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A LOVER OF LIGHT AMONG LUMINARIES : Dilip Kumar Roy Devi. He had great reverence for Dilip Roy whom Indira Devi had accepted as her predestined Guru. Mahesji of this novel who is described as ....the great bhakta singer'33 is Dilip Roy himself. Mahesh says that he is having an Ashram at Brindaban and he sings at various places to raise fund for the dispensary of his Ashram. Dilip Roy also gave the musical presentations at different places of India to collect money for the Ashram of Sri Aurobindo, his guru.
Similarly, one of the devotees of Roy and Indira Devi at their Templehouse— Hari Krishna Mandir, Pune, was given the name Ekanta by Roy. His former name was Richard Miller. Indira Devi liked him very much and guided him a lot on the path of spirituality. He, too, like Ekanta of this novel doted after Indira Devi as a son dotes after his mother. Goswami seems to be Swami Ramdas in disguise.
In this novel, too, Dilip Roy has adopted the traditional third person narrative technique. That enables him to be present everywhere around and inside his characters and to comment on their actions and thoughts alike.
Here, the descriptions of places are not so elaborate and frequent, as they are in Upward Spiral. Yet, Nandaraj describes the beauty of Kashmir and Jhilum in his letters. Roy, as in his other works, here, too, succeeds in reproducing the religious atmosphere of the Medieval India when plenty of people were participating in the singing of devotional songs composed by Mira and Chaitanya. Fullara lives in the same background where people bathe themselves in the Ganga, go to temples and sing songs of devotion.
Roy, almost always, includes letters in his works. Wings and Bonds is not an exception. Nandaraj's letters to Fullara and Fullara's replies to his letters are added in this narrative. Ekanta also writes letters to his father in which he favours his step-mother's spirituality and rebukes him for his worldly wisdom. All of these letters are short.
The language of this novel, as usual, is poetic. All the characters belong to high aristocratic class. Hence, there is a tone of decency and refinement in their speeches. Notes : 1. Dilip Kumar Roy, Upward Spiral (New York: Jaico Publishing House,
1949), (Page number is not given). ibid., pp. 143-44. ibid., (Page number is not given). ibid., p.26. ibid., p.171.
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