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MAHARAJA KUMAR: A MYSTICAL CHARACTER IN KIRAN
NAGARKAR’S CUCKOLD (1997)

DR. S. B. BHAMBAR JAYASHRI D. JANGANURE

Associate professor, Research Student
Department of English, Shivaji University,
Arts and Commerce College, Kolhapur
Nesari, Tal. Gadhinglaj,
Dist. Kolhapur

ABSTRACT:
Mystical characters always try to acquire a new vision towards the life
which is more modified than the previous one, this new knowledge about
the life changes his attitude towards the world and that can be realized in
the behaviors of characters. In mysticism getting the vision or enlightened
with a new knowledge is a very significant achievement of a mystic. This
new achievement shifts his thoughts from ordinary to extra-ordinary,
subjective to objective so that he can shape his and public life as well and
get peace in his life. Mystical experiences are often realized with the
sense of mysterious things. A person who has religious faith and believes in
the existence of realities beyond human comprehension and realizes
spiritual experiences is known as a mystic. Mystical experiences are
similarly being occurred across the cultures and religions since the times
immemorial. Generally Mysticism is defined as the way of making contact
with the divine. Differing from the traditional assumption that the only
religious ceremony related practitioners could essentially be mystics but in
recent times anyone including literate, illiterate, scholars, scientists,
politicians, etc. can establish their relationships and communicate to the
God through the spirituality. The present paper attempts to explore how
Maharaja Kumar unlike his wife Meerabai turns and molds his common
politician life into spiritual life and for this, unlike his wife Meerabai,
Kumar develops his personal beliefs and thoughts to be oneness with
almighty.
Keywords: Mystic, Vision, Culture, Religion, Spirituality And Surrender.
Kiran Nagarkar, is one of the significant Indian novelists, his novel Cuckold appeared in 1997
that discontinues his narrative concern of social issues and limelighted the spiritual world of
India from a different perspective. It tries to judge the Hindu mystic stories from the
rationalistic and modern perspective. The ultimate goal of the novel is not only to redefine the
Hindu devotional ways of oneness with the almighty, but it is also an attempt to undertake a
meditation on the religious facts different from the accepted mainstream realities. The novel
achieves him recognition and critical acclaim placing him distinct in the contemporary Indian
literary traditions.

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The novel Cuckold varies from other mystic novels since it has different thematic content, as
it moves into the alleys of dark secretes of the feudal monarch Rajput to the illuminating
divine mind of mystic Princess Saint Meera. It is also seen that the novel is not only
exploring the life of mystic Meerabai but also invades how historical and political personality
possessed her husband Maharaja Kumar turns, shapes and molds his life in spirituality. Due
to such an unconventional rendering of the mystic thematic concern, the novel stands
different in the tradition of mystic novels. One cannot be underestimated for the mystic focus
of the narration which is set in the very title of the novel. Though the novel aliens its story
line with the political careers of Rana Kumbha, Rana Sanga and Rana Kumar, it is primarily a
mystic transformation of Meera and Kumar.
The novel’s purview is so vast that it encompasses the personal life and especially the mystic
life of Kumar. At the very outset in the novel Kumar has not that much interest in the
spiritual life of Meerabai but gradually Kumar develops his interest and that is seen as he
finds her “joyous, ecstatic tranquillity” (369). Mystics as they are beyond the physical
pleasure, they deserve the inner joy which is unearthly in its nature. In their stay at
Kumbhalgarh, they visited to Ranapur Jain temple, where at the dawn Meera sings that gives
a divine, mystic experience to Kumar.
In most of the recorded cases of mystic, it is observed that their fame has surpassed the
boundaries of religion, culture, race, creed and any times even political boundaries of the
nation. Not only the common people but the renowned saints also starts recognizing her as
blessed one. It is observed that when one of the disciples of the late Chaitanya Mahaprabhu,
Swami Rupa Goswami, initially rejected her visit but afterwards when he realizes her powers,
he visits her. Kumar also reveal that the history of Rajput Clane is brutal and blood ridden.
The narrator has deliberately explored this notion of scared kingship and also explored the
dark history of Rajputs, only to formulate a dark ground to illuminate the divine personalities
of Meera and Kumar. Thus, it can be claimed that there is his wife Meerabai who first
influenced to drive his common politician life to a spiritual, mystic one.
Besides such kind of paradoxical and binary exploration, Nagarkar also deals with the notion
of God among the Rajput. The God Sun appeared many times in the narration. Though
Kumar’s devotion is not as high as his wife, his thoughts are audibly mystic. If it is judged in
the entire frame of narration and the centrally extended metaphor, one can say that by
pushing in the long elaborative abstracts about the Hindu Gods, the author wants to keep his
track of mysticism revitalized amid the historical and political exploration of 16th century
Mewar. For instance, Kumar describes Kalika Mata Mandir as follows –
The pujari at the Kalika Mata temple lightly tolls the bell and then in a voice
that is as clear and crystalline as the sky this morning sings the Surya Stotra.
(Did you know that the Kalika Mata temple was originally dedicated to the
Sun-god?) He sings of the brilliance of Surya Deva. He tells of the god’s
chariot, its seven horses and his charioteer, Arun, whose torso ends at his waist.
He marvels at the journey the god makes every day across the dome of the sky.
His speed is light and his medium is light and his message is light. I stretch my
hands out and gather an armful of the sun’s rays.
This elaborative motif description of Sun God stands with the central motif of mysticism of
the novel. If it is turned to be the socio-political novel as many other critics categorize it, then

