26

Chapter 2

The Crow Eaters

Representation of Parsi Culture and Identity

The Crow Eaters is a novel about Sidhwa’s own community. It gives an account
of the workings of the Parsi mind, social behaviour, values, and customs. The novel
was first published in Pakistan, in 1978. It describes the social mobility of a Parsi
family, the Junglewallas, during the British Raj in the early twentieth century. The
novel begins a few years before Partition and the initial part of the novel describes the
communal tensions during the Partition period. The Crow Eaters presents a satirical
picture of a Parsi family in the early twentieth century. The Crow Eaters is a
multidimensional novel in which Sidhwa has shown the Parsi culture and their life
style. Sidhwa has shown all the aspects of Parsi religion in a comic way. When
reviewing The Crow Eaters, Edward Hower commented that, “The Crow Eaters is
best read as a series of wonderfully comic episodes, to be enjoyed for their wit and
absurdity.”(Hower, 24)
The Crow Eaters traces the fortunes of Faredoon Junglewalla, Freddy for short,
who leaves his home in India some time at the end of the nineteenth century for the
fertile plains of Punjab to settle down finally in Lahore. The novel also traces the
attempts of the Parsis, migrating from the West Coast and settling in the more
salubrious climate of the North Indian cities in the late nineteenth and the turn of the
twentieth century. This is the hallmark of Bapsi Sidhwa’s work. Deceptively
perceptive, she accurately depicts historical facts interwoven with satirical fiction and
lampoon which aptly recreates the Parsi milieu. In capturing the Parsi ethos she
strikes an unexpectedly rich vein of humour.
Sidhwa writes about The Crow Eaters in the ‘Author’s Note’ as:
Because of a deep-rooted admiration for my diminishing community and
enormous affection for it and this work of fiction has been a labour of love.
The nature of comedy being too exaggerate, the incidents in this novel do not
reflect at all upon the integrity of a community whose honesty and sense of
honour and not to mention its tradition of humour as typified by the
Parsinatak—are legend. The characters drawn in this piece of pure fantasy
have no relation whatever to any existing people.( TCE, 7)
 27

Sidhwa wrote it to preserve her regard for the Parsi community which is virtually on
the verge of extinction. Her family, the Bhandaras, a leading business family of
Lahore for generations, had migrated in the nineteenth century. Her tales depict both
the fictional and on the entrepreneurial skills of the elders of her community. Hence
her description of the exploits of Faredoon Junglewalla and his family is not just
historical fiction, but has a strong autobiographical element as well. Bapsi Sidhwa
turns autobiography into art by her clever use of irony. The use of irony also prevents
the novel from becoming either laudatory or disparaging, an inherent danger when an
author writes about both the shortcomings and achievements of his or her own
community.
The Crow Eaters purports to be a succinct and satirical account of the success
story told to the youngsters by Faredoon Junglewalla himself, the central figure, and
his rise to fortune and social stardom:
‘Yes, I’ve been all things to all people in my time. There was that bumptious
son-of–a-bitch in Peshwar called Colonel Williams. I cooed to him – salaamed
so low I got a crick in my balls and uttered and marmalade him until he was
eating out of my hand. Within a year I was handling all traffic of goods
between Peshwar and Afghanistan!(TCE 9)
The novel, set in Pre-independence India, excels in its representation of a
combination of Indian and British characters. Sidhwa establishes her Parsi identity
in the opening page of the novel. The Parsi background and focus give additional
significance to this narrative, as very little is known generally of this isolationist sort
of community in the subcontinent, particularly at a personal or imaginative level. As
such, recognition of the novel’s particular landscape is to register time through
consciousness with which perhaps not many outsiders would be familiar. Here is
how the story finds its beginning, from the anonymous forests of central India to
Lahore, where the Junglewallas settle down:
Fardoon Junglewalla, Freddy for short, embarked on his travels towards the
end of the nineteen century. Twenty-three years old, strong and pioneering,
he saw no future for himself in his ancestral village, tucked away in the
forests of Central India, and resolved to seek his fortune in the hallowed
pastures of Punjab. Of the sixteen lands created by Ahura Mazda and
mentioned in the 4,000-year-old Vend dad, one is the “Septa Sindhu”; the
Sind and Punjab of today.
 28

Loading his belongings, which included a widowed mother-in-law eleven

years older than himself, a pregnant wife six years younger and his infant
daughter Hutoxi, onto a bullock-cart, he set off for the North. (TCE 12-13)
The novel is a celebration of Parsi life, the achievement of a tiny community
which has survived migration, re-settled peacefully and prospered without losing their
cultural identity. The Crow Eaters is a loosely constructed narrative which begins
with an extended flashback of Freddy Junglewalla. Freddy, now middle-aged and
prosperous, tells the story of his early years to the audience which consists of his
children and some neighbourhood kids. He narrates how he started his journey by
saying that at the end of the nineteenth century, when he was twenty-four, he
embarked on a journey to Punjab with his wife Putli and mother-in-law Jerbanoo for
control over his household and how he rose to power and eminence in the community
with hard work and craft.
The theme of The Crow Eaters, in a nutshell, is struggle for power. From the
beginning when the battle-lines are first drawn between the protagonist, Faredoon,
and his mother-in-law, Gormandizing Jerbanoo, until the end when he himself finally
concedes defeat by acknowledging that Jerbanoo will outlive him, the struggle is
between these two for control of their family dynamics. Ostensibly, Freddy represents
the body politic within the family dynamics that is defined early in the novel. Freddy
wants to get rid of his mother-in-law by setting his shop and house on fire, profiting
doubly through an insurance fraud. Freddy governs his family. While the plot
revolves around the Junglewalla clan, other characters and events shed much light on
the spirit of oneness and solidarity among the Parsis. Yet with this book Sidhwa has
drawn a lot of flak from Parsis for her depiction of their community. The title too
created a furore of sorts. But the feeling of oneness is beautifully depicted in the
narrative.
Freddy is a man of distinction and listed in the Zarathusti Calendar of great men
and women and whose motto in life is, “the sweetest thing in the world is your
need.”(TCE 10) The ultimate aims of Freddy are wealth and status. The narration of
his achievement is well narrated by Sidhwa. Her mode of perception is ironic.
Junglewalla’s achievements are admirable by the reader. The novel commences on a
note of praise for Faredoon Junglewalla, described as a strikingly handsome, dulcet-
voiced adventurer. About his career it is said that:
 29

