CHAPTER 2

CONCEPT OF TRADITION AND

MODERNITY

CHAPTER 2
CONCEPT OF TRADITION AND MODERNITY
(1) Tradition:-
It is a matter of great significance to establish a healthy relationship between
tradition and modernity. There must be a harmony between the two. To establish
harmony between tradition and modernity is very critical and necessary matter. It
appears that tradition is the collection of all thoughts and conduct of previous days.
All the olden matters are generally called tradition but actually tradition is the
consequence of dynamic process. In every new environment, few traditional
conventions (olden matter) are avoided and new facts and rules are added. A
generation does not provide the same to the next generation which it obtains from
previous generation. Something is changed and something is added. It is the process
which continues forever. Tradition is a serial in which first one provides something
to the second one and the second one provides something to the third one and so on.
It is not the synonym of past. Tradition is a lively process which is always active
according to the need of its environment. Sometimes it is considered as the symbol
of past thoughts and ideas. We obtain only its polished and changed form on the
basis of which we form the future life style. No bond can exist for ever. New bonds
replace the old ones. Alfred Lord Tennyson remarks in his poem ‘Morte D’ Arther’
: “The old order changeth, yielding place to new”. Time changed everything hence
it is called “destroyer and preserver.”1 Time is a force both life giving and life
destroying. In changed circumstances everyone is forced to change himself. “To live
is to adapt oneself, to adapt oneself is to allow the material environment to penetrate
into us, to drive us out of ourselves.”2 We construct the new mode of life according
to changed circumstances. For example, we got the language from tradition. But it
is not of Vedic age and it is also not of twenty five years before. It flowed in the
stream of time, it changed with the contemporary circumstances. It had not reached
us the same as it was in the past. Words have changed, new words have been added,
many words have been neglected and few words have changed their meaning.
Grammar has also changed. But it is not quite different from the past. When what
and how changed? it needs the analysis and study. The language derived from
tradition is not the same language of the past. If we want to say that one which is
absolutely new, was never before, we will have to take support of the language
derived from tradition. We may use new words, we may use new style but we will
have to take support of the same language. We will transfer more changed language
to next generation and the tradition of that generation will be more changed and
refined. The situation is found in every aspect of life. In this way, tradition does not
mean genuine pastway of living. It is regularly active and living process. In this
process, what we get, we stand on it and raise the step ahead.
It is necessary to understand the concept of tradition in order to understand
the concept modernity. It is necessary to explain the interrelationship between
tradition and modernity. Every nation and every race has its own creative aspect and
its own critical turn of mind and is more oblivious of the short comings and
limitations of its critical habits than of those of its creative genius. T.S. Eliot remarks
: “If the form of tradition of handing down, consisted in following the ways of the
immediate generation before us in a blind or timid adherence to its successes,
tradition should positively be discouraged. We have seen many such simple currents
soon lost in the sand, and novelty is better than repetition. Tradition can not be
inherited, and if you want it you must obtain it by great labour.”3
By itself, tradition suggests a weight, a burden, an oppression almost. It is
dead weight, a stone that crushes us into the dust. It can be cruel, ruthless, and
omnipotent. Tradition disallows freedom. It is reluctant to change, resistant to the
new. It is blind, unthinking and unreflective. It is a surrender to the past, a betrayal
of the present. Tradition remains synonymous with backwardness and resistance to
change.
But in the relation to its neighbour, modernity, it becomes a refuge, a haven,
a nursery. It allows the coexistence of a multiplicity of life forms, of cultural patterns,
of ways of life. It is the source of wisdom, of knowledge, of technologies of survival.
Many shapes, many colours, many designs, many languages, many tastes, many
sights, many smells nestle in its nooks and crannies. Like a mother, it sustains us all.
It may be deep, but it is also flowing. It traditionalizes the nontraditional. Thus it
penetrates both modernity and post modernity. Science has a tradition, Protestantism
has a tradition, even revolution has a tradition. Modernity, as it has come to be used
during the last few decades, is a term that covers the last 500 years or so of world
history and refers to the overall process of modernization and industrialization.
(2) Inter–relationship between Tradition & Modernity :-
A wise man stands on one leg and moves forward with other. This fact is true
not only for men but also in social references. Standing leg is tradition and moving
leg is modernity. Tradition and modernity both are dynamic and modernity is
comparatively more dynamic. Tradition is transferred from one thought to another
slowly because it is based on firm foundation of faith, and a faith never crumbles
easily and rapidly. While in the case of modernity, there is urge for originality.
Consequently immortal continuity exists in it. The support of faith is essential for
tradition while conscience and genuine attitude is needed in modernity. In this way
modernity is a new link, new spirit and thinking process. Besides being the firm base
of modernity, tradition is fertilizer for its development. The spontaneous ideas of
man adopts the form of tradition slowly and tradition changes into constant
modernity. The ideas form the tradition with the help of confession but to form
modernity refusal and negligence is required. The disagreement creates struggle
between new and old values and the modern value is born. This modern value is
modernity.
Tradition and modernity are two edges of continuity. Modernity at first
establishes itself and secondly it brings tradition in the process of modernity. It is
definite fact that what was historical fact yesterday, that is modernity today.
Modernity is a mental state which is created from the depth of critical problems of
society. In our society, we find so many problems pertaining to women, marriage,
caste, education, poverty, population explosion, unemployment etc.
Some traditions of our society have last their significance and some are still
found the same as before. Hindu mythology believes in rebirth to control and refine
the conduct and way of thinking. Human spirit is beyond the touch of death. It is
birthless, deathless and changeless. “I say to the weapons reach not the life, Flames
burns it not, water’s cannot overwhelm,/Nor dry winds wither it.”4 The mark of
swastika signifies good luck and solar beneficence. At Hindu funeral, normally there
is great deal of wailing. We find the worship of different gods representing different
natural forces. According to a social belief, Indians did not go on a voyage, they
consider it as the defiance of the land of their birth. “Religious interdicts related to
sea travels, made high castes refuge to face Kala Pani or the dark water.” 5 Child
marriage, untouchability, window marriage and many other bad traditions have been
abolished. Harmony, understanding and reconciliation have been characteristics of
Indian culture and civilization. Indian society gives more importance to son in the
comparison of daughter. Only son is authorized to lit the pyre of his parents. But
some traditions are still very significant in Indian society. Rama Mehta in ‘Inside the
Haveli’ comments that in our society “some traditions have a dignity of their own.”6
Circumstances force us to bring change in our attitude. In our conventional Indian
society, we have changed and refined so many traditions according to the need of
time.
