Hari Kumar is an Indian young man brought up and educated in England since childhood. Groomed by elitist governesses and Chillinborough Public School, he had nothing Indian about him except his skin.

Sudden death of his bankrupt father brought his educational career to a standstill. His aunt Shalini, in India, was a widow living on the charity of his brother-in-law. She pleaded with that brother-in-law to pay for Hari’s further education but he brushed her appeals aside, saying he would not do anything for Hari unless he came back to India and worked for him.

So Hari had to come back. He knew nothing about India, so, he found himself lost in this strange, filthy, primitive land. He regarded England as his home and himself as an Englishman. He hoped to be welcomed in Mayapore by the English community but the hope turned out to be an illusion. An unfortunate encounter with Ronald Merrrick, superintendent of Mayapore police, landed him in trouble. He realized that in India he was nothing than an Indian rogue in spite of British education and manners.

In England an English boy, Colin Lindsey’s, had been Hari’s best friend. Lindsey’s father was also very kind to Hari. They had the illusion that Kumars were Raja’s of some Indian state. But his attitude changed when it came out after the death of Hari’s father that they were just the landowners of Mayapur.

Colin’s love for Hari did not cool down so easily and they kept writing to each other. This association was Hari’s contact with ‘home’. Their friendship lasted till Colin joined the British army and came to India. Here he learnt that Indians were not to be treated as friends. He ignored Hari when they met at a function. This encounter was another blow Hari’s belief in his Englishness.


Then one day he met Daphne. Unlike other Englishwomen, Daphne fell for him. Hari was aware of her feelings, but he was very cautious, knowing that a love affair between an English girl and an Indian man would end in despair. Daphne, a stubborn girl, too passionate in love, failed to foresee the consequences. She pushed the affair to its physical climax. The result was endless misery for both. Hari was arrested on the charge for rape. Mr. Merrick, his rival in love, a ruthless anti-Indian policeman, had him in his grip. Hari had to suffer brutal fortune silently because Daphne had asked him to say nothing about what had happened during their last meeting.

Hari is a very handsome young man with appealing charm for women. English ladies feel uneasy in his presence for he is beyond their reach, being an Indian. Speaking of his charm, Sister Ludmila says:


Hari had made very good use of his father’s advice:

His English speech impressed even the best educated Englishmen, and inspired envy in the hearts of the less privileged. Merrick’s grudge against Hari was partly due to his envy on this score.

Hari’s father wished his son to be thoroughly English in mind and behaviour because he hoped the English would prefer to hand over power to people nearest to them in mind and behaviour but Hari was looked down upon by the English. This attitude grieved him because he had always regarded English as his ‘own’ people. At times his depression became so painful that he sought relief in drink.

Hari appears to be a passive character who does nothing of his own will. Even sexual activity was imposed upon him. His job at Mayapore Gazette was a subordinate job. He had to do what he was asked and nothing of his own choice. He wished to play an active role in society. He could not get admission to the Technical College in Mayapore due to shortage of money. Had fate been a bit kinder to him, he had the guts to make his mark.


A quiet grace lends an additional charm to Hari’s character. He is not very sociable. He made but one friend, Colin Lindsey and their relationship seemed too mature and dignified for boys of their age. Sister Ludmila gives Hari a noble character when Hari was pushed away from the Sanctuary by Mr. Merrick for inquiry,. Mr. Srinivasan says Hari was more British than the British civil officers. When Hari discovered that his wallet was missing, he did not behave like an Indian. Sister Ludmila says:


Unfortunately, Hari, like the British, hated India and Indians, so he was quite friendless even in his worst misery. The Indians did sympathies with him but he did not care for their sympathy. Thus he was an isolated man. The writer aptly puts it when he says!


Lady Ethel Manners writes to Lili Chatterjee in June 1948, six years after the Bibighar incident:


The last we see of Hari in the novel is in Vidyasagar’s account of the torture inflicted on Hari as a ‘culprit’ in gang-rape case. Lady Ethel Manners thinks he might have been released in 1945 or 1946 and gone to live with his aunt Shalini at UP. Or he might be dead, killed in India – Muslim clashes. There is evidence in the book to show that the case against him was later converted in a case of political activism.

Hari is a victim of his father’s reckless idealism and Daphne’s selfish love. Like King Lear he is a person “more sinned against than sinning”. He, therefore, deserves sympathy.