Path of the Swan: The Maitreya Chronicles Part I is Charu Singh’s version of what the kingdom of Shamballa would be like. She spoke to Divya Kaushik about intriguing aspects of Tibetan Buddhism and why she chose to present mythology with imagination
While she lived in Gangtok for a year and a half she spent her time visiting monasteries, talking to monks and the lamas and getting a sneak peek into their lives. This interaction led her to the discovery of the Buddhist philosophy of compassion and forgiveness. She studied deeply the origin and beliefs of Tibetan Buddhism. She was intrigued by the stories of celestial beings like Dakinis in Buddhism. In Tibetan Buddhism Dakini is referred to a female spirit. They are comparable to vengeful female deities or fairies in other culture. She studied the religion further and while doing that, she weaved a story based on the philosophy of Tibetan Buddhism, but with an imaginative component. This story of Tashi is now a book called Path of the Swan: The Maitreya Chronicles Part I by Charu Singh. “The book is a result of great research and studies and it took almost 10 years to complete it. It is centered around Tibetan Buddhism, which is mainly, called Vajrayana, which is a further development of Mahayana Buddhism. Vajrayana is a complex and multifaceted system of Buddhist thought and practice which evolved over several centuries. It has a whole pantheon of bodhisattvas and then there are celestial beings like dakinis, all of it is used in the book. In Tibetan Buddhism, the followers not just believe in Sakyamuni Buddha, but in extreme of Buddha and also bodhisattvas. I have tried to research as much as I could about that and compile all this mythology into a book,” said Singh.
The book began in Sikkim and it was there that she got inspired and intrigued to find more about the religion. “I was always attracted to Buddhism. I study religion. I was meeting a lot of monks and lamas and people connected with Buddhism so I got intrigued by the whole concept of Shamballa and its symbolic beings. In Tibetan Buddhism, Shamballa is believed to be a hidden kingdom in inner Asia. It is mentioned in various ancient texts. It is envisioned as a pure Buddhist land, a kingdom whose reality is spiritual. I went after the legend of Shamballa because that really intrigued me. This book is a take on my own understanding of what the kingdom of Shamballa would be like. So I explored this concept. I am not a Buddhist but I got into Buddhism. My research was not just my personal experiences while staying in Sikkim, I did a lot of interviews with people connected to Buddhism. I got to meet many monks and also their master, Rinpoche. I found them very nice to talk to. There was a certain goodness about them. Many of them could communicate very well which is a problem with many other religions where people connected with it are not able to share details. In case of Buddhist monks, they have a set of teachers who can get the ideas across, so this was a great help. In addition to that I did go through several books and collected whatever raw material I could lay my hands on. Among many books that I read, I liked Charles Allen book on Buddhism,” shared Singh.
Unlike many other books on Buddhism, Singh’s book is a fiction story. There are facts told through characters in an interesting account. The book is her personal observation and the work has her imagination weaved in. It is mythology combined with imagination. The author said that while researching for the book she found out that most literary works on Buddhism are non-fiction, so she came up with the story of Tashi to narrate facts and philosophy. She said, “Fiction attracts me and I write fiction better than non-fiction. The first chapter just flowed while I was in Sikkim and the story developed. Tashi is a simple Tibetan origin boy from Sikkim. He shows the character of Sikkimese people, their simplicity and their innate goodness. He symbolises Sikkim in the book.”
The author also travelled to Kashmir and ladakh and the research resulted in so much matter that she decided to write the book in two parts. While the first series was recently launched at Taj Mahal Hotel, the second is in initial phase. “I met the publisher while the concept was in initial stage and I had only written few chapters of the first book. She really liked it and that encouraged me to research more. It was almost decided that I will do the book in two parts. The story will be taken forward in the second part with the same characters but I will be exploring other facts on the religion. The second book will be more in the North East and not just Sikkim. I am not sure if there would be a third series as well. As a writer you tend to lose the intensity that such a topic requires once you are exhausted, I don’t want that to happen,” informed Singh.