The Duality of India: Exposing the Lesser-Known Realities in Kiran Nagarkar’s The Arsonist

The novel, The Arsonist: Poet, weaver, seer, blasphemer by Kiran Nagarkar is a reimaging of the life of the 15th-century mystic Saint Kabir. The protagonist of the novel, also named Kabir, shares some similarities with the saint, such as being a weaver and an influential figure among both Muslims and Hindus. However, he differs from the mystic in several key ways. Nagarkar has tried to place Kabir in the modern world and made him comment on the contemporary religious pluralism and complex socio-political dynamics. Kabir in the novel has been depicted possessing has a secular perspective and he talks about a more inclusive approach to religion emphasizing the unity of all religions, equality of human beings and the presence of God within each one of us. He criticizes unnecessary rituals and practices of both Hindus and Muslims. No doubt, it is a good approach but the way the things are expressed by him is not so simple rather under his humour and lightheartedness, there is a hidden ideology which is basically different from the main stream ideology of India. This alternative ideology is gradually gaining momentum among the people of India, as it appears more appealing in certain respects as a result of which traditional social, religious, and political institutions are faltering. A large number of people have begun to identify themselves as secular, spiritual but not religious. It obviously highlights duality of India at ideological level. The present paper is an attempt to minutely analyze and expose the lesser-known realities of the recently approaching ideology with a purpose to get a picture of another side of India.