A serene, remorseful man looks at his second wife and thinks why couldnt he love her the way she wants him to? The second wife wallows in self hatred for having doublecrossed her loving husband and cannot seem to forgive herself – she wants her husband to be angry at her, shout at her and be furious about her misdeeds. Instead, the husband has taken it all within himself; he wants to love a woman who has been battered emotionally. He wants to be understanding of her, and make her know that he lovves her and not hate her. Its when, his first wife reminds him – Pity is not a substitute for love.
Stunningly told, superbly written, Cuckold, a first person narrative of heir apparent of Mewar, begs your attention and refuses to let go till you finish it. Kiran Nagarkar’s critically aclaimed novel is a translation of his own book in marathi; a sahitya akademi winner, this book justifies not just justifies its acclaim, but manages to converge a part of history that we might have either not realized or not bothered to know. Its a love story, Its a triangular love story, its a story of peace, a story of friendship, a story of war and strategies, and ultimately the story of man and god, and his wish to become god to conquer love.
Its the sixteenth century, when Mewar ruled by Rajputs, and is at the peak of its powers. However the kingdom of mewar has a intricately built relationship with its neighbors – a fundamentalist islmaic rule in Gujurath, and a weaking Sultan Lodi at North. And then of course the looming effect of Babur and his advances into hindustan.Amidst the chaos, the prince, Maharaj Kumar, heir apparent to Chittor sets across to tell his story and his life.
The Princess whom he marries to declares on the first night that she is bethroed to someone else – and that someone else is the blue god. He is her husband, he is lover and she was entirely his; He is the supreme one – Krishna. And she is beloved – Meera. A dejected and rejected Maharaj tries to find peace and love elsewhere, and so begins his journey where he contemplates not just his life, but existance of god himself and the core of human nature.
As much as he tries to find love elswhere, Maharaj Kumar finds himself falling love with his wife; only that his wife loves god himself, and he has to challege god to feel her love. In between, the Maharaj contemplates the nature of war, the necessity of strategy and his own greed to get the crown of his father. And yet, Maharaj Kumar is patient enough to wait for his turn at the crown, inspite of a conspiring Queen karmavati and her son Virkramaditya; And yet Maharaj Kumar is patient enough to wait for his love to come back to him – by not just his wife, but everyone else whom he fell in love with.
Cuckold, as the name suggests the state of mind of maharaj kumar – a cuckold to his wife he loves so much. A cuckold to the society he wants to lead. Where does his love lead to? where does his mannerisms lead to? Why did the Mewar empire collapse to Babur? Cuckold manages to span a gamut of questions in a single book.
The writing style of the book is good – it has its own share of quirks when it comes to translation, but on the whole it is very well written. The mood of the book shifts from first person narrative to a onlooker back and forth as situation demands; A onlooker when his princes is around – and first person when its him trying to find answers within himself.
What makes cuckold a very strong book is the treatment of history to the tale; yes, one cannot claim this is exactly what happened, but its a interesting point of view to read. We as always knew more and more about Meera Bai, the saint of Mathura and her life, but Cuckold presents a viewpoint from her husband. What did he feel? What did he undergo? Cuckold beautifully manages to capture the inner turmoils and life in and around Maharaj Kumar, Meera’s husband. It is this change that keeps the book bold and attentive.
Like any historical book, the abundance of characters only adds to the complexity and layers of a rich storyline; Multiple subplots, and multiple love stories only add to character study of individuals, but what is definitely the most striking feature of the book is Maharaj Kumar trying to win his love back from God himself. It is this that really sets apart the book, and comes across as a forceful read!
All in all Cuckold is a brilliantly told piece of history interwined with a love story of his own. The balance is perfect, and so is the content – pick this one immediately! You won’t regret it a bit.