Revisiting A Passage to India

 

A Passage to India

A Passage to India by E.M. Forster is considered one of the great novels of the 20^th Century. Time included it in its list of 'All-time 100 Great Novels'. I had read it in 1974, once to enjoy the story, and later to be able to write a literary appreciation since it was in my M.A. syllabus. But why did I read it again, a hundred years after it was first published in 1924?

I had also watched David Lean’s film adaptation A Passage to India (1984) several years ago. Recently, I watched it again. Suddenly, I wished to read the novel once more, but could not retrieve the paperback from my non-indexed home library, bought a Kindle eBook for INR 42.86 and finished it in two days.

Not many might have read the novel so many times nor watched the film twice; which puts me in a privileged position to comment on the novel and the film.  

Before that - why read the same book or watch the same film again?[i]

Because you do not drink from the same river twice; the river is different, and so are you.* What you get from the book or the film upon revisiting is a new experience and nuanced understanding.

The Novel

You may like to read it if you have the time and the inclination; but here is a spoiler: the novel is set in India during 1910-20, and may feel rather dated.  Of Forster’s five novels, four were published prior to World War I, and A Passage to India, his last novel was published after the war.

However, the novel is not only about racism, colonialism, and the unbridgeable gap between the West and the East (Rudyard Kipling, Forster’s contemporary, had famously observed, “Oh, East is East and West is West, and never the twain shall meet.”); it is also about the complexity of human relations, the difficulty in making sense of the world and comprehending one’s true self.

The Story

Ms. Adela Quested and Mrs. Moore buy a passage from London to India on a P.& O. ship with the hope that the former would make up her mind about engagement with the latter’s son, Ronny Heaslop, City Magistrate of Chandrapore. These two ladies, new arrivals from London, wish to see the ‘real’ India for which the Collector, Mr. Turton rather unwillingly hosts a ‘Bridge Party’ at the Club, not to play bridge, but to connect with the natives. The residents of the Civil Lines, including Ronny, are convinced that mingling with the natives is a bad idea.

A brief, accidental meeting between Mrs. Moore and Dr Aziz** in a dilapidated mosque develops into a friendship, and he hosts a picnic at Marabar Hills to show his guests the caves which he had himself not seen. The trip ends in disaster with Ms. Quested alleging molestation by Dr Aziz in a cave. Dr Aziz is arrested and tried, but exonerated after Ms. Quested dramatically and unexpectedly withdrew the allegation.

Racism is stark and brutal when an otherwise level-headed Superintendent of Police, Mr. McBryde submits to the Court with all seriousness:

“… the darker races are physically attracted by the fairer, but not vice versa—not a matter for bitterness this, not a matter for abuse, but just a fact which any scientific observer will confirm.”

The Indians in the audience break into derisive laughter at a prompt repartee by one of the defendant’s supporters:

“Even when the lady is so uglier than the gentleman?”

Marabar Caves

“Except for the Marabar Caves- and they are nearly twenty miles off- the city of Chandrapore presents nothing extraordinary.” That is the very first sentence in the novel whetting the curiosity of the reader. Where is Chandrapore and the Marabar Hills and Caves? These are fictional names, but the caves are possibly based on the Mauryan era (322–185 BCE) Barabar caves of Jehanabad, not far from Gaya, Bihar. These may be the oldest rock-cut caves in India and were probably used by the Buddhist and Jain monks for meditation. The lack of any sculpture as in Elephanta caves or paintings as in Ajanta and Ellora disappoints the visitors, especially western visitors, who cannot comprehend the purpose of creating these rock-cut caves with walls of polished granite.

The caves are dark and return an echo Boum to any noise created. What is the symbolism of the caves and the echo? Is it the void in Adela’s heart which returns her anxieties and uncertainties amplified and made more unbearable? Does the darkness of the cave signify her potential plunge into a loveless marriage from which she ran away traumatised? Was she attracted towards Dr Aziz and devastated by the contrarian attraction? Was the hallucination a manifestation of her inner torment?

These ancient caves were sacred precincts for meditation and quiet contemplation, and not built to humour picnicking tourists. Is that why Prof. Godbole skipped the tour which ended in a disaster?

India: 1910-20

The plot unravels in India during 1910-20 and highlights the hiatus between the colonial rulers and the ruled, and the former’s justification for use of force ‘to keep the peace’. In that sense, it provides a snapshot of the colonial administration and its contempt for the natives. There is little mention of the independence struggle which was gaining momentum, except for passing references to the ‘mutiny’ of 1857 and the need to rule with iron fists after that dangerous discontent. No mention of Jalianwala massacre, Khilafat Movement, or Champaran Satyagraha or Gandhi; but Forster can not be faulted since he wrote a fiction and not a historical novel.

Hindu-Muslim Tension

During the annual Muharrum procession, the height of the tazia required chopping of branches of the sacred peepul tree, vehemently objected to by the Hindus who demanded a change in the route, and the Collector and the SP were apprehensive about a riot. Sounds familiar? Nothing much has changed since 1924, it seems.

But the novel ends with Dr Aziz’s realisation that Moslems, Hindus, Parsis, and others need to bury their religious differences and become ‘Indians’ to expel the rulers.

How the novel ends

Fielding and Dr Aziz part ways severing the friendship that they had cherished and nourished. Forster’s previous novel Howards End’s motto was: Only Connect. That was an emancipated, civilisational dream for humanity. What soured the dream that led to the depressing though realistic end of A Passage to India? The racial prejudice of the British occupiers against the natives, or the stubborn refusal of Indians to adopt the value system of their masters even while paying lip-service to it?

