Scarless Face and Other Stories… Edited by Griffin Ondaatje

In an age when words like ‘heritage’ and ‘culture’ are usually harnessed for violent reasons, it’s reassuring to find a book where the subcontinent’s common cultural heritage has been celebrated for the sake of peace. Scarless Face and Other Stories… is a collection of Buddhist, Hindu and Muslim fables that are all as relevant today as they were ages ago.

The suggestion to collect and retell these stories came up at a peace conference held in strife-torn Sri Lanka in the early ’90s. The stories were brought together by Griffin Ondaatje, with Canadian writers (of different ethnic backgrounds) retelling them. Since the writers are from a wide cultural canvas, there is a variety of perspectives and styles in the narration of the stories. As Ondaatje says in his introduction, the passing of stories back and forth was a little ‘like getting help in smuggling goods over a border.’ But it isn’t just the sentiment of peace or the beauty of the travelling tale that make this book attractive. Its greatness really lies in the fact that nearly all the stories are fantastic reads.

Particularly breath-taking is Shyam Selvadurai’s The Monkey King. Through the story of the old monkey’s generosity, Selvadurai manages to weave in politics, struggle and pathos. The result is like a dazzling bit of tapestry — all the elements are in perfect harmony and manage to tell a larger story than is immediately evident. Of the writers, Graeme MacQueen writes lyrically and evocatively — especially in Brighter Still and The Camel Who Cried in the Sun. The Camel… is an Islamic story, one that manages to combine the aspects of kindness and social responsibility in the Prophet’s teachings. The camel’s suffering, his owner’s indifference, and the Prophet’s sense of empathy, all merge convincingly. At no point is the story didactic, and reading it, one can sense a strange and solemn beauty. Judith Thompson’s Mouthful of Pearls is a contemporary version of a Buddhist nun’s story. It reminds us – rather grimly – that the human need for violence is unending; that women, whether ancient Buddhist nuns or contemporary single mothers, can be equally vulnerable. And that at the same time, they can be filled with an almost frightening inner strength.

Since some of the stories are from the Jatakas, Indian readers will find them familiar. The Bodhisattva is a being who — reincarnated as an animal or a human — pursues generosity, truth and courage through time. Finally, having garnered wisdom through its many births and deaths, the being is re-born as the Buddha and sets out to share its knowledge with the world. These stories, too, have a collective wisdom to share. Fate and Fortune, Scarless Face, Tell it to the Walls, The Resting Hill, and Garuda and the Snake all speak to the contemporary reader with disarming immediacy.

If there is a fault with the collection, then it might lie in the disappointing fact that few writers of sub-continental origin, apart from Selvadurai, make an impact with their stories. While Selvadurai’s writing is at once inventive, stark and poetic, almost all the other subcontinental writers tend to stick to the script of the original tales. There is something disturbing about the fact that few writers of Sri Lankan or Indian origin have managed to subvert their stories or carve something new out of them. Perhaps growing up with these myths makes the ‘original’ version so sacrosanct that its borders can’t be pushed ever. Most of the Western writers — possibly because they have never encountered these stories before — bring originality and a fresh perspective to their narratives.

An interesting interpretation can be found in a story called How the Gods and Demons Learned to Play Together by Ernest Macintyre. It manages to give the ‘demons’ their due and is an insightful, clever piece of writing that stays with you for a long time.

One of the other things this collection celebrates is the ‘Story’ itself. Stories live, breathe, travel, grow and change, much as their tellers do. As Graeme MacQueen observes in his foreword, ‘Stories, by their very nature, resist being captured and owned by any one culture, race, nation.’ While reading Scarless Face…, you can sense this universality, and get a feeling of the timelessness of folk wisdom. You realise that no matter how much times may have changed, stories remain interesting because they speak of the essentials: human folly, cruelty, virtue and love. Every re-telling, in fact, brings its own energy and excitement to the narrative. And honed by the endless crossing of cultures and borders, the stories in this collection glisten like dew drops on lustrous green leaves.

Harper Collins
(Anita Vachharajani © DNA)