Point of View

The novel's narration is written in the past tense and the limited third person from Sriram's perspective. Although Waiting for the Mahatma is a political novel, one that engages seriously with the ideology that Gandhi espoused leading up to independence, Narayan selects a largely non-ideological character to tell the story. This has the effect of allowing ordinary readers to think about Gandhi’s ideology from an outsider perspective, and to follow along on Sriram’s journey as he learns about Gandhi’s beliefs and attempts, imperfectly, to institute them in his own life. Were the novel to be told from the perspective of, for example, Bharati, the novel’s portrayal of Gandhi would be different. Because Bharati so reveres and adores Gandhi, never doubting him and always following his instructions, Bharati’s narrative would be a more direct mirroring of Gandhi’s story. She goes...