CHAPTER THREE

JOSEPH WEPT

AS ALLEGORICAL RECONSTRUCTION

"For In C'hrrsr Jesus you are all sons of God

There is nelrher Jew nor Greek there is neither slave

norfiee. {here rs neither mule nor female " (Gal 3 26)

3.1. Jayakanthan was born In 1934 in Cuddalore. As h ~ s father had

deserted the farnlly qulte early. h ~ s mother found 11 very hard to make a

llvlng So layakanthan's formal education ended wlth the sixth standard and

from the early ape of ten he staned to work for a Ilvlng He undertook

vurlous jobs I~ke. a railway porter. a horse wagon dr~ver's assistant and the

mcmbcr of a drama company 1-atcr. h ~ s uncle got hlm a job in the Indian

C'ommun~st Party office In Madras. There he worked as a messenger,

rcccptlontst and a compositor for the pany Newspaper He sold books and

- ime collected funds for thc pany At the age of sixteen he became a full t'

C'ommunisl Party member The party appointed two teachers to teach him

and supplrcd him with hundreds of books. There he came In contact wtth

ancient Tam11 Literature. Hindu rel~plous scriptures, Indian epics like the

Mahabharatha and the Romayuno and Western literature too He read the

works of many emlnenl writers In Tarn11 such as Cupramanya Pht i i i r .

Puturnaipp~ttBn, R a k u n a m and Citambara cup ram any an^: in Hindi,

Premchcnd and Krishnan Chandar. Bengali. Bank~m Chandra and Sarat

Chandra; from British l~teratun Shakespeare. Oscar Wilde. Bertrand

Russell, D.H. 1,awrcnce and Aldous Huxely; French Emlly Zola. Balzac

69

and Mauppasant; Russian: Tolstoy, Chekov, Turgmw, Dostocvsky, Maxim

Gorky and Sholokov. The three most important influences on Jayakantan's

w l y creative writing career are Putumaippitan, Leo Tolstoy, and Russell.

3.2. Jayakantan's Joseph weprt [YaruMah AIuran (1962)], is a

fictional reconstructton of the Jesus story. While Graves reconstructs a hl l -

llfe Jesus story. Jayakantan recreates only the Passion and Resurrection of

Jcsus In this novelette, Joseph the Jesus figure, is a gentle, soft, humble and

hard working servant of a middle class hotel with the name 'Nataraja Vilas

fitgh-class Coffee and Tea and Meals Military Hotel'. Rathnavelu

Mudaliar. the sole proprtetor of this hotel is unhappy with the current trend

in his bus~ness While he is pondering over the means to obtain two

thousand rupees to rebutld hts business. a North-Indian businessman arrives

in u drunken state one Monday night Whtle he is being conducted to the

rtwm, his purse falls down Joseph ptcks 11 up and glves it to Mudaliar and

the Salt asks Mudaliar to keep ~t safe and return tt to him in the morning as

11 contains three thousand rupees. But the next morning. being oblivious of

what had happened In the previous night. the Sait reports that his purse is

missing 'The owner takes it as a chance to rescue himself from financial

troubles and pretends ignorance. Joseph who has been practising the ideal.

'don't see or hear or say evil' does not reveal the truth. The Sait accuses

Joseph as the thief and hurts him through insults and beatings Joseph

suffers it without any resistance until the cook of the hotel. Naidu interferes

and threatens to bring the police which forces the owner to put back the

I AU atatmnr. from the novel are from Jayakantan Joscph Wept. R a m A.A Halurn

Madrar The Chruuan Lterature Soaecy. 1974 All further references wdl be c~ted

by page numbers tn pnrenthenas

70

purse. Though the central theme of the story appears as the conflict between

the bourgeoise and the downtrodden, it bears close s~milarity to the Jesus

story In a nutshell

3.3.1. An important narrative technique adopted by Jayakantan to

produce the Christ story in this noveletle is the use of allegory. Princeton

Encyclopaedia of Poetry and Poetics states "We have an allegory when the

events of a narrative obviously and continuously refer to another

simultaneous structure of events or ideas, whether historical events. moral

or philosophical ideas or natural phenomena" (12) Joseph Wepr is an

allegor~cal rcconstructlon of the Jesus story in that it tells a two dimensional

story. On the one hand it IS the story of Joseph, a poor, illiterate, but

vifluous Indian villager. And on the other hand 11 1s the story of Jesus

Chnst, the suffering servant of God. Joseph Wepr is an '~mitatio Chnstl In

thc sense that the protagonist of the novel makes a conscious decision to

lbllow Jesus Chrtst Jayakantan conforms Joseph to the Chnst image by the

use of various types of narrative techn~ques. First and foremost. he

describes Joseph's own attempt to be a good Christian and a follower of

Christ. Being an illiterate Indian villager. Joseph's understanding of Jesus

Chnst was very simple and smightTonvard. He was wearing an alum~niurn

cross hanglng on his chest (6). He made the sign of Ule cross before going

to sleep (24) as well as to overcome temptation (35) He proclaimed Christ

as his model (36) and saw Christ in everything. Naidu a character in the

story thinks of Joseph. "He addresses all Gods and all men and women "my

Lord". He buys religious pictures and portraits of all kinds. Does he see

only Christ in all objects of the world?" (18). He keeps a Bible in h ~ s

71

suitcase (30). One soiled shirt without sleeves and collar and a pair o f do

this ere his sole property.

