23 Nationalism and Resistance: Raja Rao, Kanthapura

Ananya Bhattacharjee

Introducing the Author

Raja Rao is one of the most acclaimed writers of Indian English Literature. He was born in 1909 in Mysore and belonged to a south Indian Brahmin family. He did his matriculation from Hyderabad and then went to Aligarh in order to pursue higher education. There he was inspired by Prof. Dickinson to study French language and literature. He got his B.A. degree from a college in Hyderabad and received a scholarship from Hyderabad University with the help of which he went to France and started studying French literature there. He did his Ph.D. under the guidance of Prof. Cazamian at the University of Sorbonne. He lived in France for quite a long time from 1928 to 1939. He returned to India in 1940 and lived for some six to seven years and again went back to France in 1946 and stayed there till 1956. While living in France he got married to an American actress named Katherine and also has a son by her. His first novel Kanthapura was written during the times when he was living in France. Before going to France Raja Rao wrote a number of essays to convey love for his nation and also show how fascinated he was by Indian culture and tradition and the philosophy of the Vedas. His works show a perfect blend of eastern and western sensibility. As far as narration is concerned he was a lot inspired by James Joyce, Joseph Conrad, Valmiki and Ved Vyas. The novel Serpent and the Rope shows his feeling of love towards Indian culture quite vividly. He received the Sahitya Akademi Award for the same novel and this was called the best Indian English novel ever written. He has also been awarded with the Padma Bhushan by the Indian government and has achieved national and international recognition.

Raja Rao was the famous novelist of the Gandhian era whose works show an acute consciousness of the forces that came into existence by the Gandhian movement. His works include Kanthapura (1938), The Serpent and the Rope (1960) and The Cat and Shakespeare (1965). Besides these novels he has written a novella called The Policeman and the Rose (1978) and a number of short stories in collections titled The Cow of the Barricades and Other Stories (1947) and The Policeman and the Rose and Other Stories (1978). His short stories can be divided into two categories. The first collection contains remarkable stories such as Javni, Akkayya, Narasiga, The Little Gram Shop, The Cow and the Barricade and Nimka. The second collection of short stories contains much elements of fantasy although realism serves as the background. The stories are named Companions, Khandesh, Kanakapala, Protector of Gold, The Policeman and the Rose, India: a Fable and The Premierre of Shakuntala.

Introducing the Novel

Kanthapura by Raja Rao is an Indian novel in English that deals with the influence of Gandhi’s freedom movement in a South Indian Village named Kanthapura. The novel is a portrayal of the situation of India during the tumultuous period from 1919 to 1931. Kanthapura and its scene of action is a representation of what was happening all around India during those years. Gandhi as the leader of the nation does not physically appear in the novel as is shown in The Untouchables by Mulk Raj Anand but his presence is always felt in the form of the various nationalist movements and resistance against British dominance which was gaining grounds during that era.

The protagonist of the novel is a young and city-educated man named Moorthy. He is one of the staunch followers of Gandhi and the civil disobedience movement finds its way into this remote south Indian village, Kanthapura, with the arrival of Moorthy from the city who has some messages from Gandhi to deliver. He makes an endeavour to go to every house in the village also to the pariah quarters to pass on Gandhi’s message and explain how important this struggle for Independence was. Moorthy urges the villagers to opt for charka spinning and thereby make their own clothes and boycott foreign goods. Eventually a Congress Committee and a volunteer corps are set up in the village and the publicity material from the city is distributed in Kanthapura free of cost. The volunteers are given proper training so as to maintain the non- violent stand during the period of government repression. During the time when Moorthy introduced the freedom struggle, he was supported by Ratna, a progressive lady of the village, and Patel Range Gowda who was the Patel in Kanthapura.