(3) Modernity:-
If we reflect on the meaning of modernity, we can say what is present at this
time is modern. But it is not the true meaning of modernity. At present time, we see
many things which are not modern. They are of middle age. We find few old
outcomes and experiences in the root of every idea. The people of a country have
been giving importance to the same ideas and conducts, it is not true. In the previous
century our countrymen have forgotten their former life style and imagined new
values adding new experiences. Modern era has brought entire change in human’s
existence. “At the turn of the century, we find an almost siumultaneous change in
the concept of time as enunciated by philosophers and in its treatment by the major
novelists of the period like Proust, Woolf, Joyce and Dorothy Richardson.”7 But the
Times of India comments: “We continue to live in the same way as we have in the
past centuries with the same tragedies and the same comedies.”8
With the effect of scientific achievements, the pressure of political, social and
economic circumstances and modern education, our old traditional beliefs have
changed greatly. For the example, we take the literature. In literature, we have
neglected many things which were considered essential elements two hundred years
ago. Many elements which were negligible are not considered much untouchable
today. Two hundred years ago the tragedies were considered improper by which
Shakespeare became so famous a dramatist. In those days, people had faith in rebirth
and they also believed that right action will provide right fruit. These beliefs were
so impressive that people could not think otherwise. But now those beliefs are
disappearing and people are trying to be happy and prosperous in present life only.
If some one is born in a poor family, it is not considered to be the fruit of sin in
previous birth. It is considered the consequence of wrong social order. Such changes
are visible in a great deal. Our method of adopting has also changed. If some one
does not have the accurate knowledge of these changed and changing values, he will
be mistaken to understand many things. By having the accurate knowledge of
changed values, we can know which changes are inevitable, which are unexpected
and which may be made expected .
It is wrong notion that man will go back and adopt the past in the same way
as it was before. History can repeat itself in any field but in the field of thoughts, it
can never be repeated. But we get help of history indeed. From time to time, human
experiences of ancient time influence our literary personalities. Next step is of
general freedom and equality. The experiences of freedom may be life giving and
beneficial in this regard. In this way, our inner spirit is controlled by a new obstacle.
That is priority of welfare of the whole humanity in the place of individual. At the
same time, it has provided more wide ideal and more impressive enthusiasm. When
man is provided such ideals, the literature is developed in new form. Freedom is
absolute and if one wants to enjoy real freedom, one must reflect and think deeply
so that the emptiness within may replace fullness. According to Rene Lafarge,
“Reflection is necessary, for only then will the veil fall off and fullness give way to
emptiness, so that we find ourseleves faced, with the real world, the world of
freedom.”9
(i) Slavery versus Freedom:- Existentialists believe that man finds it easy to
forsake his freedom and get a master to rule him, because freedom implies
shouldering all responsibility, for every act or thought produces anguish. Erich
Fromm notes in ‘The Sane Society’: “We are never free from two conflicting
tendencies—from bondage to freedom and another to return to the womb.”10 Slavery
is curse for human being. It is found in many forms : Slavery of thoughts, slavery of
body and slavery of market. Due to many campaign, it is being abolished. In ‘Train
to Pakistan’ by Khushwant Singh, a villager’s statement reveals the concept of
slavery of thought : “Freedom is for the educated people who fought for it. We were
slaves of the English, now we will be slaves of the educated Indians or the
Pakistani.”11 Even today historians, writers, statement and Indians of the diaspora
think that indentured labour was a form of new slave trade. Panchana Saha remarks:
“Sometimes, the labourers were treated like slaves.”12 Some historians speak of
emigration as free work, others use words like “coolie trade”, “slave trade”, slavery
and do not hesitate to assert that it was a “New System of Slavery.” Some- times,
young boys were kidnapped to make slave of them. In Indian context man’s
relationship with woman is most often the bond that exist between a master and a
slave. But in changing circumstances, this kind of attitude is disappearing. Now
woman is not considered an object. She is regarded essential personality for man
because “It is in seeking to be made whole through her that man hopes to attain self-
realization.” The earliest feminists were women who were active members of ‘Civil
Rights Movement,’ who struggled for the abolition of slavery. “Slave trade,
forbidden in British colonies on the 2nd of March 1870, was condemned by Napoleon
on the 29th March 1815, and then by Louis xviii.”13
Briefly, we can count three characteristics of modernity which are very clear.
They are : Historical view, the urge to make human being happy and free and third
is the desire of well being of whole humanity. These facts are not granted in single
day. In the modern age, human intellect has freed itself from the tendencies of middle
age and it has been capable to attain knowledge in various fields of life. We have got
immense knowledge in the field of Physics, Zoology, Psychology and art. Now we
are acquainted with popular cultural agencies such as television, internet and cinema
which are responsible to change our attitude. Paul Riceour, in his book ‘Civilization
and National Culture in History and Truth’ says, “In order to take part in the modern
civilization, it is necessary at the same time to take part in scientific, technical and
political rationality, something which very often requires the pure and simple
abandonment of a whole cultural past.”14 With Indian living in different parts of the
world, cinema is often used as a window to connect with their homeland. In the
modern civilization, it is essential to take part in scientific technology. People are
increasing their knowledge of science and technology day by day. What is latest
today becomes tradition the next day. Nothing is stable. A lot of facts become
instable very soon.
(ii) Alienation :- People who glorify the olden beliefs and traditions in the
comparison of present, who are lost in imaginary world, who give more importance
to sexuality and make the society weak are responsible for the back draw of the
society. They are helpful to support the system which is based on tyranny and blind
faith. Modernity is responsible to bring alienation. Now a man suffers from an acute
sense of rootlessness which may manifest itself as “the alienation from oneself, from
one’s fellow men and from nature.”15 Painfully aware of his precarious position, the
man experiences today’s severe limitations arising out of randomness and alienation.
Due to alienation, a modern man becomes powerless, meaningless, normless and
isolated. Self alienation means the loss of contact of individual self with any
inclination or desire. B Murchland in ‘The Age of Alienation’ comments that the
twentieth century has been rightly called the age of alienation. Edmund Filler
suggests that in our age “man suffers not only from war, persecution, famine and
ruin, but from inner problem.”16 Paul Brunton comments: “The present century has
seen the dissolution of old certainties and never before were so many people plunged
in so much uncertainty, so much perplexity and unsettlement.”17 A man becomes
alienated even from his mother, father, children and himself. We find a divorce
between man and his life, the actor and his setting which is properly the feeling of
absurdity. Talking about the feeling of alienation, David Mc Reynolds remarks:
“The individual is never able to feel that he is an important part of some meaningful
whole. Our hearts ache with loneliness but we do not know how to talk to one
another.” Now a man yearns for freedom. It is not freedom from the self. Erich
Fromm reiterates the need to end the alienation. He maintains: “There is only one
possible, productive solution for the relationship of individualized man with the
world : his active solidarity with all men and his spontaneous activity, love and work
which unite him again with the world, not by primary ties but as a free and
independent individual.”18
The thoughts which are called modern today will also be changed in future.
