Published twenty-two years after Kanthapura, The Serpent and the Rope is Rao’s most appreciated work. If the former is modelled on an upapurana (minor Purana), the latter is a kind of mahapurana (major Purana) or epic. Geographically, historically, philosophically and formally, its sweep is truly epical. The novel includes a variety of settings, ranging from metropolitan Paris to Ramaswamy’s ancestral home in a south Indian village, from European locales such as Aix-en-Provence, Montpellier, Pau, Provence, Cambridge and London, to Indian locales such as Hyderabad, Delhi, Lucknow, Bombay, Bangalore and Benares. Even historically, its sweep is truly staggering. Rao delves into almost the whole of Indian history, from the invasion of the Aryans to the advent of British rule; he also explores European history, chiefly the Albigensian heresy, and Chinese history. These and many other topics, all come under discussion as the protagonist, Rama, a historian by training, expounds his theories in conversations with the leading characters. Philosophically, too, the novel’s range is formidable. Rao discusses Hinduism, Buddhism, Catholicism, Islam, Taoism, Marxism, Darwinism and Nazism.

Its content is so varied, it is not surprising to find The Serpent and the Rope extremely diverse in form as well. Rao quotes from an array of languages, including Sanskrit, Hindi, French, Italian, Latin and Provencal; only the Sanskrit quotations are translated. There are long interludes and stories, such as Grandmother Lakshmma’s story of a princess who becomes a pumpkin and Ishwara Bhatta’s ‘Story of Rama’. In addition, the novel contains songs, myths, legends and philosophical discussions in the manner of the Puranas. The main narrative, the gradual disintegration of Rama’s marriage with his French wife, Madeleine, is thus only a single strand holding a voluminous and diverse book together.

The Serpent and the Rope is an extremely challenging work thematically as well. Savithri’s words in the novel sum it up well. It is ‘a sacred text, a cryptogram, with different meanings at different hierarchies of awareness’.5 (235) It may be approached on at least two levels, the literal and the symbolic, although the two usually operate simultaneously.

At the literal level of plot, the novel may appear puzzling and unsatisfying. The crux is: Why does the marriage of Rama and Madeleine disintegrate? Critics have attempted various answers, ranging from incompatibility between the Indian Rama and the French Madeleine, to Rama’s infidelity. Although such answers are plausible, they do not satisfy completely because these reasons are not perceived by the characters themselves. Rama and Madeleine are both aware of the growing rift between them, but they do not attempt to bridge it on a practical level.