Depiction of
women characters in Kanthapura.
Prepared by:
Dhaval Diyora
Roll No: 05
Paper – 4:
Indian Writing in English
M.A
(English): Sem -1
Enrollment
No : 2069108420190013
Batch: 2018-20
Email:
d.d.diyora@gmail.com
Submitted
to: Smt .S. B Gardi, Department of English, MK Bhavnagar University.
Topic:
Depiction of women characters in Kanthapura.
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Characterization in
Kanthapura
As
the purpose of the novel was to depict a mass-movement and its impact, a highly
individualized characterization would have deflected attention from such a
depiction. Thus the characters in the novel are not sharply and distinctly
individualized. The emphasis is more on themes and ideas rather than on people.
Characterization takes a secondary place in Kanthapura, yet it is not without
significant and fine characterization.
Women Characters in
Kanthapura
The
women characters have been skillfully delineated by Raja Rao. There is a great
variety of them in the novel. At the foremost we have Rangamma. She is one of
the few educated women in the village. She reads the newspapers herself and
thus keeps herself and others acquainted with the day to day developments
elsewhere. She knows many things of the general interest of the plants that weep,
of the monkeys that were the men we have become, of the worms, thin as dust,
worms that get into your blood and give you dysentery and plague and cholera.
She told us, too, about the stars which are so far that some have poured their
lights into the blue space long before you were born or your father was
born...She is a lady who is deferent, soft-voiced, gentle-gestured". She
is never be fooled by Bhatta. She helps Moorthy literally, although she does
not seem to share his belief that pariahs and Brahmins are all equal. After
meeting Sankar, Rangamma develops into a fine leader and speaker. She is able
to fill the void created by the death of her father who used to expound the
Vedantic texts at Harikatha meetings. It is she who plays the major part in
organizing the women of Kanthapura into a Sevika Sangh. She is
practical-minded, for when she comes to know that some husbands are complaining
that they are not receiving proper attention at home because their wives are
away to participate in drill she at once takes proper measures and explains to
the Sevikas that they must not neglect their household duties.
Next
comes Ratna. She is a child widow, who has been powerfully a woman as a matter
of shame and inferiority. She is much criticized for her unconventional ways,
but she does not care for such criticism. She chooses her own path, and
influenced by modern ideas and who does not regard being sticks to it with
firmness and determination. She takes keen interest in the Gandhian movement,
and is a source of inspiration and help to Moorthy When Jayaramachar, the
Harikatha-man is arrested, she conducts the Harikathas. After Rangamma's
death, she reads out the newspapers and other publicity material of the
Congress for the benefit of the Kanthapurians. When Moorthy is arrested, she
carries on his work and serves as the leader. She organizes the women volunteer
corps and imparts to the Sevikas the necessary training. She displays great
courage and resourcefulness in the face of government repression and police
action. She is dishonored, beaten up and sent to jail as a consequence. But she
suffers all patiently and unflinchingly When Gandhi goes to England for the
Round Table Conference, reaches settlement with the Redman's government and
the movement is withdrawn Ratna is disappointed like countless other freedom
fighters in India. She goes over to Bombay, and through her letters, we learn of
her great admiration for Nehru, "the equal distributionist.
Achakka,
the narrator, though she is never sharply individualized, is revealed by her
manner of narration and her comments on persons and events. In the novel, her
function is representative and her strength lies in being anonymous. She is
just one of the many women of Kanthapura who responded to the call of the
Mahatma conveyed through Moorthy. Her faith in the Goddess Kenchamma, her
respect for the local scholar Rangamma, her unquestioned affection for Moorthy
and her trust in him, all these feelings she shares with other women of the
village.
However,
Achakka is a woman with a balanced mind, sound common sense, and the gift of
shrewd and intelligent observation. Her personality colors the whole
non-cooperation movement, the brave resistance of the people and their
consequent suffering. One of the simplest women in the village is poor
Narsamma, mother of Moorthy. She cannot understand the ideals dear to her son,
but who only knows that she did nothing to deserve the calamity of
ex-communication that befalls her family. She is the most pathetic character in
the novel.
A Typical Malicious Woman
Through
the character of Waterfall Venkamma, Raja Rao brings out the pettiness, the
jealousy, the triviality and orthodoxy of women. Venkamma is a woman of a
petty, jealous nature. She cannot bear to see others prosperous or successful.
The sight of the happiness of others arouses her wrath and she rails and rails
against them. There is no end to her spite, jealousy, and vindictiveness. She is
jealous of Rangamma because she has a much larger house and constantly rails
against her. She would like to put lizard poison into her food and thus cause
her death.
She
is also against Moorthy, because he refused to marry her second daughter. She
nurses this grudge against him, and does her best to have her views, she has no
sympathy with the Gandhi-movement. She, therefore, sides with Bhatta and the
Swami. It is she who spreads the rumor that Moorthy is to be excommunicated. In
this way, she causes his mother much pain which ultimately derives her to
death. She also hates Ratna for her progressive views and constantly hurls
abuses at her. She rails and rails against everybody and thus justifies the
nick-name the novelist has given to her.
However,
it is only against her meanness, frivolousness, and conservatism that the character of Ratna shines out Women Presented as Shakti'
Women Presented as Shakti
In
Kanthapura, Raja Rao presents women as various forms of shakti. According to
Uma Parameswaran, "Voluble, with an infinite capacity for love and for passing
malice, quick to spark into enthusiasm and into cynicism the women of Kanthapura
are more human than those created by Raja Rao else-where. They become women at
certain times but there is no incongruity between their actions and the
author's claim. One realizes that the immanent Shakti rises in every woman at
certain pivotal points of life.
A
typical Indian woman is coy, delicate and submissive, she is also firm as a rock,
great in suffering. Shakti rises in them, and each of them is enthused at the
proper time. Psychologically prepared for the titanic encounter, they got much
inspiration from other examples. It is to be noted that in the last phase of
peaceful resistance it is Ratna, a woman, who takes over from Moorthy and leads
the Satyagrahis
"Different
forms of Shakti are manifested through the women of Kanthapura. Shakti's
indomitable spirit possesses them in their Satyagraha non-violent struggle)
against the British government. When the police ill-treat them with their
sticks and boots, the women think, move, and act as one for they are more distinct
and pervasive in the devotional aspect. Woman as the Eternal Devotee, Shakti
kneeling in rapt adoration in front of Siva, reveals herself through them as
they listen to Jayaramachar retelling epic stories and to Ramakrishnayya
reading passages from the Scriptures. The most touching example of their
edifying faith is the narrator's musing on the ruins Kanthapura. She dreams of
a happy ending to a modern Ramayana where Rama (Gandhi) will return from his
exile (visit to England) with Sita (India) who had been captured by Ravana (the
British) and as he returns to Ayodhya Delhi) Bharata (Nehru) who has been
reigning as regent, will welcome him and there will be celestial flowers
showered upon his aerial chariot."
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