https://indianpedia.org/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Chronicle_of_a_Corpse_BearerChronicle of a Corpse Bearer - Revision history2026-07-31T03:09:21ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.45.4https://indianpedia.org/index.php?title=Chronicle_of_a_Corpse_Bearer&diff=112722&oldid=prev>InternetArchiveBot at 01:32, 22 July 20202020-07-22T01:32:25Z<p></p>
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{{Infobox book<br />
| name = Chronicle of a Corpse Bearer<br />
| image = Chronicle of a Corpse Bearer.jpg<br />
| caption = <br />
| author = [[Cyrus Mistry (writer)|Cyrus Mistry]]<br />
| translator = <br />
| language = [[English language|English]]<br />
| country = India<br />
| genre = Fiction<br>Drama<br />
| publisher = Aleph Book Company<br />
| release_date = 2012<br />
| media_type = Print ([[paperback]], [[Hardcover|hardback]])<br />
| pages = 247<br />
| isbn = 9788192328058<br />
}}<br />
<br />
'''''Chronicle of a Corpse Bearer''''' is a 2012 novel written by author and playwright [[Cyrus Mistry (writer)|Cyrus Mistry]]. Set in pre-Independence era of India, the book is about the [[Parsi]] community of corpse bearers who carry the dead bodies for burial in [[Bombay]].<ref name=dna>{{cite news|url=http://www.dnaindia.com/lifestyle/review-book-review-chronicle-of-a-corpse-bearer-1735601|title=Book review: 'Chronicle Of A Corpse Bearer'|last=Seshadri|first=Aditi|work=[[Daily News and Analysis]]|date=2 September 2012|accessdate=30 March 2018|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170906183742/http://www.dnaindia.com/lifestyle/review-book-review-chronicle-of-a-corpse-bearer-1735601|archivedate=6 September 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/books/11-novels-that-must-be-adapted-into-bollywood-movies/chronicle-of-a-corpse-bearer-by-cyrus-mistry/photostory/57893165.cms|title=11 novels that must be adapted into Bollywood movies|work=[[The Times of India]]|date=31 March 2017|accessdate=30 March 2018|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20180330161954/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/books/11-novels-that-must-be-adapted-into-bollywood-movies/chronicle-of-a-corpse-bearer-by-cyrus-mistry/photostory/57893165.cms|archivedate=30 March 2018}}</ref> The idea for the novel came to Mistry in 1991, when he was researching the subject for a film producer, who wanted to make a documentary on it by [[Channel 4]]. The film could not be made so Mistry decided to write it as a novel.<ref name=wsj>{{cite news|url=https://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2014/01/22/cyrus-mistry-on-mumbais-parsi-corpse-bearers/|title=Cyrus Mistry on Parsi Corpse Bearers|last=Seervai|first=Shanoor|work=[[The Wall Street Journal]]|date=22 January 2014|accessdate=30 March 2018|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170411222949/http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2014/01/22/cyrus-mistry-on-mumbais-parsi-corpse-bearers/|archivedate=11 April 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/eloquent-writer/article6481542.ece|title=Eloquent writer|last=Datta|first=Sravasti|work=[[The Hindu]]|date=8 October 2014|accessdate=30 March 2018|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20141203071635/http://www.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/eloquent-writer/article6481542.ece|archivedate=3 December 2014}}</ref><br />
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''Chronicle of a Corpse Bearer'' won the [[DSC Prize for South Asian Literature]] in 2014 and the [[List of Sahitya Akademi Award winners for English|Sahitya Akademi Award for English]] in 2015.<ref name=wsj/><ref>{{cite news|url=https://scroll.in/article/776754/read-again-the-novel-that-just-won-the-sahitya-akademi-award-for-english|title=Read again: The novel that just won the Sahitya Akademi award for English|last=Mistry|first=Cyrus|publisher=Scroll.in|date=19 December 2015|accessdate=18 December 2018}}</ref><br />
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==Plot==<br />
Phiroze Elchidana is a Parsi corpse bearer aka "khandhias" of the Parsi community whose job is to collect the dead, perform the last rites and rituals before the corpses are left to decay or consumed by the vultures. The son of a priest who is inept at his studies, Phiroze compounds his family’s disappointment by falling in love with Sepideh, the daughter of a khandhia. He later marries her and becomes a corpse bearer himself. Sepideh dies, leaving Phiroze and his daughter in sorrow.<br />
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==Reception==<br />
Writing for ''[[Daily News and Analysis]]'', Aditi Sheshadri called it an "interesting and uncommon account of social discrimination" but further said that it is not the "stirring, dramatic, intensely personal tale of love and loss that it could have been."<ref name=dna/> Mahvesh Murad of ''[[Dawn (newspaper)|Dawn]]'' wrote: "''Chronicle of a Corpse Bearer'' is not a perfect book, but it is an important one."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.dawn.com/news/753113|title=REVIEW: Chronicle of a Corpse Bearer|last=Murad|first=Mahvesh|work=[[Dawn (newspaper)|Dawn]]|date=30 September 2012|accessdate=30 March 2018|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20180330161954/https://www.dawn.com/news/753113|archivedate=30 March 2018}}</ref> [[Jai Arjun Singh]] said in his review that the novel "reads less like a well-paced, internally consistent novel and more like fragmented socio-history, trying to say too much about too many things."<ref>{{cite news|url=http://archive.tehelka.com/story_main53.asp?filename=hub040812Burden.asp|title=The burden of death|last=Singh|first=Jai Arjun|work=[[Tehelka]]|date=4 August 2012|accessdate=30 March 2018|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130603141300/http://archive.tehelka.com/story_main53.asp?filename=hub040812Burden.asp|archivedate=3 June 2013}}</ref> Bakhtiar K. Dadabhoy of ''Outlook'' said, "Peppered with grey humour, irony and tragedy, this well-crafted book is a winner."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.outlookindia.com/magazine/story/in-the-shadow-of-the-dakhma/281821|title=In The Shadow Of The Dakhma|last=Dadabhoy|first=Bakhtiar K.|work=Outlook|date=13 August 2012|accessdate=1 April 2018}}</ref><br />
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==See also==<br />
* [[A Chronicle of Corpses]], a 2000 gothic art-house film<br />
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==References==<br />
{{reflist}}<br />
{{Sahitya Akademi Award for English}}<br />
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==External links==<br />
{{portal|Novels}}<br />
* [http://www.alephbookcompany.com/book/chronicle-of-a-corpse-bearer/ ''Chronicle of a Corpse Bearer'' at Aleph Book Company]<br />
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[[Category:2012 Indian novels]]<br />
[[Category:Novels set in Mumbai]]<br />
[[Category:Sahitya Akademi Award-winning works]]</div>>InternetArchiveBot