entire globe, Indians too are inveterate storytellers. No superiority over other countries is claimed here; only an objective documentation of facts for the purpose of close study and comparison is attempted. It is true that comparatively little has been written about the narrative discourse in Indian books on rhetoric and literary criticisll}. The basic texts on poetics in Sanskrit like Niitya Siistra or Dhvanyiiloka pay more attention to poetry and drama, and have not directly said much about fictional narration as such. It may be that whatever is said about poetry and drama is relevant to narrative art also in its effect on the readers or in its depiction of human emotions, etc., in a general way. Fiction criticism probably was overshadowed by the excessive concern with poetry and drama. There is no gainsaying that theories of rasa, dhvani, vakrokti, aucitya, alankara,etc., are equally applicable to the narrative as to poetry, drama, theatre, dance, music, etc. Anandavardhana, in Dhvanyiiloka, refers to certain categories of stories like katha, parikatha,sakalakatha,etc., but he himself did not choose to spell it out in detail nor did any of his successors pursue it with dogged determination to identify the different categories and explain the implications of such a style of characterisation. Compared to the extensive analysis and theorisation about fictional narration in the west in recent times, critical discourse on fiction was somewhat stillborn in the Indian tradition. And when at last Indian critics, mostly brought up on western education, awoke to this problem, they had already been alienated from their own culture, and could not pick up the old threads and set up either the theory or the practice of fictional criticism. The limitations of critical practice should not make us ignore the rich and long tradition of the practice of narration itself in India. That the art of the narrative was

Digitized by

Google

Original from

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

The Theory and Practiceof the Narrative in India

3

cultivated assiduously in ancient and medieval India is amply attested by the existence of written and oral texts in Sanskrit, Prakrit, Pali, Paishaci and Tamil in the ancient period and in most of the modern Indian languages in the medieval period. The discontinuity in perception and self-awareness caused by the ravages of history should not make us blind to the very existence of a vast body of narrative material that has been handed down the ages in a large number of Indian languages. The ~ultiplicity of languages made the speakers of one language ignorant of the developments in other languages, and an obsession with regional loyalties also created darkness in the minds of the speakers of different languages. It is time that Indian critics retrieved what was lost to them due to socio-political changes and recognised the value and worth of the extensive creative output of Indian narrators, even when they remain largely anonymous even today on account of reasons obvious enough. The search for the roots of Indian narrative art is perhaps parallel to the archeological excavation of the sites of Harappa and Mohenjodaro, perhaps only less hypothetical and more reassuring. For the sake of clarity and conciseness, the main distinctive features of Indian narratology may be listed under 10 heads. There may be some overlapping here and there in this classification, sometimes even chronological misinterpretations or imbalances in evaluation, but it is believed that the effort to categorise itself is of some use at this distance of time. Before we comment on each of these in detail, they may be listed here so that they can be taken up later one by one for definition, explanation, illustration and evaluation. What we are trying to do is a postmortem attempt to fill the lacunae in the critical tradition, to supply the missing link and build up a connected account of the Indian narrative tradition on the basis of example, if not on critical tools.

Digitized by

Google

Original from

UNIVERSITYOF MICHIGAN

Indian Narratology

4

1. Interiorisation 2. Serialisation 3. Fantasisation 4. Cyclicalisation 5. Allegorisation 6. Anonymisation 7. Elasticisation of time 8. Spatialisation. 9. Stylisation 10. Improvisation It is not to be assumed that all these devices are employed in all Indian narratives. Nor is it implied that none of these are ever found in non-Indian texts. But any of these devices either singly or in combination with any of the others may be resorted to by Indian narrators. These may be found in classical narratives or folk/ tribal narratives. Some of these devices are used by mural painters or mono-actors on the stage. Indian music too employs some of these devices as part of a long tradition. Strangely enough, some of these are a regular feature of postmodern fiction in the west. Traditional Indian techniques have surfaced in experimental western theatre during the past century, and more or less in the same way, narrative devices common in traditional Indian texts have materialised in modern and postmodern European fiction. In a sense this is only a continuation of the kind of influence that ancient Indian works like Paflcatantra had on early western folk tales and fairy tales. The presence or absence of these in western fiction may be taken as indicative of the extent of Indian influence on the fictional imagination of the west. Interiorisation is the process by. which a distinction, a contrast or even a contradiction is effected between the surface features of a text and its internal essence. In some texts the inner and outer structures may be parallel or contrastive; the outer fraIJle may even be used to seduce

Digitized by

Google

Original from

UNIVERSITYOF MICHIGAN

The Theory and Practiceof the Narrativein India

5

the reader away from the inner core. The unwary reader is beguiled by the attractiveness of the external features, and may thus fail to see the real significance of the work. A text is often a multiplicity of layer upon layer of signification, and it may even be that the simpler a text looks the chances of the inner text being contradictory to it are much greater. This kind of sophistication may be found even in so-called children's fiction, which takes a reader with preconceived notions about children's literature for a ride. Surface simplicity is often a clever device to interiorise a deeper and more complex end. Folk tales are a good example of successful interiorisation of a deeper intent: some readers may not take pains to reach the core. Indian narrators, by and large, with few exceptions, try to coax the reader to wind his way into the core of a text. A text may be a hard nut to crack like a coconut, but the interior may be soft and sweet. This is the .nalikerapakamor the coconut model. A text is said to be like grapes (grape model) when the outer is not contrasted with the inner, and it is sweet all through. Like all analogies, this too is imprecise, but the notion that there is in a text something like a counter-text, may help a reader decide on the best approach to a text. In this sense almost every tale seems to contain a complex tissue of interiorised tales. The inset tale is related to the outer tale in a variety of ways. The cleverer the narrator, the more complex the inner fabric and the more simple the outer frame. This kind of dialectical relationship between different strands of narration is a characteristic feature of the Indian narrative. One of the most tell-tale examples of this kind of interiorisation is Viilmiki Ramaya'IJll.The poet has seen to it that no one reads it as a single-layered text-of Rama, the prince of Ayodhya, sent into exile, where his wife Sita is abducted by Ravar:,.a, from whom he recovers her through a fierce battle with the help of Sugriva and Hanuman, and

