ABSTRACT
This chapter explores Kaushik Barua’s fictional work Windhorse which deals with the Tibetan resistance movement against the Chinese occupation of Tibet. The movement is launched by Tibetan nationalists who want to retrieve their lost nation. Set against this historical background, the novel introduces several Tibetan characters, including some monks, along with Indian and American characters. He finds inevitable features of acculturation in the exilic Tibetan characters and traces the emergence of a strong pan-Tibetan entity in them. The ideological locations that determine the gaze of the characters come out clearly in the work. This chapter explores their patterns of gaze at Tibet. It also examines Barua’s own ideological position and the representational strategies he employs in the novel. He is aware of the historical connections between India and Tibet. His in-depth reading of Tibetan history and his familiarity with Tibetans exiled in India have contributed to the knowledge necessary for writing a creative work. He met Tibetan people who had direct experience of ‘Tibetan cause’ to acquire proper knowledge of Tibetan history, politics, culture, and what happened during the periods of displacement and freedom movement. Equipped with such knowledge, Barua represents the recent history of the Tibetan people realistically from a standpoint that is basically Indian.