Every tradition is the changed and refined form of contemporary modern thoughts
and conducts. Tradition is not history, it is the last halt of journey of history.
sometimes a man tries to preserve the particular thoughts and conducts but he
succeeds or not, it is disputed. Human mind has a lot of greed and it is one of them.
 Modernity is not a value itself. Human being has achieved some values and
when these values are observed within new references, it is called modernity.
References are changing. Many olden beliefs are being forgotten and new skill and
new elements are constructing new references. In tradition, we find something which
is stable and also something which can not exist in changing references. Everything,
which is visible, is the mixture of these two elements. In the modern reference,
temporary elements are changed. The stable elements come forward being refined
and changed. Tradition brings forth these stable elements to further generation.
Olden coverings continue to remove that is why tradition is always useful. Modern
ideas are not born in the sky. Their roots are found deep in the tradition. No flower
can claim that being different from plant, it is separated from it. No tree can claim
that being different from soil, it is separated from it. In the same way no modern idea
can claim that it is quite separated from tradition. The unbreakable chain of tradition
has gone to the extreme depth of the past.
Modernity is intellectual because it tries to adopt the very modern
achievements. Tradition is not historic because it is not only refined but also given
another form. Many times it is endowed with freshness and many times it is provided
new form. It becomes different from history and sometimes it is separated from
reasonable form. One can not dream to make a man happy by making him deprived
of unique imagination and instinct. In this process, he tries to separate the man from
his environment and to make him an instrument of bone and flesh. It is neither
possible nor expected. A man is not instrument which only breathes and eats grains.
More than half of his existence is hidden in tradition. He can not feel pleasure if
tradition is avoided and if he is blind supporter of it, he will be lame and inactive.
Tradition helps us to understand a man as a whole. Modernity is not possible without
it. Tradition provides base to modernity. It saves modernity from being dry and dull.
It gives meaning to its efforts. So they are not contrary, they complement to each
other.
The meaning of modernity is generally considered something as new.
Practically the word is used for an adjective and a period. The scholars do not have
such attitude for modernity. The form of modernity can not exist the same in every
age. It is changeable. Modernity does not justify that today we are changed and new
in the comparison of yesterday. Modernity is not the name of any contemporary fact.
In fact modernity is a kind of creative situation which has its own philosophy and
ideals. Modernity is an idealistic conception and philosophy which man adopted
with free mind in the series of self realization. Modernity is a new method of thinking
which is developed by contemporary philosophers and literary personalities,
Modernity can not be analysed in the connection of a social and individual
philosophy. We should contemplate over modernity freely and widely with the view
of contemporary spirit and resurgence.
The implication of modern man is not to be of today or of any age. Actually
time has no importance in it. It is a process in which there is no limitation of time.
The evaluation of modernity is justified in the reference of man rather than of period
of time because modernity is immortality which can not be observed with the feeling
of age reference only. Modernity is not the heritage of any age, it is a tendency which
can not be confined in an age. Change is the law of universe. Nothing remains the
same for ever. A stanza in Tennyson’s poem ‘In Memoriam’ reveals the fact : “There
rolls the deep where grew the tree./O earth, what changes hath thou see./ There
where the long street roars hath been/The stillness of the central sea.” 19 The
particular man of modern age can have the faith of middle age, and in the middle
age that of Kabir. Lord Krishna seems more modern in the comparison of Lord Rama
and Kabir seems more modern in the comparison of Tulsi Das. It can be justified by
comparative study. Modernity is not the monopoly of modern man. We find the
glimpses of modernity whenever the spirit of reason overrules the spirit of pure faith.
According to the motto of Kamala Markandaya, “Faith and reason do not go
together.”20
The one who is considered as an ancient must have been modern during his
time. The investigation of past is the tendency of modernity. Generally the tendency
towards past appears revolting. We go through a process of what may be called a
partial liberation from values. In this reference, it is apt to say that modernity is
research along with a intellectual process. In other words, modernity is a spirit
produced by different influences and it can be put under continuity. Time never waits
for anyone or anything. The society of every age fights against the contemporary
modern tendencies and conditions. In this way future challenges the past, the past
has its share in yesterday and tomorrow seeks support from today. So every age is
modern in its span because newly complications are born in every age and new ways
are discovered to solve them. The first aspect of modernity shares with the past and
second is in own consequence.
Modern man provides new form to ancient traditions, social systems and
cultural relations. He struggles with his time and creates suitable and refined norms.
In this way, progressive spirit is essential to be modern. Traditional people find
themselves unable to walk with time. They are rooted in traditional faith. They are
not capable to break the pre-established social norms and are unable to seek the
alternative. To claim that only the man of today is modern and the man of yesterday
was utterly traditional can never be justified. Every age produces modern men. Every
age has been modern during its span. The modern man has to clash with previous
values of his age and time. We may find clash between laws and nature, rationalism
and irrationalism, theism and atheism, free market and class struggle, patriarchy and
matriarchy, white people and black people, good and evil and normal mental state
and abnormal mental state.
 There is difference between modernity and modernization. Modernization
provides revolutionary insight to modernity. Modernization is an especial tendency
which stimulates human being to discover novelty. It influences fooding, clothing,
social and cultural attitude and every thing in the society. When modernization
begins in a society, the man seems making efforts to be modern and begins to be
called progressive. Generally modernization is observed with the concept of novelty.
We find modernization in our day to day life, social relations, politics, culture and
civilization spreading very rapidly. Modernization is widely visible in our cities
specially and modernity gets it expanse only in a limited area. The man is deeply
influenced with the complications and intensities of the society. Consequently, his
struggle increases and we find the sharpness in his expression. Actually we find two
categories of people in rural and urban area. They are rich and poor. Modernity takes
birth in rich communities at first. Plato observes aptly: “Any city, however small, is
in fact divided into two, one the city of the poor, the other of the rich, they are at war
with one another.”21
We find the modernity in our country as a habit, fashion and a culture only
among aristocratic community. In the comparison of western countries, we find
modernity in India in a small fraction. It is so because our country has not developed
much in the field of technology, education, politics and science. Secondly, we are so
deeply and firmly rooted in our culture and tradition that it will take much time to
be modern. Thirdly majority of Indians belong to our villages who are ignorant of
scientific achievements.
