Summary: A Passage to India

Two British women, the youth­ful Adela Quest­ed and the elder­ly Mrs. Moore, opt to explore India. Adela intends to become engaged to Mrs. Moore’s son Ron­ny, an Eng­lish offi­cial in the Indi­an town of Chan­dra­pore. Both Adela and Mrs. Moore desire to immerse them­selves in the authen­tic India rather than the British-influ­enced sur­round­ings. Mean­while, Aziz, a young Mus­lim physi­cian, faces mis­treat­ment from the Eng­lish, par­tic­u­lar­ly Major Cal­len­dar, who fre­quent­ly harass­es Aziz with triv­ial mat­ters. Aziz and his edu­cat­ed com­pan­ions con­tem­plate the notion of a friend­ship between an Indi­an and an Eng­lish­man. Through a serendip­i­tous encounter at a mosque, Mrs. Moore and Aziz cross paths and estab­lish a friend­ly con­nec­tion, sur­pris­ing Aziz. Mr. Tur­ton, the over­seer of Chan­dra­pore, orga­nizes a gath­er­ing to intro­duce Adela and Mrs. Moore to the promi­nent Indi­an res­i­dents of the city. Adela meets Cyril Field­ing, a school prin­ci­pal, who admires Ade­la’s com­pas­sion­ate demeanor towards the Indi­ans. He invites them for tea with him­self and Hin­du schol­ar God­bole. Aziz is also includ­ed at Ade­la’s request. Despite a pleas­ant gath­er­ing, Ron­ny’s rude inter­rup­tion damp­ens the mood, prompt­ing Adela to call off their engage­ment, though she recon­sid­ers after a car acci­dent they expe­ri­ence togeth­er. Aziz arranges a trip to the near­by Marabar Caves for the guests from the tea par­ty. They become sep­a­rat­ed dur­ing the vis­it, and it is dur­ing this time that Adela, upon real­iz­ing her lack of affec­tion for Ron­ny, offends Aziz with a query about his mar­i­tal sta­tus. Upon return­ing from a cave, Adela is nowhere to be found, only for Aziz to lat­er dis­cov­er that she has accused him of attempt­ed assault. Field­ing sup­ports Aziz, spark­ing height­ened racial ten­sions. Ulti­mate­ly, dur­ing Aziz’s tri­al, Adela acknowl­edges her mis­take, lead­ing to Aziz’s acquit­tal. Despite her actions, Field­ing befriends Adela, result­ing in a rift with Aziz. Aziz leaves Chan­dra­pore vow­ing to avoid Eng­lish indi­vid­u­als. After two years, Aziz learns that Field­ing did not mar­ry Adela as he had assumed, but instead Mrs. Moore’s daugh­ter Stel­la. This rev­e­la­tion sparks a rekin­dling of his friend­ship with Field­ing, albeit with an under­stand­ing that their bond can flour­ish ful­ly only once the British depart from India.

Chapter 1

Chan­dra­pore is a rel­a­tive­ly unas­sum­ing city, save for the near­by Marabar Caves. Posi­tioned along the banks of the Ganges Riv­er, the city lacks par­tic­u­lar grandeur. In close prox­im­i­ty to the train sta­tion reside the func­tion­al struc­tures of the British colonists. Viewed from this stand­point, Chan­dra­pore seems charm­ing, with trop­i­cal foliage veil­ing the less pic­turesque areas. To dis­pel this pic­turesque facade, one must ven­ture into the heart of the city. The only com­mon thread between the British edi­fices and the rest of Chan­dra­pore is the expan­sive Indi­an sky. This sky stands out amidst the scenery, rivaled only by the Marabar Hills. These hills har­bor Chandrapore’s sin­gu­lar strik­ing feature—the Marabar Caves.

Chapter 2

Dr. Aziz, a native Indi­an, arrives belat­ed­ly at his friend Hamidul­lah’s abode, where a dis­cus­sion ensues regard­ing friend­ship between an Eng­lish­man and an Indi­an. Hamidul­lah, a Cam­bridge alum­nus, argues for the fea­si­bil­i­ty of such cama­raderie in Eng­land. The gen­tle­men con­cur that Eng­lish indi­vid­u­als become intol­er­a­ble with­in two years, and Eng­lish women with­in six months of resid­ing in India. Aziz choos­es to steer clear of inter­act­ing with the Eng­lish. Hamidul­lah intro­duces Aziz to his spouse, who chides him for not remar­ry­ing since his wife’s demise. Con­tent with his present exis­tence, Aziz reg­u­lar­ly vis­its his three chil­dren at his moth­er-in-law’s res­i­dence. Togeth­er with Hamidullah’s lethar­gic kins­man Mohammed Latif, they enjoy a meal. The recita­tion of Aziz’s poet­ry imparts a sense of cama­raderie to the evening; poet­ry is a com­mu­nal pur­suit in India. Dur­ing sup­per, Aziz is sum­moned by his supe­ri­or, Major Cal­len­dar. Annoyed, he sets off on his bicy­cle to the Major’s house but must pro­cure a ton­ga (a pony-drawn car­riage) when his bike tire bursts. Upon reach­ing the bun­ga­low, he dis­cov­ers that the Major has left with­out a word. Aziz is tak­en aback when Mrs. Cal­len­dar and Mrs. Les­ley appro­pri­ate his hired ton­ga with­out seek­ing per­mis­sion. Engag­ing in a leisure­ly stroll back home, Aziz stops by his beloved mosque. The mosque’s archi­tec­ture sym­bol­izes the truth and love of Islam to him. He indulges in fan­tasies of con­struct­ing his mosque embell­ished with a heart­felt inscrip­tion. Notic­ing an Eng­lish­woman, Mrs. Moore, tres­pass­ing in the mosque, he con­fronts her. She exhibits under­stand­ing and rev­er­ence, hav­ing removed her shoes and acknowl­edged the sanc­ti­ty of the mosque. Aziz appre­ci­ates her con­duct. Mrs. Moore, in town to vis­it her mag­is­trate son Ron­ny Heaslop, forges a con­nec­tion with Aziz over their shared fam­i­ly dynam­ics. Aziz admires Mrs. Moore’s com­pas­sion­ate nature and her dis­dain for Mrs. Cal­len­dar. He deems her as an ‘Ori­en­tal’ for her intu­itive assess­ment of indi­vid­u­als and escorts her to the entry of the whites-only club.

Chapter 3

With­in the club, Mrs. Moore and her com­pan­ion, Adela Quest­ed, an Eng­lish­woman, while away the time in the bil­liard room to evade the ongo­ing the­atri­cal pro­duc­tion, Cousin Kate. Mrs. Moore accom­pa­nies Adela at the insis­tence of her son Ron­ny, who intends to pro­pose to Adela. They encounter Mr. Tur­ton, the over­seer of Chan­dra­pore, who holds Ron­ny in high esteem. As the play wraps up and the bil­liard room fills up, Adela express­es her yearn­ing to delve into the “real India,” tran­scend­ing the clichéd tourist ele­phant rides. Cyril Field­ing, a local school prin­ci­pal, urges her to engage with Indi­ans for an authen­tic Indi­an expe­ri­ence, a sug­ges­tion met with dis­dain by the oth­er women at the club who label Indi­ans as mys­te­ri­ous and untrust­wor­thy. Nonethe­less, Mr. Tur­ton, keen on pleas­ing Adela, pledges to orga­nize a “Bridge Par­ty” for her to inter­act with some Indi­ans. On their way back, Mrs. Moore points out the mosque to Ron­ny and Adela, recount­ing the ami­able man she encoun­tered there. Ron­ny is fum­ing upon real­iz­ing the man was Indi­an, not Eng­lish. After Adela retires for the night, Ron­ny inter­ro­gates his moth­er about her encounter, view­ing it as a cun­ning move by Aziz using typ­i­cal colo­nial phras­es. Ron­ny plans to report Aziz to Major Cal­len­dar but is dis­suad­ed by his moth­er. In turn, Ron­ny implores Mrs. Moore not to men­tion Dr. Aziz to Adela, fear­ing it might prompt her to ques­tion the British treat­ment of Indi­ans. Fol­low­ing their con­ver­sa­tion, Mrs. Moore retreats to her cham­ber where she dis­cov­ers a slum­ber­ing wasp on her coat hook and coos soft­ly to it.

