Author: Pearl S Buck
Publisher: Rupa
Year: 2007
Language: English
Pages: 336
ISBN/UPC (if available): 9788129111449
Description
In Mandala Pearl S. Buck explores both the problems that confront a princely family in the new India, and the mysticism which still pervades everyday life there.
Prince Jagat is the descendant of a warrior people. Political events strip him of his titles and most of his wealth, but not of his sense of responsibility to the local villagers.
When news reaches him that his only son, Jai, has been killed by the Chinese in a border skirmish, his life changes even more. Convinced that Jai’s spirit lives, Jagat’s wife, Moti, will not rest until he sets off to find their son. The journey is a fateful one, for it involves Jagat with a beautiful young American woman.
The subtle attraction between East and West, man’s search for completion, and the awesomeness of Time, affect all the characters in Mandala. Moti, whose in growing passivity deserts her when she encounters the compelling presence of an English priest; Father Francis Paul. Veera, Jagat and Moti’s daughter, who flirts with the idea of refusing the marriage arranged for her, but cannot decide between tradition and emancipation; Best Osgood, the brash young American businessman who understands just how much he should expect to give and take from India, but cannot resist the charms of his employer’s exquisite daughter; and Rodriguez, the old Goan servant whose loyalty to the house of Jagat affects the futures of all its members.
Mandala one of Pearl S. Buck’s rare novels on India and to it she brings her unique knowledge and sympathy with the East.