‘The Age of Shiva’ A Novel by Manil Suri
W.W.Norton & Co. New York NY 448 pages Hard Cover

Reviewed by Mahadev Desai

Bombay born author Suri's enchanting debut novel The Death of Vishnu written in 2001 garnered profuse praise from both literary critics and readers alike. Time Magazine featured Suri as a “person to watch.” It won the 2002 Barnes & Noble Discover Prize and was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award. Seven years later, Suri returns with the much-awaited and a masterful second novel in the trilogy,The Age of Shiva.
Literary critic Amy Tan says, “The Age of Shiva is a stunning novel, proof that Manil Suri is major storyteller of heart and intelligence. It is both intimate and epic, a balance of sensual beauty and visceral reality. Suri reveals truths about human nature: our circumstantial passions, the obsessions that confine us, and the many ways we rebel and find self-expression. Above all, this is a majestic story about love and its unexpected consequences.”
Kiran Desai,author of The Inheritance of Loss, recipient of the Man Booker Prize comments, “ In The Age of Shiva India’s birth as a new nation parallels a woman’s complex psychological journey confronting tradition and modernity. Exchanging sentimentality for clear vision, Suri reveals an immense humanity, and tenderness for women making their way in a world of men. Drawn by this compelling narrative, I read this marvelous book in one sitting.”
The novel is by turns charming, poignant, disturbing humor-laden and blended with themes from Hindu mythology. It captures the sweep of India’s history from the time of partition in 1947 until 1981 touching upon the Indo-Chinese and Indo-Pak wars, India under Nehru and Indira Gandhi, Emergency, ethnic rivalries, class and caste divisions, and clashes between modern and traditional ways of life.Suri, who has a sharp eye for detail, narrates a powerful story of a country in turmoil and an extraordinary portrait of maternal love.
17 year old Meera decides to steal her elder and more beautiful elder sister Roopa’s boyfriend Dev, after she hears him sing on stage. Meera’s father Paji, an overbearing and manipulative patriarch and a publishing magnate forces Meera into a hasty marriage with Dev who is from an orthodox, middle-class family. After marriage, Meera adjusts to living in cramped space with her family of in-laws. Dev’s brother Arya is married to Sandhya. The couple is childless after eight years of marriage. Arya lusts after Meera with the same intensity that he devotes to his right- wing Hindu Rashtriya Manch organization. Meera and Sandhya share a tender bond but sadly it is short-lived. Paji persuades Meera to abort her first child and to move from Delhi to Bombay where Dev can pursue his singing career and Meera can go to a college. Dev fails to make a mark in Bombay’s fast changing music industry and resorts to drinking. Later on, he seeks solace in religion. Meera gets a degree in Arts and does odd jobs to maintain the family
Suri deftly weaves in the myth of Shiva and Parvati’s son Ganesh. ‘The son she created to ward off her loneliness, using bath oil and sandal paste and dabs from her own skin.” Unhappy and lonely, Meera receives her consummate source of comfort when Ashvin is born. As Dev slides downhill in his career and health, possessive Meera dotes on her beloved son with such an all consuming intensity that it strains against the bounds of love between mother and son. But after Dev’s death, she has to confront reality. “What would happen if Shiva never returned from his ascetic wanderings? Would Parvati and her boy spend the rest of their years in each other’s company? Leading a life that had need for neither husband nor father, that was fulfilled and immutable and carefree? Or would time change things?” He would grow up and she would grow old.” Would there come a time when she would…be too old to sustain the breezy existence they shared? Or perhaps he would tire of it first, would want to strike out on his own, explore the world beyond, leave the forest and his aged, unattractive mother with it.” When Ashvin grows up Meera has to set him free. He leaves home for a boarding school, and Meera realizes the meaning of Paji’s words, “To be a parent is to be guilty.”
This gripping novel, described through the words of Meera, has finely etched characters, skillfully twisted sub plots and melodrama and sights, sounds and smells of Delhi and Bombay. Suri also evokes memories of old Bollywood hits like Mother India,Aurat, Aradhana, noted singers and musicians like Mukesh,Mangeshkar sisters, Rafi, S.D.Burman. He also narrates celebrations of festivals like Karva Chauth, Diwali, Holi, and ceremonies like mundan(shaving off of new-born baby’s first crop of hair).
Born and raised in Bombay, Suri came to the U.S.at the age of 20. He lives in Maryland, where he is a mathematics professor at the University of Maryland ,Baltimore County.