ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses Jamayang Norbu’s fictional work The Mandala of Sherlock Holmes. Norbu is a Tibetan author based in the United States. His novel is based on the ‘missing years’ (1892–1894) of Sherlock Holmes, a celebrated detective in Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories. He refashions this episode to suit his recreation of late-nineteenth-century Tibet. He locates the European characters such as Sherlock Holmes and Professor Moriarty in the Tibetan background and shows how they became involved in a Chinese conspiracy to topple Dalai Lama from his position of power. In the process of narrating the story, Norbu contests many of the misconceptions and misinformation that had been in vogue and explains Tibetan traditions, rites and rituals in proper light. Norbu employs innovative strategies to represent the real Tibet of the time and correct the stereotyped images of the country. Through an anti-hegemonic gaze, Norbu rationalises Tibetan religious and cultural practices and subverts Western stereotypes and de-romanticises Tibet.
