J. S. ANAND’S EPIC DRAMA ‘THE SINNED AGAINST’: JUXTAPOSITIONING THE WESTERN AND THE EASTERN TRAGIC SENSIBILITY by Dr. Manminder Singh Anand

Jernail Singh Anand is perhaps the only Indian author who  has written ten epic poems, all of which have dealt with the works of great masters, like John Milton, Dante, Camus, Kahlil Gibran, Ved Vyasa etc. His epic-work shows vast assimilation of the themes which became the basis of these major works of world literature. Then, in his MahakaalTriology, he goes on create an epical character, and presents the neo-mythological super creation Lustuswho is a master piece of modern times. In his latest work, ‘The Sinned Against’, Anand takes up a challenging propositions of juxta-positioning the western and the eastern tragic sensibility. He compares Oedipus and Puran, a folk hero from erstwhile Punjab, and shows how they are similar in their fate, and how they depart in their individual destiny as well in their emotional and cultural constitution. Anand, in his Preface says:  “Apparently, these two stories which emanate from two entirely different lands, have no connection, but still, when juxtaposed, give out a clear message how the sensibility of a particular epoch and geographical locale are at grapples with another. Moreover, live where you might, there are certain passions, which are intrinsic to mankind and they are similar everywhere. What is alike, what is different and what overlaps, this work is dedicated to that domain of conflict or con-fusion. [not confusion in the usual sense].”

The Central Issue: Fate and Suffering

The central issue in this epic drama is the suffering of Oedipus and Puran. In both cases, this suffering is undeserved. Fate is after Oedipus and destroys him. Fate is also after Puran because, just as he is born, he is sent to an underground cell, to suffer isolation, because Oracles tell his father King Salwan that he must not see the face of his son, or it could have a pernicious effect. What intrigues me in both the cases is: Why Fate is after them? Later on, what Oedipus does, he is unmindful of his own situation. And, Puran too is at first put into an isolated cell. Why? What was his fault? And then, he is  punished by his step mother for ‘not’ doing what she wants him to do. Quench her. In this way, both the characters are more sinned against, of course, by Fate. From this similarity of fateful circumstantiality, we move to the other plank, in which we can see how it all affects Oedipus, who is finally destroyed, whereas, in case of Puran, he survives the onslaught of Fate because of his spiritual connect. This is what can be looked upon as a point of contrast between two great civilizations and philosophical structures of the West and the East. The poet succeeds in underlining how questionings stand in the way of man’s peace, and how faith and surrender to the divine puts questions to an end.

In his Foreword to the epic poem, Dr. BasudebChakraborti, construing this work as a tetralogy [with MahakaalTrilogy, which consists of Lustus, The Nether World and The Ultronic Age], remarks that Jernail Singh Anand’s The Sinned Against [Oedipus and Puran]  is a dramatic text that includes a proportionate blend of some fictional elements and some important epic-like qualities. In this sense, Anand’s work The Sinned Against, he says, is a unique creation in Indian poetic drama in English. Indeed, no Indian writer in the past and the present have made such an attempt except Rabindranath Tagore in his Red Oleanders
(Bengali version: RaktaKarabi) which is a self-translation.

According to Dr. BasudebChakraborti, Anand at the beginning of this text introduces an epic like quality Invocation to the Muse and some epic similes. To the poet life is holy. He intently envisions the happy tributaries of the welfare and happiness to our world, which is in the form of prayer. We find this in the Rigveda. Here the poet perceives  the Aristotelian Prime Mover, which ordinarily means ‘fate’. Both Oedipus and Puran suffered a lot for the meaningless problems of life i.e., fate. Oedipus suffered and blinded himself following the dictates of the “Immanent Will” as Thomas Hardy calls it and meets a tragic end. But Puran suffered and finally won the mercy of his fate with his humility for the misdeed, he had not even committed, for which he was only made to suffer.  Here lies the point of similarity and dissimilarity. Puran is a successful warrior as he changes his attitude to life for his surrender to the Divine. Oedipus meets catastrophic end in his life while Puran suffered too, but finally in return, Puran won the laurel of victory.
 
While delineating the difference  between two shades of opinion about Greek tragedy Dr. Chakraborti says:  “the Greek tragic hero has no fault of his character. He suffers unnecessarily. It is the fate that makes the hero suffer without any rhyme and reason. In one sentence, fate is responsible for his sufferings. Another school of critics believes that a king is responsible for his ignorance of his real identity. According to the Greek mythology, ignorance is a sin on the part of a king. Oedipus was ignorant of his past. Tiresias foresees and tells this to Oedipus’s father. According to the prophecy, Oedipus when he grows young, will his father and marry his mother.  This is incest. Being angry and fearful, the King Laius had  banished his own child, Oedipus in a forest. However, a couple of forest denizens somehow save Oedipus. At last, he comes to know his horrible past but the situation goes out of his grip. After this dreadful knowledge, Oedipus suffers a lot and fate destroys Oedipus. Whereas the heroes of Shakespearean tragedies fall because they have certain tragic flaws that bring about their downfall. Othello, King Lear, Hamlet, Macbeth are the examples.

According to Dr. Chakraborti, Anand is a diehard theist.

The spiritual poet, Anand may think that humility and the whole-hearted surrender to the Divine is the only way to regain God’s blessings. Puran has done it by his heart.  Here, lies the difference between Oedipus and Puran. The former, Oedipus belongs to the west and the latter,  Puran belongs the east. He has done the expiation although he has not done anything amiss in his  life. In classical period of ancient Greece, the concept of ‘annihilation of self’, ‘self-surrender’ and unflinching devotion to the divine might be alien. Perhaps Anand is afraid of the venom of unethical corporate life of modern times. The poet is scared of the impending doomsday of the world we live in now.