Anyway, why is it necessary for two cultures to abandon their uniqueness and ride together into a dream sunset? Why can not different cultures have an open mind about others, open the windows of their homes to permit fresh air to enter without sweeping them off their feet, as Gandhi famously counselled? This is achievable once arrogance in racial superiority is abjured, prejudice discarded, and with mature understanding of the other.

Forster’s Passage to India

Forster visited India twice – for a week in 1912-13, and for six months in 1921. During the later visit, he worked as Private Secretary to H.H. Tukoji Rao III, Maharajah of Dewas State Senior at a monthly salary of 300 rupees, and called it 'the great opportunity of my life.' Dewas is 40 kms from Indore.

The Hill of Devi (1953)

This book, a collection of Forster’s Letters of 1912-13 & Letters of 1921 that he wrote during his stay in India to his relatives and friends, is named after Chamunda Hills. ‘Devi (or Devivasini, the Goddess’s Residence) probably gave Dewas its name,’ writes Forster.

In one letter, the author mentions a meal he was served on a tray (a Thali) with 18 dishes, and provides a drawing to illustrate the lavish spread. Among the dishes were four varieties of rice!

Gokul Ashtami

Letter dated 3 August 1921. Elaborate description of Gokul Ashtami or Janmashtami celebrated with much ritual and fanfare for nine days at the Dewas palace. The Birth of Krishna, the god of Muttra (Mathura), and the visarjan, was a novel experience for the author.

A Passage to India incorporates this experience and imbues it with a spiritual meaning in the context of the novel. If the cave signalled evil or void or meaninglessness; Gokul Ashtami heralded the advent of new hope for the end of evil. Not unlike the birth of Jesus for the Christians.

The Film

David Lean, the famous English Director made this film in 1984, six decades after the novel was published. Incidentally, Forster wrote no novel after A Passage to India; for David Lean, too, this film was the swan-song of an illustrious career in film-making. His other remarkable films are Great Expectations (1946), Oliver Twist (1948), The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), Lawrence of Arabia (1962), and Doctor Zhivago (1965). It is believed that he inspired Steven Spielberg, another great film-maker.

The film has some great performances by the impressive star-cast: Judy Davis (Adela Quested), Peggy Ashcroft (Mrs. Moore), Victor Banerjee (Dr Aziz), Alec Guinness (Prof. Godbole), Saeed Jaffrey (Hamidullah), and Roshan Seth (Amritrao). Peggy Ashcroft won the Academy award for Best Supporting Actress.

Is Lean’s film true to the novel he adapted for the screen? Lean has retained the core, along with memorable scenes and dialogues; but has made several notable changes. In my view, the film is a creative work in a different medium, and it is unfair to compare the great novel with the superb film. The film is best viewed as a creative interpretation of the novel. To give an example, Lean gets Ms. Quested to visit and be moved by the erotic sculpture in a temple in ruins to hint at her suppressed sexuality. The novel has no such scene.

Part 3 of the novel has an elaborate description of Gokul Ashtami with the symbolism of god’s birth to end all evil. The film makes a passing reference to the holy festivities which would keep Prof Godbole preoccupied, but omits the remaining details. In fact, the climax for both the novel and the film is reached in the Court scene with the acquittal of Dr Aziz; with the remainder an extended commentary on assorted themes like the hiatus between the British and the Indians, the Moslems and the Hindus, and Christianity and Hinduism.

Novel or Film?

If you have neither read the novel nor watched the film, I recommend you to read the book first and thereafter watch the film. But if you are not a keen reader, you may watch and hopefully enjoy the film. Your choice, really.

E.M. Forster: Note on A Passage to India

“I began this novel before my 1921 visit, and took out the opening chapters with me, with the intention of continuing them. But as soon as they were confronted with the country they purported to describe, they seemed to wilt and go dead and I could do nothing with them. I used to look at them of an evening in my room at Dewas, and felt only distaste and despair. The gap between India remembered and India experienced was too wide. When I got back to England the gap narrowed, and I was able to resume. But I still thought the book bad, and probably should not have completed it without the encouragement of Leonard Woolf. I dedicated it to Masood. In one of the later editions (the "Everyman") I added the Maharajah's name to his. By that time both of them had died.” (Source: The Hill of Devi)

Forster on Chamunda & Dewas

"Stone steps led up to the dark cave of Chamunda on the top. She was a barbaric vermilion object, not often approached by us. Sometimes there were pilgrimages, and at certain festivals she played a part in the ritual. Who was Chamunda, and how long had she resided up there? I never found out, but it was agreed that she had been around longer than anyone else.

She concludes the curiosities of Dewas. Nothing detained the tourist there, and the surrounding domain was equally unspectacular. No antiquities, no picturesque scenery, no large rivers or mountains or forests, no large wild animals, "usual birds and fishes," according to the gazetteer, no factories, no railway station. Only agriculture. Flat or rolling fields, occasionally broken by flat-topped hills. Agriculture, the state's mainstay. Wheat, millet, cotton.

Amidst these surroundings, I was to pass six months of 1921 in the capacity of a Private Secretary.”

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[i] Answering a query in Quora, Malvika Singh Rana claims to have read When Daddy Was A Little Boy 298 times; and Ramiro Alanis has set the Guinness World Record by watching Spider-Man: No Way Home 292 times in cinemas! Our son, at age 7, read J.K. Rowling’s 223-page novel Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, the 1^st book in the wildly-popular Harry Potter series, 38 times driving his exasperated mother to sell the tattered book to the raddiwallah!

* Kedar C Rout, a friend pointed out that the original quote is a little different. "Heraclitus, the Greek philosopher, once said, 'No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man.' " (socratic-method.com)

**Dr Aziz's character was possibly based on Masood to whom Forster dedicated the novel. Forster wrote, 'Masood (afterwards Sir Syed Ross Masood) was my greatest Indian friend.' Masood was the grandson of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, Founder of Aligarh Muslim University.