कुणा एकाची भ्रमणगाथा [Kuna Ekachi Bhramangatha]

by G.N. Dandekar, गो.नी. दांडेकर

'Kuna Ekachi Bhramangatha' is a travelogue of an ascetic on his way to Narmada Parikrama. Part biographical author is describing his journey, where he is not conforming to all strictures demanded by parikramawasi. While he is searching for the ultimate truth he falls in love with a widow. But, falling in love, both for an ascetic and the window is blasphemy in Hinduism . The second half blossoms into love story and ends with sacrifices of protagonists so that societal rules remain intact.

Genres: Marathi, Fiction

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1958

About the author

G.N. Dandekar, (Devnagari: गो.नी. दांडेकर ) popoularly known as "Go.ni da" in marathi literature is one of the prominent writer of historical fictions & some real good biographical novels, Most of his books are also good travelogues including trekking data detailing almost minute information about the place & history associated with it.

He was honoured with a D.Litt degree by university of Pune.

Reviews

[The Bibliophile Doctor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Audiobook narration : 5 stars

नर्मदा परिक्रमेवर आजवर अनेकदा लिहिलं गेलं आहे, मात्र, गो. नी. दांडेकर यांच्यासारख्या सिद्धहस्त
लेखक जेव्हा या विषयावर लेखन करतात, तेव्हा ते वाचणं एक निराळा अनुभव देणारं असतं.
परंपरेनुसार या परिक्रमेची सुरुवात प्रबोधिनी. एकादशी झाल्यावर होते. परिक्रमेत लागणारी बहुतांश गावं मध्य प्रदेशातील
असतात. पाच घरी भिक्षा मागून जेवणं, मिळेल तिथे पाणी पिणं, नर्मदेची पूजा करणे आदी दिनक्रम असतो;
पण परिक्रमा या ऐहिकतेच्या पलीकडची असते. गो. नी. दांडेकर यांनी प्रवासातील अनुभव, प्रसंग, माणसे, घटना यांतून
एक वेगळं जग, वेगळं आयुष्य निर्मिलं आहे. त्यांच्याच भाषेत सांगायचं तर, 'हि कुणा एकाची भ्रमणगाथा. हा कुणी एक स्वत:च्या आणि दुसऱ्यांच्या सुखदु:खांचा साक्षी होता.'

[अनिकेत · Rating 3 out of 5]

Narmada parikrama is one of the sacred in religion, the traveller in this book has experienced good & bad experiences, where he meets different people, gains knowledge & thus sees life in altogether varied forms

[Pushkar Joshi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spoiler Alert..!!!

If not THE most, this one is surely one of the most brilliant literary masterpiece.
Sadly, it is not that well known as it deserves to be..
The plot of novel is based on colonial India after the civil disobedience movement. The protagonist have left home to participate in national movement on the call of Gandhi, but soon the movement stops and he has no where to go.
The protagonist is an ascetic, but not blindly traditional.
The story of protagonist is told in segments in flashbacks as he either remembers them or is telling them to someone else.
Major characters include Ascetic devotee who is on the voyage of Narmada River, the 'Math-pati' who calls everyone 'Atmaram', and Yashoda, a young widow from a religious family living with her father and a few religious students.
The book is not at all religion based, on the other hand the traditional "parikrama-vasi's" are criticized by the protagonist for their ill-behavior.
The story mainly has two parts, first one based on the love story of 'Math-pati' and second one is the love story of protagonist himself.
Tradition goes that a widow should not remarry and an ascetic should not fall in love...both rules are broken, but will they succumb to the peer pressure or they will fight against it, is the question. Book is a must read if mere entertainment is not your motto.
The book can be classified as bildungsroman, and the story is in a way picaresque. The character of protagonist is very appealing, despite some dishonesty on his side (like lying in the Math about his knowledge of Vedas). All major characters are well defined and appear very real. Plot is based mainly in the rural Madhya Pradesh, on the banks of Narmada river. Geographically it is not based on vast area and the number of characters are also limited but still the description of the banks of Narmada and the richness of characters overcomes these drawbacks. The small incidents keep us grounded till we finish the book.
And last but not the least, the book wins us in it's very first page of dedication -
"Yuga Athhavisanchi vedana, Tila........"
meaning, 'for her, the scar of my heart from the time immemorial'
Please read...:)

[Suresh Nair · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read first part. Seems incomplete. A journey with good and bad experiences, but to what purpose and end? The book gets stuck in one place for long time towards the end. May part 2 or Smarangatha makes the story complete.

