Raja Rao Is Acknowledged As One Of The Greatest Indo-Anglian Writers Of Modern Times And The Serpent And The Rope Is Rightly Acclaimed As A Landmark In The Indian Fiction In English. He Has Been Hailed As A Cultural Ambassador Of India To The Western Literary World And Most Of His Work Is Grounded In The Indian Religious Tradition. The Serpent And The Rope, As The Very Title Signifies, Deals With The Nature Of The Ultimate Reality And Derives Its Philosophic And Metaphysical Core From The Advaita School Of The Vedantic Tradition. Though Numerous Studies Of Raja Rao;S Ouvre Have Been Made With Particular Emphasis On The Interpretation Of The Serpent And The Rope Yet There Is A Dearth Of Studies Which Devote Themselves To An Indepth Study Of The Religious Tradition On Which Raja Rao Takes His Stand.The Present Study Aims At Fulfilling That Need And It Is In Keeping With That Objective That A Full Introductory Chapter On The Vedantic Tradition Has Been Incorporated. It Will Be Found More Useful By The Scholars, Both Indian And Foreigner, Who Are Not Well Familiar With The Fundamental Postulates Of The Vedantic Philosophy. The Other Major Aspects Of The Novel Relating To Its Metaphysical Probings Into The Nature Of Reality, The East-West Encounter As Also Those Relating To The Nature And Role Of Marriage As Envisaged Within The Indian Ethos And Its Pertinent Religious Traditions, Vedantic In Particular, Have Been Studied In Greater Depth And Detail.Mrs. Nanda Has Written The First Book-Length Study Of The Novel, Which Is Quite An Achievement In Itself, And Provides The Various Students And Scholars At The Indian Universities And Abroad, Where This Novel Is Prescribed For Specialized Study, With A New Focus And A Fresh Insight Into The Indian Religious Tradition Which Contributes To The Main Theme Of Self-Realization As Projected In The Lives And Interrelationships Of The Main Characters Of The Novel. The Study Will Also Help Rectify The Prevailing Critical Parallax Which Treats Of Rama, Savitri And Madeleine As Spiritually Enlightened Characters, Whereas, In Actual Practice, They Are Only Struggling Towards The State Of Perfection And Equipoise Which Vedanta Designates As Self-Realisation.The Study Is In The Nature Of A Reassessment, Providing As It Does A New Approach To And An Insight Into Raja Rao S Magnum Opus As Viewed Within The Context Of The Indian Religious Tradition Which Constitutes The Very Warp And Woof Of Its Central Theme.