SATIRE OF CHARACTERS IN SHASHI THAROORS THE GREAT INDIAN NOVEL

Abstract

The euphoria that was generated when India won her independence soon turned into a deep sense of disillusionment even as the reign of Nehru was on. When the country did not develop as it should have, many Indians came to distrust the very system. The continued border problem with China and the troubles that Pakistan created for the country, put under the microscope the role played by the national leaders during the entire freedom struggle. The role played by Nehru and Gandhi in particular, came under the scanner, and writers like Girish Karnad, Mukul Keshavan, Amitav Ghosh, Shashi Tharoor etc., have looked at the freedom struggle with a critical eye If Mukul Keshavan has looked at the plight of the survivors of the freedom struggle, Rushdie has critically assessed and observed the consequences of the freedom struggle. Girish Karnad, in his play Tughlaq has shown the disinterestedness and disillusionment that had enveloped the Nehruvian era. Shashi Tharoor, a controversial personality that he is has ended up parodying the freedom struggle in his novel. "The Great Indian Novel". At the same time, Tharoor has caricatured many of the national leaders article This seeks to focus on the caricature of the nationalistic figures as drawn by Shashi Tharoor in his novel. "The Great Indian Novel". Shashi Tharoor has shown through his novel that the freedom movement has been a failure. The frame work of this novel is the world's longest epic. "The Mahabharata" written by Vedavyasa. The characters in both the works are the same but the heroes of the Mahabharata are non- heroes in Tharoor's novel. Yudhistir, Bhim, Arjun, Nakul and Sahadev have nothing heroic about them. In the same breath, Tharoor has also caricatured the great nationalist figures like Gandhi, Nehru, Rajaji, Indira Gandhi, Morarji Desai through the mythical characters, For example, Phishana the Pitamah of the Mahabharata is Ganga Dutta in Tharoor novel and he is the caricature of Gandhiji. By subverting the myth in his novel, Tharoor has sought to question the validity of the Gandhian values in the 21 Century This paper intends to bring out the sataire and the paraody that Shashi Tharoor has indulged in, and the caricature that he has drawn of the great national figures in order to drive home the point that the Gandhian values are no longer relevant and that on the hindsight, the freedom movement itself has been a failure.