3.3.2. He receives bapt~sm from Marimuthu, the John the Baptist

figurn in the novel and becomes a Christian. Joseph who has been a Hindu

by name Mumgesan happens to know about Jesus Christ from a Christian

missionary p e s t who has been staying in the same street Joseph 1s from

Vellore 141s father. Ramalingam Padayachi died when he has been so

young that he does not remember his face The Christian priest living near

his house has been like his father to him Whenever he sees the priest, he

feels as if he sees 1-ord Jesus himself. He has worked as a gardener in the

priest's house for thirty rupees per month. He has accompanied the priest

carrying the gaslight. when he has gone to address meetings. After listening

to the Rihle he takes a decis~on to follow Chnst He has then a Wend called

Manmuthu who has heen reading to him religious notices printed b! the

priest One day he says to Marimuthu. "Shall we both become Christian3"

and hc answers "I uon't. but you may. i f you l ike" Joseph bujs an

aluminium cross and starts to wear it around his neck. Marimuthu plves him

the name Joseph and asks him to repeat the following prayer before the

Bible. "My mother conceived me in sin and i am steeped in wickedness

M y Saviour cleanse me of my sins and save me"(14). Thus he becomes a

Christian

3.3.3. Joseph is identified with Christ in the exercise o f forgiving

love. His mother forces him to marry Parvathy. h ~ s uncle's daughter on the

basis that i t is his duty to look after her as she has no one else other than

72

them. He. on the other hand. considas himself as unworthy co marry her

and so he can not think of her as his wife. Then, one day he happens to see

Manmuthu and Parvathy in the house 'talking like man and woman'. He is

reminded of Jesus' words in connection wtth the prostitute "Let him who

has not sinned f a s t the fin1 stone at herV'(John 8.7) and gives Parvathy to

Marimuthu as well as his job al the priest's house and leaves the vtllage

( 1 1 - 16) This forgiving response has a two-level parallel Joseph identifies

hirnsclf with the Jesus who forgives the woman caught In adultery (John 8

I I ) as well as the Jesus who forgives his own enemles who persecute and

crucify htm " Father. forgive them; for they know not what they do" (Luke

13. 34). Parvathy and Marlmuthu represent both the woman caught in

adulten and the persecutors of Jesus Through the narration of thts inc~dent

Jayakanthan gives one of the prominent Jesus-traits to Joseph. Joseph 1s

dcp~cted as the pcrsonificat~on of what the Holy Bible calls. Agape love. I t

is a dec~slon to consider the needs of others ahead of yours. to live

sacrificially. to give without demanding a return. to overlook an offence

3.3.4 In thc hotel Joseph leads a life-style tn trnitation of Jesus who

had washed the feet of h ~ s dtsciples (John 13 4-15) The first scene in

which Joseph IS prexnted to the reader quite clearly justifies this argument

" ..a man with two water-cans. one carried on his shoulder and the other

held in his hand, passed them He put the tins down. and started wiping the

tables and the floor clean" (3). Joseph assumes it as his nght to do work of

all kinds while all the others restrict themselvcs to their allotted work. He

will draw water and fill the tubs. clean and wash the vessels. and be at the

beck and call of the lodgers. Similarly while the others have working hours

73

and holidays, Joseph considers all time and all days as working days. He

doesn't bargain for wages. He is willing to receive whatever is given (4).

l ie can no1 weep. He will fecl a little sorry. Nobody has ever sem Joseph

crying Nor does he laugh. Nothing has ever moved him to tears or laughter

Here Jayakantan attributes Joseph with samcl a quality attributed in G ~ t a to

God and a Brahman -God actualiscd human being- (Zaehner 65)

3.3.5.1. Jayakantan also utiliscs the response of other people around

Joseph to h ~ s pcrsonal~ty to produce the halo effect around him. Muthu says

to Mudallar "Sir, there 1s only one Joseph in all the world. If every worker

is l ~ k c h ~ m calling everyone else 'my Lord', you will be beyond anyone's

reach" ( 4 ) Mudaliar finds comfort In "dreaming of a Wure when every one

would be like Joseph!" (5) Naidu considers Joseph an extraordinary man

(8). a spec~al lncamat~on and an except~onal being (10) Na~du says after

llsiunrng to Joseph's sacnfice of Parvathy to Manmuthu "Joseph. you are

not a human being- you are a god . . .. You are not just a Christian. you are

like Christ hrmself . I feel ltke prostrat~ng myself at your feet and

worsh~pprng you" ( 17)

3.3.5.2. Na~du's appraisal of Joseph after listening to his story is In

parallcl terms with the proclamation of Jesus as the son of God by d~fferent

individuals like. Peter- "You arc the Christ, the son of the living God''

(Matt.16.16: Mark 8.29; Luke 9. 20)- and the centurion at the foot of the

Cross- Truly this was the son of God (Matt. 27.54; Mark 15.39). When

Joscph reveals his intention to buy some clothes for Parvathy with h ~ s

savings, Naidu thinks " Joseph 1s great in mind .... he is an extraordinq

74

being. a special edition of the hwnan species" (18). A little later he adds,

". .you try to see good even in evil. What a mind you have! It is gold, pure

g o l d (20). The author speaks of thc change that came o v a the girl after her

interview with the beaten Joseph. "Till now she called him 'my Lord' only

in fun Now in all humility and seriousness she called him so, folding her

hand respcctfully"(36). This alludes lo Mary Magdalene addressing the

risen Jesus "Reb-bo'nit" in John 20.16

3.3.6. Allusions to Bible quotations are also used to bring In the

Jesus story element Two main events in the novel, Joseph's reaction to

Parvathy's infidelity and his response to the Salt's interrogation show

Joseph as a Christ~an committed to Jesus' commandments not to fight

back Matt 5.38-48; Luke 6 27-30, not to judge others: Matt. 7 1-2; Luke 6

37-38, 4 1-42; love >our cnemles Matt 5 44. Luke 6. 27; do not resist one

who IS ct.11 Matt 5 39 and Matt 5 . 40 " if any one would sue you and

take your coat. let hlm have your cloak as well" "His silence seemed to

indicate that he wouldn't mind even if the Sait took all his savings" (3 1 - Matt 5 40)

3.3.7. Some memorable emotional expressions of the Biblical Jesus

are recreated in the novel. Jesus could love His persecutors so much that He

could cvcn pray." Father. forgive them, for they know not what they do"

(John 23. 34) Joseph shows a similar love to Panpathy and Marimuthu and

later to his physical persecutors. " Joseph felt sorry for the Sait"(30). on

seeing the Sait considering the five-rupee and ten-rupee notes found in

Joseph's asafoetida tin as the changes stolen fmm his missing purse.

