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Arjun (1971) by Sunil Gangopadhyay is one of the most important Partition novels in Bengali literature, which was translated into English under the title by Chitrita Banerji and published by Penguin Books in 1987. Its study doesn’t merely focus on the incidents of communal violence but on its aftermath, its repercussions in the long run, and the consequences of refugee migration in the world of post-Partition Bengal as narrated by Arjun. The novel explores the complexities of morality, power, identity, and survival as lived by its main character Arjun Raychoudhury. In this paper, it is submitted that Gangopadhyay succeeds in deconstructing the category of morality as a historically and culturally porous phenomenon, and also in revealing the inequalities in the power relationships in the social and political processes of refugee life. The moral dilemmas Arjun faces, the institution of caste within the colony, and violence in society show how people struggle for justice when there are no instruments of security to protect them. Gangopadhyay illustrates the lack of absolutes in moral decisions in postcolonial societies through a modern reinterpretation of the epic hero Arjuna. Finally, the novel highlights the resilience of people as well as the examination of the system of domination that defines refugee lives.
Dr.Dinesh Panwar. “Negotiating Ethics and Power in Sunil Gangopadhyay’s Arjun.” The Criterion: An International Journal in English, vol. 17, no. 4, August 2026, pp. 358-368. DOI, https://doi.org/10.66376/criterion.v17.n4.21.
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