Indian Writing in English_Narrative style of Raja Rao in Kanthapura

M.K.BHAVNAGAR

UNIVERSITY

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH

NAME    : -Parmar Milankumar L.

ROLL NO    : -16

ENROLLMENT NO: - 14101026

SEMESTER : -  1-^st

COURSE NAME:- Indian Writing in English

ASSIGNMENT TOPIC:-Narrative Style in Kanthapura                  

SUBMITTED TO : -           Department of English

                                             Smt.S.B.Gardi
                                             M.K.B.University

Different Narrative styles: -

According to R.J. Rees there are four different styles of writing novels they are as below.

1). Plain narrative style: - plain narrative style or story telling is the most usual method. In this the novelist is an omniscient person who can describe action of his character and their thoughts and feeling, a novelist writing as though he knew everything. Galsworthy’s “In chancery” is an example of this method.

2). “I” pattern novel: - in some novel the technique ‘I’ autobiography is used. This pattern is used where the story is told in first person by narrator who refers to him or herself as ‘I’. Using this method, a writer may make his story more realistic and more credible. In David Copperfield, Dickens can only show as the world through David’s eye.

3). Narration by letter: - sometimes a novelist chooses to tell story through a series of letters. The disadvantage is that it is difficult to write a number of different styles of letter written by different characters “Richardson’s Pamela & Clarissa Harlowe” are the example of this method.

4). Conversation:- The novel must have conversation. Modern novels have more conversation than narrative. Frequency of passage of conversation makes the book.

Introduction of the writer:-

Raja Rao was born on November 8, 1908 in Hassan, in the state of Mysore in south India, into a well-known Brahman family. His native language was Kanarese, but his post-graduation study was in France, and all his publications in book form were in English. He lived in France from 1908n to 1939, and returned to India in 1940, after the second world war. Kanthapura was his first novel in English. His other novels are “The Cow of the Barricades, Great Indian Way: A Life of Mahatma Gandhi, A Passage to India, The Serpent and the Rope, Cat and Shakespeare, The Chess master and His Moves”.

Ø Narrative style of Raja Rao in ‘Kanthapura’: -

                   The success of any literary artist lies not only in his ideas but also in his expression. The style reveals the nature and the intention of the writer. It is righty said that ‘style is man’ means man is recognize by his style. In literature by reading the text of any writer we can assume his character and his intellectual power. Style reveals the author himself. Style differs from person to person. So it’s necessary to notice and analyze the literary technique used by writer.

Raja Rao’s Narrative Style In Kanthpura: -

In preface of Kanthapura he observes that “the telling has not been easy, he had to convey in a language that is not one’s own the spirit is one’s own.” He uses it in Kanthapura and all other novel, he has tried to give expression to the thought and the feeling, the culture and ideology of Indians in English.

Old Puranic Style:-

Raja Rao used the ancient Puranic method of storytelling rather than follows the western style, according to him puranic method of storytelling is natural and true to nature and true to the atmosphere of India, which gives it Indian ness to the novel. Kanthapura is third person narrative novel. Kanthpura is narrated by old woman Achkka. As Rao has told in his preface the story is told in oral tradition of storytelling without any break. He says in preface to Kanthapura

“we, in India think quickly, we talk quickly, and when we move, we move quickly, we have neither punctuation nor the treacherous ‘ats’ and ‘ons’…. Episodes follows episodes, and when our thought stop, our breath stops, and we move on to another thought”

          Western style method of chapter division is not followed and it is one continues tale. The long sentence shows flow of thought. This technique is used here in the present novel. In this novel the narrator talks to the reader for example in the very opening of Kanthapura Achakka says following lines

“our village- I don’t think you have ever heard about it Kanthapura is its name and it is the province of Kara. High Ghats, is it , high up the steep mountains, that face the cool Arabian seas, up the Malabar coast is it, up Mangalore and Puttur and many a center of cardamom and coffee, rise and sugarcane. Roads, narrow rut covered roads, wind through the forest of teak and jack of sandal and Sal, and hanging over bellowing gorges and leaping over elephant haunted valleys, they turn now to the left and now to the right and bring you through the Alambe, Champa and Meena and kola passes in to the great granaries of trade. There , on the blue waters they say our carted our cardamom and coffee gat in to the ship, the red men bring, and , so they say, they go across the seven oceans in to the countries where our rulers live ”.