Chapter 4

Mr. Tur­ton extends invi­ta­tions to sev­er­al Indi­an gen­tle­men for the upcom­ing Bridge Par­ty at the club. This unex­pect­ed invi­ta­tion leaves the Indi­ans per­plexed, with Mah­moud Ali spec­u­lat­ing that the par­ty might be a decree from the lieu­tenant gen­er­al. The Nawab Bahadur, a dis­tin­guished Indi­an landown­er, express­es grat­i­tude for the invi­ta­tion and con­firms his atten­dance. His deci­sion sparks dis­ap­proval from some, but his esteemed sta­tus among the Indi­ans influ­ences oth­ers to fol­low suit. The author vivid­ly depicts the meet­ing room where the Indi­an gen­tle­men assem­ble, while the less priv­i­leged Indi­ans, not includ­ed in the invi­ta­tion, observe rest­less­ly outside.

in the invi­ta­tion, per­sist. Past the preach­ers posi­tioned at the out­skirts of the set­tle­ment, Mr. Gray­ford and Mr. Sor­ley are also depict­ed. Mr. Sor­ley is con­vinced that all indi­vid­u­als reach par­adise, exclud­ing mod­est crea­tures like bees, microbes, and muck, due to lim­it­ed space in par­adise. On the con­trary, his Hin­du col­leagues argue for a dif­fer­ent per­spec­tive, claim­ing that God embraces all life forms.

chapter 5

Dur­ing the Bridge Par­ty, the Indi­ans and the Eng­lish are notably seg­re­gat­ed, trou­bling Adela Quest­ed and Mrs. Moore. The Eng­lish guests, includ­ing Ron­ny and Mrs. Tur­ton, crit­i­cize the Indi­an attire that blends East­ern and West­ern styles. They dis­cuss the recent play, Cousin Kate. Mrs. Moore is sur­prised by her son Ron­ny’s nar­row views. Mr. Tur­ton arrives and remarks that every­one at the gath­er­ing is dri­ven by self-inter­est. Mrs. Tur­ton intro­duces Adela and Mrs. Moore to a group of Indi­an women and con­vers­es with them in basic Urdu. To her sur­prise, the ladies are flu­ent in Eng­lish. Despite their efforts, Adela and Mrs. Moore strug­gle to have mean­ing­ful con­ver­sa­tions with the Indi­an women. They plan to vis­it Mrs. Bhat­tacharya at her home, with her hus­band offer­ing to send his car­riage for them. Anoth­er guest, Mr. Field­ing, takes a dif­fer­ent approach by social­iz­ing with the Indi­ans and shar­ing a meal with them. Observ­ing Adela and Mrs. Moore’s friend­ly ges­tures, he invites them for tea. Adela express­es her dis­com­fort with the Eng­lish guests’ rude­ness toward the Indi­ans. She men­tions Dr. Aziz, lead­ing Field­ing to invite him as well. After a din­ner gath­er­ing with the McBry­des and Miss Derek, Adela con­tem­plates a dull mar­ried life among the detached Eng­lish, fear­ing she won’t expe­ri­ence the essence of India. Lat­er, Mrs. Moore informs Ron­ny about Ade­la’s dis­plea­sure with the Eng­lish’s behav­ior towards the Indi­ans. Ron­ny dis­miss­es her con­cerns, stat­ing their duty is to main­tain har­mo­ny, not polite­ness. Mrs. Moore dis­agrees, insist­ing that kind­ness toward the Indi­ans is man­dat­ed by divine decree. Yet, she regrets invok­ing God, sens­ing a weak­en­ing of her faith since arriv­ing in India.

chapter 6

Fol­low­ing his con­ver­sa­tion with Mrs. Moore, Aziz is rep­ri­mand­ed by Major Cal­len­dar for not prompt­ly respond­ing to his sum­mons, with­out a chance for Aziz to explain him­self. Aziz and his col­league, Dr. Pan­na Lal, make plans to attend the Bridge Par­ty. How­ev­er, it coin­cides with the anniver­sary of Aziz’s late wife, so he decides not to go. After mourn­ing his lost love, he bor­rows Hamidul­lah’s pony for a game of polo at the com­mu­nal grounds. An Eng­lish sol­dier joins in briefly. Dr. Lal meets Aziz after the Bridge Par­ty and men­tions his absence being noticed, press­ing Aziz for an expla­na­tion. Aziz finds Lal’s ques­tion impo­lite and responds defi­ant­ly. Upon return­ing home, he begins to wor­ry about poten­tial reper­cus­sions from the Eng­lish for miss­ing the event. His spir­its lift upon receiv­ing a tea invi­ta­tion from Field­ing, appre­ci­at­ing Field­ing’s gra­cious­ness regard­ing Aziz’s ear­li­er lack of response.

chapter 7

Field­ing’s broad-mind­ed per­spec­tive pre­vents him from embrac­ing the Eng­lish prej­u­dice against Indi­ans. The Eng­lish are wary of Field­ing’s attempts to edu­cate Indi­ans and are unset­tled by his casu­al remarks, such as liken­ing “whites” to “pinko-grey.” Despite this, Field­ing main­tains friend­ly rela­tions with both his Eng­lish peers and the Indi­ans. Aziz vis­its Field­ing while the lat­ter is get­ting ready. Their ini­tial meet­ing is infor­mal, pleas­ing Aziz. When Field­ing faces a small wardrobe mal­func­tion, Aziz assists by lend­ing a col­lar stud. A mis­un­der­stand­ing aris­es when Aziz inter­prets Field­ing’s com­ment about a paint­ing as a per­son­al slight. The arrival of Mrs. Moore and Adela inter­rupts Aziz’s pri­vate con­ver­sa­tion with Field­ing, dis­ap­point­ing him. How­ev­er, the atmos­phere remains relaxed, and Aziz finds it easy to con­verse with the women. Adela and Mrs. Moore are dis­ap­point­ed as the Bhat­tacharyas failed to send their promised car­riage. Adela finds it per­plex­ing, while Mrs. Moore describes it as a “con­fu­sion.” Field­ing describes India as a per­plex­i­ty, and Aziz open­ly crit­i­cizes the Bhat­tacharyas. He invites the women to his hum­ble home. Adela takes his invi­ta­tion seri­ous­ly, but Aziz diverts the con­ver­sa­tion to Indi­an archi­tec­ture to avoid the top­ic. Field­ing refrains from cor­rect­ing Aziz’s mis­takes, valu­ing emo­tion­al hon­esty over fac­tu­al accu­ra­cy. A delay occurs as God­bole, a Hin­du schol­ar, arrives. Aziz ques­tions Adela about her inten­tions in India, sur­pris­ing Mrs. Moore with her response. Fol­low­ing Ade­la’s inad­ver­tent rev­e­la­tion, Field­ing takes Mrs. Moore on a tour of the col­lege. Adela sug­gests revis­it­ing Aziz’s home, but Aziz pro­pos­es a trip to the Marabar Caves instead. Aziz’s lack of knowl­edge about the caves and God­bole’s inabil­i­ty to explain their unique­ness deep­ens the mys­tery. Ron­ny’s sud­den appear­ance to escort Adela and his moth­er to a polo match upsets Aziz, who responds by becom­ing over­ly famil­iar. Ron­ny crit­i­cizes Field­ing for leav­ing Adela alone with Indi­ans. Before the women leave, God­bole recites a pecu­liar Hin­du chant about God’s reluc­tance to approach the singer. Adela, in her inno­cence, views Aziz as “India,” fail­ing to real­ize his nar­row per­spec­tive and “his inef­fec­tive method, and that no one per­son rep­re­sents India.”