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authors have not described these theological terminologies in detail. Further, in the novel, on
one incidence, the readers came across the different names of Krishna through the thoughts of
Kumar. When his wife takes the name of Lord Krishna as her lover, Kumar thinks –
Why had she not chosen Shiva, Brahma, Indra, Agni, Varuna, Vishnu or any
of the other gods? How did she pick the name of the Gita-god, Shri Krishna,
Krishna, Bal Krishna, Flautist, Giridhar, Gopal, Govinda, Atmaram, Shyam,
the Peacock-feathered One, Vasudev, Kanhaiyya, Kanha, Murlidhar, Kaliya
Mardan, Nagar, Madhusudan and a thousand other names and aliases? (119)
This kind of naming the God with different names is also one of the most significant
characteristics of the Hindu mystical writings. The mention of names of Lord Krishna is
deliberate to focus the mystic motif of the novel. The narrator could have mentioned his one
name, but then the narration will be limitedly interpreted as a story of schizophrenic husband
who keeps on suspecting his wife. It is beyond that and author has proved it by demonstrating
the deep knowledge of Hindu mythology.
Further, when Kumar learnt that Meera is in love with the Lord Krishna, his thoughts reveals
Lord Vishnu’s incarnation on the earth. It is revealed that his sensitive mind is influenced by
the stories of Lord Krishna in his childhood. When his thoughts reflect on the stories told by
Queen mother and Kausalya, he realizes that all other mythical heroes – Bhima, Ram, Shiva,
Laxshman, Bhishma, Hanuman – are static and only exception to them is the Lord Krishna.
The narrator explores his thoughts as follows –
The god seemed to grow with him. There was not one Shri Krishna but at the
very least, three or four. He was protean and he changed his role according to
the circumstances in which he found himself. You could not put your finger on
his character and say, yes this is him. He defied definition. You could never
predict how he was going to act or react. Did he have principles? Yes, he did.
And yet if the occasion called for it, he kept them in abeyance, changed them
or forgot them. Was he ruthless and unscrupulously opportunistic? Sometimes.
But the Flautist wouldn’t have framed the questions quite that way or would
have subtly side-tracked them while answering them. (123)
He remembered that how Lord Krishna as a child killed the demons like – Trinavartta,
Aghasura and Dhenukasura and at the same time surprises Gokul with the innocent smiles;
shows cosmic darshan to his forest mother Yasahoda; his killing of Kansa; his proclamation
of Geeta; his braveries, miracles and diplomacy in the war filed of Kurukshetra; and his
intelligence in the advice to Bhima in the killing of Jarasandha. This long narration on
Vishnu’s incarnation as a Lord Krishna on earth is an attempt to build a mystic, miraculous
and divine character of Krishna who is also one of the significant partners of Love triangle of
the novel. It can be observed that Kumar’s diplomacy is also influenced by Krishna. He
observes that in Rajput masculine model believes in keeping dignity even sacrificing life, but
Lord Krishna never minds to run away from the battle field to save his life. Such kinds of
diplomacy many times help Kumar to win the war when his army was on verge of defeat.
My mind was numb. Shiva is the Destroyer but they say he destroys to create
anew. I find it impossible to barter with God, you give me this and I’ll give
you that and I hate to treat him as a petition box. I lay on my stomach and took
his name seventeen times, then I said, ‘I wish you well, O God. I hope you’ll