Faredoon Junglewalla, Freddy for short, was a strikingly handsome, dulcet-

voiced adventurer with so few scruples that he not only succeeded in carving a
comfortable niche in the world for himself but he also earned the respect and
gratitude of his entire community. When he died at sixty-five, a majestic grey-
haired patriarch, he attained the rare distinction of being locally listed in the
‘Zarathusti calendar of Great Men and Women’. (TCE 9)
Freddy gently governed and completely controlled his wife Putli with three
maxims. He did not allow her to do something by her own. If she does any work, he
did not tolerate and take a unshakable stand. He knows how to manage himself as a
Godfather of his community with obedience and command. His wife Putli, which
means puppet in Urdu, is an ideal Indian wife with love and responsibility. She
understands her children. Sikta moitra describes the Parsi community as:
The sole object of writing The Crow Eaters seems to introduce the Parsi
community, its culture, rituals and customs to the world. There are also traces
of freedom movement, the Second World War, feminist issues, the colonial
impacts and other themes. But the lime light throughout the novel has been
thrown on Parsi community and its way of living. (Sikta Moitra,324)
Freddy’s fame and wealth are shown to have dubious roots. The maintenance of
identity, in spite of being a microscopic minority, of which Freddy is so proud, is
shown as mere public relations, bordering on sycophancy:
And where, if I may ask, does the sun rise? No, not in the East. For us it
rises—and sets—in the Englishman’s arse. They are our sovereigns! Where do
you think we’d be if we did not curry favour? Next to the nawabs, rajas and
prince lings we are the greatest toadies of the British Empire! (TCE 12)
So the sycophancy is shown as a “need to exist,” neither lauded nor condemned.
The kind of thought about human behaviour which emphasizes the uniqueness of the
individual, the importance of values and meaning, and the potential for self-direction
and personal growth has had a tremendous impact on modern literature. The tone of
the author is ironic. There is a protective irony in the novel, balancing personal
inadequacies against the contradictions of life itself. Hence irony is also a mode of
acceptance, a type of philosophy.
Freddy’s ostensibly humorous comments, his obsequious behaviour towards Mr.
Charles P. Allen, the Deputy Commissioner, and his frequent visits to the
Government House to pay homage to the British Empire underline a basic attitude to
 30

the ruling colonial power which Bapsi Sidhwa carefully explores. The moment the
Parsis settled in India, they realized they could only survive as a minority by being
strictly loyal to every ruling authority and avoiding tensions and conflicts between
various groups and powers in the state. At no time in the subcontinent was the
community itself a power factor that would have been able to enforce its own interests
against the will of the rulers. Hence Parsis learned to realize that only loyalty to the
ruler generates that political climate in which they could remain undisturbed as a
minority. The only condition for their loyalty was that they were not hindered in the
practice of their religion. Hence the exaggerated servility of Freddy, his son Billy, and
other Parsis towards the British is revealed as act to ensure legal security, peace and
economic prosperity. With her ironic perspective the flattery of the Parsis is
humorously revealed in the novel, but it also expresses an underlying identity crisis
and quest for security among the community as a whole.
The attitude also leads to adopt customs and manners of the British. Culture also
plays pivotal role in society. In Desai’s view culture is:
Culture is an essence of society. It has influenced people in all times and all
places. History is evident that culture has played an enormous role in the
development of people, nations and societies. In every society culture plays a
pivotal role in moulding and shaping the lives and thoughts of people through
its ideals. People have always shown loyalty to given ideals and patterns of
behaviour provided by the motivating force known as culture. Culture can be
considered as an an important source of basic education in society. (Dhanusha
Desai, 2)
Culture is ideals, values and rules of living. To measure all these things we need
knowledge. Knowledge of English education in a Christian missionary school was
considered essential, not because of superior instruction or knowledge but as it
offered a chance for rapid social mobility. The interaction of the two cultures
naturally produces tensions when for instance Putli, the wife of Freddy, resists
change:
When they drew up before the entrance, Freddy handed Putli from the tanga
with all the flourish of a courtier towards a cherished queen. It was a well
rehearsed bit, and Putli acquiesced with the verve of a zombie. Freddy directed
her along the red carpets to the garden. He did not merely steer her. He
prodded, poked, and pushed her each step of the way. (TCE 188)
 31

