54 pages • 1 hour read
Gita MehtaA River Sutra
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1993A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 4-6Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 4 Summary: “The Teacher’s Story”
Tariq Mia goes on to narrate the story of how the record came into his hands. He says that Master Mohan is a music teacher near Calcutta. He struggles to make enough money to support his wife and two children. When Master Mohan was a child, he had an excellent voice, and his father tried to get him a recording contract. However, Mohan’s voice broke before he could record, and his father’s last attempt at giving Mohan a good life was to get him engaged him to a woman from a wealthy family. Mohan’s father dies after the wedding, and Mohan’s wife, whose father loved music, also dies, leaving all his money to his sons. Mohan’s wife blames him for their poverty, and she and their two children abuse Mohan every day, isolating him from the family.
One evening, Mohan attends a Quawwali (Sufi Islamic devotional singing) performance with his friend Mohammed, but Mohammed leaves early. A blind boy joins the singers, and Mohan is transported by the boy’s voice. After days of performances, at which the boy performs occasionally, the boy’s sister introduces him to Mohan. The sister is leaving to work in the north, and she asks Mohan to take care of Imrat, her brother, and help him continue his singing. Mohan agrees, though his wife and children scold and mistreat Imrat, too.
Mohan starts taking Imrat to Victoria Memorial Park in Calcutta to practice in the mornings, and they start to draw a crowd, earning them some tips. One woman always leaves 10 rupees, but Mohan notices two intimidating men watching the performances from a distance. One day, the woman, Neena, introduces Mohan and Imrat to her brother, Ranjit, who offers them 1,000 rupees to record Imrat’s singing. Mohan and Imrat agree, and the recording is flawless. Then, the two intimidating men accost Mohan and Imrat, offering 5,000 rupees to have Imrat perform for their boss. Mohan refuses, saying Imrat needs to focus on recording. When the record is released, it is successful and gets played on the radio constantly. Mohan’s wife is upset by Imrat’s success when she learns that Mohan is giving all the profits to Imrat and his sister, who hopes to return and live with Imrat soon. Mohan’s wife contacts the two intimidating men and accepts the 5,000 rupees, forcing Imrat to perform for the men’s boss. Mohan, his wife, and Imrat go to the boss’ home, and, during Imrat’s singing, the boss laments the beauty of the boys voice, which is cut off by sudden screaming.
Chapter 5 Summary
The narrator is confused by the story; Tariq Mia explains that the boss killed Imrat, and the two scary men were imprisoned for the crime. Mohan stayed with Tariq Mia for a while, and he left when Tariq Mia succeeded in convincing him that Imrat’s death was not his fault. Then, Mohan threw himself under the train before it could reach Calcutta. The narrator finds this story disturbing.
On his way back to the rest house, the narrator encounters two Vano women who tease him for walking in a provocative manner, and the narrator thinks about Kama, the god of love. At the rest house, he ponders the Narmada River, noting how its sparkle fades and returns in intervals. His clerk, Mr. Chagla, brings him the mail, including a letter from one of the narrator’s former colleagues who writes that he is sending his nephew to stay at the rest house. The nephew wants to study tribal cultures. The narrator worries that the nephew might be seduced or hurt by the mysteries of the jungle. He thinks about how Kama tried to infect Shiva with desire, but Shiva killed Kama while he was seduced by Maya, the illusion of the world. Mr. Chagla gives the narrator some sugarcane juice, which brings the narrator back to reality.
Chapter 6 Summary
The narrator and Mr. Chagla prepare for the arrival of his former colleague’s nephew, Nitin Bose. Meanwhile, the constable of Rudra, Shashi, shows up on his motorcycle. He explains to the narrator that a man calling himself by a woman’s name, Rima Bose, was arrested on suspicion of trying to kill himself in the Narmada River. The narrator and Mr. Chagla go to town with Shashi, meeting the local doctor, Dr. Mitra, at the police station. Dr. Mitra says that Nitin thinks he is possessed by a spirit, and he hopes that the narrator can bring him back to his senses. When the narrator meets Nitin, the young man is silent. The narrator tells him that he worked with Nitin’s uncle for two years in adjacent offices. Nitin frantically tells the narrator to read his diary, as it will explain his situation; he says he needs to visit a Vano shrine that can supposedly cure possession, and he wants to go there at once. The narrator remarks that the rest house guards pray at that shrine, and he agrees to arrange for Nitin to go there with them. Dr. Mitra recommends taking Nitin back to the rest house, and the narrator reluctantly agrees. At the rest house, Mr. Chagla makes Nitin comfortable, and he assures the narrator that the constable, Shashi, can come back if there are any problems. The narrator sits down and starts reading Nitin’s diary.