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keep us well too. Bahadur is as much your guest as mine. We’ve always
treated our guests with honour and generosity. I trust we won’t fail them now
either. May your blessed hand rest over my head and Bahadur’s.’ (131)
This statement reveals three different things. One, it reveals the importance of the lord Shiva
in the smooth functioning of the universe. It reveals the most significate idea of Trinity in
Hinduism. The trinity in Hinduism stands for the functions like creation, maintenance and
destruction which are very important to keep moving the cycle of the universe. In this trinity
– Lord Brahma is the creator; his creation is maintained by Lord Vishnu and it was destroyed
by Lard Shiva. So, Kumar prays Shiva to destroy the calamity of his guest and recover him to
the health. Second, the act of praying for the son of enemy suggests two important maxims of
Hindu religion – “Paropkar Parmodharma” or “Paropkar Punyaya Papaya parapedanam”.
Third is one more maxim “Atithi Devo Bhava” which is also strictly followed by Maharaja
Kumar.
Thus, the reflections of Kumar over the childhood stories of Lord Krishna and the conscious
praying of the Lord Shiva, reveals the sensitive mind of the Kumar who believes in traditions.
Thus, the novel reveals that Kumar is a perfect blend of shrewd political strategist; brutal
worrier and a sensitive human being. When his friend Prince Bahadur survived from his fatal
injuries, he once again goes to the temple of Eklingji and thinks that, “Shiva had nearly
destroyed the Shehzada and now he had recreated him almost from his ashes” (141). Thus, as
the narrator explores his thoughts, readers also acquainted with the mystic corner of Kumar’s
heart. It is clearly seen when he realizes his defeat and accepts that he could not think
rationally to return, he surrenders to the woman. But then also he gets a very wearied
experience, he describes it as follows –
Eight hands picked him up. Four supported him, one touched his face as if to
learn its features, one groped around his chest and shoulders, the seventh felt
his member and the last one pulled his hair. He felt a tongue lick his face, the
hands ripped off his clothes and the tongue touched his feet and his neck. How
long was it? Was it one tongue or many? The hands sat him up. (168)

The description is not sketching of an ordinary witch but it is in fact resembles with goddess
Adishkati, Parashakati, Kali, and Shyama who is worshiped by tantric sect of Hinduism. The
experience cannot be judged with the normal senses, but it can only be understood as
supernatural.
In Bhootani Mata episode Kumar realizes the unseen power of Bhootani Mata when he meets
her she says that, “I thought as much. Who wants freedom when you can have perpetual
bondage?” (169). The question asked by Bhootani Mata are not the simple questions asked
out of curiosity but it is highly philosophical question which can be understood only in the
context of mysticism. The word ‘freedom’ here means not a freedom that we generally use
with its colloquial meaning. This freedom means the freedom from worldly desires and the
freedom from the cycle of reincarnation on the earth which is called as Moksha. She further
continues her questions and asks – “How far are you willing to go?” (169). This question is
also a tricky one as it asks that how much you can ready to do to achieve this freedom. How
much pains he can bear to get through the process of attaining the Moksha. The tantric lady’s
context is philosophical and religious one, however Kumar fails to understand it and answers

