Mythology is the flavour of the
season. Preetha Rajah Kannan’s Shiva in the City of the Nectar
tries to fit into this popular genre with a difference. It contains
mythological tales from the South India, more particularly Tamil
Nadu. The writer has culled out fifty-four stories from the folk
lore, Thriruvilaiyadal Puranam and fleshed them up with her
imagination.
Now the city of Nectar is the
city of Madurai. Lord Shiva is its ruling deity. So he is the hero of
all the tales. The stories are also about power struggles between two
mighty clans the Cholas and Pandians. Both are ardent devotees of
Lord Shiva. Ukkiran, Abhishegan, Raajasekaran, Vikraman, Sekkaran,
Rajaraja are the rulers of the city of Nectar. The stories are weaved
around them and many other rulers of the city. The book has
interesting tales about the births of Durvasa, Markandeya and
Airavata. This being the book regarding South Indian mythology it can
not be complete without Agasti Muni known as Agasthiar in the south.
There are curses and ways of redemption too.
To read mythology set in South
India where a siddhar appears instead of a Sadhu or Sage and where
Shiva is referred to as Sundaran is a refreshing read. I really liked
the story about the Devdasi and her Shiva of gold. I am sure lovers
of mythology will love this book. The writer sounds very contemporary
while describing these stories. So a child in one of the stories goes
to a school and not Gurukul. yaazh
But speaking of the lessons
that the book imparts I have some reservations. May be perhaps the
reservations are not only with regard to the book but the
mythological stories. There is lot of violence involved.
Manickavasagar spends the gold given to him to by the King to buy
horses in building the magnificent temple. When confronted by the
King, he prays to the Lord. The Lord comes to his rescue and
transforms jackals into horses who become jackals again in the night
and fly to the jungles. When the King confronts him again, there is a
deluge which tries to submerge Madurai. What kind of message are we
passing through such stories? Also in the story the singing
woodcutter, the Lord makes the unworthy singer win through deceit.
Similarly in Dharumi’s story the Lord makes an ignorant person win
a contest by resorting to plagiarism. Also when another poet
Nakkeerar tries to point out a flaw in the answer, he is killed. This
story tells us that this land was always intolerant.
Yet, I congratulate the author
for bringing something new in the market which is inundated with
books of mythological genre.
No comments:
Post a Comment