THEME OF INNOCCONCE AND CHIDHOOD IN R.K.

NARAYAN 'S SWAMI

AND FRIENDS

A Project Submitted to

BHARATHIDASAN UNIVERSITY -THIRUCHIRAPPALLI

In Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Award of the Degree of

BACHELOR OF ARTS IN ENGLISH

Submitted by

Mr.P.ARUN (REG NO: CB22A 103516)

Mr.A.MORLIN (REG NO: CB22A103538)

Mr.T.JOYARAMANKIRUSHNAN(REG NO: CB22A103516)

Under the guidance of

Mrs. G.SIVANESAN, M.A., M.Phil. B.Ed.,

Lecturer in English

P.G Department of English

Government Arts and Science College

Aranthangi-614616

APRIL-2025
Mrs. G.SIVANESAN, M.A., M. Phil., B.Ed.,

Lecturer in English,

Government Arts and Science College,

Aranthangi-614616.

CERTIFICATE

Certified that the project, entitled “The Psychological perspective in Anita Desai’s Cry,

the Peacock” THEME OF INNOCCONCE AND CHIDHOOD IN R.K.NARAYAN 'S

SWAMI AND FRIENDS is a bonafide record of the work done by the candidates

P.ARUN (REGNO:CB22A103516),A.MORLINREGNO:CB22A103538),

T.JOYARAMANKIRUSHNAN (REG NO:CB22A1035) under my guidance and during

their period of study at Government Arts and Science College, Aranthangi for the B.A.

Degree (in English ) and it is not previously formed basis for the award of any degree,

diploma, associateship or any other similar title, and that it is an independent work done by

them.

Place:

ResearchSupervisor

Date:

Head of the Department External

Examine

P.ARUN

A.MORLIN

DECLARATION
 We hereby declare that the project entitled “ The Psychological perspective in Anita

Desai’s Cry, the Peacock has been carried out by us under the guidance of Mrs.G.

SIVANESAN,M.A.,M.Phil.,B.Ed., Lecturer, Department of English, Government Arts

and Science College , Aranthangi and that it has not been submitted elsewhere for any

other degree, diploma, associateship or any other similar title.

Place: (P.ARUN)

(A.MORLIN)

Date : .

( T.JOYARAMANKIRUSHNAN)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Acknowledgement is placed, where gratitude is shown to the people who were with us

for the successful completion of the project work.

First of all we express our deep sense of gratitude to OUR PARENTS who have

allowed us to continue my higher study. Without their blessings nothing can be done.

We express our deep sense of respect and profound gratitude to Dr. M.DURAI, MA.,

Ph.D., Principal, Government arts and science college, Aranthangi, Pudukkottai, for the

opportunity given to us to undergo bachelor of English in this esteemed College.

We express our sincere thanks to A.GANESAN, M.A.,M.Phil., B.Ed., Head of the

Department of English, Government arts and science college, Aranthangi, Pudukkottai, for
his kind help, throughout our UG Program and completing the project.

We express our sincere thanks to Mrs. G.SIVENASAN, M.A., M.Phil., B.Ed., for her

excellent guidance, valuable discussion and encouragement at all of our research and also

helped in all aspects of completing our research work whether we got confused with the

progressive activities of our research work. She has given an instant guidance a proper

direction to select appropriate methodological procedure to purpose my investigation.

We gratefully acknowledge the valuable suggestions and guidance extended and to All

the faculty members, Department of English, Government arts and science college,

Aranthangi, Pudukkottai for their support and encouragement.

Last but not least, we express our gratitude to our classmates and others those who

helped us in completing our project.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER TITLE PAGE NO

i Introduction 01

ii

iii Conclusion
WORKS CITED
 CHAPTER-I

INTRODUCTION

Indian English literature originated as a necessary outcome of the

introduction of English education in Indian under colonial rule s. It recent years is

has attracted widespread interest, both in Indian English literature is not only part

of commonwealth literature, but also occupies a great significance in the world

literature.

Today, a number of Indian writers in English have contributed substantially

to modern English literature. Ram Mohan Roy who heralded the Indian

Renaissance and Macaulay who recommended English language equation in Indian

were probably aware of what in store for the Indians in terms of literary awareness.

Fiction, being the most powerful form of literary expression today, has

acquired a prestigious position in Indian English literature. It is generally agreed

that the novel is the most suitable literary form for the exploration of experiences

and ideas in the context of our time, and Indian English fiction occupies its proper

place in the field of literature. There are critics and commentators in England and

America who appreciate Indian English novels.

It was Bengal the literary renaissance first manifested itself, but almost

immediately afterwards its traces could be seen in Madres Bombay and other parts

of Indian. The first Indian English novels it was Bunkum Chandra chtterjees’s

RajMohan’s wife 1864. It is different from his Bengali novels such as Durgesh
Nandini or Koppel kindla , it fact paved the way for Amend Math 1884, Indian’s

first political novel which gave the Indians their national anthem,

VandeMataram’’. Basu’s Jaljangal in the form of English translation as The

Froest Goddess by Brines

The novels published from the eighteen sixties up to the end of the

nineteenth century were written by writers belonging to the presidencies of

Bengal and Madres Most of those novels are on social and few on historical issues,

and for their models they draw upon eighteenth and nineteenth century British

fiction, especially that of Daniel Defoe, Henry Fielding and Walter Scott.

Novels published between 1864 and 1900 include Ram Krishna Punt’s The

Bay of Bengal, Amend Prasad Dutt’s The Indolence (1878) , Shoshee Chunder

Dutt’s The Young Zaminder (1883),Trailokya Dais’s Hirimba’s Wedding 1884

, Krupabai Satthianandan’s Kamala; A story of Hindu Child Wife 1894 and

Saguna: A Story of native Christian Life 1895 , Michael Madhusudans Duty’s

Bijou Chard; An Indian Tale 1888 and Lt. Suresh Biwa’s; His life and

Adventures 1900 and Yogendra Nat Chattopdhyaya’s The Girl and HerTutor

(1891).

The twentieth century began with novelists of more substantial output.

Romance Chandra Dutt translated two of his own Bengal novels into English:

The take of palms: A study o Indian domestic Life and the slave Girl of Agra,

an Indian Historical Romance The first ,a realistic novel, seems to have been

written with the aim of social reform with its theme being widow remarriage,

while the latter is set in the Munhall period.

 Sarath Kumar Gosh and another Bengali novelist wrote Verdict of God

(1905)and the price of Destiny: The New Krish (1909). A.Madhaviah and T.

Ramakrishna Pillar is belonging to Madras presidency where two important

contemporaries of These Bengali novelists. Madhaviah wrote satyananda (1909)

Thrillai Govindan (1916), Clarinder (1915), Nanda, the Pariah who Overcame

Caste (1923). T.Ramakrishna pillai wrote Padmini (1903) and A Dive for Death

(1911)

Another Indian English novelist of prominence was a Punjabi writer

Jogendra .Singh. His fictional work includes; Nar Johan, The Romance of an

Indian Queen (1909), a historical novel; Nasrin, An Indian Madly (1911), a

realistic novel depicting the fall of aristocratic life in North Indian, Kamala (1925)

and kamni (1931), dealing with social themes. The first three were published in

London the last in Lahore. Than appeared on the scene novels such as S.T. Ram’s

The Cosmopolitan Hindustani (1902), L. B. Pal’s A Glimpse of Zanana Life in

Bengal(1904),S .B. Banneker’s The Adventures of Mrs. Russell (1909),

Balkrishna’s The Love of Kusuma; An Eastern Love story(1910) , B. K

Sarkar’sMan of Letters(1911), M. M. Mushin’s Beauty and Joy (1914)and T. K

Gopal Pannikar’s Storm and Sunshine(1916) .

The Gandhi and whirlwind blew across country during 1920-1947. Under

the dynamic leadership of Mahatma Gandhi established political notions started

vanishing from the scene and in turn new ideas and methods appeared, not only in

the political field but in almost every walk of Indian life. The inevitable impact of

the Gandhian movement on Indian English literature was the sudden flowering of

realistic novels during the nineteen thirties.

