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{{short description|1959 Marathi novel by V. S. Khandekar}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2023}}
{{Use Indian English|date=May 2023}}
{{Infobox book
| name = Yayati
| image = Yayati English translation cover.jpeg
| caption = Cover of English translation
| author = [[V. S. Khandekar]]
| title_orig = ययाति
| orig_lang_code = mr
| translator = Y. P. Kulkarni
| country = India
| language = [[Marathi language|Marathi]]
| subject =
| genre = [[Historic fiction|Historical novel]]
| set_in = [[Ancient India]]
| publisher =
| publisher2 =
| pub_date = 1959
| english_pub_date = 1978
| awards = {{plainlist|
* [[Sahitya Akademi Award]] (1960)
* [[Jnanapith Award]] (1974)
}}
| oclc = 10703252
| native_wikisource =
}}
'''''Yayati''''' is a 1959 [[Marathi-language]] mythological novel by Indian writer [[V. S. Khandekar]]. One of Khandekar's best-known works, it retells the story of the [[Hindu history|mythological]] [[Hindu]] king, [[Yayati]], from the Hindu epic the ''[[Mahabharata]]''. The novel has [[multiple narrators]], and poses several questions on the nature of [[morality]]. Scholars have analysed its hero, Yayati, as a representation of modern man. Accepted as classic of [[Marathi literature]], ''Yayati'' has won several awards, including the [[Sahitya Akademi Award]] in 1960 and the [[Jnanapith Award]] in 1974.

==Background==
In his preface to ''Yayati'', Khandekar states that he was drawn to the original story from the ''Mahabharata'' at multiple levels, and for many reasons.<ref name="Gupta1982">{{cite journal|last=Gupta|first=Santosh|title='Yayati': The Myth and Its Interpretation|journal=[[Indian Literature (journal)|Indian Literature]]|date=September–October 1982|volume=25|issue=5|publisher=Sahitya Akademi|location=New Delhi|pages=150–157|issn=0019-5804|jstor=23331119}} {{closed access}}</ref> The resulting novel is a modern retelling of the story of the Hindu king, who enjoyed all the pleasures of the flesh for a millennium only to realise how empty of meaning was his pursuit of desire.<ref name="Khandekar1977">{{cite book|last=Khandekar|first=V. S.|title=Maharashtra, a Profile: Vishnu Sakharam Khandekar Felicitation Volume|chapter=Yayati and the Modern Man (Bharatiya Jnanpith Award acceptance speech)|year=1977|publisher=V. S. Khandekar Amrit Mahotsava Satkar Samiti|pages=582–583|oclc=4858191}}</ref>

Khandekar saw modernity, with its materialistic values, as an elephant on the rampage through the delicate garden of traditional virtues and feelings, blurring the distinction between good and evil, between selfishness and compassion, and blinding people to the evils of the world. In response, Khandekar looked to the past and chose the story of Yayati, making use of a kind of tale often dismissed as the fairy stories of old women to describe the vacuousness and futility of contemporary society's endless obsession with avarice and lust. Where Khandekar's previous writing had focused predominantly on style and imagination, in ''Yayati'' these concerns are integrated into a form of social realism the author had little explored until this point.<ref name="Khandekar1977"/>

