Orphaned: SL Bhyrappa

(English translation of Tabbali Neenade Makane -- "Son, You've Been Orphaned" -- from Kannada)

Outstanding. Powerful. Absolutely heartwrenching. The novel is so powerful, it moved even me, an ardent beef fan.

Ok, let's say "almost moved me".

Because the book is also perhaps the best work of bigotry -- even outright racism -- that I have read among Indian works of fiction. And I am worried that Hindutva will see it as a tool in India 2023.

The story's primary themes are straight from Hindutva's playbook: the cow is our mother and Indian-versus-western civilisation. And underpinning it are older ideas: The village Brahmin is noble, he is the guide, and that others must follow him--and traditions—without asking questions.

Bhyrappa, however, unwittingly exposes the Brahmin, too. Be it birth in the family, death, local issues, or politics, it is always the Brahmin who gains materially. Question that "daana", and get savaged.

The following is an example of such casteism which sticks out despite Bhyrappa's best efforts to put the Brahmin on the pedestal. It is clearly an extension of the blindly favoured and quoted "Karmanye Vaadhikaraste...":

Gomootraanaacharet snaanam vrittim kuryaasca gorasaih

 Gobhirvarceccha bhuktaasu bhunjeetaatha govratii

(Bathing in the cow’s urine, earning livelihood using only the nourishment the cow provides in the form of milk, curd and others, always walking behind the cow, and eating only after the cow has finished eating.)

This was the lifestyle prescribed for one who had taken a sacred vow to serve the cow all his life. This was what Gowda (cowherd) had learnt when he was still a very young boy. In fact, it was this Jois who had taught him this mantra and explained its meaning. Gowda was unfailingly practising this sacred vow in accordance with the tradition handed down to him by his lineage, to the best of his abilities...

So crudely is the caste system alluded to in the book that you immediately wonder why non-Brahmin Hindus of India have not risen up yet in outrage and thrown the system into the sea.

And that's when you come to this line—"In fact, it was this Jois (Brahmin) who had taught him this mantra and explained its meaning"—and arrive at the obvious conclusion that the priestly class has been benevolently brainwashing us, all along, too.

Girish Karnad and BV Karanth watered down the powerful rubbish in the book considerably for the movie. If you haven't yet watched "Tabbaliyu Neenade Makane" in Kannada or "Godhuli" in Hindi, do not waste one minute.

The book translation itself is rudimentary. Perhaps that added to its charm. I could imagine the translator Sandeep Balakrishna thinking in Kannada and writing in English.

What stands out beyond the ideological wrestling in the book is the legend of Punyakoti, the foundation of Bhyrappa's story.

"Satyave Bhagavantavenda Punyakotiya Katheyidu..."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptohZQYc-1U

Translation: "This is the story of Punyakoti the cow who said is god."

Only, the imputation is misplaced by Bhyrappa.