Putli adapted new-fangled customs, when she and her husband were invited to the
formal tea-parties on the gracious lawns of the Government House. She was cajoled to
these functions by her husband, for whom it was an opportunity for advancing
contacts and consolidating friendships. The Parsi milieu of Putli had a different value
system, which the author highlights as, “Deep-rooted in the tradition of a wife
walking three paces behind her husband their department was as painful to Putli as
being marched naked in public. Her legs beneath the graceful folds of her sari were as
stiff as stilts.” (TCE 188)
As regards adapting to customs of the British the novel shows the gradual
assimilation of British value systems in the Parsi milieu. Putli tried to preserve certain
Parsi customs, like walking behind her husband. However her daughter Yasmin after
marriage ignores such notions as obsolete and vehemently protests at the servile
attitude of women.
As mentioned earlier, The Crow Eaters has somewhat loose episodic structure.
Much of its comic energy and exuberance derive from a string of gags or comic
episodes. All episodes in the novel have a self-contained unity, a recognizable
beginning, middle, and end. Besides, they have other common comic features. Each
has an element of the ridiculous or incongruous. There is a good deal of physical
comedy involved. Best example of a typical comic episode is the incident of the
troublesome rooster.
The most successful comedy, however, is found in forty second chapter, which
concerns the Junglewalla’s visit to England. Jerbanoo is a complete misfit first in the
home of their hosts, the Allens, and then in the hotel. With true comic energy, she
disrupts with calculated impunity all the social conventions around her. She revenges
herself on the exasperated Mrs. Allen by defecating on a newspaper in the centre of
the landing. Once ejected out of Allen’s residence, she proceeds to make herself at
home in the Junglewalla’s hotel rooms on Oxford street. Being a good Indian lady
who cannot do without her daily baths, she decides to improvise when she finds that
their rooms do not have attached baths. She commandeers the walled balcony for this
purpose. Since it slopes away into the street, she is unconcerned about drainage and
until she hears this from below, that the people were being flooded.
Putli, the earlier generation Parsi, is scandalized by Yasmin preceding her
husband down the steps and into the carriage and her seeming relationship of equality
with her husband. Initially adapting to the manners and customs of the ruling colonial
 32

power was gradual and Putli’s inability to understand change is seen in the generation
gap. However the scope of the novel is large, it shows the reality of a whole family
and its network of relationships, spreading out to encompass a wide variety of human
beings of different ages. Bapsi Sidhwa portrays the changing generations in the
Junglewalla family. This is best exemplified by the life-style of the youngest son Billy
and his fashionable wife Tanya. The new generation, with their increasing economic
contacts with the British, like Billy’s scrap iron deal, becomes increasingly
westernized:
They were not of the masses, this young crowd. If their wealth did not set
them apart, their ability to converse in English certainly did. They were utterly
ashamed of traditional habits and considered British customs, however
superficially observed, however trivial, exemplary. (TCE 245)
This changing social milieu and identity crisis which Bapsi Sidhwa accurately
depicts was distinctively visible among Parsis in British India and is a social problem
for many in the community even in contemporary India and Pakistan. It is written in
The Parsis in India, about the ambitions of the Parsis which were aimed at a close
connection with the English:
The closer union of the Europeans and Parsis is the finest thing that can
happen to our race. It will mean the lifting up of people who belong to our
race. It will mean the lifting up of a people who are lying low, though
possessing all of the qualities of a European race.(Kulke, 138)
Parsis maintained group identity by their dress. But generational change is evident
even in the matter of dress. Faredoon and his family took pride in their traditional
mode of dress. Whenever Faredoon went to Government House for formal parties or
to pay homage to the British Empire he would consciously be, “The very next evening
rigged out in a starched white coat-wrap that fastened with bows at the neck and
waist, and crisp white pyjamas and turban he drove his cart to Government
House.”(TCE 21)
In the middle portion of the novel, the focus shifts from Freddy to his children.
Two daughters, Hutoxy and Ruby, are married off, and the third, Yasmin too gets
married later. Yazdi falls in love with Rosy Watson, an Anglo-Indian with a troubled
family background. Freddy dissuades his son from this involvement, reminding him of
the oath that Parsis took is to marry only from within the community, when they come
to India many centuries ago. Meanwhile Rosy is forced into prostitution and quite
 33

shockingly, Freddy himself sleeps with her. When Freddy tells Yazdi about this, Yazdi
is shattered. Yazdi’s disillusionment in love is only instrumental in his ultimate
renunciation of materialistic life. Yazdi finds a prototype in Mazalak, the first
communist in the Zoroastrian scriptures who argued centuries ago that all material
goods, including women, had to be shared. Thus Yazdi utilizes the growing social
space for practising the true Zoroastrian ideal of charity.
Soli, Freddy’s eldest son, suddenly grows sick and dies, proving right the
astrological predictions of the mysterious Gopal Krishnan. This transforms Yazdi
completely. He renounces the world, using his monthly allowance to help the poor and
homeless. Yazdi’s story of traumatic disappointment in love and subsequent rejection
of the world, and Soli’s death, give this section a sombre hue. The novelist seems to
suggest that without sorrow there can be no gaiety and comedy and that both seem to
be two interdependent aspects of life. Life’s movement, hence, is seen as cyclical,
going from comedy through tragedy again back to comedy. It is this movement that
engrosses and engages the author and not so much the individual characters. That is
why the focus shifts from character to character in the novel. The first section belongs
to Freddy, in the middle, the attention shifts from Freddy to his children. Finally in the
third section, chief role is played by Billy and not Freddy.
The novel also has been called a black comedy by a number of critics as Sidhwa
hkas successfully infused comic tone while treating some grave subjects in the novel.
Black comedy or Dark comedy is a sub-genre of comedy and satire in which events are
usually treated seriously, such as domestic violence, disease, insanity, fear, war and
terrorism etc are treated in a humourous or satirical manner. It is best illustrated where
Jerbanoo is crying in a balcony for her life. The house is on fire but the event is
narrated in a comic tone. Another occasion is Freddy talks to Jerbanoo about death in
an ironic way.
Black Humour is defined as:
Black Humour, also called Comedy is a writing that juxtaposes morbid and
ghastly elements with comical ones that underscore the senselessness or
futility of life. Black humour often uses farce and low comedy to make clear
that individuals are helpless of fate and character.(Yasir Khan, 325)
In next sections we move to Behram Junglewalla or Billy, the youngest son, who
not only carries on Freddy’s business but goes on to become one of the richest men in
India. The description of Billy is sharp-eyed. Here is Billy, “Behram Junglewalla,
 34