 Novelists turned their attention away from the past to concentrate on

contemporary issues. In their novels prevailing social and political problems that

Indians found themselves in were given prominence. The nation-wide movements

of Gandhi not only inspired Indian English novelists but also provided there with

some of their prominent themes such as the struggle for freedom the east-west

encounters the communal problem and the miserable condition of the

Untouchables, the landless poor, the downtrodden, the economically exploited and

the oppressed.

The impact of the–reaching change on the Indian social and political scene

caused by Gandhi and movement can be perceived in K. S. Venkatramani’s

Murugan The Titler(1927) and Kanden,. The patriot: A novel of new Indian in the

Making [1932]. The format refracts Gandhi an economics while the latter reflects

his politics. Then came A.S.P.Ayyer, whose novels like Balladry [1930] and Three

Men of Destiny [1930], although untouched by the twentieth century models and

set in ancient Indian history, is Gandhi an in spirit

These novelists and their novels paved the way for the great trinity; Mulk

Raj Anand, R.K.Narayan and Raja Rao whose emergence was the most remarkable

event in the realm of Indian English fiction. They were the harbingers of the true

indo-English novel. These novelists began writing around the mid 1930s. Bhabani

Bhattacharya was also a contemporary of these novelists by birth, but he started

writing fiction just after Indian independence.

The writing of these novelists moved the Indian English novel in the right

direction. The discovered a whole new world in Indo-English fiction and the Indian

novel owes much to their efforts for gaining solid ground and achieving an identity
of its own. They defined the area in which the Indian novel was to operate, and

brought the indo-Angelina novel within hailing distance of the latest novel of the

West. They established the suppositions, the manner, and the concept Characters

and the nature of the themes which were to gave the Indian novel its particular

distinctiveness.

Mulk Raj Anand (1905-2004) has been the most prolific of the trio. His

contribution to Indian English fiction of social realism is incontrovertibly great.

His Untouchable (1935) depicts the story of the low caste boy, Bache. It is

basically a tragic drama of the individual caught in the net of the system. In coolie

(1936) he present a poverty-stricken protagonist, Munoz. His Two leaves and a

Bud (1937) depict the story of a middle-aged peasant, Ganger, from a village in

Punjab.

Among Anand other novels are The Village (1939) Across the Black

Waters (1941) The Sward and the Sickle( 1942 ) The Big Heart( 1945) Seven

Summers (1951), the private life of Indian prince (1953), The Old Woman and

the Cow (1960), The Road (1963), The Death of the Hart (1964), Mourning Face

(1970), Confession of a Lover (1976), and The Bubble (1984) Little Plays of

Mahatma Gandhi (1970 ), and Nine of Bharata Novel of a Pilgrimage (1998 )

Anand’s novels portray vividly the wretched condition of Indian rural

society. Through his novels he says that poverty, class, caste system and other

widespread evils of society are like poison that inflicts society and makes it sordid

and inhuman. He is considered the Indian version of Charles Dickens as far as the

treatment of social themes is concerned.

 R.K Narayan (1906-2001), one of the most politic of Indian novelists in

English, is a product of the South Indian Hindumiddle class family. He remained

aloof from contemporary socio-political issues and explored the South Indian

middle class milieu in fiction. He is a writer with full commitment to Hindu ideas.

He created an imaginary small town named Malgudi and depicted middle class life

in that town in almost all his works.

Before independence Narayan produced Swami and Friends (1935), The

Bachelor of Arts (1937), The Dark Room (1938) and The English Teacher

(1946) His fictional art seems to reach maturity in his novels which appeared after

independence: The Financial Expert (1952), The Guide (1958) and Man Eater of

Malgudi (1962) this other novels include Waiting for Mahatma (1955) dealing

with the Gandhian freedom struggle. The Vendor of Sweets (1967), and The

Painter of Signs (1976).

In his nineties Narayan added four more novels to his corpus with A Tiger

for Malgudi (1983) Talkative Man (1983),The World of Nagraj (1990) and

Grandmothers Tale (1992) Narayan succeeded in universalizing his Malgudi

though a local town, as Hardy universalized his Wessex The inhabitants of

Malgudi although they may have their local identity are essentially human beings

having kinship with all humanity, In his novels we meet college boys, teachers

guides, tourists, municipal members, and taxi drivers of Malgudi, but through the

provincial themes he forges a universal vision. He peoples his novels with

caricatures rather than characters.

Raja Rao (1908-2006 is the youngest of the great trio. He is not a prolific

writer like R. K. Narayan and Mulk Raj Anand who have to their credit a dozen
novels each and numerous short stories. Even so, he is one of the most sigraficant

writers of modem India. At the time of writing he has published five novels,

Kanthapura (1938), The Serpent and the Rope (1960), The Cot and Shakespeare

(1965), Comrade Kirillov (1976) and The Chess master and His Moves (1988)

Kanthapura is perhaps the finest representation of the Gandhian whirlwind

in Indian English fiction. It is the story of a village with that name. It presents the

Gandhian ideology of non-violence and abolition of untounchability. The Serpent

and the Rope, winner of the Sahitya Academy Award in 1963, is considered a

landmark in Indian-English fiction

During the period of the major trio, Anand, Narayan and Rao, who

produced epoch-making pieces of Indian English fiction writing, many other

novelists were active and a considerable number of novels were produced. Many of

these novelists, being Muslims, depicted in their works life in Muslim households.

These novels are Ahmed Ali's Twilight in Delhi (1940) and Ocean of Night

(1964), Iqbalunnisa Hussam's Purdah and Polygamy Life in Muslim Household

(1944), Humayun Kabir's Mew and River (1945), a novel based on a folk tale.

Amir Ali's Conflict (1947), Via Geneva (1967) and Assignment of Kashmir

(1973), KA Abbas's Tomorrow is Our A Novel of the India of Today (1943) and

Inguilab: A Novel of the Indian Revolution (1955)

Among others who deserve mention are. Dhan Gopal Mukherij's our novel.

The Elephant (1922)., the Jungle Lad (1924). The Chief of the Herd (1929), and

Ghond, the Hunter (1929) C. S. Rau's The Confessions of a Bogus Patriot

(1923), Ram Narain's Tigress of the Herem (1930), V. V. Chintamani's Vedantam

or the Clash of Traditions (1938), Shankar Ram's Love of Dust (1938), D. F.

Karaka's Just Flesh (1941), There Lay the City (1942) and We Never Die (1944),

CN. Zutshi's Motherland (1944), Purushottamdas Tricumdas's Living Mask

(1947)

After gaining independence India had many challenges to face and many

changes came over Indian life. Complications took place in social, political,

economic and cultural spheres but India handled them thoughtfully and adequately

and progressed step by step. The fact of being independent and having its own

identity spurred Indian English writing; it provided the writer with self confidence,

broadened his vision and sharpened his self-examining faculty. As a result of these

developments important gains were registered, especially in fiction, poetry and

criticism. Fiction, already well established, grew in both variety and stature

The convention of social realism in Indian English fiction, established by

Mulk Raj Anand, went on flourishing during the nineteen fifties and early sixties

through Bhabani. Bhattacharya, Manohar Malgonkar and Khushwant Singh White

Sudhin Ghosh, GV. Desai and Anantanarayanan, though with natural individual

vanation, enlivesel the trend of the experimental novel, oriented by Raja Rao in his

Kanthapura in addition, the fictional works of B. Rajan present the combined effect

of realism and fantasy.

