- How we dominate and doom each other in Ghulam Bagh
How and why is the pen mightier than the sword? Can the raw, brutal force of those hell-bent to have their way be tamed by the reasoning of those philosophers who try to see everything through the lens of right or wrong, good or evil, beneficial or disastrous? Is the world an endless montage of mirth and macabre where the former ends up in the latter and vice versa? Why is fiction a way to play god, an act where one can create universes and raze them with wanton abandon? When everything is bound to perish and everyone is condemned to perdition, what makes life worth living? Why do some stories end once they are told, and many untold stories are lived over and over again? What is madness? What is the difference between civilization and savagery and how one makes way for the other?
The above are some of the big, mighty questions that Ghulam Bagh (Slave Garden) tries to explore through its characters. Their conversations, even at their most mundane, revolve around the deepest dilemmas humans try to unknot and inner abysses we try to escape. Ultimately, when we fail to unravel the truth, many among us seek refuge in ready-made answers and solutions offered by religion, tradition and culture. Dissatisfied renegades who don’t find any solace in religion, seek refuge in endless labyrinths of words and philosophy.
‘This corner before abyss is a moment between freedom to delve deep into nothingness or to be enslaved by one’s existence on earth. It is the abyss between slavery and freedom, and it is this crevice that separates what is said and what can’t be said, what is utterable and what is unutterable, what is possible and what is impossible, what is bound to happen and what will never happen. Every time we converse, we jump from that corner into the abyss,’ said Kabir (Trans. SNM)
Ultimately, when we fail to unravel the truth, many among us seek refuge in ready-made answers and solutions offered by religion, tradition and culture. Dissatisfied renegades who don’t find any solace in religion, seek refuge in endless labyrinths of words and philosophy.
Domination, whether through philosophical reasoning or use of raw, brutal power is one of the main themes Ghulam Bagh deals with. It explores the panorama of domination, ranging from civilizational to intra-personal, and how domination shapes the fates of entire societies and eventually dooms all individuals who dare to master it.
The will to dominate, in various guises and garbs, shapes the inner lives and observable deeds of most characters in Ghulam Bagh. The quest is reminiscent of the discovery of fire which ushered human beings in an endless quest of dominating eternal forces of nature. The making of the wheel, the cultivation of wheat, the settlement of hunter-gatherers in cities and villages and ultimately the invention of language, coupled with faculty to imagine ‘what is not’, gave birth to cooperation on the one hand, and fierce competition on the other.
Where language unites and inculcates group feeling in those who speak and understand the same language, it banishes and excludes those who don’t. Where the erudite, deep-thinking philosopher makes use of language to think about the mysteries of the human mind and universe; a clever orator-cum-politician uses it to grab power and rule over the lesser mortals. Ghulam Bagh tries to map out the place of language in human affairs and how it is used as a tool of domination.
The making of the wheel, the cultivation of wheat, the settlement of hunter-gatherers in cities and villages and ultimately the invention of language, coupled with faculty to imagine ‘what is not’, gave birth to cooperation on the one hand, and fierce competition on the other.
‘Majority of the people in the world are lucky because they have a very stable relationship with language. Few unlucky ones lose their balance with language and their relationship falls apart. In order to find a new balance, they strive hard with all their might and main. During their search, they find places to set their foot on. And then literature, science, art and what not comes into existence. Is that the reality of creation?, thought Kabir. (Trans. SNM)
Throughout the novel, different characters strive to make sense of their world through their own conception of domination. Whether by words and/or through deeds, they struggle to rationalize their thoughts and actions. If words dominate thoughts for Kabir Mehdi, a self-confessed ‘writer-for-hire’ willing to write in favor of or against any subject under the sun to sustain his bohemian lifestyle.
‘It is because right and wrong are orgies of the powerful. Truth, reality, goodness, values and all other nonsense like these are tools to conquer your opponent; they are mechanisms to keep the weak in its place. What I do is that I make the nooses of words as per order. I make these webs of ideologies, rack them with arguments. That is why I am a writer for hire. I am a mercenary writer and my pen is completely for sale. Ten arguments in favor of women’s emancipation, eleven arguments against it. Twenty arguments in favor of restoration of democracy, fifty arguments in favor of the greatness of dictatorship,’ Kabir summed up his occupation. (Trans. SNM)
Despite the various guises that domination dons- be it through intellectual superiority, in expression of creativity, in questioning the very reality of existence, in mastering other beings- it ultimately annihilates all those who think they are using it to tame someone else.
Amber Jan, who ultimately manages to kill Kabir Mehdi, loses his balance immediately afterwards the act and falls into an abyss. Kabir, perennially invested in unraveling the labyrinths of mind through words and thoughts, was baffled by the very idea of playing god through fiction.
The last thought Kabir had was, ‘Who has given the creator of fiction the right to become god?’ [Trans. SNM]
P.S: These excerpts were originally written for an in-progress master’s thesis.
