Nitra and Indra in PF

Kinbote’s commentary 149 mentions two islands, “Nitra and Indra” (meaning ‘inner’ and outer’), “two black islets that seemed to address each other in cloaked parley…”

I believe these refer to two Hindu gods, Nidra and Indra.  Nabokov may have used a different transliteration for Nidra (Nitra), or he may have decided to play a little word-golf in order to obfuscate the meaning in order to have the reader dig deeper into the fact that ‘Nidra” and “Indra” are anagrams.

Indra is the creator god of Hinduism. Above Indra’s abode hangs a great net studded with jewels at every junction. It is a metaphor for the connection and interpenetration of everything in creation. Here is how Francis H. Cook describes “Indra’s net”, as it is called:

• “Far away in the heavenly abode of the great god Indra, there is a wonderful net which has been hung by some cunning artificer in such a manner that it stretches out infinitely in all directions. In accordance with the extravagant tastes of deities, the artificer has hung a single glittering jewel in each "eye" of the net, and since the net itself is infinite in dimension, the jewels are infinite in number. There hang the jewels, glittering "like" stars in the first magnitude, a wonderful sight to behold. If we now arbitrarily select one of these jewels for inspection and look closely at it, we will discover that in its polished surface there are reflected all the other jewels in the net, infinite in number. Not only that, but each of the jewels reflected in this one jewel is also reflecting all the other jewels, so that there is an infinite reflecting process occurring.”
•  (Cook, Francis H. (1977), Hua-Yen Buddhism: The Jewel Net of Indra, Penn State Press, ISBN 0-271-02190-X)

What a marvelous metaphor for Nabokov the creator of the interpenetrating world of Pale Fire!  What is even more marvelous – for my thesis – is that Indra’s Net is basically an analogue for Jung’s Synchronicity.

Nidra is the Hindu goddess of sleep. Yoga Nidra is an ancient Hindu form of meditation. Wikipedia describes it thus:

Yoga nidra (Sanskrit: योग निद्रा) or yogic sleep) is a state of consciousness between waking and sleeping, like the "going-to-sleep" stage. It is a state in which the body is completely relaxed, and the practitioner becomes systematically and increasingly aware of the inner world by following a set of verbal instructions. This state of consciousness (yoga nidra) is different from meditation in which concentration on a single focus is required. In yoga nidra the practitioner remains in a state of light withdrawal of the 5 senses (pratyahara) with four of his or her senses internalised, that is, withdrawn, and only the hearing still connects to the instructions. The yogic goal of both paths, deep relaxation (yoga nidra) and meditation are the same, a state of meditative consciousness called samadhi.

I was struck by how much this practice resembles the process detailed in “Insomniac Dreams” wherein the main character meditates away his body in the attempt at pure consciousness. It would seem that Nabokov was perhaps aware of this ancient yoga.

Nidra is the “inner world”; Indra is the manifest world. The two islands, Nitra and Indra, are in “cloaked colloquy” as the inner world dialogues with the outer realm of interconnectedness. This is the relationship of what the Hindus referred to as the Atman to the Brahman. It is similar to Plato’s personal soul and World Soul and the relation of Christ and God in Christianity.

Nabokov claimed to hate religion and everything oriental, however he was clearly cognizant of and conversant with many forms of religion and mysticism (including, apparently, his own experience). Christianity as well is studded through Pale Fire, as is Platonism, mythology and occultism. It could be argued that the spiritual quest is the main theme of Pale Fire.