The "muddle" of India

Forster constantly invokes images of a muddled India, and this image is embodied in the physical and spiritual essence of what he portrays India to be, and is a testament to its past present and future of the country. This muddle seems to entangle in every aspect of the idea of India, from the formless landscape, to the birds that defy identification and the people who cannot be homogenized to fit into a single identity. However in contrast to the muddle, the reader is constantly introduced to another side of India, one embedded in mysticism and mystery, and through the course of the novel it becomes important to distinguish between the two. And it is by oscillating between the two images that each character along with the readers must construct their own image of the “real India” or perhaps come to the understanding that such a thing does not exist, and trying to create a clear cut image only perverts the idea of all that India can encompass and represent for different people in the novel. It further highlights how the orientalist discourse led to expectations in the European community of what this ‘exotic’ land would yield.

Moreover we notice that among the characters of the novel, characters such as Mrs. Moore and Adela who seek a specific India, whether it be a mystical one or one that can be neatly defined will find themselves in a muddle that will not only disconnect them from all that they know but further baffle them as to whether they will ever be able to experience what they expected or want India to be. However the greatest muddle that Forster sheds light upon is that of the Indian identity, and how that identity is as ambiguous as the Marabar caves and just like the caves trying to make sense of it will only lead you into hollow space that one can neither really touch nor comprehend, and as we see from the experiences of Mrs. Moore and Adela in the Marabar caves, both characters are left even more disillusioned in their own way then they were when they first approached the caves in trying to understand what they hold. Here we can draw a comparison to the British community trying to identify the Indians and placing them in stereotypes, and is a reflection of how on one hand the Indian epitomizes the exoticism that the European seeks to give some clarity, while on the other hand just as Adela subtly dismisses the Marabar caves as being anything grand, the British inherently see themselves as superior to the Indian.