The story is taken from the ''Yayatopakhyan'' ({{abbr|lit.|literally}} The Story of Yayati), a sub-narrative in ''[[Adi Parva]]'' (''The Book of the Beginning'') of the ''Mahabharata''. Khandekar builds the original material into a full-length novel, adding several new episodes and developing the narrative as a love story with a theme of morality.<ref name="Pai2005">{{cite thesis|last=Pai|first=Leena P.|title=A Passage Through the Mahabharata Re-tellings : Study of Some Contemporary Novels|chapter-url=https://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/handle/10603/17256|year=2005|publisher=School of Language, Literature and Culture Studies, [[Jawaharlal Nehru University]]|location=New Delhi|type=PhD thesis|pages=100–102|hdl=10603/17256|chapter=Chapter III - Selection and Deviation}}</ref> In so doing, Khandekar brings new relevance and meaning to the story in the context of modern life.<ref name="Lal1992">{{cite book|author=Mohan Lal|title=Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature: Sasay to Zorgot|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KnPoYxrRfc0C&pg=PA4635|year=1992|publisher=Sahitya Akademi|location=New Delhi|isbn=978-81-260-1221-3|pages=4635–4636}}</ref> For Khandekar, this novel represents the common man, who "in spite of varied happiness is always discontented and restless, and is blindly running after new pleasures".<ref name="KMGeorge1997">{{cite book|editor-last=George|editor-first=K. M.|editor-link=K. M. George (writer)|title=Masterpieces of Indian literature|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dXFOAAAAYAAJ|year=1997|publisher=[[National Book Trust]]|location=New Delhi|isbn=978-81-237-1978-8|pages=930–932|last=Inamdar-Sane|first=Rekha|chapter=Yayati}}</ref>

==Characters==
The novel's main characters are:<ref name="KMGeorge1997"/>

* [[Yayati]]{{snd}}King of [[Hastinapur]]; married Devayani, daughter of Shukracharya, and her maid Sharmishtha
* [[Nahusha]]{{snd}}King of Hastinapur; father of Yati and Yayati
* Yati{{snd}}Elder brother of Yayati, who became an [[Asceticism|ascetic]]
* [[Devayani]]{{snd}}Daughter of Shukracharya, wife of Yayati, and mother of Yadu
* [[Sharmishtha]]{{snd}}Daughter of [[Asura]] king Vrishaparva, and mother of Puru; childhood friend of Devayani
* [[King Puru|Puru]]{{snd}}Illegitimate child of Yayati and Sharmishtha
* [[Kacha (sage)|Kacha]]{{snd}}Friend of Yayati; Devayani's love; like a brother to Sharmishtha
* [[Angiras (sage)|Angiras]]{{snd}}A sage, by whose blessings Yati and Yayati were born
* [[Shukracharya]]{{snd}}Preceptor of the Asuras, and father of Devayani
* Vrishaparva{{snd}}King of the Asuras, and father of Sharmishtha

While most of the novel's characters appear in the ''Mahabharata'', Khandekar created several new characters. These include Mukulika and Mandar.<ref name="KMGeorge1997"/>

==Plot==
The novel has three narrators: Yayati, Devayani, and Sharmishtha.<ref name="Lal1992"/><ref name="Thorat2005">{{cite journal|last=Thorat|first=Harishchandra|title=The "Mahabharata" and the Marathi Novel: Textual Strategies|journal=[[Indian Literature (journal)|Indian Literature]]|date=January–February 2005|volume=49|issue=1|publisher=Sahitya Akademi|location=New Delhi|page=132|issn=0019-5804|jstor=23346582}} {{closed access}}</ref> Each section of the story is narrated in the [[First-person narrative|first person]], from the point of view of its respective narrator.<ref name="Pai2005"/><ref name="Lal1992"/> The novel's characters generally use language that is romantic, ornamental, and poetic.<ref name="KMGeorge1997"/>

''Yayati'' centres on the life of its [[eponym]]ous hero, Yayati, the king of Hastinapur. Disillusionment characterises Yayati's early life. His faith in motherly love is shattered when he learns that his mother weaned him for fear of losing her beauty. Later, he experiences cruelty and passion that challenge his manhood. He then has a fleeting experience of carnal love.<ref name="KMGeorge1997"/>

When Yayati has to leave the security of the palace for [[Ashvamedha]] [[Yajna]] (a horse sacrifice ritual in Hindu tradition), he meets his elder brother, Yati, who has become an ascetic and abandoned all material pleasures. After this he meets Kacha, in whom he sees the model of a happy, peaceful life. But Yayati is traumatised when his father, Nahusha, dies, and for the first time he realises the destructive power of death. He is gripped by fear and helplessness. In this state of mind, he encounters Mukulika, a maidservant in the palace. Yayati's attempts to bury his grief in carnal pleasure constitute a critical period in his life. He later meets Alaka and experiences sisterly love. But Alaka ultimately falls prey to the Queen Mother's cruelty. Precisely at this time, Yayati learns of a curse that foretold that his father, and his father's children, would never be happy.<ref name="KMGeorge1997"/>

