Vijaydan Detha. Chouboli and Other Stories. Translated by Christi A. Merrill and Kailash Kabir. New Delhi: Published by Katha in collaboration with Fordham University Press, 2010. Volume 2. 196 pp. $65.00, cloth, ISBN 978-0-8232-3403-5.

Reviewed by Nishat Zaidi

Published on H-Asia (October, 2012)

Commissioned by Sumit Guha (The University of Texas at Austin)

“A folktale is a poetic text that carries some of Stories by the self-proclaimed folklorist Vijay‐ its cultural contexts within it; it is also a travelling dan Detha (b. 1926) stand at a unique juncture metaphor that fnds a new meaning with every where the ever-dynamic collective consciousness telling,” says A. K. Ramanujan in his famed compi‐ preserved in oral cultures of folktales is repre‐ lation Folktales from (1991).[1] Story is who sented through the privileged retelling by the au‐ we are. Folktales, which travel across times re‐ thor and where the sheer choice of medium tends shaping themselves every time they are retold, to freeze the inherent fuidity and fexibility of are embedded with a vast array of cultural codes, these tales. Transmuting oral forms into such new aspirations, and ethical preferences of the subso‐ mediums as writing is not unknown to the Indian cial groups that they represent. Without any narrative tradition, as some texts, like the Bud‐ string of authorship attached to them, they repre‐ dhist Jatakas, the Panchatantra (ffth century), sent a panorama of human aspirations and de‐ and the Kathasaritasagara (eleventh century), sires as well as anger and resistance against owe their origin to oral traditions. Detha’s stories prevalent norms. However, as Michel Foucault are inimitable insofar as they epitomize the con‐ points out in his seminal essay “What Is an Au‐ fuence of the age-old oral world of folklore and thor?” “the coming into being of the notion of au‐ the relatively modern genre of short story in thor constitutes the privileged moment of individ‐ which the interiority is as much a concern as the ualization of the history of ideas, knowledge, liter‐ world of action; in which there is no moral com‐ ature, philosophy and the sciences.”[2] The transi‐ pulsion of privileging good over evil; and most tion from the oral to written medium inevitably important, which is meant for readers, not listen‐ involves a process of individualization and privi‐ ers. Detha’s success in bridging the two apparent‐ leging of certain perspectives. ly contrary genres may be ascribed to what his able translators Christi A. Merrill and Kailash H-Net Reviews

Kabir inform us in the ingeniously perceptive in‐ and awards for his life-long work, which include troduction to the frst volume (2010). They point Padma Shri (2007), Sahitya Chudamani Award to Detha’s own perception of his role as translator. (2006), Katha Chudamani Award (2005), Fellow‐ At the same time, like a true craftsman, even ship of the (2004), and the frst while committed to folk forms, Detha refuses to for Rajasthani (1974). His step into the reductive role of transcribing stories popularity, however, rose mainly after his story as they were told to him. Like a true storyteller “Charandas Chor” was adapted frst for theater by who always meddles with these “travelling Habib Tanveer (1975) and for a children’s flm by metaphors” and instills new meanings in them to (1975). ’s Shahrukh appeal to his audiences, Detha also revamps them Khan Starrer flm (2005), based on Detha’s with contemporary themes to appeal to the mod‐ story “,” made Detha a household name. ern mind. Without compromising their archetypal The collection under review is the second vol‐ motifs, psychic underpinnings, and context-sensi‐ ume of a two-volume collection entitled Chouboli tive performativity, Detha metamorphoses them and Other Stories. The frst volume contains the into captivating stories, which have a spellbinding title story “Chouboli,” which is a string of eight impact on the minds of the modern readers. connected stories and six other stories. The sec‐ Detha, also known as Bijji to his close friends ond volume includes eleven stories, adapted by and associates, belongs to the bardic community Detha from Rajasthani folktales and tastefully se‐ of the Charans of who professionally lected from his vast body of work. The compila‐ sang praises of and sometimes criticized their feu‐ tion is skillfully translated and presented by De‐ dal lords. His grandfather, Jugtidan Detha, was tha’s able American translator Merrill along with known in the entire Marwar region. His father, Kabir (who has also translated a large body of De‐ Sabaldan Detha, was a good poet too. It was this tha’s writing into ). Eternally enthralling as creative legacy inherited by that they are, the stories throw new challenges in the prompted him to become a writer at an early age. understanding of fction as a form in modern After spending a few years in where he times. The paradoxicality of it is foregrounded in took up writing as a career, Detha was exposed to the insightful introduction to the frst volume by Russian literature, which inspired him to return the translators and in the diligently charted ge‐ to his native village Baroundi and write in his na‐ nealogy that attempts to give the source of each tive language, Rajasthani. It was here at Baroundi story retold by Detha. While the obsession with that he along with his friend Dr. the “original” author both by Detha and Merrill set up the iconic Rupayan Sansthan, an institution appears ironic in the face of the fact that both that has done pathbreaking research and archival deem their own roles as translators whose true work gathering and restoring oral literature of calling is not just to reproduce but also to recreate Rajasthan. Determined to “‘garland the age-old the world of orality which inevitably involves cre‐ Rajasthani folklores with story-writing skills’” (p. ation, it also invites us to dispense with the polar‐ ii), Detha started a hand-composing press that ized view of folklore and short story, oral and brought out the periodical Lok Sanskriti (Folk cul‐ written, retold and authored, and so on. As both ture).[3] The stories published in it were later partake of the role of author in this altered mode compiled in his tour de force Bataan ri Phulwari of tale-telling that weds oratory with the “framed” (Garden of tales [1960-76]), a fourteen-volume col‐ world of story writing, both also acknowledge lection of stories drawing on Rajasthan folklore. their secondary role as tale-tellers and not story Having written more than eight hundred stories writers. in Rajasthani, Detha has received several honors

