Revisiting History through the Works of Amitav Ghosh

“Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”

And what better way to revisit history than through fiction enveloping a large canvas, steeped in meticulous research and a gargantuan bibliography. Amitav Ghosh fits the bill most convincingly with his hallmark strategy of vast study and erudition. In his books ‘The Glass Palace’ and ‘The River of Smoke’ he reclaims history long appropriated by those who, centuries ago, conquered or imposed their will on foreign lands, subjugated and displaced their people, usurped their land, and resources, replaced their agriculture with deadly cash-crops, thrust addictive poisons on them for profit and enforced all this with the power of the gun masked by a rhetoric of civilization, fundamentals of free trade and divine purpose. 

   

‘The Glass Palace’ begins with the sound of the British canon rolling down the plain of the Irrawady river. The third Anglo - Burmese war of 1885 is afoot, the final assault on the reigning monarchy and thereafter the fabled Glass Palace of King Thebaw , who is  exiled to British India. Therein begins the occupation of a foreign people and the moment colonialism exerts its force is precisely the moment that resistance is born. A ruling class asserting its power through its all too real institutions (mainly the executive, legislative and judicial powers) that are used to dominate, oppress and exploit the very real subaltern subjects. A period of great migrations, displacements, of colluding business enterprises, and hybridization. The extent to which Indian and Burmese troops, fighting for Britain, accelerated the collapse of the British Empire following World War II–and led to the independence of India, Malaysia and Burma, now Myanmar–is presented clearly and unambiguously, and the reader is jolted by the extent to which whole cultures were lost through British zeal to colonize. A fascinating look into the history and cultures of a region which has had little exposure in western novels.

‘The River of Smoke’ the second book in the Ibis trilogy is like-wise a historical saga  enumerating the genesis of the  Opium Wars fought between Britain and China  in the 19^th century. The book paints an intriguing picture of the trading outpost – Canton, on the shores of  China. The so called Fanqui – town , a foreign enclave where civilizations meet, clash and sometimes fuse. The book epitomizes the period in history when the Chinese emperor had placed an embargo on the opium trade with cargoes of  foreign ships holding colossal consignments of opium anchoring  in its waterways – a powder keg waiting to ignite the opium wars

The books weave a tapestry of real and fictional characters bringing the THEN to NOW.  The narrator finds wiggle room to transport the reader into interesting narratives of dress, culture, language, cuisine, rare species of plants, the timber camps, and the all consuming pursuit of photography and the legendary Golden Camellias.

                 

 

The literary workshop ‘Pleasure of Reading’ was held at the Gitanjali Art Gallery - a coming together of minds to brainstorm, meditate and explore the insights of the book “The River of Smoke”. 

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