Critical analysis of Kanthapura

Topic:  Critical analysis of Kanthapura

Paper Name: Indian Writing in English

Paper: 4

Name: Patel Kinjal

Class: M.A part 1, SEM 1

Year: 2013                                           

Submitted to: S.B Gardi Department Of English Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University (Gujarat- India)

INTRODUCTIONS:

Raja Rao makes with them a remarkable triad 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 Gandhian 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 past tradition. His four books up to date are the novels.

-       Kanthapura 1938

-       The serpent and the Rope 1960

-       The cat and Shakespeare 1965

-       The cow of the barricades 1947

A collection of short stories Raja Rao hails from the Mysore state, and though the action of one of his novels strays for afield – as far, indeed, as France and English – his heart is effectively tethered to his immutable ancient moorings with the strong invisible strings of his traditional Hindu Culture.

As regards the ‘action ‘of the story, it has a physical as well as a psychological side. The physical action has superficial global sweep: Rama’s travels take him to Benares, Allahabad, Mussoorie, Delhi, Bombay; then to ‘Aix – en – provence, Montpalais, Pau, Cambridge, London; back again to Hyderabad, Bangalore, Hariharapura (his village), Kodaikanal, Madura, Bombay; and finally to Aix-en- provence, Oxford  London, Paris. He visits India in 1951 when his father dies, he revisits India, next year to attend his Sister Saroja’s marriage, and in 1954, towards the end of the novel, he plans to return to India a third time to work out his salvation in diligence. Such is the bare time – and – space framework of the physical action. Within it ate a whole host of interesting characters – a truly cosmopolitan crowd comprising men and women drawn from India. France, England, Russia, Spain.

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 mere fiction. Gandhi is the invisible God, Moorthy is the visible Avatar. The reign of the rodmen is Asuric rule, and it is resisted by the Devdas, the Satyagrahis. The characters sharply divide into two camps: the Rulers (and their supporters) on the one hand and the Satyagrahis (and their sympathizers) on the other. These are – various other divisions too:-

Orthodoxy is pitted against reform, exploitation against sufferance, the planter against the coolies, and the corrupt official against the self – respecting villagers. But these lines grow hazy when the main issue between the Bureaucracy and the Satyagrahis is joined for now most people are on one or the other side of the barricades. It is 1930: Gandhi marches with his select band of followers to the salt pans at Dandi to break the salt laws. Suddenly the entire country is engaged in passive resistance of ‘alien’ authority.

Raja Rao has put the story into the mouth of a ‘grandmother’ – although the feminine touches and mannerisms, the seemingly – effortless rotation of the tongue, the meandering sentences and massive paragraphs are characteristic of the narrator – there is nevertheless consummate ‘art’ in all this riot of artlessness, there is careful ‘selection’ behind the apparent abundance of details, and there is an adroit polarization in the plot less grandmother’s tale Moorthy is Gandhi’s man, the Satyagrahis, the leader of the non-violent movement in Kanthapura; there is at the other extreme, is the symbol of oppression the soulless bureaucracy made visibly repulsive. But the villagers are unafraid:

-       What is a policeman before a Gandhi’s man?  Tell me, does a boar stand before a lion or a jackal before an elephant?

There is, then Bhatta the symbol of usury and false – orthodoxy and low cunning. There is Range Gowda the symbol of sense and stolidity, a sort of Sardar Patel to Moorthy the village Mahatma. The river – Himavarthy is herself a presence and the Goddess Kenchamma of the hill is a presence too, the protectress of the people, the guardian of Kanthapura. And beyond the Hill is the Arabian Sea, and for beyond it the land from which the Red men have come. In Kanthapura there is a Brahmin street, a Potters’ quarter, a weavers’ quarter, a sudra quarter, a Pariah quarter – how absurdly true of the typical Indian village just beyond the village lies the Skeffington Coffee Estate, the symbol of the impact of – industrialization on the traditional community life at Kanthapura. In but a few pages of nervous – description, life in the Coffee Estate  is vivified in lurid colors, and incidents like those realistically described in Anand’s two leaves and a Bud are here just glanced at in hurry, suggesting much in little as in as impossible nightmare. The people of Kanthapura wear tell-tale nick – names; waterfall venkamma, nose – scratching Nanjamma, front house Akkamma, temple Rangappa, Coffee – planter Ramayana, Patwari, Nanjundia, Gold-brangie somanna, cardamom, - field Ramachandra and there is, of course corner – house Moorthy who goes through life as “a noble cow, quiet, generous serene, deference and Brahmanism, a very Prince….”.  Already, when the story begins, Gandhi is a legendary figure to the villagers, and is the subject of bhajans and harikirthans. Jayaramachar jumbles with splendid unconcern traditional mythology and contemporaneous politics:

Siva is the three-eyed, and Swaraj too is three-eyed: self-purification. Hindu – Muslim unity, Khaddar.

Gandhi is Siva himself in human shape: he is engaged in slaying the serpent of foreign rule, Kaliya. Bhajans and Harikirthans mix religion and Politics freely and often purposefully, the reading of a news paper becomes as serious a discipline as the reverent reading of the Gita, and hand spinning is elevated into a daily ritual like Puja. The walls of orthodoxy are suddenly breached: revolution comes as flood and carries all before it. Apart from Moorthy, the leading spirits of the Gandhian revolution at Kanthapura are Rangamma, Range Gowda and the girly Ratna. In the end it truly becomes a mass movement the villagers comprising men and women of all the castes and professions and the laborers of the Coffee Estate readily meeting the onslaught of the bureaucracy.

Class Structure:

-       Untouchability

-       Structure of the village

-       Superstitions among people

-       Exploitation due to class

-       Caste and creed

-       Class discrimination

-       Society and discrimination

We see all the structure in deeply.