Science has existed in every society at all period of human history. But in
modern industrial society, science and technology became a critical factor in the
process of economic growth and development. We find Scientific Revolution in the
seventeenth century, the Enlightenment in the eighteenth century and the Industrial
Revolution is still with us. Science and technology have had an enormous impact on
reducing the burden of physical work and improving social welfare. In the space of
two centuries scientific and technological progress has increased income almost
tenfold. It has provided longer life, lower infant mortality, eradication of certain
diseases, higher level of education, more rapid means of communication, better
living and working conditions, greater social protection, more leisure opportunities
etc. The developing world has forced the industrialized countries to recognize that
not only their cultures are extremely diverse but also that diversity is perfectly
legitimate. Science and technology can contribute a great deal to development, but
they can not do everything. They do not offer a ready-made solution to the problems
of values that are raised by the clash between tradition and modernity.
(iii) Education:- Demand for basic health care and elementary education
expanded at a rapid pace during the last three decades, as developing countries made
efforts to improve the provision of these services to growing populations. Now
people have changed their attitude towards education. According to Radha Krishnan
the aim of education is to provide knowledge and skill and to initiate into a spiritual
world. We are not against to women education and English education. According to
L.W. Bowman : “It is well recognized fact that education provided the means for
economics and social advancement. Education is valid not as an end unto itself but
a means to desirable ends.”22 Rama Mehta in ‘Inside the Haveli’ is intended “to help
the western educated Indian reader regain his belief in his own traditions.”23
Education should enable us to face the circumstances of our life. A woman becomes
socially and intellectually free with the help of education. “Education for women
alone could win for them their social and intellectual freedom.”24 In ‘Inside the
Haveli’, Rama Mehta’s implication is: “In order to be modern, it is not necessary to
renounce one’s cultural roots and to adopt western ways of thought and behaviour.” 25
(iv) Unemployment:- Unemployment has emerged the most troublesome and
persistent problem in developing countries. Developing countries face the difficult
challenge of rising labour productivity while at the same time absorbing the growing
number of entrants into the labour force. In modern age, people are tying to check
the rate of population growth but its pace is not sufficient. Now we find the dangers
of the uncontrolled exploitation of natural resources (the sea, forests, land, rivers)
and from over loading the capacity of the earth to absorbing waste (air and water
pollution, acid rain, toxic and nuclear wastes). According to the World Bank: The
most immediate environmental problems, faced in developing countries, are unsafe
water, inadequate sanitation, soil depletion, indoor smoke from cooking firs and
outdoor smoke from coal burning. The dynamics of population growth increased the
demand of food, education, employment, housing and other social goods. The world
is still divided into two civilizations. The first is based on the growth of science as
the main knowledge—generating activity and second is characterized by the lack of
capacity to generate scientific knowledge on a large scale. In this way the concept
of modernity is grounded in the roots of social and cultural spirit. Modernity prompts
us to rebel against ancient social relations, cultural rules and traditions. Today a man
does not seek the solution of his problems with the help of ancient principles. It is
based on the scientific analysis. He observes every thing with his eyes. His
personality is seen in his attitude and his experience is visible in his manifestation.
In the modern age, man seems to be more ambitious to live more. Now so
many newly inventions are the consequence of deep and through knowledge and
thinking. It is the modern attitude which is responsible to bring wide spread change
in the ancient traditional values, social and cultural relations and hypocritical ideas.
It is also responsible to establish new and refined values, ideas and relations. Jasbir
Jain comments that this world is a place “where central harmony is aspired to but
not arrived at, and the desire to love and live clashes – at times violently – with the
desire to achieve harmony.”26 The modern man seems to be standing on the genuine
surface away from illusion. In this way, we see that a man moulds his past according
to present and his present suitable for the future and gives it the form of a social
system.
Indians have a special and perhaps unique faculty for adjusting themselves to
foreign ways without themselves ceasing to be characteristically Indian. The engine
of modernity and post modernity are in the control of the west firmly and they are
not about to surrender their drivers’ seats. India is still the home of orthodox
Marxists, Stalinists, Modernists and other such creatures which have become extinct
elsewhere in the world. In India, tradition, modernity and post modernity all flourish
without one supplanting or extinguishing the order. Nissim Ezekiel wants to bring
change in people’s views and ways. He says in ‘Subject of Change.’ “Not a stone in
the edifice/well loved, is likely to suffice/Everything calls for a new place/A
different rage behind my face.”27 The din and bustle, filth and dirt, meanness and
selfishness has invaded the calm and serene life. Rukmani in ‘Nectar in a Sieve’
comments on the evil of industrialization, “Already my children hold their noses
when they go by, and all is shouting and disturbance and crowds wherever you go.
Even the birds have forgotten to sing, or else their calls are lost to us.”28 Nayantara
Sahgal in ‘Storm in Chandigarh’ talks about new morality which is based on
freedom, frank communication and mutual love. It can create oxygen of
understanding and save the present generation from explosive psychic trauma of
marital conflict.
The present generation will not provide the same thing which it has received
from previous generation. In the span of life something is withdrawn and something
is included so the old ideas and customs are changed from time to time. Few critics
are of the view to keep the tradition separate from modernity and few of them
consider them co-related. Modernity is a witty engineer which converts the old
bridge of tradition into a new one. Few great men contribute in the formation of a
tradition and they create new norms of progress destroying the hypocritical elements.
In the social and cultural tendencies of tradition, we find the urge of modernity. A
traditional society can never be an orthodox absolutely. Similarly modern society
can never be absolutely free from tradition. Actually a society inherits the tradition
from its ancestors and it is developed at different stage.
(v) Marriage:- Among men, even the savage races of the world are known to
live under a well regulated marriages system. Havelock Ellis says, “Marriage in the
biological sense is a sexual relationship entered into with the intention of making it
permanent, even apart from whether or not it has received sanction of law or the
Church.”29 Trickery comments: “Marriage and family are the means used by society
to control promiscuous sex and dissipation of man’s energy which could be directed
and used in many other useful channels, without at the same time, suppressing
sex.”30 Today marriage is not considered the relation of previous birth. We are
absolutely against child marriage. Inter-caste marriage and love marriage is
conducted without caring the calculation of horoscope. Marriage is considered a
necessity. Marriage is considered as a partnership not as a bondage. Marriage is
considered a bargain to go on the generation. Marriage makes a woman dependent.
