Life of Pi

One of the main themes in Life of Pi is religious devotion. A large section of part one of the book concentrates on Pi's experiences with three religions: Hinduism, Christianity, and Islam. Pi's first religious devotion is to Hinduism, which he traces back to his earliest youth when his Aunt Rohini first takes him to a temple: "A germ of religious exaltation, no bigger than a mustard seed, was sown in me and left to germinate."

When Pi is fourteen, he also adopts Christianity. He does not end his devotion to Hinduism, but he merely supplements it with teachings from the Bible and a deep belief in Christ's love. A year later, he also adds Islam to his list of practiced religions. Pi does not see these three religions as contradictory in any way; during a discussion with his father, he observes, "Muslims say the God of the Hebrews and the Christians is the same as the God of the Muslims." However, the adults around him tell him that he must choose only one—or none at all, an option his father supports.

Pi never wavers in his devotion to all three religions. Throughout the novel, he references stories and characters from each of the three religions wherever appropriate. For example, when Pi's lifeboat drifts into a school of flying fish, he compares the onslaught to the hail of arrows that befell Saint Sebastian. On another occasion, while fishing, Pi wishes he had eight arms like the goddess Durga so he could perform all the necessary tasks at the same time. When he first sees Richard Parker approaching the lifeboat after the shipwreck, Pi exclaims, "Jesus, Mary, Muhammad and Vishnu, how good to see you, Richard Parker!"

Pi continues his three-way religious devotion even as an adult. The author character describes the décor he sees when he visits Pi's home in Toronto:

In the living room, on a table next to the sofa, there is a small framed picture of the Virgin Mary of Guadalupe, flowers tumbling from her open mantle. Next to it is a framed photo of the black-robed Kaaba, holiest sanctum of Islam, surrounded by a ten-thousandfold swirl of the faithful. On the television set is a brass statue of Shiva as Nataraja, the cosmic lord of the dance, who controls the motions of the universe and the flow of time.