Kanthapura: As A Legendary History
Introduction of Raja Rao:
A Kannada novelist who
had wrote many things about India is none another than Raja Rao. Raja Rao was
born on 8th of
November, 1908. His birth place was Hassan, in the state of Mysore (presently
Karnataka) in South India. H was born in well-known Brahmin family. He was the
eldest child among all the nine children. His mother tongue was Kannada. He has
completed his post-graduate education in France, but the form of all his books
publication was in English. His father was teaching Kannada at Nizam College.
His mother was died when he was just four year old. He was educated at Muslim
Schools named Madarsa-e-Aliya. It was situated in Hyderabad. He also took his
education at the Aligarh Muslim University. He graduated from the University of
Madras. He also won the Asiatic Scholarship of the Government of Hyderabad in
1929, for study in abroad.Raja Rao moved to the University of Montpellier
located at France. He was teaching French language and literature at there. He
explored the Indian effects on the Irish literature. He married Camille Mouly
in 1931.She was her first wife. She was teaching French at Montpellier. The
marriage was couldn’t breathe more and it lasted in very short time of nine
years in 1939. He also worked as a Professor of Philosophy at the University of
Texas at Austin from 1966 to 1983. Nobel laureate Czeslaw Milosz, was a friend of Rao, published his only a poem in
the English language, "To Raja Rao". After having a
conversation with him.
He was an Indian writer of English
language novels, short story and essays. His novels are still esteemed because
of the realistic presentation of the past. Kanthapura was his first novel. The
novels in which we can see his magnificent works were Kanthapura (1938) and The
Serpent and the Rope (1960). The Serpent and the Rope was a
semi-autobiographical novel. In this novel he wrote about his breakdown of
their marriage. It was based on spiritual truth in India and Europe, which made
him as one of the finest Indian Stylist novelist and won him the “Sahitya
Akademi Award” in 1964. He published Gandhi’s biography “great Indian Way: A Life
of Mahatma Gandhi”. For this he was awarded the “Neustadt International Prize
for Literature” in 1988. He also honoured with “Padma Bhushan” in 1969 and with
the “Padma Vibhushan” in 2007. He married Katherine Jones in 1965. She was an
American stage actress. They have a son named Christopher Rama. They divorced
in 1986. After that he married his third wife. Her name was Susan, whom he met
when she was a student at the University of Texas in 1970s. Raja Rao died at
the age of 97 on 8th of
July at Austin in Texas.
Kanthapura as a Novel:
“Kanthapura” is the first Indian novel
written in English. It was one of the finest novels that appear in
mid-twentieth century India. It is also one of the finest depictions of the
Freedom Movement commenced in the early twentieth century by Mahatma Gandhi to
lead India towards freedom from the colonial British rule. We can say that it
is a traditional novel but we can also add that it follows the oral tradition
of Indian legendary history. In that time majority of people in India lived
their life under the British rule. The British ruler used to harm our ideas and
ideals of Indian Nationalism. It is the story about Gandhi’s struggle for
independence from the British ruler. So they came to the village called
Kanthapura, in south India. Kanthapura is realistic and impartial presentation
of the impact of Gandhian movement. Gandhi’s philosophy of life and political
struggle is found in some characters of “Kanthapura”.
Kanthapura as a village:
Kanthapura is a small village. It is a
social document about a village in turmoil and the people living in it. This
village is a microcosm of the traditional Indian society with its entrenched
caste hierarchy. It located at the Western Ghats of “Himvathi” river in South
India. Kanthapura played a vital role in the novel “Kanthapura”. Raja Rao shows
traditional society and rural culture of India. There were two types of Brahmin
Quarters. First one is Sudra quarter and second one is Pariah quarters. There
were many sub casts but still all the villagers share their feelings with each
other. That shows the tradition of Indian culture. People of Kanthapura still
have that spark for life and they believed in togetherness. Kanthapura was not
financially rich and civilized but people still connected with ceremonies,
rituals and festivals with each other. They celebrate all the festivals like
Ganesh-Chaturthi, Dashehara, Kartik Purnima together. That shows their unity
and love for each other. Religion, imparted through discourses and prayer, keep
alive in the native a sense of the presence of god.
It was narrated by Achakka. She was an old village
woman lived in Kanthapura. In the first paragraph Achakka informs us of
Kanthapura geographical location:
Our village – I don’t think you have ever heard
About it – Kanthapura is its name, and it is in the
Province of Kara.
High on the Ghats is it, high up the steep mountains
That face the cool Arabian seas, up the Malabar coast
Is it, up Manglore and Puttur and many a centre of
Cardamom and coffee, rice and sugarcane.
Roads, narrow, dusty, rut-covered roads, wind through
the
Forest of teak and of jack, of sndal and of sal, and
Hanging over bellowing gorges and leaping over
Elephant-haunted valleys, they turn now to the left
And now to the right and being you through the
Alambi and Champa and Mena and Kola passes into,
The great granaries of trade. There, on the blue
waters.
They say, our cartd cardamoms and coffee get into
The ships the Red-men bring, and, so they say, they
Go across the seven oceans into the countries where
Our rulers live.
