1. 1SHODH, SAMIKSHA AUR MULYANKAN
International Indexed & Refereed Research Journal, ISSN 0974-2832, (Print), E- ISSN- 2320-5474, Aug-Oct, 2013 ( Combind ) VOL –V * ISSUE – 55-57
Bhabani Bhattacharya's art form carries an eminent
show of characterization. It is a common practice of
novelists to write about the subjects that bother them
themostandrelateto thesoiloftheirorigin.Itbecomes
difficult to project interplay of characters to represent
the different attitudes of people for a writer.
Bhattacharya is known for his mastery over the char-
acter play to register his story.
Famousliterarywritersarerecognizedbythe
generations for their unforgettable conception of a
variety of characters, whether it is Homer or Dante,
Milton or Shakespeare, Tolstoy of Dostoyevsky.
Dickens or Hardy it does not make any difference. A
'Satan'oran'Iago'canbeseeninanysocietyeithernew
or old. As long as vice remains in the day-to-day life
such characters cannot die. This proves that the cre-
ation outmoded the creator. For example, Sherlock
Holms became more admired than his creator Arthur
Canon Doyle.That means the magnitude ofcharacter-
izationcanbeneglected attheriskofacreativewriter's
status.
Bhattacharya'snovelsarethenovelsofideas.
The societal purpose is important in them, as they are
a 'criticismoflife.' He creates real life - like characters
inhisnovels.Verisimilitudeismaintained throughout.
E.M. Forster is of the opinion that the masses roughly
describing himself gives them names and sex, assigns
them to speak by the use of inverted commas, and
perhaps to behave consistently. These word masses
are his characters. The triumph of his art lies in the
perfectbalancingofplotand character.Thecharacters
are convincingly and deftly created to uphold the plot
and new episodes spring out of the characters. Since
all his novels are written with the help of the author's
omniscience point of view, the characters are built up
largelythroughtheauthor'sportrayalofthem.Although
clashes of ideas and opposing ideologies make them
forcible,vividanddramatic.However,themaincharac-
ters lean to be symbolic of the ideas they personify or
represent. They appear to be human and real. The
technique of flashback of reminiscences of the stream
of consciousness enriches them and the reader's inter-
est in them is kept alive.
In Shadow from Ladakh, Satvajit and his daughter
Research Paper -English
Aug- Oct , 2013
* MissAparna Mukherjee
* Assistant Professor, Department of Humanities, SSIPMT,RaipurChhattisgarh
BhabaniBhattacharya'sShadowfromLadakh:Ideas
interpretedthroughcharacterization
Suruchi and to some extent her lover Bhaskhar Roy
undergo transforming experiences. With the passage
of time, the characters originally created, mould and
develop. They themselves change in turn by the events
and incidents of the story, for example, Bhaskhar and
Sumita. They all have been cast to project a particular
point of view in the beginning. Nevertheless, as the
plot develops and unfolds gradually, all these charac-
ters respond to the new requirements of the situation.
They reshape and readjust themselves in the process
of changing the course of events. Bhattacharva re-
veals.
Once I start writing, it is not I but the characters and
notI. thatcompel meto beled bythem. Theydecide the
way they should end.... Even the original plan of a
storyitselfis modified orchanged due to certaintraits,
which my characters develop during the course of
events. (Shadow from Ladakh 2)
In the novels of social realism and of money
nexus,therearecharactersfromthebusinessclasswith
no moral scruples. They are social climbers, lenders,
merchant,profiteers,black-marketers,smugglers,con-
fidence-tickers and exploiters. Then there are charac-
ters that represent the Old World rigidity and ortho-
doxy,aversetochangeparochialanddogmatic.Against
them stand the reformers and those who believe in the
forces of change, for example, the senior members of
Gandhiram in Shadow from Ladakh. His novel is also
having numerous children and non-descriptive char-
acters like barbers, bangle-sellers, fortune-tellers,
household servants, soldiers, angler, and village folk-
farmers; pleasant, village elders etc. They present a
cross-section ofrural and urban setting. Theyare those
who are left much behind by the heroes in the human
race, not directly contributing to the climax of the plot,
butveryhelpfulincreating,theclimaxinbuildingupthe
atmosphere.
Bhattacharya's male characters are often im-
perfectly delineated. They are all flat and two-dimen-
sional. Theyhardlychange or develop. The male char-
acters simply represent a single idea or value to which
they stick to almost rigidity. If at all, any development
takes place it is towards the end of their career. More-
over, sometimes this development is insignificant and

2. 2
International Indexed & Refereed Research Journal, ISSN 0974-2832, (Print), E- ISSN- 2320-5474, Aug-Oct, 2013 ( Combind ) VOL –V * ISSUE – 55-57
almostinvisible.Theyaremoreoftypesthanindividu-
als are. Bhattacharya excels in the treatment of his
womencharacters.Theyareimpressivelydrawn.They
assume more significance than their male characters.
