BRIDGING SOULS: A JOURNEY FROM MAHABHARATA TO BHARAT--BY ARINDAM NATH

About the Book

‘Bridging Souls---A Journey from Mahabharata to Bharata’ is a thought-provoking and scholarly book that juxtaposes the events of Mahabharata against the socio-political environment of modern-day India. It is an erudite treatise that analyzes Mahabharata-related issues like the birth of the Pandavas, their use of various weapons in the Kurukshetra war and the role of many other characters on the sidelines with wisdom as well as intelligence. It makes for racy reading as the narrative criss-crosses between the past and the present; with an endearing love story and a thrilling murder mystery intertwined with the cerebral interpretation of the Mahabharata.  Radically unorthodox and hard-hitting, the book is likely to make the reader experience a major shift in his understanding of the Mahabharata.

·                                 Foreword of the book “Bridging Souls – a Journey from Mahabharata to Bharata” written by Shri Sankar Sen , I.P.S. (Retd.), Former Director, National Police Academy :

The fiction “Bridging Souls – a Journey from Mahabharata to Bharata” makes fascinating reading. Written lucidly in the form of a diary, it weaves a magical tale that takes the readers’ mind back and forth to the glory and grandeur of the epic period of Indian history and present day realities. The characters in the novel are fictional but the book is grounded on the personal experience and perceptive vision of Arindam Nath, a senior officer of Tripura Police, who travelled across the country as a chairman of Tripura Rifles Recruitment Board. The author’s knowledge of the epics and his cultivated, discerning and scholarly mind come out through the pages of the book.
The story comes out of the diaries written by one medical practioner Dr. Ashamanja Bhowmik, who accompanied a recruitment team of Tripura State Rifles, an elite armed police force of Tripura all over the country. Through the pages of his diary, the author has spun a delightful tale that captivates the mind. The recruitment team traversed different regions of India, where about 5,000 years ago, some of the famous battles and events recounted in Mahabharata had taken place. Acts of heroism as well as frailties of the different ‘dramatis personae’ of Mahabharata are compellingly and evocatively recounted by one Ambujanaba Sharma, Commandant of the battalion, who headed the team. The pen portrait of the Commandant drawn by the author shows the qualities of his head and heart---a happy blending of scholarship and humanism. He narrated and interpreted in a new light and perspective, and with consummate knowledge to his accompanying colleagues the characters and events of the Mahabharata. His vivid description of the valour of the heroes as well as the deeds of princes and sages will grip the minds of the readers.
The Mahabharata is not merely “a song of victory”, it is a “Padma Samhita”, a collection of old legends, and Itivritta or traditional account of noble kings, pious sages, of dutiful wives and beautiful maids. It is also “Mokshya Shastra”---pointing ways to salvation. The Mahabharata also lays down rules of conduct for attainment of three great aims animating all human conduct--Dharma, Artha and Kama.
Some of the characters in the novel are fascinating. Dr. Bhowmik is an ideal Boswell. He has painstakingly noted down the references, comments and perceptive observations of Sharma after narration of different episodes of Mahabharata. However, some of the comments of Sharma on the nature of crimes committed by heroes of Mahabharata are somewhat trite and may not stand the glare of scrutiny. Some of the acts of the epic heroes now interpreted as crimes under the Indian Penal Code were not so in the days of yore. They were in accordance with the prevailing customs.
Against this wider backdrop of acts and transgressions of the heroes of Mahabharata, the author weaves a tender sub-plot of a love affair between the Bengali doctor Bhowmik and the Punjabi girl Dr. Harleen Bedi, a medical officer of CRPF Group Centre, Jalandhar. The pages of the diary unveil the tragic story of the death of Harleen’s fiancé, Aman who reportedly committed suicide, but actually was murdered. The untold story could be unearthed by Harleen with the help of the members of the recruitment board. Enchanting romance blossoms between the two doctors, hailing from two different parts of the country. It was indeed “omnia vincit amor”.
The book will enthral the readers and provide them with glimpses of Mahabharata as well as many other events of the past and the present. Issues like Maoism, Gorkhaland agitation, etc., figure in the narrative. Lay readers will also gather from the book interesting details of the methods of recruitment in the paramilitary forces and the pains taken to select appropriate candidates from different parts of the country. Arindam Nath deserves plaudits for writing an informative and interesting book revealing his scholarly as well as analytical mind. I am sure that the book will be widely read and well received.

(Sankar Sen)

This book is an attempt to take a fresh look at the episodes of past recorded in the famous epic Mahabharata. It is bound to raise a few eyebrows and maybe even shock a good number of faithful and believers but for a change one may try to review to decide if we can accept those practices today?

                                                                     

 G M Srivastava, I.P.S. (Retd.)

