Women in Raja Raos Kanthapura - 5333 Words

Towards a Limited Emancipation: Women in Raja Rao s } Kanthapura S E N A T H W . P E R E RA Kanthapura thus far have focussed for the most part on the manner in which the novel characterizes the Indian renaissance under Gandhis leadership. The approaches taken by M . K. Naik and K. S. Ramamurti are typical in this regard. Naik declares, in Dimensions of Indian English Literature, that WIU IS UD T E ^ D NE A N T E RK O F Raja Raos Kanthapura ( 1 9 3 8 ) is easily the finest evocation of the Gandhian age in Indian Englishfiction.This story of a small south Indian village caught in the maelstrom of the Gandhian movement successfully probes the depths to which the nationalistic urge penetrated, and getting fused with traditional†¦show more content†¦Such a reading strategy indeed helps to produce the Other text, which is a narrative hidden from the official story (Said vii). Some crides are not prepared to search for this Other text, however. Shantha Krishnaswamy claims, in The Woman in Indian Fiction in English, that sex does not enter the picture as a differentiating factor (32) in Kanthapura. This cride adds, subsequendy, that nowhere in Raos work d o we find the w o m a n having a role equal to that o f the m a n . S h e neither determines h e r life, n o r defines herself as m a n does. She can be a part o f his transcendent vision only by d e n y i n g h e r own reality. (56) Krishnaswamy is surely wrong to insist that gender is not a determining factor in Kanthapura. The tide of the novel is sufficient indication that women are the major players, and as Meena Shirwadkar—another critic who focusses on the issue of women in Indian fiction in English—so rightly observes, the narrators constant invocation of the goddess Kenchamma ensures that a female principle pervades the novel (87). Krishnaswamys second point is challenging, however, and must be addressed. There can be no doubt that the women follow the directives of their men, initially. They venerate leaders,Show MoreRelatedGandhian Politics and Religion in Raja Raos Kanthapura2519 Words   |  11 Pagesthe creative impetus of the Indian novelists in English. In this paper I will discuss on how Gandhian blending of politics and religion gives an impact on the minds of the Indian masses, especially of the villagers. Taking instances from Raja Rao’s novel kanthapura, I will seek to show how Gandhian political thoughts and teachings come in the guise of traditional religious terms and how it stirs the innocent and superstitious imaginations of the village folk. Gandhian secularism and spiritual teachingsRead MorePioneers Trio of Indian English Fiction4480 Words   |  18 Pagesand its past and filling it with new hopes for the future. A society compelled into self- awareness like this provides a fertile soil for fiction and it is no accident that the three major Indian English novelists- Mulk Raj Anand, R.K. Narayan and Raja Rao, came to light during this phase. It was, in fact, during this period that Indian English fiction discovered some of its most significant themes such as the ordeal of the freedom-struggle, East- West relat ionship, the communal problem and theRead MoreIndian Writing in English1144 Words   |  5 Pagesgeneration of Indian authors, who wrote almost exclusively in English appeared. Starting in 1935 with R.K. Narayan’s most famous collection titled Swami and Friends and Mulk Raj Anand’s Untouchable followed by Raja Rao’s book Kanthapura in 1938.The thing that distinguished Narayan’s, Anand’s and Rao’s works from the Indian authors before them was the use of Indianess in their work which can be very well seen in terms of the words and style they used. They also brought forward the story of the Indian commonRead MoreIndian English Novel17483 Words   |  70 Pagescoming of Raja Rao, R.K. Narayan, Mulk Raj Anand, the journey of Indian English Novel began. The early Indian novels which were merely patriotic gained a rather contemporary touch with the coming of Mulk Raj Anand, Raja Rao and R.K.Narayan. The social disparity of India which was aptly described by Mulk Raj Anand in his Coolie, the imaginary village life with its entire unedited realities in R.K. Narayan`s Malgudi Days and last but not the least the aura of Gandhism depicted by Raja Rao in his