by Ranjit Desai
Raje heaved a deep sigh. Everyone had gathered around the bed. He seemed calm and then he shouted, ‘Shambhu Raje never defected to the Mughals. The Yuvraj of the Swaraj, the successor of Chhatrapati and the son of Sai—Shambhu could never do such a thing!’
Raje was coherent after a long time. He looked at everyone but they looked hazy and faraway. He asked Manohari who stood at his feet, ‘What are you doing?’
‘Pressing your feet!’
‘Pressing my feet?’ Raje asked. ‘I cannot feel anything!’
Manohari had a frightened look in her eyes as she turned towards Ganga Shastri. She put her fingers on her lips lest a sob escape them. Ganga Shastri touched the soles of Raje’s feet.
Raje tried to move his hands and mustering all his strength he muttered his last words, ‘I am left all alone, very much alone! Sai!’
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A Large-hearted Storyteller:
The Works of Ranjit Desai
Vikrant Pande
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A Large-hearted Storyteller: The Works of Ranjit Desai
Vikrant Pande
Ranjit Desai (8 April 1928–6 March 1992) was born in Kolhapur district of Maharashtra. He was a large-hearted litterateur who engaged his readers at the highest level of emotional dialogue. He started writing soon after his graduation and received an award for his very first short story, ‘Bhairav’, published in Prasad magazine in 1946. He published his short-story collection Roop Mahal in 1958. At the same time, he stepped into the world of novels with Bari.
In the novel Bari, Desai wrote about the tribe of the same name, who traditionally lived in dense jungles and sometimes resorted to dacoity and theft in nearby settlements for their living. They could hardly ever dream of a stable life. The socio-political scenario and exploitation of forest resources significantly changed their way of living and introduced them to new ways and values. In his novel, Desai captured the picturesque environs, the rugged lifestyle, the petty feuds and pleasures, the changing horizon of the tribals in moving and powerful prose, representing them realistically.
Desai wrote several stories about the natural world; some stories are even devoid of human characters. Morpankhi Saawlya, a collection of short stories, gives voice to the mute and the inanimate. We are transported to a world we are used to seeing, but we are made to experience it anew, such being the poignancy and intimacy of the narrative voice. There is an element of magical realism in these stories, and even as they end on tragic notes – highlighting survival of the fittest in the natural world – readers are left gasping for more. And yet, Desai executes these surreal stories with constraint so that reality is never too far behind.
Novels:
Swami
Shriman Yogi
Abhogi
Radheya
Pawankhind
Mazha Gaon
Samidha
Bari
Raja Ravi Varma
Pratigya
Shekara
Lakshyavedh
In the same vein, the novella Shekara tells a story of a jungle squirrel. The novel begins in the pristine jungle and we are given the picture of an idyllic and a simple foraging life of the squirrel, but it takes a drastic turn when a preying fox enters the scene. Ultimately the law of the jungle prevails and the jungle falls back into its own pace, as if nothing terrible happened. Although it is a story of animal survival, the novella is also a parable of our modern existence where there seems to be no sanctuary for the weak, innocent and simple-minded. A gem in Desai’s oeuvre, Shekara became popular after his death.
Although Desai was adept at describing rural India, and giving voice to its flora and fauna, he is most known for his flair for writing historical and biographical fiction. His book Swami is based on the life of Madhavrao Peshwa, the third Peshwa. In the book, Desai explores the subtle relationship between the Peshwa and his wife Ramabai. The novel is as much a retelling of history as it is a story of a young man building his own legacy, fighting against various odds, all taking place against ignominious defeat at Panipat. The novel was made into a popular Marathi TV serial by the same name, earning the author the title ‘Swamikar’.
Another masterpiece from the author’s repertoire of biographical fiction is of India’s greatest painter, Raja Ravi Varma. In writing Raja Ravi Varma, Desai wanted to reveal the celebrated artist as a lover, a husband, a businessman and a visionary. He also spent much time in researching the novel and took five years to complete it. The sensitivity with which Raja Ravi Varma is portrayed shows how involved Desai was with his subjects. His large-heartedness as a storyteller is also evident in the novel Radheya, where he retells the story of Karna, one of the tragic characters from the Mahabharata, to reveal how Karna resides in all of us, thereby asking readers to reconsider the concepts of victory and loss.
Short story collections:
Roop Mahal
Madhumati
Kamodini
Alekh
Gandhali
Morpankhi Saawlya
Katal
Megh
Ashadh
Vaishakh
Prapat
Sanket
Babulmora
Mekh Mogari
Shirman Yogi is perhaps the most-loved book of Ranjit Desai’s. He explained how he came about to write his magnum opus on Shivaji thus:
There was a gap of more than seven years between the publication of Swami and Shriman Yogi. I had already started working on Radheya, the novel based on Karna, when I was inspired to research on Shivaji by Balasaheb Desai. I realized that I had undertaken a project which would require intense research. I soon found out that Shivaji did not have an official biographer, unlike Aurangzeb who had been portrayed in detail by Jadunath Sarcar. The Europeans had meticulously written about their emperors but there was no dependable material on Shivaji. Most of the writings were not factual and were disposed to melodramatic versions of Shivaji’s exploits. While some authors were not assiduous, others like Babasaheb Purandare were steeped in worship, almost like a devotee. Through my research, I discovered the character of the great Maratha warrior. I was so taken by the exploits of the man and soon an image developed in my mind. Here was a king; a multifaceted, multitalented and a complete man. He was not only an ideal ruler and a great leader in war, but also a good administrator. While he was deeply religious, he was secular and allowed other religions to flourish.