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 have to take bath and go Kashi for Purification purpose.

Structure of the village:

In the village house were the symbols of status. There were less government servants in this village. Those who were there got respect. There was the house of Post master. He lived in two storied building. Palwari had glass paned windows. Besides these, this village has pariah quarter “a Potter’s Weaver’s and Sudra quarter and Brahmin. ‘ There were only round about hundred houses. The houses are individualized and particularized.  

 Superstitions among people:

In this village people are religious – minded. They lack education they believe in superstitions. People accepted Hinduism. When a policemen ‘Khan’ comes to the village for their welfare it was very difficult for him to get a room to live. Their lives were surrounded of many superstitions.

Exploitation due to class:

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

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.

Class discrimination:

Wealthy people ruled the village. Bhatt who came in village with nothing became prosperous. He did not want others to marry second time but he himself married teenage girl. He got dowry too. When Moorthy goes to Pariah’s house for some work, people started back biting and the news reached his mother. His mother old Narsimma worries a lot. She tells her some not is break social norms.

 Society and discrimination:

When Moorthy visited Pariahs Family, he was well treated but villagers started speaking about him. He was supposed to be out-caste. People especially orthodox women were against him.

Raja Rao’s Kanthapura has reconstructions of his own village, Harihalli or Hariharapura Kanthapura is the miniature of India. This book gives us social, political, religious and mythical scenario of 1930s. Kanthapura deals with the condition of Indian village during the struggle for independence.

In ‘Kanthapura’ tales within tales are found like cabbage peels. Tales from mythology became part of their life that frequently leaves their – conversation with them. Moorthy and seen becomes Rama and brother Laxman, need a Sita to make the picture complete. Sometimes Moorthy becomes Prahlad and Hanuman. Mohandas Gandhi comes to destroy the Red-men, as Krishna had the serpent Kali, Gandhi and Moorthy are compared respectively to Ram and Hanuman, where as Jawaharlal to Bharath. The people believe that Gandhiji might not have to go to sea to manufacture salt because the Gods might spare this ordeal even before his. Vow is fulfilled as they had for Harishchandra.

Accordingly to a critic – “there are no exact points of correspondence in those analogies but them leave an immediate impact on the illiterate. Indian villagers and explain to them the political situation of India in the twenties very successfully.” 

The central myth of Kanthapura is given mythical background. The myth is of Ramayana where the story goes like this Rama is the hero and Sita is his wife. Laxman is Rams brother. The villain is Ravens. In myth Ravens wants to marry Sita. He goes to forest where Rama, Laxman and Sita lived. Taking the advantage of Sita’s loneness in the cottage Ravens kidnaps her and brings her to Lanka. To rescue Sita from Ravens. Rama, Laxman, Hanuman and others attack Lanka Raven’s country. They rescue Sita offer a long fight.

Here, in Kanthapura the central myth is of Rama – Sita – Ravens. Which is used to illustrate the fight between Mahatma Gandhi and British i.e. Ramaand and Ravan? Sita is the three eyed, God, so is swaraj. Parvati wooed and won Siva through penances, so does Gandhi Endeavour to attain independence through ordeals. Independence is like Sita sullied at the hands of Raven and Gandhi, like Rama strives to regain her. Gandhi’s visit to England for the Round table – conference is like the visit of Rama to Lanka after Ravan’s defeat. Gandhiji as per as Indian history is concerned attended the round table conference in order to negotiate for Indian’s freedom war and gave fake promises to free us after the world war. Anyways its history how let’s come to Kanthapura’s mythical mingles.

If Gandhiji is Rama, Jawaharlal Nehru is Bharat. Further the Mahatma is called Mohandas, Mohan is lord krishna’s neme. At very early age of his life he defeated venomous serpent. Same way Gandhi tries to slay the serpent of the foreign rule. Here it should be noted that Rama and Krishha both are the incarnations of Lord Vishnu. Moorthy is the hero of Kanthapura who sees Lord Krishna safe on the Pipal leaf and Prahlad safe on through fire. Moorthy – Ram and seenu – laxman are to be seen. The agent of the swami also uses the notion of Ram – Rajya and of the rule of ten – heated Ravan.

The technique of story telling is Indian and like technique of the Mahabharat and the Ramayan, it tells and interesting tale, without Punctuation and prepositions but developing the tempo of Indian life. The technique corresponds with the theme. The grandma narrates the story, though in English in an idiom, different from that of the British and that corresponds to generation caught in the throes of exploitation, injustice, and slavery that yearn for independence. Kanthapura is a tediously long tale.

The Indian sensibility is best shown in the images proverbs, phrase, idioms, pictures and literal translation of Indian expression. The images are drawn from Indian mythology, legends history and natural phenomena found in India  It is in the image that the three strands of the story are clothes. The all embracing character of the Indian religion is conveyed through the installation and consecration of the Linga, the Rama festival, the Krishna festival and many other marked mass celebrations, congregational prayer drawing all segments of the society of Kanthapura to a common forum.

Concusion:

“Raja Rao’s Kanthapura is one of the finest novels 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.  Young Moorthy, back from the City with “ New Ideas “ cuts across the ancients barriers of caste to unite the villagers in non-violent action – which is met with violence by landlords and Police. The dramatic tale unfolds in a poetic, almost mythical style which conveys as never before the rich textures of Indian rural life. The narrator is an old woman, imbued with the 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 spirit of India’s traditional folk-epics. This edition includes extensive notes on Indian myths, religion, social customs, and the independence movement which fill out the background for the American reader’s more complete understanding and enjoyment.”

Sources: Net and Text