Billy for short, was a taciturn, monosyllabic, parsimonious, and tenacious little man.
His tight-lipped, shrewd-eyed countenance instantly aroused mistrust and precisely
because he was so trustworthy.” (TCE 192)
After their wedding, Billy and Tanya are packed off to Simla for their honeymoon
in a first class coupe. When Billy tries to kiss Tanya, she shouts at him. Billy realizes
to his horror that Tanya is completely innocent of sex and that their consummation
will have to wait. At last it takes place when they go for trekking to Jacco Hill, a
famous monkey sanctuary. Then their consummation takes place due to rain, with the
help of nature. The language used by the author here is frankly colloquial, but not
coarse or vulgar. The next generation of Parsis, Behram and Tanya slowly discard
traditional dress. For instance, Tanya still wears a saree, but it is more revealing:
Secure in her love, firm in her loyalty, Tanya reveals the attention. She
blossomed in poise and bloomed in beauty. She became daring in her attire
and tied her sari in a way that accentuated the perfections of her body. She
took to wearing a little make-up and outlined the astonishing loveliness of her
lips. (TCE 246)
However Behram is still traditional in the case of dress. He urges and argues with
Tanya, not to reveal her midriff so glaringly or to look boldly and mix freely with
other men as the intentions are misconstrued. Even in the relationships between man
and woman, Faredoon and later his son Behram adopt double standards. Behram
especially wants Tanya to appear Westernized and talk English. A major part of the
section deals with Billy’s attempts to find a wife, his courtship, and marriage to
Tanya, the daughter of an enormously wealthy “Easymoneys” of Bombay, their
honeymoon, marital conflicts, and finally Billy’s total victory over his wife. Another
comic instance in the novel is to do with the consummation of Billy’s marriage with
Tanya.
As years pass and Freddy’s wealth increases, so does Jerbanoo’s elephantine girth,
but neither measure matches the dimension of their hatred for each other. Still,
Faredoon is a realist. Things could change. Sidhwa wrote the novel to preserve her
regard for the Parsi community which is virtually on the verge of extinction:
The endearing feature of this microscopic merchant community is its
compelling sense of duty and obligation towards other Parsis. Like one large
close-knit family, they assist each other, sharing success and rallying to
support in failure. There were no Parsi beggars in a country abounding in
 35

beggars. The moment a Parsi strikes it rich he devotes a big portion of his
energies to charity. He builds schools, hospitals and orphanage, provides
housing, scholarships and finance. (TCE 21)
Speaking about the word Parsi and its identity Daruwalla says:
Identities have roots hidden in the dark. Labels are billboards. I don’t know
whether we should foist on the Indian literary scene or not. Any parsi and
Hindu and Muslim literatures… Literature, produced by minorities shares its
frustrations and aspirations with the rest of the Indian community. Yet it is
conceded that each community can have its literary space, its own mental
ghettos. Writing fiction includes or concerns about your people and your
milieu. (Keki Daruwalla, 83-84)
The narrative employs comic and ironic modes at the levels of realization of
Zoroastrian values in the lives of Freddy and his two sons, Billy and Yazdi. At one
level Freddy’s rise is as a businessman and his ultimate success as a Parsi in
acquiring material wealth and social prestige and at another, his interest is genuine
in utilizing this newly acquired wealth for the purposes of charity and benevolence.
On the one hand, he acquires wealth through a fraudulent insurance scheme in
which he sets fire to his shop and frightens his mother-in-law. Thus he becomes
both the master of his house and a rich man. On the other hand, he uses money for
purposes of charity and benevolence.
According to Zoroastrianism, man exists in a self-governing state. Freedom of
choice is a cardinal principle in Prophet Zoroaster’s teachings. Sidhwa gives more
importance to the Zoroastrian:
And this freedom of choice extends also to Good and Evil aspects of
God himself. Evil is necessary so that God may triumph. Yet Evil by
itself does not exist, it is relative, depending upon the distance from
God at which the individual stands upon the path of Asha – the Eternal
Truth – the grand cosmic plan of God. (TCE 124)
In the narrative, Soli’s ultimate death and Yazdi’s renunciation are the
corresponding reactions of Freddy’s sinister deeds. His initial failure to comprehend
the “laws of happiness and misery” is in sharp contrast to his charity, benevolence and
philanthropic deeds which are the result of self-knowledge. Thus the Zoroastrian
worldview constitutes the core of the narrative in the novel.
 36