Simon De Beauvoir explains, “Marriage subjugates and enslaves women and it leads
her to aimless days indefinitely repeated, life that slips away gently towards death
without questioning its purpose.”31 The old woman in ‘Music for Mohini’ by
Bhabani Bhattacharya comments: “The house is the lamp, man is like oil, the woman
is the wick, and happiness the living flame.” Marriage is man’s manifest dharma, his
test, his duty, the outer sign of his inner strength and harmony. According to Hindu
mythology, marriage is very pious relationship between man and woman. Although
we are called civilized, our orthodox thinking and behaviour are full of superstitions
and false belief. In the west, divorce and remarriage are part of real life but it is not
an element in the Indian way of life. Alexander Walker observes: “History proves
that marriage is essential to the well-being of human society, and that celibacy brings
ruin upon states.”32 Anita Desai writes, “I think involvement in human relationship
in this world invariably leads to disaster.” Few modern woman consider marriage a
cage with two trapped animals glorying hatred at each other. Vijaya Pushkama
reports in ‘The Week’ (Nov.30, 2003), “Doaba region had such unfortunate young
women (holidays wives). NRI’s married them while holidaying in their native
villages and went back to foreign lands after using them.” 33 We also find the cases
of ‘limping marriage’ when a couple is considered married in one country and
divorced in another.
(vi) Caste:- Today we find discrimination on the basis of class, caste and religion.
Race is not the expression of difference but of advancing domination and a degree
of discrimination against lower caste. Caste affinity surfaces itself as one of the
major criteria of social relation. Certain villages are known to be peopled by a
particular caste or sub-caste. Religious traditions are prevailing and temples and
mosques are build. Economically also, we find the discrimination of upper class and
lower class. The differences of class, caste and creed is alive in our society. In
modern age people are trying to understand the significance of secular society where
there is no caste, creed and class barriers to there mixing and marrying from among
themselves. People are raising above from communal thinking and it will take
sufficient time to be implemented.
The implication of modernity is different from that of being contemporary. To
be contemporary does not mean to be modern. Modernity insists on complete
separation from traditional spirit and prestablished social norms while to be
contemporary means to remain at the same time. Actually true modernity opposes
the tradition with the help of unfavourable circumstances found in the contemporary
society. Modernity is a view of life which we use as the means of life. It is attached
to the inner self of man. A modern scholar is influenced with his surrounding from
all the sides and he is an organ of the world. He lives in the present being attached
to the past as well as future. The intellectual hold is inevitable for the modernity.
Modernity is a kind of dynamic view of life. It has no problem to choose the
alternative. Having got the realization of modernity, a man draws back from
traditional view. The implication of modernity is to proceed on adopting the
sensibility from the history and life style based on science. Modernity includes the
knowledge of contemporary present but one can not be modern living in present only
because modernity can not be accepted as a value without reference. Modernity is a
spirit created by contemporary environment, changing view of society, problems and
beliefs. To follow the naked culture of the west is not modernity. Western culture
creates the exhibition of openness and vulgarity which is against our Indian culture.
In ‘Foreigner’ by Arun Joshi, an Indian youth comments: “All love whether of things
or persons, or oneself –was illusion and all pain sprang from this illusion. Love
begot greed and attachment, and it let to possession.”34 Only imitation of western
vulgarity is not modernity. Our culture allows communion between wife and
husband. It has been considered sacred by the Hindu scriptures including the Gita.
According to Kamakala Vikas “The communion of male and female power is Shiva-
Shakti-Mithun-Pinda.” 35 Even in Gita, Kama has been included in Purushartha.
M.K. Gandhi points out that Kama divorced from Dharma leads “not to moksha but
to perdition.”36
Modernity is a swift and continuous process which is the result of science and
technology. The faith in scientific laws, the disbelief in traditional values, the attack
on sham and hypocrisy, the favour of Intellectual values, the expression of real life,
and the use of new language construct the modernity which can be visible at different
stages. Tradition and modernity are co-related. They can never be separated. Society
is not the crowd of people free from human relation. Society makes our relations
more and more deep and intense.
 At present time, modernity is a challenge. It has scientific views in its root
which does not accept any proof without scrutiny. To bind the modernity with any
definite definition is very difficult. Modernity should always be reckoned as a
process. Scienctific thinking has changed the interior and exterior view of life.
Science has provided us analytical insight and removed the geographical space. It
has created revolutionary change in the human relations. Scientific achievements
have swiften the process of modernization. It has changed everything so rapidly that
the man seems to be incapable to stay as before. Today we find disharmony,
oppression, suffocation, disturbance, nakedness and strife everywhere. These are
consequence of modern attitude. Edmund Fuller suggests that in our age “man
suffers not only from war, persecution, famine and rain, but from inner problems
…a conviction of isolation, randomness, [and] meaninglessness in his way of
existence.”37 Although modernity is boon for the development of a society, many
vices are reviving with it. Modernity seems to be limited to the outer conduct. It is
going away from thoughts and ideas.
(vii) Scripture:- Before the advent of modernity, religion and faith had more
importance in the life of a man. People accepted the direction and interference of
religion in every aspect of life. According to Bhagavadgita, one should renounce the
fruit of action and the attachment with the world. We are advised not to renounce
the action. The Indian concept of right and wrong, good and evil have been
pronounced in the great epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. Bhagavadgita
says, “Thinking of sense objects, man becomes attached thereto. From attachment
arises longing and from longing anger is born. From anger arises delusion. From
delusion, loss of memory is caused. From loss of memory, the discrimination faculty
is ruined and from the ruin of discrimination, he perishes.”38 Gita further says, “He,
who controlling the senses of the mind, follows without attachment the path of action
with his organs of action, is esteemed.” Indian Rishis have announced the worldly
brotherhood feeling among the inhabitants on the earth : “Udar charitanamtu
Vashudeva Kutumbkam.” The first learning of the Vedas is : “Matri Devo Bhava,
Pitri Devo Bhava/Acharya Devo Bhava, Atithi Devo Bhava.”39
India has been a religious country since the beginning of civilization. Religion
has been influencing our life style as a constitution. Religion has supreme position
in the life of Indian people. It drives our attitude and method of thinking. Religion is
apparent even in our small activities. It controls our social system. Everyone is
bound to the religion and accepts it willingly. In ancient days, people lost even their
lives in order to save religion. The partition of country was conducted at the name
of religion. But the trend of modernity inspired us to lose faith in religious feeling.
Reason and conscience have taken place of religious beliefs. The interruption of
science in our daily life has changed our methods of living and culture. Science has
changed our human values and relations.
Scientific view prompted us to make struggle to secure our rights and we were
forced towards competitive field. Today the man believes the only things which are
true according to reason and intellect. In human society, marriage is very significant
ritual and the man wants of conclude the ritual in very short period of time. He
wishes to perform it during the day. In this way, we see that modernity has affected
our religious feelings greatly. In the light of modernity, we find decline in our
religious beliefs.
(viii) Family:- Modernization has greatly influenced our social life. The traditional
form of family and individual relations have received wide change and refinement.
As the result of industrialization and modernization, the traditional form of family
has broken rapidly and women’s right has increased profoundly. Industrialization
has created the problem of labour, industrial accidents and other domestic problems.
