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Nancy Gandhi's avatar

Fleury reminds me of Pierre, in W&P?

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Nancy Gandhi's avatar

Bhairava: (I’m not South Asian, but was married to one, and lived with him in Chennai, formerly called Madras, for many years). Bhairava’s name means terrifying, he looks terrifying, eager for blood. He has a baffling number of arms. His cup is made from a skull. There are jackals, carrion eaters near his shrine. He is often a gatekeeper, stationed at the entrance to temples to keep out evil-doers. I would have thought that he belonged at the place where Fleury goes to meet the Maharaja, and that he would symbolize Fleury’s transition from his idea of order into the disturbingly alien native world. (See the cave in Passsage to India?) Instead, Bhairava is placed at the entrance to a scene of the worst of the Raj - stupid, ugly, violent people who despise and demean Indians. He appears to represent them, instead of repelling them. Bhairava also has an association with Kali Yuga, the last and most degraded age of the universe, before it is destroyed and begins again. Could that be it? I’m interested in what others have to say.

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