Dharma

Dharma is Devdas Mukherjee’s aging companion and caregiver, whose anxious loyalty runs alongside the protagonist’s worsening illness and withdrawal. He tries to move Devdas Mukherjee away from a climate that does not suit him, stays close through repeated sickness, and supports him on the journey home. At the moment when care might have brought Devdas Mukherjee back into family life, however, shame and secrecy divide them: Dharma sleeps as Devdas Mukherjee leaves their train at Pandua, continuing alone toward Hatipota.

Identity and Place in the Story

The novel presents Dharma through his sustained presence beside Devdas Mukherjee rather than through a separate account of his past. He speaks to him with intimate familiarity, calling him Deva, and Devdas Mukherjee addresses him as Dharma. By the later journey, Dharma is described as aged. His concern is practical as well as emotional: he notices when Devdas Mukherjee is repeatedly ill, proposes that they go elsewhere, seeks medical help, and remains physically close when the two travel together.

Dharma’s importance grows as Devdas Mukherjee’s ability to care for himself declines. He is among the people who can act on the immediate demands of illness, but he cannot make Devdas Mukherjee accept every form of help. Their relationship is marked by a persistent imbalance: Dharma recognizes the danger and urges intervention, while Devdas Mukherjee retains the power to refuse, conceal, or redirect their plans.

Care Through Illness

The climate does not suit Devdas Mukherjee, who falls ill often and frequently suffers stomach pain. Seeing him sick again, Dharma nearly weeps and suggests that they go somewhere else. Devdas Mukherjee agrees distractedly. The exchange establishes both Dharma’s attention to a recurring physical problem and the limited force of his concern: agreement does not itself produce a lasting change in Devdas Mukherjee’s conduct or circumstances.

At another point, Devdas Mukherjee has a piece of flannel tied around his stomach because of an ache. Chandramukhi fears that his liver may be affected. The doctor examines him for a long time, prescribes medicines, and warns that he needs the utmost care or the illness could become fatal. Dharma is summoned from home, and money is drawn from the bank for treatment. After two days without trouble, Devdas Mukherjee develops a fever. He tells Chandramukhi that her arrival came at the right moment, since she might otherwise never have seen him again; she tends to him, and after nearly a month bedridden he slowly recovers. Dharma’s arrival and the money for treatment place him within this network of practical care, though Chandramukhi is the person shown nursing Devdas Mukherjee at this crisis.

The danger returns during Devdas Mukherjee’s later wandering. He usually drinks away from home, sometimes comes back late at night, and on some nights does not return at all. When he has been missing for two days, Dharma refuses food and drink, weeping with worry. Devdas Mukherjee comes back on the third day with a fever and cannot get up; several doctors attend him. Dharma proposes writing to Devdas Mukherjee’s mother in Varanasi, but Devdas Mukherjee hastily stops him, asking how he could face her in his condition. Dharma’s offer is a bid to bring family care into the crisis; Devdas Mukherjee’s refusal shows how shame obstructs the help his companion is trying to secure.

The Journey Home and Separation

A year passes before Devdas Mukherjee leaves a hospital in Bombay. He comes out leaning on Dharma for support and gets into a buggy. Dharma suggests that they go to his mother. Devdas Mukherjee’s eyes fill with tears as he reflects that he has a mother, an elder brother, Parvati, and Chandramukhi, yet feels that he has everyone and that no one has him. Dharma weeps too. When he points out that Devdas Mukherjee’s mother is still alive, both understand the force of the reminder: the family connection exists, but Devdas Mukherjee feels unable to inhabit it as a source of belonging.

Devdas Mukherjee is seriously unwell. His liver is badly infected; he suffers coughing and recurring fever, and his body has become extremely thin. At the station, Dharma asks where he should buy tickets. Devdas Mukherjee considers the question and says that they should go home first, leaving the rest for later. They buy tickets to Hooghly and board the train. The plan seems to offer a route back toward family, but it remains fragile. Before dusk, fever returns, and Devdas Mukherjee tells Dharma that even getting home may be difficult. Dharma urges him to get off at Patna to see a doctor. Devdas Mukherjee refuses and insists that they continue home.

At Pandua, in the early hours of dawn after a night of rain, Devdas Mukherjee stands while Dharma sleeps on the floor. Rather than wake his companion, he touches Dharma’s brow softly, feeling too shy to rouse him, then opens the door and steps outside. The train departs with Dharma still asleep. That small, quiet departure breaks the shared journey: Dharma has supported Devdas Mukherjee through travel and illness, but is left behind at the moment Devdas Mukherjee chooses to proceed alone.

Limits of Loyalty and Narrative Significance

Dharma’s care is persistent but cannot secure Devdas Mukherjee’s cooperation. He notices the pattern of illness, suggests a change of place, worries through the nights when Devdas Mukherjee is missing, seeks medical attention, and proposes contacting his mother. These are concrete attempts to keep Devdas Mukherjee connected to treatment and family. They do not resolve the conflict between the support available to him and his reluctance to accept it openly.

After Pandua, Devdas Mukherjee hires a buggy toward Hatipota without Dharma. On the way, he asks for water; later he develops a fever and has bleeding from his nose and gums and difficulty breathing. Dharma is no longer beside him in this final leg. The novel’s concluding appeal dwells on the need for one loving touch and one caring face at the last moment. In that light, Dharma’s earlier presence matters not because he can avert the ending, but because the narrative has shown the effort and companionship that Devdas Mukherjee leaves behind before facing it alone.