In his novel So Many Hungers (1947), Bhattacharya, dealing with the

theme of exploitation on the political, economic and social ground, takes the Quit

Indian movement and the Bengal famine of the early nineteen forties as its

background. It continued the tradition of social realism stressing, like Anand, the

necessity of social purpose in fiction

 In Music for Mohini (1952) Bhattacharya tries to connect our age-old

vision of life with the new semi-western attitude. In He Who Rides the Tiger

(1952) he forms an intricate criss-cross of themes such as appearance and reality,

the "haves and the "have-nots" and religious hypocrisy. His Goddess Named Gold

(1960) is a good example of allegorical writing, In Shadow from Ladakh (1966) he

used symbolism against the background of the Chinese invasion of 1962. In A

Dream in Hawau (1978) he deals with the theme of the East-West encounter,

Bhattacharya's contribution to Indian English fiction is noteworthy,

Manohar Malgonkar, one of the popular Indo-English novelists of the

modern era started his career after independence with the publication of Distant

Drum (1960). He is an artist of the first order. He excels in literary sensibility and

critical maturity, though a realist, unlike Bhattacharya, Malgaonkar holds the

opinion that art has no other purpose to serve than pure entertainment Even so, his

major preoccupation seems to be the role of history in individual and social life in

India

Distant Drum is a documentary of army life in its various aspects and a

celebration of army code as developed by the Britishers in the army. Combat of

Shadows (1962) derives its title and epigraph from the Bhagvad Gita. The Princess

(1963), no doubt Malgaonkar's best novel, is also a successful political novel. It

reveals the bright side of the princely world. The setting of A Bend in the Ganges

(1964) is Partition while the Ramayana is the source of its title and epigraph. The

Devil's Wind (1972) deals with the great Revolt of 1857. His novels after 1980

include Bandicoot Run (1982), The Garland Keepers (1987) and Cactus Country

(1992), all containing spy stories in the centre.

 Udupi Rajagopalachari Ananthamurthy’s was born 21 December 1932–22

August 2014 was an Indian contemporary writer and critic in the Kannada

language. He was born in Tirthahalli Taluk and is considered one of the pioneers

the Navya movement. In 1994, he became the sixth Kannada writer to be honored

with the Jnanpith Award, the highest literary honor conferred in India. In 1998, he

received the Padma Bhushan award from the Government of India. He was the

vice-chancellor of Mahatma Gandhi University in Kerala during the late 1980s. He

was one of the finalists of Man Booker International Prize for the year 2013. He

remained a fervent critic of nationalistic political parties until his death

from kidney failure and cardiac arrest on 22 August 2014 Ananthamurthy’s was

born into Kannada-speaking Brahmin family in Melige, in Tirthahalli taluk in

the Shimon District. His education started in a traditional Sanskrit school in

Durvasapura and continued in Tirthahalli and Mysore. After receiving a Master of

Arts degree from the University of Mysore, U. R. Ananthamurthy’s taught in the

English department at University of Mysore for a while before embarking to

England for further studies on a Commonwealth Scholarship. He earned his

doctorate from the University of Birmingham in 1966 for his dissertation thesis

entitled "Politics and Fiction in the 1930s". Ananthamurthy’s started his career as a

professor and instructor in 1970 in English department of University of Mysore.

He was the Vice-Chancellor of Mahatma Gandhi University in Kottayam, Kerala

from 1987 to 1991. He served as the Chairman of National Book Trust India for

the year 1992. In 1993 he was elected as the president of Sahitya Academy. He

served as a visiting professor in many Indian and foreign universities

including Jawaharlal Nehru University, University of Tubingen, University of

Iowa, Tufts University and Shivaji University. Ananthamurthy’s served twice as

the Chairman of the Film and Television Institute of India. In 2012 he was

appointed the first Chancellor of Central University of Karnataka. He was also a

reason for the establishment of Humanities department of Maniple University.

Later in 2012 he served as a visiting faculty at Maniple Centre for Philosophy and

Humanities, Maniple University for four months. Ananthamurthy’s has

participated and delivered lectures in numerous seminars s writer and orator both

in and outside the country. He was the member of the committee of Indian writers

and visited countries like the Soviet Union, Hungary, France and West Germany in

1990. He visited Moscow in 1989 as board member for a Soviet newspaper.

Ananthamurthy’s was the leader for the committee of writers who visited China in

1993. Ananthamurthy's works have been translated into several Indian and

European languages and have been awarded with important literary prizes His

mainworksinclude"Prashne","AakashaMattuBekku", Samskara, Bhava, Bharathipu

ra, and Avasthe. He has written numerous short stories as well. Several of his

Novels and short fictions have been made into movies. Most of

Ananthamurthy's literary works deal with psychological aspects of people in

different situations, times and circumstances. His writings supposedly analyses

aspects ranging from challenges and changes faced by Brahmin families of

Karnataka to bureaucrats dealing with politics influencing their work.

Most of his novels are on reaction of individuals to situations that are

unusual and artificial. Results of influences of sociopolitical and economic changes

on traditional Hindu societies of India and clashes due to such influences –

between a father and a son, husband and wife, father and daughter and finally, the

fine love that flows beneath all such clashes are portrayed by Ananthamurthy’s in
his works. This is evident in his stories like Suryana Kudure (The Sun's Horse)

Mouni Roy (Silent Man)", "Karthika, "Ghatashraddha". It does not mean that

Ananthamurthy’s is just clinging to portraying only such somewhat standard

subjects of Indian literature of his period. His novelette Bara (Drought) portrays

the dynamics of a drought-stricken district of Karnataka and the challenges and

dilemmas a bureaucrat may face in such situations. The central figure of the

novel Sooryana Kudure– Venkata is shunned by his son and wife for his easy-

going attitude that does not take him anywhere. Venkata is a non-achiever who

could not achieve any material or monetary success in his life.

However, he is a simpleton who does not take life's suffering to his heart

too much. He likes to see life as living in the love of Amma (or mother-godds). In

all sufferings of life, he has the child-like curiosity about the smallest things in life

like a grasshopper (Sooryana Kudure). The evening after his son revolts and leaves

the house, he would be engrossed in a sight in his yard a grasshopper shining in

the sun's light. His several novels were made into films

like Samskara, Bara, Avaste, Mouni, Sooka, Ghatashraddha and Diksha. U. R.

Ananthamurthy’s met his wife Esther in 1954 and they were married in 1956. They

had two children, Sharath and Anuradha. He resided in Bangalore for most of his

later life. His son in law Vivek Shanbhag also is a famous writer in Kannada. U. R.

Ananthamurthy’s made an unsuccessful run for the Lok Sabha in 2004 in which he

stated that his prime ideological objective in opting to contest the elections was to

fight the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

A Janata Dal (Secular) leader and former Prime Minister of India H. D.

Deve Gowda had made an offer for Murthy to contest for his party. However, after
the Janata Dal (Secular) worked a power sharing agreement with the BJP, Murthy

said: I will never forgive my friends in the Janata Dal (Secular) for joining hands

with the BJP. Ananthamurthy’s also contested for the Rajya Sabha elections from

state assembly in the idea proposed by Ananthamurthy’s to rename ten cities in

Karnataka 2006. including Bengaluru from their colonial forms to actual native

forms was accepted by the Government of Karnataka and the cities were renamed

on the occasion of the golden jubilee celebrations of the formation of Karnataka In

June 2007, Ananthamurthy’s declared that he would not take part in literary

functions in future in the wake of strong criticism for his reaction on S.L.

Harappa’s controversial novel Aavarana that appeared in a section of the media.

In 2013, Murthy's statement that there is a reference in the Mahabharata to

Brahmin's consuming beef drew flak from Hindu religious leaders. Vishwesha

Teertha Swami of Pejaewr Math commented that there was no reference to

Brahmins consuming beef in the conversation between Chesham and Yudhishtira

or anywhere else in the Mahabharata and Murthy's statement came as a surprise to

him. A vocal critic of the Ashtray Swayamsevak Sangh and Bharatiya Janata

Party (BJP) Jan Sangh for over 50 years, Murthy said in 2013 that he would not

live in the country ruled by BJP leader Narendra Modi. He later clarified that those

remarks were made when he was "overcome by emotion" and said that he had no

such plan, though he continued to oppose BJP. Murthy was given special police

protection after he began receiving threatening phone calls. Later when Modi

became the Prime Minister he was given a free ticket to Pakistan by a group of

Modi supporters called "Nomo Brigade". After Murthy's death was announced on

22 August 2014, several BJP and Hindu Jacarandas Vedike were booked for

celebrating his death by bursting crackers at four places in Mangalore and one spot
in Chikkamagaluru.1984: Rajyothsava Award1994: Jnanpith Award 1998 : Padma

Bhushan 2004 : Sahitya Akademi Fellowship2008 : Nadoja Award by Kannada

University2011 : Shortlisted for The Hindu Literary Prize (Bharathipura) 2012 : D.

