The
Evangelical Legend
in
the Novels of
M.
Bulgakov and Ch. Aitmatov
A.
Charumati Ramdas
Use of allegorical devices in the works of
literature is not a new phenomenon. Writers have been using myths, legends etc.
in their works with various intentions in their minds. Whenever the free
expression finds itself imprisoned by the censors, the masters of words resort
to some other means of depicting reality. Many Russian and Soviet writers have
used different myths and legends not only for the depiction of reality, but
have even expressed their own views about the same through them.
Sometimes the same legend may be used in
various pieces of literature for different interpretations, with different aims
– as has been the case with the evangelical legend inserted in the structure of
M.Bulgakov’s “The Master & Margarita”(1928-1940) and Chingiz Aitmatov’s
“Plakha”(The Execution Block) (1986). Both these writers have used the Jerusalem
episode – the questioning of the Christ by procurator of Rome – Pontius Pilate
– as the background for narration. Each of them has described the incident in
his own way: the description of Pontius Pilate and that of the Christ; nature of
questions asked by Pontius Pilate; the length and arrangement of episodes
related to the execution of the Christ; the link drawn between the historical
and contemporary; message conveyed through these episodes etc. have been dealt
by Mikhail Bulgakov and Chingiz Aitmatov in their peculiar ways. The only
similarity observed between the two lies in the depiction of the Christ, who is
shown not as a super natural, mythical figure; but a common, real, bound to
earth person.
Mikhail Bulgakov calls him Yeshua-Ha-Notsri,
while Ch. Aitmatov refers to him as Jesus of Nazareth. Caiphas considers Yeshua
as an enemy of the Jews; he thinks that Yeshua, through his preaching, was taking
people away from their religion (“The Master & Margarita”). But in “Plakha”
Pontius Pilate addresses Jesus as ‘The King of the Jews’.
But, first a little about the two novels.
M.Bulgakov’s ‘The Master & Margarita’
which he completed during 1928-1940, was published only in 1967. It was an
event which took the world literature by storm. ‘The Master & Margarita’ is
the finest novel of the XX century not only by virtue of its structure, neither
only by virtue of the blend of the real and the fantastic which makes it
unusual, but also by virtue of the eternal problems it raises. It has not lost
its significance even today and has been a constant source of inspiration to
many works of literature. It consists of two plots closely connected with each
other. The first one is the story of the Master and his beloved Margarita. Master
writes a novel about Pontius Pilate which is never published in full. Only a
small part of it, after publication, causes storm in the society. The Master is
subjected to a tremendous mental harassment through the articles of the
so-called critics in number of newspapers and finally lands into a mental
hospital. The novel about Pontius Pilate, so strikingly close to the Master is
narrated by the devil, Woland, who along with his team of assistants visits
Moscow for four days. During these four days many unbelievable miracles take
place in Moscow; the guilty are punished, justice is given to those who were
earlier deprived of it and the Master and Margarita are united and they proceed
to their eternal abode.
The novel by the Master about the incidents
in the holy city of Jerusalem is not only a pure narration; it is based on many
parallels not only from the life of the Master but also from the Moscow of the
30’s. Yeshua-Ha-Notsri can easily be considered as a prototype of the Master
and also that of the author himself.
Yeshua is subjected to the physical death
and the Master – to the psychological.
A similar fate links the Jesus of Nazareth
with Avdii Kallistratov in Ch. Aitmatov’s ‘Plakha’. Structure wise ‘Plakha’ too
is a complicated novel. Three plots, apparently unconnected with each other are
linked together firmly by the story about the wolves – Akbara and her mate
Tashchainar. Akbara and Tashchainar are the cause of Boston’s miseries; they
are also the mute witness of the tragic end of Avdii’s life, who, a runaway
from a seminary identifies himself as the disciple of Jesus of Nazareth.
Thrown out of a running train by collectors
of opium seeds, Avdii, in a state of delirium, recollects the scene of his
Teacher (Jesus) being sentenced to death. By virtue of phenomenon which Ch.
Aitmatov terms as ‘Historical Synchronism’, Avdii relives the moment that
slipped into history about 2000 years ago and tries to save his Teacher from
calamity. Chingiz Aitmatov uses the Evangelical motif not only to pronounce a
few of his philosophical thoughts, but also tries to show that Avdii – the
prototype of Jesus, meets the same end even today at the hands of not only one
Pontius Pilate viz. Ober Kondalov, Grishan, the present church and the
coordinator. The scene of Avdii’s execution on a tree instead of that on a
cross at the hands of Ober Kondalov is a repetition of the whole drama, which
was enacted about 2000 years ago in Jerusalem. It also implies that in a span
of 2000 years the evil has got quadrapulated, while the one on the side of truth
and justice stands all alone even today and he meets his end only at Golgotha.
Through Yeshua-Ha-Notsri, M. Bulgakov tries
to convey that “Cowardice is one of the most terrible vices”. Yes, cowardice is
Pontius Pilate’s major curse. He, who was so brave and fearless on the battlefield,
finds himself completely helpless in saving Yeshua from the gallows. He is pitiful
and weak, he is scared of the informer, and that is why in spite of his wish
not to cause any harm to Yeshua, he had to resort to cruelty and treachery. This
cowardice, according to Bulgakov, “easily subjugates a man to evil, which makes
him a spineless tool in the hands of others…..It can turn a clever, brave, well
intentioned man into a pitiful wretch, it can weaken and debase him.” (Lakshin
V.1975). Doesn’t this one statement of Yeshua–Ha-Notsri before death speak
volumes about the Moscow of 1930’s?
