A House for Mr Biswas

by

V. S. Naipaul

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Pundit Term Analysis

A wise Brahmin scholar and ceremonial leader.
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Pundit Term Timeline in A House for Mr Biswas

The timeline below shows where the term Pundit appears in A House for Mr Biswas. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Part 1, Chapter 2: Before the Tulsis
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...Tara nevertheless decided to pull Mr Biswas out of school and make him into a pundit. Pundit Jairam taught him Hindi, scriptures, and ceremonies for eight months in the house he... (full context)
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...longer be used for puja. Jairam told Mr Biswas he could never be a true pundit—Mr Biswas destroyed his father, Raghu, and Jairam could not let the same happen to him.... (full context)
Part 1, Chapter 3: The Tulsis
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...latrine. He looked uniquely unfit to work on the Tulsis’ estate and, as a trained pundit, found no greater pleasure than reading upstairs after work and performing puja. The only place... (full context)
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...convert” because of his conversations with Misir, who told him to listen to the “purist” pundit Pankaj Rai. Mr Biswas did not know what “purist” meant and was afraid to ask,... (full context)
Part 2, Chapter 1: “Amazing Scenes”
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...was Kamla, and Mr Biswas replied in English, asking who named her; it was the pundit, of course, and Shama mentioned that Mr Biswas was in Hanuman House for Kamla’s birth... (full context)
Part 2, Chapter 3: The Shorthills Adventure
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...over his funeral rites, too, but nobody could fully replace Hari’s role as the household pundit, and a number of the men ended up sharing puja duty. News of Padma’s death... (full context)
Part 2, Chapter 5: The Void
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...enjoyment and insisting that they take her favorite remedies. Old friends visited from Arwacas and pundits—a different one every time—came to perform pujas until she tired of Hinduism and switched to... (full context)
Part 2, Chapter 6: The Revolution
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...celebrating. Visitors arrived in the morning, but Mr Biswas was frustrated to hear that the pundit took his copy of the Guardian. They drove to the port, where the ship was... (full context)