Hinduism In Pi's Journey

Hinduism in Pi’s Journey In the book The Life of Pi by Yann Martel, the main character, Pi, is deeply religious and often times the 10 incarnations from Hinduism can be directly seen in Pi’s life. Although the order is skewed, there is an eerie resemblance between the two texts.

There are three incarnation stories that revolve around personality traits and actions rather than events and heroism. These are the stories of Rama, the seventh god, Krishna, the eighth, and Balarama, the ninth. Rama is greatly worshipped for strong virtues, reasoning, and beneficial actions (Jonathan Deaver). Pi also showcases these traits on many occasions. For example, while building his raft he reasons that unless he leaves the boat with Richard Parker, he will

Vishnu presented himself as a tortoise in his second incarnation. He helped to create an immortal elixir by using his sturdy body as a foundation to help the other gods (Deaver). Pi also uses a turtle to prolong his life, by drinking the blood of a sea turtle (Ch. 66 Martel). In the same manner one would drink an immortal elixir, greedy and demanding. The fifth incarnation of Vishnu was named Vāmana. Once again demons began ruling the earth, the gods had no power. Then, a demon was mocking Vāmana, the demon said he could have any land that the god could reach in three strides. Vāmana stepped over the entire world in two steps, and with the final step, sent the demons to hell (Deaver). This could be Pi’s own world while on the lifeboat. The boat was small, able to be crossed in two steps, and he had a third area to occupy, the raft (Ch. 51 Martel). The raft would be Pi’s hell, he got boils, blisters, and his skin peeled (Ch. 64 Martel). Pi was the god of the lifeboat as Vāmana was the god of the whole world. Parashurama, the sixth, was tasked with killing his own family. They were vicious barons, Parashurama killed 21 generations of men, creating five pools of blood across his lands (Deaver). Pi also saw pools of bodies, dead fish, while on the carnivorous island (Ch. 92 Martel). This could be reflecting the different generations of the barons. The final incarnation, Kalkin, existed solely to calm the world, and bring utter peace (Deaver). This is the end of Pi’s journey, he leaves the boat, his beloved tiger, and returns to an absolutely peaceful state. Pi still witnessed everything, but the world was once again calm (Ch. 94