Samskara : A review.

The title, Samskara, refers to a concept central to Hinduism. ' A rite of passage or life- cycle ceremony', ' forming well making perfect', ' the realizing of past perceptions', ' preparation, making ready', are some of the meanings of the multi-vocal Samskrit word.

The subtitle for this translation,' A rite for a Dead Man' is the most concrete of these many concentric senses that spread through the work.

The opening event is a death, an anti- brahminical brahmin's death and it brings in its wake a plague, many deaths, questions without answers, old answers that do not fot the new questions, and the rebirth of one good brahmin, Praneshacharya. In trying to resolve the dilemma of who, if any, should perform the heretic's death rite ( a samskara), the Acharya begins asamskara (transformation) for himself. A rite for a dead man becomes a rite passage for the living.

 This book was originally written in Kannada by noted novelist and playwright Dr. U.R, Anathamurty but is translated into English by renowned poet, translator and linguist A.K. Ramanujan.

Source: textbook