75

Similarly, when the two thieves try to win his confidence by telling him that

thcir occupation is pick pocketing. " . . Joseph looked at them with

compassion as Ifthey w e n sinners confessing their crimes" (34) Matt. 14.

14: Mark 6 34 " .. he had compassion on them [crowdr; Matt. 15. 32; Mark

8 2 "1 have compassion on the c rowd. And like the Jesus of the 'Acce

Homo scene' (John 19 5-61, "Joseph came out on the verandah and stood

there alone. s pathetic fipure"(34)

3.3.8.1 Characters In the novel are compared to certain prominent

t31bl1cal personages connected to the suffering-Jesus The Salt plays the

roles of the elders of the Jews who plotted the arrest of Jesus and Pontlus

Pllatc. thc Roman Governor who convicted Jesus to the Crucifixion (28).

1.1lc the elders who had accused Jesus (Matt 26.57. Mark 14 53). the Sait

accubes Joscph as the culpr~t (28) And like Pilate he questions hlm

(28-29) Pilate was a fore~pner to Jesus and the Sail was a foreigner to

Joseph The gambler and his friend function as Annas and Caiaphas. the

priests of thc (iospcl (John 18 13- 14) as well as tlerod and the sold~en (33-

340) ARer arrest. Jesus was taken to Annas (John 18 13) and Caiphas (John

18.24) From the Sait Joscph was taken to thc room of the gambler (3 1)

I.ikc tierod the gambler and his friend belonged to the same 'tribe' of the

accused (33) Like the soldlen they slapped Joseph on the face. "When h ~ s

efforts for half an hour bore no fruit. the gomhler lost h ~ s temper. He

stcppcd forward and slapped Joseph in the face" (34=Man. 26.67. Mark

14.65; Luke 22.63).

76

3.3.8.2 Similarly the girl performs multiple roles. Superfictally she

is the prostitute (23). Allegorically she is the women of Jerusalem whom

Jesus consoled on the way to Calvary (Luke 23.27). " The sight of his

swollen lips and brutsed nose brought tears to her eyesW(35), "Don't weep

my Lord. s a ~ d Joseph" (Luke 23.28). She is the Veronica who. according to

Christian tradttion had w~ped the bruised face of Jesus. "She bolted the door

and wtped hts face with a wet towel"(35). Again she 1s the tempter She

asks hlm.

'Ihd you see the purse')'

'Yes.'

'Where is ~t now?'

Joseph did not answer

"lhough you d ~ d not take the purse yourself, you b o w who d ~ d

H'h) do ) ou then allow )ourself to be beaten up?' ( I b ~ d )

lle ovcrcomcs thc tcnlptat~on by maktng the slgn of the cross and telling her

d ston froni the Mahabhararho The girl 1s also ~dent~fied wtth Mary

Magdalcl~e s ~ h o addrusscs the Kesurrected Jesus "Reh-ho n~'"(John 20.16)

I h c author describes thc change that came over the girl after her ~ n t e r v ~ e ~

w ~ t h the beaten Joseph. "Till now she called h ~ m 'm\- Lord' only In h n

Now In all hunultty and sertousness she called him so. foldlng her hand

rcspcctfully"( 36)

3.3.8.3 Natdu also represents different personalities related to Jesus'

life. l ie is Peter at Caesarea Philippi and the centurion at the foot of the

Cross, who had announced Jesus as the Son of God.He 1s the Nicodemon

who came to Jesus in the night (7=John 3.1-3). Nicodemon was a teacher of

Israel (John 3. 10). he recogniscd Jesus as a person fiom God (John.3.2) and

later supported Jesus m the Sanhedrine (John 7.50-51) "Naidu was

respected by everyone in the hotel. He drew the highest salary and had the

longest service .... Naidu talks to Joseph till late In the night" (7) "Naldu

cons~dered Joseph an extraordinary man and thought he alone understood

hlm."(8). He stands up for Joseph with the question. "should you thrash a

god?" (40). Mudaliar plays the role of Peter who denies Jesus (Matt. 26.69-

75. Mark 14 66-72. Luke 22 56-62: John 18. 15-18. 25-27). Even though

he knows Joseph's knnocence and goodness he deserts hlm for the sake of

money and later he repents. 'lhe author comments. "They looked at each

other for a few moments" (37). Luke 22.61-62 states, "And the Lord tunred

and Icmked at Peter .And he went out and wept bitterly". After his

conventon. "Mudalrar fclt like prostrating h~rnself before Joseph He

w~shcd he could lakc h ~ s hcan out and la! 11 at Joseph's feet" (42). Thus In

a consc~ousl! sllcgorical renderlng of Joseph's story. Jayakantan presents

the Jcsus stoq in ~ t s onglnal historical background.

3.4.1.1 Though Jesus was born. brought up and accomplished HIS

mln1sU-y In the Palestlnlan Jewish culture of the closing years of the B.Cs.

tic became an epoch maker by inaupratlng the Chr~stlan civillsatlon of the

A.Ds So the epoch in which Jesus lived acquired two equally relevant

racial atmospheres: the Jewlsh and the Christian. Wh~le Graves attempted to

enclose Jcsus in the Jewish epoch. Jayakantan enclosed Him in the

Christian epoch. As the Jews dreamed of a political Messiah, the Son of

Man coming in power and glory. they refused to adm~t Jesus of Nazareth as

the Messiah. But the Christians who believed Jcsus to be the Messiah took

78

Him as the Son of Man, the Suffering Servant. Graves adopted the attitude

of a First century AD Jew and Jayakantan views Jesus through the eyes of a

First century AD Christian. While Graves awmpted to reconstruct Jesus as

the Son of David-thc glorious king, Jayakantan tnes to fix h a hero Into

Jesus' garb of the 'Son of Man'-the suffering servant Both viewpotnts

origtnated from cquatlng the Messiah to the 'Son of Man' prophesied in the

vlsion of the seer in the Book of Daniel,

I saw tn the n~ght vlslons. and. behold, wlth the clouds of heaven

thcre came one ltke a son of man. and he came to the Anc~ent of

Days and was presen~ed before hlm And to h ~ m was given dominion

and glory and kingdom, that all peoples, nations and languages

should serve hrm. h ~ s domlnron IS an everlasting dominion. which

shall not pass auay, and h ~ s klngdom one that shall not be destroyed

([)an 7 13-14)

