Kanthapura Representative of Indian Villages
Kanthapura
is Raja Rao’s first novel written in English. In many ways, the novel is known
for its merits.
The
novelist chooses an imaginary village ‘Kanthapura’, situated on the slopes of
the Western Ghat facing the Arabian Seas. Raja Rao did not select any city for
the centre of action of the novel. Rather he picked a sleeping village
‘Kanthapura’. He knew it well that most of India lived in villages in that
pre-independent period. He made this village alive with the best
characterisation and narrative style adopted by him.
This
novel can be read and understood at different angles and levels of its merits.
In addition, it can be read and understood as the novel of the village
Kanthapura that represents any Indian village of its times.
We find
Kanthapura a microcosm of Indian villages.
In the
very opening chapter, we have a very minute detail of its surroundings and also
we have a glimpse of the whole village divided into quarters. The roads
reaching this imaginary village are dusty and zigzag. The main cash crops of
this area are coffee and cardamom, which are exported to England.
The
society of Indian villages was caste-ridden in those days. Several other evils
like child marriages, untouchability, maltreatment given to widows, gender
bias, superstitions, illiteracy, dominance by the so-called upper castes,
exploitation of the poor people, etc, also prevailed in Indian society.
We find
all these social evils in Kanthapura also.
The whole
village of Kanthapura is divided into quarters as the barriers in society. The
people of the so-called upper castes like Brahmins were not supposed to mingle
with the people of the so-called lower castes. If anyone dared to break the
social set-up, he or she had to bear the brunt
(face bad consequences). Moorthy is a glaring example of this. He, along
with his would-be generations, was excommunicated by the Shashtriji, who lived
in a city and ruled over the Brahmins by his dictates.
But,
Moorthy did not care for such big sharks of society and continued his
efforts to make the people come out of their deep slumber of slavery and join
Gandhiji's freedom movement. This was happening not only in Kanthapura but in
other Indian villages also. Women also came forward to join hands with men to
make India free from the Britishers. In Kanthapura, a women's group was formed to
help the freedom fighters.
Poverty
prevailed in most quarters of Indian villages. We do find its reflection in
Kanthapura also. Their dresses, food and huts tell the tale of their miserable
life. Very few people like postmaster Suryanarayan, Patwari Nanjundia, Sidda,
Waterfall Venkamma, Bhatta, and Patel Range Gowda are shown living comfortably in
this novel. But the rest of the population of Kanthapura lives in poverty.
Illiteracy
and superstitions were found in any Indian village in those days of the 1930s.
We also find illiteracy and superstitions in the people of Kanthapura.
Every
village has a place of worship. The people of Kanthapura also had their temple of
Kenchamma, their presiding deity. It is said that the goddess Kenchamma had
long ago killed a demon and saved the people from his terror. Since then, the
goddess has settled there as their saviour from any misfortune or disease. The
people of Kanthapura are very religious and they worship their goddess with
full faith. They organise ‘kathas’ and fairs to celebrate their festivals.
The
condition of the labouring class has also been brought into focus in this
novel. The people working at Skeiffington Coffee Estate is a proof of
exploitation done to the poor strata of Indian society.
Thus, on
the basis of the above discussion, we may say that Kanthapura represents an
Indian village on a micro level.
