Kanthapura by Raja Rao#Questions & Answers (1 to 10) Chapter 1: Kanthapura

 

Questions & Answers (1 to 10) Chapter 1: Kanthapura

Answer in about 30 words each:

Q1. Comment on the opening of the novel Kanthapura.

Ans. We come to know that Kanthapura is an imaginary name given to a village. It is quite a hilly area, where the people grow crops like coffee, cardamom, rice, and sugar. The people believe in castes. The people worship their deities (gods and goddesses) and arrange functions to please them.

Q2. Who is the narrator of the novel ‘Kanthapura’?

Ans. The narrator of the novel ‘Kanthapura’ is Achakka, the old grandmother of the village. She remembers the incidents long after they had taken place in the past. She narrates them in the first person as ‘tales’ are told to grandchildren of an Indian household.

Q3. Who is the local deity that people worship in the village Kanthapura?

Ans. The local deity of the village Kanthapura is ‘Kenchamma’.. She has saved the people from a demon. They feel safe and sound under the blessings of the goddess. She saves them from the fatal (life-killer) diseases like cholera, small-pox, etc. People offer their ‘first rice’ and ‘first fruit’, saris and bodice-cloth for every birth and marriage to please the deity ‘Kenchamma’.

Q4. What kind of Caste division do you find in the village Kanthapura?

Ans. There is a clear-cut caste-divide in the village Kanthapura. The houses in this village are divided in five quarters: the Brahmins’ quarter, the Potters’ quarter, the Weavers quarter, the Pariahs’ quarter and the Sudras’ quarter. The upper caste people keep a distance from the people living in the Sudra and the Pariah quarters. The narrator Achakka also believes in the caste division. She does not like Moorthy mixing with the people of the Pariah and Sudra quarters.

Q5.How is the hero of the novel ‘Kanthapura’ introduced to the readers?

Ans. The narrator does not introduce Moorthy directly to the readers. She was just talking about Dore, ‘the university graduate’. He calls himself a Gandhian man. It is at that time, the narrator contrasts him to Moorthy, the hero of the novel. She tells the readers that Moorthy has lived a life like a cow, quiet, generous, serene (peaceful), deferent (respectful) and Brahmanic.

Q6. What is the caste-based social hierarchy presented in the novel Kanthapura?

Ans. The people of Kanthapura believe in a system that divides them into five categories on the basis of their castes. This system is very old and seems to be unchanging for the people of Kanthapura. Under this system, the houses in this village are divided into five quarters: the Brahmins’ quarter, the Potters’ quarter, the Weavers’ quarter, the Pariahs’ quarter and the Sudras’ quarter.

Q7. How do the villagers get rid of smallpox?

Ans. The people of Kanthapura have deep faith in their presiding deity Kenchamma. Whenever they suffered from any fatal disease, they took a vow to do something difficult to please the deity. In case of smallpox also they take a vow to walk on fire on the annual fair to take the blessings from the goddess. They do so and get cured.

 Q8. Write about the produce (crops) of Kanthapura.

Ans. The main cash crops of the village Kanthapur

and its surrounding area are coffee, cardamom, rice and sugar-cane. Coffee and cardamom are exported to England. The local traders purchase these crops and then they send them in bullock carts to the coastal trade centres. From  there, these are further shipped to England.

Q9.According to the villagers, how does the goddess Kenchamma help the villagers?

 Ans. The narrator says that Kenchamma, their goddess is great and bounteous प्रचुरता  से भरपूर. After killing the demon, the goddess settled there as their saviour. She has always helped them. If they needed rain, the people of Kanthapura prayed and it did come. Whenever some fatal diseases like smallpox and cholera broke out (spread) there, the goddess Kenchamma saved them from them.

Q10. How did the goddess settle at the Hill and How is the Kenchamma Hill red?

Ans. It is said that Kenchamma killed a demon long, long ago. The demon used to demand young boys as his food and the young daughters as his wives. Tripura, a sage साधु, made penances घोर तपस्या  to bring Kenchamma down from Heavens. Then the goddess Kenchamma came down and

fought a fierce battle to shed the demon’s blood that soaked into the earth and made the Kenchamma Hill red in colour.