Family
The Covenant of Water explores changing definitions of family and questions traditional family dynamics. At the beginning of the text, Big Ammachi's fate is determined by traditional family structures in which she has no agency. She and her widowed mother are subject to the whims of her uncle, the family patriarch responsible for all decision-making in their time and culture. However, when Mariamma leaves home for Parambil, her family structure becomes increasingly complicated and fulfilling. Initially, the text introduces the perceived importance of shared heritage, as Big Appachen gives away large pieces of land to blood relatives, no matter how distant their connection or how poorly they misuse their inheritance, in the case of relatives like Kora. However, the text contrasts Big Appachen's distant relationships with his blood relatives with his close relationship to Shamuel, the estate manager who raised him, suggesting that "family" and "relations" are two separate concepts.
Mariamma introduces a more nuanced understanding of family; though she is only a decade older than Jojo and is not his biological mother, she immediately assumes a maternal role. She forms a close relationship with Damo, the elephant who lives on the property, and even treats the spirit of Jojo's late mother with the respect and friendliness of a sister. Big Ammachi carries this spirit of dynamic family relationships throughout her entire life, embracing a variety of relatives and friends, such as Odat Kochamma, Elsie, and Anna, welcoming them into her inner circle and extending lifelong loyalty.
Digby's storyline adds additional depth to the theme. Orphaned and rejected by his community in England, Digby develops a "found family" that includes his patients, colleagues, and the Saint Bridget's community. For example, Digby regards Honorine as a surrogate mother, and after he saves Lena Mylin's life with a transfusion of his own blood, she claims him as a "blood relative," a designation that includes unconditional support and loyalty. Lena gives Digby a safe, judgement-free place to recover from his burns, and introduces him to the Saint Bridget's community. There, Digby claims the people suffering from leprosy as his "brothers and sisters," recognizing that they are united in their shared exclusion from society and their physical disabilities.
The theme is most clearly exemplified by Mariamma's realization that Philipose is not her biological father. She grapples with the knowledge that she has no shared heritage with her role models, Big Ammachi and Philipose, and discovers that Philipose's deep devotion to her makes him her true father. Her determination to find a cure for the Condition is not motivated by her fear of the inheritable disease but by love for the people who raised her. As Broker Aniyan suggests, "what defines a family isn't blood but the secrets they share," meaning that shared history, experiences, and connections bind people together more strongly than ancestry.
Superstition and Faith
Superstition and faith are significant, interconnected themes throughout the novel. Through examining how different characters negotiate belief at different points in their life, The Covenant of Water explores the positive and negative sides of faith and superstition. The novel is set against the cultural backdrop of Saint Thomas Christianity in Kerala. Big Ammachi in particular relies heavily on religion and a personal relationship with God to navigate and comprehend life's trials and tragedies. She relies on prayer to help her process and accept traumatic situations, such as Jojo's death and the uncertainty of the Condition.
Big Ammachi's faith is highly personal and never leveraged to control or influence others; when she needs to intervene with fate, she turns to superstition. For example, at the beginning of her marriage, she feels adrift and longs to go to church or read her Bible. Rather than asking God to encourage her husband to take her to church, she turns to Thankamma's household superstition of wishing on food she prepares and serving it to the person she wants to influence. She even develops her own rituals and superstitions, trying to predict ways to please and reassure the ghost of Jojo's mother or bartering with the Saint Mar Gregorius to protect Philipose from the Condition. Big Ammachi's faith, though an essential component of her identity and worldview, is highly plastic. Similarly, Philipose uses Christian rituals and routines to maintain his sobriety; though he does not believe in the supernatural, he still finds cultural value and connection by participating in these traditions, and the medical students in Mariamma's class develop superstitious rituals to help them study despite their dedication to evidence-based treatments.
The negative consequences of faith are explored through other characters and the surrounding historical context. For example, characters like Decency Kochamma view faith as a way to define a person's value or morality. Decency Kochamma bullies her family members for failing to adhere to her strict interpretation of religious values, resulting in unnecessary division and tension. Just as faith and superstitions shape individuals and interpersonal relationships, attitudes toward faith shape society. For example, Digby is forced to leave England because his Catholic heritage makes him undesirable to the Protestant-majority medical establishment despite his lack of personal religious convictions. Similarly, when India and Pakistan are partitioned, the Parambil family follows the news in horror, devastated at how quickly religion is weaponized and used as justification for unspeakable acts of violence.
