Name:Mehta Kavita Dineshbhai
Course:M.A English
Semester:1
Roll no:18
Batch:2016-2018
Submitted to:S.M.T S.B Gardi
Department of
Email
id:kavitamehta164@gmail.com
Paper no:4
Indian writing in English
Topic:Background
of Kanthapura
Gandhian thought and its impact
My Assignment’s
Introduction:
“kanthapura”this novel
was written by ‘Raja rao’ he was born on1908 in Hassan and rao studied of his
degree at Nizam’s college at the osmanania university ,his work of his
sensitive awareness of the forced let loose by the Gandhian Revolution as also
of the thwarting or steadying pulls of past tradition. His four books
up-to-date are the novels Kanthapura (1938),The serpent and the rope(1960),The
cat and Shakespeare(1965)and The cow of the barricades(1947),a collection of
short story.His first novel “Kanthapura ,Raja rao’s concerns have been social
and political nature.But even the political theme of the rising of an Indian
village against British domination and its initiation in to Gandhian ideals of
non-violence,non-cooperation and self depence has been transmuted in to a
spiritual experience in the novel.At the end of the novel material gains for
kanthpurians are nil.But spiritually they are transformed totally and have
become a bold ,politically conscious,spiritually strengthened,and
freedom-loving people,and the references
of God ,the immorality of soul and the doctrine of incarnation which age
derived from the Bhagavdgita signify the novelists fascination for vedanta.
· Historical and
political background:
The actual
historical and political situation of India in the 1930’s provides the
background of the story that is narrated in kanthapura. The Indian national
congress committee was already a
broadbased political organization that had spreed its branches in the length
and and breath of India.Mahatma Gandhi,after his rerun from south Africa ,was
already recognized as a leader of national stature who had launched his
revolutionary campaigh based on Ahimsa and satyagraha against the British rule.There
are recurring references in the novel to important political events of that
time,such as the salt satyagraha,the Dandy march of mahatma Gandhi ,the civil
disobedience movement,the round table conference ,and the Gandhi –Irwjinpact
.Whatever was happening on the political scenein India in those years finds its
due reflection in the novel .Characters like Moorthy ,Rangmma ,Ratna and Range
gowda are not only aware of what is happening all over India ,but they also
take an active part in the rebellion against the British rulers.They subscribe
to newspapers,which are read in communal gatherings,and thus the villagers of
kanthpura come to know about the great freedom struggle that was at its peak
them in the length and breadth of the country .
The enthusiasm of the people
truly reflected actual mood of the nation.To defy the British symbol of
oppression ,the villagers go out on a
protest march towards the skeffington coffee Estate to picket the country
liquor shop (toddy shop) near it .The following passage ,quoted from the orient
paperbacks edition of the surrounding areasnces.To the text will be from the
same edition.
And we march on and
on,winding up the karwar ,road to the kenchamma grove,and at every step there are com-people and piffed
rice and Bengal gram people and Bengal sellers and buttermilk people and
betel-leaf people and they stop us and say ,”Take this take this,Mahatma’s men!”
There is an oblique reference
to the round table conferences in London .When they say that the mahatma will
go to the puedman’s country (England) to get them swaraj or self rule.
The action off kanthpura dates back to the
time when the Gandhian ideas fired the imagination of the Indian nation and
paved the way for a non-violent revolution against the British rule .Whatever
happens at kanthpura was happening everywhere in India .Bade khan is a typical
police officer in the service of the British government.He strictly follow the
order of his masters to suppress the popular
uprising in the villagers and trample them under their heavy boots .They
do not let go of any opportunity to molest their women there is no exaggeration
in Rja rao ‘s description of such happenings as thing were ,the same all over
India during the freedom movement .To counter the police brutalities, Moorthy
advise his followers freedom movement .To counter the police
brutalities,Moorthy advises his followers to take recourse to passive
resistance in response to a call from Gandhi,but it does not achieve the
objective of putting the oppressors to shame .It is an unequal fight,and the
main leadership of the movement against the red-man’s rule.K.R.Rao sums up the
situation in these words.
-Moorthy’s release renews the dedication
and
enthusiasm of the
community.The villagers launch on the ‘Don’t touch the government
campaign’.Which is succeeded by the ‘no tax campaign’ and other forms of civil
disobedience.But it proves an unequal fight and the satyagrahis are mercilessly
put down ,and the satyagrahis are mercilessly put down ,and all ends in a
terrible attains the valiant struggle attains the dimmensions of a heroic
myth. Kanthapura is ‘destroyed,but not defeated.
