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Webimpulse
12 November 2012, 06:58 PM
Namaste all,

This may sound like an awkward request, but hopefully this will be taken in the right context: I'm looking for fiction out there that has Hindu and/or Indian themes to it. I tried reading The Life of Pi recently but it just didn't grab me at all, as I got bored of it a few chapters in. (And the fact that there's a movie coming out based on it that looks pretentious doesn't help.) :p

I'm looking for something that would be a definite page-turner that adheres to Hindu/Indian themes...and something in English of course. Anyone on this forum have any ideas? Any suggestions would be much appreciated!

Eastern Mind
12 November 2012, 07:10 PM
Vannakkam: There is a huge need for this, and I believe, a waiting marketplace. Unfortunately, I have nothing to recommend, but I am working on some children's books. I really liked the young adult novel titled Ganesh. I think the author was Bosse ... something like that anyway.

We should start a list on here, with reviews, etc.

Aum Namasivaya

Arjuni
12 November 2012, 07:26 PM
Namasté,

One of our members is an author; he has mentioned on the forum before that his books have Hindu themes. I unfortunately have not read them to offer a review, but his website may be found here (http://www.bryonmorrigan.com/).

A work of fiction I quite enjoyed was Ashok Mathur's Once Upon an Elephant. It's based on the event of Gaṇeśa's murtis drinking milk in 1995, and follows various characters as they react to - and are acted upon by - the extraordinary things happening. The book is whimsical and humorous, a little irreverent at times but never disrespectful.

Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's The Palace of Illusions follows the events of Mahābhārata from Draupadī's perspective. It was an interesting read, to be sure, and I liked it though didn't absolutely love it.

A bestseller I personally despised was Amish Tripathi's The Immortals of Meluha. I've already written my opinion of it - along with several others who felt similarly - in the comments of this (http://indiatemple.blogspot.ca/2012/11/the-disaster-called-immortals-of-meluha.html) review.

I'll keep thinking, and post as I remember more.

Jodhaa
12 November 2012, 07:30 PM
Namaste,

I have also been wondering about this. I have been looking for a well illustrated version of the panchatantra tales, but I haven't been thrilled with anything I've found.

EM - Do you mean you are writing some children's stories? Need an illustrator? ;)

I'm wracking my brain but I honestly can't think of anything I've read with SD or Hindu/Indian ideas or influences. Good question. I hope someone can provide a few titles :)

Peace!

Eastern Mind
12 November 2012, 07:49 PM
Vannakkam: Its sad, really, that the only stuff we have are collections of ancient myths or legends retold. There is very little modern stuff that really highlights and glorifies our beautiful faith. Given some of the depressing or shocking themes people seem interested in, publishers probably figure nice clean Hindu stuff wouldn't sell, and they might be right. Still Ithink there would be a market, however niche it might be.

Aum Namasivaya

Arjuni
12 November 2012, 08:03 PM
Namasté,

I thought of a few more that are definitely worth a mention.

Parashuram's witty, acerbic Puranic Tales for Cynical People places characters in "stories that might have been" with fantastic results. You can read one of them, Striptease in Heaven, here (http://santanubangla.blogspot.ca/2010/05/striptease.html). (Don't be fooled by the title; it's a mockery of man's obsession with external beauty.)

Subodh Ghosh's Love Stories from the Mahabharata explores twenty lesser-known or forgotten tales from the great epic, and does so with such lush, exquisite, heartbreaking description. This is one of my favourite books, and one of the few fiction works I own. (Edited to add: the translator's note is available here (http://www.boloji.com/index.cfm?md=Content&sd=Articles&ArticleID=10166), which discusses the book brilliantly.)

Finally, William Buck's novel-versions of both Rāmāyaṇa and Mahābhārata are wonderful. He writes with such reverential detail, in such elevated and poetic language, of these events, as if he had himself seen them.

Webimpulse
12 November 2012, 08:26 PM
A bestseller I personally despised was Amish Tripathi's The Immortals of Meluha. I've already written my opinion of it - along with several others who felt similarly - in the comments of this (http://indiatemple.blogspot.ca/2012/11/the-disaster-called-immortals-of-meluha.html) review.

Namaste Indraneela,

At first, before you posted that link to that blog post, I was honestly considering The Immortals of Meluha, but now thanks to you I can safely say I dodged a bullet. The book sounds terrible even from a pure fictional standpoint - it sounds like the author tried to turn Shiva into Conan, and tried to make the story sound edgy for the sake of edginess. Can you say cliche? Once I heard that characters in the book shouted IN ALL CAPS, that convinced me that the only reason I would ever read this book is for, to use internet slang, "the lulz."