Digitized by

Google

Original from

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

Indian Narratology

6

returns home to assume the role of the king. Even in this highly streamlined version, the symbolic relation between Rama of the solar dynasty and Ravai:ia, the night-walker demon, complicates our understanding of the story. Within the story of Rama is the story of the composition of Ramaya,:za by Valmlki, and within that is the story of Valmiki himself as a hunter, and so on and so forth, an apparently endless process of interiorisation. In Adhyatma Ramaya,:za it is Lord Siva who tells the story of Rama to Goddess Parvati; and in the Malayalam version by Thuncat Ezhuttacchan the whole story is sung by a parrot. In Valmiki' s own version, which by no means is the oldest or original one, the whole poem is the answer to the poet-sage's quest for the ideal man, and this ideal nature is tested at every turning point of the plot. Similar processes of interiorisation may be found in all kinds of stories, including ballads and folk tales. If one takes the Malayalam version, we have a series of narrators: Ezhuttacchan the poet>the parrot>Siva> Valmlki-the poet> Valmiki-the hunter. In some versions Lord Brahma is also roped in as a narrator of the same tale. And within the story itself is interiorised a symbolic-mythical account of the daily routine of the sun causing the day and night cycle, the day being represented by Rama of the solar dynasty and Ravar:ia, his opposite, representing the forces of darkness, with the abduction of Sita, the daughter of the earth, and her retrieval connecting the two in mutual opposition, trying to take possession of her. Serialisation implies the structure of the typical Indian narrative, which seems to prefer an apparently neverending series of episodes to a unified, single-strand, streamlined course of events, centring around a single hero or heroine and whatever happens to the central character. Homer could highlight the wrath of Achilles in lliad, Virgil could sing of arms and the man: the structure

Digitized by

Google

Original from

UNIVERSITYOF MICHIGAN

The Theory and Practiceof the Narrative in India

7

is so tight as to keep off everything that is not particularly relevant. The Indian epic, on the other hand, is made up of episodes, some of which are detachable without any detriment to the total frame. In Mahabharata, for instance, there are the episodes or upiikhyiinasrelating to Nala or Sakuntala; these provide a sort of expansiveness to the central story, but are not integral to it. The long narrative in India is reminiscent of the Indian temple or palace architecture: there are many entrances, many archways, many substructures, which give to the whole structure a spatial extension: the mini temples dedicated to minor deities or mini palaces occupied by young princes or princesses or concubines reassure the sumptuousness of the divine or royal splendour, but are not essential parts of the central authority. They may be vacant or disused or damaged, but that does not affect the power of the presiding deity or royalty. The villages of India too are structurally identical to this: they may look ramshackle to the westerner who has his own idea of how a well-kept rural set-up should be like. It is not that the Indian village has no cohesiveness, ·but it is organised on a very different idea of social cohesion and space management. The episodic looseness of the Indian narrative allows for variations in tone and style in the middle of the work; even gaps are provided for as part of the system; and wherever necessary, a song or dance or variety show could be inserted to fill the gaps when it is felt necessary. In the Dravidian epic Cilappatikaram, there are episodes which are like effusions inspired on the spur of the moment, and they seem to go very well with the total structure. The principle of organisation is thus different in the Indian and western narrative. Western critics often fail to understand this, on the presumption that what is outside their culture is no culture. The performance of Indian classical music concert also shows such a marked divergence from a corresponding music

Digitized by

Google

Original from

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

Indian Narratology

8

concert in the west. The episodes are often like the detachable compartments of a train or a tram, and not like an omnibus or airplane. This decentralisation in a way contributes to the internal richness of the human experience adumbrated in a long narrative. The medieval campus in Indian languages too display such an organisation. The apparent looseness results from the serial nature of the work, which makes it collapsible as and when needed, and provides an openness to the text: any new item or episode can be added or inserted, just as any old item or episode can be removed or eliminated. This makes for greater adaptability. When in the middle ages the old Sanskrit texts were 'translated' into modem Indian languages, what the translators did was to adapt the originals to suit the tastes of the new reading public, which readily accepted and approved of this endeavour with an open mind. When in later times literal translations were attempted, they produced only curiosities, not living entities. The episodic structure of the Indian narrative texts made this possible and feasible. The Indian mind from the beginning of history has continued to question the nature of reality: it has often found delight in transforming apparent reality into invisible or intangible legend or myth. The plasticity of the legend or myth which makes for the lovely interplay of the imagination has encouraged the dominance of fantasy in the Indian narrative mould. Fantasy is a way of adjusting and accommodating even the unpleasant reality of the outside world to the heart's content of the author or reader. The author fantasizes, so does the reader, so that fantasy becomes an interface that the reader's imagination shares with that of the author. The reader is allowed to be as creative as the author, although the former's imagination is triggered off by that of the latter. Fantasization is thus a privileged enterprise in the Indian narrative: the Vedas, the Pura,:ias,the epics, the