In many of his stories also this method is used. This narrative method helps him to go in friendly conversational style and also to present freely the reflection of the narrator.

In his narrative style we see appropriateness of language. He uses language of all people. He brings out difference of language used by Educated, uneducated, old, young, even by man and woman. The narrator Achakka is very old age women who tells the story to her grand-children, she uses old religious word and language, that who doesn’t know about Indian myth and religion could not understand easily some words, he will find difficulties in understanding it. The Moorthy is young and educated man in village, and talks about the Gandhian thoughts idealism, and movement. Even the language used by women in village is also differs from man. They usually talk about house hold matters and about clothing and saris, which sari will she wears to go in katha.

           

This narrative method has given the writer ample opportunity for portraying character by representing various moods, and conflict, and spiritual, inward of the character. This appropriateness of style one can notice in Raja Ra. Even in Indianized English he brings out the difference in the language used by educated, uneducated, young and old. In the Kanthapura Achakka used such a language that is typical of an old woman. She expresses her feelings without any inhibition;

“If rain come not, you fall at her feet and say Kanchmma, goddess,

You are not kind to us. Our fields are full of youngliness and you have given us no water.

Tell us Kanchmma why do you seek to make our stomachs burn”

                        In the same novel he distinguishes the style of Harikatha man and Moorthy and many others from that of Achakka. Moorthy’s conversation would be good illustration. While explaining to Nanjamma about the advantage of spinning he says;

“it is yours sister, and every month, I shall come to you how many yard you have spun. And every month i shall gather your yarn send it to city. And city people reduce you for the cotton charges and for rest, you have your cloth”.

In the Indian socio-cultural context as in many others, the speaker normally addresses the listener as brother, mother, and sister or with some other term in social discourse. In many of the words languages including Indian languages “uncle, aunt, older brother, older sister etc. are appropriate terms of address in ordinary circumstances for familiar person as well as strangers older than one self.”

                       

 In Raja Rao especially in Kanthapura, the narrative is straight forward, and he uses flashback technique. Achakka tells the story to her grand-children, of her past in what kind of situation she passes through. She told story in different manner, sometimes while telling story she forgets the name of mythical characters, and confused between Shiv and Brahma, and Vishnu. She sometimes forget the story and then come back in present, and when she remembers she went back to past. The thing which we should note that she tell her children the story of Ram, of Shiva, of Vishnu, of Krishna. And then come back to the present time she compares the mythical character with present time of India in which she lives.

Raja Rao had written the novel in the three-stand point: political, religious and social. To the peasant, Kenchamma is goddess, benign and bounteous.

In Political stand point Rao presented the prevailing condition, especially the Gandhian dis-obedient movement. The hierarchy system, in which Brahmins were most privilege group. And the village ruled by them, they get better scope to get good place in the village. 

 Religious background:-

The Village has a people who have strong rigid and orthodox background of religion. The Brahmin is upper cast of society. In the Kanthapura people are ignorant, poor and superstitious, but they are also deeply religious. They were faith in Goodness ‘Kenchamaa’. She is in the center of the village. Marriage, sickness, death, ploughing, harvesting, arrest, release all are watched by Kenchamma. They may be small pox or influence around but you make vow to the Goodness, the next morning, you walked and you find the fever has left you. There is a also temple of Kanthapurishwari.

Kenchamma, Kenchamma

Goddess benign, and bounteous,

Mother of earth, blood off life,

Harvest- queen-rain, crowned,

Kenchamma, Kenchamma

Goddess benign and bounteous……

If we see the social background, we find that the condition of Dalits, Parihar, and women is very poor in the village. They have very little space in the daily life. There was a cast system of vivid communities. These Dalits, Parihar and women are suppressed due to this cast system. The cast system is divided in four parts as under.

