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Elective English—III

Notes Instances of the conflict between spirituality and materialism are many in The Vendor of Sweets.
Given below are some of the occasions and conversations in the novel, which speak in ample
about such conflicts:
“Conquer taste, and you will have conquered the self,” said Jagan to his listener, who asked,
“Why conquer the self?”
Jagan said, “I do not know, but all sages advise us so” (Narayan 7). This opening paragraph of
the novel proclaims what follows in the novel. It is clear from Jagan’s words that he represents
the Indian spirituality. Though he is a follower of it, he is unaware of the philosophy behind the
spirituality. He follows what the sages have advised him to do. The reasoning and philosophical
aspect of spirituality is exercised or is supposed to be exercised by the sages. The sages are meant
for it. The layman need not bother about it. He just obeys what the sages advise. This is the case
of Indian spirituality unlike the western.

Compared to several million spiritualists in India, we find only thousands in the West. The
majority of the people in the West are materialists. They are not willing to surrender their brain
to unquestioning and blind faith. This line of thinking is reflected in the listener’s question.
The westerner’s do not understand the need for conquering the self. What he loves most is his
self and for its sustenance and comfort, he devotes his life. This philosophy is revealed from the
listener’s question, though he is an Indian. An Indian putting forward such a question implies
that the modern Indians have started to imitate the materialistic thinking and way of life of the
westerners. Jagan is a Gandhian and a spiritualist.
The novel depicts the opposition between two value systems—spiritualistic and materialistic—
operating in the post-Indian society. However, the conflict is of a knotty and intricate character.
“Both Jagan and Mali experience the opposition between traditional Indian values and the
modern Western values. Mali, with all his national, progressive modern attitudes ends up in
prison and Jagan for all his faith in the traditional Indian culture becomes a modern sanyasi”
(Nanda 91).

5.7 Characters

Jagan: The protagonist. A follower of Gandhi in his youth, he is now a vendor of sweets.
Mali: Jagan’s son. Blames his father for his mother’s death. After living in America, he dislikes
his hometown and wants to “modernize” it.
Grace: A half American half-Korean girl Mali brings home, claiming she is his wife. She works
like a catalyst between the two cultures, and tries to integrate into the Indian culture she has
entered.
The cousin: A man regularly visiting Jagan in his shop to taste his sweets, and with whom Jagan
discuss his matters.

5.7.1 Jagan

Jagan is the most vibrant character of the novel from the first page to the last. Mali, his son who
returned from America with a half-American half-Korean girl whom he reported as his wife and
later said he never married, had been something of a sensation disturbing the placid waters of
Malgudi. However, Mali is insignificant when compared to his father.
Twelve of the thirteen chapters of the book deal with Jagan, a widower nearing sixty. He is not
likely to celebrate his shashtabyapurti, as no one seems to care. The last but one of the thirteen
chapters deals with flashbacks of Jagan’s boyhood, youth, marriage, his begetting Mali after
years of waiting and prayer. This with other references in the course of the book to Jagan’s

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