Whether or not superstitions and faith are efficacious is never decisive; in one Ordinary Man column, "The Uncure," Philipose suggests that "the common ingredient to all the cures is belief," meaning that rituals, superstitions, and religions themselves are not necessarily true in the literal sense, but effective because those who choose to invoke them believe they will work. As the novel suggests, superstition and faith can be enormously beneficial and unifying, or tremendously devastating and divisive.
Secrets
The Covenant of Water introduces the theme of secrets in the opening chapters. Framing the narrative around Big Ammachi revealing family secrets to her granddaughter and namesake, Mariamma, the text explains that "secrets whose bond is stronger than blood" can tear a family apart or mend it. In addition to being a connecting force, secrets are also connected to shame; maintaining secrets exacerbates shame, and unburdening secrets prompts healing from shame.
The main secret kept throughout the text is the true nature of the Condition. Though Broker Aniyan reveals that the Parambil family has a family history of drowning, the cause and consequences of this history are shrouded in mystery. Jojo's death prompts Mariamma to demand answers about the Condition, prompting her husband to share "more words of significance in one evening" than in the prior eight years of marriage. Unburdening himself of the truth of the Condition and its related secrets, such as his inability to read, connects Big Appachen and Big Ammachi. After that point in their marriage, the couple truly understands each other. As Broker Aniyan later opines, "What defines a family isn't blood but the secrets they share." Learning about the Condition empowers Big Ammachi to assume a matriarchal position in the Parambil family, cementing her role as the cornerstone of the family.
Though unburdening secrets creates interpersonal healing and opportunities for growth, keeping secrets is presented as dangerous and corrupting. Mariamma knows that collecting stories and secrets is the only way she can gather enough information to understand and treat the Condition, asserting that "secrecy around the Condition hasn't helped. Secrets kill." She expands the family tree and publishes her findings, a choice that is met with an outpouring of support and bonding. However, Mariamma keeps secrets that develop into personal shame, damaging her close family bonds. Unable to tell her father or Big Ammachi about her experiences with sexual assault and her feelings toward Lenin, Mariamma grows distant. Similarly, during his marriage to Elsie, Philipose experienced intense shame around his limited hearing and failed college course, compelling him to reject her invitations for closeness, such as visiting with her family and traveling to Madras. Philipose's shame, cemented by his secrets, precipitated the dissolution of his marriage to Elsie.
When Mariamma learns that Philipose is not her biological father, a secret Philipose and Big Ammachi kept from her, she experiences an intense crisis of identity that leads her to seek answers from Digby. At Saint Bridget's, she discovered that Elsie kept the secret of her leprosy by faking her own death. Though in Elsie's case, her secret did not literally end her life, refusing to share the truth of her condition made her a stranger to her child and forced the Parambil family to mourn her. Digby's explanation of his and Elsie's secrets bonds Mariamma to him, and the novel ends ambiguously, leaving Mariamma's decision to reveal herself to her mother ambiguous.
Healing
The Covenant of Water explores different modalities for healing illness and emotional distress, examining how methods of healing interact and intersect. Surgery and professional medical treatment are a recurring motif throughout the text, as Digby, Rune, and Mariamma's surgical experiences are described in detail. Each medical professional develops systems for interacting with patients that facilitate healing. The idea of the interplay between relationships and physical healing is first introduced when Digby begins seeing patients in Madras. Digby cannot understand why his patient is unable to heal despite his successful surgeries. When Digby's colleagues suggest he personally reassure the patient, the patient recovers. This pivotal moment demonstrates that healing is an experience that requires attention to every aspect of a person; strong relationships, faith, and reassurance can expedite healing, and emotional pain intensifies physical pain, like when Philipose struggles to heal his broken ankles as he grapples with Ninan's preventable death.
Doctor Rune Orqvist exemplifies the interconnection between relationships and healing. Rune's Cochin medical practice is extremely popular and successful because, unlike other non-Indian doctors, Rune meaningfully incorporates his patients' belief systems and emotions into their treatment plans. When meeting Big Ammachi, Rune makes sure to converse in Malayalam, the language in which Mariamma feels confident expressing herself, and to explain Baby Mol's condition through religious allusions, which are essential to Mariamma's worldview. Mariamma leaves the visit able to efficiently process Baby Mol's diagnosis without additional emotional baggage or confusion. Later, Rune identifies the most painful symptoms of leprosy as rejection, isolation, and a forced lack of agency. To remedy this, Rune opens Saint Bridget's as a self-sufficient home for people with leprosy, providing community, medical treatments to improve mobility, and purpose. Though Rune never attempts to treat the physiological cause of leprosy, Saint Bridget's is a place of incomparable healing.
