Kanthapura as a Gandhian novel

• Introduction:

Kanthapura is one of the foremost narratives of freedom struggle under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi in an epic fashion written by Raja Rao. Raja Rao is the youngest among the Trio of Indian English literature specially novels.

Kanthapura is an account of the renaissance of Indian spiritual life
under the impact of independence movement. It’s message is essentially spiritual and cultural.

Dr. T Prabhakar

• Kanthapura as a Gandhian novel:

Between two World Wars, in Gandhian Age, writers were highly inspired by Gandhian philosophy. Most of all writers have written works based on Gandhian thoughts and talked about Gandhi’s work both spiritually and politically. Among them two novels are remarkable,

 Kanthapura by Raja Rao

Waiting for Mahatma by R K Narayan

Rao’s Kanthapura is a Gandhian epic. His treatment and manner of narrating Gandhian philosophy can be studied in three phases.

• Transformation of Freedom Struggle into a Mass Movement:

Entire the story of Kanthapura is well knitted with the theme of Freedom struggle. The novel depicts the pathetic condition of Indians under the cruel Britishers. Many kings have invaded our nation India and then came Britishers, in a same way, many freedom fighters were active in freedom struggle then came Mahatma Gandhi. Rao has mentioned this and connected it to religious thoughts and beliefs. Rao has made the story of freedom struggle spiritual instead of historical.

How Gandhian thoughts were spread in each part of India is shown through the small South Indian village Kanthapura. Kanthapura represents the India and shows miserable condition of India under the British Rule.

For Kanthapura is India in microcosm; what happened there is what happened in many places during India’s fight for freedom.

C D NArsimhaiha

Rao does not introduce Gandhi as one of the characters but introduces Narayan Moorthy as embodiment of his thoughts. Moorthy introduces Gandhian doctrines to the villagers. He goes door to door and inspires them to spin and join Khadi Movement. He made a small committee of Congress in his own village, collected money, and sent it to National Congress. He asked his committee members to follow some rules: to seek truth, ahimsa and to spin.

Moorthy does not care for people who criticize him for joining Pariah and Sudras into freedom struggle. He thus helps to convert fragmented India into a homogeneous one by joining all villagers to independence movement. The support of villagers to freedom struggle is also noteworthy. They support for Salt Satyagraha, get news of Dandiyatra every day, pray for them, and fast for them.

Kanthapura’s chief interest is in the depiction of how Gandhiji turned freedom struggle into a mass movement and in the glorification of Gandhian doctrine.

• Depiction of Inhumanity of Britishers:

However, in Raja Rao’s Kanthapura the British administrators of justice have been shown to be unjust in their ways.

B D Sharma and S K Sharma

The Britishers were too much cruel to Indian people. How they exploited Indian people is shown in the novel Kanthapura vividly.

Firstly, in the episode of Skiffengton Coffee Estate reflects the cruelty of Britishers. The master of this estate was an English man and villagers were working there as coolies. They were treated badly by their master- Sahib.

The Sahib says that if you work well you will get sweets and if you work badly you will be beaten- that is the law of the place.

Moorthy visits the place, tries to help them, and tries to literate them but he is prevented to do so. It is much cruel that they appoint one Indian to torture the Indian people. After the demise of Sahib, his nephew inherits the estate. He is called New Sahib. He is worse than the elder one. He exploits women physically and if she denies, her husband gets punished. He spreads sexual immorality.

They used Divide and Rule formula. Bade Khan is appointed there to barter women.

• Treatment of Freedom Struggle in Kanthapura:

Kanthapura is the first successful novel dealing with freedom struggle as a theme. It is the masterpiece of Raja Rao. He doesn’t describe the entire history, but he describes the last phase of freedom struggle led by Mahatma Gandhi. Khadi Movement, Dandi March, Non Coorporation, etc. are depicted in the novel.

The story is narrated not in a historic or romantic mode but in a spiritual mode. Rao perceives freedom struggle as a holy war between good and evil, virtue and vice. This struggle is viewed similar to war between Rama and Ravana, Pandavas and Kauravas. There are several evidences to consider freedom struggle as a holy war in Kanthapura. 

The first is employment of Harikatha as amode of narration.

Kanthapura also shares certain narrative techniques with the Puranas. The story is told rapidly, all in a one breath, by a village grandmother and this style reflects the oral heritage evident in Harikatha.

Makarand Paranjape

The second is, use of myths and symbols. Invocation of God for the incarnation to save the motherland is religious and spiritual as well. As Krishna killed Kali, Gandhi was born to protect people from Britishers. Gandhiji is also compared to Rama, who came to save Sita as Gandhi came to save Bharata Mata.

Rao has mentioned the deity of the village Kanthapura- Kenchamma. She is the protector of the entire village Kanthapura.

• Conclusion:

Raja Rao has created a masterpiece in Kanthapura where the Western tradition of novel writing mixed well with Indian tradition of storytelling. Kanthapura proves Gandhi as a hero without being a character of the novel.