Tanbir Shahnawaz
Assistant Professor
Department of English
Rishi Bankim Chandra College
Naihati, North 24 Parganas
West Bengal, India
Abstract:
India has always been a curiosity
to writers across Indian subcontinent. One such well-known and accomplished
writer is William Dalrymple, born in Britain but lives in India, a prolific
writer and popular art historian. He is popularly acknowledged for his travel
writings and historical narratives. In the area of journalism also he is quite
active. Through this paper an try has been made to look at keenly and to
apprehend the more than a few elements of Indian existence that is so
variegated and rich in its historical, regular and cultural heritage. The
conscious attempt at immersion in subcontinental culture and the shift from
observer to participant has seen an enlargement in author’s repertoire. Towards
the end, this critical study find out about goals for exploring and decoding
the historic and ethnographic modes as contributing to the polyphonic
representation in his travel narrative. It is in the context of a cultural
illustration grounded in a strong historical focus and emphasizing
transculturality and syncretism, that the tour writing of William Dalrymple turns
into specifically relevant; more especially his sustained ethno historical
focus on the Indian subcontinent is valuable of indispensable study. The added
objective is to understand the dramatic use of reminiscent language that sets
the tone for tour writing which endeavours to take the reader on an experience
throughout the length and breadth of the great geographical expanse of the
subcontinent as Dalrymple comes throughout as the curious, learned and intrepid
traveller who reports closely on what he observes and savours the first hand
experience of unsafe locales, racy existence and a wealthy and diverse cultural
heritage. This paper on Dalrymple’s works has aimed to explore the various
aspects of life employed by the author in his writing. His writings are the
result of thorough combing of archival materials which he has found in various
libraries of India. He keeps himself abreast with the trends of writing
academic history as well as art history. The paper examined Dalrymple’s three
works: City of Djinns: A Year in Delhi
(1993), Nine Lives: In Search of the Sacred in
Modern India (2009), Begums, Thugs
and White Mughals: The Journals of Fanny Parkes (2002). This paper
critically analysed Dalrymple’s style of narration, use of rhetoric devices,
his intention and strategies in writing the various aspects of life and
portraying it realistically.
Keywords: Polyphonic,
Travelogue, Architectonic, Orientalism, Anthropology
Literature is the expression of
the life of an individual and the society around him. The thoughts of an
individual are seen through language in the form of literature. Literature and
life are connected in an intimate way, which is dynamic. Even ordinary books
become literature when they bring us into some relation with real life. Literature
gets a universal appeal only when it is not just fantasy but goes beyond it by
relating itself to life. The primary value of literature is its human
significance and so literature should consist of the many events of life put
together. Its value depends on the depth and breadth of the life that it
paints. Literature changes according to the social changes that happen in
history and so one can read the literature of a particular time in history in
order to understand the life style of those people. Human personification and
attitude towards life are related with their time and age. Human and moral
values are changing according to their time and age. What was valuable two
hundred years ago is now ignored, what will be ignored two hundred years later
is very valuable now. But, literature portrays everything realistically. The
characters depicted in the literature are the sample pieces of real human
beings of its time. To understand the unique features and common manners of a
society at a particular time, going through the characters and society depicted
by the literature of the time is enough.
Dalrymple’s style of writing is
governed by post-modernist characteristics. He explores a new style of writing
history rather than the traditional one. From the present study, it becomes
clear that though he keeps himself abreast with the trends of academic history
by employing various primary and secondary source materials, his approach to
historical facts and his manner of presentation is different. He goes with the
new style of writing history which employs ‘narratives’. In other words,
Dalrymple writes history in the style of a fiction writer who narrates the plot
of a story. He is known for his travelogues and historical narratives. He is
also very active in the field of journalism. Dalrymple’s major publications
include: In Xanadu: A Quest (1989), City of Djinns: A Year in Delhi (1993),
From the Holy Mountain: A Journey in the Shadow of Byzantium (1997), The Age of
Kali: Indian Travels & Encounters(1998), White Mughals: Love & Betrayal
in Eighteenth-Century India (2002), The Last Mughal: The Fall of a Dynasty,
Delhi, 1857 (2006), Nine Lives: In Search of the Sacred in Modern India (2009),
and Return of a King: The Battle for Afghanistan (2012). Dalrymple has written
articles, reviews, and commentaries that have been published in The Times, The
New Statesman, The Guardians, The New York Review of Books and The Washington
Post. He has successfully hosted various television shows and has done many
radio documentaries. Besides, he is a regular organizer of the popular DSC
Jaipur Literary Festival. Hence, Dalrymple is known not only because of his
published historical works, but also for his active involvement in other
literary fields.
