The Gandhian Presence in Raja Rao’s Kanthapura
Author : Kalyan Das
Abstract :
The transformative effect that Gandhi brought about in the social and political lives of Indians in 1920s and 1930s remains the main driving force in Raja Rao’s Kanthapura. The novel is an attempt to represent in the fictional form the Gandhian discourse of nationalism. It is also an attempt to trace the fault lines that run through the Gandhian discourse. Thus the novel is simultaneously a representation and a critique of Gandhian discourse. It is a fact that most of the early Indian English novelists adopted the traditional nineteenth century Western form of the novel in presenting the varied colours of the Indian life. But Raja Rao’s achievements both in the spheres of content and technique can never be questioned. His novel Kanthapura reveals how, apart from the obvious Indian accent in its language, the writer achieved a blend of Indian metaphysical tradition, cultural forms and social reality and gave it a symbolic richness. This paper discusses all those aspects of Kanthapura which create for itself a special place in Indian English fiction.
Keywords :
Identity, language, national struggle, new Indian society