The government tries to take firm steps in order to scourge the attempts of the followers of Gandhi and his principles and hinder the nationalist movement. People like Bade Khan, Bhatta and Swami are the agents of the Britishers and oppose Moorthy’s freedom struggle strongly. Moorthy is also excommunicated by Bhatta and Swami for his meeting with the pariahs. Although some people are affected but the majority of the people remain high spirited regarding the freedom struggle movement. The news of Mahatma Gandhi’s Dandi March and his breaking of the Salt Law reach the village and boost the enthusiasm of the people of Kanthapura. Then the Satyagraha movement is evoked throughout the country which also has a great impact upon the people of the village. Under the leadership of Moorthy the village organise Satyagraha outside the toddy plantation. As a reaction to this, the police took to lathi-charging and a large number of people were injured. Some of them were sent to prison but the movement did not stop. The villagers also adopted picketing outside the Skeffington Coffee Estate and this time the opposition from the government was more severe. Most of them got wounded and the repression did not spare women and children who were hurt seriously. This scenario deeply affected the feelings of the workers of the estate and they also participated in the movement. Slogans echoed in the place and people shouted “Mahatma Gandhi ki jai”. Many people were sent to jail including Moorthy and a long term imprisonment was declared. During Moorthy’s absence, Ratna handles the working of the Congress in the village. A large number of women are brought together and trained for the upcoming struggle for Independence.

The next move of the villagers is the no-tax campaign. People are made aware of the fact that the British were unjustly taking land revenues from the ignorant and poor people and so they offered resistance against paying the taxes. The villagers are motivated to carry on the movement peacefully and remain non-violent even in the worst circumstances. But gradually violence breaks out and the government adopts ruthless measures to bring down the mob. They offer strong resistance against the merciless oppression but ultimately gave up their struggle. The villagers are compelled to leave and find refuge in remote village miles away from Kanthapura. The kind of brave resistance shown by the people of Kanthapura and also in other different parts of the country came as a jolt to the British government which was ultimately overthrown in 1947.

Characterisation in the Novel

Moorthy-He is the central figure in the novel and is called the Village Gandhi. Inspired by Gandhi’s philosophy he starts his own movement towards Independence in the village of Kanthapura. Being an educated man, he works towards eradicating superstitions from the minds of the villagers and made them understand the economy of Khadi and the significance of charkha. He inspired the villagers to offer resistance against the British government and work for their Independence following the principles of Gandhi.

Ratna-She is a young and educated woman with a liberal and forward-looking outlook on life. She was widowed at a young age but does not lead a life as a conventional widow. She wears dresses and make up which is strictly prohibited for widows but she does not pay any heed to the criticisms that are made by the society. She is bold and follows her own path of life and chooses to support Moorthy in the freedom struggle. Ratna plays an important role in the whole movement conducting Harikathas, trains the women members of the volunteer corps and manages the congress work in Moorthy’s absence.

Patel Range Gowda-He is called as the Tiger of the village due to his forceful and commanding personality. He is a government servant and man of immense power and authority in the village and everyone follows his orders. But he also is drawn towards Gandhi’s ideas and values and provides full support and help to Moorthy in order to carry out the movement successfully. He is a generous and kind man who helps people who are poor and needy.

Bade Khan-He is the policeman in the village of Kanthapura. Being a Muslim he finds it difficult to get a house for him to stay in. After long struggle and final settlement, he starts to collect information secretively from the village and passed it to the government. He has been endowed with the duty of maintaining law and order in the village and also opposes Gandhian movement within the village.

Swami-He is a Brahmin who is narrow and conservative in his outlook towards life. He resides in the city and is quite an influential person amongst the orthodox upper class people. Swami is in compliance with the British government and causes many hindrances in the freedom movement. He is responsible for getting Moorthy excommunicated and also a reason for his mother’s death.

Bhatta-He is the first Brahmin who is seen as a contrast to the character of Moorthy. He acts as an agent of the British government and works along with Swami and Bade Khan to fail the Gandhian movement that was taking place in the village. He was penniless during his early life but gradually earned a lot of money by adding several acres of the lands of the peasants to his own territory. In him we see a degradation of values of the older generation Brahmins who exploited the ignorant to serve his own means.

The White Owner of Skeffington Coffee Estate-This estate is a large coffee plantation near to the village of Kanthapura. The owner of this plantation is a white man who is famously known as the ‘hunter sahib’. He is in a habit of using a hunter or a whip in his hand to beat the workers of his plantation who ignored their work. The working and living conditions of the workers are pathetic but nobody speaks a word against the hunter sahib. However he also has some good qualities in him. He gives toffees to the children of the workers and when they fall ill mostly due to malaria, he goes and distributes quinine tablets to them.

Advocate Shankar-Another Gandhi man, Advocate Shankar is a staunch follower of his principles. He works in his own way towards the freedom struggle of the nation. He wears khadi and rarely goes to attend events where people are seen in dresses made of foreign cloth. During Gandhi’s stay in prison, he keeps fast as he believes that it is way towards self-purification and spiritual strength. He does not fight cases which are based on lie and strictly follows the path of truth.