Digitized by

Google

Original from

UNIVERSITYOF MICHIGAN

--·

The Theory and Practiceof the Narrativein India

9

fairy tale and folk tale: all these are primarily perceptions of the imagination and only· secondarily those of the rational mind. The highly subjective nature of the human imagination has been recognised fairly early by Indian critics and aestheticians: they attribute to Lord Brahma not only the creation of the world and all its inhabitants; even artistic expressions like poetry and drama originate from the Supreme Creator. This idea is· so ingrained in the Indian psyche that even an atheist or agnostic fails to tum the popular imagination away from some notion or other of the creative spirit. Man has made not only God in his own image: according to the popular belief among , Indians, he has made a god or goddess out of everything around him and invested natural objects with some element of divinity. Call it superstition, if you may; but the Indian mind delights in conferring godhead on any object that he comes across, thereby subjecting the objective world to the subjectivity of the collective human imagination. The ubiquitous power of the myth in the narrative art of India is to be explained in terms of the shared assumptions of the people who have always shown a propensity to understand the earth, Nature and every aspect of this vast universe in terrms of a synthesizing imagination, a comprehensive mythical framework, where fantasy and not logic reigns supreme. This is not just a feature of any religion like Hinduism or Buddhism or Jainism; it is an integrated approach to the phenomenology of felt reality, as opposed to observed reality. Its direct impact on narratology may be seen in every kind of narration in India: classical, folk; ancient, medieval, modern; epic, mahakiivya; painting, music; dance, drama. The very grammar of communication is heavily weighted in favour of fancy and fantasy. All things impossible in the everyday rational world of socalled reality are• made possible: elephant god, monkey

Digitized by

Google

Original from

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

Indian Narratology

10

god, stone god, water god, etc., are important players in all Indian narratives. Kalldasa could make a lover send a message to his beloved through a cloud; Ganga is not just a river or flow of water, but a goddess, the beloved of Siva, the mother of Bhi!?ma, an eternal witness to the illusion of living and dying. All Indian art is imbued with this esemplastic imagination which helps one see the world upside down, realising that the very notion of up and down in an absolute sense is absurd. Like the notion of up and down, that of forward and backward, or of left and right, is also relativistic, as Einsteinian science would have us believe. In the postnuclear age, it is absurd to talk of progress as a linear construct. This the Indian narrators seem to have taken into account in their attempt to build up tales. In addition to the fact that all fiction is a mental construction, they understood that the art of narration is an attempt to construct tales in accordance with this fluid notion of forward and backward movement. Observing the cycle of day following night and night following day, and the perpetual cyclical rotation of the seasons as well as the circular revolutions of the heavenly bodies, totally ignoring all man-made laws of historical progress, the story-tellers of India have assumed that all tales are recycled, even as living organisms are themselves recycled perpetually in the natural world. They noticed that birth and growth and death are the order of life, and hence the story of God's incarnations, the re-occurrence of demonic forces and certainly the private/public lives of human beings. Although cyclicalisation is a regular feature of many narratives, the Jataka,the Pali text of the stories of the Buddha's former births, is perhaps the crucial exemplary text of cyclical narration. Whether this is primarily an aspect of religious belief or philosophical concept, for the Indian narrator it has become a handy device for stringing together any number of tales in a particular narrative formula. The tone is very well set by the opening of the first tale, which goes-as follows:

Digitized by

Google

Original from

UNIVERSITYOF MICHIGAN

-...,

The Theory and Practiceof the Narrative in India

11

Once upon a time, in the city of Benares in the Kusi country, there was a king named Brahmadatta. In those days, the Bodhisatta was born into a merchant's family, and growing up in due course, used to journey about trading, with five hundred cars, travelling now from east to west and now from west to east. There was also at Benares another young merchant, a stupid blockhead, lacking resource. The second tale has a similar opening, establishes the cyclical nature of narration:

which

Once upon a time when Brahmadatta was king in Benares in Kasi, the Bodhisatta was born into a trader's family. When he was grown up, he used to travel about trading with 500 carts. . . Each tale is called a Jiitaka like Apannaka-jiitaka, Vannupatha-jiitaka, Serivanija-jiitaka, etc., and their connection with folk imagination is obvious. In the Preface to the Unesco edition, E.B. Cowell has commented on this aspect of the folk narrative: "The Jatakas themselves are of course interesting as specimens of Buddhist literature; but their foremost legacy to us consists in their relation to folk-lore and the light which they often throw on these popular stories which illustrate so vividly the ideas and superstitions of the early times of civilization." The placement of a single story in a chain of stories is a very natural form of narrative art in India: even today, in postmodernist novels and short stories too, one may find the effort of the narrator to locate each story in the story of story-telling. It is a feature of sophistication rather than the absence of it. The opening device of a children's fable is· subtly used to sound innocuous; it also perhaps suggests that this is only one way of telling the tale so well-known to everybody that somebody else will recycle the same in a very different way. Robert Graves very wisely· said: "There is one story

Digitized by

Google

Original from

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

12

Indian Narratology

and one story only." All others are instances of recycling. He probably derived this idea from his experience of retelling the myth of the Greeks. In Devi Bhagavatam, for instance, the Goddess fights against and kills ever so many demons, but all instances of fighting and killing are variations on the same theme: Madhu, Kaitabha, Mahi~a, Dhumralocana, Car:ic;ia,Mur:ic;ia,Raktabija, Sumbha and Nisumbha are all demons who were defeated in battle and killed by Durga, the Goddess: the descriptions of the battles are on parallel lines. The demon is always killed, whatever be the specific weapon used. To speak in allegories may be a blessing or a curse to man, but it seems he has always shown an inclination to substitute an abstraction for something concrete in order to achieve a broader effect or relevance. It is perhaps a universal trait, not just Indian only, for we have specific varieties of Chinese and Europ~an allegories too. It is this universality that led to the popularity of the Indian text Paficatantra across the wide world. To invest inanimate objects as well as non-human creatures with the capacity to feel, think and speak probably stems from the animistic or atavistic beliefs of early times. That moral ideas could be more effectively presented in terms of the activities of birds or animals operates at the root of most of these animal fables, and Indian narrators have fully exploited the potential of the animal fable for intellectual and moral communication. In the Introduction to the Penguin edition of Vishnu Sharma's Paficatantra, Chandra Rajan highlights the popularity and influence of the work: The Pancatantra has not only been enormously popular as an entertaining (and instructive) work of fiction, it has also had great influence on world literature as no other work of Indian literature has had. Arthur Macdonell points to its "extraordinary influence on the narrative works of the whole Middle

