54 pages • 1 hour read
Gita MehtaA River Sutra
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1993A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 10-13Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 10 Summary: “The Courtesan’s Story”
The old woman begins her story by describing her hometown, Shahbag, 50 years prior. The town was not colonized by the British, and its name means “garden of the emperor” since the Emperor Jehangir admired the flowers in the town. Shahbag overlooks the Narmada, and, though the town is mixed in religion, and the Nawab, or ruler, is Muslim, everyone loves and worships the river. The old woman grew up in a haveli (or mansion) among courtesans like her grandmother and mother; here, she learned the arts of teaching young aristocrats and men of royal birth about beauty and love. These courtesans were well known across India, receiving invitations and gifts from powerful men.
In the present, Shahbag is no longer beautiful, with factories, slums, and deforestation running rampant. However, the old woman raised her daughter as she was raised in the haveli, teaching her about art, music, and love. She did not allow her daughter to perform often, which increased her popularity, leading to an invitation to perform at an election ceremony. Her daughter performs, enthralling the whole crowd. Afterward, they leave through a bazaar. Suddenly, machine gun fire causes the crowd to panic and riot, and the old woman fails to save her daughter from the men attacking the bazaar—she sees one of the men putting a blanket over her daughter’s head as he takes her away. The old woman identifies the man who kidnapped her daughter as Rahul Singh, saying he is a notorious, violent man whom the police fear.
Chapter 11 Summary
The weather improves, and the narrator meditates over the Narmada. He sees the old woman slip out of the rest house, heading to search for her daughter. The narrator decides to walk to Tariq Mia’s home, but on his way there, he is stopped by some women as he passes the Jain caves. They say they found a bundle of guns and ammunition inside the caves, and the narrator tells them to call the police; he brings the guns back to the rest house.
At the rest house, another woman appears, and the narrator realizes she is the old woman’s daughter. The narrator notes how the woman uses her courtesan charms to shift her demeanor and tone in order to beguile her listeners. The woman tells the narrator that when she was first kidnapped, she was terrified of what Rahul and his men might do to her. However, Rahul only stared at her. Over time, Rahul tells the woman that they have likely been married in many prior lives, and he wants to be with her in this life, as well. The woman uses her charms to tease and frustrate Rahul; to entice him, she dances with some anklet bells he gave her, but then she only ridicules and insults him. One night, Rahul professes his love again, and the woman sleeps with him, beginning a relationship they make official by a marriage at the abandoned temple of Supaneshwara. Rahul tells her that his men think he is immortal because he was stung by a bee at the Immortal’s head. However, soon after, he is attacked by police in Shahbag, where he goes to buy the woman a gift. He dies shortly after at his hideout; the woman is by his side, pregnant and grief-stricken. Her sorrow causes her to miscarry.
The guns the narrator brought back to the rest house belong to the woman, who learned to shoot when she was with Rahul. She plans to take revenge on the people who killed Rahul. Before the narrator can respond, the old woman returns, thanks the narrator, and leaves with her daughter. The narrator sees the two women part ways by the Narmada. Then, Mr. Chagla arrives, saying that the old woman’s daughter drowned in the Narmada. The narrator hears the police coming, and he asks Mr. Chagla to tell him what the old woman said. When the police arrive, the narrator hands over the guns to them, and they ask him about the old woman.
Chapter 12 Summary
The narrator goes to Mahadeo to enjoy the bazaar, where there are a multitude of different peoples, cultures, and religions. At night, the bazaar is like a fair, with children playing and people excitedly haggling and enjoying themselves. The narrator often likes to talk with pilgrims at the bazaar and reflect on these conversations later at his bungalow across the river.
In line at a vendor, the narrator notes how the woman in front of him has an attractive figure, and he imagines that she is beautiful. However, when a child knocks into her and she drops the painting she was holding, the narrator is shocked to see that she is “ugly.” She tells the narrator that many people are shocked by her appearance; the two collect the broken glass from the framed painting and sit together. The woman tells the narrator about Parvati, a goddess who married Shiva, and how Shiva made the veena, a stringed instrument, to commemorate his love for Parvati. The woman says her father is a master veena player, and he recites the word “Om” each morning before practicing. The woman encourages the narrator to pronounce “Om,” explaining how the sounds of the word express the three worlds: manifest, unmanifest, and nonmanifest. The narrator asks what the woman is doing in Mahadeo, and she says she is on a musical pilgrimage, noting that her father is a genius who has only shared his gift with her and one other person. The woman says that she must tell the narrator about her father to explain her current pilgrimage.
Chapter 13 Summary: “The Musician’s Story”
The woman explains that when she was a child, her father was surrounded by people praising his music. When he notices his daughter’s loneliness and despair, which are caused by her homeliness, he decides to take her on as his first student. He takes her on longs walks and goes with her into town. However, he refuses to allow her to sing or play music until she has learned the origins of the ragas (conventional melodic patterns in Indian classical music) and their notes. He says each note in the scale comes from the sound of an animal, but silence, too, is critical to making music. When he finally allows her to play the veena, she struggles, bleeding and developing calluses from the strings as she learns the notes without making music. As she grows older, she becomes even more unattractive, and her mother fails to secure a marriage for her. Through puberty, the woman becomes confused and emotional, which ruins her ability to play the notes her father desires. He offers to continue teaching her, but only if she is willing to make herself a bride to music, just as the ragini (musical nymphs) are brides to the ragas. The woman agrees, and she gradually masters the melodies and songs of the ragas.
