Journal of Xidian University
https://doi.org/10.37896/jxu14.5/588
ISSN No:1001-2400
Cultural and Historical succession of India from Vedic Period to Post
Partition: River of Fire
1
Dr Shakila Bhanu Shaik, Associate Professor of English, VFSTR (deemed to
be) university 2 Ms Sai Lalitha B, Assistant Professor of English, VFSTR
(deemed to be) university
Culture and History of a country are always mutual dependent and accolade, and both
are reciprocal. India, an ancient country has been an icon of its own distinct culture since the
Vedic age. Culture, an unspoken part of religion and social order of a country or any place
always undergoes changes, and the detailed account of these changes called history. The
novel River of Fire compromises the history of the Indian subcontinent from the Vedic age to
the post-colonial age with lifelike recurring characters. This paper discusses the progress of
culture and history in India from the Vedic age to the Post-colonial age with reference to the
novel River of Fire.
Keywords: history and culture of India, cultural succession in India, River of Fire
***
Introduction
History of the Vedic period was dated way back to a few centuries in BC and so as the
Hinduism. Religious beliefs and practices of Hinduism have got their roots in four Vedas
namely, Rig Veda; Yajur Veda; Sama Veda and Atharva Veda. Apart from these four Vedas,
the Upanishads are also having an equal magnitude of authority in framing religious beliefs
and rituals. In the medieval period, many dynasties (both aboriginal and foreign) played their
power games to get control over India, among these a few were the Rajputs, Lodis, Sharique
and Moghuls. After the medieval period in colonial India, the British left the irremovable
mark over this great country.
The novel River of Fire by Qurratualin Hyder established the picturesque account of
Indian history from the Vedic era to post-partition. Hyder depicted the fates of four recurring
characters, Gautam; Champa, Kamal, and Cyril in this novel for around two and a half
millennia and divided the novel into four sections. Each section spanned different era
explicitly Vedic, Medieval, Colonial, and then to Post Partition. In each era characters related
themselves in complex and conflict relations and struggle to find the salvation of their life.
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Characters in the novel River of Fire, appear in many guises but they have the same
name and relate differently with one another in every era. In the first part, Gautam Nilambar
was the first and prime character who was studying in a University of Shravasti in the fourth
century BC. He was fascinated towards Champak who was already engaged to Prince Hari
Shankar. Gautam’s love for Champak remained unfulfilled after the turmoil and destruction
happened due to Chandragupta Maurya’s invade into Shravasti.
In the next part of the novel Kamaluddin, the Muslim scholar introduced as university
student came to India from Nishapur to learn and teach in Jaunpura. Medieval India was the
confluence of Indo-Islamic culture. Champa appeared as a Brahmin woman, and she loved
Abu al-Mansour Kamaluddin. Kamaluddin observed all customs and practices of India with
awe. He threw himself into never yearned war and lost peace and serenity.
The story took a sharp shift to 19th century into colonial India, where Cyril who
reached India to test his luck. Cyril became Nowab Cyril and earned an important place in
British Raj. He was bewitched by Indian women and married an Indian girl, but started his
secret rendezvous with enchanting Champabai, a clever courtesan in Awad. Through the
story of Champabai author revealed the story of Awad and old Lucknow and the urban
fantasies about high culture.
The last episode opens in the early twentieth century with a new array of characters
along with the reoccurring Champa, Gautham, Kamal and Cyril. In this aeon Champa
Ahmad, a modern, middle class and ambitious woman with a free spirit. After freedom, many
Indian youths moved to London for better learning and employment. Champa, Kamal, Hari
Shankar, Talat, and Nirmala also to achieve their goal reached alien lands, where they met
expatriates. The characters of Champa Ahmad and Gautam presented as a symbol of conflict
between ethical and material life finally found salvation. The novel ends with a positive and
friendly note.
Country India has always been a destination of many races and nationalities with her
never-ending charms and resources. The reason behind its cultural diversity is well
discovered in the novel River of Fire and the history is got etched in a linear depiction
starting it in the Vedic era.
Political State of Affairs in Mauryan Kingdom
In ancient India, Mauryan dynasty was potent and extended its kingdom to the best
possible. Vishnu Sharma alias Chanakya was minister of Chandragupta and he controlled all
affairs of the kingdom during Mauryan reign. This point was ascertained in many works.
