The Tree Within by Indranil Chakravarty is a sweeping, immersive exploration of Nobel Laureate Octavio Paz’s profound relationship with India, the country that transformed him both as a poet and as a person.
During his tenure as Mexico’s ambassador to India in the 1960s, Paz found in India a mirror of his own inner landscapes. From Delhi to Varanasi, from Ajanta to Madurai, he absorbed the nation’s philosophical depth, its sensuality, and its contradictions. He befriended thinkers, artists, and writers who shaped India’s cultural life, and it was here that he met the love of his life, experiencing what he called his “second birth.”
In The Tree Within, Chakravarty reconstructs this intimate and transformative journey, drawing from multilingual archives, declassified diplomatic files, personal correspondence, and previously unpublished materials. The result is a richly layered narrative that blends biography, cultural history, and literary criticism, illuminating the deep intellectual and emotional connection between Paz and India.
His time in India led to the creation of some of his most celebrated works, and his reflections on the country remain among the most sensitive ever written by a Western poet.
With its elegant research and narrative grace, The Tree Within stands as both a tribute to Octavio Paz and a celebration of India’s enduring power to inspire artists and thinkers from around the world.
About The Author
Indranil Chakravarty has taught film history and screenwriting for over two decades at film institutes in India and abroad. He studied at Presidency College (Calcutta), the Escuela Internacional de Cine y TV (EICTV) in Havana, and earned his PhD from Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. A prolific scholar and documentary filmmaker, Chakravarty has published widely on biopics, literary biography, and cosmopolitanism. His previous works include The New Latin American Cinema, India’s Audiovisual Market, and Redescubriendo a Tagore.
The official release for the book is in October 2025
