Vikram Seth’s A Suitable Boy: A Plea for Tolerance through Religion-as-Faith

Postcolonial novelists writing in English in India at the turn of the century such as Amitav Ghosh Mukul Kesavan and Vikram Seth attempt to interrogate the constructions of nationhood through its history and its institutions All these authors locate themselves within the democratic secular framework adopted by the nation at the time of Independence and enshrined in its Constitution In A Suitable Boy Vikram Seth uses his wide canvas to portray the part that religious faith and spirituality play in the everyday lives of much of the population of the country Ashis Nandy makes the distinction between religionasfaith and religionasideology and argues that religious tolerance may be found in the heterogeneity of religionasfaith rather than in the state policy of secularism Vikram Seth structures his novel around the religious calendar starting with Holi in the Spring and giving detailed descriptions of Ramlila Moharram and the pilgrimage to the Ganga for the Pul Mela While making a plea for tolerance among different communities by adhering to the policy of secularism Seth portrays the religious faith and spirituality that is a living force for the true believers in spite of the politicization of institutional religion This religious faith is rooted in the traditions and culture of each community and is a path to a spirituality which is contrasted to religionasideology which is used for exclusionary identity politics