Epic, tragic and ironic

THE SHATTERED THIGH AND OTHER PLAYS (Penguin, Rs 200) by Bhasa is a selection of plays by one of the most sophisticated writers of Sanskrit literature. Though cited with great admiration by Kalidasa in the prologue to his play, Malavikagnimitram, Bhasa’s works were not discovered until the early 20th century. In 1909, T. Ganapati Sastri of Trivandrum discovered a palm leaf manuscript of Sanskrit texts, written in Malayalam characters, of a play by Bhasa. Ever since then, about 13 plays by him have been identified. Since the name of the playwright did not appear on any of these, the authorship was inferred from several internal and external evidences. This collection, translated with a scholarly introduction by A.N.D. Haksar, includes six plays based on episodes from the Mahabharata. Four of these are one-act tragedies, invoking lofty, heroic emotions. In Urubhangam, which lends the title, the hero, Duryodhana dies on stage, rather unusually for Sanskrit drama. Bana Bhatta summed up Bhasa’s achievement in his life of King Harsha: “Bhasa earned fame by his plays which…were like temples with banners.”

THE volcano within (Excel, Rs 175) by D.K. Marndi claims to be an “unabashedly autobiographical” novel. Deven, the protagonist, grows up in a tribal community, with the mere vestiges of education and other privileges. However, undaunted by these circumstances, he goes on to achieve academic success, and later becomes a civil servant. Starkly realistic, but lacking singularly in any sense of style, the novel is more of an anthropological curiosity than of any literary value.

Earth lessons: Three Essays on Saving the Planet (Vikram Sarabhai Foundation, price not mentioned) by Kamla Chowdhry collects three seminal articles by an eminent thinker and social worker who passed away in 2006. Chowdhury, led by her Gandhian ideals (spelled out in “Future of Survival”), was actively engaged in issues of sustainable development and ecological responsibility, as evidenced in “State of the World” and “India: Cry, My Beloved Country” . Written with scholarly precision and insight, the book comes with a useful bibliography.

THE trial of bahadur shah zafar (Roli, Rs 395) by H.L.O. Garrett comes with an introduction by M.J. Akbar. This is a new edition of the book — first published in 1932 — put together by Garrett, then “Keeper of the Records of the Government of Punjab”. The importance of this work is manifold in that it does not strictly qualify as historical research nor as just another document of a memorable trial. Rather, this is an archive of the memories associated with the rise and fall of a dynasty.

Here Garrett revisits the trial of the last Mughal, accused of “treason” and war crimes by the East India Company in the aftermath of the revolt of 1857. In course of this day-by-day account of the three-week-long trial, many fascinating details emerge. For instance, there is Bahadur Shah’s touching faith in the power of the Urdu press to secure public support, as well as a lively recounting of the buzz of rumours around the case. Garrett’s editorial comments are also incisive: “Bahadur Shah II was sixty-two when he ascended to the throne. He seems to have been a weak and harmless individual with a taste for writing somewhat mediocre poetry, and very much in the hands of his favourite wife, Zeenat Mahal, and Mahbub Ali Khan, the chief eunuch.”