Charity is the value which provides the impetus for Freddy’s sustained mercantile
activity. It is best illustrated when he donates. He believes that, “Once you have the
means, there is no end to the good you can do. I donated towards the construction of
an orphanage and a hospital. I installed a water pump with a stone plaque dedicating it
to my friend, Mr.Charles P.Allen.”(TCE 10)
Here lies the salient feature and highlight of the novel. As Bapsi Sidhwa’s mode
of perception is ironic, she shows that Faredoon’s charitable deeds do not make him a
paragon of virtue but one tinged with self-promotion. He himself admits once, “I’ve
made friends–loved them–for what could be called ‘ulterior motives’ and yet the
friendships so made are amongst my sweetest, longest and most sincere. I cherish
them still.” (TCE 11)
Even charity has an ulterior motive, a token of gratitude to former deputy-
commissioner Charles B. Allen, who granted Freddy a trade license with Afghanistan.
There are numerous examples of generosity and charity and they are done with self
interest. When he helped Bobby Katrak escape police charges for killing a beggar
while rashly driving his silver Ghost Rolls-Royce, the amiable Fareedoon claims fifty
thousand rupees as expenses to bribe Mr.Gibbons, the Inspector General of Police.
The bribe is only ten thousand rupees and the remaining forty thousand is stowed in
his special kitty. Freddy blends generosity and self-interest as a shrewd and tactful
Parsi. Sidhwa, an “insider” in the Parsi community, writes about charity which is part
of the Zoroastrian ethos as:
The moment a Parsi strikes it rich, he devotes a big portion of his energies to
charity. He builds schools, hospitals and orphanages provide housing,
scholarships and finance. Notorious misers, they are paradoxically generous to
a cause. (TCE 21)
Sidhwa gives more importance to the Zoroastrian:
Good and Evil are the aspects of God himself. Evil is necessary so that God
may triumph. Yet Evil by itself does not exist, it is relative, depending upon
the distance from God at which the individual stands upon the path of Asha –
the Eternal Truth – the grand cosmic plan of God. (TCE 124)
In the narrative, Soli’s ultimate death and Yazdi’s renunciation are the
corresponding reactions of Freddy’s sinister deeds. His initial failure to comprehend
the “laws of happiness and misery” is in sharp contrast to his charity, benevolence and
philanthropic deeds which are the result of self-knowledge. Thus the Zoroastrian
 37

worldview constitutes the core of the narrative in the novel. Bapsi Sidhwa’s mode of
perception is ironic, which is the salient feature of the novel. In a characteristic
ambivalent and ironic tone she says, “This was the kitty he dipped into to help others
and occasionally himself.” (TCE 96) Bapsi Sidhwa uses irony to create humour and to
present the ambivalent attitude towards charity of Freddy. Here irony is a mode of
acceptance, a type of philosophy, highlighting the Parsi paradox. The author shows
that Faredoon developed his philanthropic image to increase his business contacts and
to appear selfless and counter the impression of being toddy of the British. It is this
ambivalent attitude towards charity, which has really piqued Parsi sensibilities, as
generosity is shown as not just part of the value system but linked with the appearance
and reality theme. She shows that Faredoon’s charitable deeds do not make him a
paragon of virtue but one tinged with self-promotion. He himself admits once:
‘I’ve made friends– love them – for what could be called “ulterior motives’”
and yet the friendships so made are amongst my sweetest, longest and most
sincere. I cherish them still.’ (TCE 11)
In this narrative, Sidhwa portrays the Parsi mind. The novel serves as a sound
introduction to Parsi life in that it abounds in descriptions of many rituals and
ceremonies. Sidhwa writes about fire:
Fire, which has its source in primo dial light, symbolizes not only His Cosmic
creation, but also the spiritual nature of His Eternal Truth. Smoking, which is
tantamount to defiling the holy symbol with spit, is strictly taboo, as
sacrilegious sin.(TCE 49)
Freddy and the other members of his family, like any traditional Parsi, do not
permit cooking fire to be extinguished. It is preserved in ashes at night, and fanned
alive each morning. Parsis still stick to the ancient method of disposal of dead bodies.
There is an explicit prohibition against cremation or burial. A Parsi’s last charitable
act on earth is the donation of his dead body to hungry birds. In this novel, one night,
Jerbanoo refers to this custom with pride much to the embarrassment of Freddy. She
says, “It was his final act of charity! Every Parsi is committed to feeding his last
remains to the vultures. You may cheat them but not God! As my beloved husband
Jehangirjee Chinimini said, “Our Zarathusti faith is based on charity.””(TCE 47)
Sidhwa unlike several eulogies of Parsis by Parsis does not exalt the community but
only places Parsi life in perspective. It offers a rich insider’s insight into Parsi life.
The parsi background and focus give additional significance to the narrative as very
 38

