Paper no 4 Assignment

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Department of English

M.K Bhavnagar University

Name: Nagla Drashti P.

Roll no: 15

Class: M.A : Sem-1

Year: 2016-2018

Paper-4(Indian Writing in English )

Assignment Topic: Raja Rao’s Kanthapura a critical study

E-mail address: nagladrashti38@gmail.com

Submitted: Smt S.B Gardy

Department of English Maharaja

Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar

University,Bhavnagar.

Assignment topic

Paper no-4

Raja Rao’s kanthapura a critical study:

• About the Raja Rao:

Born Nov.8,1908, Hassan, Mysore,south india-died july 8,( 2006, Austin, Texas,U.S) Indian writer of english-language novels and short stories.

Descended from a distinguished brahman family in southern India,Rao studied(B.A.,1929)at Nizam college,Hyderabad,and then left India for france to study literature and historyat the university of Montpellier andthe sorbonne.His first novel ,Kanthapura (1938),dealt with the Indian independence movement. After reaturning to India in 1939,he spent the war years editing a journal and engaging in underground activities again the British. After world war ll he alternated between India and France before finally joining the faculty at the University of Texas at Austin in 1966;he became professor emeritus there in 1980.

• Rao’s second novel:

The Serpent and the Rope(1960),

Considered his masterpiece,is a philosophical and somewhat abstact account of a young intellectual Brahman and his wife seeking spiritual truth in India, France, and England;it plays on the dialogue between Orient and Occident. His other novels ae the allegorical The Cat and shakespeare:A Tale of India(1965);Rao’s short stories were collected in the Cow of the Barricades and other stories (1947)and the Policeman and The Great IndianWay:A life of Mahatma Gandhi(1998).

Raja Rao makes with them a remarkable triad a affiliated with them in time and sometimes in the choice of themes but not in his art as a novelist or in his enchanting prose style.A novelist and a short story writer,he too is a child of the Gndhian age and reveals in his work his sensitive awareness of the forces let loose by the Gandhian Revolution as also of the thwarting or steadying pulls of part tradition. His four books up to date are the novels.

1. Kanthapura -1938
2. The Serpent and the Rope -1960
3. The Cat and Shakspeare-1965
4. The Cow of the Barricades-1947

• Kanthapura-The Village:

‘knathapura’ portrays the participation of a small village of south India in the national struggle called for by Mahatma Gandhi. Imbued with nationalism,the villegers sacrifice all their material possessions in a triumph of the spirit, showing how in the Gandhian movement people shed their narrow prejudices and united in the common cause of the non-violent civil resistance to the British Raj.

This village is a microcosm of the traditional Indian society with its entrenched caste hierarchy. In kanthapura there are Brahmin quarters, sudra quarters,Pariah quarters. Despite stratification into castes, however, the villegers are mutually bound in various economic and social functions which maintain social harmony. The enduring an internal tenacity That resists external crises,its relationship to past contributing a sense of unity and continuity between the present and past generations. Kanthapura may appere isolated and removed from civilization, but it is compensated by an ever -enriching cycle of ceremonies,rituals, and festivals.

Rao depicts the regular involvement of the villagersin Sankara-Jayanthi,Kartik Purnima,Ganesh-Jayanthi, Dasara,and the Satyanarayana Puja with the intention of conveying a sense of the natural unity and cohesion of village society.Old Ramakrishnayya reads out the Sankara-Vijaya day after day and the villagers discuss Vedanta with him every afternoon. Religion, imparted through discourses and Pujas, keep alive in the natives a sense of the presence of God. Participation in a festival brigs about the solidarity among them. The local deity Kenchamma protects the villagers “through famine and disease,death and despair”. if the rains fail,you fall at her feet.Equally secred is the river Himavathy which flows near Kanthapura.

Conclusion:

Kanthapura has been described as the most satisfying of all modern Indian novels. Recognized as a major landmark in Indian Fiction, it is the story of how the Gandhian struggle for Independence came to one small village in South India.

Summary of the novel Kanthapura by Raja Rao:-

Raja Rao’s first novel Kanthapura(1938) is the story of a village in South India named Kanthapura. The novel is narrated in the form of a’Sthalapurana’by an old woman of the village,Achakka

Kanthapura ia a traditional caste ridden Indian village which is away from all modern ways of living. Dominent castes like Brahmins are privileged to get the best region of the village whereas Sudras,Pariahs and marginalized. The village is believed to have protected by a local deity called Kenchamma. Though casteist, the village has got a long nourished of festivals in which all castes interect and the villagers are united.

