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.

 

Important-Extracts-The Merchant of Venice ( 9 to 11)

Extract 9.

If a Jew wrong a Christian, what is his humility? Revenge.

If a Christian wrong a Jew, what should his sufferance be by
Christian example? why, revenge. The villainy you teach
me I will execute; and it shall go hard but I will better
the instruction.

Context: The above lines have been taken from The Merchant of Venice written by William Shakespeare, Act III, Scene (i) Salarino asks Shylock what good he would do with Antonio’s flesh in case he does not pay him loan on time. Then Shylock speaks the above lines to him. Shylock continues explaining why a Jew should not take revenge on Antonio by taking a pound of his flesh.

Explanation: He tells Salarino that if a Jew wrongs a Christian, then he is severely punished. But when a Christian does the same type of harm to a Jew, in that case, the same treatment should be given to a Christian also. He further adds that Shylock must take revenge on Antonio because he has also been wronged by Antonio, a Christian. Since the Christians have taught him to do cruelty, he would prove crueler to them.

Thus, Shylock justifies his revenge on Antonio in the above lines.

Extract 10.

How many cowards, whose hearts are all as false
As stairs of sand, wear yet upon their chins
The beards of Hercules and frowning Mars,
Who, inward search'd, have livers white as milk;
And these assume but valour's excrement(90)
To render them redoubted! Look

Context: These lines have been taken from The Merchant of Venice written by William Shakespeare, Act III, Scene (II). The speaker is Bassanio. He is thinking deeply to make a decision about the right casket. He is giving logic upon logic to reach the right decision.

Explanation: Bassanio speaks that there are so many fake people in the world. They wear a false look on their faces. They try to show that they are as courageous a Hercules and as powerful as Mars were. They pretend to look fierce and brave just to frighten others. But, when they face real danger, they turn out to be chicken-hearted. Bassanio just wants to say that outward appearances are often deceptive in this world. So he reaches the conclusion that the gold casket has an outward shine to deceive people.

Extract 11.

First go with me to church, and call me wife,
And then away to Venice to your friend;
For never shall you lie by Portia's side
With an unquiet soul.

Reference to the Context: These lines have been taken from The Merchant of Venice written by William Shakespeare, Act III, Scene (II).Bassanio has won Portia’s hand by choosing the right casket. Both of them are extremely happy. But at the same time, Bassanio receives a message that his friend Antonio is in great trouble. Shylock has filed a case against him in the Duke’s court to take revenge on him. Bassanio tells everything about the loan case to Portia. At that time, she utters the above lines to Bassanio.

Explanation: Portia also feels shocked and sad as Bassanio tells her all the reality about the loan and Antonio. She at once advises Bassanio to help his friend at once. But before that, they would go to Church and marry each other. After that, Bassanio would go to Venice to help Antonio. She also says that her husband, Bassanio, would never be peaceful as long as his friend Antonio is in difficulty. So their unmarried life would be disturbed until or unless Antonio comes out of his difficult time.

Important Extracts from The Merchant of Venice (4 to 6)

Important Extracts from The Merchant of Venice

(According to the List)

Extract 4.

To bait fish withal: if it will feed nothing else, it
will feed my revenge. He hath disgraced me, and
hindered me half a million; laughed at my losses, mocked
at my gains, scorned my nation, thwarted my bargains,
cooled my friends, heated mine enemies; and what's his
reason? I am a Jew:…

Reference to the Context:

These lines have been taken from The Merchant of Venice written by William Shakespeare, Act III, Scene (i).Salarino asks Shylock what good he would do with Antonio’s flesh in case he does not pay him a loan on time. Then Shylock speaks the above lines to him.

Explanation: Shylock tells Salarino that he would use Antonio’s flesh for bait to catch fish. He adds that it would feed his anger if it does not feed anything else. Then vents (expresses) his anger by saying that Antonio has disgraced him publically. He has caused a loss of at least five lakh ducats. Antonio has laughed at his losses and made fun of his gains. He has looked down upon his nationality, disturbed his business, misguided his friends, and provoked his enemies against him. He asks Salarino as to why he has done all that. Has he done all that because he was a Jew?  

Extract 5.

If you prick us, do we not bleed? if you
tickle us, do we not laugh? if you poison us, do we not
die? and if you wrong us, shall we not revenge? If we are
like you in the rest, we will resemble you in that.

Reference to the Context: These lines have been taken from The Merchant of Venice written by William Shakespeare, Act III, Scene (i).Salarino asks Shylock what good he would do with Antonio’s flesh in case he does not pay him a loan on time. Then Shylock speaks the above lines to him.

Explanation: Shylock continues expressing his anger against Antonio in front of Salarino. He tells Salarino that the Jews also have the same feelings and sensitivities. If someone pricks them, they also feel pain and bleed. If someone tickles them, they also laugh; if they are poisoned, they also die. He asks Salarino if they would not revenge when they are wronged. He further tells him that the Jews react like those of the Christians in the same manner, so, they are also human beings like them. He wants to convey to Salarino as to why the Jews are treated differently in the places where they are in minorities.

Extract 6.

Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions?
fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer, as a Christian is?

Reference to the Context: These lines have been taken from The Merchant of Venice written by William Shakespeare, Act III, Scene (i).Salarino asks Shylock what good he would do with Antonio’s flesh in case he does not pay him a loan on time. Then Shylock speaks the above lines to him.

Explanation: Shylock continues his speech to Salarino by asking him several questions as are quoted in the above lines. He asks Salarino if a Jew has not got eyes, hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, and passions. He also asks him if a Jew does not eat the same type of food, gets hurt with the same weapons, falls ill of the same diseases, recovers with the same medicines. affected by the same seasons like winter and summer in the same manner as is a Christian. He means to tell Salarino that the Jews are also made up of the same elements as flesh, bones, and blood. They have the same feelings as other human beings of other religions. Then as to why they are differentiated?