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The make-believe world of fantasy in these “there is no curse worse than that of death-de‐ stories by Detha, as in the narrative tradition of prived immortality” (p. 79). The story begins and any oratory, takes for granted the connection be‐ ends with teasers for readers as the teller chal‐ tween nature, nurture, natural, and supernatural. lenges their wisdom and their ability to choose. In Here, humans interact freely with other products this way, the subjectivities of the readers, like of the mother environment, such as animals, yesteryears’ listeners of oral tales, are merged birds, insects, and plants, often interchanging with the subjectivities of characters in the tale, as their forms as also their language; here, ghosts they are encouraged to actively engage with the participate in worldly afairs, while mighty kings, dynamics of its direction. “To Each Her Own” is a seths (rich businessmen), and thakurs (lords) turn light story about the plight of a fsherwoman who out to be cowards and foolish and ordinary lowly is forced to spend a night in the house of the royal folk, wise. In this world of traditional wisdom, gardener. While the fshy smell of the fsherwom‐ where worldly ways are ridiculed and human an makes the gardener sick, the fsherwoman can frailties and strengths are delineated, Detha has barely stand the fragrance of fowers and feels re‐ injected his own ideological preferences for social lieved only when she quietly tiptoes out of the justice (infuenced by Karl Marx and Friedrich En‐ gardener’s room and sleeps on the foor outside gels, Detha has been a leftist all his life). “‘My with her empty fsh basket over her face. “A True main themes are against god, religion and capi‐ Calling” is yet another riveting story about a pro‐ tal,’” says the writer acknowledging his Marxist fessional imposter who is so realistic in the guise values.[4] Hence, in spite of hardships, the subju‐ of a dayan (witch) that the king who, in spite of gated always survive and the candle of hope is being forewarned about the consequences, chal‐ never allowed to extinguish. Notwithstanding lenges him to don the guise, and runs for his life their apparent simplicity, these stories unfold the while a drunken brother-in-law is killed by the complexities of human life in its myriad forms. witch. The king, in order to eliminate him, fnally The frst story in the collection under review, asks the imposter to take the guise of sati--or a “I’m Alive, I’m Awake,” delineates a heart-wrench‐ woman who immolates herself. ing tale of the steadfast love of a heron for his In the story “Untold Hitlers” (“Alekhun mate. Such is the love of the heron for his mate Hitler”), a professional cyclist dares the arrogant that even when he is being slaughtered, cooked, owners of a newly acquired tractor and meets his and eaten by the farmer who captured him, he tragic end. Speaking of the story, Detha says, continues to send out messages to his mate. Char‐ “‘There is a Hitler in every one of us. It draws its acters, like the greedy Brahmin of “Cannibal” or strength from condescension for another being the thief of “Weigh Your Options,” represent pro‐ and the realization of the power to overpower totypes of human frailties. The story “The and destroy it.’”[5] The stark note on which the Thakur’s Ghost” explicates the extraordinary wis‐ story closes brings out the evil lurking in the dom of ordinary folk and takes a dig at the ever- heart of man: “But ... the painting of the two oppressive class of feudal lords, like the thakur, World Wars, pictures of Hiroshima, Nagasaki, who derive pleasure out of the hardships of the Vietnam, Bangladesh ... those are true master‐ poor. “Alexander and the Crow” is an interesting pieces. Compared to this one, those are so much story about Alexander the Great who is bitten by more refned, so much more complex and nu‐ a burning desire to achieve immortality. When he anced. This one doesn’t quite compare. Still, con‐ follows the path to immortality told by the vener‐ sidering it was done by a band of rustics, it wasn’t able physician, he meets a crow who has all the bad. Yes, the fve were only men. Each man spoke wealth and immortality but craves for death as like a man. Each man walked like a man” (p. 138).