The main character of the novel is Moorthy is a Brahmin who discovered a half buried ‘linga’ from the village and installed it. A temple is built there,which later became the center point of the village life. All ceremonies and festivals are celebrated within the temple premises.

Hari-Kathas,a traditional form of storytelling,was practiced in the village. Hari -kathas are stories of Hari(God). one Hari-katha man, Jayaramachar,narrated a Hari Katha based on Gandhi and his ideals. The narrator was arrested because of the political propaganda instilled in the story.

The novel begins its couse of action when Moorthy leaves for the city where he got familier with Gandhian philosophy through pamphletsand other literatures. He followed Gandhi in letter and spirit. He wrote home spun Khaddar. Discarded foreign clothes and fought against untouchability. This turned the village priest,a Brahmin, against him who complained to the Swami who was a supporter of foreign government and Moorthy was ex-communicated. Heartbroken to hear it, his mother Narasamma passed away.

Bade Khan was a police officer,a non hindu of Kanthapura. He was brought and supported by the coffee planters who were Englishman. Cosidered as an outsider, Bade Khan is an enemy of the people who refuses to provide shelter to him.

After the death of his mother, Moorthy started living with an educated widow Rangamma, who took part in India’s struggle for freedom. Moorthy was invited by Brahmin cleark at Skeffington coffee estate to create an awareness among the coolies of the estate. When Moorthy turned up, Bade Khan hit him and the pariah coolies stood with Moorthy. Though he succeeded in following Gandhian non violence principle, the incident made him sad and unhappy.

Rachanna and family were thrown out of the estate because of their role in beating Bade Khan. Meanwhile,Moorthy continued his fight against injustice and social inequality and became a staunchest ally of Gandhi. Taking the responsibility of the violant actions happened at the estate; Moorthy went on a three day long fasting and came out victorious and morally elated. Following the footsteps of Gandhi, a unit of the congress committee was formed in Kanthapura.Gowada, Rangamma, Rachanna and seenu were elected as the office bearers o the committee and they avowed to follow Gandhi’s teachings.

The theme of Kanthapura may be summed up as ‘Gandhi and our village’, but the style of narration makes the books more a Gandhi Purana than a piece of mare fiction.Gandhi is the invisible God, Moorthy is the visible Avatar. The region of the rodmen is Asuric rule, and it is resisted by the Devdas, the Satyagrahis. The characters sharply divide into two camps: The Rulers on the one hand and the satyagrahis on the other. These are -various other divisions too.

Class structure:

• Untouchability
• Structure of the village
• Superstitions among people
• Exploitation due to class
• Caste and creed
• Class discrimination
• Society and discrimination

We see some points about it:

1. Untouchability :

Kanthapura has narrow structure. In this village have people of many castes. They lived peacefully. In this village upper class people otherwise they were casted out from that particular.if a person goes to Pariah’s house, he would to take bath and go Kashi for Purification purpose.

2. Structure of the village:

In the village house were the symbols of status. There wereless government serrvents in this village. Those who were there got respect. There was the house of post master. He lived in two stories building. Palwari had glass paned windows. The houses are individualized and particularized.

3. Exploitation due to class:

The condition of the village was such that upper class-exploited the lower class people.the whole description of working labourers is touching. Remaining hungry of half hungry,poorly-nourished they had to work very hard.

4. Caste and creed:

The small village symbolically, depicts the country’s condition, during the time of freedom struggle,people of all castes unanimously united themselves to fight against the country’s enemy. Educated people were influenced by Gandhi and became his followers. They cast away the social norms of caste.

• Conclusion:

Raja Rao’s Kanthapura is one of the finest novel to come out of mid-twntieth century India. It is the story of how Gandhi’s struggle for independence from the British came to a typical village, Kanthapura in South India. Younge Moorthy, back from the city with”New Ideas”cuts across the ancients barriers of caste to unite the villages in non-violent action which is met with violence by landlords and police.

Legendary history of the region, who knows the past of all the characters and comments on their actions with sharp-eyed wisdom. Her narrative, and the way she tells it, evokes the spirut of India’s traditional folk-epics.

Work cited :

• Hiteshgalthariya2014-2016.blogspot.com