Kanthapura as a Novel of Gandhian Ideology

Kanthapura as a Novel of Gandhian Ideology  

Kanthapura is truly a novel that reflects Gandhian ideology and its deep impact on the people of the village Kanthapura. It is a sleeping village situated at the slopes of the   Malabar Hills in South India. It becomes vibrant (lively) all of a sudden as Moorthy begins his active participation in the social and religious life of the people of Kanthapura.  He gives up his education and starts following Gandhiji and his ideas. 

This novel can be called Gandhi-epic because it depicts Gandhian influence on the life of the people of Kanthapura. Although Gandhiji does not appear personally in Kanthapura, yet the people there are greatly influenced by his ideals of non-violence (ahinsa), truthfulness and satyagraha, etc. The novelist Raja Rao himself is greatly influenced by Gandhiji and, we see the novelist’s reflection in Moorthy in this novel. He embodies the Gandhian ideology of non-violence and sacrifice for the common people. He goes on fasts whenever something wrong happens. The people of Kanthapura see Moorthy as Gandhian ‘avtar’ and they all ignore their local differences and get united under the umbrella of the Freedom Movement.

Moorthy also represents thousands of Indian youth, who left their studies and joined the Gandhian struggle for freedom to free India from the shackles (chains) of slavery. Gandhiji wanted to bring about a social, economic, and religious change in the people of India. But it was possible only through freedom. So he started Freedom Movement in the country. It spreads not only to the people living in urban India, but it also reached the remote corners of the country, like Kanthapura.

In those days, there were people in society, who were the agents of the British Government and wanted to create hurdles in the way of the freedom fighters. Such people like Bade Khan, Bhatta, Swamiji, etc. created hurdles in Moorthy’s aim to make the people of Kanthapura awakened to Gandhiji's ideas. He is the man who raised funds to organize religious functions in the village. The Harikathaman started telling people about the charismatic (magnetic) personality of Gandhiji to the people of Kanthapura. After the arrest of the Harikathaman, Moorthy takes responsibility in his own hands and spreads awareness among the people. He distributes charkhas free of cost to the people of Kanthapura.

He educated them that by spinning on the wheels, they would not only help Gandhiji’s Swadeshi Movement but also earn money.

When he heard of the miserable condition of the coolies at the Skeffington Coffee Estate, he went there to teach them. But he was not allowed to enter the Estate.

 

Moorthy forms Congress Committee at Kanthapura and he is unanimously elected as the President. Rangamma and her sister’s daughter Ratna support Moorthy in his work for Gandhiji. Even Range Gowda helps him. Thus they all inspire the villagers to join Congress to free India from the British. Women also come forward and form Sevika Sangh to support Moorthy.

Thus it can be concluded safely that Kanthapura reflects Gandhian ideology and its deep impact on the people of the village Kanthapura.

 

 

Bhatta’s Character in Kanthapura by Raja Rao-Long Qs-Ans

            Kanthapura by Raja Rao: Bhatta’s Character

This chapter introduces us to ‘Bhatta’, who plays a negative role to create hurdles in Moorthy’s way. The narrator tells us that his last visit to the city has changed his thinking. Before his last visit to the city, he used to sit and sing with the people of Kanthapura.

 

But all of a sudden, he got involved in business pursuits. He has also started giving money on loans to people. He was always ready to do sale and purchase deeds. He would mortgage people’s land to give them loans at a very high rate of interest. During elections, he is the person who lends money to people inside or outside Kanthapura. He has financed Seenappa’s and Chandra Shekhara’s elections.

He is always ready to help the people of Kanthapura to solve their money-related problems. But, he does not do it in charity. He exploits people’s problems and charges high rates of interest if his clients are in serious problems.

 

As a human being, Bhatta is a very cunning, greedy and cruel person. In his early youth, he did work as a priest. He is the first Brahmin of the village, but quite opposite to the noble Brahmins like Moorthy and Ramakrishannayya. He is an agent to the British Govt. he is an expert in reading the Hindu calendar. So, people often approach him for his guidance about the auspicious days for marriages and knowing about the dates of festivals.

The narrator also gives examples to prove Bhatta’s greed for money and how he exploits people in their difficult times. He lent ten rupees to Rampur Mada for a nuptial  /ˈnʌp.ʃəl/ (wedding) ceremony at six percent interest payable in two months. Lingayya has to pay his revenue to avoid an arrest warrant. He gets twenty-one rupees and eight ‘annas’ for six months at ten percent interest.

Kanthamma needs one hundred and twenty rupees for her son’s marriage. She has to mortgage her two and a half acres of wetland to get this loan at seven percent interest.

 

In the meantime, Bhatta’s wife Savithramma dies of an accident. Offers came to him for his second marriage from here and there. But he marries the daughter of a rich landlord of Alur. She is only twelve and a half years old. She brings a rich dowry for him. After his second marriage, Bhatta became richer and richer. Now he is able to lend more money to the people of Kanthapura and those of the adjoining areas.

Thus Bhatta became the owner of thirty-seven acres of wetland and ninety acres of dry land in all the villages: Kanthapura, santur, Puttur, and Honnali

 

The World is too Much with Us-Explanation-Word-meanings-William Wordsworth

 The World is too Much with Us

The world is too much with us; late and soon,

Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;—

Little we see in Nature that is ours;

We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!

This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon;

The winds that will be howling at all hours,

And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers;

For this, for everything, we are out of tune;

It moves us not.

Great God! I’d rather be

A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;

So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,

Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;

Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;

Or hear old Triton blow his wreathèd horn.

