Bhandat Character Analysis in A House for Mr Biswas

Ajodha’s alcoholic brother and Jagdat and Rabidat’s father. He runs the rumshop and lets Mr Biswas stay with him for a brief time. He eventually kicks Mr Biswas out of the house after falsely accusing him of stealing a dollar and runs away to live with his mistress after his wife dies.

Bhandat Quotes in A House for Mr Biswas

The A House for Mr Biswas quotes below are all either spoken by Bhandat or refer to Bhandat. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

As fatigue overcame him he began to long for the day to end, to relieve him of his freedom. He went back to the dark rooms tired, empty, miserable, yet still excited, still unwilling to sleep.

Related Characters: Mr Biswas, Ajodha, Bhandat

Page Number and Citation: 61

Explanation and Analysis:

Bhandat Character Timeline in A House for Mr Biswas

The timeline below shows where the character Bhandat appears in A House for Mr Biswas. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

...garage, “doing mysterious greasy things.” Mr Biswas went to Ajodha’s rumshop, run by his brother Bhandat, who “apparently drank, beat his wife and kept a mistress of another race.” The shop,... (full context)

Mr Biswas lived with Bhandat’s family, sleeping with his two sons on a floor mattress in a windowless room. Whenever... (full context)

Ajodha encouraged him to convince Bhandat’s boys to read The Book of Comprehensive Knowledge, but they were too busy dedicating their... (full context)

One weekend, after one of Ajodha’s relatives died, Bhandat’s family went with Ajodha and Tara to the funeral, leaving Mr Biswas with a free... (full context)

...mother not to go see Tara but she did, and he told her all about Bhandat’s theft and mistress. Tara did not believe his reports, and then she explained that the... (full context)

...except (momentarily) the undertaker’s shed full of coffins: he thought he could “help to bury Bhandat.” He pondered the strange notion of “dry goods,” wandered past food stalls, and watched carts... (full context)

...really sick”), Pratap (whose donkeys kept dying), Prasad (who could not find a wife), and Bhandat (because of his mistress). He obviously “thought his own condition perfect, and this perfection delighted... (full context)

Soon, Mr Biswas returned to Tara’s house, but was disappointed to discover that one of Bhandat’s sons had taken over his old job reading to Ajodha. Bhandat had run off with... (full context)

Alec and Bhandat’s boys sometimes came and “took Mr Biswas to certain houses which terrified, then attracted, and... (full context)

...wedding,” because his was a “love match.” Ajodha yelled “Love match!” in excitement at Rabidat, Bhandat’s younger son, whose taunts Mr Biswas primarily blamed for his marriage. Tara and Ajodha encouraged... (full context)

Rabidat, the younger of Bhandat’s sons, walked in; like his brother, Jagdat, “he was living with a woman of another... (full context)

Tara and Ajodha continued asking Mr Biswas about the house, but Bhandat’s older son, Jagdat, soon came to the verandah, dressed as usual in attire strikingly reminiscent... (full context)

...asked how many kids Jagdat had—“four or five,” he replied, “well, four.” He mentioned that Bhandat was living “in a ramshackle old house full of creole people” and “that son of... (full context)

...“a day of freedom” paralleled only by the one he spent wandering around Pagotes when Bhandat’s rumshop abruptly closed. Walking along the crowded streets, he marveled at the various stores and... (full context)

...felt he had to refuse—they were family, and they were clearly not destitute enough. Soon, Bhandat also sent him a request, and Mr Biswas went to his disgusting tenement surrounded by... (full context)