A River Sutra

A River Sutra, a novel by Indian American author Gita Mehta, was first published in 1993. The novel is set on the banks of the Narmada River in India, and it is comprised of interconnected stories about characters who are drawn to the river. The narrator seeks to retreat from the world after his wife’s death, but he gains an appreciation for the lived experiences of humanity through the stories he hears. The novel discusses themes of spirituality, diversity, and enlightenment. Mehta’s body of work focuses on making Indian culture and society accessible to a wider audience.

This guide uses the Kindle Vintage International edition of the text, published by Random House in 1993.

Content Warning: This novel contains depictions of sexual assault, death by suicide, and caste-based discrimination against the Dalit people. It also describes the Narmada River by using an offensive term for sex workers, which this guide replicates only in direct quotes from the source material.

Plot Summary

Following the death of the narrator’s wife, he takes a job overseeing a rest house on the Narmada River. He was a successful bureaucrat, but he wants to retreat from the world as he approaches old age. The rest house is located between various religious centers, such as a Hindu temple town named Mahadeo, Jain caves, a mosque run by the narrator’s friend Tariq Mia, and the Vano village that follows tribal religious practices.

At the Jain caves, the narrator encounters a Jain monk, Ashok, who tells the narrator about how he decided to renounce the world and become a monk. Ashok was heir to a wealthy diamond company, but he felt that the company’s practices did not align with the Jain belief in ahimsa, or nonviolence; he also felt dissatisfied with his wealthy and opulent lifestyle. Though his father supported Ashok’s decision, he lamented Ashok’s departure and celebrated Ashok’s renunciation with a lavish ceremony.

The narrator repeats this story to Tariq Mia, who comments that the story is about love; this confuses the narrator. Tariq Mia then tells the narrator the story of Master Mohan, a poor music teacher who mentored a talented blind singer, Imrat. However, two men convince Mohan’s greedy wife to force Imrat to perform for their wealthy boss, who then kills Imrat while he is singing. The narrator is disturbed by Tariq Mia’s story, and Tariq Mia reveals that Mohan died by suicide shortly after delivering a copy of Imrat’s record to the mosque.

Later, one of the narrator’s former colleagues asks the narrator to host his nephew, Nitin Bose, at the rest house, since Nitin wants to study tribal practices in the region. However, Nitin tries to drown himself in the Narmada when he arrives, and he is arrested. The narrator discovers Nitin’s story through his diary, which explains how Nitin was dissatisfied with a wealthy life in Calcutta and decided to oversee a tea estate in a rural area. He begins a sexual affair with an employee, Rima, and when he decides to return to the city, Rima curses him. Nitin then believes that he has been possessed by a vengeful spirit. Though the narrator does not believe that Nitin is possessed, he helps arrange for Nitin to perform a ritual in the river with the Vano tribe, and Nitin believes that this cures him.

After Nitin leaves, an old woman comes to stay at the rest house. She is looking for her daughter, who was kidnapped by a bandit, Rahul Singh, two years prior. After the woman sets out to find her daughter, her daughter appears at the rest house and tells the narrator her story. She says that she and Rahul fell in love and she married him willingly. When the old woman returns, she sees her daughter but pretends she doesn’t recognize her. Instead, she says that her daughter drowned in the Narmada, implying that the river will wash away her daughter’s trauma. The two women walk away together and then part ways.

At a bazaar in Mahadeo, the narrator meets a musician, and he is shocked because she is very unattractive. She tells him she has been unattractive all her life and took consolation in learning music, which often transcended into a spiritual experience. She was engaged to marry another musician, whom she seduced with her music. However, when the man ended the engagement suddenly, she lost all interest in music and is traveling to the Narmada to find a spiritual solution to her problem. The narrator tells Tariq Mia this story, and the narrator expresses doubt that the river is powerful enough to overcome human problems.

In response to the narrator’s doubt, Tariq Mia tells the narrator about the Naga Baba, an ascetic he met in the jungle who was teaching a young girl devotional hymns. The Naga Baba is an ascetic who underwent intense training to renounce all comforts, including food and shelter. He wanders in solitude, periodically entering civilization to beg for food and water. On the night of Shiva, a holy night for ascetics of Shiva like the Naga Baba, he demands a young girl as an offering from a brothel. He brings the girl to the Narmada, learning that she was sold to the brothel by her father. The Naga Baba protects the girl and baptizes her as Uma in the Narmada. The narrator asks if he could meet the Naga Baba and the minstrel Uma, but Tariq Mia says that people flow through life and cannot be found again.

Shortly after, an archeological team led by Professor Shankar begins excavating along the Narmada, and Shankar stays at the rest house. The narrator enjoys the activity of having many people visiting the bungalow, and he discusses the Narmada with Shankar, asking that the archeological team send any minstrels they find to the bungalow. A young woman comes to the bungalow and performs a devotional song to the Narmada for the narrator, after which the narrator discovers the young woman is Uma. Then, Professor Shankar reveals that he is the Naga Baba. Shankar does not explain his change in vocation beyond saying that he has reentered the world, which frustrates the narrator. The novel ends with the narrator meditating on the Narmada while watching clay lamps float downstream from Mahadeo.