Lit. Honors Castoff the University of Calcutta 2012: Bashers Puraskaram2013 :

Nominated, Man Booker International Prize 1970-71 - Best Story Writer –

Samskara (1970) 1977-78 : Best Story Writer – Ghatashraddha (1977) 1987-

88 : Best Dialogue Writer – Avaste (1987) (Shared with Krishna Masada) 2002: 03

Best Story Write – Mouni (2003) Death Ananthamurthy’s died of cardiac arrest

on 22 August 2014 at Maniple Hospital, in Bangalore, India, aged He had been

suffering from kidney related disease for some years, and was undergoing dialysis

treatment with diabetes and heart problem. He was admitted to Maniple Hospital

on 13 August with an infection and fever, and underwent treatment on a multi-

support system. The Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, paid his condolences

in response to Ananthamurthy’s death.

The novel begins in the small Indian village of Durvasapura. A Brahmin

man named Praneshacharya cares for his wife, Bhagirathi, as part of a years-long

nightly ritual. She is afflicted with a debilitating chronic illness. He feeds her

before putting her to bed. Then another woman, Chandri, rushes to

Praneshacharya's home to tell him that her lover, Naranappa’s, caught a fever and

died suddenly. Praneshacharya’s rushes to the house of Garuda, another Brahmin,

and stops him from eating, as he informs him that Naranappa’s has died and thus,

as custom requires, they must fast.

 The Brahmin community turns to Praneshacharya’s have to make a

decision regarding Naranappa's funeral rites. The rights are typically performed by

a family member, but his relatives Garuda and Lakshmana hesitate to offer their

help. While not technically excommunicated, Naranappa’s was not accepted in the

community, as he

Left his wife for a woman of a lower caste, ate meat, and drank alcohol. They talk

at length about Naranappa's various transgressions, criticizing him for his lifestyle.

Praneshacharya’s says he will continue to weigh the decision. Chandri looks at

him, conveying her hope that he will treat Naranappa's body with charity. She

eventually offers her jewellery as payment for the rights to be performed.

The narrator then describes the town at length, remarking on the fruit trees,

ritual meals, and remarkably hot climate. Praneshacharya’s reflects on a previous

meeting with Naranappa’s in which he insulted the Brahmin tenets of faith.

Praneshacharya’s remembers him saying that the Brahmin beliefs are hypocrisies,

as many members of the caste engage in shady scheming and lead generally joyless

lives. Naranappa’s at one point took a group of boys fishing in the temple pond, an

act that was viewed with great outrage. Praneshacharya’s made it his mission to

prove Naranappa’s wrong, but ultimately feels that he failed to do so. The Brahmin

continues to be perturbed by the ongoing question of Naranappa's funeral rites.

Free star there is also a great degree of infighting, as various members begin to

angrily pick another.Garuda dislikes Lakshmana for his greed and penny-pinching.

Praneshacharya’s is additionally tasked with figuring out what to do with the gold

from Naranappa's estate, much to his great stress and anxiety. He continues

reviewing the sacred texts and speaks with Chandri. He remains undecided and the
other Brahmins begin to complain, both because of their inability to eat and also

because of the stench of Naranappa's corpse. Chandri offers to pay for Naranappa's

Funeral rites by selling the few jewels she possesses; Praeshacharaya tells her to

keep them.

Later, Chandri sits beneath a tree with plantains in her lap. Vultures begin

circling the sky, a terrible omen to the Brahmins. They attempt to chase them away

with noise. Praneshacharya’s remain in agony over the decision regarding

Naranappa’s. He wanders through a nearby forest and finds Chandri. Both

exhausted from these trials, they weep. He feels suddenly drawn to her, as she pulls

him close to her body. Overcome with desire for her, Praneshacharya’s sleeps with

her that night. He wakes up at midnight and tells Chandri he must confess what he

has done by tomorrow.Chandri feels guilt for what has occurred, as she thinks

everything she does turns out poorly. She feels a great sadness thinking of

Naranappa's body remaining in the temple, rotting. In desperation, she pays a

Muslim fishmonger to steal the body and cremate it. Meanwhile, several young

men in the village rehearse for a play and then talk afterward. They say that no

Brahmin women are as kind as Chandri and that everyone is treating the matter of

Naranappa's body too seriously. The Brahmin continues to be frustrated with the

lack of decision about Naranappa’s while Praeshacharaya remains miserable…

guilty, and uncertain. He does not return to the village that evening.

Praneshacharya’s eventually returns home and thinks quietly to himself. He

reflects on his actions, wondering what drew him to Chandri.He goes to tend to his

wife and sees that she has a fever. He steps outside briefly and then is struck with a

terrible premonition.
 When he goes back inside, he finds that his wife is dead. He burns her body

and weeps. The Brahmins continue to debate the Naranappa’s matter in a

circuitous manner. Garuda and Lakshmana try to push their claim for Naranappa's

wealth, as they are related. The swami in the temple becomes enraged at their

greed and chastises them both. They apologize. Praneshacharya’s leaves the

Agrahara (temple) and wanders east. Praneshacharya’s finds himself in a forest.

There he encounters a young man named Putta. He feels a bit cagey around Putta,

as he is concerned about keeping his identity concealed from him. Putta talks to

him at length and follows him every step of the way. They eventually go to a small

town together. Putta convinces Praneshacharya’s to drink coffee and watch a

cockfight, which only heightens his sense of despair. Then Putta takes him to visit

a woman named Padmavati who lives nearby.

Praneshacharya’s finds Padmavati incredibly attractive. Putta tries to

convince Praneshacharya’s to stay the night, but he refuses, growing increasingly

concerned by his feelings of lust. He continues to struggle with his feelings as he

enters a temple and joins in a prayer. He talks to the other men in the temple and

resolves to perform the rites and confess his actions. Praneshacharya’s heads back

to Durvasapura and the novel ends with him anxiously awaiting his return.
 CHAPTER II

A CRITICAL STUDY OF MAPPING THE RANGE OF AND

DEPTH OR THE CLASHES U.R. ANANTHAMURTHY’S

SAMSKARA A RITE FOR A DEAD MAN

Ananthamurthy‘s works essentially deal with intense culture question like

caste, religion and modernity. He deals with all kind of conflicts in his works

which are irresolvable. N. Manu. writes in this regard,’’ It was almost singularly

Anthamurthy, who fully embraced all kinds of contraries in his creative works and

in his essay on literature, culture and society without, ever, dissolving or

privileging any of them ‘’ (The Hindu) these contradictions in Ananthamurthy’s

novels are nature as he acquired different approaches of life through his experience

in East and West. His upbringing and initial education in a traditional village make

him aware of the culture values of rural Indian where he finds many tribulations on

humanistic level. At the same time, it is not easy for the people of Indian to accept

the liberal, free and the individualistic ways of western countries. The conflicts

between caste and social justice, East and West , tradition and modernity, myth

and history, purity and pollution , religion and scepticism, sacred and secular occur

in his novels but Ananthamurthy’s does not discard or embrace any of them.

Samskara and Bharathipura is his post independent novel which studies both

metaphysical and a social aspect of Hinduism Samskara crystallizes not only the

caste based spiritual aspect of Hinduism but its orthodoxy in ritual Also.

Bharathipura deals with the difficulty of change in a society which is bound in the

chains of caste. It explores the fact that this change is not easy even to the educated
class of Indian India is a religion and caste ridden courtly where people follow the

dehumanstic values of religion either through fear or through internalization which

confine their thinking.

The marginalization of subalterns is being extended through the notions of

caste and religion. Both the lower caste and upper castes internalize the conceits of

inferiority and superiority respectively given to them by the hegemony of societal

institutes. This internalization is not easy because society, parentage, culture, and

religion make a complex web to normalize it. It has deep impact on the psyche of

people, either in negative or in positive terms Ananthamurthy’s also accept the

fact that, ‘’I could neither become entirely anti-Brahman cal as I am made out to

be, nor could I save mu self from becoming sceptic (author’s note to

Bharathipura). He gets aware of the dehumanizing forces of Indian caste system in

which his own caste has the superior status among all the castes. His cultural and

social system, which is bound to moralities and values, make him a critic of the

false superiority of his own caste and community. His visit to the West on

educational and political tours made him familiar to the openness of West so a

sceptic. His own inconsistency is reflected in his novels. He discards any

reductionalism so this is the reason that his works do not resolve any conflict. The

novel are in realistic manner and criticize the decadent values of Brahmanism and

authoritative of patriarchy and the submissive and irrational attitude of the

subaltern. Castes and religion are probably the two most important aspects of

Indian social and cultural life which are interconnected. In Indian, there are many

controversial issues, like thon be distribution of Society to among caste earlier

based on profession and now based on birth.

