Scottish Author Darymple explores the unorthodox in India

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Author William Dalrymple checks out unorthodox rites in India

May 3rd, 2008

An interview by Madhusree Chatterjee

New Delhi, May 3 2008

IANS

 

Delhi-based Scottish author William Dalrymple has

journeyed across the Indian subcontinent since settling

down here in 1984, delving into its past, capturing its soul in

his books. But this time, he is charting a rather

freewheeling, mystical course. An avowed Indophile,

Dalrymple's new book in the making takes a look at the

unorthodox religions in India. The 43-year-old writer is just

back from a research tour of the country, collecting stories.

 

And his bag is laden with 15 individual stories about those

who embraced free religions that traditionally flourished in

India before faith became straightjacketed.

 

" My new book is about the traditional forms of religion in

India that were popular before the present forms of Islam,

Christianity and Hinduism struck roots in India - a kind of

pre-Wahhabi (orthodox) Islam and the pre-ramifications of

north Indianism when animal and human sacrifices were

[said to be] common during the 18th and the 19th century, "

author William Dalrymple told IANS in an interview at his

sprawling bungalow on the outskirts of the capital in

Chhattarpur.

 

Dalrymple and his artist wife Olivia share the beige

bungalow flanked by a large vegetable garden with two

yellow-crested white cockatoos, a dog, half-a-dozen hens

and a few goats. The couple has four children.

 

Dalrymple is the author of award winning non-fiction books

like " The White Mughals " , and the " The Last Mughal " that

chronicles little known aspects of Muslim rule in India, the

" Age of Kali " , a journalistic account of the author's travels

in India and the " City of Djinns " , a book about his foster

home, Delhi.

 

Dalrymple's new book is about " tantra, Sufism, the devdasi

cult of south India and the bauls (wandering minstrels) of

Bengal.

 

" It is also about Bengal and Kerala, two states that are

similar in so many ways whether it is excess of mustard in

their fish curries or the left-handed forms of unorthodox

Hinduism, " laughed the writer.

 

Dalrymple's research took him to the Kamakhya shrine in

Assam and to the Yellamma temple near Belgaum in

Karnataka, where he met devdasi Rani Bai, who has

dedicated her child and herself to the service of the lord.

 

" Belgaum also has a large Sufi shrine and two " big "

Wahhabi Islamic seminaries (madrassas), " Dalrymple says.

 

The author, who has a Bengali great grandmother from

Chandernagore in Bengal, visited the Paus Mela (fair) at

Santiniketan for his research where 20,000 " raving bauls "

(wandering minstrels) sang their devotional music and

preached religious tolerance.

 

" Tarapeeth (a Hindu cremation ground which is the hub of

tantra or [some say] the dark arts) was the scariest, " he

recalls, talking about his journeys for the new book.

 

" There are several taboos associated with tantra. But tantra

is all about breaking conventions. [...] " he explains.

 

The most striking vignettes that Dalrymple gathered in the

course of his travel was that of a Buddhist monk in Bhutan,

who wanted to move to a cave from his hermitage " because

it was too busy for him " .

 

" And I met this former Bollywood fight actor in Tarapeeth

who came with his goons and a goat (as sacrificial offering)

to win a district election. I wanted to know why he needed

Tara (the mother goddess) on his side to win an election, "

the author narrated, his grey-green eyes twinkling.

 

Dalrymple, as he likes to claim, represents the " hot blood "

in contemporary English writing. The restless kind, whose

works are full of energy and information in the non-fiction

genre. He rues the fact that there is so little happening in

non-fiction. " Barring Suketu Mehta, who has been

acclaimed globally, and Ramchandra Guha, there's hardly

anyone else, " he says.

 

One of the driving forces behind the Jaipur Literary Festival

held in January that brought the best of writers from the

subcontinent, Dalrymple is categorical about the kind of

authors the subcontinent is looking at.

 

" The search is on for hot, young blood - gunslingers from

the basher brigade in Indian writing, " he says.

 

The eclectic drawing room reflects Dalrymple. It is a blend

of the modern, arcane and the ancient. A Mughal-style

antique headgear and two old daggers in leather sheaths

fight for space with books, compact discs and old furniture -

strewn carelessly around. The author, attired casually in a

white summer shirt and khaki planter's pants completes the

summer look. [....]

 

Born in Scotland in 1965 in a nice town by the sea,

Dalrymple was the youngest of four boys. " It was a happy

family. And there was no Indian influence, " recounts the

author. But it changed on Jan 26, 1984, when he decided to

make India his home. There was an instant connect with

India.

 

" Since then, life has split into two, " he smiled.

 

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