The second part of the narrative recounts Yayati's married life. This section reveals Devayani's love for Kacha, and Kacha's quiet but firm refusal. Devayani seeks revenge on Kacha by making advances to Yayati, whom she ultimately succeeds in marrying. Sharmishtha, originally a princess, is now living with Devayani as her maidservant. At this time, Sharmishtha comes into contact with Yayati. Where Devayani is unable to establish any rapport with Yayati, Sharmishtha finds union with him both in body and in mind. A son is born to them, and for a time Yayati is happy. But, one stormy night, Sharmishtha runs away from Hastinapur. Yayati now suffers both estrangement from Devayani and the loss of Sharmishtha. The resulting vacuum in his life hastens him along a path of moral degradation.<ref name="KMGeorge1997"/>

Over an 18-year period, Yayati neglects his royal duties and leads a life of pleasure, with women like Madhavi and Taraka. Even when Hastinapur is attacked by its enemies, Yayati continues to neglect his duties out of anger with Devayani and pursuit of a [[Hedonism|hedonistic]] lifestyle. His son [[Yadu]] is imprisoned. Puru, Yayati's younger son, secures Yadu's release. Then Devayani's father, Shukracharya, seeing his daughter's unhappy marriage and Yayati's degradation, lays a curse of old age on Yayati.<ref name="KMGeorge1997"/>

When Yayati finds himself suddenly grown old, his unfulfilled desires trouble him. He asks his sons to lend him their youth. His son Puru comes to his aid and meets his request. But Puru and Sharmishtha's undemanding love for him help Yayati to realise his mistakes. Within a few minutes of accepting Puru's youth, he resolves to return it.<ref name="Gupta1982"/> Devayani also undergoes a change of heart. At the end of the novel, Yayati hands over responsibility for government to Puru with his blessing, and seeks to retire to a life in the forest with Devayani and Sharmishtha. This completes Yayati's journey from attachment to detachment.<ref name="KMGeorge1997"/>

==Deviations from the Mahabharata==
In the novel, Khandekar makes several significant departures from the original story of the Mahabharata.<ref name="Gupta1982"/>

The first of these concerns the death of Yayati's father, Nahusha. In The Mahabharata, Nahusha is cursed by the [[Rishi]]s (sages) to live on earth in the form of a serpent. After long suffering, he eventually meets [[Pandava]] king [[Yudhishthira]], who frees him from the curse. The novel, in contrast, shows Nahusha dying in his palace, desperately clinging to life. He pleads with his wife and son to give him a few hours of their own lives so that he may live a little longer. He fears death because of his remaining unfulfilled desires. Nahusha's helpless struggle with death leaves his son Yayati with a lasting sense of insecurity that affects his whole life.<ref name="Gupta1982"/>

In the original story of the Mahabharata, Yayati enjoys his son Puru's youth for a thousand years. He then returns Puru's youth, and goes on to live for many years more with sages in the Himalayas before finally ascending to Heaven. In the novel, however, Yayati can return his son's youth only at the cost of his own life. Nonetheless, within a few minutes of accepting Puru's youth Yayati decides to return it. He is saved from death by Kacha, who uses the [[Sanjeevani (plant)|Sanjeevani Mantra]].<ref name="Gupta1982"/>

==Analysis==
The main characters of ''Yayati'' have been interpreted as representing major attitudes to life. Yayati embodies material pleasure-seeking. Devayani shows excessive pride and desire for power, where Sharmishtha epitomises selfless, undemanding love. Kacha symbolises morality and moderation, a clean enjoyment of life and a sense of the well-being of the human race. Yati's rejection of all material pleasures serves as a counterpoint to Yayati.<ref name="KMGeorge1997"/>