Chapters 4-6 Analysis
Tariq Mia’s story about Master Mohan follows up on his conclusion from Ashok’s story about the secret capacity of the human heart to love. Furthering the theme of The Importance of Storytelling in Creating Meaning and Knowledge, Tariq Mia chooses to match the narrator’s recounting of Ashok’s story by telling a story of his own. This forms a system of communication in which both parties are telling stories about other people they have encountered, but in doing so, they are communicating points to each other about their own lives. When the narrator pushes for a conclusion to Master Mohan’s story, Tariq Mia insists on the irrelevance of conclusions, noting: “It is only a story about the human heart” (86). This echoes his interpretation of Ashok’s story and underlines the idea that human emotions and troubles cannot be neatly contained in traditional story formats that focus on cause and effect.
Master Mohan’s story also emphasizes The Diversity of Indian Religious and Cultural Traditions by showing Muslim, Hindu, and secular characters interacting in ways that both reaffirm and subvert cultural expectations. While traditional gender norms would dictate that the husband would have control over his home, wife, and children, Mohan’s life subverts this expectation, and he is scolded and mistreated by his wife and children. While Mohan is a Hindu, his friend and confidante is a Muslim, Mohammed, who tells Mohan to take control of his house since Mohan’s “wife’s contempt for him was no secret on their street” since she “never bothered to lower her voice” when she chided him (52); Mohammed’s ability to speak freely emphasizes the closeness of their relationship. Mohan is also keen to watch the Quawwali performance where he first runs into Imrat, and his own religious beliefs as a Hindu do not stop him from appreciating the Islamic devotional songs. Later, Mohan shares the morning raga, or song, with Imrat, explaining that the song is about “the mystery of the world’s rebirth, when light disperses darkness and Vishnu rises from his slumbers to redream the universe” (66), granting spiritual significance to the start of the day with his reference to the Hindu god Vishnu. However, they follow the morning raga with Quawwali hymns from the Islamic faith. As with the first chapter section, this juxtaposition of different religious beliefs and cultural practices indicates that India is not a homogenous culture or society, with exceptions presented for any rule that might be imposed on it. Though Islam and Hinduism seem to be at odds, they unite in characters like Imrat and Mohan, or the narrator and Tariq Mia, blurring the lines between strict religious affiliations.
The Spiritual Significance of the Narmada River figures dominantly in the narrator’s emotional state after he leaves the mosque, when he observes how “the morning light catches every nuance of the water’s movement” and notices that the waves “sparkled in the light, before disappearing into the shadows below” (91). This play of light and shadow on the water mirrors the narrator’s own emotions; he comes away from Mohan’s story feeling unhappy, but he then becomes aroused by the teasing Vano women, and then finally rests at the bungalow to reflect on his day. The narrator’s contentedness and positive emotions are fleeting, just like the light on the waves, and his mind periodically descends into darkness, which is reflective of the human condition.
The second instance of the river reflecting human emotions comes with Nitin Bose, or Rima Bose, who stares into the river and mutters what the constable Shashi thinks is nonsense. However, Nitin is drawn to the Narmada River, which links with his claim that he is possessed—the spiritual power of the river likely draws him in. Like the narrator’s emotions being reflected in the sparkling of water, Nitin’s possession asserts itself and fades in an alternating pattern. The stories of gods and goddesses also figure prominently into this chapter section, as the narrator ponders Kama, the god of love, and Shiva, the ascetic god of destruction, who, like the Narmada, seem to alternate between desire and darkness. As the novel progresses, religion and reality mix, with religious figures becoming representations of human emotion and experience rather than abstract deities.
