Book Reviews – The Trishanku Nation: Memory, Self, and Society in Contemporary India

Book Reviews

Deepak Kumar, The Trishanku Nation: Memory, Self, and Society in Contemporary India, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2016, 211 pages, Rs 495.

Intellectuals always struggle with the question of relevance of their work in the face of the most pressing issues of their times. The specialised nature of their work stands in contrast to generalised questions often posed to them by society. A question often heard is, what is the worth of all this knowledge and research if it cannot produce easily comprehensible solutions to most urgent problems of our times? But should intellectuals take such questions seriously? This work by Deepak Kumar seems to be his response to such questions. He takes the title of the book from the story of a mythological king Trishanku, a supposed ancestor of Rama, who could neither reach heaven nor descend back to earth but was suspended in between after his death. The author believes that the journey of India’s transition to modernity is wedged in a similar space.