Since finishing college I have been on a reading spree and have so far read 13 books, and about to finish 14th. One of them is Yayati. It is an award winning novel, written by V S Khandekar way back in 1918. I picked up this book because I wanted to read something good in Hindi, something I had not done since reading Mrityunjay.
And I was disappointed. Don't get me wrong, but I am not a fan of love stories, which is what it mostly is. I picked up this book wanting to read mythology in the form of a novel. Yayati was the ancestor of Pandavas and Kauravas, and Krishna too. So I was hoping that I would get to learn something about the lineage of Kuru Vansh but it was not to be.
The book revolves around Yayati, the king who is torn between the love of Devyani, the daughter of Shukracharya and Sharmishtha, a princess who suffers at the hand of fate. It describes his lecherous nature and the way he spends his life being a coward through and through with some misplaced sense of ideals. Devyani is the jealous wife who is more interested in satisfying her whims and fancies rather than taking care of her husband. Everything that she does is out of vengeance, right from marrying Yayati to making Sharmishtha her servant by using the influence of Shukracharya, her father.
Sharmishtha is the woman who suffers because of Devyani, and secretly loves Yayati. They spend nights together when Devyani is not at home, which leads to the birth of Puru, who eventually ascends the throne because he accepts the curse and gives his youth to Yayati.
Yadu, the son from Devyani is the ancestor of Krishna (Yadu Vansh) and is cursed by Yayati that neither he nor his descendants will ever get to sit on throne. (which explains why Krishna never became a ruler, but was only a king-maker)
The book mostly describes the feelings of each of these characters and the dilemmas these main characters face. A problem with the book is that it is not in what one calls Shudh Hindi, which I wanted to read. At some places, it uses quite difficult words which we don't get to read/hear any more, at others it uses Urdu where easy hindi words could have been used. The use of Urdu words which are commonly used in colloquial language turned me off the most.
The book is good for those who like romantics and novels which lay emphasis on feelings. The emotions have been captured quite well and the story can actually mirror a common household with a troubled married life. Personally, I didn't like it much.