It created a new challenge before the society. Family is a universal institution. The
idea of joint family has lost its charm. It is replaced by separated family. Family was
a group of its members in which blood relation was most important factor. But today,
a family comprises wife, husband and unmarried children only. “The term ‘family’
is derived from Latin ‘Famulus’ which means a household slave.” 40 The joint family
system provided help and support even to distant relatives who happened to share
the same roof. The father was head of the household. There was equality of status
amongst sons, daughters, cousins, nephews and nieces. In a joint family, the father
was like a towering tree who gave support and protection to all the family members.
But now separated family is in existence. Commenting upon the breaking up of the
family, David MC Reynolds observes: “Nor can a person find his identity in the
family for that institution is breaking up.”41 Robert D Hcss and Gerald Handel have
observed: “The family life together is an endless process of movement in and around
consensual understanding, from attachment to conflict and withdrawal and over
again. Separateness and connectedness are the underlying conditions of a family’s
life, and its common task is to give form to both.”42 Now the married children
consider themselves of separated family. In such a small family, the man realized
loneliness and suffocation.
Modernization is creating the situation in which we are realizing strangeness.
Sometimes in our family too, we feel as if we are cut off from our family members.
The man is illusioned and he always tries to seek new relations. Modernity has
created the lose of communication which is the cause of intense depression. The man
desires to be free from loneliness and to be attached to his environment. The
strangeness from man to man is also the result of modernity. The life surrounded
with needs and problems makes a man inanimate. Today we find the lack of
sympathy, affection, co-operation and other human values. To fulfil his needs, the
man discovers new values and situations because there is no harmony between
individual values and social values. Old values are replaced by new ones. The old
relations between wife and husband have changed giving place to new.
(ix) Women:- Today the man is so cautious that he has to earn his living along
with his wife. Consequently he has become more and more busy and is unable to
look after the family properly. Very often, we find the interrelation between wife
and husband full of tension. They seem to struggle to surpass each other and it
creates the lack of sympathy, affection and goodwill. Modern life has given more
freedom to women in the comparison of men. The women, who were dependent and
inactive before, has become active and independent. Now women seek to established
a new order with changed standards where there is no need for hypocrisy and where
character is judged by the purity of heart and not chastity of body. Now revolutionary
feminism is a political necessity to fight racism, sexism, capitalism and patriarchy.
Alic Jardine comments: “Feminism is a movement from the point of view of, by and
for women.” Shouri Daniels describes the female: “She has no shape or form. She is
every thing or nothing. She is fluid. Pour her into any mould and she takes it…Ideals
and principles lie outside her nature.”43 An ancient Indian sage assorts, “No act is to
be done according to her own will by a young girl, a young woman, or even by an
old woman, though in (their own) houses.”44 In the ‘Stone Women’, Shashi
Deshpande remarks: “To be as pure as Sita, as loyal as Draupadi, as beautiful as
Laxmi, as dogged in devotion as Savirti, as strong as Durga—these are ultimately
the role models we cannot entirely dismiss.”45 In our patriarchal society, men’s
incapability is thrust upon women. The Indian concept of women has been governed
by two facts of femaleness, the visible one of the abla or the weak and subordinate
sex and the underlying one of Devi, Shakti, The Divine Mother. Karen Horney, in
‘Feminine Psychology’ writes, “Men have certain fixed ideologies concerning the
nature of woman, that woman is innately weak, emotional, enjoys dependence, is
limited in capacities for work—even that woman is masochistic by nature.”46 In
Indian traditional society, there is dual morality as the accepted norm. Women seek
consolation in myths rather that work for social change. Elain Showalter in New
Feminist Criticism remarks: “Women writers had a literature of their own whose
historical and thematic coherence as well as artistic importance was obscured by the
patriarchal values that dominate our culture.”47
There was a time when an Indian woman was hailed as a Pativrata, a Sati and
something which has to be protected by man, but now she is a changed person who
is aware of her identity, her place and sole in the family and society. Now women
are coming out of their conservative shells and are ready to accept the
sexual/psychological realities of human life. Simon de Beauvoir admits: “the
position that women occupy in the society is comparable in many respects to that of
racial minorities in spite of the fact that women constitute numerically at least half
of the human race.”48 Nayantara Sahgal presents the women as strivers and aspirers
towards freedom, towards goodness, towards compassionate world. Actually a
country can not progress leaving behind its women. Now a woman wants to
experience absolute freedom in her free association with men. Women’s social quest
concerns women’s struggle to gain respect, equality and freedom in society. Shashi
Deshpande puts forth her modern outlook: “If you talk of menstruation, it’s a
biological aspect which every human being knows about. It does not mean that
you’re taking away the mystery of womanhood.” In ‘Seven Sixes are Forty Three’
by Kiran Nagarkar, Aroti does not have a guilty conscience about keeping her lover
with her. She asserts: “Why can’t I have two men?”49 Woman is no longer a bechari,
she has broken free of all ghettoes, be they of the mind, spirit or body. After
marriage, any educated girl is not willing to stay home. She does not want to be
limited as a house wife. Modern era has brought an entire change in women’s
attitude. They have always been the heart of family life because they play various
roles as wife, mother, daughter, sister, companion, mother-in-law, daughter-in-law
and always live for the continuance of family values and make efforts to maintain
its unity, but now they have a greater sense of service to their country in the
comparison of men. “Indira Gandhi, the former Prime Minister of India, was a ‘new
woman’ for she not only held her role as a woman but also proved to be a good
administrator… Jijabai, Shivaji’s mother, is also a new woman as she proved by
discharging her duties completely.”50 Ezra pound brings out the evils of modern
attitude and criticized the tendency in his ‘Selected Poems’ : When I carefully
consider the curious habits of dogs/I am compelled to conclude/That man is the
superior animal/When I consider the curious habits of man/I confess, my friend, I
am puzzled.”51
The man is always deeply influenced with his environment. Contemporary
social, economic, political, scientific and cultural elements affect him regularly.
Today communication among different groups has become very easy. People are
being acquainted with the inventions in various fields. Geographical distances are
decreasing but a man has been cut off from other man.
In the comparison of other countries, India is much behind the progress.
Almost half of the population is forced to live below the level of poverty. Our
agriculture is also not in good condition. People are facing economic disaster.
Population explosion and unemployment are major problems of our country. India
has a large army of educated unemployed people. They realize themselves cut off
their environment. Economic dissimilarity is spreading throughout country. A rich
is becoming more rich and a poor is becoming more poor. A wealthy man spends
money on his luxury while a poor man is unable to afford his basic needs.
Consequently, the country is being divided at the name of caste, language, group and
party. Modernity is responsible for this complicated situation.