Digitized by

Google

Original from

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

The Theory and Practiceof the Narrative in India

13

Ages" in Europe, and to the enrichment it brought into the literature of those languages in which versions of the work ·were made. The use of the frame story, the practice of emboxing stories, the emphasis on moral values, the introduction of subtales, the element of soft satire, and above all the lively presentation of animal characters are important features of the allegorisation attempted in Pmicatantra.The Monkey, the Jackal, the Crow, the Crab, the Crane, the Hare, the Owl, the. Camel, etc., provide models for characterisation even 1n modem realistic fiction. Only the names of humans have to be substituted in place of the animals. 'Apauru~eya' (not' personal, impersonal, universal, collective) is a concept that seems to contro~ several Indian narratives whose origins are lost in antiquity. A certain anonymity was maintained by most story-tellers, even when they lived in historical times, and their names were known or could be identified. The objective was to to merge the subjecth,e self of the narrator in the collective readership so that ideally the narrator and the audience are one. The point behind attributing the authorship of a work to fictitious names, like Brahma the Creator, Valmiki the anthill-born, or Vyasa the diameter or extension, which are loaded with infinite associations, is that no author is just an individual, especially when he uses language which is· an instrument of collective expression. A work of narration ideally means whatever the masses of readers deri.ve from that narration. This ideal has been kept in view by most of the Indian narrators. Not only Mahllbharata,but the 18 long Pura1:1as, Adhyatmartimaymµz, and several other works, perhaps even the Vedas, are supposed to have been composed by Vedavyasa, who is oftentimes an internalised character in the stories as well. This rnay be seen merely as a metaphor of anonymity so that the reader is free to·

Digitized by

Google

Original from

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

Indian Narratology

14

amend or expand or delete what he is reading. Every reader takes what he can or wants from a given text. There cannot therefore be in the Indian context any such thing as a definitive edition. Oral transmission across the ages causes not only erosion but also accretion or accumulation of what the purists might consider extraneous material brought in by the wilful, capricious, mischievous or careless singer or narrator in each age. It may even be pointed out that our identifying a name or a date or a location might add little to the real quality of the work. If Vyasa's name is differently spelt, how is it going to affect the effect of Mahabharata on us in any substantial way? Every work of art aspires to the condition of anonymity, the condition of a folk song or folk tale. For purposes of royalty or copyright or income tax, it may be necessary to maintain the authorship intact, but in the long run of history, a work of art lives in eternity or timelessness. This is why there are Riimaya,:,as and Riimiiya,:,asin India, and each one has its own place intact. The omission or addition of a few lines or even the change of the name of a character is no earthshaking matter. In some versions of Riimiiyar,a, Sita is the daughter of Raval)a; in others Raval)a is one of Sita's suitors. This flexibility of narrative details ensures the anonymity of the author. Anyone can produce his own version and fancy his own authorial privilege. With this narrative flexibility is probably connected the fluidity of the time within the narrative frame. Narrative time in Indian texts is more psychological in character than logical; and this is one of the major differences between nineteenth century western fiction and traditional Indian narrative. In experimental western fiction of the twentieth century, the notion of time was not a rigid one: Marcel Proust, James Joyce and Virginia Woolf had a more elastic idea of narrative time than Charles Dickens or William Makepiece Thackeray or

Digitized by

Google

Original from

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

The Theory and Practiceof the Narrative in India

15

Thomas Hardy. One may be able to date the writing of a given work perhaps with some certainty, but to date the fictitious events narrated may not be that easy. There is sometimes, as in the Indian Purar,tas,a deliberate attempt on the part of the narrator to leave the supposed time of the supposed happenings in an undefined area of time, thereby shifting the emphasis from a definite dateline to indefinite infinity. The temporal frame of "Once upon a time", with all its possible semantic variants seems to imply that it does not matter if the event took place in 100 B.C. or A.O. 100, for a certain ahistoricity is aimed at, akin to the impersonality of the work or the anonymity of the author. What matters in a literary work, as sometimes even in the plays of Shakespeare, is that the clock time or calendar time is less important than the psychological time. Since the narrative consists of a sequence of events, the duration is certainly of significance, but not perhaps its historical placement. In the Indian narrative, time is measured in cosmic terms: day and night, the different phases of the moon, the cycle of seasons, the ages or aeons measured out by the stars, as it were. The telescoping of time is often resorted to even in the realistic novel of nineteenth century Europe; not every moment in the hero's life is accounted for in any narrative. Narration, by definition, implies selection, elaboration, condensation, and this process is most manifest in the treatment of time. Of greater importance in Asian narrative is space. The narrative formula of opening a tale is more specific about place, leaving the exact time imprecise. The first of the Paiicatantratales, for instance, begins thus: Once upon a time, in the southern land flourished the fair city of Mahilaropya, rivalling in splendour even Amaravati, City of the Gods. This is quite close to the conventional opening of a Jiitakatale (quoted above). The stage actor in Kudiya~~am,