·
Gandhian Thought and its Impact:
Mahatma Gandhi does not
figure in kanthpura as a character ,but his invisible presence and the wide
impact of his thought is felt throughout
the book .Gandhian philosophy is introduced in to the novel through moorthy,the
main protagonist who comes under the influence of Gandhian at a young age. Moorthy regards Gandhi as a role
model and follows him in every way in word and deed .He preaches to the
villagers the chief tenets Gandhian philosophy such as to practice ahinsa and
speak the truth.He also persudes them to make cotton yarn on the spinning wheel
and to wear cloth spun and woven by their own hands .British made foreign clothes
are to be discarded and destroyed in bonfires. Moorthy tells him village
followers that Gandhi ,says ‘spinning is as purifying as praing ‘ .This creates
the image of Gandhi as a mahatma,a great soul and a deeply religious man whom
they venerate and whose words they follow as the law .To them ,he is a mighty
godly figure who emanates spiritual power that is going to overthrow the
British rule in India
The people of kanthpura and the
adjoin areas exhorted in the name of the Mahatma not to drink toddy or liquor
in any form.The toddy shop in the neighborhood are picked to prevent sale of
liquor .Gandhi’s practice of singing bhajans(hymns) at his prayer meeting is
generally appreciated.The people take out prabhat pheries (morning outing)
getting up at dawn,gathering at the temple ,and going through the streets in
the twilight ,singing religious song.in which Gandhi’s image appears at that
of a king of human origin.Here is an example:
Our king ,he was born on a wattle mat
He’s not the king of the velvet
bed,
He’s small and he’s round and he’s
bright and . He is sacred,
O mahatma ,you are our king and we are your
slaves
And again:
There’s one Government,sister,
There’s one Government ,sister,
And that’s the Government of the
Mahatma.
The villager proudly declare
that they are all for Gandhi;they are Gandhi’s men and will do anything at his
command.On several occasions in the novel,thundering slogans are raised to the
skies,’Vande Mataram!’ ‘,mahatma Gandhi ki jai!’and ‘Inquilab zindabad’! They
invest Gandhi with super-human power but there is one thing about Gandhi’s teachings
that the people of kanthpura do not understand .Why should he advise the upper
cast Hindus to mingle with the lower caste pariahs to live with them,to eat
with them ,and to intermarry with them .They find such behavior so in Mahatma
like. some of them like Bhatta and venkamma repeateadly belittle moorthy in the
eyes of the others for his ardent followers,that Gandhi want’s people to pluck
out hatred from their heart and love even their enemies,Gowda replies,’That’s
for the mahatma and you moorthspps-not for us poor folk!’The idea is that
Gandhi and moorthy have attained such an ideal height where they can practice
whatever they preach but the lesser people can not forget their simple
enmities.
Gandhi believed in simple
living ,and all his life tried to live the life of the ordinary people.But an
impressive image of Gandhi's projected in kanthapura ,when he is spoken of in
the same breath as some of the gods of the Hindu pantheon.Jayaramachar,the
Harikatha man comes to kanthapura and
tells a new kind of tale in which he mingles Hindu Mythology with contemporary
politics.He compares Gandhi to lord Siva when he says ,Siva is the three –eyed
,and swaraj too is three –eyed:self-purification ,Hindu –Muslim
unity,khaddar.’Mohan going one of the names of Krishna,Gandhi hi’s full name,
mohandas karamachand Gandhi gives jayaramachar the idea of paralleling his
achievement to that of Krishna .Just as the God as a young boy slay the serpent
Kali ,we are told that Gandhi goes from village to village slaying the serpent
of foreign,and Gandhi teaches moorthy how to beatrive satyagrahi. The Gandhi
myth is finally expressed in these term in kanthpura:
-They sat mahatma will
go to the red man’s country and he will get us swaraj ,the mahatma .And we all
be haooy .And Rama will come back from exit ,and sita will be with him ,for
ravna will be slain and sita on his right in a chariot of air ,and brother
bharatha will go to master on his head.And as they enter Ayodhya there will be
a rain of flowers.
On the fair
carts of kanthpura ,the picture of
Rama,Krishna,Sankara and Gandhi are placed side by side.
Summing up his
view on kanthapura and Gandhian ,p.dayal writers in Raja rao:
Reference:
In material.
Kavita,first of all you mack spelling mistake in your assignment title. You write Ganthian tought it is wrong, so please correct it and next time be careful.
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