M.Bulgakov spreads the
story about Pontius Pilate and Ha-Notsri in four chapters – 2nd, 16th,
25th and 26th in “The Master and Margarita.” The 2nd
chapter describes the interrogation of Yeshua; 16th – execution of
Yeshua; 25th – how Pilate kills Judas and the 26th
chapter describes the burial of Yeshua and confession by Pilate to Mathew the
Levite that he too is a disciple of Yeshua.
The questions asked by
Pontius Pilate to Yeshua are of the following type : What is truth? Whether
everyone is basically good? Whether Yeshua rejects the rule of the Caesar and
believes that there will be a time when the Caesars will no longer rule over
man, but the mankind will be ruled by truth?
The description of the large terrace of the Palace of Herod, the spacious colonnade, the singing of water in fountain; the heavy, oppressive odour of roses; the Procurator in an armchair on the mosaic floor, tortured by hemicranias; the secretary taking down the interrogation on the parchment…everything is so real, as if the reader is not reading but is witnessing the whole scene. The Procurator – his internal desire to save Yeshua, his fear of the Caesar and also that of informers; the feeling of guilt in his heart after having sentenced Yeshua to death, his hemicranias, his killing of Judas, offering a post to Mathew the Levite in Caesarea….all this looks so vivid and life like. The reader feels that he is present in Jerusalem on the 14th day of Nissan. Language used in these chapters is so lofty, so majestic and so beautifully does the author link the ancient with the modern – the swing is not at all felt, and so easily does he switch over from Jerusalem to Moscow. Pontius Pilate with his white red lined cloak in the armchair, with his hemicranias, with his stone like posture, with his measured, strict speech – sometimes hinting, winking, prompting Yeshua to get an answer to his questions which could have saved Ha-Notsri seems quite different from the Procurator in Ch. Aitmatov’s “Plakha”. Here the procurator is more like a modern bureaucrat.
“Plakha” has the Jerusalem episode in its second
part – which still describes Avdii’s mission of collecting opium seeds in order
to reform Grishan and his friends through his preaching about the New God,
about the God of Tomorrow. Irritated by Avdii’s preaching, Grishan and his boys
hurl Avdii Kallistratov out from the running train and there he – Avdii – the
new Christ, as the author calls him – recollects THAT hot Friday in Jerusalem.
Expanded in two chapters, chapter No. 2 of the second part of “Plakha”
describes how the Jesus of Nazareth is being interrogated and sentenced to
death by Pontius Pilate; and in the third chapter Avdii Kallistratov, all the
same unconscious but finding himself separated from his Teacher through a span
of 2000 years, struggles hard to save the Jesus from the gallows. He – being in
distant future for the inhabitants of Jerusalem – sees the past so vividly and
knows in advance what is going to happen and thinks of taking the Jesus away
from Jerusalem. His agony knows no limits when he finds that in spite of being
fully aware of the future course of events, he could not stop the inevitable,
since no one in Jerusalem noticed him or heard his words as he was destined to
be born almost at the end of twentieth century – he simply didn’t exist for
Jerusalem at the beginning of millennium.
Pontius Pilate, since the beginning of
interrogation addresses the prisoner in a language which is so familiar to us
and so unfamiliar of the Roman era. The moment the Jesus looks at the bird flying
over the terrace, Pilate exclaims, “Where are you turning your eyes, the King
of Jews? It’s your death circling over your head.” As if Pilate is teasing the
Jesus. The dialogue between the two is stretched for a sufficiently long time.
It loses its grip over the readers due to long, complex, clumsy sentences,
falling of both the Jesus and Pilate into their own thoughts. Pilate, while
addressing the Jesus, uses many such words as ‘you unfortunate’, ‘you, tramp’
etc.
The Jesus in “Plakha”, from the very beginning
of interrogation tells Pilate that he knows that there is only death in store for
him in the court of Roman Procurator. He refuses to denounce the message, which
he was trying to spread among the masses. His Father, he says, had entrusted this
task to him. Pilate then asks the Jesus whether he considers Caesar to be
superior to God, to which Jesus answers that Caesar is mortal and that a day
will approach when the truth will triumph over mankind. The Jesus then tells
Pilate about the essence of life – which is an aspiration towards
self-perfection. He stresses the need for a human being to be a Man.
Aitmatov’s Jesus tells Pilate that it is
not HE who will resurrect on the third day of his execution, but people of
different, unknown future generations will come to live in Him. That will be
His real resurrection; or in other words, He will return to people in the form
of people through his sufferings – He will be one of them. Jesus equals Man with
God. Man for him is the Future God. He wants people to bother about future, as
each of them is a particle of the Future God. He propagates Rule of Justice,
Rule of Truth. He predicts that in future people will die due to their lust for
power, money and land.
So, it’s obvious that through the dialogue
between Christ and Pontius Pilate both the authors have tried to project the
problems which were so peculiar of their times. M.Bulgakov stresses the need to
be brave, emphasizes personal freedom; while Ch. Aitmatov gives the message of
truth, justice and humanity.
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