chapter 8

Upset by Ron­ny’s rude­ness, Adela men­tions Aziz’s sug­ges­tion of vis­it­ing the Marabar Caves, but Ron­ny dis­miss­es the idea, cit­ing Aziz’s untidy col­lar as an exam­ple of Indi­an care­less­ness. Exhaust­ed by the argu­ment, Mrs. Moore asks to be tak­en back home. Adela regrets declar­ing her inten­tion to leave India at the tea par­ty. After the polo match, she con­fides in Ron­ny her deci­sion not to mar­ry him. Although dis­ap­point­ed, Ron­ny agrees to main­tain their friend­ship. When they spot a col­or­ful bird and Ron­ny fails to iden­ti­fy it, Adela real­izes that noth­ing in India can be clear­ly defined. This insight leads to feel­ings of alien­ation and insignif­i­cance in their sur­round­ings, yet it also strength­ens their bond as they share their emo­tions. Unex­pect­ed­ly, the Nawab Bahadur offers them a ride. Sur­round­ed by vast dark­ness and expan­sive land­scapes, they feel small and insignif­i­cant. An acci­den­tal touch of hands excites them. When their car unex­pect­ed­ly breaks down, they sus­pect it hit a hye­na. Miss Derek pass­es by and pro­vides them with a ride back to the city. Dur­ing the jour­ney, she amus­ing­ly recounts her expe­ri­ences with her Indi­an noble employ­er and the Nawab Bahadur’s drawn-out polite speeches.bring Adela and Ron­ny togeth­er. They decide to mar­ry once they reach the bun­ga­low. How­ev­er, Adela is imme­di­ate­ly dis­heart­ened — she fears being seen as just anoth­er Eng­lish wife in India. They inform Mrs. Moore about their choice and the mys­te­ri­ous car acci­dent, to which she spec­u­lates that the car might have col­lid­ed with a “phan­tom.” While in the city, Nawab Bahadur clar­i­fies the acci­dent, hint­ing that it hap­pened near the place where he unin­ten­tion­al­ly killed a drunk man nine years ago. He believes that the deceased man was respon­si­ble for the recent acci­dent. On the con­trary, Aziz has doubts and wish­es for a decrease in the amount of super­sti­tion among Indians.

chapter 9

After the tea gath­er­ing a few days ear­li­er, Aziz falls some­what ill and exag­ger­ates his symp­toms, stay­ing in bed con­tem­plat­ing a poten­tial vis­it to a broth­el in Cal­cut­ta. He is aware that his supe­ri­ors, like Major Cal­len­dar, would dis­ap­prove of such a deci­sion, but he does­n’t let soci­etal norms hin­der him, as long as he goes unno­ticed. See­ing his room filled with insects, he calls for his atten­dant, Has­san, who unfor­tu­nate­ly lacks enthu­si­asm. Soon, Aziz’s room is filled with vis­i­tors, includ­ing Hamidul­lah, Syed Mohammed, Haq, and Rafi, who come to inquire about his health. The con­ver­sa­tion in the room revolves around Pro­fes­sor God­bole’s well-being, sus­pi­cions regard­ing Mr. Field­ing’s pos­si­ble involve­ment, and attribut­ing all ill­ness­es to Hin­dus. While Aziz recites poet­ry, Hamidul­lah wor­ries about the inef­fec­tive­ness of the nation­al­ist assem­bly he is sup­posed to attend. As the guests pre­pare to leave, Dr. Pan­na Lal arrives to exam­ine Aziz. Diag­nos­ing Aziz’s minor ail­ment, Dr. Lal offers his help, expect­ing a favor in return in the future. After con­firm­ing Pro­fes­sor God­bole’s sta­ble con­di­tion, some of the guests scold Rafi for spread­ing exag­ger­at­ed rumors, lead­ing to a quar­rel involv­ing Dr. Lal’s dri­ver, Ram Chand, and Rafi’s uncle, Syed Mohammed. Sud­den­ly, Field­ing enters the room, and Aziz, usu­al­ly con­scious of appear­ances, is too absorbed to feel ashamed about his hum­ble dwelling. While con­sol­ing Rafi, Field­ing faces ques­tions about his beliefs and views on Eng­land’s role in India, to which he replies hon­est­ly, sur­pris­ing the men. Dis­ap­point­ed with his ini­tial vis­it, Field­ing leaves the room, guid­ing the oth­er men out.

chapter 10

Upon leav­ing Aziz’s place, Field­ing and his com­pan­ions encounter the oppres­sive weath­er and the sur­round­ing envi­ron­ment. The audi­ble sounds com­ing from var­i­ous crea­tures near­by high­light the con­stant pres­ence of ani­mals in India, unlike in Eng­land. Choos­ing to head back home and take their car­riages instead of resum­ing work, the gen­tle­men are affect­ed by the ris­ing heat as peo­ple all over India seek shel­ter indoors.

chapter 11

Field­ing, stand­ing out­side Aziz’s dwelling, fails to receive his horse as per Aziz’s secret instruc­tions to his atten­dants. Aziz invites Field­ing inside, reveal­ing the mod­est state of his home. How­ev­er, Field­ing brush­es it off. Field­ing is pre­sent­ed with a por­trait of Aziz’s late wife, for which he express­es grat­i­tude. Aziz admits to admir­ing Field­ing for his belief in broth­er­hood among men. They acknowl­edge the Eng­lish gov­ern­men­t’s unsuc­cess­ful attempts to reform India through insti­tu­tions rather than by nur­tur­ing friend­ships. Sud­den­ly, Field­ing feels dis­tress, sens­ing a lack of per­son­al anec­dotes to share and antic­i­pat­ing soli­tude. Aziz asks about Field­ing’s fam­i­ly, learn­ing that he has none. In jest, Aziz sug­gests that Field­ing should mar­ry Adela, a pro­pos­al that Field­ing vehe­ment­ly declines. He crit­i­cizes Adela for treat­ing India as an aca­d­e­m­ic sub­ject. Field­ing also reveals Ade­la’s engage­ment to Ron­ny Heaslop, much to Aziz’s relief as he had dread­ed orga­niz­ing an expe­di­tion to Marabar Caves. While Field­ing dis­ap­proves of Ade­la’s approach, Aziz finds fault with her lack of charis­ma. Aziz’s pro­tec­tive instinct towards Field­ing emerges, and he warns him against being too frank with oth­er Indi­ans. Voic­ing con­cern about Field­ing poten­tial­ly jeop­ar­diz­ing his job, Aziz is reas­sured by Field­ing. Field­ing’s belief in “trav­el­ing light” pre­vents him from mar­ry­ing. After Field­ing leaves, Aziz retires con­tent­ed­ly to his reveries.

