THE CIRCLE OF REASON 67 sible, and a hope that this possibility would be the basis of a fresh, comprehensive language. The many achievements of the novel make the last part somewhat disappointing. It fails to live the earlier fullness of experience. There is something forced here; the meticulous detail with which the deserts of Arabia are Tndianized gives the feeling that a thesis is being imposed. In any case, in the light of what had been done, is the search for an obvious resolution necessary ? True, the novel leaves Mrs. Verma behind. But the fact remains that she is not questioned at all. By centering the last section on a clear-cut confrontation between Dr. Mishra, the cynical nationalist, and Mrs Verma, the organic innovator, Ghosh seems to deliberately schematize the structure, so that Mrs. Verma is glorified at the expense of her rival. It is not then, as if Mrs. Verma's life is simply one of the many possibilities offered in the novel. It has a larger significance, one that is made to hold hopes of regeneration. The seriousness of Mrs. Verma's depiction also poses serious problems for the approach of the novel. Clustered around it is a danger and a silence which vitiates much of the wholeness of the novel. The danger lies in the way Mrs. Verma self-consciously creates an oasis of Hindu culture. In a multi-religious and multi cultural country like ours, this does seem a brittle short-cut home. For while the obvious point is that religion cannot be completely severed from culture, the equally important and more interesting problem is to approach the process evolving from the relationship between different cultures. Continuities must be found in the present, and not only recovered from the past. Otherwise Mrs. Verma's efforts, especially at a time when communalism beckons threateningly, can easily be construed as an expression of Hindu zeal. More so, because it leaves a silent space which can only be filled by the denseness of uncritical belief. This area itself is formed by the tangential view of social change. Mrs. Verma's idea of change rests on a personal recovery of tradition, rather than on making society as a whole more human, a problem which was raised through both Balaram and Alu. Their answers may have been flawed, but the questions they raised, remain. What does one do with ths cynicism of Bhudev, or the inhuman on rush of colonialism shown so vividly in the Damanhour story ? No doubt, Ghosh has made an effort to tackle the problem though the figure of Hem Mathur. But the thematic relationship between Mrs. Verma and her Lohiaite father does not seem convincing; nor does the celebration of Mathur, whose qualities concern personal integrity and proximity to the oppressed, fully challenge the problem. However, it is not as if the third section denies altogether possibilties created in the preceding portion. Ghosh is far too talented a writer to leave us with less than an ambigious effect, even at his weakest. Despite the liveliness, intelligence poignancy and zest for affirmation in the third part, the problems remain serious precisely because of the importance of the novel as