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Similarly, the story “Two Lives” introduces a con‐ lence as tale-tellers. It would not be an overstate‐ temporary theme of same-sex marriage where the ment to say that if Detha is the author of Ra‐ two girls deceitfully married to each other by jasthani tales, Chouboli and Other Stories in its el‐ their parents due to their greed for dowry later egantly produced English avatar (surely the best develop a great love for each other and choose to English avatar of Detha’s stories by far) belongs to continue living together. the two translators. Each story by Detha involves telling as well as Notes a retelling. Drawing as it does from the repertoire [1]. A. K. Ramanujan, Folktales from India: A of stories representing the collective wisdom gath‐ Selection of Oral Tales from Twenty-two Lan‐ ered over the centuries, these stories are played guages (New York: Pantheon 1991), xi. out through earthy characters, occupying a world [2]. Michel Foucault, “What Is an Author?” in not fraught by disruptive forces of colonization or Modern Criticism and Theory, ed. David Lodge ( partition but rather a world of continuum, where London: Longman, 1988), 197. the conficts exist only at the level of internal structures of society, such as caste, class, and clan, [3]. Quoted in Chitra Padmanabhan, “Vijay‐ as well as conficts arising out of human emotions dan Detha ‘The English Adversary,’” Tehelka, May of ego, oppression, and desire for power and au‐ 19, 2012, http://www.tehelka.com/sto‐ thority. Rich in the use of riddles, idioms, and ry_main16.asp?fle‐ proverbs, these stories reveal a dynamic use of name=hub012106The_English.asp. language where the force of oral-aural telling-lis‐ [4]. Quoted in ibid. tening is retained in written words. Detha’s rever‐ [5].Quoted in Mahip Pratap Singh, “Will Bijji’s ence for idiomatic expressions is borne out by the Tryst with the Nobel be Fruitful?” The Hindu, Oc‐ fact that he has coauthored a dictionary of Ra‐ tober 5, 2011, http://www.thehindu.com/news/ jasthani idioms, called Rajasthani-Hindi-Kahawat states/other-states/article2514260. Kosh (2001). Detha certainly deserves adulation for pass‐ ing on the verbally transmitted, traveling tales to us by translating them into the equally forceful and dynamic stories where the narrative voice re‐ tains the fexibility of the oral storytellers; where the readers are continuously prodded to partake of the wisdom carried in the story, or to face the same dilemma of choices that the characters are faced with; where the currency of hope always wins over the occasional disruption of the absurd; and where the seething psychoanalytic penetra‐ tion into the established discourses results in an astute diagnosis of culture and society. Merrill and Kabir have accomplished a task no less daunting than Detha. Their success in translating the work in all its vibrancy and vitality into a completely alien language and to a completely dif‐ ferent set of audience spells out their own excel‐

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Citation: Nishat Zaidi. Review of Detha, Vijaydan. Chouboli and Other Stories. H-Asia, H-Net Reviews. October, 2012.

URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=33309

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