I discovered Yashpal last year and got this book, ‘Divya‘, and another book by him. ‘Divya’ was the shorter of the two, and so I decided to read it now.
The story is set in the India of first century BCE. Divya is the great grand daughter of the Chief Justice. She learns dance from the renowned dancer Devi Mallika, who is the official Art Laureate at the court. Divya is her best student. Three young men are in love with Divya, and they all want to marry her. Divya falls in love with one of them. But then the war intervenes when a neighbouring king invades this country, the lovers get separated because Divya’s lover has to go and serve in the army. One thing leads to another and Divya’s life turns upside down in unexpected ways. What happens to her and the other characters forms the rest of the story.
When I started reading the book, I thought that the story was set in the 19th century or the early 20th century. I didn’t know that it would go all the way back in time to the 1st century BCE. That ancient time is beautifully depicted in the book. I don’t know how much of it is based on facts and how much of it is Yashpal’s imagination. The lives of Hindus and Buddhists and Greeks, all living together, was interestingly depicted. The popular belief today is that Hindus and Buddhists coexisted peacefully during ancient times, and some Hindus today even believe that Buddhism is a branch of Hinduism. When I was a kid, that was what I was told. Buddha was even regarded as one of the ten avatars of Vishnu. But this book depicts a totally different reality. It shows that Hindus and Buddhists were in frequent conflict atleast in terms of philosophy and ideas, though they all lived together. Sometimes they also fought wars against each other. Some of the Greeks seemed to be still practising the Ancient Greek religion, praying at the temple of Zeus. Other Greeks seemed to have converted to Buddhism. All this was news to me. Of course, we can never tell for sure what happened in ancient times as evidence is scanty, and this is, after all, a work of fiction, and so some of these might be a product of the author’s imagination. But one thing we can be sure about is this. The general assumption that during ancient times, people lived peacefully and everything was beautiful, this is definitely not sure. The ancient times were filled with as much rich political intrigue and social complexity as any other time.
The kind of tough times Divya goes through because she is a woman was hard to read. In one scene, things become so hard that Divya escapes and knocks at the door of the Buddhist monastery and tells the monk there that she wants to become a nun. The monk asks her whether she has got the permission of her husband or son or master to become a nun. When she says that she hasn’t, the monk says that she can’t become a nun without the approval of her guardian. When Divya tells the monk that the Buddha granted shelter to Ambapali, the prostitute, the monk replies that a prostitute is a free woman. That is when Divya discovers that all doors are closed to her and she can’t even become a nun. It is a heartbreaking scene. Nothing much had changed since those ancient times till probably the beginning of the 20th century. Things are better now, I think, but still a lot needs to change.
I loved the way the character of Divya is depicted, gentle and strong. The way she stands her ground when things were going tough was very inspiring.
One of my favourite parts of the book was when Divya, her friend and protector, Ratnaprabha, and their friend Marish, one of the young men who is in love with Divya, have a long conversation about the meaning of life, about the importance of the here and the now, and whether one should enjoy life now or postpone it to a future life. It was a very pleasurable conversation. Another of my favourite parts of the book was when the monk Cheebuk and Prithusen, another young man who was in love with Divya, have a long conversation about fear, hate, power, and the meaning of life. It is very beautiful.
I loved reading ‘Divya’. I was expecting a 19th century novel and I got an ancient historical novel in return. Yashpal’s style is simple and spare (atleast in translation, don’t know how the original Hindi is) and his research brings back those ancient times vividly. The lives of Hindus, Buddhists, and Greeks during those ancient times when they lived together was fascinating to read. I just have one complaint. After defying convention till nearly the end, in the last page Yashpal bows to pressure, and slips, and gives a predictable ending to the story. I won’t tell you what it is. You need to read the book to find out. It was a bit disappointing for me. Till the last page, the book was amazing. Even that ending was not bad. It was just a little bit disappointing for me.
Happy to have read my first Yashpal book. Hoping to read more.
Sharing some of my favourite parts from the book.
“The drumming of rain was so incessant that it dulled all other sounds of the night. Anshu thought, ‘Every drop of rain makes its own little sound as it falls to the earth but taken together, they become just a dull monotone. Even so, each sorrow produces its own pain, but innumerable sorrows, all coming together, incapacitate a person from feeling anything, from experiencing pain.”
“The tiny flame of hope which she had carried with such care, sheltering it from the winds that blew on all sides, had been extinguished by a mere puff of wind.”
Marish : “Devi, would it give you greater satisfaction if you touched your nose, not directly, but circuitously by stretching your arm round the back of your neck?”
Ratnaprabha : “What a curious question! Why do you ask?”
Marish : “Because abstinence in this world, in the hope of getting greater opportunities of enjoyment in the next one, is no abstinence at all. According to your way of thinking, abstinence is the price you are paying for the pleasures of your next birth. If you wish to indulge yourself in the pleasures of life, then do so while you still have the means. There is nothing to be gained by depriving yourself. The next world is only a figment of the imagination. No one has ever seen it. The person who assures you about its existence is only repeating what others have told him, and those others too have been doing the same. No one has given evidence of its existence after seeing it with his own eyes. In everyday life, we do not accept such evidence. Is it wise, therefore, to sacrifice the tangible for a figment of our imagination?”
Have you read ‘Divya’? What do you think about it?