Kanthapura
Raja
Rao’s first novel Kanthapura is the story of a village in south India named
Kanthapura. Mulk Raj Anand, R.K Narayan, Raja Rao those three person are great
dramatist of the Indian Writing in English. Raj Rao is most remarkable person
of Indian Writing in English ,in Novel. 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.
‘Kanthapura’ is Raja Rao’s First
novel. Raja Rao was born in 1908 and die in 2006. He is a distinguish writer
and philosopher, is acknowledged as the author of the first major Indian novel
in English. Beginning his career in writing in Kannada for an Indian
periodical, he moved to Mercure de Frane, a Paris periodical, where he served
on the editorial board for several years.
Creative
works of Raja Rao
(1)
Kanthapura
(1938)
(2)
Cow of the Barricades and other
Stories
(3)
The Serpent and the
rope
(1960)
(4)
The cat and Shakespeare
(1965)
(5)
Comrade Kirillow
(1976)
(6)
The policeman and the
Rose
(1978)
(7)
The Chess master and his
moves
(1988)
(8)
On the Ganga
Ghat
(1989)
Kanthapura
is Rao’s first major Indian novel in English. It is published in 1938. The
novel deals with civil disobedience movement. The title of the novel is adopted
by village Kanthapura. The title is apt and suitable for the novel is about a
south Indian village named ‘KANTHAPURA’. The story is narrated in flashback by
‘Achakka’.
The
novel recodes the Gandhian impact on atypical Indian village through an
informal but very intimate narration of an elderly widow, Acchakka. Gandhi is
again portrayed her as Rama, Krishna, and Shiva whose birth has a divine
significance. As the novel says, once Valmiki, the great sage and the writer of
Ramayana, in the novel goes to the Lord Brahma and says:
“O
Brahma, you who have sent us the Prince propagators
Of the
Holy Law and sages that smote the darkness of
Ignorance,
you have forgotten us so long that men have
Come
from across the seas and the oceans to trample on
Our
wisdom and spit on virtue itself….. O Brahma, deign to
Send us
one of your gods so that he may incarnate on
Earth
and bring back light and plenty to your enslaved
Daughter.
O’ sage…siva himself will forthwith go and
Incarnate
on the earth and free my beloved daughter from
Her
enforced slavery.”
Kanthapura
does not exist but it is a imagination of Raja Rao’s mind. Kanthapura village
is situated on the Western Ghats in the Valley of Himmavathi River. There it
lies ‘curled up like a child on its mother’s lap’. This single image makes the
village spirit into life. The reader is able to visualize it as it as lies,
sheltered and secluded like a child in its mother’s lap.
Raja Rao
in Kanthapura has portrayed women as active participants or revolutionists
against the social and political disturbances during the satygraha movement in
India. In the opening chapter of the novel there is a folk song which is an
invocation it the goddesses Kenchamma, whom the villagers believe to have
killed a demon to save their young ones:
“
Kenchamma, Kenchamma ,
Goddess
bening and bounteous,
Mother
of earth , blood of lie ,
Harvest
– queen , rain – crowned,
Kenchamma,
Kenchamma ,
Goddess
benign and bounteous “
Village’s
Cotemporary Situation
(I)
Social Background
(II)
Religion Background
(III)
Political Background
- Social Background:
“I will
not let anyone walk through my mind with their Dirty feet”.
Gandhiji….
The
novel has a dormant pattern to the treatment of castes and communities
Kanthapura, a tiny village representative of any other village in south Indian.
There were four divisions in caste….
(1)
Brahmin
(2)
Parihar
(3)
Potter
(4)
Weaver
There
were conflict between castisim and other issues, but finally all get together
and helped each other for the struggle for independence.
- Religion Background:
“I like
your Christ, I do not like your Christians, and your Christians are so unlike
your Christ.”
Gandhiji…
The
village has a people who have strong rigid and orthodox background of
religious. The Brahmin is upper cast of society. In the Kanthapura people are
ignorant, poor and superstitious, but they are also deeply religious. They were
faith in Goodness ‘Kenchamma’. She is in the centre of the village. Marriage,
sickness, death, ploughing, harvesting, arrest, release all are watched by
Kenchamma. There may be small pox or influence around but you make vow to the
Goodness, the next morning, you walked and you find the fever has left you.
- Political Background:
“Lift the
flag high,
O. Lift
the flag high,
Brothers,
Sisters, Friends and Mother,
This is
the flag of the revolution……”
Gandhiji…
Kanthapura
is one the earliest example of Gandhian Novel. Raja Rao’s novel is the most
powerful of Indo – Anglian novel, portraying the impact of the Gandhian
Movement on the Indian people. Kanthapura is long narrative novel telling of
heroic acts, the birth and death of a hero. So it is an Epic. Kanthapura is
telling of impact that Gandhi had on the nation. He concerted the whole nation
into an army of Freedom fighters. Gandhiji was no less than the hero of an
epic, the freedom struggle of India was an epic struggle. Thousands of people
sacrifice their lives. It was remaining in the background through the novel;
Gandhi is no doubt the hero of movement on a small village Kanthapura. Here, in
the Kanthapura Moorthy is the Gandhi and Hero of the village.
Moorthy also left his study and hope
of a glorious future for the sake of country; he devoted his life to the
struggle of Independence after he had a vision of Gandhiji and worked of other
social evils. Moorthy worked for upliftment of Parihas as Gandhji also helped Harijan.
The
Gandhian movement was brought to Kanthapura by Moorthy and to the boy of
village. He went to from door to door to tell the people about Gandhi and his
views and principle. He distributed Charkhas among the people of Kanthapura at
free of cost. He had contact with the city congress and Charkhas were given to
him by free of cost for the distributing among the villagers in the beginning
he found it difficult to convince the villagers to take Charkha and started
spinning, do the on a regular basis, ultimately.
This all
are Gandhian ideas which Gandhiji has used in his life and used into freedom
fighting. Though Gandhiji is not present in the whole novel but only Gandhian
ideas remain and can be found which were adopted by Moorthy. These ideas helped
the people of Kanthapura to get freedom from Britishers. Moorthy sticks to
above Gandhian Ideas and reforms the position of village including Social,
Religious, Political background. Moorthy did not stop working for the
upliftment of pariahs though swami has said to him that he would be
excommunicated. But Moorthy did not take it seriously like Gandhi he also kept
a fast of three days because he felt that he had not been able to live up ideas
of the Mahatma. He held himself responsible for the skeffington coffee estate.
After the fast he started the ‘Don’t touch the Government Campaign’ unless his
leadership the people of Kanthapura picked non – violence like a true followers
of Gandhiji. He was arrested by police many times and during his trial, he
behaved like a true Gandhian.
In the
novel Moorthy places the very Gandhian programmer of action before the people
of ‘ Kanthapura ‘. Gandhi’s message of truth and non – violence is carried to
the remote part by fellow workers , communities are formed , Satyagrehies
trained to carry out the programmer. Publicity material is brought from the
city and freely distributed; Moorthy inspires them to Charkha spinning and
weaving; literacy is spread; and they are trained to be non – violent in the
face of repression by the rulers .
The novel has a Gandhian ideology
and freedom struggle. The story of Satyagrahi’s moved forward steadily till it
reached to its climax. It was a story of people of a small village who realized
that they never new to rise and fight for freedom of their motherland. They
made effort in their direction and they fail. They left Kanthapura and settled
in Kashipura as a result of the final clash between freedom fighters and the
solider. Many people died and many people injured. Then whole village was set
on fire and destroyed. Many people arrested. The remaining people left the
village and never came back.
