From Topophilia to Despair. Kashinath Singh’s Banaras Trilogy

Abstract

Abstract Kashinath Singh’s three Banaras-novels are interesting examples of the continuing occupation of a contemporary author with urban space and its social life. Beyond Banaras I use “Banaras” in this article. The English spelling “Benares” is still used occasionally. The official name of the town is “Varanasi” (Hindi: Vārāṇasī). as a physical location, the three novels emulate deeper and more symbolic layers of meaning of a cityscape with its fascinating complexity of social, cultural and religious relations between tradition and modernity. Kashinath Singh’s Banaras trilogy also represents the changing perspective of its author on his surroundings over the course of his lifetime. While the plot of Apnā morcā unfolds in the culture of political debate during the 1960s and early 1970s in the university milieu, Kāśī kā assī can be read as a kind of documentation on the author’s vivid relationship with a traditional quarter of the town and its lifestyle. Rehan par Ragghū, the third novel, somehow continues the sense of loss that is already present in the nostalgic mood of Kāśī kā assī. It deals with the growing disillusionment of the elder generation with contemporary society, its self-focused individualism and social modernity as such. The novel is about the betrayed hopes of a father in his children, the opening rift between generations and the general decline of values. The change of the central location of the plots in the three novels from the university quarter and from a traditional environment in the old town towards the “new colonies” also marks a shift from progressivism towards existentialism, and from topophilia to despair.