Book Review: Cuckold by Kiran Nagarkar

Recently, I came across a copy of Cuckold by Kiran Nagarkar. To put in a euphemistic manner, a cuckold is a person whose wife is disloyal. The first couple of pages are enough to make you feel the air of authority that Rajputs used to exercise in the 16th century (it is based in 1520s). 

Maharaj Kumar, the protagonist and narrator of the story, was the eldest son of His Majesty Rana Sanga and hence the supposed heir apparent. Mira Bai was the wife of Maharaj Kumar and he calls himself a cuckold because Mira Bai was madly in love with Lord Krishna. He imagines the Little Saint (that is how she is referred to in this book) making love to the Lord. The book, essentially, throws light on how Rajputs were pursuing their carnal pleasures oblivious of the impending dangers. Rana Sanga became too complacent to consider a new strategy to counter his enemy who was known to have a small army. The fiction meets success in creating the milieu of the era. The terms like odalisques, palanquins and quills have been used frequently. As far as the emotions are concerned, it misses hardly any.

Be it jealousy, possessiveness, love, hatred, anger, sex, or greed, the novel has elements to tickle all your senses. Moreover, it gives you the perspective of both genders and even the genderless: eunuchs. 

It won’t be wrong to say that I haven’t come across a book, which is more complete than this masterpiece. It has everything: lechery, pure love, war strategies, sibling rivalry, betrayals, spirituality, cynicism, mythology, authoritarianism, hypocrisy and traditions. It has some tools of management also. It talks of Group discussions, research (doing homework), studying competitors etc. What is striking is the absence of tears. If memory serves me right, there was not a single episode where one can relate tears. These warriors, it seems, were stone-hearted. To put it in one sentence, Cuckold by Kiran Nagarkar is a display of sheer craftsmanship.

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