They are both as individuals and as symbols. They are
susceptible to changes that take place in the society.
This adaptability helps them to develop in course of
fiction. They grow, act and react quite like actual, hu-
man beings. They are not merely flat figures but living
and round characters. We see this when Satyajit thinks
of change in Suruchi. She was as much Gandhigram as
he even though she has changed since her Moscow's
Trip.
AnotherexampleisofSumita.WhenBhashkar
invites Sumita to attend the cultural functions orga-
nized byhimat MeadowHouse,she returnsfromthere
a bit changed and this is seen in the lines given below:
He looked beyond the gate. Shading his eyes against
the sun, he looked intent. People were coming this
way in a group. Women- the one who walked with a
stick could be Sumita, but she was dressed in red. It
wasSumita! Wherewasher whitegrab? The whitekey
with the intrinsic purity of body and spirit? Curious,
that the flame of her was best contained in an earthen
lamp, not one of bright metal. Her visit at the head of
a group was this a decisive stop in her acceptance of
Meadow House? (Shadow from Ladakh 150)
The women characters cannot be summed up
in a single phase or in a few words. They get involved
in the events and are modified. The readers come to
know about the contemporary realities more through
female characters than the male ones. They not only
represent the novelist's ideas convincingly but also
speak for The Indian Women as a whole. Suruchi is a
prototype Indian woman placed in different situations
of social life. She has passed through every stage of
readjustment and remained tranquil. She was a part of
Satyajit, according to the novelist
Shared? That was not the right word. She was part of
Satyajit. The nail on his toe. A strand of hair on his
scalp.
And it had needed distance for her to find herself after
long
years had passed.(Shadow from Ladakh 170)
Typical Indian wife's feeling or Indian womanliness is
reflected in Suruchi's character towards the end of the
novel:
Suruchi continued to give her husband his diet of
water and salt. She would be vested with saintliness
afer he was gone:
Satyajit recalled his friend's words. The Mother
Supreme!
The supreme insult. (Shadow from Ladakh 170)
Suruchi, being a successful wife is also revealed in a
Bireswar's comment in his conversation with Satyajit.
Shewasforyoujustawife;arolethatanyotherwoman
could have played with equal success.
Love grew in Suruchi's heart in the days and
monthsafterhermarriage,no mandeserved moreto be
loved.Tagoreallottedthe'TreeHouse"forSuruchiand
Satyajit where he himself had once lived. It was an old
structure built around the trunk of a pipal tree with the
lower branchescut and theleaveshigher up enveloped
the house like a canopy. Suruchi planted an oleander
in the backyard, and in a surprisingly short span of
time, it began to put forth profuse red blossoms. She
neverquestionedabouttheChristmascards,whichher
husband received, because she could sense his reluc-
tance to speak out. She thought let his yesterdays
remain hidden and today and tomorrows counted to
her. Sumita was born two years after her marriage.
Bhattacharya also depicts Sumita as a true Indian
Woman:
Sumita was her name... but the barefooted
girl was now a subject of talk in Lohapur. She was
beautiful everyone said that. Her coarse white grab
was meant to negate her looks. A dedicated woman
had no use for the body's attractiveness; that could
well be a hindrance. Nuns in ancient India often had
their hair shorn, especially under the Buddhist im-
pact. (Shadow from Ladakh 201)
Her Indian influence or more so her being a
Gandhigramwomanisrevealedclearlyinthebeginning
of the Fifth Chapter by the novelist when Satyajit pre-
sents her spinning wheel on her fourteenth birthday:
ThematerialofthewhitesariandJacketinwhichSumita
always draped herself was the cotton fabrics woven
out ofyarn she produced with herown spinning wheel.
The wheel had once belonged to Gandhi and Satyajit
had received it from himas a gift. Foryears, he had not
let it be worked by any hand other than his own. Even
Suruchi was not to touch that precious possession.
However, when Sumita reached her fourteenth year,
Satyajit gave the charka to her as a birthday present.
Regarding major male characters, Satyajit is a tall thin
youthwhohadwonlaurelsatCambridge.Comingback
to India, he paid a visit to Shantiniketan. the country
home of Rabindranath Tagore. Here he founded his
World University and was now engaged in the task of
village reconstruction.
