The exceptionally appealing cover of the Cult of Chaos by Shweta Taneja certainly draws people in. It’s a tantric thriller with a female protagonist who plays a tantric detective, hunting the supernatural trouble makers from all planes and dimensions. For those purist occult readers, it’s not a treatise on tantra or a how-to of tantrism. That brings me to a few comments from readers who gave their feedback after their start-to-finish-in-a-day reading. One guy suggested it’s an Indianised but more interesting version of 2005 TV series Supernatural, where brothers Sam and Dean hunt monsters. Anantya does so alone with her half-human aide Madhu. Another interesting reader was adamant to suggest that its ‘Men in Black’ style concept, where the protagonist Anantya uses tantra as a tool to hunt monsters while Tomy Lee Jones and Will Smith uses sophisticated weapons to kill extraterrestrials. Anantya has mantras, binding spells, potions, and boneblades to name a few to defend and kill. One guy even pointed at a possibility of X-Men elements as to how all the mutants are called upon to unite as a ‘brotherhood of mutants’ by Magento. Similar plot develops in Cult of Chaos.
‘Intertexuality’
There is a popular adage that does frequent rounds in advertising agencies. It paraphrases David Ogilvy’s famous thought that there are only seven ideas in the world. In literary terms, it’s titled ‘anxiety of influence’. All that can be written about has already been done. As a writer, setting out to compose a new character in a new plot for a new story, everything seems ‘already done’. And if you happen to be a writer who has heard David Ogilvy’s thoughts you are gutted. It’s an enormous challenge as a writer and even more as a reader, especially if you are a serious reader who can carry eons of books in his head. But the problem, of having only so many ideas and those too already covered by the artists of the past, lends itself to a credible solution. The meaning does not belong to the writer but to the reader. Same text can be interpreted in different ways by different readers. Those ‘seven ideas’ produce millions of reader responses. Actually all the previous ideas/stories help shape the next stories meanings.
‘Intexuality’ as coined by renowned critic Julia Kristeva, ‘ is shaping of a text meaning by another text.’ So the gentlemen who saw elements of “Men in Black’ in Cult of Chaos is not far off. He is shaping one text’s meaning through the memory of another that he can relate this to. Beautiful, isn’t it! The author might get offended if you told her that ‘ hey your book sounds like that’. But in reality that’s a sign that the reader has been able to place the book in a comfortable closet in his psyche. In this case, the reader placed Cult of Chaos on the same shelf where he has the Men in Black. In other words, he has accepted the book. Not bad is it!
Coming back to my views on the premise of the book, I’m glad that Shweta hasn’t attempted to be too academic on ‘tantra’. If she would have chosen a 50-year old protagonist who knows all about Tantra, it could be risky. But a 23 year old flamboyant girl can be excused for not explaining and theorizing every Tantric act or ritual. I am personally glad about using a very Indian subject and landscape of Tantra. It’s a new beginning for Indian writing in English. A step up from stereotyped cop/spy/double-agent/ex-forces protagonist. We have a female tantrik, who is only 23 and lives in modern Delhi.
Babu Devki Nandan Khatri gave Hindi novel it’s confidence and readership at the turn of the last century. He took the Arabic/Persian storytelling style and created a new mystery Hindi novel genre. With works, such as, Chandrakanta, he weaved magic with mystery together. It’s said that people learnt Hindi to be able to read his books that came in serialized form. He gave Hindi novel its’ very own Indian themes told in its distinct style. Shweta seems to be doing something similar in the present century. Shweta Taneja’s Anantya series might just as well swing the doors open for Indian writers writing in English with distinct Indian themes. We don’t need borrowed nuances, symbolism, cliches to match English language’s eccentricities. This book can show the path to other authors who can now confidently pick up Indian themes,topics, and characters from our own past and present.
If you read the book and find elements that you can identify from other sources and still enjoy it, congratulations!
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