3.4.1.2. l'hc Jews. uho were a chosen people. always in wait for the

pollt~col llberatlon of thelr natlon, llnked thls prophetic passage tn Dantel

w ~ t h the Son of Man passagcs in Enoch. in whlch the Son of Man IS a

dlvlnc. superhuman. apocalyptic figure. waiting besidc the throne of God.

ready to descend in vtctorious power from heaven against the enemies of

God And this was the popular picture that the title Son of Man (bar msha

in Aramaic and ben adam in Hebrew) \rfould have painted tn the m~nd of a

Jew of the first century R C Willlam Barclay declares.

Even in the~r darkest days. even when they were a captive and

subject nation, h e Jews never lost the sense of being the chosen

people, and never lost the confidence that soon or late the kingdom

79

would belong to them and to God. To that end they never ceased to

expect the Messiah who was to be God's agent and instrument in the

liberation of his people and the bringing in of his kingdom It was

only natural thai they should nourish their hearts on passages of

prophecy like the Dan~el passage (153)

l o the Jews Jesus could not be the Messiah on account of Deuteronomy

2 1.23 whlch states. " for a hanged man is accursed by God"

3.4.2.1. bven to 111s followers Jcsus' piteous death on the cross

appeared a scandal which suggested that His mlssion was a failure The

d~sclplcs gotng to I'mmaus saj that they are talking about things,

"Conccmlng Jesus of Nazareth. who was a prophet mighty in deed and

word before God and all the people. and how our chief priests and rulers

dcln crrd h ~ m up to be condemned to death. and cruc~fied h ~ m But we had

hoped that hc \r a.s thr onc to redeem Israel"(Luke 24 19-21 ) Later the

appearances of the Rlscn 1.ord and the Iioly Spirit experience might have

lrelpcd them to undcntand cruclfixion as the way to exaltation (Keresay

1 I 8) T h ~ s cnlightenmcnt opened the~r eyes to the fact that Jesus repeatedly

used this t~t lc 'Son of Man' In connection with His sufferings and His

death Jesus says in the Gospels. "The Son of Man came not to be senled

hut to serve, and to glve his life a rdnsonl for many" (Matt 20 28; Mark 10

45.1,ukc 9. 56. l l 30).

Again "The Son of Man will he delivered to the chief priests and

scribes, and they will condemn him to death. and deliver him to the gentiles

to bc mocked and scourged and crucified. and he will be raised on the third

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day' (Matt. 20.18; Mark 10.33; Luke 9.44, 18.31). He repeats In another

context. "The Son of Man must suffer many things" (Matt. 17 12, 22,

26 2.24.45; Mark 8.31, 9.12. 9. 3 1, 14. 41; Luke 9. 22, 22. 22.37, 24. 7).

According to these verses. the Son of Man to be glorified must fulfil the

destlny of the suffering servant. " .as the Suffering Servant he must accept

thc Cross, and that as thc Messianic King he must enter into glory.''

(Barclay 157). The first Son of Man, Adam was expelled from Paradise by

h ~ s attempt to bccome like God; Jesus the new Adam re-entered Paradise by

\acrlficlng His equality w ~ t h God by obeylng God unto death on the cross

(IDhll 2 6-8) and opened the gate of Paradise for forgven slnners

cxempltficd In the 'good thief Keresay explalns the relevance of the Cross

In the following passage. "Thus t h ~ s transcendent heavenly man. the last.

thc eschatolog~cal Adam. has shown us the way to become truly human In a

direction exactly oppostte to what human wisdom would suggest. not by

achicvlng ~ndependcncc. power. and greatness. but by the way of humllig.

ohedlcncc. and embracing one's cross" (1 32) Hengel looks with wonder at

t h ~ r rcfbrmulatlon process In wh~ch the 'cursed' death of a false Messiah

was transformed Into the salv~fic event

7he discrepancy between the shameful death of a Jewish state

cr~mlnal and the confession that deptcts t h ~ s executed man as a pre-

extstent div~ne figure who becomes man and humbles h~mself to a

slave's death (Ph~l 2 6-8) IS, as far as I can see, wtthout analogy in

the ancient world. It also illuminates the riddle of the origln of the

Chnstology of the early Church. Paul founded the community in

Philippi in about the year A. D. 49, curd ia k letter whlch he wrote

to the believers there about six or seven years later he w11l have

8 1

presented the same Christ as in the preaching whlch brought the

community into being. This means that the "apotheosis of the

crucified Jesus" must already have taken place in the forties .. (iica& 1-2).

3.4.2.2 And on the basis of such real~sat~ons the Christians of the

fin1 century AD and the apostolic Church, started to relate the 'Son of

Man' passage to the prophecy of Isaiah (Kereszty 122).

13ehold. my servant shall prosper,

he shall be exalted and l~fted up,

and shall be very high

As many were aston~shed at h ~ m -

h ~ s appearance was so marred.

be) ond human semblance.

and h ~ s form bcyond that ofthe sons of men-

(IS 52 13-14)

and I was no! rcbcll~ous.

I turned not backward

I gave my back to the smlten.

and my cheeks

from shame to those \\ ho pulled out the beard.

I h ~ d not my face

liom shame and spitt~ng.