Digitized by

Google

Original from

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

16

Indian Narratology

the traditional presentation of Sanskrit drama in Kerala, India, begins his solo narration with a reference to an indefinite past, but the spatial reference is far more specific and more detailed. The Indian narrative can therefore said to be a spatial one. This makes for a more free handling of the time factor. Discontinuities in action are tolerated because of a less rigid notion of time and progress in the course of events along a rigid straight line. Since the narrator is not worried too much by the constraints on time, he can concentrate on spatial movements as an indicator of shifts in location. The scene becomes more crucial in the unfolding of the plot than time. The temporal dimension is often underplayed, while the space factor gets added importance. The downgrading of the time factor is in keeping with the features of narration mentioned earlier like interiorisation, fantasisation, allegorisation and impersonalisation. Even the order in the ten incarnations of Vi~l)u as narrated in some of the Pura,:iasis not strictly confined or subjected to chronology. The last two features of the Indian narrative identified earlier in this chapter are closely interlocked and hence they may be discussed here together. Stylisation is a factor that imposes limitations on the writer or storyteller, while improvisation is a liberating factor. All narrations follow certain pre-established codes, raising certain kinds of expectations in the reader or spectator, · conditioning him to move on expected lines. The narrator cultivates the special skills required for satisfying those very expectations, otherwise he will be found wanting. The contrary device of improvisation is a means of going beyond the limitations imposed by the code of stylisation. It helps to provide elements of surprise. Stylisation is discipline, improvisation is freedom. These twin features of the Indian narrative art are to be found in Indian classical theatre too. Total stylisation is stifling and

Digitized by

Google

Original from

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

The Theory and Practiceof the Narrativein India

17

uncreative, while total improvisation means chaos and is unproductive. The Indian narrative seems to maintain an even ba:ance between these two opposing pulls. Divergent redactions of the same text are tolerated and welcomed because the variations are the result of degrees of stylisation or improvisation. Any stylised version of . Rii.mii.ya,:,a,for instance, will present the essential details, but the extensions of meanings and the insertion of ~dditional episodes are evidence of improvisation. Just as in Indian classical music concert there is no strict notation as in orchestrated western music, but there is the base of the rliga system which is a controlling device as well, Indian narration is also marked by freedom to elaborate and expand within the overall structure. The freedom for improvisation may be the contribution of folk culture, which by interiorising preserves the aesthetic content intact. Indian handicrafts provide a good example of how each product is made unique, while the inside pattern is unmistakably retained. It is often claimed that there is nothing that is not in Mahiibhiirata, but another text begins with a question about something that is missing in it. Like a collapsible bag, the text of the Indian narrative expands or contracts, as the case may be, to accommodate improvised materials. The stylised narrative is a minimal text, but improvisation helps to make it s;1it different contexts and situations. Since India represents not a monolithic culture, but a mosaic of cultures, a rich and variegated civilisation, and this plurality of the cultural matrix requires an elastic, adjustable text, the Indian narrative has infinite variants in each regional language and each cultural unit. This is yet another reason for the fluidity of the narrative in India.

Digitized by

Google

Original from

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

THE VEDIC/ENCRYPTED NARRATIVE: RG VEDA MODEL •

The narrative is almost ubiquitous in Indian literature. The very mention or even a mere description of an incident or a series of incidents automatically assumes a narrative structure and enters into other generic forms of literary composition, whether oral or written. The tendency to narrativise is perhaps inherent in every human being living in an interactive social group, and the stringing together of events is a natural psychological process. The linguists have argued in our times that the predication of a nominal is an activity, which is instinctive to man. And the predication of the nominal constitutes the essence of narration in its embryonic form. The smallest manifestation of the narrative, therefore, can be called the cryptic narrative, examples of which may be found in ordinary daily conversation, folksong or in the orally transmitted Vedasduring ancient times. The Vedas are primarily hymns lyrical in form and devotional in content. But there are many hymns that interiorise certain kinds of narratives, which can be developed or elaborated into stories or episodes or even dramatised for stage presentation. In a sense these mini tales may be called cryptic, because they hold back so much from the reader who is thereby tempted or

Digitized by

Google

Original from

UNIVERSITYOF MICHIGAN

The Vedic/EncryptedNarrative:~g VedaModel

19

prompted or even provoked into expanding them into prakara,:ias (episodes) or prabandhas(full-scale discourses). The tales are encrypted in such a way as to require decoding for present day readers uninitiated into the coding devices of the Vedicor Upanishadicliterary mode. The point can be made clear by means of an example. ~g Veda 7.88 is the story of a friendship between Varw:ia Vasi~~a: 1. Vasi!?~a, bring a pure and most desirable poem to the beautiful Varur:ia, who draws toward· us the great bull who is worthy of sacrifice and thousands of gifts. 2. "Now that I have come into his presence, I think the face of Varur:iais Agni's. Let the Lord on High lead me to the sun that is in the rock and the darkness, so that I may see the marvel." 3. "When we two, Varur:ia, board the boat and sail forth to the middle of the ocean, when we skim along the crests of the waters, we will swing in the swing and glitter." 4. "Where have those friendships of us two gone, when in the old times we could live together without becoming enemies? I went into your high palace, self-ruling Varw:ia, into your house with a thousand doors." 5. "If your old friend and dear ally has committed sins against you, Varur:ia, do not make us who have offended you pay for that. Avenger, inspired one, give protection to the singer of praises." 6. "As we dwell in these solid dwelling-places, let Va11.1I)a set us free from the noose and help us win aid from the lap of Aditi. Protect us always with blessings." Here is a potential story in a nutshell, a story of the friendship and later enmity between two friends. Encapsulated inside a lyrical poem, the sequence of