chapter 12

Nes­tled among ancient hills, the Marabar Caves stand out unique­ly amidst the sur­round­ing land­scape. Each cave has a nar­row entrance lead­ing to a vast, dim, cir­cu­lar cham­ber. Light­ing a match with­in the caves caus­es the light to reflect sharply off the pol­ished inte­ri­or. The caves exude a sense of empti­ness, their fame appear­ing to stem not only from peo­ple but also from the land and wildlife. A siz­able, sup­pos­ed­ly hol­low boul­der pre­car­i­ous­ly rests atop the high­est hill, known as Kawa Dol.

chapter 13

Adela express­es a wish to trav­el through the Marabar Hills with Aziz, a con­ver­sa­tion over­heard by her ser­vant. The dis­tort­ed mes­sage reach­es Aziz, prompt­ing him to uphold his pri­or com­mit­ment. Despite the con­sid­er­able arrange­ments and costs involved, he orga­nizes the trip, invit­ing Field­ing, God­bole, and the women to vis­it Marabar. Ron­ny agrees to Adela and Mrs. Moore’s par­tic­i­pa­tion, con­tin­gent on Field­ing accom­pa­ny­ing them. To pre­pare for the ear­ly morn­ing train to the hills, Aziz, Mohammed Latif, and sev­er­al atten­dants decide to spend the night at the sta­tion. At dawn, Mrs. Moore, Adela, and their ser­vant Antony join them. Fol­low­ing Aziz’s sug­ges­tion, Adela tries to send Antony back, but he refus­es until per­suad­ed by a bribe from Mohammed Latif. Aziz remains unfazed by Field­ing and God­bole’s late­ness, trust­ing in Eng­lish­men’s punc­tu­al­i­ty. He dis­cuss­es the jour­ney details with Mohammed Latif, who super­vis­es the rail­way car­riage when the train unex­pect­ed­ly departs. Field­ing and God­bole arrive late due to God­bole’s extend­ed prayers. Aziz is dis­tressed by Field­ing’s failed attempt to catch the mov­ing train. How­ev­er, Mrs. Moore and Adela com­fort him, assur­ing him that the trip can pro­ceed with­out Field­ing. Touched by their kind­ness and dis­re­gard for racial bar­ri­ers, Aziz devel­ops a deep affec­tion for the women, par­tic­u­lar­ly Mrs. Moore.

chapter 14

After wit­ness­ing God­bole’s Hin­du chant at Field­ing’s tea gath­er­ing, both Adela and Mrs. Moore appear emo­tion­al­ly detached. While Mrs. Moore accepts her indif­fer­ence, Adela scolds her­self for her lack of inter­est, even resort­ing to feigned enthu­si­asm. Dur­ing their train jour­ney, Adela con­fides her future plans to Mrs. Moore, who is unwell and holds a cyn­i­cal view on mar­riage. She believes that soci­ety’s exag­ger­at­ed empha­sis on mar­riage hin­ders its under­stand­ing of human nature. As they near the hills, their train stops beside an ele­phant. Aziz had gone to great lengths to arrange this ele­phant ride, prompt­ing Adela and Mrs. Moore to feign excite­ment. Along with sev­er­al vil­lagers, they ride the ele­phant to the Marabar Caves. How­ev­er, theIn the dim light of dawn, a mono­chrome and some­what des­o­late scene unfolds, cloaked in an unset­tling still­ness. When the group reach­es the hills, Aziz, unfa­mil­iar with the area, does not find them cap­ti­vat­ing enough to serve as their guide effec­tive­ly. As Aziz con­tem­plates the suc­cess of the jour­ney, liken­ing him­self to the ever-hos­pitable Emper­or Babur, his atten­dants offer tea to the women. Adela artic­u­lates her desire for a uni­fy­ing pres­ence in India, aim­ing to steer clear of adopt­ing the patron­iz­ing behav­ior of oth­er Eng­lish­women. The par­ty ven­tures into the ini­tial cave, which quick­ly feels cramped as the vil­lagers fol­low behind. Mrs. Moore, feel­ing claus­tro­pho­bic, expe­ri­ences a moment of fear as some­thing brush­es against her face. She is haunt­ed by the echoes with­in the cave, dis­tort­ing all sounds into a per­sis­tent “boum”. Upon real­iza­tion, she dis­cov­ers that an infant had inad­ver­tent­ly touched her face. Still unset­tled, Mrs. Moore decides to for­go explor­ing the next cave her­self but encour­ages Adela to pro­ceed with Aziz. To pre­vent over­crowd­ing as before, Aziz restricts the locals from enter­ing the next set of caves. While Mrs. Moore attempts to com­mu­ni­cate with her com­pan­ions, she is plagued by the rever­ber­a­tions from the cave, plung­ing her into a state of des­o­la­tion and indifference.

Chapter 15

The trio — Aziz, Adela, and their guide — embarks on the jour­ney to the upper cav­erns. As they ascend, Aziz is pre­oc­cu­pied with plan­ning the morn­ing meal, while Adela grap­ples with the real­iza­tion that she does not har­bor affec­tion for Ron­ny. She inquires about Aziz’s mar­i­tal sta­tus and the num­ber of wives he has, star­tling him with the query. Aziz seeks solace briefly in a cave, while Adela ven­tures into anoth­er on her own.

Chapter 16

Emerg­ing from the cave, Aziz finds only the tour guide present. A car’s engine noise is heard, and upon ques­tion­ing about Ade­la’s where­abouts, he learns she has ven­tured into a cave. Aziz scolds the guide for not keep­ing a watch­ful eye on her, and they both call out for her. Annoyed, Aziz strikes the guide, who retreats. Spot­ting Adela con­vers­ing with a woman near the car at the base of the hills, Aziz dis­cov­ers Ade­la’s faulty binoc­u­lars, con­fis­cates them, and heads back to camp. Meet­ing Field­ing at camp, Aziz is thrilled, but Field­ing notices Ade­la’s dis­com­fort. Aziz choos­es to avoid the uncom­fort­able dis­cus­sion con­cern­ing polygamy with Adela. Crafti­ly alter­ing the retelling of the jour­ney, Field­ing, believ­ing the women have been dis­cour­te­ous to Aziz, press­es him for fur­ther elu­ci­da­tion. Unaware of dis­tort­ing the truth, Aziz informs Field­ing that the guide accom­pa­nied Adela back to the vehi­cle. Dur­ing the ele­phant ride back to the train, Field­ing cal­cu­lates the sig­nif­i­cant expens­es Aziz must have incurred on the jour­ney. Return­ing to Chan­dra­pore by train, they are greet­ed by Mr. Haq, the police inspec­tor, who detains Aziz. In a pan­ic, Aziz attempts to flee, but Field­ing restrains him, seek­ing to calm him down and promis­ing to resolve the sit­u­a­tion. Mr. Tur­ton instructs Field­ing to stay put while Aziz is escort­ed to prison.

Chapter 17

A furi­ous and res­olute Mr. Tur­ton informs Field­ing that Adela has alleged a “gross indig­ni­ty” — hint­ing at a sex­u­al assault — with­in the Marabar Caves, direct­ly accus­ing Aziz. Field­ing staunch­ly defends Aziz, pro­claim­ing his inno­cence. Tur­ton reveals plans for a casu­al gath­er­ing at the club lat­er that evening to dis­cuss the alle­ga­tions. Tur­ton is infu­ri­at­ed by Field­ing’s lack of ire akin to his peers’, espe­cial­ly in light of Ade­la’s con­di­tion. Upon return­ing home, Tur­ton eyes every pass­ing Indi­an with a smug sense of outrage.