Satyajit is the very soul of Gandhigram with-
out his guidance the structure of ideas has been build-
ing will topple like a thing of sand. The others on the
village council, men like Krishnamurti, are much
smaller dimensions. (Shadow from Ladakh 220)
Satyajit'sGandhianideasarereflectedinthefollowing:

3. 3SHODH, SAMIKSHA AUR MULYANKAN
International Indexed & Refereed Research Journal, ISSN 0974-2832, (Print), E- ISSN- 2320-5474, Aug-Oct, 2013 ( Combind ) VOL –V * ISSUE – 55-57
Discipline was imposed from early childhood. Boys
and girls bathed together in the village pond, which
was Satyajit's idea, derived, as so much else from a
Gandhian experiment. It would be helpful in subli-
mating certain impulses. The core of brahmacharya
wasnotescape,butself-conquest.Onerenounced life,
not in the emptiness of the jungle, but amidst all the
bonds of domestic bliss. (Shadow from Ladakh 230)
BhattacharvarevealsSatyajit'sIndianessinthefol-
lowingpassage:
Satyajit felt a new sense of' release. He had forced
himself in to a Gandhian stance and gained victory
over himself. Now, if perchance he were to live, he
wouldnothaveto steponeachfootprintoftheMaster's
striding gait. The fact would remain unrevealed that
his fast was not primarily on Gandhigrams account.
It was no act of penance, either. It was not his chal-
lenge to the flesh, his vindication of the spirit's su-
premacy over the flesh. It was his Nirvana, the state of
self-annihilationthatmeninIndiahadalwayscraved.
(Shadow from Ladakh 352-353)
Theothermajormalecharacterinthenovelis
BhashkarRoy,ChiefengineerofSteeltown.Attheage
of twenty, he had known what he wanted and thought
America would be adventurous. He left his college
halfway through the course, booked a cheap passage
onafreighter,andsailedawaytoAmerica.Heabsorbed
America withall hissenses.Asold asBhattacharya, he
absorbedmuchofthehumanscene.Hedrankhard with
the men. He dated with the women. He was far from
homeland, yet, it could well be that within him India
remained as real as ever before. That may be, was the
reason why, even after a stay of twelve years, he could
cut the strong pull ofAmerica all at once and fly back
home.
BhaskarthinksthatGandhigramwasburdened
with the ideas of a neo-saint and it did not know who
ismissed.Therewouldhavetobenewwindowsthrough
which it could lookuponthe pageantryoflife. Further,
the novelistreflects theideas ofBhashkarveryclearly,
when Bhashkar says:
There lies the village, behind the wall of
Satyajit's ideas: Steel town has to break that wall.
We'll build a place like the Institute for our mill hands
-a centreofsocialCommunion.We'llinvitethevillage
to share the new-built house with our own workers.
(Shadow from Ladakh 350)
RupaalsoreflectsBhashkar'scharacterwhenthere
isconversationbetweentheboth:
The truth is that America, as a whole has
meant nothing to you. You brought back the indus-
trial known-how. Not the know-hour of life! This is the
case with even Indian. He goes west and becomes a
new person. He returns home and at once, he is a
complete Indian. (Shadow from Ladakh 360)
Here,hethinks ofthose beautifuldaysimme-
diatelyaftertheirmarriage.Bhattacharyahasarareskill
in analyzing the inner nature of his characters. The
reader comes to know about his men and women more
through their thoughts, inner conflicts, tensions and
relations then merrily through their actions and ap-
pearances. Bhattacharya also resorts to other methods
while delineating his characters. He makes his charac-
ters throw cross-light on each other through their con-
versation.Forexample,conversationbetweenBireswar
and Satyajit regarding Suruchi: -
Gandhigram is more to you than Suruchi - You would
have bewailed herlossonlybecause of its moral effect
on Gandhigram. You wouldn't have been destroyed as
I was!" (Shadow from Ladakh 546)
Bireswar calls -"The meadow" as a "battle-
field", a battle between Satyajit and Bhashkar. The
confrontation of winning and losing is revealed in the
conversation between Bireswar and Satyajit:
You are yielding to violence, Satyajit. In your spirit,
Gandhi always offered every possible opportunity to
his adversary to win. His own personal stand was
never important. It was always truth, truth and truth
again. You must give truth a chance, Satyajit. Satyajit
smiled, Bhashkar can have every chance to win, he
said. For us an empty victory will be worse than de-
feat. It's the confrontation that strengthens our spirit.
You can't have the heat of battle all the time. The
constructiveprocesseshavetotakeoveratsomepoint.
Look, Satyajit, this fast will he constructed as emo-
tional blackmail. Even though that is far from your
intention. Have you looked at it from that angle?
Gandhi faced that change. He answered that change.
Let's not start an ideological dialogue, Satyajit, you
must give up this this fast, that's all I have to say.
(Shadow from Ladakh 395)
Bhattacharya creates a world of his own in the live art
ofcharacterplay.Interestingly,thereadersareabsorbed
in the well knit plots projected by the fine director of
fiction.
1 Bhattacharya. Bhabani. Shadow from Ladakh. Delhi: Hind Pocket Books, 1968.
2 Forster, E.M. Aspects of the Novel. London: I Edward Arnold. 1945.
3 Joshi, Sudhakar, "An evening with Bhabani", The Sunday Standard. April 24, 1969.
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