Waterfall Venkamma-Such a name is given to the lady because she is often seen shedding tears like a waterfall. She is a pitiable figure who takes delight in the failures of others. She is jealous of people who flourish especially of Rangamma because she possesses a big house. She hates Moorthy since he declined the offer of marrying her second daughter. She also dislikes Ratna for her unconventionality and abuses her all the time. Venkamma is also against the freedom movement and takes the side of Swami and Bhatta to oppose it.

Narsamma-Moorthy’s mother, Narsamma is a conservative and orthodox woman does not have any understanding of the freedom movement in which her son was engaged in. But she expects a lot from her son who she believes will have a bright career in future. Unfortunately she is broken down at the news of her son’s excommunication by the Swami and faces death as a result of this shock.

Rangamma-An educated lady that she is, Rangamma is a widow with progressive ideas. She is an enlightened person as she always keeps herself updated with the day-to-day progress in and around her by reading newspapers. She is actively involved in the struggle for Independence and offers a helping hand to Moorthy in organising the Congress work within Kanthapura.

Achakka-She is the narrator of the novel. Introduced to the readers as a typical Indian story- teller, we see Achakka as a grandmother who narrates incidents about her village to a new comer. It is through her that the story unfolds and also we get a commentary on the lives of the people and the history of Kanthapura.

Themes and Issues in the novel

Nationalism and Resistance

Raja Rao’s Kanthapura depicts the Gandhian freedom movement during the 1930s. The novel mainly deals with the theme of struggle for Independence but also aims at raising the consciousness of the people and social reform at large. Gandhi believed that Swaraj could be achieved if the people of the nation are socially reformed and awakened. The social reform aims at eradicating evils and superstitions from the society, freedom from economic injustices meted out by the Britishers which was possible through boycotting foreign goods, spinning one’s own cloth, removing rigid social caste system like untouchability and enforcing educational opportunities. All these issues are represented in the novel vividly and act as active forces towards nationalist movement and resistance from British rule.

Kanthapura offers a glimpse of nationalism in India under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi. We see how Gandhi was able to hold almost the entire nation together and work towards the Independence from British rule. People from every part of India even the remote village of Kanthapura observed fasting and showed their integrity with Gandhi as he initiated his Dandi March. Many towns and villages started their won independence movement and set up volunteer groups which brought together people, introduced charkha and formed ambulance corps to take care of the wounded satyagrahis. Moorthy sets a good example of the innumerable men who were inspired with patriotic feelings to such an extent that they left schools and colleges while some resigned their jobs and many renounced their expensive cloths made of foreign materials to join the movement. Ratna and Rangamma stand for the women section of the society who also took interest in nationalism. There was strong resistance seen towards the British government in the protests of the people in the form of dharnas, picketings and satyagrahas. The voice of the people echoed Gandhi ki Jai and Inquilab Zindabad in order to show their solidarity and boost up their spirits. The people observed Satyagraha outside the toddy plantation which was followed by the picketing outside the Skeffington Coffee estate and the no-tax campaign. Many satyagrahis like Moorthy, Rangamma and Ratna were sent to jail for a period of time. However this did not deter their patriotic feelings for the nation and the struggle towards freedom continued. Minor characters like Advocate Shankar also showed his national solidarity and patriotism by following Gandhi ideals. He is always seen clad in Khadi clothes and never took up a false case in his life. Moreover he did not demand money from the poor people and in this leisure time he went to a school and helped the Hindi teacher as he believed that Hindi would become the national language of India in near future.

The British government and its ways of working in India are depicted in varied manners. The white man in the Skeffington Coffee Estate stands as an example of the colonial rulers in India who always exploited the native people. The government hired people like Bade Khan, Bhatta and the Swami who worked as their representatives and opposed the freedom movement. The people who are arrested and sent to prison are treated cruelly by the authorities. There are references in the novel where we know about the atrocities done towards the Indian people in the Jallianwalla Bagh in Amritsar. Although there is every effort made by the government to stop the movement, the people showed undaunted resistance against it first under the leadership of Moorthy and then Ratna. Finally they had to surrender but the unfailing nationalist spirit with which they fought had an indelible impact upon the government. This was happening in the other parts of the nation as well. Resistance against the British rule all over the country culminated in their leaving India in 1947.

