Bhabani Bhattacharya is an Outstanding Novelist in Indian English Literature
The Bengal Famine of 1943 obsessed
the mind of Bhabani Bhattacharya resulting in his first novel “So Many
Hungers!” though “He Who Rides A Tiger” was published in 1955 after
a twelve years gap, the famine is a haunting memory for him. However, it does
not treat the Bengal Famine with the depth and concentration with which “So
Many Hungers!” does. The novel focuses on the darkest chapter in the history
of Bengal,
"It was almost darkest in the history of Bengal. A plague took the
land in its grip, the plague of hunger, in the wake of 1943."
Bhattacharya presents a gruesome
picture of Bengal famine during the year 1943 in “So Many Hungers!” and “He
Who Rides a Tiger”. To quote his words,
"... the plague of hunger in the wave of war... no rationing of
food-grains, no price control, no chocking of giant sharks who play cornering
game on a stupendous scale... barns are empty -— the peasants had been induced
to sell off their grain. Markets are empty-the grain is hidden away... And now
the rice was five times the old rate, weavers sold their looms to traders from
big cities... Artisans sold their tools. Fishermen's boats were chopped up for
fire wood to sell... The plague washed up in fierce tides" (He Who Rides a
Tiger, p.15)
As a result of the Bengal Famine,
poor people are deprived of food. The middle class and rich people are managed
to get through the situation by their savings and reserve supplies. Poor people
are the victims, as they depend on their day-to-day earnings. The result is the
massive hunger deaths. Bhabani Bhattacharya portrays the picture of poor people
during the time of famine as,
"Weavers sold their looms to traders from big cities who scoured
the countryside for bargains. Artisans sold their food. Fishermen’s boats were
chopped up for firewood to sell. The plague washed up in fierce tides. Bengal
was dying. Jharna was dying." (HWRT, p.15)
In his first novel “So Many Hungers!”,
the novelist vividly portrays the effects of the famine and the life of poor
peasants in the remote village of Bengal, called Baruni. In his third novel, he
again mentions the evils of famine in Jharna, a remote town of Bengal. Baruni
and Jharana symbolise extreme hunger and poverty during the Bengal Famine. The
conditions of poor people and the exploitation of selfish traders are same in
both the places. Dr. C. Paul Verghese rightly remarks,
"Food is the primary requisite of human dignity; hunger debases and
dehumanizes man. Bhattacharya has dealt quite forcefully with the theme of
hunger and the concomitant theme of human degradation in his novels ‘So Many
Hungers!’ and ‘He Who Rides a Tiger’."
In “So Many Hungers!”, the characters
are silent and passive observers of the effects of famine. They yield to the
situation without any revolt or protest, whereas in “He Who Rides a Tiger”, the
characters are not mere spectators of sufferings but they revolt against the
human injustice. As Malta Grover points out, "The novel “He Who Rides a
Tiger” is also written with the famine for the background and deals with the
same theme, the only difference being that, So Many Hungers! is a silent stage
of human miseries and sufferings, this novel is their vocal protest."
In “So Many Hungers!”, the human
degradation is at the lowest level. The hunger-stricken masses behave like
beasts. The hunger turns Kalo, the protagonist, into a thief in “He Who Rides a
Tiger”. Kalo could not resist hunger, at the sight of bananas in the high-class
compartment in the train. Hunger drives him to steal the bananas in an
aggressive mood.
The novel,” He Who Rides a Tiger”, is
based on an ancient saying, "He who rides a tiger cannot dismount."
But Bhabani Bhattacharya through the character of Kalo makes it possible to
dismount the tiger if the necessity arises. The character of Kalo is one of the
best creations of Bhattacharya. Kalo, the protagonist of the novel, is a
blacksmith living in a small town Jharna with his daughter, Chandra Lekha. The
novelist describes his appearance of his hero,
"But Kalo, black, was true to his complexion, which had the colour
quality of ink and people said that when he sweated, you could collect the
oozing fluid for your inkwell." (HWRT, p.1)
But, Kalo performs a miracle by
avenging himself on the wealthy and high caste people and becomes a legend in
his own life-time.
Kalo’s wife dies after giving birth
to a child. He does not marry again only due to his affection towards his
daughter Chandra Lekha. She is a very beautiful girl like her mother and in
color opposite to his father. People comment,
"He is iron all over, three mounds of metal, with one tender spot
at his top, and that spot is Lekha, his daughter." (HWRT, p.1)
Kalo has firm faith in the
traditional values of life. The caste hierarchy is deep in his spirit. An
interesting point is that people from other communities also seek his advice,
"…Men of his community and other communities nearby come trustfully
to him for counsel whenever a festive day was to be celebrated, a quarrel to
settled, or a death to be mourned. His words were calm and wise. His decision
had the weight of finality. His strength seemed based on an inner metal, which
people recognized, and they knew Kalo could be relied upon." (HWRT, p.16)
Though unable to understand the
validity or the utility of the established social order, Kalo never questions
its existence. Honesty, hard work, and faith in law and justice are the core of
his being.