1)    Brahmin

2)    Parihar

3)    Potter

4) Weaver

 Raja Rao’s use of Myth:-

Raja Rao has used old story telling style. His use of myth makes it different from others. The use of myth is not new style of writing English writer like James Joyce and T.S. Eliot used myth in their work. Here in Kanthapura Rao used different myths from Indian epic Mahabharata, and Ramayana, which makes its narrative simple to understand for the Indian reader. Here for the progression of the story and narrator is an old woman so it’s inevitable that mythical character would not creep in. in a way to make it interesting Raja Rao has used myths. The myths he used are of Kenchamma, Rama, Shiva, Krishna etc.

The first myth is myth of goddess Kenchamma, she is the bread giver, rain giver, and their life giver and preserver. The villagers sing her charms and hymn

“Kenchamma, Kenchamma,

Goddess benign and bounteous

Mother of earth, blood of life,

Harvest-queen, rain- crowned

Kenchamma, Kenchamma

Goddess benign and bounteous”

Even when if there is any disease spread over the village the women pray her and disease vanished

“There may be smallpox or influence around you but you make a vow to goddess, the next morning you wake up and you find fever has left you”.

Another example is:

                        “she called ages, ages ago, a demon that had come to ask our sons as food and our young women as wives. Kanchmma came from heavens….and she waged such a battle and she fought so many a night that the blood soaked and soaked into the earth, and that is why the Kenchamma Hill is all red. if not, tell me sister, why it should be red only from the Tippur stream upward , for a foot down on the other side of the stream you have mud brown, but never red ?Tell me, how could this happen, if it were not for Kenchamma and her battle? Thank heaven, not did she slay the demon, but she even settled down among us, and this much I shall say never has she failed us in our grief.”

   Another myth is myth of lord Krishna Achakka compares Gandhi as Krishna and red men as Kans. When Hari-katha man says

“you remember how Krishna when he was but a babe of

Four, had begun to fight against demons and had killed

The serpent kali. So too our Mohandas begun to fight

Against the enemies of the country”

The third myth used by him was of lord Rama, for the grandmother in Kanthapura Swaraj is Sita, Mahatma is Ram, And Nehru is brother Bharat.

“he will bring us Swaraj; the Mahatma. And we shall be all

Happy, and Rama will come back from exile and sita will

Be with him, for ravan will be slain and sita freed, and

He will come back with sita on his right in chariot of the

Air and brother Bharata will go to meet them with the

Worshipped Sandal of the master on his head and they

Enter Ayodhya, there will be the rain of flower.”

For grandmother Gandhi Is Invisible god and Moorthy is the visible avtar. So, she was dreams about independence and it will be given by Mahatma. So Kanthapura is of puranic structure and brings characters from that to describe present time.

Another distinguished narrative quality of Kanthapura is Indianized English language: Raja Rao variously tried to Indianized language, he tried to make it more easy to express his feelings and certain thoughts. By number of ways he modified and mold language to get desired effect. He has translated the native similes and metaphors, idioms, and culture specific phrases that we use in our daily language or in vernacular language. Here for example;

“well when you have drunk the Himavati waters, you can’t ever look different.”

“Moorthy is holly bull, elephant and cow.”

For the various religious ceremony and rituals, he translated the word without think much upon it the words like; hair-cutting ceremony, rice-eating ceremony, marriage ceremony and death ceremony, etc.

The use of adjectives: - the adjectives we use in our vernacular gives some effects, and native feeling to the language. some examples are “coffee planter Ramayya, fig tree, house people, corner-house Moorthy and cart-wheel Sivarama. By using word associated with Indian culture, like the names of the food, festivals, places, functions, etc. “He has infused tempo of Indian life in to English expression”. Karthik, Harikath, Sankara, Jayanthy, Payasama, Mayavada are few examples of Indian spirit.

Ø Conclusion:-

The novel starts with simple narration by an old woman about one of the village in India, later it evolves to entire India. The narration starts as tale is told to children by their grandmother as it is the Indian tradition. Raja Rao has combined the myth and Gandhian Movement very harmoniously, he use Hindu epic myth for authentication of his work by putting myth in novel he easily achieved his goal. Not only the use of myth makes it popular but, his intellectual power, his imaginative power, his ability to use and utilize the Indian words, and it’s his knowledge of Indian culture and people.

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