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Chanakya employed Chandragupta to defeat Nanda, after that mission, he concentrated on
extending his kingdom in all directions. He employed many people as spies. These spies
disguise themselves as sashes and reach normal populace so that they could gather
information. Unsuccessful Brahmins and witty barbers, astrologers and courtesans gladly
joined the newly established intelligence service. Even courtesans found this new business
profitable and they can easily access newcomers into cities. (RF: 42-43)
The prominent literary text Mudrarakshasa by Vishakadatta depicted Chandragupta
Maurya determination of seizing the Aryavarth (India during that times). He conspired for
that with Kashmir Raja Parvatha. Later, dramatic shifts directed by Chanakya, the great witty
minister of Chandragupta. This literary work depicts the ambition and purpose of both
Chanakya and Chandragupta. Chandragupta Maurya wasn’t satisfied after conquering Nanda
and he started to expand his kingdom in all directions. Plutarch holds in his remarkable work
that Chandragupta subdued whole India with an army of sixty thousand. The same was
discussed Indian Civilization and Culture edited by Suhas Chatterjee. He said that
Chandragupta Maurya, after defeating Nanda, spread his kingdom to a vast area up to
Saurashtra and Konkan in the west, and in the South, he advanced up to Tinnevelly
(Tamilnadu). (137)
In the novel River of Fire, Hyder described the parallel incident of war and suffering
of the common populace. In the novel, Akhilesh, Gautam's friend informed that “The new
imperial army from Magadh has arrived. Prime Minister Chanakya does not want any weak
feudatories around, so Rajan and all his men were put to death (RF: 39)”. These invasions
and wars were well noticed by many historians in their works. The Mauryan kingdom was
extended up to Mysore in the south to the credit of Chandragupta Maurya and his minister
Chanakya. In this course of usurping countries and wars, much bloodshed happened and
many innocent and poor lost their lives. Gautam who was a mere student never saw such
massacre and astounded by the havoc happened in his city to his parents and others.
The great work of Megasthenes Indica became the base for many historians though
the original work could not survive, many abridged works served the purpose of recording
and supporting the theories. It is believed in his work Indica, Megasthenes named
Chandragupta as Sandrakottos. According to Ancient India, as Described by Megasthenês
and Arrian by Megasthenes, John Watson Mc Crindle Chandragupta Maurya (referred as
Sandrakottos by him) established marital relationships with Yavanas (Greeks) and got his
kingdom strengthened.
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Megasthenes had been sent by Seleukos Nikator on an embassy to
Sandrakottos (Chandragupta), the king of Prasi, whose capital was Palibothra
(Pataliputra, now Patna), wrote a work on India of such acknowledged worth
that it formed the principal source whence succeeding writers drew their
accounts of the country. (7)
Chanakya played a key role in the expansion of kingdom and he was well versed in
Hindu religious scriptures and in works on polity and allied disciplines. Apart
from Arthashastra, Indica also shed considerable light on the administrative system and state
of affairs in Chandragupta Maurya’s empire.
Culture, religious practices, beliefs and social situations of Vedic era are rarely seen in
artistic works like films, theatres, soap operas and documentary films as there were no
reliable pieces of evidences (of that era).
In River of Fire, Qurratulain Hyder had given a scenic and lucid description of the Vedic era
in the first part of the novel. The lifestyle and attitudes of every societal being were put in a
perfect set and background. The most noticeable point in this novel was every part
symbolically opens at the river Saryu and ending also happened at the river Saryu. In the
novel, Hyder gingerly employed the main characters to bring the real picture of the timeline
before the reader. She put characters in amidst of real happenings like wars, festivals,
processions etc.
Social, Cultural and Political Structure in Majestic Medieval India
In the novel, Hyder depicted how the Hindu and the Muslim kings help each other to
overcome the common enemy. Shariq dynasty was befriended with the Rajputs and both
helped each other to defeat Lodis their common enemy. In this part of the novel protagonist,
Kamal was a scholar came to India for working in one of the Indian universities. He reached
a very beautiful and affluent city of Jaunpur.
Iqtidar Alam Khan in his book Historical Dictionaries of Medieval India viewed that Jaunpur
was situated on the banks of river Gomati and was named after Muhammad Jauna. It was
established as the capital of the Sharqi dynasty.
As a matter of fact Jaunpur, rulers were after Delhi to be occupied, but Bahlol Lodi gave a
great whack to Shariq dynasty in which all army, and all money and everything was lost. All
Rajputs supported Shariq dynasty and stood against Lodis.
