Random Muse:

Buddha's life deconstructed?

Sachitra MAHENDRA

With Vesak coming to a close, I go back to three novels I have been rereading lately. Though the novelists are from the same Buddhist background they tread on diverse paths, simply elegant and inimitably original. They all have a decent attempt to deconstruct the Buddha life omitting so called fictional parts of miracle. They spice up different account giving weight to lesser known events. Let me introduce you the first novel. Martin Wickramasinghe's Bava Tharanaya is a classic example of controversial literature in Sinhala. It not only caused discussions in Sinhala literary circles, but it made Ven Yakkaduwe Pagngnasekara author two volumes as a rebuttal. Dogmatically speaking I would say Ven Pagngnasekara was absolutely right, but Wickramasinghe's is a work of art. A work of art doesn't require you to believe every inch of what is embedded. Though a philosophy may require you to do so.

Dogmatically again - forget about art - Ven Pagngnasekara had enough fair reasons to get irritated with Wickramasinghe's work. The Koggala sage had built up the Buddha's character as an overly run-of-the-mill monk. The Buddha, even after enlightenment, was not sure about his feelings. I respect Martin Wickramasinghe as the legend of Sinhala literature, but I would be on more agreeable terms with Ven Pagngnasekara when he underscored that literature has no sole authority to distort religious teachings. All this and then some have driven the one-time friends, the monk and the author both senior and veteran in their fields, on the warpath.

Now the other two novels: Amita Kanekar's 'A Spoke in the Wheel' and Deepak Chopra's 'Buddha'. Chopra is much more known in the world audience. Kanekar was discussed in the local scene, but it did not last longer.

Kanekar's 'Spoke' runs in two different layers. A monk called Upali is commissioned by Emperor Asoka to write a novel about the Buddha. The layer one deals with how Thera Upali works on the novel, and the layer two is on the novel itself.

Chopra retells the Buddha's life too. But he elaborates Devadatta's account parallel to the Buddha. Interestingly he builds up Devadatta's character as someone used by Mara, god of death in Buddhist legends, against Prince Siddhartha who would eventually become the Buddha. His language is more modern and simpler than that of Kanekar.

English authors seem cleverer and smarter than Wickramasinghe in breathing life to the Buddha's life in fiction. Probably because the English writers are more at home with the Buddha's life, since they are both of Indian origin. The English novels are full of descriptions, an essential feature in providing a modern-day interpretation to an ancient religious teacher. They share one voice with Wickramasinghe in building up the Buddha as just another human being. However both Chopra and Kankar maintain the dignity of the Buddha as a religious founder. They make-believe the Buddha's superhuman qualities natural for someone enlightened.

So to finish this off, let me tell you this too: all these three books are a very interesting Vesak reading.

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