Dr. BasudebChakraborti points out that Anand  contests Aristotle’s concept of tragedy with reference to the Indian context of a Punjabi folk story, Puran.  Anand in this text interrogates the classical concept of tragedy. Oedipus is more sinned than his sinning. A careful reading of this text, The Sinned Against [Oedipus and Puran]  shows the fundamental difference between western attitudes to life and those of Indian philosophy which underlines that Soul is immortal. Soul transforms from one form to another. Death is only a mark of transformation. “Heaven lies in our infancy”. The concept of pre-natal or anti-natal existence is hinted at. So the end of it, life is not tragic. Death is a transit to this cyclic journey.

Referring to Indian philosophy, Dr. Chakraborti asserts that an obvious feature of Indian philosophy in this part of the world is that philosophy and religion are intermingled. They cannot be separated from each other. Another important philosophy is that Indian view of life generally believes that joy and suffering move in a cyclic order. According to Indian philosophy, man is neither ‘a pleasure seeking nor a pain avoiding creature’. The western philosophy underscores that the Oedipus’s physical end is final of his life and soul. A derivative of a contrastive discourse between Oedipus and Puran is Anand’s text. Here Anand is unique and thought provoking. In this way, the Classical text does not exonerate Oedipus for what he has done; because, he has done everything unaware of what he does.  

Concluding his remarks, Dr. Chakraborti writes: A serious reading of Anand’s text, The Sinned Against [Oedipus and Puran]  reminds readers of Shimed Bhagwat Gita. The Gita emphasizes one mundanely philosophical direction that one should go on doing one’s universally ethical works without expecting its results; a day will come when one gets rewards for that. Puran does something unethical and immoral, so, the fate punishes and he suffers in an underground cell. With the help of his Guru, finally he starts enjoying a life sacred. In the Mahabharata, Duryodhana and Dusyasan commit crimes. The Divine destroys them. The Pandavas under the blessings of Sri Krishna follow the principle of righteousness and inexorable fate or Nature or the Divine protects the Pandava.

He believes that Anand’s these four texts are an integrated one, because one cardinal epic like cosmic content is the war between the virtue and the vice, and the good and the evil. The wars Anand employs in these texts are full of the epical grandeur and the nobility, though the author  makes use of satire, banter, irony, mock epical features and patriarchal hegemony, particularly in this tetralogy. In this sense, this tetralogy is the only modern version of the present time Indian literature in English.
 
                                                 
Dr. Maqsood Jafri, a seasoned litterati from US, opines that Anand has sought similarities between Oedipus Rex and Puran Bhagat. About the purpose of writing this epic, he is of the view that people may belong to different lands but are very close in mental and emotional architecture of mankind. Human relations, traditions, tragedies, adventures, aspirations and togetherness are the basics of their fabric of human nature and their quest for peace,  for divine surrender and profundity in faith.

These spiritual, mythological and divine doctrines are put  to question by the rationalists and skeptics and need authenticity on human level.

We have to conclude with Dr. Jafri that Anand, in this epic drama, as in others preceding it,  desires the betterment of all living on the globe and that is his ardent desire for the welfare of all humans. As the author is a well known stalwart of human welfare and is an ambassador of peace,the core message of his Epic is positive and pluralistic. The diction of this epic is very lyrical and simple. This epic is a great addition to the English literature. I hope like his earlier nine epics, this tenth one will also amuse and inspire his readers.

Dr. TamaliNeogi, an Indian scholar, while commenting on the epic drama feels that “Dr J.S.Anand'sThe Sinned Against is an elaborate poetic interrogation of the interactive forces that shape human destiny, a passionate quest to reach the meaning of human suffering in postmodern world. The poet must be congratulated for having created the character of Alterfate- the oriental consciousness with the thrust on human action, who questions the whimsicality of Fate - ultimately baffled, dismissing everything as "mystery doth go". Thus, one is led to ask if suffering should be considered only as an experience as meaningless and absurd as the existence, prearranged between birth and death. The poet wonderfully resolves the dichotomies between human actions and Fate and those between Fate and God. The text has its obvious relevance in today's world so far as it upholds "the culture of kindness".

Dr. Neogi goes on to point out “the difference between the western and eastern ethos out of which these tragedies emanate”.  According to her “the sinned against, Oedipus and Puran, point towards the different ethos, philosophical perspectives of East and West to understand the contrivances of Fate, causing the downfall of the innocent victims Furthermore, two tales of suffering, sharing the same frame with each other, bring out the cultural differences between the two civilizations- one that transforms the innocent into the greatest possible sinner and the other that values self- sacrifice above everything. Besides, the poet tries to understand two different perspectives to tragedies- In Oedipus, the violence of one norm initiating further violence, to an extent overshadows the importance of self-sacrifice in the process of attaining Truth, whereas in the tale of Puran, self-sacrifice is the only mode to fight against violence. Does the poet indirectly attack sexuality being one of the major driving forces of Western world contrasted against Eastern paradigm of sacrifice, reaching Absolute Truth through self-suffering that has made Ahimsa as civic virtue possible in reality? The Sinned Against unravels a postmodern sensibility, artistically employed to negotiate the age-old human dilemmas centring around the never changing reality, that is, the painful ordeal of life.”

[Dr. Manminder Singh Anand is Asstt Prof. Dept. of English at DAV College, Sector 10, Chandigarh]