THE FLESH AND THE SPIRIT: THE DIALECTIC OF CARNAL DESIRE AND SPIRITUAL ENLIGHTENMENT IN ARUN JOSHI’S THE LAST LABYRINTH
ShodhKosh Journal of Visual and Performing Arts June 30, 2024 DOI: 10.29121/shodhkosh.v5.i1.2024.8877 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that Arun Joshi's The Last Labyrinth stages a dialectic between secular materialism and spiritual heritage in protagonist Som Bhaskar, whose hyper-sensuality and acquisitiveness represent a misguided search for salvation (mukti). The paper contends that encounters with Anuradha and the mystic Gargi, along with symbolic readings of the labyrinth, the Ganges, and Lord Krishna, show Joshi challenging Western rationalism and presenting suffering and the dropping of carnal egoism as precursors to spiritual awakening. |
Abstract
This paper attempts to discuss the thematic dialecticism in Arun Joshi’s Sahitya Akademi Award winning novel The Last Labyrinth which is one of the complicated and interesting novel motifs found in it. The story is about the unstable consciousness of the protagonist, hyper rational, western educated, millionaire industrialist Som Bhaskar, which is split between secular materialism and latent spiritual heritage, and is a profound existential dissection of post colonial Indian bourgeoisie caught between the conflicting desires of these two forces. Obsessed by a sinister and persistent inner mantra “I want, I want”, Bhaskar is desperately trying to fill this void in his psyche and cure the loneliness and insomnia he suffers from by acquiring corporate entities and by perversely devouring women, euphemistically speaking. But when dragged into the ancient, mysterious world of Benares and the mysterious antique woman Anuradha, who lives with Aftab Rai in the run-down Lal Haveli, his existence takes a dramatic turn. This paper looks at the way in which Anuradha is like a central location where fleshly desire encounters divine longing. Crush physically and gratify the carnal ego with an obedience of Bhaskar, and bridge the divine through the intervention of a conduit; a visionary path of the deaf-and-dumb, mystic Gargi, and divine esoteric terrain of faith by means of short phrases and the medium of Anuradha. This paper examines the process of the symbolic deconstruction of the labyrinth, the river Ganges and the puzzling character of Lord Krishna to show that Bhaskar’s hyper sensuality is actually a counterproductive search for foundationality and salvation (mukti) in the ontological realm. Finally, the article of Joshi shows how Joshi challenges yet another envelope of Western ratiocination, and makes the human suffering and the dropping of carnal egoism the hurtful precursor to the true spiritual awakening.