little is known of this isolationist community. Narendra Kumar observes,

“According to Zoroastrianism, man exists in a self-governing state. Freedom of
choice is a cardinal principle in Prophet Zoroaster’s teachings.”(Narendra Kumar,
34)
The holy books, The Bible, the Bhagavad-Gita, the Holy Quran, the books
representing the Sikh, Jain and Buddhist faiths along with the Avesta, the holy book
of the Parsis on a shelf right above Freddy’s prayer table indicate the Parsis’ religious
tolerance and reverence for all faiths. Commenting upon Freddy’s prayer table,
Sidhwa eulogizes the Zoroastrian faith and tradition:
Beneath the shelf, on the prayer table, there is a holy lamp with a likeness of
the Prophet Zarathustra stamped on its glass shade. The Prophet held aloft his
finger to remind his followers of the one and only God. The table once again
echoed his reverence for all faiths; A Hindu scholar says that ‘the Gospel of
Zarathustra, ….the Gathas, covered all the ground from the Rig-Veda to the
Bhagawad-Gita, a period extending over fifteen hundred years at least, in the
short span of a single generation … Zoroastrianism lies, thus, at the centre of
all the great religions of the world, Aryan and Semitic….’(TCE 52)
The overall mode of the novel is comic, it is not social comedy like that of Jane
Austen or a satirical comedy of Swift or a comedy of manners, but is a genial
comedy. The view of life of Bapsi Sidhwa is expansive. Human foibles and follies are
treated with tolerance and mild corrective irony. As mentioned earlier Freddy’s
charitable deeds may not exalt him to the level of a paragon of Zoroastrian values, as
they are certainly tinged with self-promotion.
After the ceremony for the welfare of his dead son Soli, Freddy makes the
customary proclamation of charity. He declares that his family would construct a
school in Karachi. It takes almost a lifetime for Freddy to have a glimpse of the law of
God governing the universe. Freddy’s realization of his limitations is accompanied by
self-knowledge. He admits as:
It has taken me a long time to comprehend evil and good – and a life-time to
catch just a glimpse of the path of Asha, God’s grand plan for man and the
cosmos. Yes the strength of God cosmos to the man of good action and such a
man is gifted progressively with the Good Mind, the Vahu Mana, God’s own
mind … Thus spoke Zorathustra! (TCE 281)
 39

Structurally, the narrative employs the shifting locale of Central India where
Freddy’s journey starts, to Lahore, Karachi, Bombay, and London. The narrative
vividly and creatively employs the dynamics of change as integral to the materialistic
and spiritual compulsions of Freddy. Lahore becomes the ultimate metaphor for his
fulfilment in mercantile activity as much as a locale for practising the Zoroastrian
virtues in society. Here we can see certain features of dislocation and displacement
and even initial disorientation. However, gradually, like any migrant, with an
unfailing tenacity, resourcefulness, and sheer will to succeed at any cost, Freddy rises
like a meteor. Freddy can be regarded as an archetypal migrant, given his enterprising
nature and positive hope. Here “migration” though not as sweeping and traumatic as it
usually is, involves certain of the features of dislocation, displacement.
At the beginning of his quest, Freddy is an “outsider,” struggling to achieve
success and social recognition. He becomes a total “insider” at the end of the
narrative. Commenting on the pattern of migration in Bapsi Sidhwa’s novels, Cicely
Havely remarks:
In Sidhwa’s work, there is no migration or partition without loss. Even
Freddy’s jovial rise exerts its price. But the prevalent comedy of her work also
suggests that migration is one of life’s essential rhythms and that the losses it
incurs are made good with gains in self-knowledge (Cicely Havely, 69)
Freddy’s material prosperity does not ensure peace and harmony. Disgusted with
his father’s materialism, Yazdi renounces life. Thus Freddy’s success as a
businessman is counterbalanced by his failure, at least to some extent, as a family
man. It however, results in self-knowledge, which according to Zoroastrianism, is the
end of life.
In the novel, “space” acts as a symbol of growth, synthesis of culture, and ultimate
integration. Freddy acquires adequate social space for his irreversible mercantile drive
with his apparently altruistic deeds and acts of charity. If his unflinching loyalty to the
British ensures him social prestige and security, his benevolence and generosity
equally win him many friends and admirers. He even removes the sheet from his dead
son’s face, which, according to orthodox Parsis, is a sacrilege. When the men of his
community protest, he replies:
‘They had stood all this while to see my son: let them. What does it matter if
they are not Parsis? They are my brothers; and if I can look upon my son’s
face, so can they!’ The bier moved slowly through the hushed, bowed heads
 40

lining the street. At the small graveyard … sun to pray over their sacred
threads. (TCE 179-180)
This cosmopolitan gesture of Freddy is a vivid testimony to his ability to create
enough social space for himself in society. Likewise, when Mr.Sodawalla’s son is
desperately in need of help, Freddy acts instantly. He responds not because something
personal is involved but only because the reputation of the Parsi community is at
stake. There is a strong sense of community in Freddy which earns him the position of
patriarch in the Parsi community of Lahore. In the novel it is stated that, “Something
will have to be done … Not for that ... wiped his eyes with a huge white handkerchief,
and raised grateful, supplicating eyes to his brother’s anticipated saviour.” (TCE 152)
Though loyalty to the ruler of the state is advocated in the Zoroastrian worldview,
Freddy’s loyalty to the British has no religious character. It merely acts as a means to
achieve self-promotion. His identification with the colonizer is strong. A striking
manifestation of this identity crisis is the dying Faredoon Junglewalla’s vehement
protests against the nationalist movement and exhortations to his offspring to remain
loyal to the British Empire. Dadabhai Naoroji is referred to as “that misguided Parsi
from Bombay” (TCE 282) who started “something called Congress and keeps
shooting off his mouth like a lunatic, “Quit India! Quit India!” (TCE 282) However
shocking Faredoon Junglewalla’s views may be, they were representative of a
majority of Parsis, especially the business class, bankers and civil servants. Except for
a fringe minority, drawn into the vortex of the nationalist movement, the majority of
the Parsi community shared the views expressed by Faredoon Junglewalla on the
freedom struggle:
‘What happens? He utters ideas. People like Gandhi pick them up-people like
Vallabhbhai Patel and Bose and Jinnah and Nehru….and that other fool in
Karachi, Adil Mama. What does he do? He sacrifices his business and
abandons his family to the vicissitudes of poverty. He wears a Gandhi cap,
handloom shirt, and … Sikhs, Bengalis, Tamils and God knows who else will
have their share; and they won’t want you!’(TCE 282)
Freddy’s charitable deeds ensure him social space and his interest in mysticism is
the outcome of the trauma in his life. Makarand Paranjape points out that Freddy
“becomes a much more rounded character realizing the mystery, complexity and the
limitations of life.”(Makarand Paranjape, 87) Freddy’s realization of his own
limitations is a significant step in the direction of self-knowledge.
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Contentment, a virtue in the Zoroastrian way of life, is the cornerstone of Freddy’s