Kamal was flummoxed and astonished with a great deal of the warfare what he had
witnessed and had been displeased. He found everyone was ready to take part in the war. It
seemed as if everyday affair for everyone. He discovered flexibility and resolution of people
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in war. The beautiful city, Jaunpur was demolished into relics of past. All schools and
institutions were grounded to dust. He felt bad for the beautiful city, which was his abode for
around two years. Now, the war became an everyday affair, people partook in it as if it’s their
part of life. Finally, Lodi captured Jaunpura again and Bark became king of it. Kamal could
not withstand the anymore bloodshed, so he ran away from Kohal Gunj. He grieved for the
fair city of Jaunpur which the victorious Sikander Lodi reduced to rubble.
N. Jayapalan recorded in his History of India, that feudal lords of Jaunpur were great
supporters of Hussain Shah, so they supported him and Barbak was thrown away. After
Bahlol Lodi his son Sikander Lodi succeeded the throne who was a great king and a hunter.
Sikander found his elder brother Barbak impotent at Jaunpur and marched to usurp the
kingdom again from Shariq dynasty what his brother had lost. (56)
In the novel, River of Fire Sikander Lodi was described very pertinently. Sikander
after his father’s death invaded Jaunpur with doubled force and won it forever. Hyder holds
“Bahlol Lodi died in 1489. He was succeeded by his swash-buckling son, Sikander, who was
proud and stern and very different from his likeable father. The Rajput chiefs of the Eastern
kingdom were loyal supporters of Hussain Sha. (RF: 87)”. N. Jayapalan also discovered the
same in his work History of India and held that Zamindars of Jaunpura supported Hussain
Sha and disobeyed Lodi dynasty. But, Sikander Lodi suppressed the revolutionaries with iron
leg and usurped Jaunpura again. Qurratulain Hyder positioned every character in an accurate
array that responded at the right time.
Religious Movements in Medieval India
During the medieval era, invasions and forays of many races led India into new
cultural and religious dimensions and give a new facet. The great turmoil in socio and
economic changes had thrown the common masses into chaos and disorder. This
disorderliness led to the birth of religious movements and changed the colour and cause of
society to a great extent and supplied fiction makers a new and fresh subject matter. As a
matter of fact, religious movements like Sufism, Bhakti movement, find their place in
historiography as well as in fiction.
The learned intellectuals with the quest for truth started looking at new horizons.
Invaders from the west and traders from the east made India more populace. A well known
and prevalent movement was Sufism which did not go by inheritance but, one's belief and
conduct towards God’s creation and believing in love and peace and treating God’s creation
equally. Malika Mohammada in her The Foundations of the Composite Culture in India holds
that people who believed in Sufism give up worldly and material things and worship god to
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attain complete happiness. She holds, “It is a gift from god bestowed upon those who can
retain it and bring into play only those courses which are permissible for the uplift and
happiness of mankind. In short, Sufism is the pinnacle of an all–round spiritual development
in Islam. (161)”. In the novel River of Fire also in many contexts, Bhakti movement and
Sufism are discussed.
Cultural transitions took place in Medieval India resulted in the Bhakti movement.
Varna system that was established in the Vedic era made a considerable number of people
miserable and they were made to live in a meaningless structural framework of society. The
Brahmical superiority started in BCE was persistent to the Medieval era, wealthy traders and
artisans could not find a place in high echelon. Many low-strata groups marginalized
peasantry groups like Marathas, Jats, Ahoms and women got attracted to Bhakti movement as
it promised salvation to all. During Vedic era Buddhism and Jainism found their prosperous
days attracting all strata of people and treating them all equal. In the medieval period Bhakti
Movement, Sufism and Mysticism gained momentum.
These new religious movements which were budding in society became great outlets
for tormented and suppressed. Among all, Sufism gained more attention of the lower castes of
the Hindus, for whom conversion to Islam means release from humiliation. And according to
Bhakti Movement which had been drawn on guidelines of Bhagavath Githa “in sight of god
all devotees are equal whether they are born in low or high”. These attractive preaching of
new religious movements had drawn many people towards them and a new array was started
in society. According to Rekha Pande, many historians like Tarachand, Yusuf Hussain felt
that Bhakti movement was inspired by Islam. Some of the historians felt it was a product of
feudal society and some felt it was a revolt against Brhamical monopoly. Rekha Pande holds:
Earlier the bhakthi movement was treated as literacy or at best ideological
phenomena which has religion at the basis of its inspiration. This has mainly
happened due to the lack of emphasis on social history and hence the socioeconomic factors have been responsible for bringing a change have been
ignored. This lacuna has been removed by some recent studies on the
movement. (5)
The mysticism of Sufis and Bhakti saints and Guru Nanak’s teachings flourished
during the fifteenth and sixteenth century. But these all were not encouraged by one another.
