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പ്രവാചകന്റെ വഴി | Pravachakante Vazhi

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തലമുറകളുടെ തമസ്സിൽ ഒരു സുവർണ്ണ രേഖപോലെ തെളിയുകയും വിളയുകയും ചെയ്യുന്ന ജീവിതരേഖകൾ. നിരാകാരമായ പ്രമുക്തിയുടെ സൗന്ദര്യമാവാഹിക്കുന്ന കൃതി. നേടുന്നവരുടെയും നഷ്ട്ടപ്പെടുന്നവരുടെയും മാത്രമല്ല. പുറപ്പെട്ടുപോയവരുടെയും ചരിത്രപ്രയാണങ്ങൾ പതിഞ്ഞുകിടക്കുന്ന തെളിഞ്ഞ വഴിത്താരകളെ ഉജ്ജ്വലമായ ഭാഷയിൽ സന്നിവേശിപ്പിച്ച നോവൽ.

288 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1993

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O. V Vijayan

10 books1 follower

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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
Profile Image for Arun Divakar.
831 reviews425 followers
February 1, 2014
Organised religion has spawned for us a different breed of human being. He/she is said to be able to converse with God and give us it's orders, ultimatums and messages. This breed of human being is called a prophet and since the dawn of humanity, this would have been the most sought far and most exploited a group of humans. How much would you pay to know you future ? How much would you pay to become richer ? These are questions to which the facades among this group pretend to have answers to and like vampires bleed the purses dry of believers. This is a relatively harmless exploitation of these god men when compared to the havoc some of them have unleashed in the form of communal carnage and religious violence.

India has been visited by the monster of communal violence many a time across places like Mumbai, Gujrat and Delhi. The memories of these horrors fade with time and the stories written in blood and fear become news articles, books and movies yet the scars they leave on the human psyche never disappear. O.V.Vijayan through this story takes a handful of characters and puts them through the 1984 Sikh riots in Delhi to see how they come out of it. The story derives inspiration from the Sikh gurus of yore who were all prophets and far seeing individuals who sought to spread the message of the divine. As with his other work Gurusagaram, Vijayan superimposes the legendary characters of Prophet Mohamed, Jesus and Krishna into creating a sketch of God. The fact that he believes in a God that transcends the borders of religion is visible in the words he makes his characters speak. Coming back to the story, it is set in 1984 which was an extremely turbulent one in terms of India. It was in this year that Indira Gandhi was assassinated and there later ensued the Sikh riots across the northern half of India. It was a time when neighbours killed, raped and looted their Sikh neighbours. Punjab and Delhi burned with intense racial hatred and in this fire was sacrificed hundreds of thousands of Sikh lives. This book is the authors lamentation on this mindless horror and an urging to look into our history and mythology as to the answers on how best we can live with others.

The Bhagavad Gita calls the purest form of life as Sattvic. It is a form of living which spreads nothing but purity and goodness to all that is around it. Some of Vijayan's characters suffer from an overdose of Sattva Guna for they tend to be nice to the extreme. I found this to be soothing for the mind among all the carnage in the latter half of the book. As was the rage in the 80's, the protagonist Narayanan suffers from a bout of existentialism. From a relatively safe and secure job at a magazine, Narayanan goes to the aimless wandering and the slack jawed gaping at the world that passes him by. The end of the story sees him seeking out his little hamlet in Kerala far from the madding crowds. It is a trend I have observed with two other books by Vijayan : Ravi in Khasakinte Ithihasam and Kunjunni in Gurusagaram follow very similar routes in their lives although their circumstances are different.

O V Vijayan is a writer who has undergone a sea change in his beliefs. He was once a communist who later renounced it, he wrote a scathing parody of the political emergency in the form of Dharmapuranam ( I need a bit more of maturity to review this book, so more of this later ! ) but in the latter half of his career he created works that spoke of goodness in the face of human evil. His writing to me has always been like the first showers that dispel the burning feel of summer.

