A journey into sacred India. Review on Nine Lives - William Dalrymple

There are many travel writers who write upon India, they are quite popular and well known also, like Doom Morris, Mark Tully, Paul theroux and many more, but I can say that William Dalrymple is best in this generation of travel writer. Nine lives is the tale of nine people whose life is as different from each other, but they are on common path of spiritualism, in this sacred country. Few days’ back I was reading an Interview of William Dalrymple, in which he said, “The book is a look at how religion in India is changing today. Buddhist monk, Jain nun, Theyyam dancer and so on – nine different people and show how modernity, India shining, India shining has impacted on these traditions in different ways.

I personally like the “The Nun’s tale- It is the story of a Jain Nun from Rajasthan, who choose the path of renunciation, and after the death of her friend who was with her for twenty years, traveling together in various part of India decides to take the ritual fast to death. Another good story is Red fairy,A Muslim woman of Bihar, migrated to Bangladesh first, then shifted to Pakistan. Her life was full of violence turmoil make the Sufi Dargah of Shah Mastan Kalander her home and finds solace in Sufism in western sindh of Pakistan. The story is a conflict between orthodox Islam with the secular Sufism. The Monk’s tale is a story of Tashi Passang, a original native of Tibbat who fled to India after Chinese Invasion of Tibbet and settled in Dharmsala a budhist town in Northern of Himalaya in India. The story shows the Inner conflict of a monk”s difficulty to raise the arm against chinese Invasion. The Dancer of Kannur: Story of Hari Das, a Dalit from Kerala, who works as a manual labourer during the weeks and a prison warder during the weekends for 9 months of the year. Only during the holy Theyaamseason from December to February, he turns into a dancer possessed by Gods reverred even by the high caste brahmins.

The book is published by Bloomsbury and widely appreciated in all over world and one of the finest travel writing. A must read if you want to read the mesmerising details, vivid explanation and pungent discoveries of modern sacred India.