He is "a man of accepted conventions and his roots run deep into age-old habits of mind and belief." (HWRT, p.43)
He is "a man of accepted conventions and his roots run deep into age-old habits of mind and belief." (HWRT, p.43)
Kalo joins his daughter in a mission
school, in spite of the financial constraints. He works hard and earns enough
to pay for Lekha’s school fees. Lekha is not only beautiful but also
intelligent. Kalo has no limits to his joy, when Lekha stands first at the
annual test and gets double promotion. As Kalo can just read and write he
cannot answer her questions in her subjects. So, he starts to learn from her
books. This shows his eagerness to help his daughter and his determination to
face any difficulty for her sake. He feels sad when anybody calls his lovely
daughter Kamar’s daughter. Come to Lekha, Kalo is everything for her. When her
classmate comments at her father’s work, she feels hurt and fights with her.
Even in her fancy she cannot bear to see him mocked or insulted.
No one in the Jharna town responds to
the incident when Lekha wins Ashoka Memorial medal in an essay writing
competition. Kalo is very proud of Lekha’s achievement and preserves copies of
newspapers safely. He values medal more than his life. But the town remains
silent as though nothing has happened. This incident sows the seeds of hatred
in Kalo towards higher caste people.
The novel vividly portrays how the
wealthy people are callously indifferent to the hungry millions and are greatly
responsible for their miseries. The rich gladly offer a lot of milk to the
temples and the Ganges. But they are not prepared to help the destitute even in
ordinary manner. When Viswanath and Kalo give some of the bath milk of temple
to the starving children, the wealthy people object to it in the strongest
possible terms. In fact, these well-to-do people are not at all moved by the
tragedy of the destitute dying like rats in a plague. They are absolutely
unaffected by the suffering of the hungry masses. There is no lessening of the
hunger for more than ten months at a stretch, though thunderous demonstrations
by hungry marchers led by Biten, Viswanath and others are seen in the streets
almost every day. In spite of large-scale arrests and beatings by the police,
these demonstrations continue. But this does not end the miseries of the
destitutes. So many heart-rending scenes of hunger are witnessed every day.
There is the pathetic tale of Abhijit, a destitute lost child, who is adopted
by Lekha and her father. Lekha’s first meeting with this hungry child is
described in the novel thus,
"The boy had found a half-eaten mango, rotting in its yellow skin.
He saw Lekha coming toward him and stiffened. He put the fruit back in the
garbage and waited, staring. His mouth opened but no voice came. He could not
even whimper or beg for mercy."
The attitude of the village folk
shows that they have a set of simple values with "faith in the law that
instrument which served out justice even to the poor."(p.33). Even in the
most desperate state of hunger, they don’t commit suicide, because they believe
in the preservation of life in a dignified manner.
"For days and months they had prayed hard, prayed to all the gods
in temples and in heaven. The gods would not listen. They would not even bless
the slow dying with death’s quick thunderbolt. Kill yourself and be relieved?
That would be sinful. You could not take a life, not even you own." (HWRT,
p.26)
Kalo decides to liberate himself and
his daughter from hunger. He leaves his daughter in the care of his old aunt
and starts his journey to Calcutta. The thought of leaving Lekha pains him, but
he must earn for her and for her better future. He hopes "He must find
work soon. He must save all he could. When he had a hundred rupees in his
waistcloth, he would rush back home- the day of re-joining- and take Lekha with
him to the city. Never again would Chandra Lekha have to fear hunger."
(HWRT, p.21) The irony is the city itself is the source of hunger in addition
to many evils.
After a long walk for hours, Kalo had
nothing eat. He has eaten nothing for the past few days. So, he is hungry and
loses his sense. In a fit of madness, he has stolen three ripened bananas from
the first class compartment and is caught red-handed by the police. For this
petty offence, he is handed over to the court for punishment. The cruelty and
inhumanity of higher people is depicted clearly in the court scene. Kalo pleads
with the Magistrate,
"I was hungry sir. Madness came upon me. It was because I thought I
had to eat or I would die. Madness came upon me. I had to live." (HWRT,
p.31)
This indicates that people degrade to
the lowest position during the time of hunger. The Magistrate, after hearing Kalo’s
misery, instead of showing pity questions harshly,
"Why did you have to live?" (HWRT, p.31)
This question makes Kalo a rebel afterwards. Hunger has debased a man to a thief and a rebel. K.K. Sharma points out,
"Hunger not only alienates him from his family, profession and native place, but also sends him to jail for stealing fruit at a time when hordes of hunger-mad folks are moving about throughout Bengal. He is sent to prison as a common thief by the Magistrate who knows nothing of the meaning of hunger because he has never experienced it."