Pravachakante Vazhi translates into the way of the Prophet.
Profile Image for Dr. Charu Panicker.
1,243 reviews78 followers
May 20, 2023
ഒരൊറ്റ വായനയിൽ പിടി തരാത്ത നോവൽ. അദ്ദേഹത്തിൻ്റെ സാഹിത്യം വളരെയധികം കാഠിന്യമേറിയതാണ്. നാരായണനും രമയും സുജാർസിംഗും ശേവന്തിയും സുന്ദരനും നമുക്ക് മുൻപിൽ നിറഞ്ഞാടുന്നു. മനുഷ്യനെ മനുഷ്യനായി കാണാതെ മതത്തിന്റെ പേരിൽ ഒരു ജനതയെ ഇല്ലാതാക്കുന്ന വംശീയവെറിയെ ചോദ്യം ചെയ്യുന്നു.
Profile Image for Akhil MK.
3 reviews20 followers
March 26, 2018
'പ്രവാചകന്‍റെ വഴി' വെറും ഒരു കഥ പറച്ചിൽ അല്ല, അദേഹത്തിന്റെ പത്രപ്രവർത്തന അനുഭവം, ഒരു ബുദ്ധിജീവി കാഴ്ചപ്പാടിൽ - സ്വതന്ത്രാനന്തര ഇന്ത്യ, ഹിസ്റ്ററി, ഇന്ത്യ വിഭജനം, കാശ്മീർ പ്രശനം, സിഖ് കലാപം, പട്ടാളം, രാഷ്ട്രീയം , വിശ്വാസം- എല്ലാം ആഴത്തിൽ പറയുന്നു. അദ്ദേശത്തിന്റെ ഒരു ഫിലോസഫിക്കൽ വേൾഡ് വ്യൂ പറയാൻ ഒരു കഥാതന്തു തീരഞെടുത്ത പോലെയാണ് വായനയില്‍ ഉടനീളം തോന്നുക, ഒരു പാരഗ്രാഫ് കഥ പറഞ്ഞാൽ അടുത്ത പാരാ അതേ കാര്യം തന്റെ കാല്പനികമായ ഉപമകളിലൂടെ ഒന്നൂടെ പറയുന്ന ഒരു ശൈലിയാണ് ഈ നോവലിന് ഉള്ളത്.
Profile Image for Shabeen M.
7 reviews
October 6, 2023
ഒ.വി.വിജയന്റെ വടക്കൻ ഇതിവൃത്തവും മലയാള ഭാഷയിലെ കുറ്റമറ്റ പദാവലിയും കൊണ്ട് ഇതുവരെ ഇരുട്ടിൽ സൂക്ഷിച്ചിരുന്ന ഒ.വി.വിജയന്റെ ശൈലി ഈ കഥ വെളിപ്പെടുത്തുന്നു, ഭഗത് സിങ്ങിനെയും ഹിന്ദു പുരാണത്തിലെ നായകന്മാരെയും ചിത്രീകരിക്കുന്ന ഒരു സവിശേഷ ശൈലി ഇപ്പോൾ പ്രസക്തമായി.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Aboobacker.
155 reviews1 follower
April 19, 2021
നാരായണൻ എന്ന കഥാപാത്രത്തിൻ്റെ ഡൽഹിയിലും നാട്ടിലുമുള്ള ജീവിതം.കഥാകൃത്തിൻ്റെ പൊതുവായ എഴുത്ത് രീതിയോട് ചേർന്നു നിൽക്കുന്ന കൃതി.
Profile Image for Sreekanth k Nair.
1 review46 followers
April 4, 2015
By the side of river, the red stain of the martyr shone untarnished. The word poured into it like a drizzle. Then around that word arouse prayer halls and golden towers. Inside these luxuries the rain drops of prophecy dried out. Afterwards a city grew around it. Then the prophet went away in search of loneliness. Into the openness, the oneness, where he sprouted and became one. Then the great voice from above told him, "My son, for you, I am happening again". He lifted his eyes and gazed upon the desert sky. The sign of this agreement was the shining crescent moon in the black sky.
Profile Image for Riju.
8 reviews2 followers
September 23, 2014
നടക്കാൻ മറന്ന വഴികള .... മറക്കാൻ പറ്റാത്ത വഴികളും.....
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews