Nine Lives

We always look up to certain people, we sometimes in our lives idealize someone. They can be anyone including parents, teachers, film stars etc etc.

But there are certain people who, though not famous live a very a very disciplined life. In their life they work in such a way or they do such things in their life that is worth noting. They are not famous, not big stars but done such things that leave a big impact on others.

In this context I would like to mention about a book which I recently read. NINE LIVES ------- WILLIAM DALRYMPLE.

But before writing about my feelings on the book, I would like to say something.

I am amazed, surprised & even happy to know that a foreign travel writer, has come to India, researched about the country so beautifully & in such depth that left me really surprised. Not only is the book giving idea about the geography of India but also describes the actual culture, the lifestyle of people living in that area, the existing caste system & so many other minor details that really made me happy about the fact that at least someone exists, though a foreigner and not an Indian, who studied India in details & have felt positively about India. The author has also described the feelings & emotions about the characters in the stories very nicely.

Now about the book. The book describes about 9 people who belong to different places, culture & thinking but have done some good work in their lives. Some stories also describe how people have struggled to keep their cultures, values & ideals intact.

Life 1: - The first story describes about Jain Nun & how she takes Diksha. Those people who take Diksha take at a very early age. But when I read the whole story I had some idea how people take Diksha. Thinking spiritually & living life in a particular direction is good but there are certain points which I disagree. Jain monks do not take any allopathic medicines or any other modality of treatment except that which they feel is natural. As rightly mentioned in the story one of the monks suffered from Tuberculosis but was taken for treatment very late. Very very unacceptable. When an individual wants to became a Jain monk they get their hair plucked manually, plucking out each hair. Also, when they finally take their vow to live life as a monk, before that they wear good attractive dress & jewelery, meet their parents & brothers, sisters & other relatives for the last time and then enter a whole new world. But for me its difficult to believe that, when you are in this world because of your parents, how could u just enter a the world of spirituality & follow the path of god, cutting all the ties with your parents, just on the belief that monks should not have any worldly attachment. According to me parents are the most important god's in one's life & nobody can run away from that fact.

Apart from this I came to know a lot about Jainism & about a specific pattern of eating which Jain monks followed, Sallekhana. I came to know about their Tirthankaras, & the disciplined life of a Jain monk.

Life 2: - This story is about a specific dance form. It is called Theyyam. The dancers are called Theyyakkaran.

To perform this art of dancing the dancer should have a lot of vigor, concentration & a lot of practice. It happens most of the times that a doctor's child mostly will became doctor, same for lawyers, actors etc etc. Same for these Theyyam dancers They learn this dance form from their ancestors & it takes years of practice before they actually start performing in front of people. But there is one very important thing. These dancers, while performing dance in form of some Hindu god or goddess. Like Vishnu, Shiva etc etc. But while performing this dance, the god in whose form they are performing, they should be possessed by that god. By doing so only, they can actually perform the dance with full justice.

In this story the author describes about a Theyyam dancer, Hari Das who actually would get possessed by the god in which form he dances.

This dance is performed only in the Theyyam season, that is from December to February (3 months). In the remaining months they get occupied with other jobs to earn a living. During the time they perform the dance, people do come to these dancers who became gods, to take their blessings so that their wishes get fulfilled & their problems get solved.

Life 3: - It is the story about Devadasis. Its India's one of the most oldest professions. The word comes from the Sanskrit word, deva means God & dasi means female servant. It is claimed that this profession is as old 2500 B.C. These devadasis used to work in the temples in the past & were referred to as 'temple girls'. Some girls used to work as dancing girls, courtesans or concubines. Some used to be total nuns. Some would became servants to the temple Brahmins & some would have the honor of working for the temple gods like keeping them free of flies, fanning them, taking part in the rituals etc etc.

Devadasis are still considered auspicious in Karnataka & regarded as a sign of fertility. But today all of them work as sex workers & most of them now belong to the lower caste. The typical devadasis consider themselves different from other sex workers who are seen today. Devadasis consider themselves to be more respectful than other sex workers & consider themselves to be the daughters of the Goddess Yellamma, their protector. They dedicate their daughters to goddess Yellamma, who became Devadasis like their mothers.

I don't support this system and neither do I support any forms of prostitution as it has a lot of problems associated with it including sexually transmitted diseases.

Life 4: - This story tells about a singer whose name is Mohan Bhopa. He along with his sweet wife Batasi, sang long epics dedicated to his God Pabuji. Long bhajans & songs are sung in the gods name. Long verses of songs are sung which contain a long as 4000 lines. It was amazing to read that how these epic singers could remember these bhajans & songs by heart. They also would sing film songs & perform some entertaining acts to keep the people awake & glued to their act. But it was the enthusiasm, their devotion, faith, memory & eagerness to perform these acts without getting tired & with the same zeal & enthusiasm is worth noting.