Thanks for the other recommendations, though, I'll try to check them out at my earliest convenience. :)

Arjuni
12 November 2012, 08:50 PM
Namasté,

Webimpulse, I'm afraid that I chose to read Meluha on a trip, and got a few strange looks after chortling aloud - I honestly couldn't help it - when Sati shrieked, "IT IS A BIG DEAL!!" The whole thing was too ridiculous to keep my laughter inside anymore. After that I was mentally attaching emoticons to all of the characters' dialogue:

"He is the Neelkanth. :) "

"Why didn't you tell us about all this? :mad: "

I'm paraphrasing on those last two; I don't remember the book in that much detail. Anyway, it is high in lulzability. (Which saddens me as I can't imagine how non-Hindus would view Hinduism after reading it.)

I hope you enjoy what you find. The Divakaruni is widely available, the Mathur and Buck are not hard to acquire; I had to order the other two after a fruitless search locally (in Canada).

Omkara
12 November 2012, 08:57 PM
Try Ashok Banker's brilliant books at www.akbebooks.com

Sahasranama
12 November 2012, 09:46 PM
Try Ashok Banker's brilliant books at www.akbebooks.com (http://www.akbebooks.com)
Looks interesting, could you upload them?

Omkara
12 November 2012, 11:19 PM
I would'nt do that.Banker a sanskrit scholar and an expert on the itihasas and puranas who is writng LOTR style novel versions of the Itihasas.Every penny possible needs to go to Ashok Banker to support his efforts.

Somebody seems to have uploaded a pdf of theamerican edition of the first book if his Ramayana series.Mind you,this edition has been dusowned by the author vecause it has been heavily edited to suit western sensibilities.The first few chapters seem untouched though.Sample his writing,its top class.Besides,he offers the first book of each series cheap,one dollar I think.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/36115316/31070241-Ashok-Banker-Prince-of-Ayodhya

Sahasranama
13 November 2012, 12:00 AM
You have been so vigorously uploading books, so I thought you wouldn't mind.

Omkara
13 November 2012, 12:06 AM
Yeah,but not in this case.I dont have them in an uploadable format anyway.I put up one book posted by someone else.Read a few chapters and tell me what you think

Sahasranama
13 November 2012, 12:36 AM
All right, I'll check him out and buy a subscription later when I have some money. Is he really a Sanskrit scholar?

Omkara
13 November 2012, 12:56 AM
He has studied the puranas and itihasas in the original sanskrit and his krishna coriolis and mahabharata series are basically embellished translations adapted into novels.His Ramayana series takes a lot of creative liberties with the original canon though.

Giza
13 November 2012, 10:00 AM
Namaste all,

This may sound like an awkward request, but hopefully this will be taken in the right context: I'm looking for fiction out there that has Hindu and/or Indian themes to it. I tried reading The Life of Pi recently but it just didn't grab me at all, as I got bored of it a few chapters in. (And the fact that there's a movie coming out based on it that looks pretentious doesn't help.) :p

I'm looking for something that would be a definite page-turner that adheres to Hindu/Indian themes...and something in English of course. Anyone on this forum have any ideas? Any suggestions would be much appreciated!
Namaste Webimpulse,
I could suggest something which might at least hold your interest like a fictional book would... :coffee: have you considered reading the Ramayana or Mahabharata? I read and enjoyed Ramesh Menon's translation of the Ramayana a few years ago, and am currently in the middle of the translation of the Mahabharata written by Krishna Dharma - which I also think is excellent. As far as Hindu/Indian themes, you won't find anything better. :D

Eastern Mind
13 November 2012, 10:00 AM
Vannakkam: The Guru by Manley P. Hall is another that comes to mind. Short and simple.

Aum Namasivaya

Jodhaa
13 November 2012, 11:18 AM
I read and enjoyed Ramesh Menon's translation of the Ramayana a few years ago,

This is the version I read and I also enjoyed very much. It is beautifully written.

Sahasranama
13 November 2012, 09:48 PM
All right, I'll check him out and buy a subscription later when I have some money. Is he really a Sanskrit scholar?

I read a few pages of Prince of Dharma and I didn't like it that much.

Arjuni
03 January 2013, 06:26 PM
Namasté,

I have a few recommendations and one anti-recommendation to add to this thread.

My first exposure to Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's writing was through a collection of short stories called Arranged Marriage. As the title suggests, the work is a kaleidoscope of perspectives, giving voice to many different women as they embark upon the joys, trials, pains and delights of married life.

The readers following this thread may wish to consider branching into biography, travel and food writing, as well, as there are some truly lovely books out there, in which writers reveal themselves with all of the poise and grace of well-planned fictional characters. Shoba Narayan's Monsoon Diary: A Memoir With Recipes and Chitrita Banerji's The Hour of the Goddess: Memories of Women, Food and Ritual in Bengal are both cozy, fireside sort of books. (The latter's Eating India is also wonderful for times that you crave different tastes, sights, and smells but can't yet afford a plane ticket...)