(x) Tyranny:- Today everywhere we find the atmosphere of tyranny. The man
has been surrounded by so many problems in his life. He has been dejected and
depressed. Although dejection and pain of man reminds us the pain of Jesus Christ
and T.S. Eliot considers it good omen. “I said to my soul, be still, and let the dark
come upon you/which shall be the darkness of God.”52 The man is oppressed and
alienated due to modernity.
(xi) Nationalism:- British rule influenced not only our political life but also
social, cultural and economic aspect. By the contact of western literature and life
style, we are capable to create nationalistic spirit within ourselves. We are aware of
our weaknesses. Consequently, along with the freedom movement, we made efforts
to remove superstitions from society. Contemporary political, social, cultural,
economic and literary circumstances contributed a lot to awaken nationalistic spirit
throughout the country. Indian culture is the oldest culture of the world. It is the
combination of many cultures. Sanatan literature talks about the old Indian culture
in which we can see the four mission of human beings. India was absolutely
developed in Dharmashastra, Economics, Social Science, Kalashastra and
Kamshastra. All the Indians are proud of their culture. For our countrymen, our
country is their motherland which is to be worshipped as mother. In a letter to his
wife, Sri Aurobindo wrote, “others know their country as a material thing, as fields,
plains, forests, mountains, rivers, I know my country as mother. I offer her my
devotion, my worship.”53 In his “Acceptance Speech” on March 24, 1997 in Austin,
when he was elected a Fellow of the Sahitya Akademi, Raja Rao observed, “To have
been born in India and not have written in Sanskrit, or at least in Kannada is, believe
me, an acute humiliation. But I still dream of writing in Sanskrit—one day!”54 In his
Presidential address to Maharashtra Provincial Conference on May 3, 1928, Subhash
said, “I think it is necessary at this stage to warn my countrymen, and my young
friends in particular, about the attack that is being made on nationalism from more
than one quarter. From the point of view of cultural internationalism, nationalism
assailed as narrow, selfish and aggressive.”55
(4) Factors Responsible for Modernity:- To be modern, it is not necessary that
a man should be relevant to present circumstances. Modernity can not be understood
by fooding, clothing or any limitation of time. Modernity is a value which a man can
adopt in any age. If a man of today clings to old traditional beliefs, he can not be
called modern. When values will be formed on the basis of reason and conscience,
modernity will come into existence. Many factors are responsible to bring
modernity. We can count scientific progress as the main factor responsible for the
advent of modernity. Besides it political, social, religious, economic and literary
circumstances are also responsible to bring modernity. As the result of new
inventions and discoveries, many miracles came into existence. Consequently
people began to accept every thing on the basis of reason.
(i) Scientific and Technological Growth :- Scientific and technological growth
has created a tremendous change in the attitude of man. The man rejected the pre-
stablished order and gave significance to reason and conscience. Consequently,
intellectual revolution came into existence. The man began to neglect the traditional
order and system. He accepted the only facts and values which were true and
relevant. Religion began to lose its charm and reason and conscience became more
important throughout human life. The intellectual growth and wide change of
outlook made the man cautious. Society began to acquire revolutionary change.
Modernity is an immortal attitude which remains in every age more or less. It was
believed that the creation of the world is the result of law of nature. It is not created
by divine self. Science proved that creation is driven by its own rules. The
development of creatures depends upon its own rules. Moral values don’t have any
spiritual source. Man has invented these values in the process of development.
Science insists on analysis rather than faith.
(ii) Inventions:- In this way, we see that with the help of its inventions and
discoveries, science has proved that the development of the creation is related to
physical world. Science has explained the rules of the universe and provided us new
view, new spirit and capacity to observe everything. Science has checked the
compulsory interference of religion in every walk of life. New inventions came into
existence and truth began to be revealed in an authentic way. The world began to be
modern in true sense. Scientific development removed the influence of religious
orthodoxy and gave birth to modern view which connected human beings to modern
thinking.
(iii) Industrialization:- Industrialization is essential for the progress of a
country. “India needs to industrialize itself quickly and rapidly in order to overcome
poverty and to march ahead on the path of progress.”56 But Modern industrialization
has evil influence also. The evil of industrialization and urbanization still loom large
over our life and the erosion of human values continues unabated. We can count
industrialization as a prominent factor in bringing modernity. Industrialization is a
process which took a long time for its origin and development. Its consequences
proved to be very revolutionary. Along with the absolute change in physical life,
scientific inventions and discoveries began to be conducted for the industrial
development.
(iv) The discovery of geographical places:-
The discovery of geographical places is another factor responsible for the
modernity. Discovery of geographical places increased the limit of knowledge. The
religious war between Christian and Muslim created stimulation to discover
America. The discovery of new places changed human attitude widely. This
background proved to be helpful to bring modernity. Because of the discovery of
geographical places, bilateral relations began to establish and people of different
countries began to be acquainted with different methods of fooding, clothing, culture
and manner. Civilization began to be interchanged and knowledge and conscience
also got expanse profoundly. People began to neglect religious beliefs which were
without reason and proof. The possibilities of commerce and business began to
increase and the process of development began from all the sides.
(v) French Revolution:- The contribution of French Revolution and ‘Russian
Revolution’ can not be denied as the source of bringing modernity. The two
revolutions proved to be very important factor to prepare the background of
modernity. The influence and importance of ‘French Revolution’ was widespread
throughout the world. Human life was deeply influenced by the revolution. The
revolution played very significant role to prepare modern mental background. The
‘French Revolution’ provided the world different values of freedom, similarity and
impartiality and these values made human beings modern in real sense.
(vi) Russian Revolution:- The Russian Revolution is also an important factor
which is responsible to bring modernity. The revolutionary thoughts of Marx
brought wide spread change in the society. He was the first to explain economic
dissimilarity in the scientific view. According to him group clash is the main reason
of economic dissimilarity. He represented the idea of society which was free from
class and group. Consequently, the concept of socialism came into existence and
rapid change appeared in social, economic and cultural field. The two World Wars
also did a lot to provide a new philosophy of life. Due to havoc of the World Wars,
people were encircled with uncertainty, terror and disharmony. They became
deprived of humanity and began to worry for their existence. The deep and thorough
thinking for existence helped a lot to create favourable situation for modernity. The
massacre due to World Wars was highly criticised by the scholars. “Are there the
yields/For which with so much hope and so much labour/We fenced our fields/And
slow the servants of our jealous neighbor/? Meanwhile like crows/Our three old
landlords sit and quarrel/For the dead rose.”57 T.S. Eliot narrated the horrible
consequence of war : “Here I am old man in a dry month/Being read to by a boy
waiting for rain.”58
(5) Modernism:- To understand the real spirit of modernity, it is necessary to
understand the trends of modern attitude found in the modernism. Undoubtedly
literature is a historical concept that is way it is said that it is nurtured by history.