Digitized by

Google

Original from

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

20

Indian Narratology

events slyly suggested here could be expanded and elaborated in any number of ways. The reluctance to specify all details is an assurance for those who want to elaborate this into a longer piece of narrative. The use of the dialogue between the characters is more than a helpful hint for later elaboration. In folklore the device of encrypting or fictional interiorisation is very common. In Malayalam folklore, RJimaytllJll and Mahabharataare condensed and compressed into a single sentence of two clauses: "Penna sattu, manna sattu", i.e., "Died for a girl, died for land." In Ramaya,:ia,people fought a war and many got killed on account of a girl, whereas in Mahabharatapeople fought and got killed on account of land. In Sanskrit too, as some scholars believe and would have us believe, the curse of the hermit-turned hunter or hunter-turned hermit on the other hunter uttering the words: Ma ni~ada, prati~\ham tvam agama sasvatibhava Yad croui\ca mi~hunadekam avadhl kamamohitam is the seed of the whole epic. In ~g Veda itself, excellent little narratives are embedded in the accounts of (1) Yama and YamI, (2) Agastya and Lopamudra, (3) Pururavas and Urvasl, etc. In later times, several of these have received extended forms in the Upani$1ldS and Aranyakas, and even in court literature, as in the plays of Kalidasa. The Vedas thus represent the seed-time of the Indian narrative. One may take a closer look at the myth of Urvasl and Pururavas as found in the conversational hymn in ~g Veda: Pururavas: "My wife, turn your heart and mind to me. Stay here, dangerous woman, and let us exchange words. If we do not speak out these thoughts of ours they will bring us no joy even on the most distant day."

Digitized by

Google

Original from

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

The Vedic/EncryptedNarrative: ~g VedaModel

21

Urvasi: "What use to me are these words of yours? I have left you, like the first of the dawns. Go home again, Pururavas. I am hard to catch and hold, like . d ... II th e win There are endless variations on the theme of the union of the divine and the human as well as of their separation, since the tie between the two is necessarily tenuous and cannot hold out for long. This episode of Pururavas and Urvaf?i comes up for elaborate treatment in Kalidasa's play Vikramorvasiyam and ever so many other versions. An unsuccessful attempt at such a union, detailing the fascination felt by Urvasi for Arjuna, appears in Mahabharata too. This means that the encrypted narrative is protean in character and takes different shapes in different ages, in different texts, at the hands of different authors. But the essence of the cryptic narration is to be found in all such versions. The ancient Tamil classic, Tirukkuralby Tiruvalluvar, is the sourthern counterpart of the Vedas in this respect. Written apparently in the form of aphoristic maxims, the crispness of the verses belies a. strong narrative potential at the grassroots level. For instance, here is what sounds like the love-song: of an unlucky lover: To know love and to lose it! No way but thisTo mount the madal to have it again. Away with shame! Soul and body Can bear no more, and will mount the madal. I had manliness once and shame, but today Wish only to mount the madal. What is the raft of "Will" and "Won't" Against love's raging waters? Night's yearnings and the madal to cure them Are the gifts of that braceleted girl.

Digitized by

Google

Original from

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

22

Indian Narratology Even at midnight I think of the madal Sleepless for love of her. Women are lucky-their love may rage But not for them the madal. Love, pitiless and fearless, has dragged All my secrets out. My love saying, "No one knows me" Has budded and blown in the streets! Fools mock us to our face, not having endured What we have.

The situation outlined in this lyric could easily be fleshed out and expanded into a short narrative, with detailed descriptions of the lover's pining and his experience of mounting the madal as a rejected and dejected lover. All the essentials of a love romance between two young people-are there in this short poem, which has a narrative structure and a lyrical form. This device of embedding a narrative in a dramatic lyric is a very common feature of the poems in the ancient Tamil works of the Sangam period, especially the Kuruntokai. This anthology of very short poems consists of several encrypted narratives. Presenting just one typical situation from a whole untold narrative, the kuruntokai poem casts a long shadow that might cover many incidents, which have to be built up to complete the long narrative. For instance, poem No. 231 gives only the words spoken by the heroine to her maid: Although we live in the same village, he never comes to our street. And if by chance he ever comes to this street, he seldom treats me with affection. Seeing me here, he walks away, like one attending a neighbour's funeral.

Digitized by

Google

Original from

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

The Vedic/E,ncryptedNarrative: ~g VedaModel

23

My love for him, which had once made me shameless and undone my better sense, Is now lost in the distance, like an arrow that is shot off from the bow. But, in this peom by Perunkatunko, the entire relationship between the hero and the heroine-the earlier stage, the intensity of the passion, the behaviour of the hero, the present estrangement, the feeling of regret-and the futile intervention of the maid, and the predictable final separation, which perhaps can be averted by the timely intervention or inventiveness of the author, is significantly highlighted by the limited number of words actually spoken. The gaps in the narrative may be filled by the reader or any re-teller of the tale. The retrieval of the submerged iceberg is left to the imagination of the reader. Many a long tale has only just this much meat in it. This kind of narrative elasticity is maintained in a large number of poems in Kalittokai. Another well-known exatnple of the cryptic narrative in ancient Tamil is the poem about the girl and her lover who comes on a sly visit to her house. "Is there nobody at home," he shouts. "I should like to get some water to drink." The mother of the girl, in all innocence, asks the girl to take some water to the visitor. But when he tries to hold her hands he inadvertently breaks her bangles, and she shouts in anger. Hearing her cry, the mother asks what is wrong, but then she cleverly invents an answer to the query saying that it is the water stuck in the throat. This small episode could be developed into a short story or even a novelette, by supplying details about the childhood friendship of the young lovers, their lingering affection, the tricks used by lovers to hoodwink the elders and the tacit recognition of all this by the elders. In the performing and graphic arts of India too, the encrypting of narratives was a common device. In the Rajasthani miniatures as well as the murals of Kerala, the