Chapter 18

Super­in­ten­dent McBryde greets Aziz at the prison cor­dial­ly, attribut­ing the Indi­an pro­cliv­i­ty for trans­gres­sion to the cli­mate, jus­ti­fy­ing their behav­ior. McBryde con­fers with Field­ing regard­ing the specifics of Aziz’s case, divulging Ade­la’s accu­sa­tion against Aziz for fol­low­ing her into a cave and engag­ing in inap­pro­pri­ate con­duct. In response, she struck him with her field glass­es, break­ing the strap. The police found the dam­aged glass­es on Aziz, which McBryde presents to Field­ing. Eager to hear Ade­la’s account, Field­ing finds her too unwell to be inter­ro­gat­ed. Despite his efforts, per­mis­sion from Major Cal­len­dar to pro­ceed is denied. Mean­while, Mah­moud Ali and Hamidul­lah vis­it to dis­cuss the case with Aziz. Despite the accu­sa­tions, Field­ing remains uncon­vinced of Aziz’s guilt. McBryde tries to intro­duce a lewd let­ter found in Aziz’s abode as sup­ple­men­tary evi­dence. Dis­miss­ing this, Field­ing con­fess­es to his own past vis­its to such estab­lish­ments at Aziz’s age. A police offi­cer presents more evi­dence from Aziz’s res­i­dence, includ­ing pho­tographs of women. Field­ing clar­i­fies that they are images of Aziz’s spouse and requests a meet­ing with Aziz.

Chapter 19

After a meet­ing with Hamidul­lah near McBry­de’s office, Field­ing expe­ri­ences appre­hen­sion, con­trast­ing with Hamidul­lah’s com­po­sure. They dis­cuss legal defense strate­gies for Aziz and arrange­ments for bail. Despite Hamidul­lah’s prag­ma­tism and dis­crep­an­cies in Aziz’s accounts dis­heart­en­ing Field­ing, he assures Hamidul­lah of his loy­al­ty while refrain­ing from tak­ing sides. Back at the col­lege, Pro­fes­sor God­bole greets Field­ing, touch­ing on var­i­ous minor uni­ver­si­ty mat­ters. When ques­tioned about Aziz, God­bole deflects the con­ver­sa­tion. When pressed to declare Aziz’s guilt or inno­cence, God­bole phi­los­o­phizes that the wrong­do­ing at the caves was a col­lec­tive act involv­ing every­one present, blur­ring the lines between right and wrong. Field­ing is unset­tled by this inter­pre­ta­tion, as it mud­dies the dis­tinc­tion between virtue and vice. God­bole con­tin­ues, stat­ing that both virtue and vice are aspects of God, present in the vir­tu­ous and absent in the wicked, before steer­ing the con­ver­sa­tion. Lat­er, Field­ing vis­its Aziz, who appears dev­as­tat­ed and inco­her­ent. After inter­act­ing with Aziz, Field­ing pens a let­ter to Adela.

Chapter 20

At the Eng­lish club, the women express sym­pa­thy for Ade­la’s plight, regret­ting their pre­vi­ous treat­ment of her. Mrs. Tur­ton, who had pre­vi­ous­ly ignored Mrs. Blak­iston, now stands by her in an attempt to make amends. Mr. Tur­ton con­soles the ladies, acknowl­edg­ing their fears for safe­ty. After the women leave, Tur­ton address­es the men. Despite their con­cerns over the safe­ty of women and chil­dren, Tur­ton strives for impar­tial­i­ty. A tip­sy sol­dier sug­gests mil­i­tary action, but Tur­ton advo­cates for nor­mal behav­ior. Recount­ing a pos­i­tive encounter with an Indi­an dur­ing a polo game, the sol­dier prais­es the indi­vid­ual. Major Callendar.Notices of Ade­la’s revival are shared. Con­ver­sa­tions with the sol­dier aim at pro­vok­ing Field­ing. Gos­sip swirls about brib­ing Ade­la’s com­pan­ion and God­bole to avoid the caves and accus­es Aziz of instruct­ing vil­lagers to silence Mrs. Moore. Cal­len­dar sub­tly hints at Field­ing’s con­nec­tion with Aziz, to which Field­ing refrains from a response. The pro­pos­al of deploy­ing troops is raised by Cal­len­dar, yet Tur­ton oppos­es. Upon Ron­ny’s entrance, the men stand in respect, deem­ing him a mar­tyr. Field­ing, how­ev­er, remains seat­ed. The sol­dier points out Field­ing’s inso­lence, lead­ing Tur­ton to con­front him. Field­ing firm­ly declares Aziz’s inno­cence, announc­ing he will resign if Aziz is con­vict­ed, prompt­ly with­draw­ing from the club. Tur­ton is enraged, but Ron­ny advis­es him to allow Field­ing to depart.

chapter 21

Embark­ing towards Chan­dra­pore, Field­ing encoun­ters chil­dren prepar­ing for Mohur­ram, an annu­al Mus­lim fes­tiv­i­ty hon­or­ing Mohammed’s grand­sons. Along the route, he meets Aziz’s asso­ciates who have orches­trat­ed a new plea for Aziz’s release, secur­ing assis­tance from a respect­ed advo­cate from Cal­cut­ta with anti-British views. Lat­er that evening, Field­ing yearns to con­verse with God­bole, who is already fast asleep. Short­ly after, God­bole leaves for a new job opportunity.

chapter 22

Adela recu­per­ates at the dwelling of the McBry­des, grap­pling with the phys­i­cal dis­com­fort of sun­burn and cac­tus prick­les, cou­pled with her per­plex­ing emo­tions. Reflect­ing on the cave inci­dent, she asserts her unscathed state but is trou­bled by a lin­ger­ing echo. Adela yearns for solace from Mrs. Moore. Upon receiv­ing the clear­ance of health, Ron­ny escorts her home. McBryde and Ron­ny detail the unrest caused by the fes­ti­val pro­ces­sion and Das pre­sid­ing over her case. A mis­sive from Field­ing affirm­ing Dr. Aziz’s inno­cence is pre­sent­ed to her, inten­si­fy­ing her uncer­tain­ty. Back at home, Adela is dis­heart­ened by Mrs. Moore’s seclu­sion. Mrs. Moore cryp­ti­cal­ly acknowl­edges Ade­la’s echo and fore­tells its endur­ing pres­ence, adding to Ade­la’s anguish. Express­ing her wish to depart India ear­ly and her dis­in­ter­est in mar­riage, Mrs. Moore also aston­ish­es every­one by declin­ing to tes­ti­fy in the tri­al. As Mrs. Moore departs, Adela ques­tions Aziz’s cul­pa­bil­i­ty, with Ron­ny refut­ing any con­fir­ma­tion from Mrs. Moore about Aziz’s inno­cence. Despite his attempts to dis­suade her, Adela remains uncer­tain. Upon Mrs. Moore’s return, she casu­al­ly pro­claims Aziz’s inno­cence due to his sound char­ac­ter, leav­ing Adela torn between her doubts and the reas­sur­ance from oth­ers. Ron­ny decides it’s best for his moth­er to leave India promptly.

