Gora by Rabindranath Tagore

 Gora and Important Quotes:-

The novel, Gora was written by Rabindranath Tagore, an eminent Indian author and the first Asian Nobel Prize winner. Through the journey of Gora; from being a dogmatist to being liberal, and other characters, Tagore presented a complex and entangled story of two religious sects i.e. Hindu religion and Brahmo Samaj. He tried to showcase how in both religions several people blindly follow their faith, criticize, spread hate, condemn, and abuse each other but do not use their conscience and intellect for the reason of their faiths. However, characters like Anandmoyi and Paresh Babu are presented as an emblems of love and intellect despite their different faiths.

Besides these, Tagore also tried to present the idea of a nation through the character of Anandamoyi. She has rejected all kinds of prejudiced notions of religion and truly follows his heart and intellect. She hates no one and is very sympathetic toward the downtrodden.

Characters:-

Anandamoyi; a Brahmin and mother of Gora.

Krishnadayal Babu; husband of Anandamoyi

Gourmohan; or Gora

Binoy Bhusan Chatterji; or Binoy and childhood friend of Gora.

Mohim; stepson of Anandamoyi, elder to Gora.

Paresh-Chandra Bhattacharya; or Paresh Babu, Brahmo Samaj follower- liberal, kind-hearted, and intellectual.

Baroda; wife of Paresh Babu and bigot to her faith.

Labonya; elder daughter of Presh Babu.

Lolita; middle daughter of Paresh Babu.

Lila; youngest daughter of Paresh Babu.

Haran-Chandra Nag; or Panu Babu and bigot Brahmo follower.

Suchatita; daughter (adopted) of Paresh Babu.

Satish-Chandra Mukherji; brother of Sucharita.

The novel also has other minor characters.

Note- Gora was not a son of Anandamoyi and Krishnadayal but only she raised him, and it was revealed to him at the end of this novel.

Quotes:-

• "Gora, do you think that every debt can be paid off  with money."

        (Anandamoyi, ch- 03)

• "I used to worship the emblem of Shiva, made by my own hand, and your father used to come and throw it in fury."

        (Anandamoyi, ch-03, shows the hypocrisy of the upper cast)

• "When you hold a little child to your breast then you feel certain that no one is born into this world with cast. From that very day understanding came to me that if I looked down upon anyone for being of low cast, or a Christian, then God would snatch you away from me."

        (Anandamoyi, ch-03, idea of inclusivity)

• "I have long ceased to take pride in caste."

        (Anandamoyi, ch-06)

• "She knew that all the family unpleasantness was bound to be put down to the stepmother in Sociaey's code of justice, but she never in the habit of regulating her conduct by what people might think of her."

        (Tagore to Anandamoyi, ch- 36, unrevealed the truth of social justice, shows the position of  a stepmother in society/ temperament of society toward stepmother, and her courageous spirit)

• "Marriage, is a matter of heart coming together- if that happens, what matters it what mantras are recited?"

        (Anandamoyi, ch- 37, notion of love)

• "How true man is himself, and how false the things about which his quarrels divide men from men... There is no caste in men's heart-there God brings men together and there he himself comes to them."

        (Anandamoyi, ch-37)

• "Scriptural rules must be accepted as final."

        (Gora, ch- 03, orthodoxical view)

• "It is impossible to take food in your room so long as you keep on that Christian maidservant Lachmi."

        (Gora, ch- 03)

• "The altar at which women may be truly worshipped is her place as mother, the seat of pure, right-minded lady." 

        (Gora, ch- 02, orthodoxical view for women)

• "This was the first time Gora had seen what the condition of his country was like, outside the well-to-do and cultured society."

        (Tagore, ch-26, here Gora witnesses the distinction between human beings and the real picture of his Inadia.)

• "What terrible wrong  have we been doing", he said himself, " by making purity of external thing."

        (Gora, ch- 26)

• "Those who are in prison are bearing the punishment for the sins of those who judge others, but not themselves."

        (Gora, ch- 32)

• "I can't respect a religion", expostulated Gora, "which denies the rights of the individual and of society and claims everything for itself."

        (Gora, ch- 56, transformation in Gora because of the journey he takes)

• "Gora regards Sucharita as an Idea. The Womanhood of India was revealed to him in the figure of Sucharita, and he regarded her as the manifestation of all that was sweet, pure loving and virtuous in the home of his motherland."

        (Gora, ch- 57)

• "Ever since I first met you a new thought has been surging through my mind...I keep thinking that India can never be fully revealed only by looking at her men. Her manifestation will only be complete when she has revealed to our women."

        (Gora, ch- 63)

• "Now in the time of trial, he should once again place the truth above all social and prudential consideration."

        (Paresh Babu, ch- 47)

• "Sectarianism is a thing which makes people entirely forget the simple and obvious truth that man is man- it creates a kind of whirlpool in which the society- made distinction between Hindu and Brahmo assume greater importance than universal truth."

        (Presh Babu, ch-49)

• "The social system of our country is intimately bound up with religious opinion - therefore with all our social observances religious practices have some connection."

        (Paresh Babu, ch- 62)

• "Haran could  forgive almost anything except the following of an independent  path, by those whom he had tried to guide aright."

        (Haran-Chandra Nag, ch- 40)

• "The more he felt that he was gradually losing respect of everyone in this house, the more desperately he struggled to maintain his position in it."

        (Haran-Chandra Nag, ch- 34)

• "If Brahmo Samaj has appointed you its judge, it is better for us to be out of it altogether."

        (Lolita, ch-46)

• "The proper remedy for evil is to fight against it."

        (Lolita, ch-47)

• "Liberty for me means freedom from the slavery of falsehood, and from the attacks of meanness."

        (Lolita, ch-50)