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A review by marigold_bookshelf
Kanthapura by Raja Rao
4.0
I guess Kanthapura, the debut novel of Raja Rao (pub.1938) is familiar to most Indian readers. I discovered it only recently, in my quest to become familiar with pre-Rushdie Indian literature written in English. I really enjoyed it, it is a fascinating book for a multitude of reasons.
I found it a little difficult to get into the flow of the novel to begin with - something I would have understood better if I had actually read the introduction and preface before starting on the narrative. Instead of writing a novel based in India but written in English, and following the canons of English novels, Rao set out to mould the language to Indian usage and to adapt the novel form to traditional Indian storytelling. This in itself makes it a remarkable milestone and, in my opinion, more ambitious than a lot of the later Indian literature which is more familiar to readers outside of India.
Leaving aside literary considerations, the story is in itself very interesting. It is narrated by an elderly woman, who witnesses the changes and upheaval caused in her rural village, Kanthapura, with the arrival of Gandhi’s non-violent independence movement. Gandhi’s teachings enter the community through the protagonist, Moorthy. He is a Brahmin boy who returns to the village after studying in the city, where he was exposed to what the villagers themselves call “Gandhism”. Moorthy makes a tremendous impression as he endeavours to get his neighbours to join the movement, particularly engaging the local women, encouraging them to make the khadi homespun cloth and to discard the restrictions of caste. In contrast to Moorthy and his growing band of peaceful protestors, the village landowner, owners of the local coffee plantations, and police all set out to curb this threat to the British status quo using violence.
There are so many aspects that make this novel so interesting, not least of which is that it was actually written during the struggle for Independence.
I found it a little difficult to get into the flow of the novel to begin with - something I would have understood better if I had actually read the introduction and preface before starting on the narrative. Instead of writing a novel based in India but written in English, and following the canons of English novels, Rao set out to mould the language to Indian usage and to adapt the novel form to traditional Indian storytelling. This in itself makes it a remarkable milestone and, in my opinion, more ambitious than a lot of the later Indian literature which is more familiar to readers outside of India.
Leaving aside literary considerations, the story is in itself very interesting. It is narrated by an elderly woman, who witnesses the changes and upheaval caused in her rural village, Kanthapura, with the arrival of Gandhi’s non-violent independence movement. Gandhi’s teachings enter the community through the protagonist, Moorthy. He is a Brahmin boy who returns to the village after studying in the city, where he was exposed to what the villagers themselves call “Gandhism”. Moorthy makes a tremendous impression as he endeavours to get his neighbours to join the movement, particularly engaging the local women, encouraging them to make the khadi homespun cloth and to discard the restrictions of caste. In contrast to Moorthy and his growing band of peaceful protestors, the village landowner, owners of the local coffee plantations, and police all set out to curb this threat to the British status quo using violence.
There are so many aspects that make this novel so interesting, not least of which is that it was actually written during the struggle for Independence.