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that “money is no consideration” (169). She becomes angry on him and also finds him
ineligible to perceive what she is trying to suggest. So, she ends her illusion and let the
Kumar go out of the cave with the final words that, “When you know the answer, I’ll be there.
But by then you may not need me.” (170)
This Bhootani Mata episode is also important to understand the difference between Meera
and Kumar. Meera is a born mystic; however Kumar is in a process of it. Meera is
representing divine, however Kumar is a representative of an ordinary man with his
ignorance. Meera stands for Knowledge however, Kumar stands for ignorance. Meera has
already understood that what she wants and has slipped into the state of Samadhi where one
goes beyond the physical world. Bhootani Mata is trying to ask Kumar that how far he can go
to achieve this kind of state but instead of understanding it he prefers to be remain in the
bondage of physical world. Kumar lives in utter confusion, ignorance of spiritual world and
prefers the alluring illusions. Verrier Elwin in his article rightly commented on this Bhootani
Mata episode, he writes –
The spirit speaks through him and the person can incarnate a woman, a man,
old or young and behave like one. The picture that emerges is a curious one:
on the one hand, we discern traces of kindness and amiability, even love, a
willingness to help, a concern for human welfare. On the other, there is greed,
temper, selfishness and an extraordinary lack of dignity. (233)
The episode of Bhootani Mata also shows the two sides of the world – one is filled with the
physical pleasures and second is filled with samashan bairagya. One is physical love,
however second is a physical revulsion. One stands for bondage of the body however second
stands for the freedom. Bhootani Mata shows her two appearances in one she is “a toothless,
blind and naked old” and second is young lady with a sensual beauty. Ordinary man prefers
the second kind of illusion and wants to be in the perpetual bondage of the physical world.
However, the mystic like Meera chooses to be free to attain the oneness with the Chaitanya.
In Hinduism there are two binary notions and the world is spread during them. One is called
as ‘Jada’ that physical and second is ‘Chaitanya’ that is spiritual. Kumar, Karamavati, Rana
Sanga, Leelawati, Kausalya, Vikaramaditya, Sunharia, Managal, Mamata, Bahadur stand in
between these two binary points few are nearer to the first one few are nearer to the second
one. Only Meera stands on the second point and is not in between these binary oppositions.
This notion of Moksha further frequently lingers at the outskirt of the plot and allures the
characters like Kumar. The reference of reincarnation is further appeared in the story when
Prince Bahadur kills Rajendra. After returning from the cremation of Rajendra, Kumar prays
to Eklingji and asks Him to embrace the soul of Rajendra and free him from the cycle of birth
and death. It should be noted here that in Hinduism, everything is cyclical as time itself has
no any beginning and no any end. Therefore, Moksha becomes more important to free oneself
from the perpetual cycle of reincarnation.
It should be understood that the novel is not just the transformation of Meera into an
enlightened mystic, but it is also a transformation of Maharaja Kumar. Throughout the novel,
it can be observed that no one could recognize Meera’s divinity, but Kumar keeps with her at
every stage of mystic transformation. He was there when all of Chittor stigmatizes her as a
royal whore; he as husband tries to restrict her from dancing and singing in front of the
people but in the core of heart, he knows that he cannot stop it. When Meera starts behaving

