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Unit 5: The Vendor of Sweets by R K Narayan

Though Jagan retreats, he does not forget his duties to Grace. He tells his cousin, “If you meet Notes
her, tell her that if she ever wants to go back to her country, I will buy her a ticket. It is a duty we
owe her. She was a good girl” (Narayan 185).
With regard to Jagan’s Gandhism, one may doubt whether it is hypocritical, “pecksniffian”,
or a “smoke-screen” for his dishonesty. Though the contradictions are very true and apparent,
to be fair to him, one has to note that he keeps up well past his middle age certain Gandhian
practices acquired as a young man. To quote Jayantha:

In his own way, he is an upright businessman and would not brook, under any circumstances,
adulteration of the quality of sweets he makes and sells. In addition, he takes considerable
trouble to guarantee their quality even when he slashes down their period. To make money, as
he successfully does, in the world of Malgudi he does not require any “smoke-screen” at all,
at least of all Gandhism. Therefore, “pecksniffian” cannot be the word to describe Jagan’s
“Gandhism” (64-65).
Jagan finally decided to retreat to Chinna Dorai’s grove and spend his future life in meditation
and prayers before the image of Gayatri. He took with him his Gandhian charka and the
“bank book.” One may suspect Jagan’s genuine intention of renunciation and vanaprasthasrama.
However, a closer look at what happens at the close of the novel would present Jagan’s action in
the right perspective. He asks the cousin to run his shop and look after the cooks well until Mali
takes it over from him eventually. Even the money in the bank is intended for his son once he
comes out transformed from the prison. His readiness to buy Grace a ticket to enable her to
return to her country is an indication of his attitude to people and money. To quote Jayantha
again:

It is made sufficiently clear in the novel that though Jagan, at the time of his departure to the
grove, has neither conquered his attachment nor achieved the necessary equanimity of mind for
a recluse, he has made a beginning in that direction . . . There is no indication either of Jagan’s
return to his former way of life. It is a part of Narayan’s artistic strategy that he does not
surround his protagonist’s withdrawal with an aura of solemnity and other worldliness. It is his
distinction as a novelist that through the comic mode he is able to affirm the continued relevance
of certain traditional Indian values of life.
One of the modern influences that provided continuity between the past and the present culture
of India was the personality of Gandhi. Himself an enigmatic man, Gandhi was a great force that
provided the whole generation of Indians in the period before Independence a new sense of
dignity, purpose and character. His strong sense of patriotism, ethical values, and asceticism
deeply influenced the masses. “Narayan acknowledges the influence of Gandhi’s personality on
the ordinary people in Waiting for the Mahatma and The Vendor of Sweets, for his heroes are not
outstanding in any way bet reflect the mood of that period” (Gupta 23).
When Jagan is freed from the attachment and pursuit of money, the aesthetic, religious and
moral tendencies surge forward for a new recognition and new inter relationship. When Chinna
Dorai takes him to the garden and the lotus pond, Jagan receives a new set of impression,
through which he perceives the close relationship between the various Indian arts, literature
and Hindu mythology (Gupta 27). At this stage in Jagan’s life the Gandhian ideals of truthfulness
and detachment merge with the ancient Hindu ideals of Purushartha and Ashramadharma, enabling
Jagan to form a more coherent and meaningful relationship with them. “He gives up the illusion
of being “a soul disembodied, floating above the grime of the earth” and becomes “free,”
“determines,” perceiving with “extra-ordinary clarity, what his goals in life are.” His experiment
with truth brings him a new critical perception and he faces himself with courage. His retirement
is purposive and creative for it is related to his quest for truth (Gupta 29).

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