The novel 'Gora', which deals with questions of religion, caste and national identity in 19th-century Bengal, was written by:

"Gora" is a Bengali novel written by Rabindranath Tagore; it was serialised in the journal "Prabasi" from 1907 to 1909, and published as a book in 1910.

The story:

• The hero, Gora, is a fiery young man of Calcutta, who is a strong supporter of orthodox Hinduism and Indian nationalism.
• He believes in the caste system and the traditional customs of Hindu society.
• He comes into conflict with the members of a Brahmo family, especially the liberal Paresh Babu and his daughters Sucharita and Lolita.
• At the end, Gora learns that he is not a Hindu by birth; he was born to Irish parents, who died during the Revolt of 1857, and was adopted by a Hindu family.
• This discovery makes him realise that true Indianness goes beyond caste, religion and birth.

Themes:

• The novel deals with the conflict between orthodox Hinduism and the reformist Brahmo Samaj.
• It questions the narrow idea of nationalism based on religion.
• It supports a broad, humanist idea of India, open to all people.
• It is often regarded as the largest and one of the greatest of Tagore's novels.

Other novels by Tagore:

• "Chokher Bali" (1903).
• "Ghare Baire" (The Home and the World, 1916), set during the Swadeshi Movement.
• "Chaturanga" (1916).
• "Shesher Kabita" (1929).
• "Noukadubi" (The Wreck).

About Tagore:

• He was born on 7 May 1861 at Calcutta, in the Jorasanko house of the Tagore family.
• He wrote poems, songs, plays, stories, novels and essays.
• His collection "Gitanjali" was translated into English.
• He founded the school at Santiniketan, which grew into the Visva-Bharati University.
• He wrote the national anthems of India and Bangladesh.

Why not the other options?

Bankim Chandra wrote "Anandamath"; Sarat Chandra wrote "Devdas" and "Pather Dabi"; R. C. Dutt wrote historical novels and "The Economic History of India".