I've always taken, beginning with the scenes in the jungle, the incident in the Malabar caves as an allegory for the beating heart of India (the echo being the pulse, of course). For Mrs. Moore, the call of India is so strong, it deafens her, at the same time conflicting with her staid English background. For Adela, the pulse is not just the vitality and morbidity of India, but also the implicit sexual attraction between her and Dr. Aziz. She, too, is a product of her class, and left alone with only a match and her own feelings, and the approaching echo of Dr. Aziz, she runs from herself and her own impulses, just as she ran from her discovery of the ruins in the brush. But "She has character!" You'll notice that it's only she and Mrs. Moore and Fielding who are willing to make such an exploration of the caves - to the rest of the English its just one more desolate, barbaric place to avoid.
I suppose, too, the caves are an allegory for the British occupation of India. Having no business colonizing the place, and trying to impose British mores, or at least ignoring the Indians and holding steadfast to their standards, the British were fundamentally incapable of understanding the heart of Indian culture, just as Adela and Mrs. Moore are ultimately limited in how much of India they can accept. They just happen to be more willing to explore than most. We never see the heart of Indian culture either, by the way, only Dr. Aziz sweating out of his shirtsleeves, anxious to please his British guests.
I prefer the Jewel in the Crown to this, but then I thought the development of Adela's character, and that of Mrs. Moore, too brief. And Peggy Ashcroft is in both.
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