Question

Is Duttada’s general outlook

(i) rational?

(ii) moral?

(iii) traditional?

Choose the right word. Say why you think it right.

Answer 1

Duttada’s general outlook was rational. He did not believe in superstitions. He only believed in what he saw and in his calculations. When Indrani Debi said that she wished he had not discovered the comet as it brought ill-luck, he laughed and said that even an M.A. degree had not cured her of her superstitions.

Later when Indrani Debi asked him to perform a yajna so that the comet would not harm him, he reacted very angrily. He said that such superstitious behaviour could be understood in the olden times because back then man did not know the true nature of comets. However, in modern times, such behaviour was unacceptable. He said that it had been clearly established by statistical studies that their visits have no correlations with disasters on the earth.

In the end, when she told him that they made Khoka perform the yajna, he formed a mental picture of Khoka performing the yajna and uttering mantras dictated to him, which he did not understand. At the same moment, he thought of an assembly of scientists analysing the problem, devising solutions and executing them rationally. He wondered if the gap between the superstitious and the rational would ever be eliminated.