Mariamma expands on Rune and Digby's perspectives and develops a forward-looking, innovative medical career. Mariamma is a highly skilled researcher who studies leprous tissue, contributing to the search for a cure, and devotes herself to understanding the root cause of the Condition to better treat it. She understands that only through studying the stories and experiences of people living with the Condition will she be able to identify its patterns; she creatively fills in the family tree with family members who "married out" or were forgotten and reads her father's inscrutable journals to understand how people with the Condition think, not just their physical traits. Publishing her research, connecting with her family, and uncovering secrets not only help Mariamma heal her afflicted relatives, but also the emotional wounds she carries that were inflicted by family secrets.
Inheritance
The novel explores the theme of inheritance by exploring the term's myriad interpretations. Though the term "inheritance" is typically associated with passing down wealth or property, the term takes on both odious and hopeful connotations throughout the text. The most obvious example of this theme is the Condition, a genetically inherited condition that shapes the lives of multiple generations of characters. The Condition causes bizarre, shared symptoms, such as an aversion to water, a love of heights, and limited hearing; the Condition's role as an inheritance is symbolically represented in the family tree that records deaths by drowning, which Big Appachen inherited, and which is passed down from Big Ammachi to Mariamma. Essentially, by passing down this record, the Parambil family also passes down the burden of the Condition, including perpetual fear of future deaths and the obligation to "cure" it.
The novel also addresses literal, physical examples of inheritance and their abstract consequences. In Big Ammachi's house, the family's generational wealth is stored in the ara, a treasure room near which babies are born, assuring their stake in the inheritance. Big Appachen, isolated from the world to prevent his drowning, is cheated out of his inheritance because he cannot read the contract his brother presented him. To remedy this, Big Appachen divvies out parcels of land to inheritors of Parambil, many of whom squander their inheritance. Conversely, Joppan bristles against his inheritance, pointing out how the caste system forces people to inherit disadvantages and shame. Shamuel comes from a long line of estate managers, some of whom were previously enslaved by the Parambil family. Joppan feels the weight of this cruel inheritance, offended by the small fortune Shamuel leaves behind, and attempts to establish himself outside of his lineage.
In addition to generational diseases, social classes, and wealth, the novel proposes that skills and knowledge are inherited. When Lenin attempts to evade capture for his affiliation with the Naxalites, he is moved by an Indigenous man who shares his "inheritance," which Lenin defines as the knowledge and skills passed down through generations of ancestors. One clue that foreshadows Mariamma's true paternity is her exceptional surgical skills, medical insights, and ability to visualize the human body. The text suggests that Mariamma inherited these innate talents, which she combines with the secrets of the Condition she inherited from Big Ammachi to discover a cure. Overall, The Covenant of Water suggests that inheritance can be both burdensome and beneficial, shaping the fates of those who inherit, who in turn use their inheritance to direct their futures.
Disability
Throughout the novel, characters struggle to find identity, acceptance, and accommodation after recognizing inherited disabilities or experiencing disabling events. The first example of this theme is Big Appachen, who inherited the Condition and several of its physiological traits, including limited hearing and aversion to water. Big Appachen is able to manage these symptoms and use them to his advantage; he is known as an attentive listener and keen observer as he needs to pay close attention when others speak to him, and his tendency to walk provides him with an intimate knowledge of Parambil's landscape, enhancing his ability to plan projects and farm. His physical differences are not inherently disabling. However, his family, fearing the Condition, create an environment that unnecessarily disadvantages him. Surrounded by anxious, protective family members, he learns to fear water, rarely leaves the estate, and never learns to read, resulting in low self-confidence and leaving him vulnerable to being cheated, as his brother steals his inheritance, knowing Big Appachen cannot read the contract. Similarly, Philipose inherits his father's limited hearing, which disables him when he attempts to study in Madras. In elementary school, Philipose succeeds by sitting close to the front of the classroom, an easy and unobtrusive adjustment. However, in Madras, his university is unwilling to provide even the most basic adjustments and essentially dismisses him from the program, precipitating Philipose's descent into shame and fear, which eventually destroy his marriage. Through Philipose's narrative arc, the novel warns against dismissing disability accommodations and lays bare the consequences of exclusion.