Dalrymple does not employ fiction
while handling history. His writings are known for intersecting history with
his personal experiences and depicts the various aspects of life through his
writing. He figures as a character and narrator in his texts. He experiments
with various genres which include: travelogue, history, and collection of
essays. Dalrymple is involved in writing narrative history. He leaves no stone
unturned to get as many details as possible on the subject he is writing about.
His works White Mughals and The Last Mughal are a result of his thorough
research.
Dalrymple’s main focus is not
orientalism but its traits are still visible in his works. Gramsci says that a
set of ideology and institution always influence the people who live it. A
person’s identity is formulated in the context of his surrounding political,
social and cultural atmosphere. It is called cultural hegemony. These sets of
ideologies silently creep into the writings and are represented by the writer.
William Dalrymple’s works can be classified as Non- fiction as his writings are
more informative than fictional. Chris Anderson has used the term “literary
nonfiction” which includes the essay, new journalistic writings, personal and
informative write ups. Non-fiction is based on real life situation and experiences
and it connotes truth for the general readers. But in literary analysis, it can
be subjected to different critical approaches.
This paper has aimed to explore
the various aspects of life employed by the author in his writing. His writings
are the result of thorough combing of archival materials which he has found in
various libraries of India. He keeps himself abreast with the trends of writing
academic history as well as art history.
Three works of
Dalrymple’s have been discussed here : City
of Djinns: A Year in Delhi (1993), Nine Lives: In Search of the Sacred in
Modern India (2009), Begums, Thugs and White Mughals: The Journals of Fanny Parkes (2002). This study
critically analysed Dalrymple’s style of narration, use of rhetoric devices,
his intention and strategies in writing the various aspects of life and
portraying it realistically.
Dalrymple’s texts are
fine examples of multiple genres intersecting each other. His works attract all
kinds of readers whether they are lovers of history, romantic tales or
travelogues. He shifts his works between genres, modes, and medium, hence, the
structure of his work becomes very complex. His texts show an engagement with
colonial discourses and his attempt to rewrite history from a new perspective.
Dalrymple’s style of writing history can be categorized as narrative history.
It is different from the academic style of history writing. Narrative history
writing allows the writer to present factual details in an interesting and
enthralling manner. Dalrymple attempted to write the kind of history books that
he himself admires and enjoys. They are based on years of primary research. He
had projected serious and genuine historical details in an appreciative
literary style. This presentation of raw facts of the past in a novel and
lively manner is commendable. Dalrymple’s narratives draw attention of
historians and literary critics alike.
This paper has covered the critical evaluation of City of Djinns (1994) by William
Dalrymple. It is a special type of travel book. In general, travelogues narrate
the routes and visiting locations and the writer’s own contemplations on such
travels. But, the City of Djinns has
stood aside in the sense that it documents his year long stay at this
mysterious and marvellous city which stomached within it layers of historical
changes and devastations, that increases the flavour of rich and striking
history of India. William Dalrymple has claimed it to be “This book, the story
of one year in Delhi, has taken nearly four times that long to complete. It has
been a long haul and on the way I have incurred debts to a great number of
people whom I must now thank”.(Acknowledgement, City of Djinns, page 9). He has described it as the most difficult
cities he has ever been. Only at the age of seventeen William Dalrymple went to
Delhi and fell in love with it in a jiffy, later after careful observation and
critical documentation it gradually gave birth to a gripping book about the old
city, now capital of India. An attractive portrayal of the old Indian capital
of Delhi by a versatile genius Scottish travel writer, his first book of travel
writing, In Xanadu gained much commend. He stayed a year
navigating around the broken-down city of Delhi unfolding the covers of history
that was fixed in its architectonic and human destructions. In the Prologue Dalrymple says:
“I was only
seventeen. After ten years at school in a remote valley in the moors of “North
Yorkshire, I had quite suddenly found myself in India, in Delhi. From the very
beginning I was mesmerized by the great capital, so totally unlike anything I
had ever seen before. Delhi, it seemed at first, was full of riches and
horrors: it was a labyrinth, a city of palaces, an open gutter, filtered light
through a filigree lattice, a landscape of domes, an anarchy, a press of
people, a choke of fumes, a whiff of spices.
