The Covenant of Water

Big Ammachi’s son, Philipose, born after the tragedy of JoJo’s drowning and in the wake of Baby Mol’s diagnosis, is a complicated character. He clearly has the Condition, though he longs to learn how to swim; he yearns to know the world but can only feel comfortable doing so through books; he saves a young boy from death but is traumatized by the experience; his father dies soon after his death, so he is nurtured by women almost exclusively—though, after his marriage, he seeks to control and constrain his adventurous and artistic wife. He also becomes an addict, for a time, after the death of his son, then finds the religion that he had long rejected in order to remain sober. His college career is cut short by the discovery of his impaired hearing, which the reader will later learn is a byproduct of the Condition. He becomes bitter: “He despises labels that take away. Can’t swim. Can’t hear. Can’t…” (314). This formative experience leads Philipose back to his books and into his career as a writer.

More than any other character in the book, Philipose recognizes the power of fiction: “I may be headed home [from college], but I’ll not be exiled. As long as I have my eyes, the novels, the great lies that tell the truth, the world in its most heroic and salacious forms can always be mine” (320). As he thinks when he buys the used books before returning home—“carry[ing] the scent of white people, mildew, and cats […] He isn’t retreating to Parambil P.O. or fleeing the larger world. He’s bringing it to his doorstop” (321). It is a misfortune that he cannot be Ishmael, who sets sail on the open ocean to find the great whale in Philipose’s favorite book. However, it is an even greater tragedy that Philipose allows his own limitations to undercut his marriage to Elsie. She does not share his Condition; she does not share his fears. In fact, she is the more talented of the two, and Philipose allows his jealousy to sabotage their relationship—and her work.

Philipose’s death is the final expression of his family’s tragic fate. It is also heroic in a way Philipose never could be during his life. He overcomes his addiction and finds routine and religion to help him through his struggle; he overcomes his disappointment that Mariamma is a girl and raises her well; he even overcomes his knowledge that Mariamma is not his biological child. He is never able to overcome his fears, his sorrow, and the Condition that contributes to those, but, when he is thrown into the water after the train accident and sees the struggling child, he acts: “For once in his life, freed of indecision, freed from doubt, he is absolutely sure of what he must do” (592). For the first time, he assumes agency and becomes the protagonist of his own story.

Digby Kilgour is born in Glasgow, Scotland, a world away from Parambil. His mother gave up an acting career for him, as the family story goes, and his father left her before he was born. Digby keeps up his education and becomes a surgeon, fulfilling the request his mother made of him before she died by suicide. In the aftermath of this loss, Digby leaves Scotland, where, as a poor man and a Catholic, he is treated as a second-class citizen. He will travel to India to offer his services and discover that, as a white man, he is considered superior to the natives at that time. Digby begins working as a surgeon under the tutelage of Claude Arnold, who turns out to be an inept doctor whose alcohol addiction interferes with his work. An additional complication arises when Digby falls in love with Arnold’s wife, Celeste. The two have an affair that leads to disastrous consequences: She dies in a fire, while Digby ruins his surgeon’s hands attempting to save her.

When Digby shows up at Dr. Rune Orqvist’s leprosarium, he appears to be untreatable, both physically and mentally, but over time, this changes: “One can witness a spirit heal, Rune thinks, just as much as one can see a wound heal” (263). India itself will prove a healing balm to Digby, as he realizes his small place in the universe: “On the scale of this land, he is nothing; words like ‘shame’ and ‘guilt’ mean little here; and a reputation is no more than a fleeting blue flame, an evanescent spirit in a brandy glass” (291). He is able to overcome the incident with Celeste and make peace with the limited use of his hands. Eventually, Digby will take over the leprosarium, where he will shelter his unfortunate lover, Elsie, mother of Mariamma. Digby himself is the father, though Elsie swears him to secrecy: she does not want Mariamma either to catch her disease or to be tainted by the stigma of leprosy. Digby keeps this promise, with great sadness, though he vows to stay with Elsie through her long, slow decline: “I’ll always, always be with you. Till the end” (703). Digby and his daughter, Mariamma, are reunited at the end of the book—united in their sorrow about Elsie’s condition—and the reader senses that their story is just starting.

Elsie is an extraordinarily talented artist. It is noted at several points in the book that she might be one of the greatest artists India has produced; she draws with charcoals, paints, and creates sculptures and other large-scale works using natural materials. She becomes acquainted with Philipose when he rescues the boatman’s child and brings him to Digby. After the experience, Philipose is anxious to get home, so as not to worry Big Ammachi; Digby arranges for Elsie’s father, Chandy, to drive him home. Elsie sits next to him in the back seat and reaches for his hand, fascinated that he has helped to save the child—she will be fascinated with hands for the rest of her life. It is part of what cements the relationship between her and Digby.

She is later married to Philipose, who actually values her opinion on the match, not common in a time of arranged marriages and female oppression. She tells him, quite genuinely, that she wants to marry him, though not necessarily for the reasons he wants to hear: “I thought that of all the men I might marry, you would take my art, my ambition seriously” (356). Alas, though the relationship begins fortuitously, it will turn to tragedy quickly: The loss of their young son, Ninan, breaks the fragile bond between them. Philipose does not actually support her artistic endeavors; he is jealous of her talent and openly sabotages her work: “He, a flawed mortal […] is dwarfed by her talent” (369). She leaves him after the death of Ninan, but comes back to Parambil to give birth to Mariamma—so that Mariamma might have a home. Philipose, however, is not the father.

After faking her suicide, Elsie returns to her true love, Dr. Digby Kilgour. She tells him of his daughter and why they cannot raise her: Elsie has contracted leprosy. She cannot put the child at risk. But Digby’s connection to Elsie—her fascination with hands helped to resuscitate his injured ones, years ago—cannot be severed. Digby has never forgotten her patience, her kindness, and her remarkable talent. He will be the one to nurture her dreams of being an artist.