 The difference between the Brahmins and the lawyer caste and male and

female are the complications in Indian social life which shakes a sensitive mind to

take reasonable steps. So many critiques of caste have been attempted that castes

has been attributed to Hinduism and orthodox people believes that castes should

maintain to protect Hinduism. It is very well identified on humanistic level that the

main aim of the religion is to liberate the human begins from the difficulties of this

life not to create discrimination to prolong the pains of lawyer caste people.

Human beings follow and prayer in different ways to achieve mental satisfaction in

this world of chaos, to gain an entry into the paradise. But to follow the established

pattern of rituals mislead people on humanistic ground. They follow mischievous

path to maintain their religion or caste. The prohibitions of food in Brahmins

before the cremation, their absurd efforts to main tain the sanctity while eternally

they have desire of all kinds. It is not wrong to have desire but wrong is to

repressing the name of god or religion and acquires them through mischievous

way. Ananthamurthy’s criticises these mischievous path in support of a life free of

all the established notions or ritual in the name of God. In Hinduism the sours of

castes and Untouhablity can be attributed to the misunderstanding of Dharma,

rather than the understanding of it. Through his study of the ways of achieving

Moksha, the novelist shows that orthodoxy can slow down the social and economic

development of the community. Castes and orthodoxy affect the people through

difference that exist between lower caste people and Brahmins , Brahmin females

and untouchable social structures of Indian society where the discrimination on the

behalf of caste is growing day by day. The life of Brahmins in full complications

All in all, these people have no morals, Saar, ‘he said,’ you know the saying, the

distant hills is smooth. It‘s true, Saar. You must get close enough to them.
 These literature sons of widows have no scruples at all. They keep their

own daughters, their daughters-in-law. No sense of haemic responsibility that she

belongs to another man Ananthamurthy’s is ambiguous while representing both the

caste. He criticizes Brahmins and at the same time he does not take the side of

lower caste people. He presents heroes who are aware of the hypocritical

superiority of their own castes and irrationality of lower caste which exploit both

the lower caste people and upper caste people. Ananthamurthy’s represents lower

caste people sympathetically but a kind of domestication is also mingled in his

representation. As an educated person Jagannatha sees the bitter condition of the

Holeyarus, but he has not overtime his caste prejudices. He is shown as

inconsistent whether he is doing right or wrong, whether these people are worthless

or has the same sensibilities as others have. His inconsistency shows that there is a

difference in the economic condition of Jagannatha and Holydays and he did not

understand the sensibilities of these people. These lower caste people confront him

as shadows, meaningless, and enigmatic things which can’t be solved. When does

he ask them, ‘Touch it! Touch it! He screamed’’ After touching he threw away the

saligrama, ‘’the holeyer had appeared as meaningless things to him ‘’

(Bharathipura 160). Jagannatha feels irritated with the irresponsible attitude of

Holeyer towards his action plan that he plans for their uplift meant. He experiences

that these lower caste people have internalized the values of Hinduism and how

they afraid to break the system. Jagannatha in his revolutionary zeal, negemonized

for centuries. The decision to the question act or attitude tries to improve the

condition of lower caste people by destroying the mythic beliefs of society with

keeps them to periphery. Jagannatha tries to destroy the hegemony of religion in

the minds of the Holeyarus set by the upper castes on the name of right path. In
starting, they are shown as having no much concern about religion but as the

chariot festival come near the art showmen more fearful. The religious hegemonic

structures work smoothly on their mind. As his Bharathipura stands for the whole

country, he suggest that fear works more the devotion on Indian psyche. This fear

on religion, sanctity of god and the very idea related to damned, prohibit people to

live a free life and question their devotion.

There is a connection between religion and market which exposes the

conflict between the theories of religion and the modern theories of profit. In

present scenario religious places are not for devotion or spirituality but they are the

market zed hubs. People like prabhu shown to be religious but their theories of

profit are based on secularism. They make advantage of the fear of religion for

their business. Prabhu has a hold on every business in Bharathipura, Manjunatha

rice milk, Manjunatha lorry series, Manjunatha sode factory, ‘’this was prahu’s

policy : you can lose honour and self respect to make money; honour and respect

will come with the wealth you’ve made, anyway’’ . People are using religion and

devotion as business because of the fear. Jagannatha argues with Shripati, ‘’ours is

still a medieval economy. And Manjunatha is at its centre. It is natural for you to

fear your business will turn topsy-turvy if there is any threat to his fame. But then,

look at this way; because of Manjunatha, our lifestyle has stagnated. We

‘rotting’’). Ananthamurthy’s is crystallizing the psych1e of people where belief

and disbelief, sacred and foul and religion and materialism coexist. Some people

like (Bharathipura Jagannatha, Naranappa’s and Mahaba try to break the

hegemony of religion, caste and God to differentiate between real and superficial

but either they have to struggle with the society or they have to face the dilemma

of their mythical past in which they lived or grown. Indian has a strong mythical
past to preserve its established notions of spiritually, sanctity, religion and the

hierarchal structure among caste and gender. These ‘made realities’ work as

‘collective unconscious’ of the people which always effects the actions of

individuals. These ‘made realities’ work through proper institutes like family,

school, religious place, hospital. Michel Foucault calls them as ‘discourse’:

Conditioned and constructed a terrain of thought, a system of knowledge, and a

particular kind of language that allowed some things to be said and disallowed

some others. Thus the priest used the discourse of religion, of sin and salvation in

order to preach particular norms of behaviour in domains like marriage sexuality,

family and charity. He shows how these discourse condition people live and built

their thinking. As in Bharathipura people believe that Bhootharaya is an agent of

Manjunatha, or He will stretch them (Holeyarus) out with legs if they enter in

Manjunatha temple or they will spilt blood and die if they try to defile the God of

upper caste.

He just laughed. ‘your Garuda, he robes shaven widows, he plots

evil with black magic men, and his one of your Brahmins, isn’t he

all right, let’s see who wins, Acharya. You or me let’s see how long

all this Brahmin business will last (Samskara 20).

In the novel Samskara Brahmins believe that if they will cremate

Naranappa’s corpse they will be polluted. Their actions are very opposite to what

they want. They wanted to criminate Naranappa’s for the gold but they can’t

Jagannatha and Praneshacharya’s both understand the hypocrisy of these beliefs

and choose to live differently but are caught between them. One can say that India

has so many clashes which make it absurd and it is impossible to resolve these
clashes. Even a person like Jagannatha who has acquired some sense of modernity

fails to change these ‘made realities’ but his action plan is symbolic of transition

period and accountable. When Jagannatha tries to prove that lower caste people’s

entry will not draw any destruction, instead it will take Holeyarus are polluted and

should never try to defile Manjunatha because God himself do not want their

presence as he disappears before their entry. Bharathipura is formed for the power

of local deity Manjunatha. It is a depiction of Hinduism’s structures which create

hierarchical structures of caste, myths, duties concept of morality and their grip

over individual. In his essays five Decades of my writing Ananthamurthy’s

writers , the world I grew up assumed that the caste system and the hierarchies

associated with it were rock-like and permanent and God-made These myths are

broken by the writer through the character of Praneshacharya’s and Jagannatha try

to domestic these myths. The practice of untounchability is not of divine origins as

some people have called it to be. Praneshacharya’s himself believes in the concept

of pollution as in the beginning of novel he does not want to talk to chandri

because ‘’he would be polluted’’ towards the end of the novel Praeshacharaya does

not want to sit and eat in temple but the temple because he is in pollution period.

