The Trishanku Nation- Memory, Self, and Society in Contemporary India

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Taking a cue from the story of Trishanku-the mythological king who aspired to reach heaven while still alive-Deepak Kumar builds a compelling narrative on the state of contemporary India. Much like Trishanku, who only succeeded in being stuck in limbo between heaven and earth, India appears to be oscillating at the crossroads of modernity and tradition; development and corruption: and diversity and communalism. The Trishanku Nation presents a provocative account of a country marked by its contradictions and seamlessly combines everyday social history with academic insights.

All through its civilizational progress India has defied simple categorizations. This suppleness has been its greatest strength and, to a large extent, also responsible for its myriad problems. This volume dwells on this predicament of post-Independence India. Based on memory, both historical and personal, it begins with the depiction of life in a moffusil town and moves on to examine closely issues of caste, religion, communalism, governance, corruption, education, science, culture, and so forth, as seen in the last five decades.

Presented with rare verve and wit, and by using the lens of personal experiences, these 'rumblings' help unfurl layers of life in the Indian subcontinent.

Contemporary’s India evokes an Upanishadic response-neti, aneti-not this, not this, or neither this nor that (neither fish nor fowl). This concept admits neither one extreme nor the other; rather, it can be multidimensional in nature. All through its civilizational progress India has defied simple categorizations. This suppleness has always been its greatest strength and, to a large extent, also responsible for its myriad problems. Not only in the Upanishads but we find descriptions of such a condition in the mythological world of our civilization also. The story of Trishanku-the mythological king whose body remained in suspension between heaven and earth-can be especially instructive. Suspended in mid-air, it refers to a situation in which one is neither elated nor too downcast. Do we then live in a limbus patrum (limbo) or a purgatario (midway between heaven.

The mythological king Trishanku, an ancestor of Lord Rama, wanted to ascend to heaven in his mortal body. His own guru, sage Vasishtha, refused to help him as it was against the law of nature. So the king approached a rival sage Vishwamitra who agreed to use his ascetic power for this purpose. As the king ascended to heaven in his mortal body, Indra, the King of the Heaven, pushed him down. While falling down, Trishanku beseeched Vishwamitra who promptly stopped his fall. Suspended in mid-air, the sage created a new heaven exclusively for Trishanku. Henceforth, he belonged neither to earth nor to heaven!