life. According to him one must respect one’s needs. He argues, “But God has
fashioned man as a creature of desires and fulfilling desires brings contentment, the
driving force, the essence of life. Such a man follows the divine path of Asha” (TCE
113). He realizes, though late in life, that only a contented mind is receptive to
spiritual knowledge.
Tariq Rahman remarks that, “Freddy’s slang words mark him out as the kind of
person who is indifferent to the norms of ordinary moral behaviour”(Tariq Rahman,
8). The Journal of Common Wealth Literature, 8) Thus Sidhwa successfully brings
out his lack of conventionality through her deviant use of English, pragmatic and
tactful. However, Freddy is presented as a man of realities who does more good than a
do-gooder.
The changing Parsi milieu brought out by Sidhwa is depicted by throwing light on
their changing ways of dressing. Parsis maintained group identity by their dress. But
even in the matter of dress, generational change is evident. Faredoon and his family
took pride in their traditional mode of dress:
Faredoon made a point of giving small alms every Friday and his wife and
mother-in-law never appeared in public without mathabanas, white kerchieves
wound around the hair to fit like skull caps. The hold-thread circling their
waist was austerely displayed and sacred undergarments, worn beneath short
blouses, modestly aproned their sari-wrapped hips. (TCE 23)
Mixed marriage is one of the challenges which the microscopic Zoroastrian
community confronts today. Though outwardly iconoclastic, Freddy, like the majority
in the Parsi community, does not favour mixed marriage. With the help of the local
Parsis, Freddy settles down in Lahore. Cat mouse game is played between him and his
cantankerous mother-in-law Jerbanoo. Old Jerbanoo is often greedy. And much to
Freddy’s chagrin, this fact goes almost unnoticed by his wife Putli, who is now busy
taking care of their expanding family. Interspersed in their family saga are the stories
of the Parsi community, their births and weddings, the customs and traditions and
their copings with the recent brush with modernity. Besides the limited status they
enjoyed as a minority community, another reason for the supreme respect and regard
the Parsis showed for the British was the social code of their religion. The basic
attitude of the followers of Zorathustra towards a ruler was that of loyalty to the ruler
which gave Zoroastrianism the rank of a state religion that permitted a close
 42

relationship between the state and the community, based on mutual support. All that
the Parsis wanted from the ruling British authorities was religious autonomy and
protection and they got both. The ideal state in Zoroastrian philosophy is free of a
deification of the ruler. The conception of a good ruler is more a just and religiously
tolerant exercise of authority.
Another sound sociological factor which explains the consistent loyalty of the
Parsis to the British is aptly enumerated by the eminent historian D.F.Karaka in his
scholarly work, History of Parsis, “When they, Parsis who were reduced until
recently to a miserable state of persecution, they fully and rightly appreciate blessings
which they enjoy under the British Government.”(D.F.Karaka, 321)
Such feelings were prevalent in the Parsi milieu and Bapsi Sidhwa aptly conveys
it in The Crow Eaters. Freddy took every opportunity to demonstrate his loyalty to the
British. After settling down in Lahore, he wore his finest and most resplendent clothes
to visit the Government House and sign his name in the visitor’s book. This was his
way of establishing his credentials and stressing his loyalty to the Queen and Crown.
According to social historians, on occasions like royal birthdays, coronation
ceremonies, the Parsis demonstrated their collective loyalty through public meetings
and Jashens which are group prayers. Parsis termed Britain’s Wars as just and
essential for world peace, progress of civilization, and freedom. If such was the
prevailing social milieu, Faredoon Junglewalla’s reference to the former Deputy
Commissioner, Charles P.Allen’s children as “my prince” and his vitriolic outbursts
against the freedom movement led by Dadabhai Naoroji of the Congress do not strike
as sheer exaggeration or eccentricity on part of Freddy but as the author’s deeply
perceptive insight into the workings of the Parsi mind.
Bapsi Sidhwa constantly lampoons the zeal with which the leading Parsi business
magnates, Faredoon Junglewalla, Mr.Toddywalla, and the baronet Khan Bahadur Sir
Noshirwan Jeevanjee Easymoney championed the British cause. For purposes of trade
and business the British granted the Parsis a special status as brokers and reliable
trading partners. Being a shrewd observer of human fallibility Bapsi Sidhwa reflects
this identity search in several situations and aspects in The Crow Eaters.
The apprehensions of Faredoon are not the figment of a dying man’s fevered
imagination but are based on social reality. With a dying man’s perceptiveness he
hints at the necessity of changing allegiances. Following a query by his son-in-law,
Bobby Katrak, about the future of the Parsis after Independence, Faredoon makes a
 43

