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A Time Elsewhere THE novel A Time Elsewhere by J.P. Das, a bureaucrat-turned writer, playwright, novelist and critic, is a skilful display of hard work and research. Das, who felt the absence of any political, social and literary history of Orissa, has tried to capture different aspects of life of people of the state beautifully. The novel has a unique appeal and it should not be taken as a book of history only. In fact, it belongs to high literature that mirrors the ‘zeitgeist’ of times.
Das shifts from political to literary field or vice versa very deftly. Radhanath Ray, Gourishankar, Fakir Mohan Senapati et al shine in the firmament of Oriya literature. Amidst the old order of the good-for-nothing feudal lords and the imposing British bureaucrats emerges intelligentsia of Orissa. Irony of the situation is that they cannot raise their voice against the foreign rulers; they cannot even question the deeply-seated fundamentals of their own society, too. Hence they are caught between conflicting values of life. Consequently, the crisis of identity troubles the intelligentsia. The feudal system is shown crumbling in the very beginning of the novel with the King of Puri on deathbed and the Queen worried about adopting an heir to the throne. The confessional statement of Radhanath Ray torn by a sense of guilt represents the intelligentsia suffering from identity crisis. With such masterly strokes of the pen, the writer succeeds in saying a lot about the times—Fakir Mohan takes to drinking, Madhusudan Das converts to Christianity, while Madhusudan Rao and Biswanath Kar frustrated with the caste system join Brahmo Samaj. One is pained to know about quite a few social evils prevailing in the 19th-century Orissa. The so-called priests luring young widows and old women to take ‘yatra’ to Jagannath Temple and exploiting them on the way, initiating young women into prostitution gives a nauseating feeling to the reader. Not that the book is a serious treatise on the history of Orissa of half a century. J.P. Das is essentially a litterateur in the true spirit. Along with the serious stuff of chronicles of history, he is wary enough to provide us a rich sprinkling of humour. Child king of Puri’s reaction on seeing Sir Cecil Beadan, the Lieutenant Governor, "He is a white faced monkey", leads to a peal of laughter. One is amused to find the famous Oriya astronomer Pathan Samanta washing his hands after the British Commissioner Cook shook hands with him. It is shocking to find the people of Puri holding a meeting to discuss the propriety of killing monkeys when the British were planning to take over the management of the temple. Involved in their petty affairs, the Indians did not realise that the latter were tightening their noose around them. Apart from this, there is a touch of romance too to enliven the story. Radanath Ray’s relations with Nagendrabala, consequent confession and finally breaking down remembering her heighten the beauty of the novel and makes it endearing to the reader. Translator Jatindra K.
Nayak has done an excellent job. He has well maintained the spirit of
the original Oriya best-seller Desh Kaal Patra. The novel makes
a superb read and a must for all those who love literature.
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The
novel covers a momentous period, i.e., the emergence of the British on
the scene, the 1866 famine that wiped out one-third of the population
of the state, subsequent development, regeneration in the literary
field and nationalism. The establishment of Cuttack Printing Press and
the advent of the Indian Railways in the state are other landmarks
mentioned herein. The Jagannath Temple at Puri, management of its
affairs and puja rituals hold key positions over here. The
British government gave due respect to religious sentiments of the
natives. The region was ruled by inapt and ineffective rajas, that of
Puri being the most ill reputed one. Das is quite vocal about the
sincere efforts put in by the British rulers with the exception of a
few top brass officers during famine. The Viceroy and the government
in London took a serious view of mass death in Orissa. Obviously, the
author has dealt with all this quite impartially.