The story took place less
than two years earlier, and all the memory was quite fresh in the mind of the
grandmother. She and her female audience whom she addresses as “sisters” had
survived the turbulence of social and political change. She creates her
faithful image of an Indian way of life, circumscribed by tradition and
indebted to its deities, of whom Kenchamma. She was the great and bounteous
goddess.The grandmother recites distinctive sthala-purana about the goddess:
“She called a demon ages, ages, ago, ademon that had come to ask our young
women as wives. Keuchamma came from the heavens… and she waged such a battle
and she fought so many a night that the blood soaked into the earth, and that
is why the Kenchamma. Hill is all red. If not, tell me, sister, why should it
be red only from the Tippur stream upwards, for a foot down on the other side
of the stream you have mud, black and brown, but never red? Tell me, how could
this happen, if it were not for Kenchamma and her battle? Thank heaven, not
only did she slays the demon, but she even settled down among us, and this much
I shall say, never has she failed us in our grief”.
The novel “Kanthapura” takes us to
the world of history of Hindu. We also experienced the Hindu epics and also
come across the Hindu thoughts. The novel has also developed its mythic and
symbolic framework. We find some elements whish shows the message of
Nationalism that were ancient history, religion, characters from the epics,
natural landscape and simple life of the village community of Kanthapura.
Hari-Kathas was practiced by the villagers. As it is a traditional form of
storytelling. Hari-Kathas are the story of God. Jayramchar was Hari-Katha man
who narrated Hari-Katha based on Gandhi and his ideals. Afterwards he was
arrested because of the political propaganda installed in the story.
The leading character of the
novel was “Moorthy”. He was the protagonist of the novel. He was a young guy
with full of enthusiasm. He was also a well educated city boy. He discovered a
half buried “Linga” from the village and installed it. After that a temple was
built at there in the village and it became the centre point of the villagers.
They used to celebrate all the ceremonies at there in the village. When he
first time meet Mahatma Gandhi, he was very much impressed with him. So Moorthy
decided to take a decision for his village. So he decides to bring his inactive
village to the centrestage of national politics. When he returns to the
village, he tried to put on Gandhian philosophies in the village. He tried to
make them true satyagrahis. The novel is very much focused on Moorthy.
One another leading character
of novel is Rangamma. She was also one of the strongest women characters of the
novel. She is a widow. And she has not any child. Her parents live with her.
They were the necessary part of village Kanthapura. Rangamma was the first
choice for the women member when Moorthy takes the step to make Congress Committee
in Kanthapura. She was backbone for Moorthy. She gives her house to use
as Congress office. She was very much connected with Moorthy.
Bhatta is also one other
character of the novel Kanthapura. He is very sharp and judicious. He divides
Moorthy in two different camps. One is Moorthy Camp and second one is Anti
Moorthy Camp. Bade Khan was a police officer. He was Non Hindu of Kanthapura.
He was brought and supported by the coffee planters. They were English men.
Bade Khan was an enemy of the people of Kanthapura, as he supports the
outsiders like English Men. Ratna’s character is related to Rangamma. She is a
child widow. She was very strong and brave girl in very beginning but in
absence of Moorthy and Rangamma she became a very good leader. Later she joined
the main stream politics.
Moorthy started living
with Rangamma after the death of his mother. Moorthy was invited by Brahmin
clerks at Skeffington. It was for to create awareness among all the coolies of
the estate. When Moorthy was in the way for Kanthapura, Bade Khan hit him then
Pariah coolies were stood with Moorthy. Though he was able to follow Gandhian
Non Violance Principle, but this incident made him sad and he was unhappy after
this. All the villagers were afraid after forced by British ruler to change
their side and the government of British Ruler provoke them to inflict violent.
And they arrested Moorthy. So Rangamma was decided to go for bail but they
refused to do so. They punished Moorthy for three months strict imprisonment.
Moorthy was facing very tough time in the prison. But the women of Kanthapura
decided to fight for the freedom. So they create their own group. They named it
Women’s Volunteer Corps. The leader of the group was Rangamma. In leadership of
Rangamma, all the women of village had also started fight against cruel British
ruler. She motivates all the women by telling the story of historical
characters like Rani Laxmi Bai, Sarojini Naidu and many more. And there for
Moorthy came out from the prison and he became stronger than before. And then
he again started working for freedom. Threw his committee he was spreading the
message of non-violence. He had worked hard for to get freedom from them.
In Kanthapura, we find the rural Indian culture. Moorthy was Raja Rao had
define it very well threw out the novel. He didn’t define India through the
geographical and tropical landmarks that are in India or the kings who were
ruling India since long time. He says that they all are Indian and they
essentially share the vision called India. Raja Rao was in against of comparing
western history with the puranic history. Kanthapura was the imaginary novel of
Raja Rao. There was no actual presence of Gandhi but his thought was alive in
the characters whom they following very deeply. All the thoughts of freedom and
better life were truly effects on the mind of the villagers.
