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y separately published work icon Transcendental Pastimes single work   novel  
Issue Details: First known date: 1999... 1999 Transcendental Pastimes
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

Transcendental Pastimes 'brings a western film crew to Hemagiri, a dusty mining town perched on granite hills and surrounded by the jungle of the deep South of Tamil Nadu. They are a colourful bunch - the cramped English Director, Jonathan Bexley, fleeing a failed marriage; uptight Carol, his feminist assistant; Gino, a macho Italo-Australian; Terry, his Irish mate; and Brian, the sensitive, withdrawn New Age asthmatic - but they find themselves disturbed and challenged by their encounter with the dangerous, mystifying and bizarre beauty of South India.

'Bexley's crew have come to make a documentary on the renowned Guru Chinnaswami, who claims to remember his past lives and talks of God as the "Cosmic Magician". But as they journey with the Guru into a world of strange happenings and mystical revelations, they become more and more entangled in the lives and troubles of the Hemagiri people, their sufferings and their romances. It is a path that brings satisfaction to some but which eventually leads both the Guru and his Western guests to confront the sinister face of modern-day terrorism in the lead-up to the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi.' (Publisher's blurb)

Notes

  • This book, by an Indian writer who has visited Australia, is included in AustLit because the novel contains an Australian character.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Enmore, Marrickville - Camperdown area, Sydney Southern Suburbs, Sydney, New South Wales,: Aquila Books , 1999 .
      image of person or book cover 6250015486972452521.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 286p.
      Note/s:
      • Includes glossary.
      ISBN: 1872897045 (hbk.), 1872897053 (pbk.)

Works about this Work

A Mystico-Occult Redemption? Kirsti Sarmiala-Berger , 2000 single work review
— Appears in: Overland , Summer no. 161 2000; (p. 102-103)

— Review of Transcendental Pastimes Christine Mangala , 1999 single work novel
Also reviews Psychic Wallah in a Charmed Circle by Mangala's husband David Frost (as Lucas Finn).
A Mystico-Occult Redemption? Kirsti Sarmiala-Berger , 2000 single work review
— Appears in: Overland , Summer no. 161 2000; (p. 102-103)

— Review of Transcendental Pastimes Christine Mangala , 1999 single work novel
Also reviews Psychic Wallah in a Charmed Circle by Mangala's husband David Frost (as Lucas Finn).
Last amended 17 Jan 2020 13:55:14
Settings:
  • Tamil Nadu,
    c
    India,
    c
    South Asia, South and East Asia, Asia,
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