Exclusive

A Review of Salman Rushdie's Novel

Victory City

Dr. P. K. Sreekumar

If History is the “re-enactment of past experience”, ( R.G. Collingwood, The Idea Of History), literature takes that experience to the higher planes of consciousness. Salman Rushdie’s novel Victory city, in that respect ,is an attempt to fulfil the above statement with all its exquisite features, making the readers’ imagination reach the pinnacles of magical realism. Stories are woven into a web of charms, myths and historical anecdotes in the novel, where Rushdie takes the readers to another dreamy world. In that realm, time moves forward and backward with twists, turns, fantasies and sometimes even with horrifying incidents.

The novel is divided into four parts. Part 1, Birth; Part 2 Exile; Part 3 Glory and Part 4 Fall. It is composed in such a way as if a living organism had its birth, growth, decay, decline and death.

Rushdie himself has made his stand clear about his work, when he stated that, it is meant for ‘simple entertainment’ for all types of people - from the common man to the wise, the intellectual, “humble sages”, and even to egocentric “fools”.

Victory City is written with multiple dimensions where historical facts are woven into tales of fantasy, portraying the political realities of the contemporary society, ruthlessly giving a shock treatment to the right wing politics and hard core religious orthodoxies. The central character Pampa Kampana, a three time queen ( perhaps Rushdie himself ? ), stands for pluralism, multi-culturism and peaceful co-existence. As in the Satanic Verses , here in Victory City, he levels his critique against spiritual purity, which is obviously a mask to grab wealth and political power to enter into the corridors of power and glory.

The story encompasses a period of two centuries, bringing to limelight the socio-political, socio-religious and socio-economic fabric of Deccan and South India in particular and medieval India in general. In the early medieval and medieval period travelers from the Arab world, Portugal, Spain, Italy and China visited our land, wrote on what they saw, ate, and experienced. Some of them turned to be the advisors to the king, some trained the military, and some traded in horses ,spices and precious metals. In Victory City , Rushdie introduces a wide and vast cast of persona , stretching from the ordinary street vendor to foreigners, from devadasis to divinities, from eunuchs to skilled women martial artists. Throughout the novel, one can experience the live prescence of nature whispering to the readers in the form of forest goddess( Aranyani), air, fire, rain, wind, mountains, trees, birds and animals. One story opens up a window to another and this unending opening of windows take you to the domain of an epic. The dividing line between the author and the narrative is so lean, that sometimes the author himself comes out with explanatory notes in a wide angle mode.

Pampa Kampana, the heroine in the novel, due to circumstances happened to be an orphaned child, at the age of nine, became a poet ,prophetess, politician and later the queen of Bisnaga (Vijayanagara). She witnessed the tragic experience of her mother and hundreds of widows of the kingdom of Kampili , walk into the funeral pyre , committing Sati .This incident is historically attested too. The kingdom of Kampili sustained defeat from Delhi sultanate under the rule of Sulthan Muhammed Bin Thughlaq. After witnessing the horrid mishap, Pampa Kampana , received the blessings from goddess Pampa( A local name for goddess Parvathi ). The goddess gave her the boon of prophecy, magic and eternal youthfulness. She, later, in her life emerged as an adamant spokesperson of feminist ideals. She openly declares that the future life of a woman has to be defined , decided, and determined by her alone, and not by her husband or other men. Rushdie speaks about Jaya Parajaya an epic written by Pampa Kampana. The epic is comprised of twenty four thousand verses in Sanskrit. The narrative at length, devotes how Pampa Kampana, with a pack of seeds caused the birth of the Bisnaga empire through breathing life into the ears of the citizens. Whispers, magic ,and charms were her tools. Kings, queens, warriors, bigots, diplomats, and artists emerged out of it. But one can also notice in the novel, that they themselves carved out master plans for the decay, and later for the eclipse of the Bisnaga empire.

Here, Rushdie takes a leaf out of history to pen the story of the Bisnaga empire. The story begins with a severed head of the king Kampila Raya, a fourteenth century ruler of Kampili. The cleaved head was packed with straw and sent to the Delhi Sulthan. Later Hakka Raya(Harihara), and Bukka Raya founded the Sangama dynasty. They claimed that they were Chandravamsis (of lunar origin). Hakka and Bukka were sons of Bhavana Sangama, a chieftain of Kuruba ( Cowherd) descent.

The novel speaks at length the actualities in life, adjudged often by agonies, confrontations, and massacres and therefore history becomes an account of power mongers, duly supported by priests, merchants, noblemen and war lords .Common folks always remained at the receiving end. Rushdie’s Victory City is a treatment with magical realism, imaginativeness and lofty idealism, reflecting the beauty and sadness of life.

The novel becomes strikingly illustrious when it takes the readers to a possessed state of abstraction where contemporary socio-political realities are woven into a web of myths , magic and miracles. It is an excellent critique on extremist theocracies, despotic power systems and anti-democratic practices. It speaks about how priesthood destroys art and culture, liberal values, cults and the like.

The central character in the novel Pampa Kampana, stands for equal rights for men and women, thereby emerging herself as a staunch supporter of gender rights. The grand narrative also witness the queen turning up against wars, conquests and bloodshed.

Rushdie’s Victory City is therefore a narrative of an unending struggle between power and popular resistance. This is illustrated through Hakka Raya the king , when he makes a reference to the importance of cows in their kingdom. Rushdie treats this with a satirical stroke in contemporary Indian society , where cow vigilantism stands for beastiality and destructiveness. When despotic and anti-democratic forces impose hegemony, the disabled, the downtrodden and the disadvantaged masses will gather among themselves against all sorts of brutal and intolerable abnormalities resulting in violent uprisings, and rebellions. Religious radicalism, with priesthood at its apex will always be challenged from within.

Through Pampa Kampana’s words , Rushdie tells us that after bloodshed , mutual wars and conquests, the losers are both the victors and the vanquished. The fights for glory, charm and power will vanish from the popular memory for ever. And Words are the true victors.