Gora

          By Rabindranath Tagore

          I had wanted to read this novel whenever I saw it in the library or in bookshops.  But somehow I could not muster enough interest to actually reading it. Finally, I purchased a second hand book.  That it was a copy presented to a school girl for winning a competition energized me for the reason that would I not read a serious novel read (presumably) by a school girl. 

          Reading the novel was like travelling in a river boat, slow, steady, and meandering, within cultural bounds and never off its course.  There are some instances or circumstances in the novel where characters could have acted aggressive or the scenes could have been violent, not excluding physical violence.  But the style is smooth, narrative mature and controlled. When there is a scene in which anger is bound to increase to explosive levels, the characters reconcile to the differences and accept the fact that they have different views.  After sometime, they try to understand the other side of the argument. But there are one or two exceptions too.  Not for nothing that Tagore is considered one of the giants of Indian literature. 

          The story is set in 18^th century when Britain controlled most parts of India. Their culture was visible spreading.  Christianity was one of the major influences.  I have read somewhere that empires were accompanied by religions and softened the blows of the imperial powers on the local cultures.  It appears from the novel  that Brahmo Samaj was a product of cultural influences of Christianity and Hinduism.  I presume that it had had a modernizing effect on Bengali society and for that reason it was opposed by traditional establishment.

          This novel examines the differing concepts of God, Religion, duty of the individual in a society and the process of modernity flowering in India from the perspective of both Brahmo Samaj and Hinduism, as practiced in Bengal.  But being a novel and not a treatise on religion, it has lively characters who argue, fight and try to convince, win over and change each other into their own ways of thinking. The materialist desires overlap religious ambitions.  Personal wishes are constrained by religious codes.  While the setting is the conflict between concepts of Brahmo Samaj and Hinduism, this novel is not dated.  Its arguments and logic resonate the present society in India.  Herein lies the novel’s enduring legacy.  There are very effective dramatic moments which could have become explosive at the end.  But the characters being not only educated but also cultured, adjust their position in accordance with the truth and reality of the circumstances. 

          The story is enacted through a very emotional relationship between Gaurmohan, the Gora and Binoy, his friend, and their relations with others.  All of them have seemingly rigid, but actually nuanced positions in their religious beliefs. They are aware of it or are made aware through the course of the novel.  The Brahmo family also acknowledges some aspects of truth in Hinduism and vice versa.

          The novel proceeds dialectically between both the sects. But the differences are resolved more by understanding, love and humanism than by arguments and faith. The greatness of Tagore lies in the fact that he creates incidents and circumstances for such spaces in the novel.  These appear organically and in the context of the reality of the period.  These are not artificial or imposed by the great creator i.e. novelist.  In fact, I had expected that Gora, on coming to know that that he is not a Brahmin as he had till then presumed, would have reacted very violently.  This is what I expected. For all that vigour, passion and reason Gora had invested so far in his belief, collapsed at that point.  But he regains his composture.  His religion was till then a constraint in his behavior with his lady love and on the eventual marriage.  A conflict was raging in his mind about this. He seizes the opportunity like a true human being with reasoning ability and love.  Yes, everything is decided by love and love for truth and not by illogic, bigotry or self righteousness. 

          The characters are treated with respect.  This novel has the noises arguments, voices of reasoning and winds of love.  This wind at times blows like a storm and at times touches like a exhilarating breeze.

          One of the excellent novels I have read.