The Rediff Interview /Paul Zachariah

'What will happen to a god if I write something about him? Gods are above these things'

The pre-messianic Christ portrayed in a short story by Malayalam writer Paul Zachariah, has rekindled the debate on the classical conflict between the artist and religious orthodoxy. In this interview with Venu Menon Zachariah discusses the story, Jesus and matters of faith.

Did you expect your story to create an uproar and what has made it controversial?

I knew the story would be controversial because I have used a different language to describe the experiences of a holy person. I stayed away from the Malayalam cliches that are normally associated with Christ.

I feel that even the so-called post-modern writers like O V Vijayan have tended towards an extreme romantic mode of writing that relied on beautiful and evocative words. They have increasingly taken the language back to poetry instead of moving it towards a more masculine mode. (I know it is a gender-laden usage).

What is your intention in humanising Jesus in your story?

As a fiction writer, my job is not to replicate the Biblical Christ. I cannot use the language and the approach that you find in theological volumes. As a writer I have to figure out ways in which I can approach this 2,000-year-old man who has been covered over by all kinds of adjectives and overstatements. I had to find a way through all that and focus on man who was like any other man.

But you have stopped short of that at a critical juncture in the story. You have not gone all the way in that direction. Jesus does not go all the way with Mariam, though the scene is highly suggestive. Where you afraid?

Jesus puts his head in Mariam's lap and finds peace there. Why do you find a sexual connotation? As far as I know, Mariam, and Martha have been his friends from his childhood days.

So it's your point to show that Christ had sexual longings like any other man?

No, not at all. Why should sex come into this? There need not be sex every time a man and a woman meet. There can be communication, just plain happiness. In my story, here is a man who finds comfort in the company of a woman after a terrible emotional and inner convulsion. Showing Christ having sex with Mariam does not form part of the story's denouement.

Have you relied on history to create your fictional Christ?

The events mentioned in the story are imaginary. What is the guarantee that the events mentioned in the Bible are historical? For all you know, somebody could have dreamed up Jesus. But there is a Bible. To that extent I was willing to use Biblical parameters. For instance I have tried to be true to the geographical setting pictured in the Bible. In that sense I have used the Bible to keep my bearings.

Did the geographical compulsion lead to the portrayal of an unwashed Christ?

I wanted to show a Christ like you and me who happened to sweat and who happened to wear dirty clothes. But unlike you and me he does not have the facility to have a bath every day or to wash his clothes because he lived and roamed in a dry wilderness.

I am not looking for a dirty unwashed Christ, but I am looking for a Christ who was natural to his surroundings, who would not have transcended the limitations of his environment.

The Church has not taken kindly to this treatment of Christ.

The Church is missing the point. The common reader is intelligent enough to see that my depiction of Christ in a certain way cannot lower his stature. The reader knows that nothing is going to happen to the Church or to the image of Christ.

But the bishops are too clever to react beyond a point.

My story cannot really hurt their interests. They know what can really hurt them. The bishops are more concerned about their properties, their wealth and institutions. My story doesn't erode their temporal and spiritual powers.

If that's the case, why did the dishops come down heavily on playwright P A Antony for his portrayal of Christ ten years ago?

There is a difference between a story printed in a periodical and a play. A periodical has a short lifespan. It is quickly forgotten. But a play is an interactive form of a presentation which can have a mass impact. In the early days the Communist movement relied on drama to increase its mass following.

Do you describe yourself as a radical Christen?

No, I am a radical human being. But Christianity and the Church has played an important role in my childhood. My sister is a nun.

As a writer, what is your relationship with Jesus Christ? Does he arouse iconoclasm or reverence?

I find him a totally fascinating person. I think he could have very well been an artist, writer, or painter. He was remarkably bright and courageous and we have an incomplete picture of his life. I thought Christ had the most human face among the prophets. Later I realised that this applied to Mohammed too. Both men had an equal attraction for me, though I have not read the Quran entirely.

I don't think there is even a moment when I am disrespectful of Christ in my writing. I have shown him to be a remarkable human being. The Church thinks otherwise, but that is stupid. Christ is supposed to be divine, a god. But gods are there for you to exploit. I do not think that there is any sanctity in god in this matter. You can attach sanctity only to human beings. What will happen to a god if I write something about him? Gods are above these things.

Why don't you write about Mother Teresa?

Because she is alive.

That's the only reason?

I think literature has to be generally sensible and the writer's judgement will operate case by case. There are no standard rules. There is no reason why you should write about somebody's armpits and groin, dirty clothes and bad mouth. And there is no reason not to. I can write about Mahatma Gandhi's dirty mind. But why should? But, poor man, he never had a dirty mind. I wish he had a dirty mind.

Why did your choice fall on Christ?

Because Christ is a man who dominated our civilisation over the last 2,000 years. Some people resent my portrayal of Christ because their minds are filled with a religious theocratic Christ whose image has been superimposed through years of conditioning. And therefore this Christ is a stranger.

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