THE PORTRAYAL OF MOTHER FIGURE IN GITHA HARIHRAN’S 'THE GHOSTS OF VASU MASTER' (Pages 294-301) by Mrs. Tejaswini D. Pati* and Ms. Sumati R. Salunkhe** in THE ENGLISH RESEARCH EXPRESS / ISSN:2321-1164 (Online); 2347-2642 (Print)

Githa Hariharan is a promising Indian Novelist writing in English. Her first novel, The Thousand Faces of Night(1992)won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for the Best First Book. She handles the Indian myths in a different way. The other novels by her are – ‘When Dreams Travel’, ‘In Times of Siege’, ‘The Ghosts of Vasu Master’, ‘The Winning Team’, ‘The Art of Dying and Other Stories’, and ‘Fugitive Histories’. The Ghosts of Vasu Master is an experimental novel in which she uses the Stream of Consciousness technique along with the animal fables as in Panchtantra. There are very less women characters in the novel. His mother has died in his childhood. But, the actual mother figure appears in the role of the teacher. Vasu Master is a teacher in P.G. Boys’ School, Elipettai. While teaching the adolescent children in the High-school, he feels that the framework of teaching methods to be insufficient. In an animal fable, he tells the story of a mouse who wants to be a teacher. As per the guidance of the wise snake, he becomes a judge, an ideologue, a priest, and even a doctor. And lastly, the snake tells that he has to become a ‘mother’. Throughout the novel, he tries to become mother to Mani and lastly succeeds in teaching him. Key Words: Commonwealth Writers, Indian myths, experimental novel, Consciousness technique, animal fable