The novel poses several moral questions, which include: how to define a fulfilling life; where to place the boundary between morality and immorality; and where the pursuit of material pleasure fits into the context of spiritual values.<ref name="KMGeorge1997"/><ref name="Satchidanandan2000">{{cite journal|last=Satchidanandan|first=K.|author-link=Satchidanandan|title=Reflection: Yayati, Yet Again|journal=[[Indian Literature (journal)|Indian Literature]]|date=November–December 2000|volume=44|issue=6|publisher=Sahitya Akademi|location=New Delhi|pages=10|issn=0019-5804|jstor=23343302}} {{closed access}}</ref>

==Reception==
''Yayati'' is one of Khandekar's best-known works,<ref>{{cite journal|title=Jnanpith Award to Marathi Writer, V. S. Khandekar|journal=[[Indian and Foreign Review]]|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-_oXYwUIfFsC&q=Yayati|volume=13|issue=1|year=1975|publisher=Publications Division of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India|location=New Delhi|oclc=1752828|page=8}}</ref> and has been described as one of the greatest works in Marathi literature.<ref name="Das2005">{{cite book|last=Das|first=Sisir Kumar|author-link=Sisir Kumar Das|title=History of Indian Literature: 1911-1956, Struggle for Freedom : Triumph and Tragedy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sqBjpV9OzcsC&pg=PA140|year=2006|publisher=Sahitya Akademi|location=New Delhi|isbn=81-7201-798-7|page=140}}</ref> The novel has won several awards, including the [[Sahitya Akademi Award]] in 1960, the [[Jnanapith Award]] in 1974, and the State Government Award in 1960.<ref name="Lal1992"/>

==Translations==
''Yayati'' was translated into English in abridged form by Y. P. Kulkarni, as ''Yayati : A Classic Tale of Lust'' (1978). The [[Malayalam]] translation, by [[P. Madhavan Pillai]], was serialised in the Malayalam weekly ''Mathrubhumi'' in 1980, and published in book form the same year.<ref name="Chandran2016">{{cite journal|last=Chandran|first=Mini|title=Into Bhasha and English: Comparative Study of Bhasha and English Translation in India|journal=[[Comparative Literature Studies]]|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/628650|year=2016|volume=53|number=2|publisher=Penn State University Press|pages=370|doi=10.5325/complitstudies.53.2.0359|via=[[Project MUSE]]|url-access=subscription}} {{closed access}}</ref> It was translated into [[Hindi language|Hindi]] by Moreshwar Tapaswai and published by [[Rajpal and Sons]] in 1990.<ref>{{cite book |last=Khandekar |first=Vishnu Sakharam |title= Yayati |translator=Moreshwar Tapaswi |publisher=Rajpal and Sons |year=2022 |isbn=8170285593}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Banerjee |first=Shoumojit |title=Pune author bags Sahitya Akademi’s translation prize|url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/mumbai/pune-author-damodar-khadse-bags-sahitya-akademis-translation-prize/article8248982.ece |work=The Hindu |date=17 February 2016 |access-date=8 August 2025}}</ref> The novel was translated into [[Kannada literature|Kannada]] by V.M. Inamdar.<ref name="Mangala1978">{{cite journal|last=Mangala|first=C.N.|title=Kannada Literature: Siesta Time?|journal=[[Indian Literature (journal)|Indian Literature]]|date=November–December 1978|volume=21|issue=6|publisher=Sahitya Akademi|location=New Delhi|page=59|issn=0019-5804|jstor=23330097}} {{closed access}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Google Books|id=quX57xnaGaoC}} (English translation)
* {{Internet Archive|id=in.ernet.dli.2015.443782}}

[[Category:Marathi novels]]
[[Category:1959 Indian novels]]
[[Category:Sahitya Akademi Award–winning works]]
[[Category:Jnanpith Award–winning works]]
[[Category:Novels based on the Mahabharata]]
[[Category:First-person narrative novels]]
[[Category:Novels with multiple narrators]]

Yayati (novel) - Revision history

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