chapter 23

The lieu­tenant-gov­er­nor’s wife extends an offer to Mrs. Moore to uti­lize her cab­in for a voy­age back to Eng­land, giv­en the absence of oth­er accom­mo­da­tions. Ron­ny is elat­ed at the prospect of acknowl­edg­ment by the lieu­tenant-gov­er­nor. Despite yearn­ing for her home­land, Mrs. Moore finds no solace in the notion due to her spir­i­tu­al detach­ment. She acknowl­edges the exis­tence of eter­nal forces but remains aloof from them, a shift stem­ming from her Marabar Caves encounter. Accord­ing to her, the echo encoun­tered in the cave was a self-cen­tered enti­ty pre­dat­ing exis­tence itself. Since then, she per­ceives a self-cen­tered­ness with­in her, even resent­ing the atten­tion direct­ed at Adela. How­ev­er, Mrs. Moore rel­ish­es her jour­ney to Bom­bay. Observ­ing the scenes out­side, she regrets not ful­ly immers­ing in India. To her, Bom­bay seems to mock her belief that the Marabar Caves encap­su­lat­ed the essence of India, real­iz­ing the man­i­fold inter­pre­ta­tions of “India.”

chapter 24

As the intense sea­son arrives, peo­ple seek refuge indoors. Aziz’s tri­al day dawns, and Adela is escort­ed to the cour­t­house by the Tur­tons. Dur­ing the jour­ney, Mr. Tur­ton reflects on his inter­ac­tions, con­clud­ing his dis­taste not for Indi­ans but for the com­plex­i­ties intro­duced by Eng­lish­women in India. Out­side the cour­t­house, the vehi­cle encoun­ters hos­til­i­ty from the stu­dents. Inside, Eng­lish occu­pants spec­u­late on a poten­tial Indi­an upris­ing and alle­ga­tions of Field­ing’s dis­loy­al­ty. Ron­ny del­e­gates his sub­or­di­nate Das to over­see the tri­al fair­ly, while Major Cal­len­dar express­es dis­dain for Indi­ans and a vin­dic­tive plea­sure at the recent mis­for­tune of the Nawab Bahadur’s grand­child. Through­out, Adela remains silent, anx­ious about her impend­ing inter­ro­ga­tion. As the tri­al begins, every­one assumes their des­ig­nat­ed seats. Adela observes an Indi­an ser­vant fan­ning, his demeanor appear­ing celes­tial and detached from the room’s pro­ceed­ings. Pros­e­cu­tor McBryde ini­ti­ates by argu­ing sci­en­tif­ic claims of dark­er races’ attrac­tion to lighter ones, spark­ing a rebut­tal from an Indi­an imply­ing Ade­la’s lack of allure. This unset­tles Adela, prompt­ing her relo­ca­tion for bet­ter air­flow. The Eng­lish fol­low suit, elic­it­ing protest from Amri­trao that this intim­i­dates the wit­ness­es. Das sup­ports this, lead­ing all Eng­lish except Adela to return to their seats. The news of the Eng­lish’s humil­i­a­tion spreads, invit­ing taunts from the crowd. McBryde accus­es Aziz of lead­ing a dual life, “respectable” and debauched, attempt­ing harm to Mrs. Moore in the ini­tial cave. Mah­moud Ali objects, empha­siz­ing Mrs. Moore’s absence and accus­ing Ron­ny of send­ing her away for know­ing of Aziz’s inno­cence. Ignor­ing Das’s efforts to main­tain order, Mah­moud Ali storms out, denounc­ing the tri­al as a farce. The crowd chants “Mrs. Moore” in uni­son, mis­pro­nounc­ing it as “Esmiss Esmoor.” When Adela takes the stand, she rem­i­nisces about her Marabar day, now seem­ing more invit­ing in ret­ro­spect. Ques­tioned if Aziz fol­lowed her into the cave, she hes­i­tates, unable to fath­om Aziz pur­su­ing her, ulti­mate­ly retract­ing all accu­sa­tions. Chaos ensues; Cal­len­dar attempts a med­ical recess, but Adela con­firms her retrac­tion. An incensed Mrs. Tur­ton hurls insults. Das announces Aziz’s acquittal.

chapter 25

Among a throng of Indi­ans, Adela finds her­self led towards the exit. Field­ing, though hes­i­tant, con­vers­es with her, engag­ing only upon her divul­gence of an affliction—an endur­ing echo since the Marabar Caves vis­it or per­haps since hear­ing Godbole’s song. Field­ing had long sus­pect­ed her ail­ment or hal­lu­ci­na­tion. Field­ing exhibits con­cern for Adela and reluc­tant­ly guides her to his car­riage for safe­ty. Encir­cled by his stu­dents, the duo boards the car­riage, pro­pelled through the bustling town by the eager crowd. Some Indi­ans adorn Adela with flow­ers, while oth­ers cri­tique the Eng­lish com­pan­ion­ship. The Chan­dra­pore roads are con­gest­ed, imped­ing the Eng­lish from return­ing to the civ­il sta­tion. Adela and Field­ing even­tu­al­ly seek refuge back at the col­lege amid dis­rupt­ed phone lines and absent ser­vants. Field­ing pre­scribes rest for Adela, reclin­ing him­self. Mean­while, Aziz cel­e­brates his vic­to­ry, call­ing out for Field­ing, whom he believes has for­sak­en him. Guid­ed by Mah­moud Ali, the parade diverts to the hos­pi­tal to assist the Nawab Bahadur’s grand­son, spurred by Cal­len­dar’s suggestions.

gos­sips of abuse. Notwith­stand­ing Nawab Bahadur sup­port­ing mod­er­a­tion, the crowd pro­ceeds towards the infir­mary. With Pan­na Lal’s inter­fer­ence, mis­tak­en­ly assum­ing the crowd aims to pun­ish him for back­ing the Eng­lish, fur­ther tur­moil is avoid­ed. He acts unwise­ly to please the agi­tat­ed peo­ple, bring­ing Nawab Bahadur’s descen­dant to them. Nawab Bahadur halts addi­tion­al dis­or­der by for­go­ing his loy­al des­ig­na­tion in an exten­sive speech, wel­com­ing Aziz and his cohorts to his abode for an evening of mer­ry­mak­ing. The harsh heat of the sea­son com­pels every­one indoors for relief.

Chapter 26

Field­ing reluc­tant­ly engages in a dia­logue with Adela only after she reveals her affliction—an echo haunt­ing her since the Marabar Caves inci­dent or maybe since she heard Godbole’s melody. He had long sus­pect­ed her of being unwell or delu­sion­al. Field­ing demon­strates con­cern for Ade­la’s wel­fare and escorts her to his car­riage for safe­ty despite his ini­tial hes­i­ta­tion. Sur­round­ed by stu­dents, they are per­suad­ed to board the car­riage, which is then joy­ful­ly pulled through the town by the exu­ber­ant crowd. Despite some Indi­ans adorn­ing Adela with flow­ers, oth­ers crit­i­cize the Eng­lish com­pan­ion­ship. The crowd­ed lanes of Chan­dra­pore hin­der the Eng­lish from return­ing to the civ­il sta­tion. Seek­ing shel­ter, Adela and Field­ing find them­selves back at the col­lege, amidst dis­con­nect­ed phone lines and absent ser­vants. Field­ing advis­es Adela to rest, and he also reclines. Mean­while, in the midst of his tri­umphant pro­ces­sion, Aziz calls out for Field­ing, feel­ing desert­ed by him. Guid­ed by Mah­moud Ali, the parade diverts to the hos­pi­tal to aid the Nawab Bahadur’s grand­son, fol­low­ing spec­u­la­tions of Cal­len­dar’s mis­treat­ment. Despite Nawab Bahadur’s pleas for mod­er­a­tion, the mob march­es towards the hos­pi­tal. Thanks to Pan­na Lal’s involve­ment, pro­pelled by a mis­con­cep­tion that the crowd seeks to pun­ish him for back­ing the Eng­lish, fur­ther calami­ty is avert­ed. He reck­less­ly appeas­es the agi­tat­ed indi­vid­u­als, fetch­ing Nawab Bahadur’s descen­dant for them. Nawab Bahadur pre­vents addi­tion­al tur­moil by relin­quish­ing his loy­al­ist des­ig­na­tion in a ver­bose speech, invit­ing Aziz and his group to his res­i­dence for an evening of fes­tiv­i­ty. The scorch­ing heat of the sea­son prompts every­one to seek respite indoors.