“Who
was this Gandhiji” Narsa asked Achakka this in Kanthapura. And he got reply “An
old man- a bewitching man, a saint you know...! He looks beautiful as morning
sun and he wers only a loincloth like a pariah ... He is a great man. They say
he is an incarnation of God, and that is why everybody touches his feet even
Brahmins my Son”. The novel records the Gandhian impact on a typical Indian
villege through an informal but very intimate narration of an elderly
widow,Achakka. Gandhi’s character was portrayed as a hero’s like Ram, Krishna,
Shiva in the novel “Kanthapura”. The novel defines Gandhi as a divine
reincarnation of Shiva. Kanthapura
emerges to be a laboratory of the Gandhian thought and theory. The novel is a
veritable grammar of the Gandhian myth. In
Kanthapura, religion, an integral part of culture has been used for a secular
and political purpose such as attaining Independence. Here religion has got a
very significant role to play in defining the identity of people and also of
the nation. The novel has a latent pattern to the treatment of castes and
communities of Kanthapura. The
congress workers, who were so passionate about ‘swadeshi’ and give up anything
foreign, and they humiliate the European model of nation. This idea requires a
nation state to have a singular form. A nation is a community of people who
have a common language etc. Thus in Kanthapura, Congressmen including Moorthy
follow the same model of the nation-state. Sankaru epitomises this: his
insistence on speaking Hindi even to his mother instead of the local language
Kannada; his fanatic resistance to the use of English and so on. This
conception of the nation informs that of everyone: e.g. the narrator visualises
Moorthy {when in prison} to be wearing kurta pyjama instead of dhoti. The Hindi
teacher is not from any Hindi speaking region but a Malayali [Surya Menon].
Thus, the very conception of ‘Nation’, which is conceived after the European
model of the nation-state, undermines the ‘Swadeshi’ spirit of nationalism. Any
pure form of nationhood untouched by colonialism is seriously questioned.
Conclusion:
Raja
Rao doesn’t miss the rhythm of “Indianness’ throughout the novel. In whole
novel we find everything related to India and people of India. Raja Rao had
included all the elements of Indian and Western spirit. So the novel had proved
Raja Rao an extra ordinary novelist. Kanthapura is a documentization of
philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi and the theory of Hinduism, the spirit of
nationalism and an acknowledgement of common people in India. The structure of
the novel also put a lime light on the women and Dalits and how they were
treated in the society and how because of the British rule they enjoyed certain
privileges which were otherwise next to impossible. A quote by C. Kodhndaraman
“The British rile in India gave dalits
and women an opportunity to display their anger and power which in a subtle way
foretells that they are capable of fighting any type of oppression. They can
both be admired and feared: admired for their role in the freedom struggle and
feared for the potential they represent which can subvert and transform the
status.”
Reflect the elements of Humanism and
Feminism in the novel Kanthapura. Meenakshi Mukherjee says about the Kanthapura
is on feminism “Making this old woman the narrator enables Raja Rao to mingle
facts and myths and in an effective manner. For the old woman, Jawaharlal is a
Bhratha to the Mahatma who she believes will slay Ravana so that Sita may be
freed. For her Gandhi has attained the status of god and Moorthy is regarded
Avatar in Kanthapura. The characteristically concrete imagination of the
uneducated mind pictures the Mahatma as large and blue like the Sahydan
mountain on whose slops the pilgrims climb to the top, while Moorthy is seen as
a small mountain. To her the Satyagraha becomes a religious ceremony to which
she devotes her sacred ardour.” And we can see this threw the character like
Rangamma, Ratna and Moorthy.
Raja
Rao had played the role of social critic in the novel and he was constantly in
talk with his readers, which proved the quality of his writing skill and his
mentality. He shows the glory of India threw the mother tongue of India like
Hindi and Sanskrit. He had created a microcosm of fiction. Kanthapura shows the
mirror image of the contemporary Indian society. In the beginning of the novel,
the concept of freedom and nationalism is alien to the villagers. Alans Kohn
said about nationalism: “Nationalism in India is not as a vehicle of individual
liberty but as adoration of collective power.” The element of spirituality is
brought through the use of myths and legend. It is the work of social realism.
The life here is symbolic.
In Kanthapura Moorthy’s character is reflects the
character of Gandhiji and Gandhiji was compared with the figure of god Rama. R.
s. Singh had said upon this: “It may be clarified at outset that Kanthapura, is
not an allegory because the comparision between Gandhi-British rule and
Ramam-Ravana situation is not collaborate and complete. It is only a convenient
comparison. A villager born and brought up in Indian Tradition understands
easily a contemporary problem if it is explained through the widely-known
fables, legends and religious stories of god, demons and superman The stories
of Ramayana are repeated in our village. Therefore, it is but natural that a
novel dealing with political awareness takes into consideration the rural
vocabulary and obsessive images.” Thus the novel ends as it is the end of
“Kalyuga with the Pralay”. All the villagers left the Kanthapura and settle in
Kashipura. It also indicates about civilization and modernism to the India.
Raja Rao had written a marvelous story on freedom for the history of Indian
writing. Kanthapura also came out as a symbol of our glorious literature. We
can say that it is an historical navel by Raja Rao.
