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'The Pregnant King' came into my reading on the back of a tall recommendation. I have read only one book by Patnaik before - Jaya - which is a simplified retelling of the Mahabharata. I loved that book since it made the philosophies in Mahabharata easy to understand. I have also watched a few episodes of his TV talk show about Indian mythology.
Before I started the book, I was guessing that it would be about this king who somehow (probably by a curse from a heretic) gets pregnant, his experience of becoming a mother, how he becomes protective about his child, rides with him to a battle and still emerges victorious.
At the beginning of the book, the author has mentioned that the tale of the protagonist - Yuvanashva - isn't a part well known in the Indian mythology but finds passing mentions in the scriptures.The author admits that he himself has concocted the entire plot and thus, it is a mythological fiction story.
The plot primarily deals with Yuvanashva and his family - his mother, his three wives, his sons and his supporting staff. According to the ritual of the kingdom, the crown passes on to the ex-king's son once the son fathers a child. Since Yuvanashva has troubles fathering a child, the crown of the kingdom lies on the head of his mother, Shilavati. There are conjectures going around that Yuvanashva's mother herself has weakened her son in his capacity to bear a child. Unable to understand what lies at the root of his inability to father a child, Yuvanashva is married thrice but still the results are the same.
During a yagna (a sacrificial fire performed with the priests praying alongside in order to enable the king to father a child), there is a ritual of gifting cows to married couples. Two boys claim to be a couple in order to get the cows. But they are caught in their fraudulent effort. While imprisoned, the boy who acts as a woman gets transformed into a real woman by Yaksha, who in the past, had gifted his manhood to Shikhandi. The two boys are interrogated for their genders and are finally ordered by Yuvanashva to be burnt alive. The ghosts of the two boys, with the intention of teaching Yuvanashva the lesson about changed genders, trick him into pregnancy by making him drink the potion concocted by the priests. He then gives birth to a son. Quite bizarrely, he is then able to father another son through his youngest wife. Finally, Yuvanashva is torn between his desire to be called mother by his first son and getting the crown of the of the kingdom and takes up renunciation.
The book highlights the feelings of people who are finding trouble in becoming parents, the feelings of women towards the other wives of their husband and mostly about the role gender plays in ruling the sate, in a marriage and overall in the journey of life. Additionally, it also shows how there are grey areas in every human's role as a man or a woman. The book goes beyond pointing out these grey areas and suggests that genders are immaterial in life. The role that a human being has to play goes beyond her/his gender. It also suggests that the identity of a person is not all about gender.
The most enlightening bits in the book were about the Hindu rituals after the death of an ancestor. The crows to whom food is offered symbolize the ancestors. These crows are regarded highly by a family and their cawing amounts to the ancestors' displeasure. The tonsured head of a person symbolizes his journey to the world of dead for mourning someone's death. Leaving a few strands of hair symbolizes the part where he is still in the world of the living. This reminded me of the underworld in Greek mythology which is where the dead reside.
The book is easy to read at only about 350 pages. However, the sentence formations, particularly the dialogues, are sort of difficult to read. Sadly, there are a few editorial errors too. e.g. 'The sight of a Ashoka tree in full bloom excited him', 'I think a herd of elephants are heading this way.'
As the book deals with parenthood and reproduction, there is an overdose of sexual facts and rituals. An odd one among these is how a husband asks his wife on the first night if could spot the star 'Arundhati' in the sky. The wife has to keep saying, "No," while the husband moves his hands all over the wife and seduces her. Finally, the star is never spotted but it results in consummation of marriage. There are many such rituals about the functions of sexual organs, moon phases, and other details which may have been avoided. The book was not the usual mythological book. It left me surprised at some points, and enlightened at others. However, I wish there was a smoother flow and a better climax.
