Hunger, Poverty, Caste System and Freedom as the Major Issues in Bhabani Bhattacharya's Novel He Who Rides a Tiger: A Critical Study

Bhabani Bhattacharya is a prominent Anglo-Indian novelist. He can be put in the category of M. R. Anand, R. K. Narayan, Raja Rao, K. A Abbas, Arun Joshi, Anita Desai, Salman Rushdi etc. In 1967, he was given the Sahitya Akademi for his novel entitled Shadow from Ladakh. He focused the attention on the issues Urban-urban divide, east-west divide instead of pre- or post- independence. He discussed various issues in his novels. He accepted the art as the best means of portraying life. He never believed in the art of propaganda. Like Shakespeare, he did not paint the fairies, devils, witches, and ghosts to make the readers feel shocked. Like Mulk Raj Anand, his novels deal with the socio-economic problems of India. He is unbowed transparently vision of life. He had observed the causes and effects of hunger in Bengal Famine and he has dealt the same in ‘So many Hungers’ and ‘He Who Rides a Tiger’. He Who Rides a Tiger is a novel of revolt and revenge as well as self-expiation. This novel focuses on the Bengal Famine, the darkest period in the history of Bengal. The people were dying of hunger. The peasants sell their lands for food, the weavers sell their looms, the artisans dispose of their tools and the fishermen sell their boats as firewood. The people of the village have become workless.