THE GOLDEN SERVANT AND OTHER STORIES BY BASAVARAJ NAIKAR (HARDCOVER)

Basavaraj Naikar occupies a unique place in the history of the Indian Short Story in English. Naikar draws his inspiration from the great store house of Indian legends and myths, folk tales and the oral tradition of storytelling.Naikar creates a society similar to the one found in the traditional tales. It is a community with high ideals where man is essentially good. Evil is present in this society, and its designs do upset the normal order. But evil exists, first, to highlight the good and, second, as a force to be defeated in the end. Miracles occur and are not regarded as something out of the ordinary. It is a state where the worlds of the devas and human beings intersect. Call it “magical realism” if you like – before the term became fashionable.

Like the traditional tales, one incident follows another in a Naikar story. Events are often telescoped so that the pace remains brisk. In the matter of theme, Naikar seeks his inspiration from the classical treatise, the Natya Shastra. According to the Natya Shastra each creative endeavor should exemplify a particular rasa or pleasure principle but which must find resolution inshanta.

This approach informs Naikar’s stories irrespective of whether they are set in the past, as most of his are, as well as the few set in contemporary times. Naikar’s unique approach was acknowledged when his collection of short stories, TheThief of Nagarahalli and Other Stories, was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Book Prize in 2000.