A Passage To India - ''The Marabar Wiped'' Discuss

'Hinduism is the solution'

'The Marabar has been wiped out' - Discuss

The Marabar caves catalyse much of the unrest in the middle section of the novel. The geological structures out-date everything else in Chandrapore and confuse both the British and the Indians through their embodiment of everything juxtaposed with nothingness. The all reducing echo of the caves acts to instigate the realisation of darker shades of oneself. In the case of Mrs Moore, this is the repressed ambivalence towards God, which needs only a brief ignition to flare up and become all encompassing. For Adela, the alien quality of the caves force the painful realisation of there being no love between her and Ronny, even more significantly: that there is no love between Adela and anyone/thing/

In this sense, the caves both destroy meaning, in reducing all utterances to the same sound, and expose or narrate the unspeakable, the aspects of the universe that the caves' visitors have not yet considered.

The aftermath of the expedition to the Marabar is in a sense unavoidable and serves to accentuate the volatility of British India as a whole. The British fight to elevate their own superiority and to dominate their indigenous victims while the Muslims use the incident to rally together, in a show of unity, against the British.

However, Muslim pride and the boundless passion they are categorised by in the novel both serve to hinder this desired unity. Mahmoud Ali finds himself unable to maintain propriety whilst dealing with the severe injustice to Dr Aziz, hence his explosive outburst in court. Aziz himself believes that despotism is necessary in India to maintain order, though the ailing Rajah in 'Temple' is shown to Aziz and indeed the reader, to be less significant than the two claimants to his throne constraining themselves from making a claim to the throne until the ceremony of birth is concluded. Hamidullah cannot agree with Dr Aziz and Mohammed Latif is content merely scavenging for and thriving off bits left off to him.

It is the Hindus in 'A Passage to India', like Godbole, Das and indeed Amritrao, who show their somewhat inconceivable faith to be more understandable than the Abrahamic religions followed by the British, Muslims and Eurasians. Godbole considers that there is inevitability in all that is done and occurs. Das believes it his job to analyse, somewhat microscopically, the case which is presented to him and to disregard his own personal beliefs on the matter, for what is to happen, will no matter what anyone does to stop or encourage it. Similarly, Amritrao is content in playing his part in plot rationally. His religious affiliation does not come in between what is essentially a trial with little to do with religion. Furthermore, he is treated without hostility or amiability by Das at the trial, their Hinduism irrelevant. Hinduism appears to be one because it does not aim to answer questions, rather to pose them, 'Why should one grieve and suffer for what does not immediately concern him? Why should one attempt to rectify something which has not played out in its entirety and has not been shown to be a mistake? Why should one place a spanner in the works when all that is and will be was and is fated and destined?'

Within the 'Temple' section, Forster describes in detail the Hindu celebration of Krishna's birth at the royal palace at Mau. The celebration is disorderly, mirroring the "muddle" of India itself throughout of the novel: multiple musicians play different songs, not enough seats are available, and a sign on the wall confusingly proclaims, "God is Love." Yet the mystical traditions of the ceremony transform the muddle into mystery. The overlarge crowd is strangely calm and happy, as each person surrenders himself into the moment. The Hindu celebration, which provides the backdrop for all of Temple

, offers a vision of individualism merged into a complete collectivity--a dynamic in which all living things are one with love and no hierarchies exist.

During the birth ceremony, Godbole thinks briefly of Mrs. Moore and of a wasp. The wasp, which appears throughout A Passage to India as a symbol representing the fact that even the lowliest creatures are still incorporated into the Hindu vision of the oneness of the universe. The wasp in 'Temple' recalls Mrs. Moore's gentle appreciation of the wasp in her bedroom on the night she meets Aziz in the mosque in the beginning of the novel, ''pretty dear''

. Mrs. Moore's contemplation of the wasp throughout 'A Passage to India' suggests that she was open to the collectivity and oneness of Hinduism. Likewise, Godbole's vision of Mrs. Moore and the wasp, suggests that the professor, as a Hindu, has sensed the Englishwoman's sympathy with Hinduism. Indeed, the mystery of the festivities (as opposed to muddle), memories of her appreciation of the religion and her own ambivalence towards God act in the end to emphasize the remedying qualities of Hinduism.

In Temple, we are introduced to Ralph and Stella Moore. Upon striking his piano in an outburst of passion, Aziz startles Ralph. Ralph and Aziz's interaction instigates the restoration of Field and Aziz's old friendship, or atleast their old amiability. Though Aziz is dismissive of Ralph, he is