Review: Samskara: A Rite for a Dead Man

Samskara: A Rite for a Dead Man by U.R. Ananthamurthy ಯು. ಆರ್. ಅನ೦ತಮೂರ್ತಿ
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

One should read this for the seminal work it is. Having grown-up in a conservative family I can understand and like the way author presented the rigidity of the principles. Where do people draw the line? Orthodoxy vs modernity, would show up in unimagined places in such households strangling free thought and voice. For a book that came in 1976 this is very bold and relevant even now. I can hardly imagine anyone of my parents generation, from my household and relatives, being able to read this book without cringing at every line.

If you're someone struggling to come to terms with matters like culture and modernity because of your upbringing, read this. This book won't answer your questions, but helps you question better. Any book that can make you stop and think should be celebrated, and this is one such book.

As someone who has great respect for the work of A.K. Ramanujan, particularly his Folktales from India and his essays, I felt this translation was a letdown. Maybe that's because he was from a generation that measured the success of translation by measuring the 'exactness'. I need to elaborate here. A.K. Ramanujan ji is a great academic and it's not really my place to comment on his work. But his greatest strength was also the greatest weakness. He strives to be exact and in doing so the text becomes pedagogic. It's almost like he chose that over the flow of narrative. For example at one place where he has to refer to Bhasmasura he does so by calling him Ash-Demon. This is but one example. The result is a narrative that's detailed albeit very choppy. Although I'm still grateful for the glossary.

A must read.

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