Sandra Lilian Pereda Sanabria

411072540
Religious References in the novel Midnights Children
India has always been identified as a cross-cultural country, hence, with a vast
religious diversity. Additionally from [additional to/in addition to? Hinduism,
we can also find Islamism and Christianity within its territory. It also hosts the
Zoroastrianism, and Judaism that arrived approimately !,"## years ago. It is
also the birthplace of $uddhism, Jainism and %i&hism, which as the rest of the
religions mentioned above, are divided in a comple structure of categories and
subcategories. In his boo& Lifescapes of India: Religions, Customs, and Laws,
the researcher, 'a(eswari Chatter(ee, named a chapter of his boo& )India the
land of many religions* where in (ust one paragraph and with an entangled
prose, eactly as the religious situation in his country, describes the origins of
the principal doctrines.
+he offshoots of Hinduism, in order of anti,uity, namely, Jainism,
-eerashaivism, and %i&hism were founded by Hindu dissidents who were
not only dissatisfied with the old -edic religion but also with the social
system, that is, the Hindu caste system and its rigid rules. .autama
$uddha, the founder of the $uddhist religion, was also born a Hindu in
the /shatriya caste, but rebelled against the rigidity of the caste system
and the complicated nature of the -edic religion which the common man
could not understand. In addition to the above si religions, Christianity
and Islam which had their origins in the middle east countries Israel,
0alestine and %audi Arabia respectively, have fairly large number of
followers in the country. +he religion propounded by Zarathusthra or
Zoraoster 1f 0ersia 2Iran3 is an important religion of India, and the
followers, namely, the 0arsis or Zoraostrians a very influential community
in the big metropolitan city of $ombay 24umbai3 and its surroundings.
2Chatter(ee "3
In Midnights Children, the novel by %alman 'ushdie, this holy melting
pot is represented by ma&ing constant references to the religious imagery, the
traditions, the rituals, and mainly by the relation of5between6 the characters
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5and6with their names. In this essay, we will analy7e some of the references to
Christianity, Islamism5Islam6 and Hinduism, by the association composed of the
implicit meaning of the character8s names, their actions and development.
9rom the beginning of the novel, we can notice the religious allusions.
%aleem %inai is the narrator of his own story, which according to him, he writes
when he )will soon be thirty-one years old* 2'ushdie, $oo& :, Chapter; +he
perforated sheet.3 this has its source in the $ible. <hen Jesus starts teaching
the <ord of .od, he affirms that; )And Jesus himself was about thirty years of
age, being 2as was supposed3 the son of Joseph, who was the son of Heli,*
2=u&e >;!>3 so they both begin )writing* their own stories at the same age.
Curiously, the second part of the passage when it is stated the relationship
Jesus has with Joseph, we can find another similitude with %aleem,
5because6he is also supposed to be the son of Ahmed %inai, but he is the son of
an ?nglishman. According to 0hilippe Hamon, 9rench literary critic, in his essay
)=a construcci@n del persona(e* +he characters can be defined in a )far contet*
by relating them with characters of the same type in other wor&s, novels, or
contet. 2Hamon :>:3 +hus, from the beginning of the story we can relate the
narrator to Jesus, what we do not &now yet is if he is some sort of prophet or
the son of a Aivine being 2at least metaphorically spea&ing3.
After a brief introduction, %aleem starts telling his own story starting
before his conception, when his grandparents have not even met. +he name of
his grandfather is Aadam A7is. +his character recalls5reminds6 us again of the
$ible, but this time not because of his life or actions, but because of his name.
In the same essay by Hamon, he states )la aparici@n de un persona(e hist@rico
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2Bapole@n3 o mCtico 29edra definida como hi(a de 4inos y 0asifae3 harD
eminentemente previsible su papel en el relato* 2Hamon :>:3. +hen, Aadam
A7is, ac,uirers the characteristics of Adam, )the first man*. <e &now then that
Aadam A7is is the first one of manyE he symboli7es the initiation or the arising,
and that later he will be used as a mold for his offspring. In the first boo& of the
$ible, where the protagonist is Adam, is the .enesis; )+his is the boo& of the
generations of Adam. In the day that .od created man, in the li&eness of .od
he made him* 2.en ";:3. %o, in the $ible8s first boo&, it is written the story of the
beginning of humanity. In the first boo& of 4idnight8s Children it is written the
beginning of %aleemFs family.