Teachings of all these religious movements denounced the institutional religious practices
and object worships.
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Since the Vedic periods, it had been believed that only Brahmins were eligible to get
nirvana and rest of the all should take rebirth to get nirvana. These all beliefs were disdained
by new Mysticism and Sufism and new Bhakti Movement. These religious movements
treated all people equal; doors of all shrines were opened for all religious people. All
populace disregarding caste, including women were encouraged to join as the teachings
mostly happened in local vernacular language. At some points, Mysticism and
Bhakti movements coincide in teachings. In his edited book Historical Dictionaries of
Ancient Civilizations and Historical Eras, Jon Woronoff holds These cults attracted and
became prevalent by artisans and professional castes. People who were a burden for ages in
the frame of the caste system relieved from it by believing and following these religious
movements. Bhakti movement was widespread and campaigned by Vaishnava saints, such as
Ramanuja and Vallabha. (42)
In the novel River of Fire, it was established that Kamaluddin got attracted to Kabir
Das’s preaching. And Champawathi finally became a Vyshnava sanyasini when she lost
every one of her life and Sujatha, a sudra woman married Kamaluddin and became a
Muslim.
Medieval India found many religions and cultures in her lap. Many Muslim dynasties
were busy in establishing their race in this prosperous country Hindustan. In that context
great friction bloodshed occurred. Many religious movements were found their existence.
The Hindu in order to avoid the Jizya tax levied on them accepted the one of such new
religions.
Cultural Integration in India
In Culture And Imperialism, Edward Said studied rightly as all cultures were
amalgamated and alloyed with many cultures in it. At a point of time, no cultures could be a
pure culture that was set up by a single cultural norm. The human race never thought and
ventured to aware of this fact that how strangely one culture combines with others and
formed some hybrid culture. No one cares and notices that many often one participates in
cultural experience what one think contradictory. So, having hollow and pointless dogmas
about culture is an irony.
There is in all nationally defined cultures, I believe, an aspiration to
sovereignty, to sway, and to dominance. In this, French and British, Indian and
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Japanese cultures concur. As the same time, paradoxically, we have never
been as aware as we now are of how oddly hybrid historical and cultural
experiences are of how they partake of many often contradictory experiences
and domains, cross national boundaries, defy the police action of simple
dogma and loud patriotism (15)
People who came to a foreign land in a course of time found themselves assimilating
and mixing up in the foreign culture. They retain a few factors of their own culture and adopt
a few aspects of foreign culture and started living in a new hybrid culture.
In the novel River of Fire, it was observed that Kamal became more or less an Indian.
Kamaluddin, who came from Nishapur to try his fortune here in India, became more or less
native of Hindustan. He reflected at a point that how he could be a vilayathi (foreigner) when
Rajputh were picking betel leaves with him as an oath that they die fighting for Hussain
Shah? This custom was called ‘beera uthana’. In medieval India, the Hindu and the Muslims
cultures merged in many aspects to form Indo-Islamic culture. In colonial India, apart from
cultural mix up there was a room for social and political transformations.
Political and Social Transformations in Colonial India
Colonial India had observed many transformations in her ideologies, practices and
institutions, she had been gelled with her former Orientals in the medieval period for around
six centuries. India had lost many able kings and precious treasures. The English, who
entered in the guise of trade slowly, usurped Indian lands and then Crown. It is true natives
(Indians) shunned the English more than Ottoman Orientals.
The final part of the novel opens in the late 1930s when the national movement was in
high swing. Qurratulain Hyder focused on many cultural aspects of this novel. The
transforming Indian middle-class Hindu and Muslim societies and the opportunities,
objectives, ambitions and aspirations of young people after freedom and after partition. She
also attended the world of servant group in many contexts.
Complex Culture and Political Fervor in Colonial India
Culture of colonial India was reflected in the novel River of Fire in both households
and educations institutions. Nirmala and Talat shared the same education environment, they
attended La Martinere School and Hindustani-Oudhi atmosphere of Master Saheb’s school.
