The greatest Detective returns. Review on Mandala of Sherlock Holmes, The - Jamyang Norbu

It is perhaps very rare in literary history that the character created by an author becomes more famous than its creator. I can think of two such instances off hand, one is of course, Sherlock Holmes created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and the second is James Bond created by Ian Fleming.

In the case of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes drew away the spotlight from his more serious works like, The White Company and The Lost World, so much so that he is now more remembered for his detective stories featuring Sherlock Holmes. The popularity of these detective stories piqued Sir Arthur Conan Doyle so much that he decided to kill Sherlock Holmes in the hands of his arch enemy , Prof Moriarity in TheFinal Problem, both meeting their end in the foot of Reichenbach Falls . However bowing to pressure from his devoted fans including his own mother, Sir Doyle was forced to bring back Holmes to life in The Adventure of the Empty House. Holmes explains to Dr Watson that he spent two years in Tibet in guise of a Norwegian Explorer, Siegerson. Aficionados of Sherlock Holmes often speculate about his exploits during this period, three years (i.e. the time interval between The Final Problem and The Adventure of the Empty House.

It appears that the exploits of Sherlock Holmes during these years have been recently discovered by Jamyang Norbu who has published it as a book, The Mandala of Sherlock Holmes. Norbu has done a great service to all Sherlockians by editing and publishing the reminiscences of Shri Huree Chandra Mukherjee who accompanies Holmes during his tryst in Tibet.

The book opens in Bombay when HC Mukherjee of the Ethnological Survey of India is asked to keep an eye on a mysterious foreigner, who turns out to be none other than Sherlock Holmes traveling incognito. Readers of Kim by Rudyard Kipling would be familiar with HC Mukherjee and his exploits.Norbu manages to seamlessly merge two distinct literary characters into having an exploit of their own. Returning to the book, Holmes is hot on the heels of the remnants of the Moriarity organization, chiefly Colonel Sebastian Moran, ace Shikari. Holmes faces several attempts on his life by the gang using exotic oriental poisons but he manages to outwit them using his sublime powers of deduction. Events take a sudden turn as Holmes is appealed to by the Panchen Lama to intervene in saving the life of Dalai Lama. The Chinese are playing a deadly game in Tibet and are trying to usurp the legal authority of the Dalai Lama. Holmes approaches this commission with uncharacteristic disinterest but slowly gets drawn into the vertex of a dangerous conspiracy. Jamayang Norbu builds up the pace steadily and climaxes it into a startling denouement. Norbu sticks close to the style of Sir Doyle and has not taken any liberties with Sherlock Holmes's depiction. The only departure he has taken is that instead of Dr Watson being the narrator, HC Mukherjee becomes one.

The personality of Holmes is portrayed as having spiritual bent which has never been explored before by even Sir Doyle. Fans of Sherlock Holmes would delight in the book as a valuable addition to Sherlockiana. British India circa 1890's has been described very well and the writer has taken pains to research extensively on this period. I recommend this book also for its description of the plight of Tibetans and their tormented country.