Chapter 25
1. That is, saffron, the colour of asceticism and renunciation. Kamal deliberately says halde (yellow) rather than gerua (saffron) with its spiritual associations.
2. No doubt referring to the mythological and devotional paintings which, adopting the techniques of Western art, have been popular in India since the late nineteenth century.
3. Kacha, the son of the sage Vrihaspati, served his father’s rival sage Shukracharya for a thousand years to learn the art of reviving the dead. In the process he also won the love of Shukracharya’s daughter Devyani.
4. The four chief stages of a man’s life according to traditional Hindu doctrine: celibacy (brahmacharya), domesticity (garhasthya), life in a hermitage (vanaprastha) and asceticism (sannyasa). A pun on the other meaning of’ashram’ as used throughout the book, that is, a hermitage or spiritual retreat.
Chapter 27
1. Used here in the true and full sense of the term, namely, total well-being and control of the human entity.
Chapter 28
1. Vishnu, the second member of the divine trinity. Under this name he is conceived as the deity through whom one attains heaven.
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The Final Question Page 35