Digitized by

Google

Original from

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

24

Indian Narratology

compressing and condensing of details in the form of mini tales or narrative situations is patent. In one of the paintings in Mattanchery Palace in Kochi, the birth and growth of Rama and his brothers are picturesquely shown in the mural style. In the same panel one may see the infants coming into the world and the grown-up princes standing beside the mother. In Gitagovindam,the introductory lyric describing the incarnations of Vishnu is a tour de force of narrative condensation. In the written text, only the bare outline of each incarnation is sketched, but in actual stage performance, any of these episodes may be elaborated and embellished with vivacious dance movements and improvised music. "Pralaya payodhi jale dhritavanasi vedam ... " is a very good example of the stage elaboration of the first incarnation of Vi~r:tu as a Fish, and in actual performance the entire story of the retrieval of the Vedasfrom the demon who had stolen it fleshes out the skeletal structure of that incarnation. The verbal text refers to "dhritaminasarlra," and that cryptic term provides the basis for-full-scale dramatisation. In another performance, another incarnation may be chosen: "dhrita naraharirupa is the peg on which the entire enlarged performance of Vi!?I)U' s incarnation as Man-Lion is hung. Surfacing the submerged is thus the crux of the matter, and here the individual performer is free to add or subtract anything of his or her own within the bounds of aesthetic propriety. A similar device is used in classical Carnatic music: compositions by Tyagaraja or Swati lirunal provide good examples. Tyagaraja' s song about Kr~r:taas our only hope has a descriptive-narrative setting: The torrential rain without respite has imprisoned us here. The roar of thunder shows no abatement. The whirlwind turns the boat furiously as the tides lash on the sides.

Digitized by

Google

Original from

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

The Vedic/EncryptedNarrative:~g VedaModel

25

Horror of horrors! Alas! The boat has sprung a leak! Who is there to protect these damsels? The intense darkness blights our vision. We have no refuge but this river Kalindi. This plight is our own making and the consequence of our wilful obstinacy and arrogance displayed by us in turning a deaf ear to my warning. We should have assembled together. This is certainly the end of the world-Pralaya, No doubt. Come, damsels, let us look for Kr~r:ia, our only hope.

If we need a plot and a sequence of events to make up a narrative, they are indeed embedded here. But there can be narrative without much of a plot in the sense of a string of incidents; a single situation can sometimes sustain a narrative, as in several postmodern stories. So is this song, a lyrical narrative aroused by a single situation, and an extreme one at that, full of tension and a fearsome sense of an impending end. The elaborate improvisations quite common in the singing of this song suggests its potential of narrational vivacity. Another instance of a musical narrative may be found in the ragamalika or multi-melody composition of Swati Tirunal-the composer's version of Ramayarza or Swiitiriimiiya,;a,as it may be called. Bhavayami Raghuramam bhavya sugur:iaramam Bhavukavitaranaparapanga lila lasitam Dinakaranvayatilakam divya Gadhisutasevanam Vanaracita Subahumukha vadham Ahalya pavanam Anagham Isacapabhangam Janakasuta prar:iesam Ghanakupita Bhriguramagarvaharam ita Saketam Vihatabhiseka vipinagatam arya vaca Sahita Sita Soumitrim sasvatamasilam

Digitized by

Google

Original from

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

26

Indian Narratology Guhanilayagatam Citrakutagata Bharata dataMahitaratnamaya padukam madanasundarari.gam Vigatadai:idakaranyakagata Viradhac;lalanam Sucaritaghatajac;lattanupamita Vai~Q.avastram Patagavara Jatayunutam Paiicavadivihitavasam Atighora Surpanakha vacanagata Kharadiharam Kanakadhara rupadharakhala Maricaharamiha suJanavimata Dashasyahrta Janakajanvesanam Anagham Pampatirasangat Anjaneya nabhomanitanujasakhyakaram Balitanudalanam Isam Vanarottamasahita VayusunukararpitaBhanushatabhasura bhavyaratnangullyam Tenapunaranitanyuna cudamanidarsanam Srlnidhimudadhitirasrita Vibhl~anamilitam Kalitavara~etubandham khalanisimapishitashanaDalanamuru Dashakai:ithavidaram atidhiram Jvalanaputa Janakasutasahitayata Saketam Vilasita pa~~abhi~ekam visvapalam Padmanabham

·

The first quatrain encrypts Balakal)dam, the second Ayodhyakal)dam, the third Aranyakal)dam, the fourth Ki~kindhakaQ.dam, the fifth SundarakaQ.dam and the sixth Yuddhakal)dam: only the essential details are hinted at, and the poet-composer has omitted a lot, probably providing space for improvised elaboration by the musician or singer or dance exponent. In a Bharatana~yam concert, what usually happens is that one of the quatrains is taken up for elaborate improvisation. For instance, the first quatrain will be expanded to visually narrate the entire story of Rama's birth, his childhood, his training in archery, the request of Visvamitra for Rama's help, the journey through the forest, the encounter with Tha~aka, the demoness, the protection of the sacrifices, the visit to Mithila, the breaking of Siva's bow, the wedding of Rama

Digitized by

Google

Original from

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

The Vedic/EncryptedNarrative:~g VedaModel

27

and Sita, the return to Ayodhya, and the encounter with Parasurama. In sculpture and architecture too, the encrypted narrative mode is often found, as in Ellora and Khajuraho. The architectural complex of a Hindu temple often tries to comprise an entire mythological narrative, which may find its full apotheosis in the old Pura,:ias. Sometimes certain motifs are repeatedly used to achieve the full effect of the underlying code. The encrypting is made possible by the invention of an appropriate code, which may vary from one art form to another, but their basic functions are quite similar. ·