"Why did you have to live?" (HWRT, p.31)
This question makes Kalo a rebel afterwards. Hunger has debased a man to a thief and a rebel. K.K. Sharma points out,
"Hunger not only alienates him from his family, profession and native place, but also sends him to jail for stealing fruit at a time when hordes of hunger-mad folks are moving about throughout Bengal. He is sent to prison as a common thief by the Magistrate who knows nothing of the meaning of hunger because he has never experienced it."
The words of Magistrate completely
change the attitude of Kalo towards his fellow beings. He comes to know the
life of a downtrodden person is not worthy enough to live in view of high-class
people like the Magistrate. He loses his innocence and sows the seeds of
revenge. He knows fully that he wants to live not for himself but for his
daughter. He is not afraid of punishment but he is afraid of the wastage of
time. He has to live because Chandra Lekha has to live. He is ordered to
undergo three months imprisonment. This turns out to be significant period in
his life. He loses his innocence and sows the seeds of revenge.
"His bulky figure, the face beard – stubble and lined with shock,
shuffled and slowly from the prisoner’s bar. But a part of him stayed there,
never to be regained. Something was gone and Kalo, blacksmith of Jharna town
could never be whole again." (HWRT, p.32)
In his first novel, Bhabani
Bhattacharya makes his characters suffer and undergo hardships and miseries.
But in "He Who Rides A Tiger", he makes his characters revolt against
the injustice and hitting back the people who are the cause of sufferings. In
this novel, Biten, Kalo’s fellow prisoner, gives Kalo the idea of hitting back
at the people. From Biten, Kalo comes to know about the horrible situation in
the city he always dreams of a saviour. To face the society, the only way
according to Biten is "hitting back". He remarks about the high-class
people,
"They hit us where it hurts badly in the pit of the belly. We’ve
got to hit back." (HWRT, p.37)
In the prison, Kalo shares a cell
with Bikash Mukherji, who is known in the prison by his number B-10. B-10 is in
prison for having protested against a policeman who has tried to kill a hungry
destitute stood before an eating-place and stared at the food. Biten succeeds
in instilling his revolutionary fervour in Kalo and convinces him that the
right answer to society which has shown human callousness is to hit back. Biten
casually mentions to Kalo how one can retaliate, to fake a miracle to get a
temple raised by exploiting the gullible people, and to make fools of them by
making them worship a bogus image.
While Kalo thinks for finding a
honourable job after his release from prison, Biten opens Kalo’s eyes and
explains the condition of present society and the easy way to make a living in
the great city. It is Biten who gives the idea that makes Kalo ride the tiger.
Biten asks,
"Can you wear a Saffron loincloth, smear your body with ashes, and
mark a red-paste trident of Shiva on your forehead? Then, as you walk the
streets, your alms bowl will fill up in no time; and may be, if you have luck,
someone with money enough to squander will see in you a yogi with great
spiritual power." (HWRT, p.40)
After his release, for some time Kalo
takes up the job of carrying corpses of destitute into municipal trucks and
unloading them at the cremation ground. He finds the job very harrowing. Not
able to continue the present job, Kalo reluctantly takes up the work of
procurer for a group of brothels in the city. Kalo finds it almost impossible
to be a pimp but circumstances compel him to take up the job. He feels that his
job as a harlot-house agent is as bad as his earlier job. When Kalo finds to
his horror his daughter Chandra Lekha in the brothel house, he casts away his
old values and wages a war against the entire social system.
"His battle was with the accuser, the age-old tradition, from which
had come the inner climate of his being….Kalo had not only to deny but to
eradicate the values by which he had been bred. He had to cut his social
taproot and give up his inheritance" (HWRT, p.71)
Kalo renounces his caste and becomes
a twice-born by wearing the nine-stranded sacred thread across his chest. He
feels himself free from his spiritual bondage. He succeeds in making the
miracle happen and a temple is erected on the hallowed spot. Money and
materials pour in from all sides, especially form black marketers for whom
worship is atonement for all sins committed and a guarantee of success in
future undertakings. Kalo assumes a new name, Mangal Adhikari. A Board of
Trustees is constituted to manage the financial and administrative work of the
temple. Important men associate with the management. Among worshippers who come
to the temple and touch Mangal Adhikari’s feet is the magistrate who has
sentenced Kalo to hard labour for stealing bananas.
