A re-read for me. After almost three decades, it turns out I forgot almost all the details of the plot, other than the setting at the time of the Indian Sepoy Uprising in 1857. It is also apparent that the first time around I was more interested in the adventure elements of the story (opulent tiger hunts, harrowing escapes from blood crazed savages, gruesome murders, valiant cavalry charges, naked girls dancing, etc) than in the political implications and the evident bias of the narrator for the British point of view in the conflict.Briefly, Captain Rodney Savage is an officer in a Native regiment in Bhowani - an imaginary town bordering Kishanpur, a still independent Indian kingdom. After the Rajah of Kishanpur is murdered, Rodney is sent to pacify the city and to support the succession of his wife Sumitra Devi, who may have ordered the killing in the first place. In between dealing with his own social climber wife, corrupt political officers and saving the Rani's life during a tiger hunt, Rodney begins to gather intelligence about mysterious messages passed from village to village in the night, illegal arms smuggling, secret meetings, prophecies of doom from a holy man and general unrest among his soldiers and the general population. Rodney is assisted in his investigations by Caroline Langford, an earnest young lady who seems to have more empathy for the country and its people. When hell breaks loose, Rodney and Caroline try to escape towards a larger British garrison where a large scale confrontation with the rebels offers a grandiose finale to the novel.For the positive aspects, Masters knows his history stuff, not surprising given his five generations background in the Indian Army. He is also a skilled storyteller - this may be a debut novel with some unsubtle characterizations and forced plot twists, but the scenery, the unforgiving climate, the social life in the cantonment jump off the page in vivid and convincing colours. The pacing is good, although I believe too much time was spent in the build-up to the rebellion and too little afterwards.For the less savoury taste, Rodney is too evidently a product of the British Empire, strutting around Bengal as if he owned the place, taking for granted the numerous servants in every household and the loyalty of his troops. Much of the novel is spent in trying to find excuses for the excesses of his compatriots, to put the blame on bad apples and envy on the part of the Sepoys, to lionize the few Indians who remained loyal to their overlords. While acknowledging several of the mistakes in policy, like the forceful removal of native rulers and the indifference to local customs (see the issue of greased cartridges to caste conscious soldiers) , the major tonality of the argument is that the British are the best thing that could have happened to India, as they are the superior race with the better morals and better experience in governance. In my opinion, the only thing the British were better at was in fact ruthlessness and killing power. Here's an example of the delusional arguments Rodney likes to embrace: If the people here in Kishanpur rebelled and threw off the Rani, they would then ask the British to rule them in her stead - for they would never, of course, imagine they could rule themselves. and in another place: The English were conquerors here, not friends, and it was a ghastly mistake ever to forget it. There must be no peace and no quarter until every last Indian grovelled, and stayed grovelling. I may be accused in cherrypicking the quotes that best serve my own line of argument, and in all honesty, Rodney's views will be tempered towards the end of the novel, but I can't help positioning myself in this conflict on the side of the underdog, and this underdog is definitely not the smug, autocratic Brit officer. My final quote is a reply from a guru in a dialogue with Rodney: How would you like to be ruled at home by an Indian Company of merchant-adventurers? As an alternative read, Masters has two better novels set on the subcontinent (The Deceivers for adventure and Bhowani Junction for a more modern look at Anglo-Indian relations). My favorite romance epic of 1857 remains Shadow of the Moon by M M Kaye.
Paternalistic, but a tightly engineered story. Masters writes with the descriptive depth of a professional soldier and a son of India. Surely as a child born (in Calcutta) during the Raj, of a family that had been there since the 18th century, Masters must've heard stories of the Rebellion from the outset of his life. I imagine he must've turned the possibilities and history of the event over and over in his head endlessly, and felt an overwhelming urge to make it the subject of his first novel. The end result is a page turner, written in an anguished tone. Fantastic book.
Do You like book Nightrunners Of Bengal (2014)?
Bettie's Books
—Bettie☯
Page 199:It was not even yet an exact word, but a curse and a warning: This is the night. The word ran across the plains, leaped wide rivers, and raced through the jungles as a fire races under dry leaves. A woman tapped on a city wall and whispered it to her neighbor. One man cried it to another as their bullock carts passed in the fields. It set out at sunset from every place where sepoys were stationed; it traveled in every direction; and before the morning of Sunday, May 10, 1857, it had crossed and recrossed itself many times. People hurried home when they heard it, or bolted their doors, and waited. They did not know who was threatened this night, but it might be they. Some prayed; some shrugged; few went abroad.Page 215:"Remember Mangal Pande! Mangal Pande! This is the night of the raw flesh...Kill! The guns are coming. Kill them all! Kill or be hanged! Remember!"Page 269:A hundred years hence the inscriptions must be there to read on the memorials: Here English children were burned alive in theirs cots, and English women cut in pieces by these brown animals you see around you. DO NOT FORGET.After have listened to the BBC dramatization based on this book, I decided I MUST read its printed version.
—Laura
John Mastersin "Bengalin ratsastajat" (Otava, 1953) on sepoy-kapinan aattoon sijoittuva historiallinen romaani kapteeni Rodney Savagesta, joka joutuu fiktiivisen Bhowanin varuskunnan upseerina temmatuksi mukaan veriseen myrskyyn, jonka merkit jäävät valtaosalta huomaamatta, mutta joka saattaa pahimmillaan vaarantaa koko brittiläisen imperiumin olemassaolon Intiassa. Savagen yksityiselämässä kuohuu myös, mistä pitää huolta peräti kolme eri naista, joista yksi on Kishnapurin ruhtinaskunnan rani.Mastersin romaani on parhaimmillaan mukaansatempaavaa luettavaa, etenkin kuvatessaan kapinan puhkeamista, ja vaikka kirjailijaa onkin moitittu (ainakin kaikkitietävän Wikipedian mukaan) imperialistisesta asenteesta, onnistuu hän kuitenkin selvittämään melko hyvin sitä syytaustaa, joka sepoy-joukkojen kapinaan johti. Ymmärrystä riittää muillekin kuin englantilaisten asialle - toisin kuin vaikkapa Jules Vernellä Höyrytalossa. Kapteeni Savage ei ole hänkään mikään puhdas pulmunen, vaan melko kompleksinen hahmo, jonka toimintaa ajaa myös puhdas kostonhimo ja muut alhaisemmat tunteet.Niin, kyllä tätä kelpaa suositella niin historiallisten seikkailu- kuin sotaromaanienkin ystäville.
—Matti Karjalainen