(IS 50. 5-6)

l ie was despised and rejected by men

a man of somws, and acquainted with gieC

and as one from whom men hide thew faces

he was despised. and we esteemed hlm not. (Is 53 3 )

Surely he has borne our griefs

and camed our sorrows; (Is 5 3 . 4 )

He was oppressed. and he was afflicted.

yet he opened not h ~ s mouth;

11ke a lamb that is led to the slaughter.

and l ~ k e a sheep that before its shearers IS dumb.

so he opened not his mouth. (Is 53. 7).

and was numbered w ~ t h the transgressors.

yet hc bore the sin of many.

and made lntercesslon for the transgressors (1s 53 12)

3.4.2.3 These Isatah prophec~es are dramatically projected Into the

ligurc of Joseph In thc novelette Afier the manhandling by the Salt and the

pnmblcr. Joseph's appearance is so marred. hls lips are swollen and nose

bruised. Ile IS not rcbell~ous against the injustice shown against him. He

does not try to avo~d the ill treatment. He pennits the others to beat him. He

doesn't even express anger or ill feeltnp e~ther to Mudaliar who has the

purse or to h ~ s persecutors HIS own co-workers reject and suspect him

'Ihey whisper. "Three thousand mpees lost and it seems our rogue eye is the

culprit" (29). Joseph bears the insults and the punishments for the sake of

Mudaliar. His silence protects the good name d pmtige of the real

culprit. the owner and proprietor, Muhliar. Even though he knows the

truth, he doesn '~ open his mouth.

3.4.3.1. There are four main characteristics attributed to this 'Son of

Man' by St Paul and the early kerygrna of the Church: humility (Phil 2 6) .

obedience (Phil 2.7). vicarious suffering (Heb 2. IS) and exaltation (Phil

2 10) And the result of His sacrifice is redemption and new life (Rom 5

12-21) "lie cinptied himsclf, taking the form of a servant" (Phil 2.7)

According to kchard Niebuhr "The humility of Christ is not the

nltderation of kecplng one's exact place in the scale of being, but rather

that of absolute dependence on God and absolute vust m him, with the

conscqucnt ahrlity to remove mountains The secret of the meekness and the

gcntlcncss of Chnst lies in Iiis relation to G o d (Neibuhr 27) He eats with

thc \Iniicrb and the marginaliscd (Matt. 10.12) He washes the disciples'

kc1 (John 13 5 ) Ile accepts indlgnilies and scurrilities Paul says. "Do

nothing from selfishness or concelt. but in humil~ty count others better than

) ourscl\ cs"( Phil 2 3) Jayakantan reinstitutes this radical humil~t) in the

hcro o i t h ~ s novel. Joseph. Joseph cons~ders with the love and respect all -

hts fnllcn wfc. falsc friend. the prostitute. the gambler. the pick-pocketer,

thc drunkard and the real thlef of the story. Mudaliar. He calls them all 'my

I.ord' I ic values hin~sclf as h e lowest servant wlth exmme meekness. He

bcrus insrllts like k i n g addressed in the nickname. 'the rogue-eyed' and

bcatings and the suspicion of k i n g the thief. The source of this Christ-like

humility is his love of Jesus who is his God and the Agape love resulting

from it ( 18). Agupe is the Greek word used in tk New Testament to denote

the unconditional. universal love.

3.4.3.2. Another Chr~st- quality that Jayakanthan projects on to

Joseph is Jesus' extreme obedience The Apostle describes i t In the

fbllowlng words *' l ie humbled himself and became obedlent unto death.

even death on a cross (Phd 2 9 ) " Similarly. the Epistle to the Hebrews says

that " Although he was a son. he learned obedience through what he

\uffcred" (Iieb 5.8) Jesus projected a radical obedlence whlch involved His

wliolc k i n g Obedlcnce 19 the practical acceptance of the authorit\ and will

of (icd 'I o be disobedient 1s to yleld to self-will tnstead of surrendering to

god In this novelette Joseph exercises a similar obedlence to the teachings

of Christ I:ven though he was beaten very badly he did not tell anyone that

Mudallar \\as the culprit In shon all the quallt~es needed for a person

leadtrig a new I~fc in C'hrlst are attributed to Joseph by the novelist. " present your btdles as a Ilving sacrifice. hol) and acceptable to God

I ) o not k conformed to the world hate what 1s evil outdo one

anothcr In showlrig honour hc patlent in !,our tribulation . practise

hospltall~ Kcpay no one cvll for e\ 11 but o\ ercome evll \\ it11 g o o d

(Koni 12) 111s huni~lit! and obedlcncc niadc Jesus a nian for others St Paul

\a?\. "C'hnst dlcd for our sins" ( I Cor 15 3 ) Jesus himself states his

solldarlty wlth the whole humanlty In his Son of Man statement. "The Son

of Man came not lo be served hut to senJe. and to give his life a ransom for

many" (Matt. 20. 28. Mark 10 45; Luke 9. 56. 1 1 30)

3.4.3.3 In the novelette Joseph undertakes the guilt of Parvathy.

Marimuthu and Mudaliar When Panlathy and Marimuthu commit adultery.

he takcs the guilt upon himself telling that hc wronged Parvathy b?

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marrying her just because she had no one else to look after her. As

punishment he gives Parvathy as wife to Marimuthu and leaves the village

as a lone man I n the missing purse incident. he protects the image o f

Mudaliar. the real culprit. by s~lently bearing the punishments executed by

the Sait and the gambler and his frtcnd.

