The tale of a Tamil Goodfellow in Virginia

This vivid historical novel coasts along on the effervescence of its protagonist, the first Indian immigrant in America

- Aditya Mani Jha

Pre-modern literature, especially from the medieval ages, tended to "leap from exceptional event to exceptional event", as Amitav Ghosh put it in The Great Derangement (2016). As we moved into the 18th and 19th centuries, this appetite for exceptionalism reduced the great "picaresque" novels (Don Quixote, Tristram Shandy) compensated by making the hero a roguish, liminal figure who would cross all boundaries, even the law on occasion, in a way that involved social satire. Humour was a big part of the puzzle.

Tony, the funny, smart, intuitive protagonist in Brinda Charry's latest novel, The East Indian, would be at home in such a sprawling picaresque adventure. An as-yet unknown figure from Indo-American history by way of British colonisation, the protagonist is based on the "Tony East Indian" Charry came across in Virginia's 17th century colonial records.

The character she writes is supremely engaging and has just the right amount of roguish charm. Tony is born to a Tamil-speaking courtesan in the 17th century near what is Chennai today. Kidnapped, he lands up in Jamestown, Virginia, as an indentured labourer and becomes the first "East Indian" to sail to Virginia. He has many masters until he finds Herman, a medicine man with an apothecary.