1. International Reseach Journal,November,2010 ISSN-0975-3486 RNI: RAJBIL 2009/300097 VOL-I *ISSUE 14
40 RESEARCH ANALYSIS AND EVALUATION
Music for Mohini presents conflict between two
cultures of East and West. It is Bhattacharya’s most
“light-heartednovel”(DorothyBlairShimer,1975:35).
The novel deals with struggle for hunger, struggle for
politicalfreedom,hungerforsexandhungerformoney.
It is a novel of tensions—tension between the mind
and the body, the mind of the husband and the body
of the wife, tension between East and West, village
and town, tradition and modernity, astrology and
rationalism, the daughter-in-law and the mother-in-
law. In the end all tensions are resolved at the end.
Regardingtothethemeofthenovel,G.Raipointsout,
“The central theme of the novel is the tie or tussle
between orthodoxy and modernity which remains a
glaring problem in Indian Society even today. The
rural-urban clash is an important feature of the novel.
Thetraditionalwaysofliestandinsharpconflictwith
thoseifmodernways”(G.Rai,1995:129).
Music for Mohini is a semi auto biographical novel
and it presents a “microcosmic picture of convention
ridden society.” (Monika Gupta, 2002: 41).
Superstitions, caste differences, dowry and bribery
still noticeable in modern India are denigrated. The
noveldealswithnotonlyscience,superstitiousbeliefs
butalsoabouthumanvaluesandsocialvalues.Gupta
uttered,MusicforMohini“blowsupthecitadelofold
traditions and superstitions which menace India’s
progress” (L. N. Gupta, 1969). Mohini is a young girl
of seventeen and the protagonist in the novel. Her
father is shown in conflict with his mother, who is
calledasOldMother,seventyyearsold,conservative
andrigidinoutlook,hasablindfaithinorthodoxyand
superstitions. Mohini’s father represents modernism
is in his entire body. He desires to “mould the girl in
a modern way, which was his way” (16). He gives
“modern”educationtoherdaughter. Mohiniismarried
to Jayadev in the traditional manner after observing
the auspicious signs. She goes to her new home.
Jayadev, the quite scholar who lives in his ancestral
village, and Mohini the young city bred wife, who
adapts herself very well to her new environment are
Research Paper—English
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* Dr.A. Ramesh Babu
IMPACT OF COALESCED TRADITIONALISM &
MODERNISM ON THE VILLAGE & TOWN
SOCIETIES IN BHABANI BHATTACHARYA’S
MUSIC FOR MOHINI
November, 2010
the two forces that put the village on the path of
progress and modernization. The superstitious Old
Mother of Jayadev realizes in the end her mistake
andreconcilesherselftothechangingtime. Finally
Jayadevistransformed,throughconjugalandmoral
stimuli,fromasceticintellectualintovillagereformer.
Mohiniencounterstheoldvaluespersonifiedinher
mother-in-law as she observes all these in her
mother’shomebyOldMother.Knownas“Mother”
in the village, this old lady is in a way the ruthless
pastrevived.Sheisallforthefamilytradition.Though
she likes the modern and glamorous life, she comes
to understand easily what the real things are in the
villages. Every time she gets obstacles from
somebodyintheBigHouse.Hermother-in-lawlikes
to see Mohini all covered by a white cotton sheet
instead of a mill-made sari but Mohini does not like
it. The Mother tells her that modern songs make no
sense and that she should sing only religious songs.
Bhabani covered many believes that are in villages
and towns which he thinks it should coalesce the
traditionalismandmodernism.JayadevtellsMohini
thatitistheirdutytofightsuchsuperstitiousbeliefs
“We’re fighting ignorance and superstition, are’nt
we?We’refightingthefalseclayfootgods.They’ve
hadtheirdayandnowtheymustquit...”(203).Mohini
finally obeys the mother-in-law only because she
seems to hear the persuasive voice of Old Mother
counseling moderation: “Give yourself to the
Goddess with grace, if not with faith.” (204).
Music for Mohini reveals about how the
social conditions are in India. The novelist through
thisnovelwantedtounitethepeoplefrommodernism
and traditionalism. The novel shows Bhattacharya
as a “realist who hopes that there will come a time
whenthingswillbedisturbedequally,wheresociety
will be free from superstitious and there will be
harmony at home and abroad” (Nathan M. Aston,
1994) The novels of Bhabani reveal his “Marxist
respect for liberal humanitarian outlook on the
problems of life” (G. Rai, 1995: 2). The post
*Asst. Prof. English, Kamala Institute of Technology & Science, Huzurabad,A.P

2. International Reseach Journal,November,2010 ISSN-0975-3486 RNI: RAJBIL 2009/300097 VOL-I *ISSUE 14
41RESEARCH ANALYSIS AND EVALUATION
independence India is not yet free from the fetters of
ignorance,superstitionandorthodoxy,Indiansociety
is in a state of utter confusion. Mohini emerges as a
perfect balance between the old and the new,
upholding the true image of an Indian woman. “...
Throughher,theauthoraimsatinterlinkingpolarities,
at connecting culture, tradition with modernity, the
individual and society” (Shantha Krishnaswamy,
1984:61).RegardingMohin’scharacter,Shirwadkar
(1979)remarksthat‘Mohinibecomesrealnotbythe
idealism of her father, but by the struggle she has to
face as a girl-wife when she has to unlearn her ideas
of the parent family and learns the traditions of the
familybymarriage.’(M.Shirwadkar,1979:34)Mohini
just pretended as if she was interested in the village
atmosphere.Shewasnolongerameredollinsilkand
satin. But she was the mistress of the Big House. She
sprang out of the shallow soil and became a trustee
of an alien tradition. She was precise, well meaning
and relentless. She was an incarnation of beauty,
grace, dignity, authority and poise. But her life was
torn asunder like a leaf in the August wind. Though
Mohinihasthepagesoftheentirenovel,sherelegated
to the background and the mother dominates the
events of the action. She was a toy in the hands of the
Mother who controlled the whole routine of the Big
House including that of Jayadev. She became the
victimofeverybody’scommentthatshewasabarren
woman. But finally both understood the differences
between traditionalism and modernism.The author
wantedtocombinetraditionalismandmodernismon
the village and town societies.
Dorothy Blair Shimer, Bhabani Bhattacharya (Boston: G.K. Hall and Co., 1975).D. B. Shimer,
“BhabaniBhattacharya—GandhiBiographer”TheJournalofIndianWritinginEnglish2(1974):14-19.G.Rai,
BhabaniBhattacharya:AStudyofHisNovelsNewDelhi:B.R.PublishingCorporation,1995.L.N.Gupta,
BhabaniBhattacharya:ABridge Between India and theWest (The Hitavada: Nagpur,1969.MonikaGupta,
TheNovelsofBhabaniBhattacharyaNewDelhi:AtalanticPublishers,2002.M.Shirwadkar,ImageofWoman
in the Indo-Anglian Novel New Delhi: Streling Publishers, 1979.M. NathanAston, Bhabani Bhattacharya:
AStylisticAnalysisofHisNovelsNewDelhi:SterlingPublishersprivateLimited,1994.ShanthaKrishnaswamy,
“BhabaniBhattacharya:ThePureWomanasVictim,”TheWomaninIndianFictioninEnglish(NewDelhi:
AshishPublicationHouse,1984):61-74.
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