There is a popular belief that if any person in pollution will eat in the temple then

the temple chariot wills not move.prashacharya eat in the temple but the temple

chariot does not stop. So the pollution caused by the wife’s death proves to be a

myth. Similarly the concept of pollution caused by the touch of human beings and

the entire system of Untounchability is a myth which needs to be demolished. In

Bhootharaya is considered as an agent of Manjunatha. So to upset the power of

Manjunatha and Bhootharaya directly operates the hierarchal structure between the

Brahmins and Holeyarus.

 It exposes that the myths are related to god of religion are to prolong the

dominance of Manjunatha or the upper castes. He knows that everything

happening in Bharathipura is because of the Manjunatha and his powers. Every

action in the novel is cantered around Manjunatha. The president of Indian also

goes to the temple of Manjunatha when he visits the village Bharathipura. With

this realization Jagannatha scepticism grows strong. He resigns to wants to

pollution the very notion of sanctity of Manjunatha temple. So the clashes between

pollution and purity and sanctity are also related to Brahmanism but

Ananthamurthy’s exposes that the concept of superiority and purity pressurize

Brahmins to live a hypocritical life and the concept impurity and unsociability

frees Shudres to live amoral lives. But in actuality to preserve the difference

between the purity and pollution both the caste are living unauthentic ally. The free

living of lower caste people are authentic because they have not the burden of

bring scant, moral, and pure in any situation .In the novels these Brahmins are

shown as auguring mischievous paths to maintain the value system of their

religion. Praneshacharya’s himself choosing to be an acetic to become superior

‘Acharya’ in the eyes of other people. He follows a routine life, marries to a

sexually invalid wife to maintain his asceticism. Suhila Punitha question the

imposed asceticism of Praneshacharya’s wouldn’t he has matured better if he had

chosen to be Naranappa’s putrefies openly; Praneshacharya’s does so secretly with

his Self-imposed impotency.

He impresses the other Brahmins of the Agrahara with an outward show of

regard for the Niamey yet he the inner humility that goes beyond egoism to

practice what preaches. No wonder than that he could not find the right advice

from the scriptures on Naranappa’s Samskara the human great to a moralistic or

idealistic position and the endeavours to maintain it causes the death of

individuality. Ananthamurthy’s gives the example of Preashacharya, questions the

rigidity of Brahmins to live Hypo critically.

Ananthamurthy’s tries to resolve the clashes between the orthodoxy and

ways restrict individually , the modernistic open way are also futile in country like

Indian where people have great regard for the religion values. Naranappa’s rejects

Brahmanism and acquire extreme modernistic ways of life because of his

understanding of the decadent ways of Brahmanism. He says to Praeshacharya:

Let’s see who in the end- you or me. I will destroy Brahmanism, I

certainly will. My only sorrow is that there’s no Brahmanism really

left to destroy in this place –except you. Guruda, Lakshmana,

Durgabhatta- ahaha –what a Brahmins! If I were still a Brahmin that

fellow Gurudacharya washed me down with his aposhana water. Or

that Lakshmana-he loves money so much he’ll lick a copper round

my neck, just to get my property (Samskara 22).

He knew the hypocrisy of these Brahmins. He is aware of the fact that

Praneshacharya’s has of Brahmin ism on himself. Other Brahmins are deceives in

there guise of Brahmin self’s. Lakshmana, Desahacharya, Gurudacharya, have lust

for sex, craving for money and mean desires for food. They have all the desires

which Naranappa’s has, but in repressive form. Their desires come out to the

reality with the progression so the novel. In this regard A.K.Ramanujan writer I his

afterward to the novel Samskara Naranappa’s has the realization that his hedonistic

are also futile. He tells a story which has a moral, every action results not in what

is expected but in its exact opposite Jagannatha, like Naranappa’s, believes that
the efforts to change are futile in country like India. His action plan to take the

lower caste people into the temple becomes a political step. And when he tries to

demystify the myths related to caste and God he creates another myth

unintentionally. Ananthamurthy’s is not against tradition but his works show how

traditional values of Brahmanism are irrelevant in resolving the problem of

contemporary world. Praeshacharya tries to resolve the problem of Naranappa’s

cremation through the prescribed ways into Vedas, but fails. And at the same time

he is not against the modernity. He is a modernizer who wants modernity for the

sake of humanity and wants to abolish the values of the decadent Brahmanism and

its dehumanizing notions which pressurize people to live hypocritically. Their

interior natures are rotten by their repressive desires. Repression arouses more

intensity for these worldly desires. The question arises if they are not authentic to

the self how they can be faithful to their nation, religion, caste and family.

Bharathipura is shown in the grasp of religion, caste, and unequal distribution of

wealth and pointless if they do not resolve the dilemma of the right or wrong. He

says to Shripati Rao Don’t you feel that this town has been rotting for centuries,

ray are? I can’t really convince you in an argument how Manjunatha responsible

for this only action can prove it. Life in such a society seems pointless because

there’s no scope for any action here except Eating, dying..

‘I don’t know what’s the matter pilla and his woman died today struck by

demon or something, ayya’. Shripati had no use for words right now. She

was naked. He pulled her down to the ground( Samskara35).

Both Jagannatha and Naranappa’s believe in modernistic ways of life but

both have acquired these differently. Jagannatha has acquired them from his living
experience in India and England but Naranappa’s acquires these modernistic

values through his own sensibility, through his own understanding of decadent

ways of Brahmanism. Both have the agendas against the established values. The

term ambivalence works as a positive metaphor in Ananthamurthy’s works. It is a

result of the stress on the mind of an individual who tries to find out a ways

between these conflicts but fails. He is ambivalent when dealing with different

conflicts but, on one hand his characters refute the alleged religious sanction of

castes and orthodoxy and on the other hand they end in the boundary of religion.

Both Naranappa’s and Praeshacharaya seek different ways to achieve a holistic

life. One acquires the extreme traditionalistic ways whereas other acquires extreme

modernistic way but in the end both realize the incompleteness of their preferred

ways.., Naranappa’s favours modernism, rejects Brahmin hood and brings home

Chandri, a prostitute, from Kundapura, a nearby town. He drinks alcohol and

invites. Muslim eats meat. He throws Saligrama, the holy stone which did to

represent God Vishnu, into the river, and spits after it.

His sceptic world is very opposite to the sacred world of Praeshacharaya.

In his sceptic world he cares only for individual desires while discarding

everything. The flowers in the backyards of the other Brahmins are meant for

worship and their women wear only withered flowers gathered from the altar. But

Naranappa’s grows the night-queen plant in his front garden. Its intense smelling

flowers are meant only to decorate Chandri's hair. Naranappa’s, with his Muslim

friends catches sacred fish from the temple tank, cooks and eats them. He accepts I

belong to the Hedonist school which says- borrow, if you must, but drink your

ghee" But drinking alcohol, eating meat is not modernity. It is apparent that the

ways which Ananthamurthy’s represents as counterfoils to the traditional

brahmanical ways are amoral in Indian traditional context. But in the end he dies

with the sacred words on his lips. He tries to overcome his Brahmin hood but fails.

He is very opposite to Praeshacharaya who does everything as prescribed in Vedic

texts.

But in the end the transformation of Praeshacharya assures that an

individual is not only a puppet in the hands of society. But Naranappa's dying with

holy words on his lips suggests an individual can fight to become what he/she

wants but his/her cultural past never allow him/her to go alone. He/she can

overcome to the dilemma of cultural crisis but to some extent. Through their

characters Ananthamurthy’s represents hollowness of the reduction in any sense

whether in asceticism or in scepticism, past or present and tradition or modernity.

Naranappa’s wins I n the end because of his utterance proves right with the

transformation of Praeshacharaya and Jagannatha fails in his 'action plan' because

neither he understands the sensibility of lower caste people, nor of Indian society.

However apparently he succeeds in his plan to get the Holeyarus in the temple.

Through his transition Ananthamurthy’s suggests the need for changing or

rejection of orthodox values of Brahmanism so that a Brahmin can live

authentically in this contemporary modem period. For the centuries lower caste

people have been doing all the loathsome work for the upper castes. But in this

novel there is a solution to the Indian caste system as Ambedkar professed in his

lectures and books that only inter-caste marriage can demolish Indian caste system.

