Crime And Punishment

Dostoevsky was one of the prominent forward-thinking writers of his time. ‘Crime and Punishment’ is a by-product of his time spent in prison and his observations of the criminal psyche through other inmates.

In this book, Dostoevsky wades into the mind of a soon-to-be criminal, Raskolnikov, who then commits an act from which there is no coming back. Raskolnikov is haunted by the constant lack and poverty that surrounds him and the lives of his fellow university students. He is an intellectual and his crime is not motivated by his need for survival, but in fact to test a theory that he has propounded.

Raskolnikov believes that the world consists of two types of men-ordinary and superior men, the latter, who shape the world through their moral or amoral actions and are risen to the social positions of world leaders. According to him, the world has always celebrated the acts of such men as Napolean, whose actions no matter how vile, were validated by this world of followers. When these men were born before their time, they were hanged or imprisoned, but they changed the course of history forever, for instance, Galileo. However, after their deaths they were honoured and praised. He believed that such a man was one in a million and the rules of the society didn’t apply to him. Raskolnikov admits that while they do not have an official stamp of approval, such men have an “inner right” to override superficial laws of society.

Despite it being his foremost crime and suffering from constant reproach by his conscience, the author never denies Raskolnikov’s guilt or intent. The book is a journey through Raskolnikov’s mind and his internal conflicts, sometimes verging on schizophrenia. While this is a thin thread of a plot running across such a large volume, Dostoevsky paints a fixed and definitive portrait of the lead character with extreme descriptions of the horrible nature of poverty. This book has played a major role in changing the perceptions of society towards the ordinary criminal and criminal psyche. At a time when few books were written with a criminal for a protagonist, and in the absence of television or any criminal tele-dramas, this book was a treasure-trove of resource for criminal psychology.

Dostoevsky also plays with the idea of faith and its restorative qualities for a criminal. Raskolnikov claims to believe in God and has a sense of right and wrong demonstrated by his dreams, which show him trying to save a pony from cruel and painful death. But while he is righteous in thoughts, all the greater injustices he observes in his poverty and stagnant state make him rethink the immorality of his crime.

The end of the book might seem a bit out of place but just like in the Bard’s plays, every character has something to say. After experiencing the agonizing struggles and mind-mazes throughout this book, the ending is like a soothing effect to the soul. This book proves to be, if nothing else, an exceptional study of a brilliant psychological specimen.

Dnyaneshwari: The Read of A Lifetime

      I’ve lost count of the times I’ve been told by people to go and read the real deal: The Vedas, The Gita, and so many Sanskrit texts which my entire life will prove too short to read. But perhaps you’ll sympathize with me if I was a bit overwhelmed and didn’t know where to start! It’s like walking into your dream library and crying from sheer nervous happiness because you know you want them all!

  Finally I found an English translation of Dnyaneshwari by Ravin Thatte. I was a bit hesitant of reading a translation, because let’s be honest, there isn’t a book written which can be translated word for word from one language to another and not lose any  of it’s original meaning. Still, it was a start.

   The copy has 1034 pages to be precise (I’m still on the second chapter) and I’ve read large volumes before, but this book is different. The feeling that you’re reading something sacred and dealing with knowledge passed down for centuries by men from generation to generation like it is some secret treasure, is ever-present.

   Sant Dnyaneshwar was smart. His effective use of poesy, his almost mnemonic-like description of certain qualities and characteristics is very interesting. Dnyaneshwari teaches you how to live. It was written with the individual in mind, but it’s concepts largely apply to the society and how one must live in it. This book might be a dense encryption of the deepest secrets of the ages, and is by no means an easy read, but it is a colourful one. The description of Ganesha in the first chapter with different qualities describing his different organs is if not anything, a brilliant mnemonic device.

   Dnyaneshwari  was first present in the oral form when it was translated from the Gita by Dnyaneshwar for villagers and laymen who could not understand the Gita  because it was written in Sanskrit, a language then only restricted to the upper echelons of society, the Brahmins. Hence, not only does Dnyaneshwari contain easy and familiar language which describes the ancient landforms of India with its people, but also stories and mythological lores of Gods and man which the villagers possibly could understand better.

   Dnyaneshwari is like a river. It is a river of ancient knowledge and still carries with it the essence of the India that once kings with abundant riches and possibly men with strange powers resided in. You cannot stop it, you can’t even measure it and few have been able to cross it, but it flows on, providing knowledge to those who were not fortunate enough to receive it and who praise the one man who cared enough to.