They brought up in a hybrid Indo-British cultural atmosphere. Indian culture was closely
knitted with the ancient Hindu-Buddhist-Jain, the intermediately Turco- Mughal- Iranian and
the latter-day British features of Indian civilization. People of different cultures shared a very
different complex and hybrid society they retain some of the ardent practices of their culture
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and religion. The complex culture of this exotic land was so complexly fluxed, one could find
somewhere with other religious tie-ups. In the novel, Hyder depicted that "in Banaras, the
Shehani players who work for ‘waking up’ ceremony of deities were Muslims. They were
performing this duty for many centuries. They were often employed by temple priests to do
this job." (RF: 203) In contrast to this allegory, Champa Ahmed added when she used to sing
Jana Gana Mana under the tricolour (Indian flag) at Besant College, often she felt she was an
outsider as she did not put caste mark on her forehead and her mother say prayers in Arabic
to Allah.
In the novel River of Fire, when Talat had to give exams in Sastriya Sangeeth
(classical music) she stayed at Brahmin widow’s house where she was showed a tattered
book which was given by Vajid Ali Shah in 1856 to Land Lady’s grandfather. Propitiating
Oil-Lentil and Curd and Fish were the customs signifying good omen and were followed by
Hindus and Muslims alike. On exam days, wife of Masterji never forgets to perform this
ritual to her students so that they could get good numbers in exams. And in another occasion,
Kamal thought, an individual could not run away from his roots though he was socialist or
nationalist. When Kamal went to see Muharram celebrations the sight of the imposed facade
of imambara brought tears to his eyes. Kamal though a nationalist, couldn’t get away from
his cultural roots. These all episodes of the novel supply rich evidence of cultural complexity
and adoption.
Edward Said holds in his Culture and Imperialism, that neither culture nor imperialism
is inert they were complex and actively ready to their beliefs in the country where their
colony has been established. Attack on culture and religion leads to revolt in every history
and the same happened in the history of India. In The Colonizer and The Colonized, Albert
Memmi put a despondent picture of subject race as a person who could not find room in
history as colonizer erased all traces of culture and tradition of the colony in the period of
colonization and drawn his images on colonies history.
Albert Memmi believed the severe attack on colonizer was his removal from history
and community. Though they had been given name and religious recognition of colonized,
they would not get due respect, and it was observed many times in history. Memmi also
added in many free nations citizens felt their voice is unheard in all national affairs and public
proclamations and press and radio are in hands of a few people. But, “The colonized, on the
other hand, feels neither responsible nor guilty nor skeptical, for he is out of the game. He is
in no way a subject of history any more (136).” This argument is reflected in Indian colonial
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rule when the British controlled the local press and publisher. In the above argument, Memmi
contrasts the citizen of a free nation with colonized.
In From Plassey to Partition: A History of Modern India Śekhara Bandyopādhyāẏa
and many other historians viewed that the revolt found its reasons in many objects and it had
affected the regions which were in direct rule of the company. Not only that regions like
Hyderabad and Gwalior helped the British Raj in establishing India under the British crown.
After Mutiny (1857) Cunning put a bar on local newspapers and in 1935, and many bans
were imposed to curb the upcoming thinkers of this land. Angary was a publication done by
Progressive Writers of India.
The revolt of 1857, therefore, constitutes an important watershed in the evolution of British
Policies towards the Indian states. It was not only diagnosed that the annexation policies had
contributed to the revolt, but it was also found that territories under indirect rule were less
affected by the disturbances than those under direct rule. (115)
Śekhara Bandyopādhyāẏa held that 1857 revolt became the starting point of the direct
reign of British rule. At the same time, the British learnt unity between two communities
would hamper their plan of establishing a colony here in India, so they employed their
crooked policy of divide and rule after the mutiny.
With the clashes among people and national leaders, the political atmosphere in India
was magically and confusingly heated up. In 1937, the revival of All India Muslim League
and in 1939 resignation of Congress government put Muslims in dilemma. For Muslims, two
choices were joining the National Congress or supporting the Muslim League. Kamal
recalled the conflicts between his relations in terms of loyalty with the National Congress and
the Muslim League. It was noted in the novel:
In 1937 two important things happened in Lucknow: the revival of All India
Muslim League and the establishment of Congress rule. According to Asad
Mamoo the revival came about largely because of rivalry between two local
politicians, Chowdary Khaliq-uz Zaman and Syed Ali Zaheer. (RF: 231)
Hindu-Muslim clashes were not known before British rule. History recorded about the
Hindu kings who died in wars for his Muslim Kings and Queens. The Mughal emperors had
many Hindu generals in their army. With time, India attained and compromised with the
complex culture. But, under British rule, India is moving from one crisis to another. Political
leaders proclaimed about Two Nation Theory (having Hindu country for Hindus and Muslim
country for Muslims) after independence. Communal politics caught air and fire. Many
ardent Nationalist Muslim leaders joined Muslim League to save their feudal revenues.