Regionalism and the Indian Sensibility

Many novels represent the topographic aspects of particular regions on which the story is set. A place is described with all its features such as hills, valleys, rivers and so on. Apart from these the life and customs of people living in that region along with their habits, manners and language are also depicted. Such novels can be referred to as a regional novel and Kanthapura is no exception. In this novel, we get a vivid account of its geographical location, its crops, the economic condition, the caste system, the blind beliefs of the people, illiteracy and so on. This selected region whose people stand for undying patriotism and heroism become symbolic of the world at large, a miniature form of the world that was beyond it. As we move further into the action of the novel we see that the picture presented speaks of a larger and wider world and not just limited to its own region. For example we can consider the case of the workers in the Skeffington Coffee Estate and compare it with the working conditions of other people working under the colonial rule. The scenario is almost similar and therefore we can say that Raja Rao has shown not the uniqueness of this particular region by talking of its local colour, the local legend, Goddess Kenchamma, local rituals and so on but also takes into consideration universal human feelings, passions and suffering.

Coming to the local legend of Kanthapura, there is the Goddess Kenchamma who protects the village and its people and controls their destiny. We are given a description of the Goddess, Kenchamma is our Goddess. Great and bounteous is she. She killed a demon ages ago, a demon that had come to ask our young ones as food and our young women as wives. Kenchamma came from heaven-it was the sage Tirpura who had made penances to bring her down and she waged a battle and fought so many a night that the blood soaked and soaked into the earth, and that is why the Kenchamma hill is red.

She is believed to have helped the village at all times when they were in need of her. She had showered blessings in the form of rain when it was much needed by the peasants in order to save their crops. The Goddess is said to have never failed them. However the villagers perform certain rituals to please their Goddess. In the novel there is mention of the ritual where the bulls are yoked together to plough under the Rohini star. There also is a belief that during the beginning of the month of Kartik blue and bright eyed gods can be seen passing by. Kanthapura has its own legendary history or sthala-purana but Raja Rao has created a regional novel that deals with a far more important theme that is the freedom struggle and self-sacrifice of the villagers for their motherland.

Raja Rao has represented the Indian sensibility in the novel in a variety of ways. The theme is typically Indian which deals with the fight for freedom against the British and the treatment is also Indian in so far as the way of story-telling is concerned. Raja Rao has also made ample use of Indian imagery, proverbs and idioms in the novel. We also find references to peasant speech and many words Indian words are used without any English translation for the word such as Ahimsa, Harikatha, Dhoti and many others. The narrator in the novel can be compared with the most typical of Indian story-teller, the Grandmother. In Kanthapura, the narrator is Achakka who is also a grandmother and she narrates the story to a new comer. Her narrative style is typically Indian, use of long and quick speech, digressions which are full of gossips, use of blanks and so on. The theme of Shakti-worship also depicts the Indian sensibility which pervades throughout Kanthapura. There are different ways of looking at the forms of Shakti in the novel. One can consider the immense tolerance and spirit that the women folk showed during the atrocities done to them by the Britishers in their protests. Although Indian women are considered to be meek and docile but Shakti rises in them during at adverse situations and they display much courage and solidarity as shown by almost every women of Kanthapura.

Narrative Art and Technique

It is quite interesting to note the art and technique of narration in Kanthapura. In the Preface to the novel Raja Rao says that telling has not been easy. He himself comments, “We in India think quickly, we talk quickly, and our paths are paths interminable.” He captures this swiftness of Indian life in the novel where he uses the narrator, Achakka, to depict the tempo of Indian life in her narration as well the theme with which she deals. According to Srinivas Iyengar, Achakka’s manner of narrating the tale is “characteristically Indian, feminine with a spontaneity that is coupled with swiftness…” Achakka not only narrates but also constantly comments on the characters and the incidents which provide a scope of not over-idealising. The narrative acts on two different levels, there is a main plot and a sub-plot of the novel and both are fused together to make a complete sense of the text. The main plot is the Gandhian movement and its influence upon the village of Kanthapura. The sub plot deals with the incidents of the Skeffington Coffee Estate and gives us a detailed account of the exploitation of the Indian workers by the British. The Independence movement acts as a binding force for both the people of the village as well as the estate workers who also join the movement later in the novel. There is enough use of suspense in the novel which heightens the dramatic effect. For example when Moorthy was set free from prison people awaited his arrival with much suspense and anxiety, “And hearts began to beat and yet we saw no Moorthy, and yet no Moorthy, and yet no Moorthy, and yet not a hair of his head was seen…” The use of repetition intensifies the effect of suspense and thrill in the novel.