Jagannatha think: If the awareness is born that even a mystic's shit would stink if

there was no Holiya then the time would move on. And, with the change, the

production of iron will increase. Toilet is all over the country. And with that, there

will be flush Gandhiji's and Basvanna's dream will blossom. Instead of human
waste, these dark holathiyaru will wear white jasmine flowers in their hair and,

besmeared with sandalwood paste, they'll be attractive to Brahmin man. And

Brahmin girls will fall for dark, broad-shouldered men like Pelli. This is a very

contradictory condition of India and many revolutionary people tried to break the

difference of caste. The economical condition of lower caste people and the long

history of their exploitation compelled them to do something and reservation is the

result of their endeavours. The dilemma is that in every field, caste is still

remaining in different forms. Regarding present situation of caste system and its

resolution Jagannatha thinks: As long as the concept of my mother, my son, my

wife remain in their present connotations, so long will notions of caste and wealth

remain, or as long as the idea of caste and status exists, so long will the present

attitude to relationships also stay. Trying to vary nature of these concepts is

evolution. Henceforth, I stand committed to conscious struggle- ready to see

everything, prepared to go through anything. This equality can be achieved by

disbelieving the metaphysical connotations of the discourses of religion and caste

that make the subaltern inferior and secure a high position for Brahmins and

patriarchy. We might call it Hindu colonialism, a systematic imperialism of

religion. The hegemony of religion and caste also contributes the authority of

patriarchy. The assumptions about the superiority of male gender or the inferiority

of female gender both at physical or mental level are not new to the society. The

discrimination of caste is closely related to the clashes of gender. These novels are

situated in a period where women had not much freedom like the men; they were

restricted to the household duties. They are considered more devoted to the family,

religion and society but Jagannatha questions their condition in the institutes of

family and society. He observes that they are foetuses in the womb of God:
 Women take daily offerings of bananas and coconut in well -scrubbed

shining plates to Manjunatha, who wears a gold crown because of a blind belief

that he saved my life. Are they the real beneficiaries of this permanence? Or are

they mere foetuses in the womb of Manjunatha? The female characters are doubly

marginalized; firstly they are caught in the nexus of religion or God and secondly

in the web of the patriarchy. In both the novels Ananthamurthy’s represents upper

caste women in comparison to the lower caste women. Brahmin women are not

only carrying the burden of traditional brahmanical values but the extra burden

imposed by the patriarchy. There is no doubt that the Brahmin women in Samskara

are described in a very negative light. In the Agrahara of Durvasapura, we do not

find even a single Brahmin woman who is described in positive words. Portrayal of

Brahmin males is somewhat positive as there are no untouchable male characters

in the novel to compare with, but the portrayal of Brahmin females is most

damaging. The novelist draws a sharp contrast between the frigid, dried up women

of the orthodox Brahmin community and the sensuous women of the lower Castes.

As Ramanujan points. Out in his Afterword: While all the Brahmin wives are

sexless, unappetizing smelly, invalids at best, the women of other castes are seen

as glowing sex-objects and temptations to the Brahmin. Low caste and outcaste

women like Chandri and Belli are hallowed and romanticized by references to

classical heroines like Shakuntala, and Menaka , the temptress of sages.)

Brahmin women are represented as: "asexual, cheek sunken, breast

withered, mouth stinking of lentil soup" (Samskara 37). And on the other side

outcaste woman are shown as sexual, full of life living forces. With their physical

beauty they are mentally strong also. There is a binary opposition between 'sexual

and 'asexual' women. They are represented as they have only these two
characteristic either sexual or asexual and their need is based on these two. As

Nalini Karajan elucidates the response of patriarchy towards asexual wives, "Their

lack of sexual attractiveness is offered as an excuse for both Naranappa’s and

Shripati's (the younger Brahmin students) abandonment of their respective wives”

She observes that the positive sexuality is denied to Brahmin women. The ritually

lower groups are the widows who do not cut their hair and do not obey diet

restrictions. They are objects of charm for the Brahmins of Agrahara. But the

widows of upper sub-caste of Brahmins are shown in pathetic condition with their

shaved head and restricted diet. Nalini says about the relation of ritual and women:

The particular connection of upper caste women to ritual complicates the nature of

her marginalization an erasure. In sense, she is the embodiment of ritual, which

means that the stranglehold of ritual on the modern individual is gendered and

associated with certain gynophobia. This gynophobia is distinct from the

gynophobia which may be read in traditional (Spastic) text or in the colonial

gynophobia of Ramakrishna. It ought to be read rather, as part of the history of the

interaction between caste and the forces of modernity.

Consequently the representation of lower a caste woman is also implicated

in a similar nexus of ritual and the libidinal; however here the women is excluded

from ritual and is an embodiment of libidinality

 CHAPTER III

CONCLUSION

Ananthamurthy’s is criticized because of the reductive way of

representation of the women of both castes. The lower caste women are praised

only on physical grounds. They are represented as sexual or asexual, if there are

only two categories to judge a woman. "Belli was carrying a pitcher of water on

her head, the rag on her body has slipped, and as she stood in the moon light

bouncing her breasts, the colour of earth- she'd look like Shakuntala herself.

(Samskara39).

The whole Sanskrit literature glorified by the writer is explicitly anti-

woman and anti-subaltern. In Brahmanism epics the fantasies sexualize the body of

the woman as an object of desire, to be ordered, violated and accommodated by the

patriarchy. The representation of Belli and Chandri in Samskara and Kaveri in

Bharathipura, with their eroticized bodies is partial and inhuman in its approach. In

Bharathipura, all the female characters as Chikki, Kaveri, Bhagvata amma, and

Amma are less revolutionary and clever then the men of Bharathipura. However

Chikki, Bhagvata Amma, and Amma are more idealistic then Kaveri a lower caste

women, "A buxom wench, she had tucked her sari high enough to display her

sharply thighs, and tied her hair into a bun and stuck a rose in it.

She bent forward provocatively to sweep under the bed Its clears that

the writer believes that the lower caste people are amoral and having no restrictions

on sexual issues. Women like Kaveri are represented as seductress and greedy for
money. The representation of Brahmin women is also not real as if lower caste

women are full of sexuality, Brahmin women are completely devoid of it. So in

gender representation Ananthamurthy’s creates binaries on the basis of caste and

beauty. Characters like Chandri, Belli, and Padmavati have some dialogues in the

novel but any Brahmin woman is not given such importance. Varner Pal criticizes

Ananthamurthy’s representation of Brahmin women. He writes: The portrayal of

Brah min women as asexual objects seems unjust when we have a look at the

Brahmin ladies like Hema Malini, Sonali Bendre, Vidya Balan and Mushin

Chatterji and others who are considered among the most beautiful females.

But here the novelist lets his own thoughts, own biases seep in the text.

(Pal 98)There is no sympathy for the woman as victim in the novels, but the

references of Vedic texts are used to make the representation usual and natural.

When Naranappa's and Shripati's Brahman hood is suspended, Kailas’s "poetic

justice" is cited to justify their intimacy to the lower caste women through the

sacred commentary of the Acharya (Samskara 25). The text legitimizes the project

of the upper caste patriarchal violation of the subaltern woman. It legitimizes the

injustices done by Brahmin to the lower caste people and the subaltern

communities, and tries to make it natural. In both the novels, the lower caste

people are shown living with harmoniously and easily compromising to Brahman

hegemonic structures that there is no tension among the communities even on the

question of land and property issues. It is an instance of internalization of the

imposed social hegemonic structures, given by the Vedic texts like Manusmiriti. It

seems that Manu speaks through the novelist Ananthamurthy’s. In Bharathipura

Brahmin women have some dialogues but the lower caste women like Thimmi,

Kaveri are represented by the omnipresent narrator. So these women are

represented is silent in comparison to men and upper caste women.

Ananthamurthy’s represents women's subordinate position at time just after India’s

independence.

One side women characters are shown as docile Vulnerable or the other

side they are shown as deviant. Naranappa’s discards his wife earlier and lives

according to his will and Praeshacharaya feels the ugliness of his wife after

experiencing the beauty of Chandri and after some time she dies. Both the wives

are invalid to physical satisfaction, one by fate and another by her willingness and

both are discarded by their husbands. However Praeshacharaya keeps his wife till

her death.