3.4.3.4 lhrough I l l s Kesurrect~on. Jcsus' was confirmed as the

,~ntuntcd Messiah "Citd has h~ghl) exalted h ~ m and bestowed on him the

rlarnc which i s above every name that at the name o f Jesus everq knee

\hould bow I n thc novelette almost all the other characters exalt Joseph

after thc redemption o f the purse "Mudaliar felt l ike prostrating himself

hcforr Joseph He wished he could take h ~ s heart out and lay 11 at Joseph's

teal " Joseph's su f i r i ng cfkctcd changes i n the lives o f the Salt and

M ~ i d i ~ l ~ a r I'hc Sait stopped drlnhlng "l'he Salt stood llhe a statue with the

punc In hiz hand ' In futurc. even if I should die o f m? aches. I must not

tcwch alcohol.' thought the Salt" And Mudaliar gave back the purse and

rcqueslcd Josrph's forgtveness

3.4.4.1. I n reconstructing the Jesus story Jayahantan has completely

pven up his personal imprcss~ons as a Marxist l l v ~ n g in the Indian milleu. I t

was the Communist Pany o f India that shaped Jayahantan's literary career

I ikc many other young men i n lndia in the twentieth centue Jayakantan

tcx>k Marxism as the fittest medicine to eradicate social evils like

untouchability/ class disparity, oppression o f women, communal

disharmony and poverty. Marxism inspired its followers to wage war

against social prejudices -Marxists. believing that men make history.

86

regurd trust In the grace of God as a sleep~ng pill as potent as the hope of

hwven"(N~rbuhr 7)

3.4.4.2. But Jayakantan In Joseph Wepr shows re l~g~on as something

herlolls and Important to the ~ n d ~ v ~ d u a l 'I'h~s novelette glor~fies many values

that arc cons~dcred by Marx~sts as weakness and foolrshness such as fa~th In

(icd, non-res~stance to evil, forg~v~ng love, passive suffering and meekness

J c ~ u ~ ' icaclltngs. "the meel, shall ~ n h e r ~ t the earth". " turn the other cheek".

and 'do unto othcn uhat c > u expect the other to do to you". are redefined

u ~ t l l moral force and I~fe-energy All these go to prove this novel as an

enclosure t r ~ t h ~ n the epoch Jayakantan's handltng of Jesus reveals the

I ~ i d ~ a n Marx~sts' tcnlperamental d~fference from the Russlan

3.4.4.3.1 An anal)s~s ol' lnd~an culture and soc~al set up reveals the

truth ol thc argument that Jo~cydr Wepr IS an enclosure ~ ' ~ t h l n the epoch

C'hr~st~an~t\ came to lnd~a \vith the arrival of St Thomas. one of the twelve

apostle\. at Kdungalloor. Kcrala In AI) 52. earl~er than 11 reached Europe.

1.iiglond and (icrnlany But 11 staycd here as a small community of two

pcrccnt of the population for two thousand years and rt IS still looked upon

us a liorc~gn rc l~g~on bccause the first lnd~an Chr~st~ans follow~ng the lndran

tradtt~on cons~dcrcd then~sclvcs as scparate race to be kept apart And they

d~stanccd their comnlunlty atray from the main soc~al tract. The main

cause for 11 IS [he spcc~al cultural s~tuation In India. lnd~a is a multl-

religious country. As she has been subjected to invasions by different races

at d~flicrcnt pcriods of history. she has .become a land of comnlunal

confl~cts. Indo-Aryans. Mongols. Muslin~s and European Chr~st~ans all had

87

invaded lndia I'he rule of these invaders resulted in the formation of' a

pluralistic stxtety Dubc stales.

Indian society is old and it is extremely complex According to a

popular estimate it has covered a span of five thousand years slncc

the p e r 1 4 ol ~ l s first known clvilisation Durlng t h ~ s long pertod

several waves of immigrants. representing different ethnic strains

and llnpuistic families. have merged into its population to contribute

to its diversity. nchncss. and vitaltty (Dube I )

3.4.4.3.2. Ihe linl among the Invaders were the Aryans When they

reached thc South. u'lth their class-consc~ousness (Varna) and caste

consciousness then. occurred considerable cultural confllct and confusion

that resulted In different levcls of cultural consciousness and ~ntellectual

dcvcloprnent I.ater in the thlrd centu5. Muslims from Persia. Turkey. and

Afphan~stan invaded India and establ~shed their mlghty emprre ~vhlch

rcmaincd prcdonilnant untll the Rrltlsh replaced them in the seventeenth

centup (Srln~vasan 13- 14) W~th the amval of Vasgo de Gama. European

C'hrlsttans too arrived In lndla and started staunch efforts to make Chrlst

Known in lnd~a 'Shrough their educational tnstitut~ons and dispensaries. the

Indian\ came into personal contact with Jesus Christ To many of them

Jesus and Chnst~anity appeared as a means to escape the soclal dlsparlry

created by the Vama system oS Manu's Code. Even though His message of

lovc centred on the idea of one fanilly and brotherhood was adopted by

prominent Indian leaders like Raja Ram Mohan Roy, and Lokamanya Tllak

and Mahatma Gandhi. Jesus was rejected by the majorlty in this society

88

with the concept of myriad Gods. because of His demand to be the one and

only God.

3-4.4.3.3. D~vening from t h ~ s lndian and Tamil mll~eu Jayakantan's

hero in Joseph Wepr prcxlaims Jesus Christ as h ~ s Sav~our (14). He sees

C'hrist In all objects of die world even In the H~ndu Gods like Kr~shna (1 8).

C '~n~~crsions. either to Christ~anily or to lslam ~ g n ~ t e d communal riots and

largc scale dcstructlon In thc post-~ndependent lndian society Fanat~c

Iltndus watched other rcl~gions with fear and apprehension that they may

wipe them oul and cstabl~sh their own religion and culture In India.

