Compromise and Mutual Understanding: The Conspicuous Lesson in Bhattacharya’s “A Shadow from Ladakh”

摘要

In addition to hunger and freedom, compromise and mutual understanding, is another dominant theme in Bhattacharya’s fiction. The novel ‘Shadow From Ladakh’ was written with the political fervour but it has also the conspicuous lesson of understanding and compromise, it was published in 1966. The title of the novel is suggestive of a popular proverb---‘Coming events cast their shadows before them.’ The novel is not against the menacing background of the Chinese attack on India in 1962. The shadow of Chinese aggression is to be felt everywhere in Ladakh and the same is cast throughout the length and breadth of India. The theme of the novel suggests the conflict of ideologies during the critical development of India as an independent and self reliant country of the world. The union of Bhaskar Roy and Sumita, the two different life styles and ideologies, is suggestive of the fact that such kind of ideological conflicts can be resolved through mutual understanding and compromise.