In my very first review of Reginald Fernandes’ writings, I had made the suggestion that to know
what animated the works of writers like Reginald one had to know the range of
influences on them. In this article I will discuss one such influence on
Reginald with reference to his novel Sat
Chavieancho Darvontto (1964).
When translated,
the title indicates that the novel is about a door that can be opened by seven
keys. A quick Google search revealed the existence of an English crime fiction
novel named The Door with Seven Locks
(1926) by Edgar Wallace. This was later made into an English movie called Chamber of Horrors (1940), followed by a
German remake in 1962. Wallace is also credited with being the co-creator of King Kong, providing the screenplay and
story for the film. Reginald’s title which appears to be an exact translation
of Wallace’s, would make us think that Reginald had lifted the plot wholesale
from the prolific British crime fiction writer. However, upon comparing
Wallace’s book and the movie that was subsequently made, one can say with
certainty that as far as Sat Chavieancho
Darvontto is concerned, only the motif of the door with seven locks and the
dead man’s tomb can be noticed in both the works.
Reginald’s Sat Chavieancho Darvontto rather than
being in the mould of a regular crime fiction novel, shows more similarities
with the structure of his previous writings. There is Rudolfo, who is a
doctor/scientist by profession and who has the ambition of inventing a drug
that would bring the dead back to life. To that extent, he spends long hours in
his laboratory. This experiment, however, goes horribly wrong. The drug that he
manages to create causes others to be poisoned if they come in contact with
Rudolfo. Soon Rudolfo’s daughter, Inez is also ‘poisoned’ in a similar manner.
Inez is in love with Valento, who is aspiring to be a doctor and has returned
after spending five years in Europe. He decides to find a cure or an antidote
to the ‘poison’ that is now coursing through the veins of Rudolfo and his
beloved Inez.
When Valento
decides to take it upon himself to find a cure for Rudolfo and Inez the
story takes an interesting turn and Reginald introduces the Jesuits and their College of St. Paul that was operating from Old
Goa. The link in the novel is that since the Jesuits were known for their extensive
knowledge on various matters, they would best be in a position to help Valento
to find an antidote. Accordingly, a Jesuit and a much learned man, Fr. Vasco
Amorin directs Valento to the forest
of Colem. There is also
another way Reginald makes use of history. He tells Valento that the Cadanbas,
who were in Goa before the Portuguese, had devoted themselves to finding cures
and antidotes. Thus, Valento sets off on his quest, armed with the knowledge
provided by Fr. Amorin.
What is
significant here is that Reginald is not inventing a simple yarn, but is
drawing from known historical facts. It is a well-known fact that the Jesuits
had devoted themselves in reporting about the flora and fauna, as well as the
customs and manners of the people amongst whom they worked. Their letters today
are a major source for historians working on the period that roughly stretches
from 1540s-1800s. The Jesuits had access to knowledge about curing diseases and
providing antidotes against poisons and this is the reason why many of them based
in Old Goa were in demand in the courts of the neighbouring polities.
Further, I would
suggest that when Reginald uses a term like the “Cadanbas” (which is very close
to Kadambas) as well as the Muslim presence in Goa,
he is probably drawing on a history that places the role of treachery in the
transfer of political power at the center of its narrative. This ‘treachery’
actually is the horror that is locked behind the Sat Chavieancho Darvontto. Apparently, an ancestor of Rudolfo and
Inez belonging to the Cadanbas had committed treason against his Goa “ganv” (homeland or kingdom) by selling
it to the neighbouring king who happens to be a moor (or moir zaticho). Thus, a curse is placed on this particular ancestor
and it now comes to haunt Rudolfo and Inez. This use of ‘treachery’ as a trope
to bind the stories of the Cadanbas, moors, and Portuguese with an afterlife of this ‘treachery’ allows us to see how history
writing influenced the writing of Romi Konkani novel in general and Reginald’s
corpus in particular. Interestingly, the moors are not the ones who commit this
treachery being the usual suspects, as it were. Nonetheless, such strands in
Reginald’s works need to be carefully and critically studied.
So in the end,
how much can we say that Reginald borrowed from the work of Wallace? In my
view, only the motif of the door with seven locks can be clearly seen as borrowed
either from the book, or the movies, or both. This is because the cemetery or
the tomb, or the resting place of the dead is very much part of Reginald’s plot
and imagination. Further, the miracles or magic that is produced by special plants
and the almost mythical, dense and dark space of the forest is part and parcel
of Reginald’s corpus. The bringing of the dead to life and the fear that is
associated with it is something that Reginald time and again exploits. So what
now emerges is that, a Reginald romans has
(obviously) romance, it has magic (or the willing suspension of disbelief), it
has crime and adventure, it evokes fear, it has life and afterlife, it borrows
from other sources and reworks it in a Goan cultural milieu, and at the end
there is a ‘happy ending’ in vaguely keeping with norms of Christian morality.
Where else do we find so much packed
in one small book?
For more Reading Reginald, click here.
(First published in O Heraldo, dt: 10 December, 2014)
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