I am no book critic. In fact I don't think I understand how a book is critically analyzed. But I am an earnest reader. And the reader very well knows how the book made him feel. Here is a reader's take on Anjana Varma's novel, 'Beneath the Devil Tree'.
In the very beginning of the book, one reads 'If you want the truth to come to light, there is no better medium than fiction'. Given that the genre is historical fiction and the events in the book are woven around the Moplah Rebellion of Malabar in 1921, one could only read the line with ambivalence. The 'truth' around the events is a highly debated one in the modern day, where it ranges from being only an agrarian revolt to it being only a violent communal rampage. But as the pages turned and the events unfolded, I was completely taken in the narrative. I could not pause for once to sit and think whether the book is shading the color of events in one end of the spectrum or the other. And that is where I loved this book. To keep the reader glued onto the story is no mean feat and the author has done that with elan. So then the question arises. How am I writing this piece? Well, I read the book again. And this time, my curiosity quenched, I could put more thoughts on the characters and events. The opening scene of the book, the Gods procession under the Devil tree, is probably an allegory to how the book views the events of 1921. The Yakshi (she-devil) atop the Paala tree is what one sees when taking a birds eye view and so does the events of 1921 appear, with violence and destruction and man's worser instincts. But beneath that tree is the God's procession and beneath the gloomy events one sees the shining of humaneness and godliness of its many human characters.
Speaking of characters, I felt that the book is a motherly view of man's world. Starting from the aristocratic matriarch Mathu at the Kovilakom to the forest-dwelling Cheenkanni, the women of the book are looking at the deeds and misdeeds of the men, and are trying to take the mean to the saner side. Even at their worst moments of personal difficulty, mostly induced by the men, they look to protect their loved ones from harm and adjust their life to the situations they find themselves in. There are ample instances of this in the book, but one was particularly poignant to me. The character does not have a name mentioned in the book and is portrayed as Beerankutty's umma (mother) who is unable to understand what her son is fighting for without coming home to meet her. An Empire? She couldn't care less. All that mattered to her was her boy and she knows she just wants him by her side and nothing more!
While Pathiriumma felt caricaturish, Benu and Raziya portray the women who generally keep themselves to the house and not meddle into the lives of their men. But when time comes, they know what is right and are ready to take things into their hand and act accordingly even if it means going against the men. Sethu and her discovery of letters which leads her to a greater sense of maturity is something one has seen elsewhere, but my love for the written word makes Sethu dear to me. Priya, with her innate haughtiness and dare devilry seemed a little out of place for a 1921 Malabar girl. But I think every take on history also involves reflecting the present onto events or characters of the past and this felt no different.
All the male characters are equally well rounded. While The Outcaste happens to be someone to like and a hero figure, it is the antagonists that were more interesting. The scheming Alijan and the Black Thangal duo's backstories and their long history is well woven by the writer and establishes believable motivations for their ghastly acts. Mammad and Mithran, with absolute surety about their deeds and self righteousness are really the portrayal of the majority of men who mean well, but end up in conflicts due their self-righteous views. The driver Beeran, who is stoic in his bearing, makes one feel the presence of a calming influence among the otherwise restless men. He is not a hero nor a devil, but he is the silent man who sees all and withstands all. The British characters like Stanley Pat were well gelled into the sequence of events, but were otherwise just tools to portray Winifred and Cheenkann's bond.
Anjana depicts the story revolving around the Ernad Taluk of 1921 by making her characters see the events and thinking about them. This makes those events very real and is a technique which works wonders in the book. Even while certain events like Priya's decision to jump in with a Beretta to save unknown people from Thangal's brigands bordered on the cinematic, they were immediately tempered with reality in her easy capture. The friendship of Unni Thampan and the Hunter, Mathu's sessions with the elephant Eli, Alijan's settlment of local conflicts, Mithran's care for his pipes and revolvers were things which that I enjoyed for their uniqueness and vivid portrayals by the author. I could go on and on, but my intention is not to reproduce all the events of the book!
Overall, Beneath the Devil Tree is a fantastic debut by Anjana Varma. In a world where binaries seem to be the norm, the book positively refrains that easy route and tingles the reader with how small incidents involving ordinary humans add up and drift the world into extra ordinary conflicts. And how those wounds are healed by small acts of selflessness and forgiveness.
If you want the truth to come to light, there is no better medium than fiction!
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