M u r l ~ n ~ s kured of' Losing thew mlnorlty rights In a Hindu-India. This mutual

fear culrn~ruited in the partltlon of Pak~stan from lnd~a. In t h ~ s communal

zenslttve coiltext Jalahanatan speaks of the hero's self-w~lled convenlon

Into Chrt\tianttj. Joseph does not fit Into the caste and status donunant

Ind~ail conteht In the lndlan society it 1s a rare scene to see prostitutes.

th~c\cs . servants and the upper class live In an atmosphere of equal~ty

./ost-pl~ H'epr deptcts such a rare society uhtch leads a life exactl\ parallel to

the scwial I ~ t e led by thc Uibllcal Jesus

3.5.1. Jayakantan shows a relig~ous ~nclinat~on in this novelette. It

may have resulted from his early upbrlnginp Ile admits that he came to

b o w 'I'an~lI through devotional literature like Teivarnm and TtrmSichakarn

Evcn though Tam11 IS cons~dcred as the oldest language among the

Dravidian languages. Taniil novel as a literary form emerged only after the

arrival of the Portuguese Christian missionar~es like Beschi alias

Viromamun~var The inissionaries wrote man! religious oriented stories in

Tamil The native speaken of 'I am11 Imitated them in thelr early novels As

a cntlc observes,

More than the specific and lndlvldual influences. the very exposure

to western Ilberal tmdltion and wrltlngs anlmated the first generation

who strove to create la~nl l works, often In the image of literary

works that moved them In creatlng new foms and genres they

openly expressed ~ndchtedness to cenaln models and authors

(Kallii\apath> 89)

With thu ~nduc-tion 01 the C'ommunlst party In llldla man? Hrlters belonging

to the lower strita of the society emerged on the Ilterary scene. They "are

lion1 the depressed castes who are still, In many ways socially

untouchables Traditionally the? have had no access to learning and were

consldcrcd c u l ~ u r i l l ~ backward Jayahantan in India. Daniel and Dominlc

Jccva ~n Srllanka. 10 cltc threc e\a~iiples. \vho are outstanding fictlon

\\ rltcr\. net cr had an? Somial education" (lbld 44)

3.5.2.1. Jajakaman's hunger-filled. poven>-stricken. rootless

ch l ldh id ma) havc played an enectlve role 111 shaping hls understanding

of Jesus Chrtst As hls father had deserted the fainlly quite early he F e u up

as the mother's son, l h l s slnrllarity wlth Jesus nilght have produced in him

an afiinltq with Jesus. HIS less fortunate soc~al status may have inculcated

Jcsus-like conlpasston and sympalhy towards the poor and downtrodden

His Ilfc as a common teenager In search of a I l v e l l h d shaped a mental

Dame that can see Jesus the epltome of suffering humanlty In the face of

each and cvcry working class individual of the Third world lndlan society

90

3.5.2.2. In the fifties he started writing storles at the age of nineteen.

l l is shorl storles show the influence of Putumalpplttan Jayakantan

confesses that hc was "crazy about Putuma~pp~ttan's wr~ t~ngs" (Srlnlvasan

21) 1 hc narrative techn~que adopted In h ~ s novels and novellas clearly

hrrngs out the impact of Tolstoy on his creatlve lmaglnation He admits, "I

was attracted towards French and Russian creat~ve wrtters of 18th and 19th

centurln Among them Tolstoy was the first and foremost in attracting my

taste and t h ~ n h ~ n g " ( I b ~ d ) Srln~vasan states Jayakantan's short story

'Ntranknl" (('olours) as an example for his frce adoption of Tolstoy's

hyntacttc patterns ( I h ~ d ) Regarding Russell's ~nfluence. he says. "Russell

has dlvened thc focus of my thinking He has released me from my

dogmat~c att~tudcs I fully recognlsc and whole heartedly accept h ~ s vlew on

moralit? (eth~cs"). soclety. pol~trcs and manW(Ibld 22)

3.5.3.1. l i e 15 an admlrcr of V~vekananda He follows his message.

"Don't be a f ra~d Don't bc scared of an>thing that confronts us"(Ja\amohan

136) Ilc has fi~rniula~cd a p h ~ l o s o p h ~ of h ~ s own through a study of the

lcacti~nps of Swami Vlvckananda. Uharatiar and Carl Max He dreamed of a

wclct? that IS a hlend~ng of the Marxist socialist society and the Hlndu

Swiallst society envisaged in the Vedas Srinlvasan cttes Jayakantan's story

"Piramndpatecam (Divine Initlation) as an example for this theory There

shall be no discrimination among the people in that sociery; all are equal. all

things arc for all. and all property to he regarded as public property. In his

perception there should be no discrimination socially, econornically and

religiously When he found Marxism and Hinduism lacking a possibilrty to

rcal~sc this utopian liindu-sociillist society he might have found the s t o v of

91

Jesus as a plausible medium. The kingdom of God propagated by Jesus

appears Identical w ~ t h Jayakantan's dream soclely

3.5.3.2. Walter Kasper summarises various explanations given to the

Klngdorn of god by promlncnt philosophers Kant vlews it as the highest

gotd. the kingdom of the spalt and freedom According to Albert

Schwcitjrrr and Welss Jesus pred~cted not a better world but a New World,

the ncu heaven and the new eanh Developing on thls view. modem

pc~litical theology states the Kingdom of God as "a polit~cal and social

utopla, to be created by kindness and brotherly love" (Kasper 72). In Joseph

H'upr the Jesus figure. Joscph creates such a utoplan Parad~se through his

\ray of life that appears foolish to the world The author narrates Na~du's

response to Joseph. "lle admired Joseph's uncomplicated approach but a

rrlan had to be wlsc 111 thc \va! \ of the tvorld ( 17) Naidu evaluates Joseph.

"Marirnuthu would be happ! in the thought that he had deceived a fool. For

that matter everyone in the hotel thinks Joseph IS a fool" ( 1 8).