Moreover the city—so I soon discovered—possessed a bottomless seam of
stories: tales receding far beyond history, deep into the cavernous chambers of
myth and legend.” (Prologue, City of
Djinns, page 12) In the company of his
wife, Olivia Fraser, who has helped him in completing the book, Dalrymple
discovers Delhi a city which is still striving for passing over the
devastations caused by British colonizers and the trauma of Partition in 1947,
it was a kind of catastrophe for the peaceful city Delhi, it shattered all
peace of the city. There is an exquisite account of Muslims’ migration from
India to the newly-formed Pakistan, also
vivid account of many Hindus, kicked out
from Punjab, escaped to Delhi, formed a
new less refined class of inhabitants. The title signifies to the spirits that
in opinions of legend have observed over the residents of Delhi throughout the ages. In the course
of the book Dalrymple has shown that much of the old beliefs and the folktales
of djinns are now more, but after careful digging of history and analysis of
public culture he is confirmed these old traditional beliefs are still alive in
people’s mind, they are simply hidden.
At meticulously parcelling out layers of Indian history, Dalrymple
suggests that Delhi as a unique city has frequently been able to confront
devastations of war and withstand other
adversaries. He takes us graciously through the always busy and expansive city.
He introduces us with variety of people, with the thrifty Punjabi inhabitants,
now they form the majority of the populace. Thereafter, in an affable manner,
we are introduced with the remainders of the old colonialists, next to the
captivating ways of people of the underneath, such as the sorrowful and ordered
lives of present-day eunuchs, the stubbornness of the illegal tenants. Most
significant is the description of the eternal
world of the people different religions; Hindu, Muslim, Sikhs, Christians,
Jains etc., who have gently coexisted
for many years in the shambolic
labyrinth of the unwreckable city. May be not the best work of
Dalrymple, but this book is a pleasant surprise and a good starting point for
the readers who are interested in this mysterious old city.
Dalrymple’s next book Nine Lives: In Search of the Sacred in
Modern India is about the curious nine lives of nine Indians. It is an
assemblage of essays, each essay is a description of an Indian from different
parts of the country and their relation to religious practices. The subtitle of
the book ‘In Search of the Sacred in Modern India’, highlights this point, and at the same time
focussing the kernel of Dalrymple’s to
the sincere attempt through the word ‘search.’ The nine captivating characters
who were the theme of Dalrymple’s are, the Jain nun from Sravanabelagola, the
dancer of Kannur from Kerala (story of Hari Das, a Dalit man), the daughter of Yellama from Belgaum,
Karnataka, the singer of epics (Mohan Bhopa and his wife Batasi) from
Rajasthan, the Red Fairy (story of Lal Peri, a
Muslim woman from Bihar), the Monk’s tale ( story of Tashi Passang,
actually from Tibet but now in Dharamshala), the maker of idols ( story of
Srikanda Satpaty from Swamimalai in Tamil Nadu), the lady twilight (story of Manisha
Ma Bhairavi, from temple town of Tarapith in West Bengal ) and lastly the song
of the blind minstrel ( story of the wandering singers or Bauls and the Baul
tradition, story of Kanai Das and Debdas Baul, the cultural heritage of West
Bengal ). Dalrymple has vividly evoked the ordinary yet curious, sad as well as
happy lives of these Indian men and women from different parts of India. With
his sharp eyes and beautiful writing we have been gifted of his extraordinary travelogue about India.