Former DGP Tripura and Assam

'Bridging Souls' , a fascinating travelogue penned by Arindam Nath, truly bridges innumerable souls and hearts across peninsular India; Nath's labour of love also refocusses on the essential cultural continuity in this ancient nation down the annals of history. More remarkably, the racy fluent style of narrative makes the book unputdownable till the end.

Shekhar Dutta

Senior Journalist of The Telegraph

Ek bodh amader antargato rakter bhitar khela kare ( a sensibility that plays in within our blood ) as Jibananda Das quietly did his menagerie of words to define a man in the infinite, ananta. Mahabharata, unlike other epics of the world occupies a unique epicentre. It is hardly considered as the literary text by the folks, it is like a text being read and being told in many different contexts and it has  unparalleled impact  on the Indian psyche, it is like a springboard to philosophical discourse, to ethical polemics. Its temptation to Indian authors appears irresistible, from Jawaharlal Nehru to Mahasweta Devi and numerous others and it will go on. This tradition flows transcending the time. To me it is a text unending, is being written in continuum by readers by their response, by drawing it forward and ultimately leaving to the posterity. It is an inalienable component of Indianess, Bharatbarshiyata as Rabindranath Tagore described our nationalism in Gora.

Mahabharata , a tale of intrigues , conspiracies, strategies, invasions, passion and of gory bloodshed is bound for a journey for Nyaya which demands exposition of truth. Arindam is depicting his saga of this unending epic. "I have traveled across the length and breadth of India and I have not seen one person who is a beggar, who is a thief. Such wealth I have seen in this country, such high moral values, people of such calibre, that I do not think we would ever conquer this country, unless we break the very backbone of this nation, which is her spiritual and cultural heritage, and, therefore, I propose that we replace her old and ancient education system, her culture, for if the Indians think that all that is foreign and English is good and greater than their own, they will lose their self-esteem, their native self-culture and they will become what we want them, a truly dominated nation."  This is a statement made in 1835 by none other than Lord Thomas Banington Macauley whose penal code has been used as the tool by Arindam to interconnect the crimes of the protagonists as arrayed by Vyas, in the backdrop of a blooming love. It is like a binary twist , love and violence, while violence is interpreted as orgy of wild passion and  hegemony. Bridging Souls: A Journey from Mahabharata to Bharata is awe-generating in its idea and weaving the text. Arindam’s has its niche,a true reader seldom affords to miss such an invitation for storm over a cup of tea.

                                                                                                                                                                    Subhasis Talapatra

Hon’ble Justice Guwahati High Court

REVIEW BY MANAS PAUL, A SENIOR JOURNALIST....

IMAGINE VISHMA LANGUISHING IN JAIL, PANDAVAS GOING TO GALLOWS....

By Manas Paul

Just imagine that the crimes that were committed in the epic Mahabharata are committed in modern India.. what you will see..Pitamaha Vishma  is languishing in jail for life, Mother Kunti jailed for 10 years, Pandavas were going to be hanged ...., Kauravas might also get life sentence ....Shocked ?? .. I was too. But just take examples of  Jatugriha and look at the crimes that they committed- mass murder (302 IPC), arson (436 IPC) conspiracy [120 (B)]..and, of course, one more hiding evidence 201 IPC... The Pandavs for this only would have gone to gallows following death sentence in any court of law in India. Or for that matter, just consider,  Mother Kunti deserted infant Karna. She would have invited 317 IPC and 10 years jail. For Vishma the grand, almost heavenly character in the Mahabharata, he kidnapped three women for the purpose of marriage ( for others though). Under present Indian Penal Code he committed crime under section 366 and thus might have got 10 years jail term. But story does not end here. Since of the girls, Amba, committed suicide , any good lawyer in Indian court would have been able to establish that Vishma abetted the suicide and thus should be booked under 306 IPC.. and then the  Pitamaha would have been sent to prison for life. Kauravs, however, are found to be less in comparison to the Pandavas in committing crimes. One of the most heinous was when they sought to kill Bhim..that was under 307 IPC but since they were juvenile , may be court would have taken some lenient view..and for cattle lifting, they- all the 100 brothers- would have gone to jail.

All these were told in interesting way in a novel written by my close friend Arindam Nath, Assistant Inspector General of Police in his recent book--- Bridging Souls, A journey from Mahabharta to Bharata... The book has been published by Peacock Books (Atalanta Publication) New Delhi recently....

If you feel interested read my Review of the Book ..

BRIDGING SOULS: A JOURNEY FROM MAHABHARATA TO BHARAT--BY ARINDAM NATH

REVIEW BY MANAS PAUL

“Bridging Souls: A Journey from Mahabharata to Bharata”-is a fiction written in a narrative style in the form of a diary. The novel developed around a broader plot amalgamating the epic period and the present days of India. But, it has also a sub-plot involving modern day protagonists.

