Dettaglio
AutoreChandak Sujit R.
TitoloUnderstanding the displacement of Pandits from Kashmir Valley. Dialogism in The Garden of Solitude
RivistaJournal of Dharma
Annata42
Fasc.1
Anno2016
Pagine29-46
Campo TematicoInterreligiositą
Parole Chiave
Abstract Mikhael Bakhtin has fundamentally changed our understanding of the novel form by shifting emphasis from monologism and freeing the novel author's/narrator's vision controlled narrative to dialogism where multiple voices are possible and there is a recognition of more than one valid understanding of the context. Sidhartha Gigoo's novel The Garden of Solitude functions as a work of art that brings out the true nature of fundamentalism, which is characterised by a total lack of openness to the voices of the other side. This paper reads into the multiple voices in the novel and constructs a critical understanding of the displacement of Pandit's from Kashmir. It argues that the insurgency of the 1990s in Kashmir, which was a result of aspiration for a separate political identity for Kashmir was turned into a 'Jihad' against the non-Muslims. Fundamentalism hijacked the age-old plurality of the Kashmiri culture and the casualties were the Pandits and the Sufi form of Islam that was practiced in the Valley. The paper makes a case against fundamentalism that forced Pandits to leave their homes but could not break the emotional bond amongst the Muslims and the Pandits of Kashmir, and presents dialogue as an antidote.
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