IN SEARCH OF DHAMMA
By
DALE LUIS MENEZES
• If change could be brought by a king,
why did the Buddha become a beggar? (p. 382)
• The Buddha preached his Way, they went theirs (p. 334)
Before Hinduism, in Ancient South Asia, Buddhism was a major religion. What the
common man as well as the student of history knows about Buddhism has come,
generally, from the old Jataka story of how the Buddha who was a prince was
isolated from all the ills of the world and a chance encounter with old-age,
sickness and death transforms his whole life, eventually leading to his
enlightenment. Sadly for all of us this legend has been – verbatim – passed off
as history. The Buddha is viewed as godhead, when charting the history of
Buddhism with the actual historical processes that the Buddha as a person had
experienced, given scant attention.
How we understand and construct the history of Buddhism (or for that matter the
history of any other religion of Ancient India) is on many occasions found to
be lacking in a rigorous imagination coupled with erudition. While studying
Buddhism, I have always felt that the thrust is on the philosophy (and
sometimes only philosophy!) rather than the historical conditions that required
such ideologies and philosophies – such as Buddhism – to be produced. Hence,
when I read the debut novel of the Goan writer and academic Amita Kanekar, now
based in Miramar, I felt that my knowledge and imagination about the Buddha in
particular and the historical setting of Ancient India in general was enriched.
A Spoke in the Wheel (2005) by Amita Kanekar, to be simply put, is a novel
about the Buddha and Buddhism along with other historical personages. In
attempting the portraits of such historical personages like the Buddha and the
Emperor Asoka, Amita Kanekar also interrogates the history of that time as well
as critically examines the conventional wisdom that has been handed down to us.
(In particular, the thrust is towards rethinking the whole nationalist
historiography and construction of Ancient Indian history).
The protagonist of the novel is a monk named Upali, who has been commissioned
by the great Emperor Asoka himself to produce a biography of the Buddha in
prose. The novel opens in 256 BC, four years after the bloodshed in Kalinga and
three centuries after the death of the Buddha. Upali, a native from Kalinga,
had witnessed first-hand the destruction of Asoka’s military campaign there. He
is now based in a small monastery, in the middle of a thick and treacherous
jungle. Upali is portrayed as a scholastic who has to work with legends or
suttas which contain several discrepancies in their content as a primary
source. He is caught between providing a faithful account of the life of the
Buddha as well as staying loyal to the spirit that Gautam, the Enlightened One,
had embodied. He is an upstart, getting into frequent arguments with the elders
on the finer theoretical points of the Buddha’s life.
Upali, through his keen, interrogative mind and fearless questioning of the
handed-down-wisdom manages to produce an account that shocks and revolts a lot
of elder monks. But the Emperor Asoka likes it. A Spoke in the Wheel gives a
picture of the time when the first largest empire in history was consolidated
in South Asia; the author describes the cities, the people and the social
atmosphere in which the daily business was carried out with much élan. The
Mauryan Empire under Asoka was vast containing equally varied identities:
tribal, caste and class. Amita Kanekar is not just writing a novel, but is also
arguing, informing and providing an alternate view of the history of Buddhism
and Ancient India. For instance, consider the very popular myth about the
84,000 stupas that were constructed by Asoka. She says, “…since he ruled some
thirty-seven years, averages 2,270 each year, or more than six a day, a feat
clearly impossible for anyone not Beloved of the Gods.”
Did the Buddha really lead a sheltered life totally buffered from the harsh
realities of the world? Amita Kanekar argues otherwise, “He probably led the
most luxurious life possible, but it was not that of a lotus-eater. Otherwise
Shudodhan [Buddha’s father] could never have hoped to make his son Chief after
him. It was a time of confusion, even chaos, and a Chief had to at least
understand both the old and the new divides, to defend his own interests and
also swing popular feeling behind him. It was a tall order, as Shudodhan knew
only too well.”
It is also interesting to note how perfectly Amita Kanekar weaves the
importance of iron in the whole narrative. Yes, although this ubiquitous dark
metal transformed our society and history, sadly this is not taken into much
consideration by most established scholarship when discussing the history of
Buddhism. Amita Kanekar’s concern and commitment to the cause of the subaltern
is seen through the protagonist Upali (who is revealed to be a Chandala, a low
born) as well as how she tries to represent the Nagas who were perceived to be
racially inferior by the Arya society. Describing the first long-distance trek
that the Buddha undertook, Amita Kanekar says, “It was a difficult trip, the
first of many cross-country treks, and unforgettable. It was really the
beginning of a new education, not in any lofty or esoteric philosophy, but in
ordinary, even familiar things. Like the heat of the sun. He had never noticed
how it built up from a mild lighter of the path at dawn to a
ferocious torch by midday, pulling out all the water from his body, burning
his uncovered head, burning the top and the bottom of his feet, drying the skin
of his eyes, tearing the skin of his nose and throat. The Shakyas worshipped
the sun in every form, from Ushas, gentle goddess of dawn, to burning Aditya of
the noon sky, and not surprisingly, for they too were rulers – arrogant,
uncaring, robbing the earth and all who walked on it for their juices. Nobody
dared to look the sun in the eye. How sharply different was the moon. Yes, now
he could understand why so many of the low-caste worshipped that gentle lantern
of cool white light. Anybody who had to expend sweat and energy through the day
unprotected by the flimsiest of shades would. The moon was a reinvigorating
friend, so that even the tiredest could think of poetry and love in the night,
or sleep well and find the strength to rise and face the sun again.”
The Enlightenment of the Buddha is spoken in a much nuanced way, situating it
in the social and historical setting. The portrayal of the Buddha’s
Enlightenment is minus the mystical glamour. It is more prosaic, “He thought
and thought, till he was satisfied that he had some answers. Such was his
enlightenment.”
Amita Kanekar dwells on how the Emperor Asoka had appropriated the ideology of
the Buddha and the Buddha himself and she also tries to show how such an
ideology like Buddhism could be, thereby, helpful to the State. The religious
ideas may have (unwittingly) helped the State to control its subjects. “Look at
the issues of tolerance, peace and renunciation. They [rulers] liked them, they
said. Enough to encourage them among their subjects. Tolerance in the poor and
dispossessed made for a more peaceful kingdom. And renunciation was a brilliant
idea – if people scorned wealth, they would not notice the inequities in its
availability. The matter was different for themselves. Their own tolerance, of
their neighbours for example, remained low. Their avarice for greater land and
revenues remained largely unabated. Nor did they forswear violence towards
anybody – their neighbours, their subjects, even their own kinsmen who chanced
to cast a covetous eye on their throne,” Ami
ta writes.
History and polemics aside, there is murder and intrigue woven in the novel.
Amita Kanekar also discusses how using subtle suppressive measures, the Asokan
empire was kept intact, particularly when the established historiography can
rarely see anything beyond the greatness of the tyrant and mass-murderer that
Emperor Asoka was.
The novel provides fresh insights into the life of the Buddha as well as the
history of Ancient India. For a person interested in history and Buddhism, this
book will be a smart and discerning read.
Comments/feedback @ www.daleluismenezes.blogspot.com
END OF ARTICLE
A Spoke in the Wheel by Amita Kanekar (New Delhi: HarperCollins Publishers),
2005; pp. 447, Rs. 395/- [ISBN: 81-7223-574-7]
Find my writings @ www.daleluismenezes.blogspot.com
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Push thought to extremes
-Louis Althusser
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