National literature stems from India’s past with its foundation laid by the literature
of Vedas and Upnishads followed by the Epics and the master pieces of the Classical
Age of India. “The choice of English language for writing, particularly fiction,
underlines the changed cultural and political situation.”59 In an interview Shashi
Despande comments: “I want to reach a stage where I can write about human beings
and not about women or men.”60 In an essay entitled ‘Image of Spiritual Power in
the Women’s Fiction’ Carol P. Christ suggests: “new literature created by women
has both a spiritual and a social dimension. It reflects both women’s struggle to
create new ways of living in the world and a new naming of the great powers that
provide orientation in the world.”61 In ‘Tradition and the Individual Talent’ T.S.
Eliot presents the trend of modernity. “The existing order is complete before the new
work arrives, for order to persist after the supervention of novelty, the whole existing
order must be, if ever so slightly, altered.”62 T.S. Eliot insists on having human
quality within human being. “The only wisdom we can hope to acquire/Is wisdom
of humanity : Humanity is endless.63
As for as my opinion is concerned, modernity can not be connected to any
special period of time. By being so, it will be limited to that particular period of time.
In the same way, it can not be regarded as a tendency. If it is so, there will be problem
of its recognition. It should be considered as an immortal value. Any man living in
any age may be called modern if he adopts this value.
 References
1- Interview of Anita Desai by Sunil Seth, India Today Dec. 1-15’ 1980
P. 142.
2- R.K. Dhawan, (ed) Indian Women Novelists Set-I, Vol-3 P. 159.
3- Devid Lodge, 20th Century Criticism ed, Fourteenth Impression, 1990.
P. 71.
4- Adesh Pal, (ed) Indian Diaspora, P. 178.
5- Adesh Pal, (ed) Indian Diaspora, P. 110.
6- R.K. Dhawan, (ed) Indian Women Novelists Set-I, Vol-4 P. 198.
7- R.K. Dhawan, (ed) Indian Women Novelists, Set-I, Vol-4 P. 7.
8- The Times of India, April 29, 1979. P. 13.
9- R.K. Dhawan, (ed) Indian Women Novelists. Set-I Vol. 3. P. 197.
10- Ibid,
11- Khuswant Singh, Train to Pakistan, Chatto and windus, 1956. P. 48.
12- Adesh Pal, (ed) Indian Diaspora, P. 115.
13- Adesh Pal, (ed) Indian Diaspora, P. 106.
14- Adesh Pal, (ed) Indian Diaspora, P. 346.
15- Erich Fromm, Zen Buddhism and Psychoanalysis (New York, 1970)
P. 86.
16- R.K. Dhawan, (ed) Indian Women Novelists. Set-I Vol. 2. P. 12.
17- Ibid,
18- R.K. Dhawan, (ed) Indian Women Novelists. Set-I Vol. 2. P. 109.
19- Alfred Tennyson, In Memorium.
20- Kamala Morkandaya, A Silence of Desire. (London Putnam, 1960. P. 7.
21- Quoted by Peter Wilsher and Rosemary Righter. The Exploding Cities
(London, Andre Deutsch, 1975. P. 90.
22- Adesh Pal, (ed) Indian Diaspora, P. 142.
23- R.K. Dhawan, (ed) Indian Women Novelists. Set-I Vol. 4. P. 178.
24- R.K. Dhawan, (ed) Indian Women Novelists. Set-I Vol. 4. P. 183.
25- Ibid, P. 117.
26- R.K. Dhawan, (ed) Indian Women Novelists. Set-I Vol. 4. P. 80.
27- Malti Agrawal, (ed) New Perspectives on Indian English Writing. P. 269.
28- Ibid, P. 152.
29- R.K. Dhawan, (ed) Indian Women Novelists. Set-I Vol. 4. P. 242.
30- Ibid, P. 244.
31- Malti Agrawal, (ed) New Perspectives on Indian English Writing. P. 127.
32- R.K. Dhawan, (ed) Indian Women Novelists. Set-I Vol. 1. P. 243.
33- Adesh Pal, (ed) Indian Diaspora, P. 245.
34- R.K. Dhawan, (ed) Indian Women Novelists. Set-I Vol. 2. P. 245.
35- Ibid, P. 243.
36- Ibid, P. 244.
37- Edmurd Fuller, Man in Modern Fiction (New York, 1958) P. 3.
38- R.K. Dhawan, (ed) Indian Women Novelists. Set-I Vol.2 . P. 52.
39- Malti Agrawal, (ed) New Perspectives on Indian English Writing. P. 304.
40- Veena Noble Das and R.K. Dhawan (ed) Fiction of Ninties. P. 27.
41- R.K. Dhawan, (ed) Indian Women Novelists. Set-I Vol.2 . P. 243.
42- R.K. Dhawan, (ed) Indian Women Novelists. Set-I Vol.2 . P. 100.
43- Veena Noble Das and R.K. Dhawan (ed) Fiction of Ninties. P. 27.
44- R.K. Dhawan, (ed) Indian Women Noveslists. Set-I Vol. 5 . P. 147.
45- Shashi Deshpande, The Stone Women, Calcutta : Writers workshop. 2000, P.
87.
46- Malti Agrawal, (ed) New Perspectives on Indian English Writing. P. 75.
47- R.K. Dhawan, (ed) Indian Women Novelists. Set-I Vol. 1 . P. 78.
48- Malti Agrawal, (ed) New Perspectives on Indian English Writing. P. 75.
49- R.K. Dhawan, (ed) Indian Women Novelists. Set-I Vol. 1 . P. 142.
50- Malti Agrawal, (ed) New Porspectives on India English Writing. P. 55.
51- Ezra Pound : Selected Poems. P. 93.
52- T.S. Eliot, Four Quarters. P. 27.
53- T.S. Anand, (ed) Trends in Indian English Literature. P.22.
54- Ibid, P. 23.
55- Adesh Pal, (ed) Indian Diaspora, P. 151.
56- Malti Agrawal, (ed) New Perspectives on India English Writings. P. 151.
57- Gardener : An Anthology : The Terrible Rain, The War Poets, 1939-45. P.
190.
58- T.S. Eliot, Selected Poems. P. 31.
59- T.S. Anand, (ed) Trends in Indian English Literature. P. 55.
60- R.K. Dhawan, (ed) Indian Women Novelists. Set-III Vol. IV . P. 32.
61- R.K. Dhawan, (ed) Indian Women Novelists. Set-I Vol. 5 . P. 202.
62- R.K. Dhawan, (ed) Indian Women Novelists. Set-I Vol. 1 . P. 72.
63- T.S. Eliot, Four Quarters. P.27.