Page 86 - EW June 2023

Books

Rushdie strikes VICTORY CITY be as powerful as histo-
ries,” she writes.
back Salman Rushdie Salman Rushdie’s

Alfred A Knopf complex novels are never
Rs.519 merely about the words
N AUGUST 12, one sees on the pages or
2022, Salman Pages 352 the story that is being told.
ORushdie was due The story is often a frame
to speak at the Chautau- that Rushdie constructs
qua Institution in New for something more. Vic-
York State. Shortly after into defiance of death. At An engaging novel tory City is no aberration
the speakers ascended this point, she is blessed about the founding in this regard. While the
the stage, a 24-year-old by Goddess Parvati who and ultimate fate of history of the Vijayanagar
man named Hadi Matar pronounces, “You will fight the Vijayanagar em- Empire can be found in
attacked Rushdie with a to make sure that no more pire (called Bisnaga) many places, Victory City
knife. women are ever burned in after a European mis- is not just about this once
While Rushdie survived this fashion, and that men pronounces it prosperous 14th century
the attack, he was left visu- start considering women in Indian empire. It is a com-
ally impaired in one eye, new ways, and you will live mentary about power, the
much like the blinded pro- just long enough to witness gives two battle-weary perversions of unchecked
tagonist of his new novel both your success and your brothers, Hukka and Buk- rule, the violence that
who recovers her person- failure, to see it all and tell ka, a sack of magic seeds underpins all forms of
hood after being blinded its story, even though once that are sown and burst rule (especially empires),
by a king for her written you have finished telling it, forth into a city created out the ultimate fall of kings,
words. At the time of the you will die immediately of magic. Her dream is of the hydra-like presence
attack last year, Rushdie’s and nobody will remember a kingdom where men and of puritanical movements
next novel Victory City you for four hundred and women are equal, and no across time and space, the
was set to be released in fifty years.” woman is without voice. hubris of dynasties, the
early 2023. Victory City is The novel begins with However, the brothers, generation of legitimacy
an engaging fictional saga an excavated manuscript who reign in turn and through propaganda and
about the founding and ul- in Sanskrit titled Jay- marry Pampa Kampana in constructed narratives,
timate fate of the medieval aparajaya (Victory and turn, struggle with inclu- and the tussle between the
Vijayanagar empire (called Defeat) that was interred sion and religious funda- powerful and their desire
Bisnaga in the story after a in a clay pot during the mentalism, which tend to for immortality.
European mispronounces fall of Bisnaga in the 16th undermine this project Sometimes Rushdie’s
it), which spanned most century. The story is told of an inclusive and equal over-emphasis on his
of southern India between by the fictitious translator empire. This struggle is female characters’ physical
the 14-16th centuries. of the manuscript, who re- repeated in different ways beauty and attractiveness
At the centre of the mains a voice that is occa- throughout the long history can be disconcerting, es-
novel is a young girl, sionally seen in a note or a of the Vijayanagar Empire. pecially when one has read
Pampa Kampana, who footnote. The translator of At the heart of every about one pretty female
grows up to become a this manuscript breathes era, Pampa Kampana character after another
celestially blessed sorcer- Pampa Kampana and the witnesses the empire and in his novels. I have often
ess and queen of Bisnaga Vijayanagar empire back its hardships, except when found myself wonder-
several times over. She has into existence for a 21st she is exiled. She gives ing if Rushdie’s female
a powerful desire to live century audience. citizens a sense of identity; characters would have the
and outlive everyone. This The manuscript is about she whispers myths citi- prominence or attention of
desire has been shaped by Pampa Kampana and zens hold on to in the dark. the powerful and wealthy
her witnessing a jauhar in Bisnaga; it is her story told These whispered stories in a male-dominated world
her childhood. in her words and how she give the citizens of Bisnaga if they weren’t traditionally
Pampa Kampana loses shaped an empire. In the the knowledge of who they pretty. Would a Rushdie
her mother to this act of novel, Pampa Kampana are. Pampa Kampana’s narrative work if the
collective self-immolation who carries the blessing of character in the novel is female characters weren’t
and grapples with grief Goddess Parvati and lives deeply aware of the power goddesses incarnated
and disbelief that turn for over two centuries, of words: “Fictions could and blessed with physi-

86 EDUCATIONWORLD JUNE 2023