Samskara

“[Samskara] contains a plot of Sophoclean intensity that with the passing of the years seems to have gathered ever more revelatory power…It’s a startling story, one as provocative for its time and place as those of Cervantes, Sterne and Diderot must have been in theirs.” —Chandrahas Choudhury, The Wall Street Journal

“Samskara is an effective tale of a community choked by unsustainable tradition. Ananthamurthy offers fine portraits of a variety of characters as they struggle between natural urges and societal expectations, and has crafted an impressive story here.” —M. A. Orthofer, The Complete Review

“NYRB Classics’ reissue of this book comes at an opportune moment, as societies around the world face the dangers of religious extremism and its focus on ritual and regulation rather than humanity. U.R. Ananthamurthy, in A.K. Ramanujan’s translation from the Kannada, tries to teach Indian society a lesson in this story about the trouble with prioritizing tradition over compassion.” —Melissa Beck, Asymptote Journal

“Ananthamurthy’s ability to turn the world on the most unexpected pivot gives [Samskara] an enduring human dimension.” —María Helga Guðmundsdóttir, The Quarterly Conversation

“[A] richly allegorical tale…a springboard for even broader questions concerning…religious experience and the inherent tension between works and grace.” —William Waldron, Education About Asia

“[Samskara] takes us closer to the Indian idea of the self.” —V. S. Naipul

Ananthamurthy’s most controversial and celebrated work, Samskara, is a novel about a decaying Brahmin colony… . Throughout the novel, Ananthamurthy builds extraordinary tension and atmosphere. It is an India that is instantly recognizable to its Indian readers.
—Pankaj Mishra

U.R. Ananthamurthy (1932–2014) was a novelist, short-story writer, poet, playwright, and literary critic. He was one of India’s most celebrated modern writers, a recipient of the Jnanpith Award (India’s foremost literary prize), and an important representative of the New Movement in Kannada-language literature.

A.K. Ramanujan (1929–1993) was born Attipat Krishnaswami Ramanujan in Mysore, India. He is a poet in English and Kannada, a translator from Kannada and Tamil, as well as a scholar, folklorist, philologist, playwright, and essayist.

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