Plays:
Swami
Varsa
Hey Bandh Reshmache
Ramshastri
Dhan Apure
Garudzhep
Shriman Yogi
Loknayak
Sangeet Tanset
Kanchanmruga
Pankh Zhale Vairi
Pangulgada
Tuzhi Vat Pahili
Saawli Unhachi
Ranjit Desai travelled to all the places historically important to Shivaji’s narrative to get a first-hand impression of the surroundings. He even met people who showed him the usage of the weapons prevalent during Shivaji’s time. Weapons like jambiya or the hooked dagger; axe; spear; bohtati or fighting with spears on horseback; dandpatta, or the gauntlet integrated as a handguard, were studied by the author. Desai also visited the museums in Delhi, Bijapur, Mumbai and Baroda. He got a lot of help from the Kelkar museum in Pune.
One of the problems Ranjit Desai faced was the debate around Shivaji’s life and certain events like the death of Shaista Khan. Each event in his life – from his birth to his death – has been interpreted and then reinterpreted from multiple points of view. Though Desai knows that a storyteller’s work is not that of a historian’s he was aware of the myths that had crept into the life of the great warrior. Ranjit Desai spent four years researching the book. The result was a true masterpiece.
As the translator, I feel truly blessed to have got the chance to get one of Marathi’s best-loved novels to more
and more people. I hope the readers enjoy the book as much as I have translating it. Shriman Yogi was my first translation which I began four years ago purely for the joy of it. I had no idea then that I would be asked by HarperCollins to publish Ranjit Desai’s magnum opus. I had translated N.S. Inamdar’s Shahenshah: The Life of Aurangzeb, and it was interesting to see how Ranjit Desai tackled Shivaji’s arch-enemy in Shriman Yogi.
About the Book
‘This magnificent chronicle of the life and times of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj is an extraordinary tour-de-force of history, biography and imagination. The epic text of Ranjit Desai’s Shriman Yogi finds new voice in Vikrant Pande’s nuanced translation, an immersive narrative of the foundations of the Maratha empire and the saga of its charismatic founder.’
—NAMITA GOKHALE
Young Shivaji reaches Pune, a dying fort city, with his mother Jijabai and lights the first lamp within its ruins. While his father Shahaji Bhosale is away on deputation by the Adil Shah sultanate after having failed in a revolt against it, Shivaji learns how an empire is built from the ground up. Thus begins the life of the Great Maratha.
What awaits Shivaji is nothing short of the vast scroll of history, and it takes him from Surat to Thanjavur and all the way to Aurangzeb’s durbar in Agra. He dreams of freeing his land from the clutches of Mughal rule, and though he suffers many defeats and personal losses along the way he never gives up his vision of Hindavi Swaraj. Amidst political intrigue and a chain of skirmishes, Shivaji becomes a leader, a warrior and a tactician par excellence, driven by immense pride and love for his motherland.
This is a new English translation of Ranjit Desai’s much-loved Marathi classic Shriman Yogi, and a literary rendition of the life of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.
About the Author
RANJIT DESAI (1928–1992) was born in Kolhapur district of Maharashtra. He was considered a large-hearted littérateur whose writing engaged the readers at the highest level of emotional dialogue. He started writing when he settled in Kowad after his graduation. A writer of short stories, plays and novels, Ranjit Desai received an award for his very first short story, ‘Bhairav’, published in the magazine Prasad in 1946. He published his short story collection Roop Mahal in 1958 and stepped into the world of novels with Bari in the same year. He received many awards, including the Maharashtra Rajya Award (1963, for Swami), the Hari Narayan Apte Award (1963, for Swami), the Sahitya Akademi Award (1964, for Swami) and the Maharashtra Gaurav Puraskar (1990). The Government of India gave him the Padma Shri in 1973.
VIKRANT PANDE started translating from the Marathi with Ranjit Desai’s classic novel Raja Ravi Varma, the story of India’s most celebrated painter. He has since translated Milind Bokil’s Shala, N.S. Inamdar’s Rau: The Great Love Story of Bajirao Mastani and Shahenshah: The Life of Aurangzeb. A graduate of Indian Institute of Management–Bangalore, Vikrant worked in the corporate sector for twenty-five years before shifting to the field of education where he currently is a vice chancellor with TeamLease Skills University at Vadodara.
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First published in India in 2017 by Harper Perennial
An Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers
In association with Mehta Publishing House
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Copyright © Madhumati Shinde and Paru Madan Naik 2017
Originally published as Shriman Yogi in 1984 by Mehta Publishing House, Pune
Translation copyright © Vikrant Pande 2017
P.S. Section copyright © Vikrant Pande 2017
P-ISBN: 978-93-5277-439-5
Epub Edition © November 2017 ISBN: 978-93-5277-440-1
This is a work of fiction with some parts based on historical fact. All situations, incidents, dialogue and characters in this novel, with the exception of some well-known historical and public figures, are products of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. They are not intended to depict actual events, or people or to change the entirely fictional nature of the work. In all other respects, any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Ranjit Desai asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
All rights reserved under The Copyright Act, 1957. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins Publishers India.
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