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After independence, many educated young men and women of India surfaced in
England. Champa Ahemad got scholarship what she thought a real magical password to
fairyland. Hari Shankar joined Indian Foreign Service. Gautam left for America as a
journalist.
India Liberated and Young Indians in Alien Countries
At Cambridge University, many students attracted towards Red Revolution they
believed it would swamp Pakistan one day or other as the conditions of the country were the
same as the conditions of Russia before the revolution. Amir, who choose to live in Pakistan
and now a Pakistani found it dangerous meeting his old acquaintances (his cousins) as they
were Indians now.
Indian students held an annual meeting of Federation of Indian students Union to
what they invited Pr., Hyman Levy, he came from Scotland. He apologized to all Indians for
the way his people treated them for two hundred years. Talat felt all the humanism of
humanists could not save Indians from behaving wildly at the time of Partition. British ruled
India for two centuries and became rivals but, after freedom, they both find common enemies
in their own countries. (RF:295) History never holds that one has any constant enemy. Young
Indian, Pakistani, Welsh and English students held a friendly conference and discussed
upcoming changes in the world.
For Indian Muslim, the conditions were so sour after partition though they chose to
remain in Hindustan, they had to prove their loyalty. If they had opted to leave for Pakistan,
they would not have retained their properties and lands. Their lands and houses became
evacuee property what they had to sell to a native of that country. This social condition was
the same on the other side of borderlines in newly formed Pakistan. In the novel River of
Fire, the protagonist (Kamal) bore the same chaos. In India, he found his lands were
confiscated one after another, and his parents were living in poverty. Amir was constantly
inviting Kamal to come over Pakistan and settled there, he always wrote to Kamal that, there
was a dearth of educated and skilled people in Pakistan, so Kamal could get a good
opportunity. Amir after Partition chose to live in Pakistan and made his career successful
there.
Medieval History of India comprised by her great Orientals: Ottomans and Europeans.
Among them, Mughals and British share great importance and left a profound impression on
the culture and heritage of India. The period of the Great Mughals, which began in 1526, with
Babur’s accession to the throne, ended with the death of Aurangzeb in 1707.
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ISSN No:1001-2400
William Dalrymple said in his article “The Violent Legacy of Indian Partition”, that
the first Islamic conquests of India were recorded in the eleventh century, with the capture of
Lahore, in 1021. Persian-Turks from present central Afghanistan seized Delhi from its Hindu
rulers in 1192. By 1323, they had established a sultanate as far south as Madurai, toward the
tip of the peninsula, and there were other sultanates from Gujarat, in the west, to Bengal, in
the east. Later, these conquests were usually perceived as “Muslims,” but medieval Sanskrit
inscriptions never identified the Central Asian invaders by that term. The malice created by
invaders made India instantly wrapped up into new practices and renovated the culture. And
in few centuries a hybrid Indo-Islamic civilized emerged along with hybrid languages
While Mughals’ ruling India, the British expanded their mercantile world and
competed with their rivals French, Dutch, and Portuguese. Until the death of Aurangzeb, they
kept themselves away from political friction. When Mughal power started to decline the East
India Company forces began to strengthen and started participating in power games.
Establishment of colonial rule gave direct access to power and thereby flourishing
their trade. While India becoming weaker and weaker, British merchants who made great
profits from mercantilism in what they brought goods cheaply and sold them at a higher price
to another market, and invested profits in the development of technology and science. New
technology and the establishment of factories using products of the industrial revolution made
British powerful and rich all over the world.
The colonial rule in India came to climax by the endless and constant protest of
nationalists. On 15 August 1947 India declared as an independent country. But India could
not celebrate her fresh freedom event as Partition had been parcelled along with it.