About the Poet

William Wordsworth was born in 1770 and died in 1850. He was the most fortunate of the great five romantic poets, who had a long poetic career and lived a long span of life. He was a great worshipper of Nature.

About the Poem

In this poem, he laments that human beings have become more attached to material things. He expresses his deep concern over people’s growing love for worldly things. Man has become a slave to the god of money, Mammon. He appeals to all of us to give up Mammon-worship and start loving Nature. At that time, industrialization had just started showing its impact on human minds.

The world is too much with us; late and soon,

Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;—

Little we see in Nature that is ours;

We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!

Word-meanings: 1. The world: here it means love for material things  2. Late and soon: every time 3. Getting and spending: while earning money and spending it 4. Powers: energy and potential 5. little: very less/nothing 6. sordid: mean, abhorrent, detestable, hateful dirty  7. boon: the thing that is helpful or a blessing for us

Paraphrase: In this stanza, the poet makes a strong case against all of us for our growing love for material things. We have made ourselves detached (cut off/separated) from Nature. We are every time busy in earning and spending money. We have no communion with Nature. The poet has used the possessive pronoun ‘ours’ for Nature. He means to say that God has created Nature for all the creatures on the earth. So Nature belongs to us and we also belong to Nature. We cannot afford separation from it. If it happens, harmful effects on the earth can be felt or seen. We have given our hearts to material things. It means we have started loving them.

 In our love for material things, we are wasting our time and energy. The poet calls material things a ‘sordid boon. He uses a paradox to explain what material things are in reality. Sordid means detestable, that is hateful. The word ‘boon’ means a blessing or a thing that is very helpful and beneficial for us. If a thing is beneficial for us, then how can it be hateful and mean?

Actually, the poet has used ‘too much in the title of the poem ‘The World is too much With Us’. We have a clue here to explain the meaning of the paradox ‘sordid boon’. It seems that the poet does not have much objection to people’s limited love for material things. Then it is a boon for them. But when they have crossed limits and got too much involved in their love for material things, then it becomes sordid. Hence the meaning of the paradox is ‘a sordid boon’.

This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon;

The winds that will be howling at all hours,

And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers;

For this, for everything, we are out of tune;

It moves us not.

Word-meanings: 1. Bosom: the front of a person’s chest 2. Bare: without any cover like clothes 3. Howl: basically a wolf or a dog produces a howling sound. It is a long and sad sound. Here the poet wants to use this word for the sound created by the blowing of fast winds. 4. Up gathered: means huddled: This position is achieved when one keeps one’s legs and arms together 5. Out of tune: In music, the person is out of tune when someone sings or plays an instrument ignoring the rules of notes. People are not following nature, so they are out of tune. They are not in harmony with nature. 6. It moves us not: The poet wants to say that natural beauty does not move our emotions. We do not feel attracted towards Nature and its beauties.

Explanation:  In the above stanza, the poet creates a very beautiful word picture using the personification of the sea and the moon. The poet uses a straightforward image of the sea in female form exposed to the view of the moon.

It is all symbolic.  The sea has been shown as the symbol of Mother Nature.

 The second image that emerges in the poet’s mind is that of the winds huddled together like sleeping flowers. Usually, winds blow strongly throughout the day. They cause so much discomfort to creatures on the earth. But at night they become calm and quiet. The poet uses a simile of sleeping flowers for the winds that have now huddled up together as if in the position of sleeping. The use of the word ‘howling’ creates an imagery of animals like wolves and dogs. But the imagery ‘sleeping flowers’ softens the impact of the violent winds in the reader’s mind.

    “For this, for everything, we are out of tune;

It moves us not.”

The poet says that people do not feel moved not only by the beautiful scenes described by him in the previous lines but also by all other beautiful scenes. They are now in disharmony (out of tune) with Nature.

 Great God! I’d rather be

A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;

So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,

Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;

Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;

Or hear old Triton blow his wreathèd horn.

Word-meanings: 1. A Pagan: A follower of the ancient religion of Rome in which people believe in many gods and goddesses 2. Suckled: nourished, brought up 3. Creed: faith, dogma  4. Outworn: out-of-date, obsolete  5. Lea: pasture, open area of grassy land  6. Glimpse: a short view 7. Forlorn:   alone and happy Proteus: Triton:   wreathed horn: It is a conch–type horn used for blowing to produce a deep sound

Explanation:  After depicting beautiful word-pictures of the rising sea waves producing the image of Mother Nature to the view of the moon and also of the winds that remained violent throughout the day and towards the evening sleeping peacefully, the poet proceeds further to declare his choice. He declares that he would prefer to be a Pagan rather than be affected by the growing materialism in the world due to the first phase of industrialization in England. He would be ready to renounce his religion ‘Christianity’ which advocates for only one God. He would like to follow the religion in which Nature is worshipped. This stanza reflects Wordsworth’s deep love for Nature.

 

    Thus the lines ‘Great God! I’d rather be/A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;’ means that he would like to be a Pagan than to continue following the outdated religion in which he was brought up.

   “So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,/Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;/Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;/Or hear old Triton blow his wreathèd horn.”

    The poet imagines himself standing on some open green piece of land near the sea that would have glimpses of the ancient Greek and Roman mythical gods Proteus and Triton. Proteus would be seen emerging from the sea and Triton would be blowing his curled conch-like horn. In this way, he would not feel lonely and sad at all in the company of Roman and Greek gods.

Dear students, here this poem ends up; I shall come with a new poem next time and till then have a nice day.