He is able to win over his enemies by
sheer deception. The magistrate, who sentenced him to imprisonment, is seen
touching his feet. He tells Lekha,
"The turn of the wheel favours us beyond all reckoning! ..They are
paying. They touch our low-caste feet. They pray to a god who is no god. They
are polluted, fallen. They are doomed - for many lives to come." (HWRT,
p.93)
All the same Kalo feels sad, when
poor people like coolies, rickshaw pullers and blind beggars spend their
hard-earned money in the temple. Kalo appoints an old man named Vishwanath as a
gardener in the temple. When he comes to know that the latter is a blacksmith,
he desires to arrange a smithy for him in the future. Kalo does not forget
Biten when he occupies a new position in his life. He remembers the day of
Biten's release from prison and goes there, accompanied by his daughter, to
receive him. He tells Biten how his plan worked and offers him a share in the
income. But Biten rejects the offer. He feels that Kalo will surely be tired of
the game in the near future.
His comment —
His comment —
"A man like you cannot trick himself too long" (HWRT, p.174)
implies a tribute to Kalo, as it
suggests a high opinion of his true nature.
Kalo plays the role of a Brahmin so
thoroughly that he is completely immersed in it at times. He abuses the old
destitute, Vishwanath, for touching him. Lekha is shocked to see her father's
behaviour. Meenakshi Mukherjee is incline to regard this act as a proof of
Kalo's having struck root in Brahminism. But one cannot afford to forget that
Kalo has only been playing a part with intensity. And inasmuch as such a piece
of behaviour is expected of a typical Brahmin, it does not amount to a lapse on
the part of Kalo, Mrs. Meenakshi Mukherjee's view may also be less than apt in
the context, as Kalo's main purpose is to take revenge on brahmins. It should
be hard indeed to believe that he ever has a deep desire to strike root in
Brahmanism, as suggested by Mrs. Mukherjee. In fact Kalo's plan to arrange a
smithy for Vishwanath in the future may be suggestive of the soft comer he has
in his heart of hearts for his own profession, notwithstanding his pretences
and pretensions. Kalo's attempt to make amends for his undesirable behaviour
may speak of his ability to keep in touch with his own roots. The words spoken
by him in the context to Viswanath may go a long way towards confirming that
view.
"A craftsman honest with his iron and fire is as good as the best
of folks. He can hold his head high because of the skill of his hands, his
special knowledge." (HWRT, p.113)
The comment suggests that Kalo was
not ashamed of his own roots by any means. The secret smithy he had set up in
the attic of his house also reveals his deep attachment to his own roots.
Through the life history of Kalo,
Bhabani Bhattacharya expresses his conviction in a positive, bright view of
life. Kalo, a low-caste blacksmith upsets the social order by investing himself
with Bharhminhood and rising to the top. He does not undermine the society but
becomes a part of it and uses its power by accepting its rules and by fully
comprehending to its purpose.
While thousands of people suffer due
to hunger for food, rich people suffer due to hunger for soul. The hunger for
soul is well cashed by some pseudo sadhus at all times. The innocent people are
always the victims of this. As Biten says,
"Food for the soul is produced and sold like food for the stomach,
and though the ways of the two trades are different, you pay for both with hard
cash. The temple is a market and the priest a dealer. People are always ready
to pay well for feeding the inner man!" (HWRT, p.41)
Notwithstanding the numerous evils
emanating from famine, there is one blessing in disguise which accompanies it-
elimination of caste. Hunger does not discriminate between man of the highest
caste and that of the lowest. Kalo says to Motichand that like a hungry kamar
or untouchable boy even a hungry Brahmin boy would eat from garbage cans.
Likewise, the hungry demonstrators do not think of caste even for a moment and
live and work together to demand food. Millions of hungry people eat together
at charity kitchens, oblivious of their caste and creed, thus completely
rejecting caste-ridden society.
Besides portraying the sufferings
imposed by the famine on the people of Bengal, the novel has also depicted
certain dramatic changes that have come about in the life of an individual,
belonging to an oppressed and depressed section of the society. While
presenting those changes, the author has allowed us an insight into the kind of
society envisioned by him. It is a society in which notions of caste-based
superiority or inferiority make little sense. It is a society in which
uprightness and moral values prevail over frivolous and hypocritical emotions,
bringing about the ultimate triumph of good over evil and truth over falsehood.
Kalo rides the tiger in the sense
that he is able to successfully deal with his enemies. The tiger may also symbolise the mighty airs he has to assume to pass for a brahmin. Bhattacharya
says,
"He rode a lie as if it were a tiger which he could not dismount
lest the tiger pounce upon him and eat him up." (HWRT, p.85)
The suggestive title of the novel, “He
Who Rides a Tiger”, can also be interpreted in relation to the theme of hunger.
To sit and ride on the tiger’s back implies man’s quest for riding on hunger.
Just as the tiger is ferocious animal and unhesitatingly kills man, so is
hunger. Kalo and Lekha, two principal characters in the novel, suffer terribly
on account of hunger and lose their home, peace, profession, morals and
goodness. Hence, they decide to ride the tiger- symbolising relentless hunger.
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