But what I liked in this is about the authors observation about the various castes present in Rajasthan. The langa caste, bishnoi caste, gujjar caste, the jains, rajpuths, the rabari caste etc etc. This observation of the author was really nice. On more minor terms ----- the author mentions that the epic singers say that less & less people nowadays are interested in coming & listening to them due to advent of television. And those days a new television serial of Ramanand Sagar's Ramayan had come, good observation.

According to the story's main character Mohan Bhopa, a man needs a good life partner to support him in the epic singing. Supporting in all aspects of life & should specially have a good voice to sing during their performance. He fears that this culture would be lost in the future generations to come.

Life 5: - The story is on a lady residing in the Sindh region of Pakistan. Here the main focus is on the Sufi culture & the Sufi saints.

The main character in the story is a Lal Pari or the red fairy who migrated from Bihar to Bangladesh (formerly east Pakistan) & then finally to the Sindh region in the present day Pakistan. The story describes about her life struggles, the life she experiences during Hindu Muslim riots & finally her peaceful settlement in the Sindh region.

Also worth noting about this story is the characteristic features of Sufi Islam, how much of its culture is taken from Hinduism & the conflicts between Sufi Islam & other forms of Islam. Sufism believes in living life freely, dancing & singing & if u have committed any sin but ask for forgiveness sincerely from god then forgiveness will be definitely granted. Moreover god is within one's own self which must be realised. But this free culture is considered by other Islamic group as perversion & unacceptable. According to them dancing & singing is totally against Islam & hence do not consider Sufism acceptable. So they strongly oppose Sufi culture.

The conflict is well described & also one good thing that some groups of Islam (Sufi) co-exist harmoniously with Hinduism is worth noting. In this context I appreciate the superb observation of the author & his neat expression of his ideas.

Life 6: - This story is about China's invasion on Tibet & of a life a Tibetan Buddhist Monk.

The main character in the story Passang tells how he first lived a secure life & then on his uncle's suggestion went on to became a monk. He mentions about his life as a Buddhist monk & how Buddhism is different in Tibet as compared to China. He says about the Lama's who are the high ranked priests & a special mention on His Holiness The Dalai Lama.

Buddhist monks can do anything to protect their religion & can even take arms & revolt to protect it. But for attacking they have to give away their vows of a monk in front of their Guru or The Lama.

Passang & his fellow monks had also fought against the Chinese military troupes but were easily out numbered & in the process he had to escape to India. Here he described how he enrolled in Indian Army & served the Indian Army for many years.

He always hated the Chinese because they invaded Tibet, & also because whilst he was fighting against them, the Chinese Army tortured his mother to catch hold of him. His mother died because she could not bear the pain. But when he fought the Pakistanis when in Indian Army, initially he did not like it as he never wanted to fight against them, but eventually he understood that war leads to nowhere but only destruction. But who understands this. Hatred & negativity should be removed & every individual of any caste, creed or religion should live peacefully.

Life 7: - This story is about a man Srikhanda, who lives in south India & makes god idols & sends them to temples for worship. The idols go to different temple & to places as far as California.

In this story the author has described the process of idol making which he observed in Srikhanda's place.

Srikhanda tells how the idols are made & that lots of devotion is required, concentration & hours of hard work is required to make a mind satisfactory idol. Once the idol is made, it is no longer the sculptors creation, but meant to go to the right place & worshiped, as God resides in it. He says that if the sculptor is making a sculpture of a goddess then the sculptor should not harbor any bad feelings in mind & concentrate purely on work.

Srikhanda mentions how he learnt the art of making idols from his father & making idols is a familial business. He says that there are certain rules in making idols & that idols can be made only on certain days, especially opening of the eyes. As, once the eyes open, god will reside in it. Then it no longer remains a sculptors creation but becomes a idol for pure worship.

But his fear is that this family tradition, no longer interests the next generation, with his nephew interested in marketing the business & his son interested in computers & not interested in the family tradition at all.

Life 8 & 9: - Both the stories are interconnected. Life 8 mentions about tantrics & their life. Specifically about a tantric lady called Manisha Ma. People associate Tantra with black magic & consider tantrics as bad, mad & perverts. But as explained in this chapter, they have their own lives & believe in the path of god as other people do. They have their own way of worshiping the Goddess, through skulls & donating certain animals to the goddess but they basically do not interfere with other peoples lives. They have their own sexual preferences & a specific method of tantric sex is done only with their life partners. People need to change their attitude & need to know the real Tantra.

Last life is about Bauls, who are seen in Bengal, sing & dance & live a nomadic life. They enjoy the freedom of their life & known to live in conjuncture with the Tantrics. Yet they have a total different lifestyle & enjoy life singing, dancing. They also get married & follow the Tantric method of sexual life. They consider that sex is a powerful natural occurrence which has love as a primary element and should have a stable life partner.

I have expressed my feelings regarding the book. But much more is there in the book which has to be read by the reader. Much more information & much more enjoyment. The book is well written, well researched & a very easy to read.

The book describes extraordinary lives of ordinary people.