Digitized by

Google

Original from

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

TI-IE PURANA/SAGA • NARRATIVE: BHAGAVATA

MODEL

The Indian term 'purai;ia' (meaning 'old' in Sanskrit), strangely enough, is just the opposite of the European term 'novel' (meaning 'new'). The original Pura,;iasare mostly in verse, while western novels are mostly in prose, barring exceptions. Among the 18 Purar,as, Bhagavata perhaps best illustrates the characteristic features of the Indian Pura,;za.The other Pura,:iasare: 1. Padma 2. Vai~l)ava 3. Naradiya 4. GarUuruf?a,etc., upto and including the dissolution of the created world

Digitized by

Google

Original from

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

The Purii,µz/SagaNarrative:BhiigavataModel

37

through a flood or pralaya. The incarnation that takes place in between creation and destruction is a divine incursion into the human world, and there is an epiphanic moment when man, the devotee, stands face to face with the manifestation of divinity. The best example of this sudden manifestation is perhaps the appearance of Narasirhha or Man-Lion. Prahlada, son of the demon Hiraf'.\yakasipu and a staunch devotee of Vi~f'.\Ufrom birth, bursts into a hymn in praise of the Lord, a confirmation of the immanence of God everywhere. "Prahladastuti" is a brilliant evocation of the terrible visage of God as Lion indeed: Dhiirjapm lokaikanadham Narasirhham Arjavavirya parakrama varidhim ... Some readers feel that the inclusion of a hymn or kirtana is an interference with the narrative flow; but in defence of the kirtana it may be said that it is a case of retardation of the narrative flow in order to let the content of the narrative sink into the mind of the reader/ auditor, especially since the Bhagavatais a text meant to be recited aloud in front of a public or family audience during the seasonal seven-day ritual reading of the Bhagavata.In fact, the Bhagavata,like other Pura,;as,is an extended kirtana, perhaps the most elaborate one. Hence the kirtanasinterpolated into the text of a Pura,µzor itihasa is not only not a hindrance, it is a positive forward push to the narrative process. The kirtana is a condensed version of the narrative episode, which gets charged from the intervening lyrical variation of the story. Since the kirtana in extenso is virtually the entire Pura,:ra,the loud recitation of the Pura,:uzitself is an act of devotion. The cosmology given in the Pura,:ra is the devotee's experience of the outer universe, which is interiorised in the text of the hymn. Thus the hymn is an integral part of the Puranic narrative, and not extraneous to it at all. The

Digitized by

Google

Original from

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

Indian Narratology

38

lcirtanais therefore functional in the specific context of the narrative. The Pura,:,ais kirtana writ large. The encyclopedic narrative has a supra-national location, although individual episodes may have their own regional location. The whole of universal space, which has no limiting dimension, is the concern of the Pura,:,a:in other words, the entire action in a Purii,:,ictext takes place in the mind or imagination of the teller/writer as also of the reader/ auditor. Action is not confined to the earthly sphere or the solar system, but extends to all space: earth or heaven or hell or Hades or any of the 14 worlds. This is possible because the narrative space is controlled by the imagination, which itself knows no spatial limitation. There is variation in location for each of the 12 skandhasof the Bhagavata.The shift can occur any time without notice; and this elasticity of space is acknowledged and accepted by the ideal reader/ auditor of the Purii,:,a.In Dasama skandha, the operative space keeps changing to suit the changing activities of the hero, Kr~r:ia. So also, in the other skandhas, the right of the imagination not to be confined to any narrow region is celebrated. The narrative space too is encyclopedic in the purii,:,a,in keeping with the ever-widening range of the action presented. The characters too are supra-national, almost super-human. Since all the incarnations are invoked in the Bhagavata,the duration of the four yugas is covered by the text. Only the main action may be said to be confined to Dvaparayuga. Since the location specified for India or Bharata is partly at least mythical and partly sustained by a narrative imagination, the events depicted are ahistorical. Both time and space are mythological, hence the narrative need not be expected to provide statistics about anything. Unlike the computer, the Purii~a deals with subjective experience, hence it should never be taken or mistaken as representative of any real-life situation. A Pura,:,ais a cosmic test.

Digitized by

Google

Original from

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

39

The Purii1J(l/Saga Narrative:BhagavataModel

In the scheme of the Purii?tic narrative, there is provision for the invocation of the gods in the beginning and a statement of the benefits that will accrue to its reader/auditor at the end. This 'phalasruti', or benefits to the reader/ auditor, is perhaps intended to make the latter interested in reading/listening to the story. 'Listening' or 'hearing' is enjoined as one of the 10 ways of devotion. That it takes your mind away from the mundane affairs of a routine character, which may ruin your peace of mind, may also mean that you become unfit to get along in this world. Too much of spirituality may make you withdrawn from this life, and you may consider worldly life as pure illusion. Whether the pursuit of bhakti makes one other-worldly-oriented depends partly on the individual and partly on the social situation. It is true that some people get the best of both worlds, while many lose both this world and the next. But the Puratzic narrative does not aim at debilitating the rlevotee in leading a normal life in this world. The 'phalasruti' points to the overall benefits for the reader/ auditor, which include success in this world too. Thus the Bhagavatamodel of the Pura,:iicnarrative is a very complex narrative structure, with ramifications in all directions. It combines several features which may be found in a number of individual western novels: some novels are philosophical, like those of Dostoevsky or Tolstoy; some mainly psych