A Controversial Book Dealing With Revelations About Gandhi

This book actually deals with two figures.  It's called The Doctor and the Saint by  Arundhati Roy.  The "Saint" figure is Gandhi.  The other is Dr.  Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar.  He will be referred to as Ambedkar for the remainder of this review.

 I got this book from the library, but it's the publisher that probably caused me to request it. I get e-mails from Haymarket Books.  Haymarket describes themselves on their website as a radical independent publisher.  Arundhati Roy surely does take a radical independent perspective on Gandhi.  I was overwhelmed by revelations.   This book caused me to totally re-evaluate him.                                    
                                  

The Doctor and the Saint  was originally written as an introduction to Ambedkar's book The Annihilation of Caste which was intended to be given as a speech.  The organization that invited Ambedkar to speak disinvited him after they read the advance copy.

My view of Hinduism had never focused on castes, but rather on the deities who are worshiped in Hindu temples.  I used to attend rituals at a Hindu  temple in the United States. I watched the priests bathe and dress the statues that were representations of the Gods.  I also heard the Hindu priests tell stories about the Gods before the rituals.  I thought that the Hinduism that I experienced was a wonderful religion.

Sometimes news happens that is relevant to the book that I'm writing about on this blog.  A  Canadian Sikh who was in favor of making part of India into an independent Sikh nation was murdered on 9/18 which is when I started this post. (Sikhism is a religion that began in the Punjab region of India in the 15th century. ) So this killing has impacted the relationship between Canada and India. Canada has stopped negotiating a trade deal with India.

In The Doctor and the Saint, it's stated that there is a belief that Hindus who convert to Sikhism are no longer part of the caste system.  It seems likely that the murdered Canadian Sikh who wanted to establish a Sikh nation on what is now the territory of India, was probably from India.  An independent Sikh nation where there are no castes would definitely be a magnet for Hindus of the "Untouchable" caste who would instantly want to become Sikhs.

The Doctor and the Saint did mainly focus on the impact of  Hinduism on the lowest status people known as "Untouchables".  The rampant prejudice, discrimination and violence against them would be regarded as offensive to all readers who believe in justice and human equality.  Gandhi's participation in Hindu attitudes  toward the Dalits who are called "Untouchables" for most of his life made him seem more like a fascist to me than a saint.  The author, Arundhati Roy, called Gandhi "the saint of the status quo".  Anyone who admires Gandhi, as I did before I read this book, should take The Doctor and the Saint's perspective on Gandhi into consideration.  This book deserves to be graded A.  I will give it five stars on Goodreads.

                                            

 
                             

 

Little Follies: A Mystery Novel

 Little Follies by Carolyn Korsmeyer was  a mystery novel given to me by publicist Wiley Saichek.  He has so far given me two dozen books that I've reviewed on this blog.

I decided to accept the copy for review because Korsmeyer deals with interesting issues in her non-fiction.  So I thought that her fiction could also be worth reading.

                                  

 

Krakow, Poland is the setting of this book.  There are many actual locations in Krakow in the novel, but there is no Radincki Museum and the Radincki aren't a real noble family.

The Polish hero and military engineer Kosciuszko doesn't appear in this book, but a diary belonging to a fictional friend of Kosciuszko named Andrzej Gorski plays an important role.

A stolen painting in this novel attributed to Leonardo Da Vinci may or may not be his work.  There is an actual painting with the same title, Salvator Mundi, that was authenticated as Da Vinci's and was sold at auction for $450 million. 

 In Little Follies the  Da Vinci attributed painting called Salvator Mundi was stolen from the fictional Radincki Museum and a security guard died.  The death of the security guard appeared to be an accident.

 The authentication situation in this book seemed clear as mud to me, but then it occurred to me that all Da Vinci paintings were created in a workshop context where other painters contributed to the work.  No one found this problematic at the time.

 There is a reference in this book to Cecilia Gallerani , whose portrait was painted by Da Vinci in The Lady With An Ermine ,  as having been Polish. This didn't seem likely to me.  So I looked her up and found that she was indeed Italian, not Polish.

There is someone referred to as Saint Gertruda in this book.  I thought it likely that she is Gertruda of Poland who was never made a saint.  She is considered by many to have been the first Polish born writer.  She is also known for commissioning an illustrated prayer book and saving a monastery from destruction. 

The most suspenseful part of the book involved returning a manuscript to the museum which was never allowed to be removed from the premises.  Adam, the research scholar who had broken the rules,  wanted no one to know he had taken the item from the museum. So it had to be returned secretly.   I was amazed by the risks that were taken in order to accomplish this goal.   

There was a story associated with a stolen silver chalice at the Radincki Museum.   It brought a supernatural element into this novel.   Readers who don't believe in the supernatural aren't likely to be impressed.

So the theft of the silver chalice was a whydunit and the death of the security guard during the theft of the Da Vinci attributed painting was more like a "What was done?"  Eventually, all questions are answered about these thefts.  So the mystery was resolved.