 The novel essentially sought to depict and explore the Mahabharata in the light of various untold and unexplored aspects mixing nuggets from folklores- especially the crimes that were committed in establishing the Dharmakshetra. The crimes that were committed in the Mahabharata by the mighty Kouravas , Pandavas ( from cattle lifting to Jatugriha) and even many mythical and folk characters like ‘Basuki’-the Snake King (raping of Draupadi for days) et al were also explained in the light of the modern day IPC perspectives and the punitive actions that they would have invited in any court of law in the present day India.

The book- despite being extensively researched is, however, not an academic discourse. It is essentially a fictional novel having its own fictional sub-plot while the setting of the novel throughout its journey alternated its course frequently from past to present and present to past. The novel swam smoothly in the streams that flowed spontaneously between the time of the great Epic and modern day India bringing in light the good, bad and ugly of Indian body-politic in two entirely different ages. At the same time both the eras were tied with an umbilical cord. The novel traversed through a maze of epic settings and linked and compared them in the modern day Indian towns, cities and villages as the novel’s sub plot with modern day protagonists develops on its own pivoting around a conspiracy, murder and love affair.

The story is told from the diary of ‘Dr Ashamanja Bhowmik’, a medical officer who travelled across India where the stages of the Mahabharata were set in by VedaVyas some 3000 years ago. Dr Bhowmik who accompanied the elite combat force ‘Tripura State Rifles’ during their recruitment rally all over India, found a man in the name of Ambujanabha Sharma, commandant of the battalion, who during the lazy or boring hours explained to his accompanying colleagues the Mahabharata in a new light with straight references to people and places whose roots could still be traced back to the time of the Epic.

Sharma who took keen interest towards history, and is an authority on the subjects relating to the Epic Mahabharata picked up stories associated with the lands through which they travelled. He then would judge it in the present-day perspective.

Astonishing it might sound that from the analysis it came out that the Pandavas had been involved in more heinous crimes punishable under the modern-day Indian Penal Code than the Kauravas. They were also found to be more imperialists.

As Sharma told the stories the board travelled six recruitment venues-Jalandhar, Dehradun, Dehri-on-Sone, Ranchi, Nellore and Siliguri between April 24, 2008 and June 15, 2008 and in the process covered more than 10,000 kilometres, moving across sixteen states amidst hot Indian summer. Dr Bhowmik noted down every day’s development, the stories and unique references that Sharma so convincingly told them. Since it is a ‘journey from Mahabharat to Bharat’, current issues like Maoism, Gorkhaland agitation etc. are also discussed.

While the broader plot dwelt essentially on crimes in the Mahabharata the sub plot developed around a love affair between the protagonists Dr Bhowmik- a Bengali physician- with a young Punjabi girl Harleen Bedi, a Medical Officer of CRPF Group Centre, Jalandhar.

In her early twenties she had a tormented past. Her fiancé Captain Amandeep Sandhu of 15th Black Panther Rifles had apparently committed suicide by firing from his service pistol, following refusal for immediate marriage by the girl. The suicide had also coincided fire incidents in two ammunition depots of Black Panther Rifles . The death of their only son Aman left retired Captain Baldev Sandhu and his wife completely shattered. They blamed Harleen for the death of their son Aman, which was supported by some of his colleagues.

It was during her association with the TSR recruitment rally as a doctor she opened up to Dr Bhowmik and told him the story of her fiancé’s death. The travelling recruitment board comprising senior cops and doctors as well found that Aman had not committed suicide but had actually been murdered. The story then took a turn. The board members helped Harleen to gather evidence to prove that Aman had been murdered following a major conspiracy hatched by his colleagues Captain Nilesh Rahane, Brig. S.H.Yadav and others who were involved in supplying small-arms ammunitions to the Maoists from Black Panther Rifles  Ammunition Depot. The corrupt officials had also set afire the Ammunition Depot to destroy evidence. A Writ Petition was accordingly filed by retired Black Panther Rifles Captain Baldev Sandhu in the Rajasthan High Court, Jaipur Bench for revival of investigation related to death of his son Captain Amandeep Sandhu, in view of freshly found evidence and investigation of the case through CBI. The Court allowed the Writ Petition, ordering re-investigation of the case through CBI, after registering a specific murder case.

But this interaction with the Recruitment Board also brought crimson in the hitherto melancholic life of Harleen, and an enchanting love story developed between the two doctors, bridging the two souls from two extreme parts of India- a simile that is also the essence of the Mahabharata.

All the characters in the novel are fictitious. But the entire book is actually based on the author Arindam Nath’s personal experience as he himself travelled across the country as chairman of the TSR recruitment board.

Price Rs 250