One night, the woman finds a man performing for her father, and she is shocked by his beauty. The man asks her father to teach him, and her father tells the man that he must agree to marry his daughter to become his student. The young man accepts, but he is shocked when he sees that the woman is unattractive. They practice music together, and initially, they are stilted by their resentment of each other and of her father. However, the woman gradually seduces the man through music, and his music becomes heroic in response. On the night of Shiva, which is celebrated to commemorate the marriage of Shiva to Parvati, the woman’s father has the woman and the man perform together at a ceremony. Their music blends and mixes together perfectly. At the end of the performance, the woman’s father announces that his daughter is now married to music, telling the man that he no longer must marry his daughter but may marry her if he wishes. The woman and her mother are excited, as the man seems to still want to marry her; however, he leaves, and after weeks of no news, he returns their gifts and they hear that the man is engaged to marry someone else. Since her rejection, the woman has not played any music. Her father sent her to the Narmada to recover her abilities, though she doubts the Narmada has such power.
Chapters 10-13 Analysis
The theme of The Diversity of Indian Religious and Cultural Traditions is discussed briefly in the old woman’s description of the town of Shahbag, where the Nawab is Muslim and Hindu beliefs are predominant. The Spiritual Significance of the Narmada River is entwined into this harmonious diversity, with the old woman noting that “The Nawab was a Muslim but he honored the river’s holiness” (155), recalling Dr. Mitra’s description of the Narmada as a holy space for many beliefs. The Narmada serves a variety of purposes in the two stories of this chapter section, as it allows the old woman’s daughter to escape, and it provides hope for the musician’s daughter. The old woman declares that “the Narmada purifies with a single sight of her waters” (155), affirming the spiritual significance of the river. When Mr. Chagla reports the old woman’s claim that her daughter is dead, he says that “she was happy her daughter had died in the Narmada because she would be purified of all her sins” (180), which reframes the idea of purification and “sins,” since her daughter is, in fact, alive. By faking her own death, the daughter can leave the rest house without being pursued, allowing her to live her life without the burden of the experience she had with Rahul Singh. In this sense, the Narmada washed away the daughter’s past, purifying her of the damage done to her reputation, and, implicitly, since she no longer has her guns, purifying her from the vengeance she was seeking. Though the courtesan’s story is a testament to the spiritual power of the river, the musician’s story casts a note of doubt on the Narmada, with the musician’s daughter asking the narrator if he truly believes the river has the power to restore her musical abilities. Since the Narmada’s power is consistently reaffirmed by the narrator’s experiences and those of the people he encounters, this foreshadows a positive outcome to the musician’s daughter’s journey.
The courtesan’s story also emphasizes The Importance of Storytelling in Creating Meaning and Knowledge, especially showing that while stories can clarify and persuade, they are always subjective. The old woman initially reports that Rahul Singh is a horrible man, “whose name is used even in Shahbag to frighten children into obedience” (163), elevating him into a legendary outlaw. However, her daughter deepens Rahul Singh’s characterization when she tells the narrator: “He was a strange man, you see. So generous he did not know he was generous and yet always hesitant to ask anything of others” (176). These stories appear mutually exclusive, meaning only one can be entirely true. The old woman’s story is constructed from hearsay while her daughter’s description relies on her personal experience with Rahul Singh. While neither of these stories might be entirely true, they do reflect the lived experiences of both these characters. The daughter uses her courtesan training flawlessly as she narrates her story. The narrator is “hypnotized” by her voice, and he notes that “she was telling her story as if she was acting out a play” (174), casting doubt on the verity of her story. The old woman’s story, too, is doubtful, as it is founded only in the rumors and stories that circulate about Rahul Singh. These patterns, of rumors and deception, indicate that the truth is complicated; Rahul Singh was a criminal, but he was not a bad person, allowing the stories of robberies and murder to coexist with his generosity and kindness. Stories, while useful, can be disingenuous or false, leaving the reader or listener as the judge of whether a story’s truth or wisdom.
In the musician’s daughter’s story, the theme of The Conflict Between Materialism and Enlightenment manifests itself as a tension between physical beauty and the soulfulness of music. With her father, the woman can “wander freely in the fields of music, where even a child like [herself] could fall on cushions of melody, run across bridges of notes, swing on the stretch of the veena’s strings” (202); her father’s focus on music gives her the freedom to revel in her ability to create beauty and forget her unattractive appearance. However, when she is with her mother, she sees “[her] ugliness reflected in her eyes” (202). Her mother’s focus on the physical and material does not allow her to see her daughter’s musical ability and talent, which, too, is a form of beauty. The woman’s childhood and adolescence reflect the differing values of spirituality and the materialistic nature of society, as her unattractiveness prevents her from succeeding socially, while her talent allows her to become expressive and alluring through music. The musician’s daughter’s final performance with the stranger is described in terms of physical love—like “pleading that he love her,” “exhausted,” and “consummation” (212)—creating a bridge between the abstractions of love and music with the physicality of the scene. When the stranger ultimately refuses to marry the woman, it tears her away from music, isolating her in the physical reality where she is once again unable to succeed socially. Her goal at the Narmada, then, is to return to the spiritual side of herself, which she can express in music.