If we move forward in the novel we can find another reference to a
character in5from6 the Christian holy boo&. %aleem tells us he has been raised
by his mother and by an ayah named 4ary 0ereira. 4ary is a devoted Catholic
who wor&ed in the hospital where the narrator was born, she is a virgin and she
is in love with Joseph A8Costa. +his time the reference wor&s in both ways, the
actions and the name, but she is decontetuali7ed, in other worlds, she is ta&en
out of the $ible and is placed in Midnights children. +his resource helps the
author increase the contrast with the actions she ma&es later. +herefore, when
we find out that 4ary 0ereira is responsible for switching, %aleem and his
archenemy %hiva, at birth )And when she was alone -two babies in her hands-
two lives in her power- she did it for Joseph* 2'ushdie, $oo& :, Chapter; +ic&,
toc&.3 the effect is comic since we have the reference to the purity of -irgin
4ary. %ame thing happens when we &now that Joseph is not the virtuous
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carpenter we are used to, but a radical political rebel and a criminal . +here is
also a passage in the story, where 4ary 0ereira could be used as a clear
eample of the humoristic tone that the author implies to every religion. <hen
we meet her, she is spea&ing with a priest of the %t. +homas8 Cathedral about
.od. +he priest is instructing 4ary about the color of .od, which he says is
blue. )+he young priest said earnestly.8 All available evidence, my daughter,
suggests that 1ur =ord Christ Jesus was the most beauteous crystal shade of
pale s&y blue.* 2'ushdie, $oo& :, Chapter; 4ethwold.3 4ary learns then that
.od may be not blue but is a strategy to convince the ones that recently
converted to the catholic faith )G.od is loveE and the Hindu love-.od, /rishna, is
always depicted with blue s&in. +ell them blueE it will be a sort of bridge between
the faithsE gently does it, you follow* 2'ushdie, $oo& :, Chapter; 4ethwold.3
+his absurd dialog shows as well, how Hinduism and Catholicism are
addressed with a comical tone, by ma&ing an eaggeration of the ones who
follow any of these religions, the ones that believe in blue .ods, and the ones
that are willing to ma&e their .ods blue, in order to ma&e someone believe in
them.
In the novel, one of the main themes is the multiplicity of religions, and
also, how these religions are merged together. A good eample of this could be
when %aleem as a &id starts hearing voices inside his head.
$ut li&e 4usa or 4oses, li&e 4uhammad the 0enultimate, I heard
voices on a hill. 4uhammad 2on whose name be peace, let me addE I
donGt want to offend anyone3 heard a voice saying, G'eciteHG and thought
he was going madE I heard, at first, a head full of gabbling tongues, li&e
an untuned radioE and with lips sealed by maternal command, I was
unable to as& for comfort. 4uhammad, at forty, sought and received
reassurance from wife and friends; G-erily,G they told him, Gyou are the
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4essenger of .odG 2'ushdie, $oo& :, Chapter; Accident in a washing-
chest.3
He compares himself with 4uhammad and 4oses, who are prophets which
received )the revelations* from .od, in the Iuran and the $ible respectively. He
starts hearing voices inside his head and gets5arrives6 to the conclusion that
archangels are trying to communicate with him. %urely this will remind us about
the first reference to Jesus, which can clear the dilemma if we should consider
%aleem as a prophet or not. +his time the names and the actions seem to
match. +here is a .od who sends a message to the prophet. Although we
reali7ed that the narrator tric&s us again )4y voices, far from being scared,
turned out to be as profane, and as multitudinous, as dust.* 2'ushdie, $oo& :,
Chapter; Accident in a washing-chest.3 +he narrator is opposing these sacred
and fundamental figures for their religions, with the minor, the mundane, and the
ordinary, vanishing the solemnity and pointing out that %aleem is not a medium
between .od and us. ?ven though we can argue that he is in some way a
prophet since in the Aictionary 1ford J
th
ed., the third and forth entry do not
correspond only to the men who are able to tal& with .od; )!" A person who
claims to &now what will happen in the future. 4" 0rophet 2of sth3 a person who
teaches or supports a new idea, theory, etc.;* +his is eactly what %aleem does,
he claims to &now what will happen in the future, he is describing us step by
step, his and India8s fragmentation.
