A Passage to India: Part 3, Chapter 36 Summary & Analysis

The ceremony of Krishna’s birth is complete, but there is still a sense of anticipation, as if God had not been born yet. The procession of the Chief God, another ceremony, is about to begin. The two possible successors to the Rajah’s throne have arrived at the palace, sensing that the Rajah might have died, but they make no trouble while the festival is still going and everyone feels a universal love for one another.

Around sunset Aziz remembers that he had promised to send ointment to the guest house for Ralph Moore’s bee stings. Aziz gets some from Mohammed Latif and decides to bring it to the guest house himself. Aziz runs into Professor Godbole on the way and tells him about Fielding’s wife. Godbole says that he has known for more than a year that Fielding married Stella Moore, not Adela. Aziz almost gets angry, but Godbole reminds him that he is his “true friend” and in the middle of a holy festival, and Aziz forgives him, smiling.

Aziz continues on towards the guest house, but then spits cynically when he sees the English visitors in the guest house boat, approaching the Hindu festival to watch it. Aziz resents the English interest in “seeing India,” which he now sees as another form of trying to rule it. Aziz continues on to the guest house, which is watched only by one sleeping sentry. Aziz goes inside and looks through the rooms, reading two letters he finds. One is from Ronny to Fielding, which discusses Fielding’s marriage and new problems in India, which Ronny blames on “the Jews.”

The other letter Aziz reads is from Adela to Stella. He resents the intimate tone of it, and how Fielding, Adela, Stella, Ralph, and Ronny all refer to each other so familiarly, like the English all in their private club. Aziz angrily strikes the piano in front of him. The noise startles Ralph Moore, who is still in the house. Ralph comes in and Aziz is surprised to see him, but he quickly recovers and patronizingly examines Ralph’s bee stings.

Aziz tries to treat Ralph “as Callendar had treated Nureddin,” but Ralph draws back, saying that Aziz’s hands are “unkind.” Aziz presses on belligerently, and Ralph asks why he is being so cruel to him and other English visitors. Aziz sarcastically brings up Adela, their “great friend,” but as he starts to mention the Marabar Caves his words are drowned out by an outburst of guns from the festival, signaling that the prisoner has been released.

Aziz decides to go, and he absentmindedly puts out his hand to shake Ralph’s. Ralph takes his hand, and Aziz can sense that Ralph no longer fears him. Ralph says that Aziz isn’t unkind anymore, and Aziz asks if Ralph can always tell when a stranger is a friend. Ralph says yes, and Aziz says “then you are an Oriental.” Aziz shivers then, recalling that he said those exact words to Mrs. Moore in the mosque years earlier. Aziz worries that he is going to be caught in the same cycle he has just escaped, the inevitable cycle that results when Indians befriend the English—the closeness of the mosque, but then also the disaster of the caves.

Aziz says that Ralph is Mrs. Moore’s son, but also Ronny’s brother, and therefore “the two nations cannot be friends.” Ralph responds with “I know. Not yet.” Aziz is then overcome with more memories of Mrs. Moore and his lasting affection for her. He knows that she never did anything concrete to help him, but he still adores her. Aziz suddenly offers to take Ralph out on the water and show him “his country.”

Aziz worries that the cycle of mosques and caves is beginning again, but he is too overcome with emotion to resist, and he impulsively embraces the cycle for Mrs. Moore’s sake. Once they are on the water in a boat, Aziz suddenly finds that his old kindness and hospitality have returned. He is an effusive tour guide, pretending to understand the Hindu festival and explaining it to Ralph.

There is a flash of lightning and Ralph points at something, asking if it is the Rajah. Aziz rows towards a light in the distance, and sees a mysterious image of a shining king floating in the water. Aziz is unsettled and admits that he doesn’t know what it is, and he tells Ralph that the Rajah is dead. He then suspects that it was an image of the old Rajah, which can only be seen from one point on the water. Ralph directed him to that point. Aziz suddenly feels like Ralph is the guide and he is the visitor.

Ralph asks to be taken closer to the Hindu procession, and Aziz complies, asking Ralph not to share the news of the Rajah’s death yet. Ralph seems in control and asks to row closer. Rockets and guns are being shot off in celebration. Suddenly the procession appears, closer than Aziz wanted to be. Godbole, who is part of the ceremony, sees the boat and waves his arms at them, but it is unclear if he is joyful or angry. The storm rages on, and the Hindus prepare for the ceremony of “throwing God” away into the storm.

Suddenly Fielding’s boat collides with Aziz’s boat just as the Hindu ceremony climaxes. Stella shrinks towards Fielding but then throws herself at Aziz, and the boats capsize. All four of the English fall into the warm, shallow water, scattering Ronny’s and Adela’s letters alongside the sacred props of the Procession of the God. Suddenly the festival is all over, and the crowd breaks up quietly. Something mysterious has happened, but there is no easy explanation for it.