prophetic statement, “Faredoon said softly, ‘we will stay where we are … let Hindus,
Muslims, Sikhs, or whoever, rule. What does it matter? The sun will continue to rise
… and the sun continues to set – in their arsis …!”(TCE 281)
In the novel, time has a double function to perform, at one level, as the fictional
chronological of the cyclical and retrospective rendering of Freddy and genealogy; at
another level, it serves as a medium of intuitive journey. As in the twentieth century
literature, time here also is “relative” and spatialized. For Sidhwa, time provides, at least
in this narrative, a symbolic amphitheater and it begins where it ends in a retrospective
manner. In no case, time is absolute as each moment in the lives of Freddy, Yazdi and
Billy on one hand, and Putli, Jerbanoo and Yasmine on the other, is used with a “relative”
purpose. Here time performs a materialistic function in the case of Freddy and Billy and a
vital spiritual function in Yazdi. For Yazdi, time is mystical whereas in the case of
Jerbanoo, Putli and Yasmin, it has only the ordinary function of routine values. For them,
time performs a social and domestic function.
Sidhwa uses history as the creative medium to focus Pakistan in the right
perspective. As a Parsi, her relation to national history is only marginal. But this
marginality becomes an unprecedented source of creative energy as in all postcolonial
literatures. The Crow Eaters ends with Freddy’s dire prophecy of Partition, “The fools
will break up the country. The Hindus will have one part, Muslims the other. Sikhs,
Bengalis, Tamils and God know who else will have their share; and they won’t want
you!” (TCE 283)
The Crow Eaters might easily praised as as an Indian rather than a Pakistani
novel. While much of the story is situated in Lahore, the story takes place before
Partition. Furthermore, Sidhwa herself seemed to see the book as Indian, by
explaining that the title is taken from an idiom belonging to the Indian subcontinent,
anyone who talks too much is said to have eaten crows. In the New Statesman it is
stated that “Bapsi Sidhwa’s The Crow Eaters is an excellent novel, a book about India
which one can whole heartedly enjoy rather than respectfully admire.”(Karka, 321)
Similarly, Frank Rudman in the Spectator notes that “The Crow Eaters is a wholly
charming passage to India.” (The Spectator, 25) [52]
Many critics have seen The Crow Eaters is a novel which describes pre-Partition
days. The Fontana / Collins edition, for example, made a point of stressing that The
Crow Eaters is Pakistani by noting on the cover that it is “A Novel of Pakistan.” The
Crow Eaters has received acclaim as an entertaining social farce, with critics lauding
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Sidhwa’s charming characters and unabashed use of “barnyard” humour. Reviewers

have additionally praised her portrayal of an ethically questionable protagonist in The
Crow Eaters without subjecting him to moralizing judgements.
Faredoon, towards the end of his life, becomes philosophical and detached. Bapsi
Sidhwa fuses the key elements of low comedy with a vision that is largely and
typically Indian. This vision springs from a philosophic attitude which regards the
world as leela or play. All characters perform their assigned roles within this pattern,
none more or less valid than the other. The individual, no matter how enterprising and
determined, merely plays his part in a larger purpose, which is ultimately inscrutable
and mysterious. Faredoon himself realizes this when he cannot prevent his son’s death
and his other son’s renunciation of the world he loves so much. It is reviewed by Asif
as:
It is not only its language which sets The Crow Eaters apart but its entire
approach. The author’s obvious affection for the community at the heart of the
novel in no way prevents her from poking fun at its all too human foibles. The
humour is irreverent but irresistible. The Pakistani novel, assuming that such a
thing exists, is inclined to hold its head high among lofty and abstract ideals,
being mindful of all possible Sacred Cows. But Junglewalla Sahib is a lovable
old rogue and not a paragon of virtue (Dawn, 32)
In a book review Raj Kumar says:
Writers like Sidhwa enrich the English language in their search for new means
of expression by adapting native proverbs and phrases and weaving them into
their writing, so that the whole language seems to receive a new rhythm. Bapsi
Sidhwa is hailed as a trailblazer and The Crow Eaters is a masterpiece which
shows proper role of English in India as not merely that of “a window on the
world” but as a medium through which we could look in and estimate and
savour what this subcontinent has to offer (Tribune, 45).
Randhir Pratap Singh in his book Bapsi Sidhwa opines:
Sidhwa has done a great service to the Parsis by showcasing the different
aspects of their life in her novels. She has not only preserved them but also
provided the non-Parsi world with a better understanding of their ways of life,
their faith and values (Pratap Singh, 20).
The Crow Eaters thus explores both the superficial and the more profound
dimensions of the comic mode. Not only is it an entertaining satire and farce on the
 45

foibles of its main characters, but it also embodies a larger vision of the world, a
vision which is best described as broad, tolerant, and sympathetic. This vision is
comic in the same sense as Chaucer’s vision or Shakespeare’s in his comedies is
comic, for it tries to convey the variety, diversity, vitality, and validity of life at all
points.