Another reference to the Islam, are the names of %aleem8s parents,
Ahmend and Amina 2named 4unta7 before she married Ahmed3. In his boo&,
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Mahoma, 4aurice .audefroy-Aemombynes eplains who Amina is for the
Iuran;
Kna vo7, oCda entre sueLo y vigilia, confirma a Amina ,ue lleva en su
seno a un profetaE pero teme ,ue sea una vo7 demonCaca; se pone en
los bra7os anillos de hierro, protecci@n efica7E pero al despertar los
encuentra rotos. 0or Mltimo, la vo7 manda ,ue llame Ahmed a su hi(oE y
con esto nos encontramos en el terreno firme del CorDn 2.audefroy-
Aemombynes ""3
+here is also an eplanation of the name Ahmed, which means )highly praised*
and was supposed to be the name of the prophet 4uhammad; )And remember,
Jesus, the son of 4ary, said; N1 Children of IsraelH I am the apostle of Allah
2sent3 to you, confirming the =aw 2which came3 before me, and giving .lad
+idings of a 4essenger to come after me, whose name shall be Ahmad.N
2%urah O:;O the 'an&s3. =ater .audefroy-Aemombynes eplains that is still a
mystery why 4ahoma was not called Ahmed and that the most possible
reasons are; a misspelling, a play on words or a 4anichean influence. +hings
start to entangle a little with the Islamic names and definitions. Amina do
corresponded in name and action as the mother of the prophet, but now, is the
father of %aleem and not %aleem, who is identified as the prophet . According to
0hilippe Hamon )el persona(e serD definido, pues, por un con(unto de
relaciones de seme(an7a, de oposici@n, de (erar,uCa y de orden 2su
distribuci@n3 ,ue establece, en el plano del significante y del significado,
sucesiva #/o si$ult%nea$ente, con los demDs persona(es de la obra en un
conteto pr@imo* 2Hamon:>#3. +his means that %aleemFs father name could
be (ust a reference, since the meaning we could deduce from his actions and
other characters, has nothing to do with his name.
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+he religious references also are combined amongst names or beliefs of
the same religion. %hiva is one of the .ods of the )+rimurti*, the Hindu trinity
identified as the .od of destruction. +his trinity is also integrated by -ishnu,
who is the )maintainer* .od, and $rahman the )creator.* +hey constitute the
universal e,uilibrium, which is essential for all ways of eistence. 2%chleberger
":3 In the novel, %aleem and %hiva are personifications of the balance. %hiva is
the son of Ahmed and Amina. He is condemned by 4ary 0ereira to poverty and
a life he was not supposed to have when he switched him with %aleem. <ith of
years he starts to fill with hate and rage, in his adulthood he becomes etremely
destructive, good at war and as a lover. +hese ,ualities are the ones who
define %hiva, as he is represented also as the .od of the war and as the .od of
procreation. His counterpart is %aleem which5whose6 name means )peaceful*
opposing to the anger of %hiva. He is also a sort of $rahma .od as he is the
creator of the 4idnight8s Children, both the novel and characters, since he is
narrating their story, and therefore )creating* them. +his is in opposition with
%hiva, who ends up destroying them by murder and castration. Bevertheless,
%hiva is the only one of the 4idnight8s children who is able to have heirs, so he
is in a way too )the maintainer*E the -ishnu.
