Love

The most obvious theme in A River Sutra is that of love. The Narmada River itself is described as a lover, flowing to meet her bridegroom, the Lord of the Oceans. In each story that the nameless narrator hears he learns more about what his friend Tariq Mia calls the secrets of the human heart. The varieties of love that touch the heart are as endless as the stories of the Narmada River. The narrator learns of a monk's love for all living creatures. Trying to live by the doctrine of "ahimsa" or nonviolence, this Jain monk tries to empathize with the suffering of everything from the smallest insect to his own wealthy father. In attempting to utterly deny his own feelings and to take on the pain of the world, the Jain monk finds that his frozen heart has melted. Master Mohan falls in love with a...