By contrast, Baby Mol is born with a disabling congenital condition that severely limits her development. However, she is raised in a nurturing, supportive environment with parents who do not even notice her differences. Her true character, obscured to outsiders by her physical appearance, is most clearly on display when she performs the monsoon dance. Onlookers are awed by her grace and presence; her dance expresses her innate joy and preternatural abilities to predict significant events. When her loved ones consider how her condition disabled and advantaged her, they come to the conclusion that, though Baby Mol did not marry or pursue a career, her life was incredibly meaningful and full, as she was an essential member of her family, experienced a joyful life, and weathered change with wonder and optimism. In Baby Mol's case, her disability is not a disadvantage, because her family unquestioningly accommodates her needs and accepts her for who she is.
In addition to examining inherited disabilities, the text explores the consequences of disabling events. Digby loses significant functioning in his hands after suffering burns in the house fire that kills Celeste, a tragedy for which he blames himself. Digby's permanent injuries carry significant emotional weight, as he loses his identity as a surgeon and artist. The most significant moment of healing for Digby comes when Elsie binds her hand to his and helps him draw a portrait of his mother. In this single act, Elsie demonstrates non-repulsed curiosity about his hands, helping Digby accept the changes in his body without considering himself "ruined." He also realizes that the unresolved trauma of witnessing his mother's suicide significantly held him back, as he avoided healing activities, like forming authentic relationships with others. Digby's newfound commitment to acceptance and agency extends to the people of Saint Bridget's. Digby and Rune help the residents regain some motor function so they can continue to engage in fulfilling activities, but they do not seek to find a cure for leprosy or integrate people with leprosy into the outside world. By creating an intentional, self-sufficient community, Digby and Rune provide a form of accommodation that is not dependent on improving physical defects or navigating mainstream society.
Fate
The Covenant of Water explores the tension between fate and agency through moments of serendipity and interwoven narratives. When viewed as a whole, the novel includes small moments that foreshadow future events, laying a foundation of clues and situations that are essential to allow Mariamma to eventually cure the Condition.
Big Ammachi is a strong believer in fate, which she interprets through a religious framework, praying that "God's will be done, not knowing what that will be." Though she experiences tragedy after tragedy, she always accepts that each person's life is fated, and trusts that everything she suffers is in service of a greater goal, primarily, curing the Condition. Her perspective helps her mourn and accept Jojo's death, Baby Mol's disability, and her own unexpected role as matriarch. Ironically, Big Ammachi's belief in fate provides her with significant agency. Knowing that some events and experiences are unavoidable, she does not waste time trying to discover the causes of tragedies and continues moving forward and growing. This attitude helps her challenge conventions and embrace positive change, such as allowing Uplift Master to improve Parambil's living conditions and encouraging Mariamma to pursue educational opportunities that were once denied to women. Essentially, Big Ammachi's acceptance of fate is what allows her to determine her own.
Other characters struggle to accept their situations and self-sabotage. For example, Digby's mother insists that "what's fer ye wont go by ye," meaning that a person's destiny will not be deterred by obstacles. Digby initially struggles to see his appointment in Madras as fate, and sees it as a consequence of his oppression keeping him from his true destiny. He also sees his burned hands as a punishment for his own choices rather than an opportunity to pivot his career trajectory and worldview. When viewed retrospectively, Digby's experiences were necessary for him to find his true calling with Elsie and Saint Bridget's. He needed to suffer his burns to truly connect with his patients and Elsie. Though Elsie and Digby mourn their distance from Mariamma, their isolation was essential for Mariamma to develop into a person with the skills, support, and expertise necessary to study and cure the Condition. Similarly, though Philipose internalizes shame for his failed academic career, the indecision that killed Ninan, and the addiction that ruined his marriage, in his journal entries, he explicitly recognizes that his fated life experiences molded him into a person who could raise Mariamma. In these narrative arcs, the novel implies that fate influences personal choices, rather than personal choices directing fate.
The novel also provides a practical interpretation of fate, summarized in the repeated phrase "geography is destiny." This aphorism suggests that a person's place of origin, cultural context, and time period determine their opportunities, abilities, and values. For example, as Joppan explains to Philipose, being born into a low caste in Kerala limited Shamuel's future and shaped his worldview. As Joppan correctly insists, Shamuel had significant talent, wisdom, and intelligence that could have been harnessed into world-changing greatness if Shamuel had not been born a pulayar, weighed down by centuries of oppression. Conversely, characters like Claude Arnold are born into privilege and squander their opportunities with no significant consequences. However, Joppan and Claude's critics fail to recognize that the conditions into which a person is born and the consequent life experiences that shape them are inextricable from a person's identity and fate.