The narrative comprises of a fine blend of poetry and fantasy that goes along with the main structure of the novel. There are many poetic passages in the novel which are imparted to the ordinary to make it look unique and uncommon. The coming of the rains in the month of Kartik is described in poetic language, “The rains have come, the fine, swift-footing rains that skip over the bronze mountains, tiptoe the crags…” A similar use of poetic language is seen in the description of the festival of Diwali, Kartik has come to Kanthapura…with the glow of lights and the unpressed footsteps of the wandering gods; while lights from clay trays and red lights from copper strands, and diamonds lights that glow from the bowers of entrance leaves…and gods walk by lighted streets…Kartik is a month of the gods.

The elements of fantasy and poetry are intermingled with each other and touch upon those ideas and experiences that are typically Indian and portrays the Indian sensibility.

Story-board

Raja Rao: His Life and Works

• Raja Rao was born in 1909 in Mysore and belonged to a south Indian Brahmin family.
• He did his matriculation from Hyderabad and then went to Aligarh in order to pursue higher education.
• He was fascinated by Indian culture and tradition and the philosophy of the Vedas.
• His works include Kanthapura (1938), The Serpent and the Rope (1960) and The Cat and Shakespeare (1965).
• Besides these novels he has written a novella called The Policeman and the Rose (1978) and a number of short stories in collections titled The Cow of the Barricades and Other Stories (1947) and The Policeman and the Rose and Other Stories (1978).
• He received the Sahitya Akademi Award for the novel, The Serpent and the Rope.

Kanthapura

• Kanthapura by Raja Rao is an Indian novel in English that deals with the influence of Gandhi’s freedom movement in a South Indian Village named Kanthapura.
• The novel is a portrayal of the situation of India during the tumultuous period from 1919 to 1931.
• Kanthapura and its scene of action is a representation of what was happening all around India during those years.
• Gandhi as the leader of the nation does not physically appear in the novel but his presence is always felt in the form of the various nationalist movements and resistance against British dominance which was gaining grounds during that era.
• The protagonist of the novel is a young and city-educated man named Moorthy.
• He is one of the staunch followers of Gandhi and the civil disobedience movement finds its way into this remote south Indian village, Kanthapura, with the arrival of Moorthy from the city who has some messages from Gandhi to deliver.

Themes and Issues in the Novel:

• Kanthapura offers a glimpse of nationalism in India under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi.
• We see how Gandhi was able to hold almost the entire nation together and work towards the Independence from British rule.
• People from every part of India even the remote village of Kanthapura observed fasting and showed their integrity with Gandhi as he initiated his Dandi March.
• Ratna and Rangamma stand for the women section of the society who also took interest in nationalism.
• There was strong resistance seen towards the British government in the protests of the people in the form of dharnas, picketings and satyagrahas.

Narrative Structure:

• The narrative acts on two different levels, there is a main plot and a sub-plot of the novel and both are fused together to make a complete sense of the text.
• The main plot is the Gandhian movement and its influence upon the village of Kanthapura.
• The sub plot deals with the incidents of the Skeffington Coffee Estate and gives us a detailed account of the exploitation of the Indian workers by the British.

Reference

• Iyengar, K. R. Srinivasa, Indian Writing In English, Indiana University: Sterling Publishers Pvt.Ltd, 2012.
• Mercanti, Stefano, The Rose and the Lotus: Partnership Studies in the Works of Raja Rao,NewYork: Rodopi, 2009.
• Narasimhaiah, C.D. Raja Rao Indian Writer Series Vol. 4, the University of Michigan: Arnold-Heinemann India, 1973.
• Prasad, Amar Nath and Kumar Singh, Nagendra, Indian Fiction in English: Roots and Blossoms,Volume 1, New Delhi: Sarup & Sons, 2007.
• Piciucco, Pier Paolo (ed.), A Companion to Indian Fiction in English, New Delhi: AtlanticPublishers, 2004.
• Sharma, Kaushal, Raja Rao: A Study of His Themes and Techniques, New Delhi: Sarup and Sons, 2005.
• www.therajaraoendowment.org/work.html.
• https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Kanthapura.html?id..