Sambodhi 1974 Vol 03

Author(s): Dalsukh Malvania, H C Bhayani
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 29

Dhanapala and some aspects of modern fictional technique
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includos both the causal and the contingent,88 Graham Hough makes a tellingly obvious, though often ignored, point the novel Inclados more of merely contingent, the accidental, than any other hterary kind.al
Dhanapala has made profuse use of the contingent, and later on revealed the causal behind itThe following fow specimens would suffice to confirm this point
(1) The surprise night-attack by Samaraketu8s, which apparontly looks accidental having no connection wbatsoever with the current story of Meghavahana and Harivahana, 18 found later on to be causally connected with Malayasuodari's love for Samaraketu who resorts to that out-of-theway measure in order to uphold the honour of both her father and himself and win her on the strength of his own character rather than elope with ber and betray the trust pat by her, as also by his own, father in him."
(2) The strange music from the unknown island87 which attracts the attention of, and impela, Samaraketu to trace the source of It looks quito contingent But we later on know that it was the music of the festival of the Holy-Bath Coremony of Lord Mahavira,88
(3) The sudden appearance of a parrot on tho scene in response to the invocation of Kamalagupta84 looks atrangely accidental and mysterious at the point, but the myatery turns into a natural causal consequence when we find that the parrot is none else but Gandharvaka, cursed by Mahodara, and that he carried the message in keeping with his promise to Hartvahana,
VII CHARACTER AND SYMBOLISM.
Just as dialogue and manners can be used by the novelist to 'place' bis characters socially and culturally, so a fabrio of symbolism may enablo the writer to create a moral or intellectual framework for the action of his novel, Symbolism allows an author to link the limited world of his characters to one of the greateat systems of values, so that we are made to compare the happening in the novel with their mythological or historical paralleis. Specific actions in the story illustrate general patterns of behaviour, and the private character acquires a new importance when he 1s seen in the light of 218 symbolic counterpart. A aystem of symbolism usually depends on the existence of a commonly known body of Ideas and beliefs. In Western literature three basic systems recur most frequently ; the symbolism of Christianity, of classical mythology and of Romanticisin. Christian morality 18 of course ingralned into the history of the novel, a
Dhanapala's TM has its own system of symbolism Whon once we keep in mind the extreme respect and love he had for his royal patrons like Munja and Bhoja, the characters like Meghavahana, Harivahana and