SOURCE: "L. H. Myers's Treatment of Buddhism in The Near and the Far," in Revue des langues vivantes, Vol. XXXVII, No. 1, 1971, pp. 64-74.

In the following essay, Gupta praises the accurate and sympathetic understanding of Buddhism evident in Myers's The Near and the Far.

Rajah Amar, one of the major characters in The Near and the Far, is a Buddhist, while Sita, his wife is a Christian. Critics of Myers have recognised that it is their negation and affirmation of world and life respectively that marks the difference between the Eastern and the Western views of life. But no notice has been taken of Myers's handling of the Buddhist tradition itself. The purpose of this paper is to analyse and examine the novelist's treatment of Buddhism as it is exemplified in the character and attitudes of Rajah Amar, revealing thereby the extent of the novelist's awareness as well...