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A Matter of Time by Shashi DeshpandeReview by: Josna E. RegeThe Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 59, No. 2 (May, 2000), pp. 463-464Published by: Association for Asian Studies

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BOOK REVIEWS-SOUTH ASIA 463

A Matter fTime. y SHASHI DESHPANDE. Afterwordy RituMenon.NewYork: The FeministPressat the City University f New York,1999. 269

pp. $21.95 (cloth).

This is Shashi Deshpande'sseventhnoveland the first o be published n theUnited States.Quietlybutpassionatelyerebral,t is typical f hermaturework nits faithful resentation f middle-class ife in Western India from women'sperspectives,ts narrativehifts rom irst erson oomnipotenthird, nd its onely,Vedantic, toic vision. t has characteristic oments f philosophic owerwhen herdeterminedlyrosaicprose s illuminated y flashes f insight. t is also hermostambitiousnovel n its generationalnd gender ompass, reating hree enerationsffemale o-heroinesnd a morefully evelopedmale protagonisthan verbefore.

In theepigraph rom heBrhddaranyakapanishad,he age Yajnavalkya ellshiswifeMaitreyi hathe is about to renounce he life of a householder.n the novel,Sumi and herthree eenagedaughtersmust return o her ancestral omeafter erhusband Gopal has decided unilaterallyo leave them.Fromthe momentSumi'smotherKalyanigreetsherwiththe anguished ry, No! no, my God, not again" p.12), both charactersnd readers re hauntedby a persistentense ofde~j,-vureatedbyan unresolved amily ast.Kalyani, oo,oncehad to return o herfather's ousewithher aughters,bandonedbyherhusband fter he oss of their on.

The loss of a male childand its consequences or he survivingister r motherarerecurrenthemesnDeshpande'swork. n TheDark HoldsNoTerrors1980), Sarita

wasmade to feelguilty orherbrother'sccidental rowning, aunted orever y herdistractedmother's utburst,It shouldhavebeenyou." nA MatterfTime, alyanihas internalized erown oss as wellhermother's isappointmentnnot havinghada son,but s eventuallyble to embrace nd draw trengthrom ergranddaughters.

The Upanishadic tory oth s and is not ike ts contemporaryounterpart.ustas Yajnavalkya'swifenever condemnedhis action or indulged in self-pity, utconcerned erself ith howshe,too, might ttainenlightenment,o Sumi alone ofall herfriendsndfamily ever lamesGopal,butturnsnward, ainingperspectiveon thepastandpreparing erself o meeta newstage n her ifewith no desireforretributivection.However,whatkind of actioncan she take?Hasn'tGopal'sdesirefor elf-realizationurtailed hefreedomf his wife nddaughtersnforcinghem oreturnsdependentso her hildhood ome?QuotingfrequentlyromheUpanishadsand the Mahdbhdrata,eshpandemeditates hroughoutn the limitsof ndividualfreedom.

Who is the novel'sprotagonist?he reader skept guessing.Fivegenerationsfwomen nhabit henarrative:orty-year-oldumi,her hree aughters,nd hermotherat thecenter; nd behindthem, hespirits fKalyani's ducatedmotherManoramaand Manorama'spioneeringteacherYamunabai. Above and beforethe humanprotagonists, owever,oomstheBig House,Sumi's mother's amily ome,withthe

status f central haracter. amedafter alyani's ather,t s describedmbivalentlyas both impressive nd oppressive, onveying sense of continuity ut also ofclaustrophobia. o matter ow muchSumiseeksfreedom,heseemsfated o returnto theBig House,as if shehas "no choicebut tofollow hatunseen racing" p. 78).Deshpande's femaleprotagonists truggleto reappropriate atriarchal raditionsbecauseforher, heauthor, here s no otherwayforward.he Big House,the GreatTradition of Vedic Brahmanism,s her own personaland culturalpast, a richrepositoryf wisdomto which she continually indsherself eturning,eekingtoinhzabitt in new ways.

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464 THE JOURNAL OF ASIAN STUDIES

ShashiDeshpande'srecognition utside ndia hasbeena longtimecoming,butis all themorewelcomebecause t showsreadersn aspectof ndian middle-classife

rarely een n the UnitedStates.Her settings re decidedly egional, ervisionbroadand eclectic.Although hewrites xclusivelynEnglish, omeofhernovelsmakethecrossing ess easilythanothers,not so muchin their hemes,but in the regionalparticularitiesf thefamilial elationshipshatgive rise to them.A Matter fTimewas first ublished n 1996 byPenguin ndia,but thishandsomeneweditionfromThe Feminist resswill introduce erwork o manynthis ountry or he first ime.RituMenon ofKali forWomenPress haswritten heuseful fterword,lacing thenovel in the context f Deshpande's work and, more broadly, f Indian Englishwriting.

JOSNA E. REGE

Dartmouthollege

Epic Narratives n theHoysala Temples: he Ramayana,Mahabharata ndBhagavata Purana in Halebid,Belgrand Amrtapura. y KIRSTI EVANS.Studies n the History f Religions Numen ook Series).EditedbyH. G.Kippenberg nd E. T. Lawson.VolumeLXXIV. Leiden:E. J. Brill, 1997.xvi, 286 pp.

This book discussesnarrativeculpture rom heHoysalaperiod.The title s abit misleading ince hebook sreally boutAmrtapura.hegreater art fthebook,part 1, discusses heAmrtesvarahere n detail.These chapters ffermuch nterestinginformationnd the 125 illustrations resentvirtually verynarrative anel. Thechapters, hich ell the stories nd discusswhat s actually hown, an bevery sefulto reacquainthereaderwithwhat s toldthere. art2 discusses number ftemplesat Halebid and Beluir, ithonlytwenty-fivellustrations. he discussion oncerningtheHoysales'varas somewhat etailed,but theremaining rief hapters unctionsappendices. incetheotherHalebid temples re recent xcavationshey ffer aterialnot found lsewhere. incemuchdetailed descriptions ased on the texts regiven

with no illustration,t is unclearhow much ofthe detail s actually epicted.The Amrtapura hapters onsider he three exts f the title eparatelynd each

is separated ntothree hapters, nelisting he order f the narrativecenes, henextdiscussing hescenes neby one,and the third brief iscussion fthewaynarrativeis presented. o make the book essrepetitious, strongerditorial andwouldhavebeen useful to restructurehis approach.Since the Amrtapura xamplesare allindividual anels, he uthor ses a number fterms odescribe hetypes fnarrativepresented, ut offers o suggestions to the nterrelationsfthese hoices. n part2shedispenseswiththis pproach or he mostpart.

In almostevery nstance, heconclusions o herchapters elate nlyvaguely owhat hascome before, onsisting f newmaterialwhich houldhave beenfootnoted.In a fewplaces she doesmention ther ypes f mages, ornstance,he arge mageswhich reso prominentn thefully efinedHoysala style emples, utonlytwo areillustrated. here s a variety ftypes f sculptureuitable o differentocations nthese laborate emples ndcomparisonso othernarrativelements ould be of omereal nterest.vans does offer few uggestionss to interrelations,ut these deasarenotpursued. or nstance,henotes hatthe fact hatthetwo retellingsfthesamestory n theHoysales'vararesignedbydifferentrtists ffersa rare pportunity"p.

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