All chap­ters entail dia­logues and exchanges among the char­ac­ters, unveil­ing assort­ed emo­tions and per­spec­tives. In one instance, Field­ing express­es his strug­gle to artic­u­late his view­point in the court­room. He express­es remorse for his pri­or rude­ness towards Ron­ny. Adela seeks Aziz’s opin­ion of her, lead­ing Field­ing to awk­ward­ly con­tem­plate Aziz’s unfa­vor­able per­cep­tion of her appear­ance. They mull over the pos­si­bil­i­ty of some­one else assault­ing Adela. Despite Hamidul­lah’s dis­ap­proval of Adela and his alle­ga­tions towards her regard­ing Aziz’s dis­tress, Field­ing extends an offer for Adela to reside at the col­lege while he joins Aziz’s com­pan­ions at a cel­e­bra­tion. Hamidul­lah, how­ev­er, opts to main­tain dis­tance from Adela due to her per­ceived lack of sen­ti­ments. Mean­while, dur­ing a dis­cus­sion about Adela, Ron­ny unex­pect­ed­ly appears, bring­ing news of Mrs. Moore’s pass­ing and bur­ial at sea. Griev­ing over Mrs. Moore’s demise, Adela requests to stay at the col­lege, a plea which Field­ing, after con­fer­ring with Ron­ny, accom­mo­dates. Hamidul­lah’s ani­mos­i­ty towards Ron­ny becomes pal­pa­ble dur­ing this period.

In anoth­er chap­ter, as the evening unfolds, the par­tic­i­pants of a vic­to­ry gath­er­ing find solace on Nawab Bahadur’s rooftop. Field­ing and Aziz par­take in an exten­sive con­ver­sa­tion. Aziz, antic­i­pat­ing Field­ing’s coun­sel against demand­ing repa­ra­tion from Adela, voic­es dis­in­ter­est in Eng­lish admi­ra­tion for his gal­lantry. Field­ing has a change of heart, laud­ing Ade­la’s courage and deem­ing her suf­fer­ing as ample rec­om­pense. This trig­gers a clash with Aziz, who dis­miss­es Adela due to her per­ceived phys­i­cal short­com­ings, pro­vok­ing Field­ing’s indig­na­tion. Ulti­mate­ly, Aziz resolves to seek guid­ance from Mrs. Moore on his next steps. Field­ing high­lights the dis­par­i­ty in Aziz’s sen­ti­ments, as Adela was the one who res­cued him, yet he con­tin­ues to hold Mrs. Moore in high­er esteem. This view­point irks Aziz, who resents Field­ing’s seem­ing­ly mate­ri­al­is­tic per­cep­tion of love. Field­ing dis­clos­es Mrs. Moore’s demise to Aziz, with Hamidul­lah over­hear­ing and down­play­ing the sig­nif­i­cance of the news, much to Aziz’s relief.

As the nar­ra­tive pro­gress­es in sub­se­quent chap­ters, fur­ther rumors cir­cu­late in Chan­dra­pore, impli­cat­ing Ron­ny in his moth­er’s alleged mur­der while try­ing to assist Aziz. The Eng­lish com­mu­ni­ty remains ret­i­cent about these rumors. Ron­ny, bur­dened by his moth­er’s actions before her demise, faults her for cre­at­ing unrest even in death. He also desires Ade­la’s swift depar­ture from India, despite still being engaged to her. His con­cern main­ly revolves around safe­guard­ing his career and reputation.

The chap­ters delve into the after­math of the Marabar tri­al and its impact on the rela­tion­ships and dynam­ics among the char­ac­ters. Field­ing is praised for his integri­ty dur­ing the tri­al, and delib­er­a­tions occur regard­ing Ade­la’s res­i­den­cy at the col­lege, her inter­ac­tions with Field­ing, and the ten­sions sur­round­ing future plans and com­pen­sa­tions. As the nar­ra­tive unfolds, a myr­i­ad of emo­tions, con­flicts, and com­plex­i­ties emerge, shap­ing the char­ac­ters’ paths and inter­ac­tions. even­tu­al­ly dock­ing in Venice. He encoun­ters a feel­ing of betray­al as he rekin­dles his admi­ra­tion for archi­tec­tur­al design. In com­par­i­son to the irreg­u­lar tem­ples and uneven land­scapes of India, the build­ings in Venice appear har­mo­nious with nature. Field­ing per­ceives a dis­con­nect between him­self and his Indi­an acquain­tances due to their lack of rev­er­ence for design that has “evad­ed con­fu­sion.” When he arrives in Eng­land dur­ing the spring sea­son, a roman­tic essence is reignit­ed with­in Fielding.

Chapter 33

Aziz, now a heal­er for the Rajah, resides sev­er­al miles to the west of Chan­dra­pore in Mau, a Hin­du city gov­erned by Indi­ans. Here, Pro­fes­sor God­bole serves as the edu­ca­tion min­is­ter. Dur­ing a mid­night jubi­la­tion in the roy­al palace for Krish­na’s birth, God­bole leads a small cho­rus in hymns. Despite the mul­ti­tude’s size and com­mo­tion, a serene joy pre­vails as they all appear uni­fied in their jubi­la­tion. The choir mem­bers seem to blend with the cos­mos, ema­nat­ing affec­tion. God­bole momen­tar­i­ly recalls Mrs. Moore and a wasp he once observed on a stone. He endeav­ors to amal­ga­mate these dis­tinct enti­ties into his notion of uni­ver­sal uni­ty, but with­out suc­cess. As the clock approach­es mid­night, the crowd, includ­ing God­bole, ini­ti­ates danc­ing and cheer­ing. The elder­ly, ail­ing Rajah arrives to wit­ness the birth cel­e­bra­tion. At the stroke of mid­night, Krish­na, the sym­bol of Infi­nite Love, is born. The Rajah, brim­ming with joy, is escort­ed to meet Aziz after over­see­ing the birth. The rev­el­ers con­tin­ue their fes­tiv­i­ties, par­tak­ing in jests, con­vo­lut­ed rev­el­ry, and games to hon­or Krishna.

