Wednesday 13 March 2013

Summary of the novel Kanthapura by Raja Rao


    Raja Rao’s first novel Kanthapura (1938) is the story of a village in south India named Kanthapura. The novel is narrated in the form of a ‘sthalapurana’ by an old woman of the village, Achakka. Kanthapura is a traditional caste ridden Indian village which is away from all modern ways of living. Dominant castes like Brahmins are privileged to get the best region of the village whereas Sudras, Pariahs are marginalized. The village is believed to have protected by a local deity called Kenchamma. Though casteist,  the village has got a long nourished traditions of festivals in which all castes interact and the villagers are united.

    The main character of the novel Moorthy is a Brahmin who discovered a half buried ‘linga’ from the village and installed it. A temple is built there, which later became the centre point of the village life. All ceremonies and festivals are celebrated within the temple premises.

    Hari-Kathas, a traditional form of storytelling, was practiced in the village. Hari-Kathas are stories of Hari(God). One Hari-Katha man, Jayaramachar, narrated a Hari Katha based on Gandhi and his ideals. The narrator was arrested because of the political propaganda instilled in the story.

    The novel begins its course of action when Moorthy leaves for the city where he got familiar with Gandhian philosophy through pamphlets and other literatures. He followed Gandhi in letter and spirit. He wore home spun khaddar. Discarded foreign clothes and fought against untouchability. This turned the village priest, a Brahmin, against him who complained to the swami who was a supporter of foreign government and Moorthy was ex-communicated.  Heartbroken to hear it, his mother Narasamma passed away.

    Bade Khan was a police officer, a non hindu of Kanthapura. He was brought and supported by the coffee planters who were Englishmen. Considered as an outsider, Bade khan is an enemy of the people who refuses to provide shelter to him.

    After the death of his mother, Moorthy started living with an educated widow Rangamma, who took part in India’s struggle for freedom. Moorthy was invited by Brahmin clerks at Skeffington coffee estate to create an awareness among the coolies of the estate. When Moorthy turned up, Bade Khan hit him and the pariah coolies stood with Moorthy.  Though he succeeded in following Gandhian non violence principle, the incident made him sad and unhappy.  

    Rachanna and family were thrown out of the estate because of their role in beating Bade Khane. Meanwhile, Moorthy continued his fight against injustice and social inequality and became a staunchest ally of Gandhi. Taking the responsibility of the violent actions happened at the estate; Moorthy went on a three day long fasting and came out victorious and morally elated.Following the footsteps of Gandhi, a unit of the congress committee was formed in Kanthapura. Gowada, Rangamma, Rachanna and seenu were elected as the office bearers of the committee and they avowed to follow Gandhi’s teachings.

    Fearing the greater mobility of people of Kanthapura under the leadership of Moorthy, the foreign government accused him of provoking people to inflict violence it and arrested him. Though Rangamma and Rachanna were willing to release him on bail, he refused. He was punished for three months rigorous imprisonment.

    While Moorthy spent his days in prison, the women of Kanthapura took charge of the struggle for freedom. They formed Women’s Volunteer Corps under the leadership of Rangamma who instilled patriotism among the women by presenting thr historical figures like Laxmi Bai of thansi, rajput princess, Sarojini Naidu etc... Moorthy was released later and he came out as strong as he was. People thronged at his house were dispersed peacefully.

    Dandi March, Picketting of Boranna’s toddy grove were other activities led by Moorthy after his release. Arrest of the satyagrhis, and police brutality to women became a part of the everyday life of the people in Kanthapura. Atrocities against women added miseries of the people. In the last part o the novel, it is mentioned that people of the village were settled in Kashipur and Kanthapura was occupied by people from Bombay.

73 comments:

  1. Very brief and easy explanation.I find it much helful.Thank you.

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  2. The narrative of the summary is very clearly stated. It is not just a summary but the real blue print of the whole novel. It is really helpful to understand the novel in a few minutes.

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  3. just to correct few small things
    the punishment was not of three years but three months. and the names' Rachanna.
    otherwise the summary is helpful.

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  4. I have corrected it. Thanks for pointing the mistakes. Wish you reading. Expecting your suggestions

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  5. Really very very easy to understand....thank you for providing such fruitful notes..

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  6. moorthy's final disillusionment with the national struggle should have been referred clearly!!!!!

