Samskara: A Rite for a Dead Man (Three Crowns) - Softcover
Book 35 of 101: New York Review Books Classics
Synopsis
Made into a powerful, award-winning film in 1970, this important Kannada novel of the sixties has received widespread acclaim from both critics and general readers since its first publication in 1965. As a religious novel about a decaying brahmin colony in the south Indian village of Karnataka, Samskara serves as an allegory rich in realistic detail, a contemporary reworking of ancient Hindu themes and myths, and a serious, poetic study of a religious man living in a community of priests gone to seed. A death which stands as the central event in the plot brings in its wake a plague, many more deaths, live questions with only dead answers, moral chaos, and the rebirth of one man. The volume provides a useful glossary of Hindu myths, customs, Indian names, flora, and other terms. Notes and an afterword enhance the self-contained, faithful, and yet readable translation.
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About the Author
U. R. Anantha Murthy is a well-known Indian novelist.
A. K. Ramanujan is William E. Colvin Professor in the Departments of South Asian Languages and Civilizations and of Linguistics at the University of Chicago. He is the author of many books, including The Striders and several other volumes of verse in English and Kannada.
Review
“[Samskara] contains a plot of Sophoclean intensity that with the passing of the years seems to have gathered ever more revelatory power...It’s a startling story, one as provocative for its time and place as those of Cervantes, Sterne and Diderot must have been in theirs.” —Chandrahas Choudhury, The Wall Street Journal
“Samskara is an effective tale of a community choked by unsustainable tradition. Ananthamurthy offers fine portraits of a variety of characters as they struggle between natural urges and societal expectations, and has crafted an impressive story here.” —M. A. Orthofer, The Complete Review
"NYRB Classics' reissue of this book comes at an opportune moment, as societies around the world face the dangers of religious extremism and its focus on ritual and regulation rather than humanity. U.R. Ananthamurthy, in A.K. Ramanujan's translation from the Kannada, tries to teach Indian society a lesson in this story about the trouble with prioritizing tradition over compassion." —Melissa Beck, Asymptote Journal
“Ananthamurthy’s ability to turn the world on the most unexpected pivot gives [Samskara] an enduring human dimension.” —María Helga Guðmundsdóttir, The Quarterly Conversation
"[A] richly allegorical tale...a springboard for even broader questions concerning...religious experience and the inherent tension between works and grace." —William Waldron, Education About Asia
"[Samskara] takes us closer to the Indian idea of the self." —V. S. Naipul
Ananthamurthy’s most controversial and celebrated work, Samskara, is a novel about a decaying Brahmin colony. . . . Throughout the novel, Ananthamurthy builds extraordinary tension and atmosphere. It is an India that is instantly recognizable to its Indian readers.
—Pankaj Mishra
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