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as if she is possessed, it was Kumar who goes to Bhootani Mata to bring Meera back to the
human world. When on the Janmashtami Meera dances at the Brindamani temple,
Karamavati wants him to drag her to the palace, it was Kumar who suggests that it is her way
of worship and we should respect it. When Meera bargains her life with the god for the safety
of Chittor from the epidemic of Cholera and fells ill, it was Kumar who nurse her for seven
days and seven nights. It is his love for Meera, that even after insisting by many others for the
remarriage, Kumar frequently rejects the idea. His second marriage is also against his will
and motivated by the political inevitability. He in order to get the attention and love painted
himself in a blue indigo powder to create disguise of the Lord Krishna, which also infected
his skin. He wears the costumes of woman to play rasa-leela with her. In the last scene when
he receives a letter from Kausalya, where she suggests to keep himself away from Meera as
she is the major distracter of his career as a King of Mewar, he for the first time openly
admits that –
But there is only one woman for me. It is not Leelawati and it is not Kausalya.
It is my wife. I will follow her to Brindaban, to Mathura, to the gates of hell,
even to heaven if the gods will have me. (634)
This is the last line of the novel and it is not the simple end of the story of Kumar and Meera
but it is on the larger scale a mystic. This is the point where Kumar turned into a mystic like
Meera. It is not the end of Kumar but it is intriguing begging of him as a mystic. This
realization of Kumar is not less important than the divine realization of Meera.
In order to sustain this larger than life image of Kumar and fit it in the mystic narrative
structure of the novel, in the epilogue, the author gives the historical theories about the
sudden disappearance of Kumar. Few theories depict that Maharaja Kumar was killed at
Baswa; few of them maintains that Maharaj Kumar escaped to Mandu and eloped with
Leelawati into the mountains where Raja Puraji Kika held sway (635); and few of the
theories also locate him at Mathura as a devotee companion of Meera. But there is one more
theory which is more important that allows us to define Kumar as a mystic. In this theory, it
is stated that when Kumar realizes that it is his end, he runs to the temple of Krishna to slay
his most intimate enemy but when he was about to strike, he gets surprised to see his own
image at the place of Lord Krishna. This is the striking moment in the life Kumar where he
enlightened with the knowledge of ‘Ahama Brahmasmi’. The narrator describes this
realization as – “There is no true meditation than music and no journey of discovery greater
than that of looking within” (636). When Kumar was thinking hard about whether to slay the
God or kill himself and when his determination slipping on the later thought, Lord Krishna
says – “Do you not know that you and I are one? My flute and song are on your lips. We love
the same woman. Why, you fool, no power on earth can separate or divide us” (636). In a
moment, Lord Krishna embraces him and when Kumar’s enemy reached to him in terror and
astonishment, they saw that –
One minute the Maharaj Kumar was there, the next he had become invisible.
Had they been dreaming? There was just the end of the Maharaj Kumar’s
turban, the kesariya bana, showing outside the lower left edge of the Flautist’s
chest. (637)
This metaphoric miracle depicted in the epilogue reveals that similar to Meera, Kumar also
attained the divinity.

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The metaphysical and mystic analysis of his character also opens one more perspective that
allows the readers to understand the historical, political, cultural and religious narration from
a modernist point of view. Kumar’s character therefore is not a simple stereotypical King
who fails to sustain his Kingship, but beyond that he is an agent of modern thought in the 16th
Century. It is necessary to understand his mystic side from this modern and historicist point
of views as they also reflect totally a different kind of literary motif behind the mystic literary
enterprise. The claim can be supported with the following statement:
Nagarkar’s version of Bhojraj is obviously not meant to simply complete a
continuist narrative but, by filling those gaps, interrogate the historicist
paradigm as such: paradoxically by fictionalising Bhojraj as a harbinger of
historicism. For the prince in Cuckold, however safely located in the period of
Babur’s seizure of Delhi, . . .. Bhojraj as an anachronistically proleptic figure
more often than not finds himself stranded in a time his own but not his own: a
modernist in a world that must appear pre-modern to him. . . . Nagarkar’s
construction aims not so much at the positing of a possible alternative past full
of roads not taken, but at the recuperation of the past’s actual manifold
heterogeneity (Wiemann 132)
It can be stated that the novel is a mixture of history and mysticism. Nagarkar has used
history only to capture the three-dimensional images of Meera and Kumar. In the afterwards
of the novel, Nagarkar also admits that he is not intended to write history but a novel. Thus,
Kiran Nagarkar’s Cuckold is a story of two mystics – Saint Princess Meera and her husband
Maharaja Kumar. Thus, Meera and Kumar both the protagonists are identical in their unique
natures. Meera is the born mystics as her goal is clear to her; however, Kumar transformed
into mystic due to his explorer to mysticism through his partner. The final realization is very
identical in Kumar. He also provides the logical grounds and the rational perspectives to
mysticism rather than ardently emotional, mystic and mysterious perspectives of his
counterpart.
REFERENCES:
1. Nagarkar, Kiran. Cuckold (1997). UK: Harper Collins, 2015. Reprint.
2. Jinarajadasa, C. Nature of Mysticism. Chennai: Theosophical Publishing House. 1934.
Print.
3. Ghosh, Sisir Kumar. Mystics and Society. Bombay: Asian Publishing House. 1967. Print.

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