G+he 4a(or has undergone voluntary vasectomy.G And now, in his
sightless cell, %aleem begins to laugh, wholeheartedly, without stinting;
no, I was not laughing cruelly at my arch-rival, nor was I cynically
translating the word GvoluntaryG into another wordE no, I was remembering
stories told me by 0arvati or =aylah, the legendary tales of the war heroGs
philandering, of the legions of bastards swelling in the unectomied bellies
of great ladies and whores 2'ushdie, $oo& >, Chapter; 4idnight.3
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As we stated before, the religions in the novel can appear merged
together in one character by giving him two names, as when %aleem is hearing
voices in his head. However, in the novel, this is also ac,uired by miing the
concept that represents the name given, which corresponds to one religion, and
the actions, which correspond to another religion, but in the end both, have the
same meaning. +his ma&es both religions compatible. %hiva becomes the lover
of 0arvati )the which*, which later becomes the wife of %aleem. 0arvati gets
impregnated by %hiva, returns to live with %aleem and later she gives birth to a
child.
+he boy, the baby boy, the-boy-my-son Aadam, Aadam %inai was
perfectly formed-ecept, that is, for his ears. 1n either side of his head
flapped audient protuberances li&e sails, ears so colossally huge that the
triplets afterwards revealed that when his head popped out they had
thought, for one bad moment, that it was the head of a tiny elephant.
2'ushdie, $oo& >, Chapter; A wedding.3
In Hinduism and some of its 5variants6 derivations, .od %hiva is believed
to be married to 0avarti, the daughter of the mountain, and together they have
two sons; /arti&eya and .anesha, who is represented by having an ?lephant
head. 2%chleberger ">3 +hen, %aleem8s adopted child8s ears, are a reference to
.anesha. +his .od is &nown in the orthodo Hinduism as the ).od of
&nowledge*, but other interpretations have given him the titles of )=ord of the
obstacles* and )=ord of the beginnings*. 2%chleberger J"3 +he name of the son
of %aleem is the one of his grandfather )Aadam* so it symboli7es a )beginning*
as his grandfather. +he character then has two references to the beginnings in
Hinduism and in Christianity.
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'eligion in the novel is not (ust simply a commentE it is part of the basis
upon which the novel is supported. +hroughout the 5tet6novel, we can find
representations of the three religions that were analy7ed in this essay, and
many others. <e discovered different ways of how religion is mied in the
novel; action of the character that correspond to a religious name, the contrast
made by the names and the actions, the merging of both religions in one
character, and the interaction of different beliefs. Considering this we can say
that 'ushdie offers a sight of the cultural diversity of India, sometimes with a
touch of irony and humor. +his diversity of religions most of the time is mied,
every religion has helped shaping the country, they all come together and is not
possible to divide them. +his diversity is also depicted in the characters, the
protagonist and narrator is the best, since he is integrated by parts of the four
religions. He is the son of an ?nglishman and a Hindu, grown in a 4uslim family
5and raised6by a Catholic, his )son* is the son of %hiva but his name is Aadam.
+his ma&es him the ultimate metaphor of India8s melting pot.
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&ibliogra'h#
$odhi, $hi&&hu. The Noble ightfold !ath. /andy; $uddhist 0ublication
%ociety, !##O. e$oo&.
Chatter(ee, 'a(eswari. Lifescapes of India: Religions, Customs, and
Laws. 'eno; Kniversity of Bevada, !##>.
.audefroy-Aemombynes, 4aurice. Mahoma. 4adrid; ?diciones A&al,
:PP#.
Hamon, 0hilippe.*=a construcci@n del persona(e*. ?n Teor"a de la no#ela
antolog"a de te$tos del siglo %%, trad. ?nric %ullD, :># Q :>O. $arcelona;
.ri(albo 4ondadori, :PPO.
'ushdie %alman 2!#:#3. Midnights Children 5/indle version6. 'etrieved
from danwor&s.files.wordpress.com
%chleberger, ?c&ard. Los dioses de la india: &orma, $presi'n (
s"mbolo. 0edro 0iedras trad.; 4adrid Abada ?ditores, !##R.
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