[Shubham Suroshe · Rating 5 out of 5]

सुरेख वर्णन. गोनिदा जसा भुंगा अलगद कमळावर बसतो तसाच तुमचं लेखन मनावर. शेवट इतका सुरख होईल कल्पना सुध्दा नव्हती. भ्रमण गाथा तर चालू झाली.

[Vaidehi]

For me this book is the best progeny of Mr. Dandekar. Not sure why it was not popular like his other books like Shitu. It is his best work. What can I write about this book? It felt like I am falling in love with mere idea of love.

In the world where promiscuity is easily justified, this book takes you into the world where people are falling in love just by a glance. Purity and simplicity are the crux of this book. It was written at the backdrop of 19th century. A love story which did not end up in marriage or did not have a happily ever after, still manages to give us the warmth of the emotions.

Also, it is also a spiritual journey of a man who does not necessarily have any materialistic goals or have any particular needs but still have the highest dimension working for him.

[Shridhar Raut · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heartwarming... Filled with emotions... Believe me this will touch your heart. The thoughts came to his mind while doing Parikamma explained very well through words. You will feel very different kind of emotions I still don't know how to explain it but it's kind of emotion you feel while reading this book....

[sahil · Rating 5 out of 5]

Intriguing few similarities between this book and Murakami's South of the border.
Ascetic on a Narmada parikrama finds himself in page-long monologues and the story takes a few turns.

[Ambadas Pande]

great author i ever read only superb!!!!!!!!!!!

[Nitesh]

Good inspirational book

[Ranvir Desai · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wanted for a long time to read a travel book, this struck me kn storytel, and I listened to it in the awesome narration. It is great book, but I dropped one star for how it made me feel. I can't put a finger to it, but it played out like a movie that would be set in the style of Guide.

[Sumant · Rating 4 out of 5]

कोणा एकाची ब्र्हमान गाथा एक सुंदर कादंबरी आहे ज्याच्या मध्ये गोनीदा ह्यांनी स्वतच्या आयुष्या मधले प्रसंग मांडले आहेत. ते प्रसंग कधी तुमच्या अंगावर काटा आणतात तर कधी तुमच्या डोळ्या मध्ये पाणी. गोनीदा ह्यांनी जो भारतभर प्रवास केला आहे त्याची प्रचीती वेलोवली येते. कादंबरी एक वयषिस्त म्हणझे ना तिला सुरवात आहे नाकी तिला काही अनंत पण नर्मेधेच्या पाण्या सारके कथा वाहत जाते.

आपल्याला हे नक्कीच समजत नाही की लेखकाने हा प्रवास का सुरवात केला आहे पण ही प्रवास गाथा तुम्हाला नक्कीच खिळवून ठेवते. जे अनुभव लेखकाने घेतले आहेत मला नाही वाटत ते सगळे अनुभव एक सामन्य माणूस घेऊ शकतो. काही काही अनुभव खूपच चीत्ताथारक आहेत. जो वाघा बरोबरच अनुभव आहे तो तर अप्रतिम आहे. यशोदा हे अजून एक महत्त्वाची स्त्री गोनीदा ह्यांच्या आयुष्यात येउन गेली आहे तिचे पात्र खूपच छान लिहलेलं आहे.

एकूणच कादंबरी नक्कीच एकदा वाचण्या सारखी अहे.

[Deepakshirke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good book about the quest to find the answers to some eternal questions that burns in everybody's mind.