Nine Lives by William Dalrymple ; Published by Bloomsbury; Pages 284 ; Price Rs 499/-

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                      William Dalrymple, a quondam Scot and presently Delhiwallah  is astonishingly precocious. When only 22 years young he  published “ In Xanadu ”, an account of his journey from Jerusalem to Shàngdu.. This is a classic travel book. A few years later  Dalrymple  turned from travel writing to history. He argued that the future of the form lies not in "the epic journeys, often by young men, conveying the raw intoxication of travel during a moment in life when time is endless, and deadlines and commitments are non-existent". Instead, it lies in the writings of "individuals who have made extended stays in places, getting to know them intimately". This could accurately describe Dalrymple's life so far, since he has ended up on a farm outside Delhi, and made a lifelong study of those around him. “ Nine Lives ” is a travel book, but it is also  simultaneously a series of biographies highlighting  the rich religious heritage of India and her neighbours.  Dalrymple’s arena include several  parts of the East. “ In Xanadu ” took us from Jerusalem to Mongolia. “ From the Holy Mountain ” was about the Eastern Orthodox Church, and “ City of Djinns ” concentrated on Delhi’s tantalising history. In India, Dalrymple has found a home away from home  and India has embraced him. His historical work “ The Last Mughal ”. bagged the Vodafone Crossword Award and the Duff Cooper Memorial Prize.

                                    William Dalrymple asks us after his journeys in search of the sacred in a rapidly modernising India. “ Does India still offer any sort of real spiritual alternative to materialism, or is it now just another fast-developing satrap of the wider capitalist world? ” To find out, he travelled the country and met people from diverse  devotional backgrounds, studying  their beliefs and listening to their stories. The profiles he presents of them here present  a kaleidoscopic vision of the religious life of India – scintillating parts leading to a coherent whole.

                          The Indians Dalrymple encounters in Nine Lives are at the edge of the society, but  in India such  exceptions run into millions. Dalrymple's nine characters live on the margins of a society transforming at a bewildering pace. These individuals are gripped by a divine madness they cannot fathom. In some cases it induces trance; some express it through dance or song; and with some, that mystical current helps them create works of art of unusual beauty. They are on a spiritual quest, making sacrifices beyond  belief , discarding  identities, all in search of a salvation they may not achieve.

                           Among the nine lives covered  are a young Jain nun in Shravanabelagola ; the “Dancer of Kannur” a Dalit, who is worshipped as a Theyyam dancer-god for a few weeks, the rest of his life being spent as a prison warden ; the ‘Red Fairy’  a large 

outspoken Muslim lady from Bihar at a famous Sufi shrine;  a devadasi who pushes her daughter into a sacred trade ; the monk of ‘The Monk’s Tale’ who is a senior  Tibetan monk who atones for killing people in the struggle to ward off the Chinese onslaught on Tibet and then becoming  a soldier in the Indian army during the war for liberation of Bangladesh ; a female follower of  Tantric rites, who lives in a crematorium and drinks from the skulls of suicides and virgins. While the nine lives are not identical, in several instances they have undergone a revelation which defies  science and attracts ridicule from rationalists. But those experiences have assured them rare calm, and Dalrymple

 listens with total sympathy.

                             Dalrymple is greatly influenced by  Sufism and Baul brotherhood, and has a special passion for  those who have undergone mystical experiences.

 The historian in him  knows the forces that make religions and ethnicities fight;  the journalist in him describes  that violence ; however,  the travel writer lets these nine people speak. He never forces himself on the characters but  gently elaborates the  context and provides lucid  summaries of the issues: the  travails caused by caste; the challenge encountered by  Sufis from the dominant  Taliban in Pakistan; and the humiliation faced by  tantriks, whose blessings politicians and moneyed traders depend upon.

                                 Dalrymple's nine persons seek their  own  individual release. The author tracks the lives of these persons across the breadth of the country. He has had thirty intensive interviews. His book reveals how religion has influenced the lives of the nine persons. He had declared in an interview, "India's not just middle class India. There’s a kind of prickliness in the middle class about something out of its ken to cover stuff in the villages, the spiritual. These are the things the reasons that I don't really understand that make the middle class in this country feel uncomfortable.” 

The interviews for the book were done in eight languages with the help of interpreters who often helped  Dalrymple  capture insights into secret worlds.

                                       All the nine characters of the book are travellers who  lived by sheer faith. Dalrymple is the pure narrator allowing the story to proceed on its own pace. Somewhat akin to A.K.Ramanujan on his anthropological trail. This is  travel writing at its best. The stories are poignant and enchanting. India, without doubt, is one of the greatest source for enthralling stories and Dalrymple has exploited this

 gold-mine and brought forth wonderful tales. His  deep knowledge of Indian culture and history  comes out in limpid clarity. What makes the book eminently readable is the utter simplicity with which it is written—nearly Biblical.

                                    The book’s publisher describes it as “a modern Indian Canterbury Tales”. The parallel does work at least in part. Firstly, by concentrating on the sacred life of India, we catch sight of a 'Medieval’ world, a place where, among other things, minstrels wander the landscape singing of union with God. But also, just as Chaucer painted a portrait of a world shortly to undergo great upheaval, so the sense here is of snapshots being taken of characters and types who may not be available a few decades from now.

P.P.Ramachandran.

20-11-2016 

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