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    1. in the end he wrote a letter to his villagers that he will live in city. he has become a follower of nehru ji he also tells that nehru ji is also like gandhi ji.

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    2. It is nice,brief and touching. Thank you.

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  7. you are right basu. When I was trying to summarise it, I did not think that it was very important

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  8. It is easy to understand for those who never read this novel.. Really Thank you soooo much for providing us such a notes...

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  9. Why is Ratna's characyer not at all mentioned. She too was a important character

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  10. Thank you for sharing......

    Keep upating.

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  11. Very brief and easy explanation.I find it much helful.Thank you
    Free EBOOK PUBLISHER

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  12. It useful for my preperation thankyou

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  13. well-written. For free and superior-quality notes on English literature visit: http://suman508.blogspot.in/

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  14. it is very helpful for my exam's preparation.

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  15. Very fruitful to literature students

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  16. it is very helpful to understand whole novel.

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  17. thank you sir it is easy 2 understand

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  18. It's really use full, varuthu nice Bro

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  19. AmaZingly crafted..thnx a lot..it WL help me in my postgrad examz

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  20. Thank u sir..it is very helpful.

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  21. It was really helpful.. Today is my exam and I was getting worried because of this novel... But now, afted reading this summary, I am fully prepared

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  22. Thanks for the summary it helped me for my project
    A good presentation Thanks a lot .....

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  23. Crafted wonderfully to understand. ....thanks

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  24. very lucid summary for better hold on novel. thnx

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  25. visit http://www.articlesjar.com for more notes

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  26. I'm having my exam tomorrow and was finding the novel very tiring especially the names of the characters so hard to pronounce being flustered at the same time. I read the first part of the novel after which I was short on my perseverance and sought to internet for help after which I came across your blog. Not only you did a marvellous job by stating the facts right but also maintained the quality of language which is equally important. Thank you so much for helping students like me in the eleventh hour. Kudos to you!

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  27. Beautifully written ,comprehensive and very attractive....

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  28. It's really good but it's just copy and paste.... No hard work you did for it.... Direct copy from Wikipedia.

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  29. Dear friend,

    I haven't copied anything from anywhere to write the post and Wikipedia doesn't provide a summary of the novel. If you are sure about your comment, please share the link

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  30. Thanks. It is very helpful. And the role of Patel rangegouda should have been clearly referred.

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  31. I was looking for detailed summary it's good but where is the description of the Goddess of Kanthapura and ending is so disappointed can't get the ending.... Ending should have proper words to explain but if one wants to read just brief summary they can choose this.....

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    1. thanks for your comments and suggestion. It is not a detailed analysis of the novel, but a synopsis of the novel.

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  32. Good summary and usefull thanks

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  33. The psychology of Moorthy needs to be clearly taken a look at with illustrations.

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  34. It is very useful information and I understand the story of novel in brief ,thanks for that

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  35. Yeah,really it's very easy to understand bcs u used basic words of language.
    Thank you.

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  36. Found it helpful ...thank you.☺

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  37. Thanks ....was really helpful for last moment reading ☺...

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  38. Rachanna was not important character in front of Ratna. As she becomes the leader when moorthy was arrested. And going according to novel moorthy was not the only one being arrested, with him Rangamma and Ratna also spend some time in jail.
    But your summary is still helpful to understand novel..

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  39. Quite useful to understand the story before reading the book. Thanks

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  40. It was good....Thannku sir

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  41. Before Moorthy was arrested he started fasting 3 days after the 3rd day he was arrested.

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  42. Every English reader can understand very clearly in this novel.

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  43. Well explained.. Easy to grasp the gist of the novel. ..

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  44. Gud one. Gave me a chance to feel d deadly bad incidents happened in d past n how indians fought nd won. Novel started with some kind of caste provoking things later on d unity of being Indians. But finally it's a tragedy nd helplessness of d people those times

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  45. thank you dears,
    I 'll incorporate your suggestions when I revise it

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  46. Well written essay it can be easily understood by the literature students

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  47. Excellent to understand the subjectmatter or the story of the novel.

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  48. Vey easy explanation.Easy to understand

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  49. Thanks a lot for reading the post

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  50. very much helpful as my xams are coming please upload the material about agahshaid alis poems (i see kashmir from new dehli at midnight,butcher,call me ismahiel tonight)

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