In his article “Novels of Qurratulain Hyder” M.Asasuddin noted that Hyder put her characters
across the important events of Indian history, where they formed and depicted and acted with
real-life personalities like Chandragupta Maurya, Chanakya, Sultan Sikander, Sultan Hasan
Sharqui etc. And also get glimpses of the rule of Sirajuddaula, the Bengali Renaissance, Ram
Mohun Roy’s Brahmo Samaj, Hindu College. (89).
Qurratulain Hyder in her novel River of Fire discovered the history and transformation
of India from 300 years BC to 1950s. History would be recorded in both ways one, an
emotionless record of an event after event chronologically taking the real characters as
depicters, and the other, moulding the historical events in a story and sensitively telling it
through the fictitious characters. Authors of historical novels did the latter by picking very
imposing events of history and imparting their story into them. In the article, “Qurratulain
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Journal of Xidian University
https://doi.org/10.37896/jxu14.5/588
ISSN No:1001-2400
Hyder’s River of Fire: the novel and the politics of writing beyond the nation state” Raja
holds, Hyder writes on her own experiences and most cosmopolitan postcolonial writer who
spent her life in India unlike Salman Rushdie and V.S. Naipaul who were sceptic of Indian
history and heritage. Hyder lived both in India and for some time in Pakistan and been easily
called an India-Pakistani-British author. In the novel River of Fire, the author put the facts
most impersonally without involving or raising any emotions in the narration.
Raja added, in the novel River of Fire at the first part invasion of Chandragupta
Maurya and followed consequences were discovered. At that time the characters like Gautam,
his friends, the civilians and co-disciples and Gurukul were set in the realistic ambience of
the Vedic period. The records of the social history of that epoch would be seen
through Indica and Arthashastra by Megasthenes and Chanakya respectively. But the
depiction of the events lived by the characters like Champak, Nirmala, Prince Hari Shankar in
the novel River of Fire, was more effectual.
Hyder puts her plot mostly in middle India (Pataliputra, Saketha, Ayodya), where the
ancient culture developed and established. The manifestation Mauryan dynasty and its
invasions are taken into the novel carefully with the help of apt characterization. Attitudes of
characters, their beliefs and practices are depicted accordingly. The chief characters Gautam
and Champak represent two different strata of society Brahmin and Kshatriya. Gautam’s
daily activities reflect the education system of that time; Champak and princess Nirmala
establish royal life and amenities of royal people of that time. Through Hari Shankar who
came around by Buddhist principles and left his heredity, Hyder establishes the emerging
new religions (Buddhism and Jainism) in the society. In ancient days princes were sent to
Gurukuls where they got educated along with many other students, in the novel crown prince
Hari Shankar was sent to Taxila for education. Throughout the novel, the river has its
significance and symbolism. Time is another element embodied as a continuum that distinctly
instituted to craft the other all aspects mere parts of the whole stream.
In the novel, the different strata of society were aptly discovered by the author. The
Grihastu Dharma (duty of host): when any guest or traveller visited with any need he should
be given due importance what reflected in the story. When Gautam Nilambar went around for
alms as a humble disciple, he was received by household people with respect. In those days,
Brahmin was respected by all others and considered equal to god so, they would have every
time welcome to royal palaces and courts. In the novel, Gautam could enter the royal camp
easily without any query as he was Brahmin.
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Journal of Xidian University
https://doi.org/10.37896/jxu14.5/588
ISSN No:1001-2400
Likewise, in the medieval period, the Ottoman Orientals’ intrudes into India and their
settling in India is depicted in the novel. Increase of cultural complexity by adopting the
religion and having inter-marriages across the races would be observed. The Afghans and the
Turks assimilating in Indian culture and adopting it unnoticeably and discreetly have been
conspicuous. Islam believer Kamal found attending Kabir Das when he was dismayed by
carnage and slaughter of wars, and marrying a Sudra woman are a few illustrations made by
the author to infuse cultural complexity in the novel River of Fire. These were a few of many
memes could be noticed objectively.
In the colonial period, many English young men got attracted to Indian women, and
many married them. Thereby a new race came into being informally called half-cast
(Eurasian and Anglo-Indian). The affair between English youth Cyril Ashley and Maria, a
Eurasian girl instituted examples of such type. Historical Mutiny, from what English learned
many lessons found happened with the known characters Kamal and Gautam. Authentic
history of a country or nation is found in academic and scholarly works, but it also available
in literary works in form of historical novels. The novel River of Fire is a complete Indian
history presented through interesting characters and realistic memes.
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ISSN No:1001-2400
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