But till then he is shown as incomplete or unable to resolve the problem of

Naranappa's cremation. It is only after Bhagirathi's death he understands the

complete process of 'Dharma' and its relation with Kama, Aretha, Only after that

he decides to remove the body and to expose the truth about the incident in forest

Chandri. These female characters are shown as only the stairs to climb the hill of

wishes of the patriarchy. As Bupsi Sidhwa, in his novel Fire, shows how Ashok

influenced by swami considers desire as the root cause of doom and tries to

overcome his physical desire, he uses his wife Radha to test himself, neglecting her

physical desires.

In novel Samskara four female characters, Bhagirathi, Chandri, Belli and

Padmavati are not highlighted as the male characters but they all play crucial roles

in the transition of male characters. As Praneshacharya’s marries an invalid

Bhagirathi only to keep his asceticism which he considered the only way of

Dharma. So in a way Bhagirathi plays not only an important part in his

determination of being an ascetic but she, and her invalidity are the forces which

keep Praneshacharya's asceticism alive. Secondly, Chandri becomes the path finder

for Praneshacharya’s. Her sudden entry in forest is

Like the invocation of muse or muses in epics for hero's conenience. Only

through Chandri, Praeshacharaya realizes the meaninglessness of the life without

physical pleasures which he has been living with his invalid wife. And third

Naranappa's wife becomes an obstacle in Naranappa's free livings and he discards

her completely and uses free livings of an outcaste to his own deviant hedonistic

ways. His wife dies but he does not attend her funeral. His wife's objection for his

living with Chandri and for his anti brahmanical ways is never mention in the

novel. These female characters are shown as repressed by patriarchy or its

hegemonic ideological structures. These female characters are shown as subjects to

the hegemonic structures of caste, class, and gender.

This hegemonic structure of caste works on Chandri's mind who decides to

conceive the baby from Praeshacharaya, 'crest jewel of vatic learning". Chandri

contemplates, "Her mother used to say: prostitutes should get pregnant by such a

holy man. Such a man was the Acharya, he had such looks, virtues; he glowed. But

one had to be lucky to be blessed by such people" (Samskara 46). Chandri herself

has no ideology. If she knew the fact that the life which she has lived with

Naranappa’s was right then why she chooses Praeshacharaya to improve her status.

It is right that her action is only for herself but mistakenly does for Praeshacharaya

and it is according to social ideological structures. Bupsi Sidhwa in Water

crystallizes the Brahman ideology that if they have physical relation with lower
class woman, it is not for their physical pleasure. But it will help these wretched

lower class women who should be grateful that Brahmins have touched the

After all, it was impossible to have anything more than a few moments of sleeping

with her. Beyond using her as an object to satiate his lust, he could not expect any

other kind of bonding to arise out of such an intimacy; no personal involvement of

any sort. He was amazed to see how much desire her body could arouse in him and

how a reachable it was, only because of a class difference.

Did he clutch this duty, this dharma, to protect this wife lying lifeless,

a pathetic beggar woman or did dharma, clinging to him through the

action and culture of his past, guide him hand in hand through these

way he had through he should renounce the world become a sanyasi,

live a life of self sacrifice. That was the ideal, the challenge, of his

boyhood days. (samskara66).

Only bodies are given special references and the emotions are neglected in

the representation of lower class women. Brahmanism views these other bodies are

not of human beings, but of mere animals. The imagery and symbols in the novels

are gender oriented and prolongs this concept of superiority and inferiority. The

clashes of gender are represented with the symbols. As according to the archetypal

approach, the serpent connotes feminine sensuousness and the tiger is associated

with masculine lust. Naranappa’s confronts Chandri's body as "a raging striped

tiger". Praeshacharaya, reflecting on his encounter, with Chandri in the forest,

recognizes "his body's lust", which was under compassion.

Also by implication the tiger gets associated with the world of violent

pursuit and crude pleasure that fall outside the Brahmanical existence. At the fair,
the Praeshacharaya is horrified by the tiger ‘world of cock-fights which threatens

his new found values as well as his

Troubled, unable to bring out a word, he left the seated Brahmins

where they were and went into the worship room. He recited god’s

many names according to routine. If he didn’t tell the truth if it

burns like embers poured into one’s lap he could never face Maruti

tide me over this confusion has chandri come? Will she blurt it out

anxious, in dread, he came out (samskara68).

In Bharathipura, Bragvata amma explains her subordinate position in the

house before Jagannatha, where Shripati Rao finds her an obstacle in his idealistic

life, "If I try talking to him, he springs on me like a tiger" (Bharathipura 20). Thus

the serpent and tiger image project the masculinity of patriarchy with its strong

hold on subalterns through hegemony or fear. In Bharathipura, Ananthamurthy’s

represents a contrast between Indian woman who is docile, silent, idealized and in

Western woman who is open minded, independent and indifferent. Margret is

earning and she lives her life according to her desires. She has the guts to oppose

or to say the truth. One side there is Chikki who opposes with silence but Margret

criticizes openly, "Jagan somehow I feel andcher’s spite is more real than your

nobility. But you're not enough of a man" And in last she rejects Jagannatha in

favour of Chandler. In Bharathipura women spent their most of the time in smoky

kitchens and the symbol of silence is more important for the suffering and angst of

women in Bharathipura. Jagannatha irritates with the silent resistance of Chikki.

He thinks that she is using her silence as a weapon against his 'action plan",

"silence was her weapon. He was angry with her. He felt her silence was the
essence of the sterility of their lives" Nagamani remains silent till her death.

Nagamani is living with her father-in-low to do the household duties. She is

stagnant, dumb and vulnerable to the established structure of society which bounds

q and chooses death. Her suicide in shows the worst condition of women at that

time where women are have burden of familial and social responsibility. They have

to repress their desires to fulfil their responsibilities. Patriarchy uses them in the

name of responsibility. Some have shown as dissatisfied with their roles which she

has to perform to satisfy the family, patriarchy, and society who either choose to be

revolutionary or get freedom in suicide. Naganani to suicides because she does not

find any scope to live according to her will. Another category of women is that

who have internalized the roles given by patriarchy act accordingly. They are not

Revolutionary but want a static society. Chukka Bhagvata amma is dissatisfied

with the open and revolutionary thinking of Jagannatha, and Shripati. They are less

revolutionary in comparison to the male as they have internalized all the values of

society. The educated male patriarchy finds her angst, depression, and resistance as

useless. Without realizing it, hurting him, with the way she looked athim while

giving him coffee, with her unkempt hair, with her face looking drawn with

fasting, and more then all, with the silent suffering with which she searched his

eyes during lunchtime in the empty dining room.

Therefore, we can say that the novels are not just silent about the subaltern

existence and the struggle of the subaltern to survive, but try to erase and mute the

cries and curses that come from the underneath the pressure of these colonized

ideological forces. These are the dual response of the writer to the castes and

gender as he feels it is possible but not easy to overcome these established

structures of society. Ananthamurthy’s, through his writings represents his

dilemmas of being a Brahmin, a male and a human being that is why there is an

ambivalent response to the existence of subaltern. Ananthamurthy’s criticizes both

the Brahmins and Davits for their restricted life and rough ways of life. This is the

Cause of his criticism that makes him a target to comment by the feminists,

traditionalists and Davits

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Rajuvathu- Selected Essays of U.R. Ananthamurthy’s. Ed. N.Menu . Bengaluru:

Prism Books Pvt. Ltd, 2014. Print.

Chakravarthy, N. Manu. “Tribute to a Teacher.” The Hindu Weekly Edition 31

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Dangle, Arjun, ed. Poisoned Bread. New Delhi: Orient Blacks wan Pvt. Ltd,

2009.Print.

Nalini, Natrajan. “Gender Caste and Modernity: A Reading of Ananthamurthy’s “

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Independence India Ed. Rajeshwari Sunder Rajan. New Delhi: Kali for

Women, 1999. Print.

Nayar, Parmod K. Contemporary Literary and Cultural Theory. New Delhi:

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Bapsi. Water. New Delhi: OUP, 2006. Print.