3.5.4.1. 7he scxio-histor~c environment of the nineteen slxties also

nught have propelled Jayakantan's Jesus reconstruction. In Tamil Nadu the

1)ravldian movement tnctiatcd communal rivalry by propagating svong anti-

Brahmin stance highl~ghung ?'am11 literary and cultural pride. As

Jayahantan hated separatist ideologies. he attached the polictes of the

nlovement. He was earnestly concerned with the rel~g~ous animoslty

between the I-lindus and the Muslims that staked the real~sation of the

Gandhian concept of rel~gious amity. These social re-alit~es might have

convinced him that rebellion against oppression and suppression would

92

only produce confl~cts and hatred It is not a solut~on for social injustice. He

drified away from the Commun~st party too due to some d~fferences of

oplnlon wlth some R~ends in the pany

Jayahantan opens h ~ s mlnd to Jayamohan in a recent

~nterv~ew."Soclal change was a great dream of that tlrne. My leaders had

firm falth In it Ihat caught me too It is better to say that I w~shed to

hcl~cve In 11 " Ihe fact that even durlng the present lntervleu at the

mcntlonlng of thls matter the \renter sat numb for some time (Jayamohan

135). reveals the shock that he rn~ght have experienced during the

d~slllus~onment perlod llc speaks about his changed attitude to

Comniumsni that thc Commun~sts belleve that Man's substance1 beingness

I < forn~ulntcd through h ~ s soc~al i ~ f e alone They are agalnst splrituallty

I hose ~ h o support \p~riruallt> hclleve that man's substance 1s something

w~thtn h~rnsclf l'hc ainl of all an IS to reach t h ~ s substance within man He

cons~dcrs xvolutlnn as a stnke In which mercy as well as respons~bll~ty has

to he colnblncd "M) (ihcnar~ppatt~". "Yugacanti" and Joseph Yarukka

,411t10r1 arc rc\olut~onar~es I h e cause for which they fought might have lost

relevance loday Time has changed. but that sentiment is ever living (Ibid

137) Jayakantan agrees wlth Gandh~ji "If the means IS not good then the

ohjectiveltarget also is not goodW(lbld 139). And admits that in his younger

years he thought that the Communists' intention to establish a net\ soclety

would compensate for their evil means- violence 0 V V~jayan states that

Marxism was an attempt to solve the ever-alive riddle of social inequality

And as it was a non-conclusive riddle Marxism turned out a failure in the

course of tlme. We considers Christ's cruc~fixion as an attempt to escape the

pain ofthis riddle' (Vyayan 1998. 148-49)

3.5.4.2. S Sudhrsh states that the impact ofCommun~sm In the Indian

soclety was only 011 the intcllcctual, political and thematic level A

C'onlnrun~\t culture similar to the Shaiv~tel Vishnavaite/Chrrst~an/ Musllm

moral cultures hie not k e n establ~shcd in India. It can not even produce a

life 5 t )k equal to !ha1 of'I3uddhism or Gandhrsm (Sudhish 140). All these

I'orccd him to u.rlle as a spokcunian of the meek, the poor and the exploited

(Srini\asan 23) kle m~ght hove found a su~table framework for this in the

\tor) of Jesus Christ rcflccted In the Sermon on the Mount It advocates the

splrlt of 'turning the other cheek' as a way of overcoming lnjustlce

Mahatma Ciandhi said. " lhc gcntle figure of Chnst. so patient. so kmd, so

lo\ lng. so full of forg~vencs that he taught his followers not to retaliate

\\hen ahuscd or struck but to tun1 the other cheek- it \vas a beautiful

c \ i~n~plc, I thought, ofthc pcrrect nlan"(6andhi 1963. 3)

3.5.5. Anothcr imponan( element. whlch shaped Jayalantan's Christ

image, IS h ~ s attitudc to B T ~ llnlike other writers. he focuses on pro\ldlng

solutions to thc social problems. whlch he reflects In h ~ s works In the

novelette. Josc*ph Wept he has reproduced a photographic picture of the

poor \\orl.cn of' Ind~a. Srinivasan states. "The central them of the story

lays bare the evil designs of the bourgeo~se in hunt~ng down the soclally

weak and the down-trodden people. Thcse people are hopelessly trapped In

an unfriendly, opprcssivc soc~al environrnen~" (Srinivasan 63). The gamhlw

summarises the crux of the social problem. "That is why they say one must

94

not be born poor in t h ~ s world(43). Jayakantan's solution to poverty is the

Jesus Christ who taught. "Blessed are you poor. for yours IS the kingdom of

God." (Luke 6. 20). Follow~ng Gandhl~l he belleves that the solution should

come from w~thin and not from outside

3.5.6 Another soclal problem dealt withrn t h ~ s novelette IS rel~glous

converslon and the soc~al response to 11 Through the picture of Joseph.

Jayahantan shows fa~lh In a part~cular rellglon as a Matter of the personal

relallonsh~p between thc ~nd~vldual and hlsher God Jayakantan narrates

Joseph's converslon from Illnduism to Christ~anity In the following

manner

1 \+a5 then called Murugesan I had then a friend called Mar~muthu

One d a I s a ~ d to hlni. 'Shall we both become Chrtst~an?' He

sad. ' I uon'r. hut you may. ~f you Ilke ' I bought t h ~ s cross and

hcgun wearing 11 l le gave mc the name Joseph He too6 the Bible

and \totd bcforc me and niadc me repeat. 'My mother concerved me

In sln and I an1 steeped In \vlckedncss. My Sat lour. cleanse me of

m! slns and save mc' and I became Joseph ( 12- 14)

3.6. Even though the fictional situation presented b\ Jayakantan in

t h ~ s novelette IS rather simple, he succeeds in rediscovering the B~blical

Jesus of the first century A. D Chnst~ans Telling the story of a slmple man

who fills the world around him w ~ t h love In spite of the pa~nful treatment

given to him by the world. he gives hope to the suffering mult~tudes in

Ind~a. tiis message is that there is an alternative way other than hawed and

v~olence to overcome the evil in this society. That is the wa! of the Semion

96

on the Mount Srinivasan attests, "Jayakantan has b e y n h ~ s l ~ f e as an angry

young man and blossomed into a fine human~st ident~fying w ~ t h srnners and

wfferers ~rrespcctive of their caste, creed and 1deology"(84) This analysis

conlimls Jayakantan's Joseph wept as an allegorical reconstructron of the

Jesus story In the enclosure w~thin the epoch format The b~ographical

background of h he author, soc~o-cultural m~lieu in whrch the author lrved

and the Irtrraq traditrons and the philosophies and ideologies to whrch the

,~uthor assrpned hrs commrtmcnt all ha\z played a role as the formatrve

rntlucncc k l ~ r n d rt