Now for the bad: I finally got my hands on a copy of Thundergod, which may be the first novel about Indra I have ever seen. Unfortunately, it has all of the flaws of Meluha, and then some; I'm afraid I rather tore it apart in my (admittedly-biased) review (http://maghavan.wordpress.com/2012/12/26/in-which-i-dissect-thundergod/). Suffice it to say that you might want to give this one a pass. :mad:

Jeffery D. Long
03 January 2013, 06:47 PM
I was very happy to see that Omkara endorsed Ashok Banker's Lord-of-the-Rings-esque adaptation of the Ramayana, as I also like it very much. I recommend his books highly. I read the Indian editions, having picked them up at a shop in Delhi.

philosoraptor
04 January 2013, 09:53 AM
I'm a little suspicious of some of these re-tellings of the Ramayana. I saw one in a Barnes and Noble once that was supposed to be one such re-telling, and was completely turned off by the author casting Rama as an epic fantasy hero and completely discarding the theme of His divinity. This really misses the point on such a profound scale. I don't remember the author's name, but I recall that it was an Indian author.

I've seen some of these re-tellings by the likes of Kamala Subramaniam and some ISKCON authors, but have mostly stayed away on account of not liking abridged versions.

That being said, I really enjoyed C. Rajagopalachari's abridged version of the Mahabharata when I was in high school. His version of the Ramayanam was ok, but not as good imho.

I read one of Chitra Divakaruni's books many years ago - it was an anthology of short stories. I was particularly mortified by one story called "The Ultrasound" in which the main character, a non-brahmin female having married into a Bengali brahmin family, is upset that her in-laws want her to abort her first baby because it is not a son.

The problem I have with so many of these modern Indian authors is that traditional figures are invariably villains. You almost never see any noble souls unless they are people who somehow discarded their Hindu roots.

Twilightdance
04 January 2013, 11:57 AM
author casting Rama as an epic fantasy hero and completely discarding the theme of His divinity

For those who are not Vaishnava, this may not be such a profound miss. On contrary it may allow the reader to focus on the story of the epic for a change and may find Ramayana has something more useful to offer than just being a praise for Rama - of which there are many.

Viraja
04 January 2013, 12:18 PM
The problem I have with so many of these modern Indian authors is that traditional figures are invariably villains. You almost never see any noble souls unless they are people who somehow discarded their Hindu roots.

Is there a tendency among Indians in general to please masses belonging to other religions? For example, if we watch Indian movies closely, all those exalted helping and noble souls will be Muslims. There will be a huge attempt to sound like an advise to Hindus on avoiding religious bigotry. India and Hindus have been always very tolerant actually, why there is a need to please?

philosoraptor
04 January 2013, 05:51 PM
For those who are not Vaishnava, this may not be such a profound miss. On contrary it may allow the reader to focus on the story of the epic for a change and may find Ramayana has something more useful to offer than just being a praise for Rama - of which there are many.

And that's the problem. There are still many who succumb to the misconception that Rama's divinity is just an incidental detail, and that the story has so much more to tell us. As someone who has read the unabridged original, I can say with confidence that this understanding is a misunderstanding of Valmiki's intent. The story reads like a clear exposition of sharanagati, and missing that point, the reader is left in the dark about the motivations of several main characters during key episodes.

Banarasi
06 June 2013, 12:37 PM
Namaskaaram Webimpulse and sorry for reviving an old thread.

I think a modern thriller is Hunt for K . Since you know about Ramesh Menon, you may already know this but since I could not see other posts mentioning it, I do it here.( I do not know if it is the same Ramesh Menon who translated Ramayana). The background is of a CBI officer in the hunt for an assassin called K. I will not disclose the rest of the plot. It is in English, short and gripping.

Another is called Kadambari by Bana Bhatta. It is long and an english translation is available online

http://archive.org/stream/kadambariofbana00banarich/kadambariofbana00banarich_djvu.txt

One feature is that there are many stories within stories - A starts telling a story where a character B recites a story in which a character C recites a story...

The wikipedia link is here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kadambari

Hope these are interesting.

Jai Sitaram

Banarasi

Banarasi
06 June 2013, 12:48 PM
Namaskaaram:

Re my last post, I am embarrassed:o to note that the Hunt for K is not as cracked up as i used to think it was (when i was an undergrad student) and has the same problems as the other works mentioned in this thread. A cursory glance at the google books page would reveal what I mean and the plot is not too deep either.

http://books.google.com/books/about/The_Hunt_for_K.html?id=gvOWtj1MWN0C


My apologies.

Jai Sitaram

Asi
07 June 2013, 09:51 AM
Nine lives by William Dalrymple.

An excellent read. I think it's a good take on modern day spirituality in the indian subcontinent.

http://www.amazon.com/Nine-Lives-Search-Vintage-Departures/dp/0307474461