Chapter 34

Dur­ing the jour­ney back, Aziz unex­pect­ed­ly encoun­ters God­bole, who ecsta­t­i­cal­ly informs him of Field­ing’s arrival at the Euro­pean guest house in Mau for offi­cial duties relat­ed to edu­ca­tion. Aziz is con­tent with his life in Mau, a place he dis­cov­ered through God­bole, where con­flicts only arise amongst Hin­dus and do not involve Mus­lims or Eng­lish indi­vid­u­als. Despite being a Mus­lim, he is wel­comed here due to his cour­te­ous demeanor. Aziz har­bors no wish to meet Field­ing. He ceased cor­re­spon­denceAfter mis­con­stru­ing a por­tion of a cor­re­spon­dence, Aziz mis­tak­en­ly believes that Field­ing is mar­ried to Adela Quest­ed, which fuels his deep-root­ed Indi­an iden­ti­ty and con­tempt towards the Eng­lish. He takes plea­sure in his life out­side of British India, lives with his chil­dren, and indulges in com­pos­ing poet­ry. His poems focus on the urgency of abol­ish­ing the prac­tice of pur­dah and build­ing a new home­land. The Eng­lish polit­i­cal rep­re­sen­ta­tive, Colonel Mag­gs, slight­ly dis­rupts Aziz’s rou­tine as he is assigned to mon­i­tor Aziz for any poten­tial vio­la­tions. Upon return­ing home, Aziz finds a mes­sage from Field­ing, for­ward­ed by God­bole. The let­ter announces Field­ing’s upcom­ing vis­it along with his wife and broth­er-in-law, along with spe­cif­ic requests for accom­mo­da­tions and sup­port. Show­ing lit­tle inter­est, Aziz tears the let­ter apart.

Chapter 35

Aziz tends to a shrine in his gar­den ded­i­cat­ed to a young Mus­lim mar­tyr who lib­er­at­ed cap­tives in a near­by fort, a shrine that holds per­son­al sig­nif­i­cance for Aziz due to his past impris­on­ment. Fol­low­ing the receipt of Field­ing’s mes­sage, Aziz takes his chil­dren to anoth­er part of the shrine. After explor­ing the shrine and the adja­cent mosque, they admire the view from the ancient fort. It is mon­soon sea­son, and the full water tanks hint at a pros­per­ous har­vest. While watch­ing a group of pris­on­ers pass by, Aziz’s chil­dren inquire about the detainees who will be released dur­ing the year­ly pro­ces­sion of the Chief God, a Hin­du tra­di­tion. Dur­ing this con­ver­sa­tion, Aziz delays inform­ing the guard about the Rajah’s pass­ing until after the fes­ti­val, dis­re­gard­ing the guard’s inquiry about the Rajah’s well-being. By chance, the chil­dren spot Field­ing and his broth­er-in-law at the shrine. They are star­tled by a swarm of bees, which stings Field­ing’s rel­a­tive. As they tend to the sting, Field­ing ques­tions Aziz about his neg­li­gent respons­es to the let­ters. Their inter­ac­tion is cut short by heavy rain­fall, prompt­ing them to hur­ry towards Field­ing’s car­riage. As they reach the car­riage, Aziz mis­tak­en­ly address­es Field­ing’s broth­er-in-law as “Mr. Quest­ed,” sur­pris­ing Field­ing as he is mar­ried to Stel­la Moore, not Adela Quest­ed. Real­iz­ing his error, Aziz feels both embar­rassed and relieved. How­ev­er, Field­ing blames Mah­moud Ali for the mis­un­der­stand­ing, men­tion­ing that he even referred to Stel­la as “Heaslop’s sis­ter” in their cor­re­spon­dence, which fur­ther upsets Aziz. Despite the clar­i­fi­ca­tion, Aziz asks Field­ing to avoid him in Mau, feel­ing betrayed. He for­gives Mah­moud Ali due to his affec­tion for him. Aziz gath­ers his chil­dren and declares his lack of inter­est in Eng­lish con­nec­tions. This encounter leaves Aziz reju­ve­nat­ed as he heads back home.

Chapter 36

Remem­ber­ing his promise to pro­vide oint­ment for Field­ing’s broth­er-in-law’s bee stings, Aziz retrieves some from Mohammed Latif and decides to deliv­er it him­self under the guise of a casu­al out­ing. The Pro­ces­sion of the God is approach­ing, with the two roy­al con­tenders present at the palace but hes­i­tant to approach the throne. Aziz meets God­bole and shares the news of Field­ing’s mar­riage to Stel­la Moore. God­bole reveals he already knew and had not mis­tak­en Field­ing’s wife for Adela Quest­ed. Aziz sup­press­es his frus­tra­tion towards God­bole due to the ongo­ing fes­tiv­i­ties. On the way to the guest­house, Aziz becomes bit­ter watch­ing Eng­lish tourists observ­ing the Hin­du fes­ti­val from a dis­tance on a boat, inter­pret­ing it as a sub­tle impo­si­tion over India. Upon arriv­ing at the unguard­ed guest­house, Aziz curi­ous­ly explores the rooms, dis­cov­er­ing and read­ing let­ters from Heaslop to Field­ing and from Adela to Stel­la, both of which both­er him due to their per­son­al nature. This frus­tra­tion leads him to strike the piano, alert­ing Ralph Moore. Aziz com­pos­es him­self and asks to exam­ine Ralph’s bee stings, but Ralph pulls away, accus­ing Aziz of being unkind. Their con­ver­sa­tion is inter­rupt­ed by a sor­row­ful cry from the fes­tive crowd. Aziz pre­pares to leave, absent­mind­ed­ly shak­ing Ralph’s hand, real­iz­ing that Ralph no longer fears him. Aziz asks Ralph if he can see a friend in a stranger, to which Ralph agrees. This caus­es Aziz to clas­si­fy Ralph as an Ori­en­tal, recall­ing his sim­i­lar per­cep­tion of Mrs. Moore in the mosque. He fears a rep­e­ti­tion of past events and spon­ta­neous­ly invites Ralph for a short row­boat ride. While on the water, Aziz reverts to his hos­pitable demeanor, vivid­ly describ­ing the Hin­du fes­ti­val. Ralph spots what seems to be the Rajah float­ing in the water. Aziz is unsure but inter­prets it as a vision of the old Rajah vis­i­ble from a par­tic­u­lar angle on the water. This expe­ri­ence makes Aziz feel more like a guest than a host. Ralph sug­gests they approach the Pro­ces­sion of the God, where fire­works are being set off. Despite his appre­hen­sions about dis­rupt­ing the fes­ti­val, Aziz agrees. God­bole sees them and starts ges­tur­ing fran­ti­cal­ly. Even­tu­al­ly, Aziz’s boat col­lides with Field­ing’s boat, caus­ing Stel­la, Field­ing, Aziz, and Ralph to fall into the water. The peak of the Hin­du fes­ti­val coin­cides with their plunge, cre­at­ing a whirlpool of their bod­ies, cer­e­mo­ni­al items, let­ters, and oars.

Chapter 37

After their near-drown­ing expe­ri­ence, Aziz and Field­ing renew their pre­vi­ous friend­ship. They ven­ture into the Mau forests for one final ride before Field­ing departs, aware that they may nev­er meet again. Dur­ing their ride, Aziz entrusts Field­ing with a mes­sage for Adela, express­ing grat­i­tude for her courage dur­ing the legal pro­ceed­ings. Despite his hes­i­ta­tion, Field­ing broach­es the top­ic of Hin­duism, men­tion­ing his grow­ing inter­est in the reli­gion and Mau shown by Stel­la and Ralph. Annoyed by the talk of Hin­duism, Aziz steers the con­ver­sa­tion towards pol­i­tics. Their polit­i­cal views dif­fer sig­nif­i­cant­ly, with Field­ing advo­cat­ing for the Empire’s neces­si­ty, regard­less of its benev­o­lence. In con­trast, Aziz detests the Empire, envi­sion­ing an inde­pen­dent India in the next gen­er­a­tion where he and Field­ing could poten­tial­ly be allies. They embrace, and Field­ing ques­tions why their friend­ship can­not be imme­di­ate when they both desire it. Nev­er­the­less, it seems as if the very earth and sky con­spire to keep them apart, decree­ing, “No, not yet.”