Like other books this too is a peculiar ensemble of journalism, culture,
history, traditions, anthropology and religions. Dalrymple has evoked the
village India so elegantly.
Dalrymple’s next book Begums,
Thugs and White Mughals: The Journals of Fanny Parkes (2002) is a
historical travelogue having a basis on the journals of Fanny Parkes. She lived in India for 22 years from 1822 to
1846 and engaged herself as a prolific travel writer, valorous, tirelessly inquisitive and
resolutely independent. He penned down about Fanny Parkes in these following
words:
“Parkes is an
enthusiast and an eccentric with a burning love of India that imprints itself
on almost every page of her book. From her first arrival in Calcutta, she
writes how ‘I was charmed with the climate; the weather was delicious; and… I
thought India a most delightful country, and could I have gathered around me
the dear ones I had left in England, my happiness would have been complete.’
The initial intuition was only reinforced the longer she stayed in South Asia.
In the twenty four years she lived in India, the country never ceased to
surprise, intrigue and delight her, and she was never happier than when off on
another journey under canvas exploring new parts of the country: ‘Oh! the
pleasure,’ she writes, ‘of vagabondizing over India!’
Partly it was
the sheer beauty of the country that hypnotised her. Indian men she found
‘remarkably handsome’, while her response to Indian nature was no less
admiring: ‘The evenings are cool and refreshing … the foliage of the trees, so
luxuriously beautiful and so novel, is to me a source of constant admiration.’
But it was not just the way the place looked. The longer she stayed in India,
the more Fanny grew to be fascinated by the culture, history, flowers, trees,
religions, languages and peoples of the country, the more she felt possessed by
an overpowering urge just to pack her bags and set off and explore: ‘With the
Neapolitan saying, “Vedi Napoli, e poi mori,” I beg to differ entirely,’ she
wrote, ‘and would rather offer this advice – “See the Taj Mahal, and then – see
the Ruins of Delhi. How much there is to delight the eye in this bright, this
beautiful world! Roaming about with a good tent and a good Arab [horse], one
might be happy for ever in India.
It is this sheer
joy, excitement and even liberation in travel that Fanny Parkes manages so well
to communicate.” ( Introduction Begums,
Thugs and White Mughals, page 4)
If we read her
journals on India we will definitely get closer to the genuine picture of early colonial India – “the sacred
and the profane”, the turbulent and the pretty, the tight-laced British sahibs
and the new whimsical "White Mughals" who fell in love with India,
became indophile gradually. They tried
their best like Fanny Parkes to
establish bridges across cultures throughout India.
Instead of confining himself to
the traditional method of writing history, William Dalrymple has evolved a new
style of writing history which combines characteristics of serious research
with the elements of literature. As a trained art historian his works retain an
interest in history along with a zest to rewrite the past. But at the same
time, his literary bent of mind breathes life in his historical characters.
They seem to come alive on the black and white pages of chronology and add
colour through their presentation. They appear to enact the whole drama with an
assertion on the veracity of facts and events. His spectacular ascent into
literary paradise is probably unparalleled among many of the authors who are
his contemporaries. His books collect essays on places and people, culture and
tradition on or close to the subcontinent. He supplies precisely what his
ardent readers expect of his writings.
He can very well be considered the greatest travel writer of his
generation.
Works Cited
Dalrymple, William. The Age of Kali. New Delhi: Penguin
Books, 1998. Print.
Dalrymple, William, City of Djinns: A year in Delhi.
Penguin, 2003.Print.
Dalrymple, William, White Mughals: Love and Betrayal in
Eighteenth-Century India. Penguin, 2004. Print.
Dalrymple,
William, Nine Lives: In Search of the Sacred in Modern India. New Delhi:
Penguin
Books, 2009. Print.
Dalrymple, William, Begums,
Thugs and White Mughals: The Journals of Fanny Parkes. Eland Books.2002.
Print.