CHAPTER - 4

CULTURAL ASPECTS
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CHAPTER – 4
CULTURAL ASPECTS

This chapter explores how the fiction of R.K. Narayan helps in

understanding the nuances of Indian culture such as traditions, customs, religious
beliefs, faiths, social hierarchies, family system, bitter & sweet melodies of love and
marriage, conflict between Indian and foreign cultures, gap between generations, etc.,
and its conflicts with some examples from his works. Narayan depicted India of his
times and its customs and traditions, myths and magic’s, epics and fairytales, to the
outside world, in a non-serious manner. To paint the complex yet dynamic culture of
India, he has chosen a bigger canvas in the form of a fictitious town called Malgudi,
which is a microcosm of India. His novels reflect a true picture of India during the
British rule, through the mirror of his locale, an imaginary home town Malgudi, a
town somewhere in South India. Traditional concept of typical Hindu thought of
status, caste, and creed are visible in his novels. The main characters are linked to
these thoughts; this is discussed here as issues related to caste and creed.

The issues of caste and creed are portrayed in his novels, but these matters are
left unsolved by the author. There is no constant cure suggested for their abolishment,
neither are there any suggestions given for peaceful co-existence. He advocates the
Gandhian ideology of being an Indian first rather than the follower of any one
religion. Narayan dealt with the problems of caste in his novels in context
with man-woman relationship and Indian marriages. He upholds the Hindu
traditions and did not support mixed marriages, that is, inter-caste and inter-
religion marriages.

In his novels, The Guide and The Painter of Signs, he raised the matter of
caste in Indian culture and tried to show the disparity of cult and faith, or how
differences between religions still constitute an obstacle to a legitimate and valid
marriage among the Hindus in India. A Hindu in his novel can neither marry a
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woman of low origin like devdasi (Rosie) in The Guide, nor a Christian girl, (Daisy).
This latter is often shown as an insurmountable impediment in a Hindu
marriage as seen in his novel The Man Eater of Malgudi.

Narayan in The Man Eater of Malgudi had a definite sustained mythical

structure that followed the well known pattern of the story from the puranas where a
demon grows too powerful and threatens the heavens with his elemental forces of
disorder, but finally blows up like a bubble in the sea, leaving the universe as
calm as before. Critics have pointed out how closely the novel recreates the
old Hindu myth of Bhasmasura. At times Narayan uses phrase and dialogue
from the characters which inscribe the role of religion in his novels like when
Savitiri defines Vasu in the novel, “Every rakshasa gets swollen with his ego,
he thinks he is invincible, beyond every law. But sooner or later something or
other will destroy him” (The Man Eater of Malgudi, p. 95).

There are events which show that religion, belief and faith play an important
role in the life of Indian Hindus. It is depicted in the event when Narayan mentions
in one of his novels Waiting for Mahatma, that “there are a dozen temples within the
radius of fifty miles” (p. 115). The Hindu view of karma and mukti can also be
seen in the novel Waiting for Mahatma when Kanni, the shopkeeper compels
Sriram to settle an old debt of his grandmother of nine rupees and twelve annas so
that the dead woman’s soul would rest in peace in the next world.

The Painter of Signs is another novel expressing the mythological view of

Indian Hindus which is evident in many of the novels of R.K Narayan. The
mythological characters of holy Ganga and king Shantanu offer a parallel to the
relationship between Daisy and Raman. The theme of Narayan’s novel, The
Tiger and Man is the oneness of soul of all living beings which is so alike, its
sublimation through gradual self discipline and renunciation, and the final salvation
from the bondage of karma and the cycle of birth. According to William Walsh:
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The religious sense of Indian myth is a

part of Narayan’s grip of reality of his
particular view of human life and his
individual way of placing and ordering
human feeling and experience. What one can
say about Narayan without qualification is that
he embodies the pure spirit of Hinduism.1

Narayan’s novels are essentially stories of Indian life whose basis is religion
and tradition based on their caste and community. Most of Narayan’s novels trace
the growth of an individual who is firmly rooted in the Indian social order that
is in turn based on their religion. The pratogonists - Swaminathan, Chandran,
Krishnan, Ramani, Raju, Sampath, Margaya, Jagan, Sriram and Raman are
literally the members of a Hindu joint family. The individual of his novels like any
other Indian has to grow in this environment and his character is shaped at times
under the influence of his caste and religion, from the selection of his career and the
selection of his life partner. The family itself observes the age-old customs,
tradition and beliefs of the Hindu religion.

Narayan in his novels present the Hindu view of Varnasharama, that is, the
imperatives of Hindu society. Varna and Ashrama which regulate the lives of
every Hindu, whether modern or traditional in India, does the same with the
lives of all individuals in R.K Narayan’s novels. Narayan’s characters, like a fair
majority of Indians, implicitly accept the manners, mores and professions of their
castes. The issues of inter-caste marriages are raised in some of his novels to portray
the picture of the Indian audience who frown on inter-caste marriages and outcaste
the person from their caste. They can find no place in the fixed pattern of the Hindu
society where matching of caste, religion and horoscope is the most important feature
of Hindu marriage. This adherence to caste, religion and horoscope is quite evident in
Narayan’s novels. Krishnan loves the English teacher, but he marries Susila, a girl of
his caste, in spite of the mismatch of their horoscopes.
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Another matter of morality is evident from Narayan’s most read and popular
novel, The Guide, where Raju’s mother objects to his affair with Rosie partly
because she is a married woman, but largely because she is a devdasi, a dancing
girl, whose caste is not known. Again, in his novel The Vendor of Sweets, Jagan
the hero is shocked when his son Mali imports an American girl and intends to
marry her. He does not accept her as his daughter in law and does not have peace
until he succeeds in booking the girl’s passage back to America. The issue of caste
can be evident from the lines of Jagan, “Assured by this protestation, Jagan said, what
I shall do now? About what? About Mali and that girl. The cousin gave a clear-
headed statement, Get through their marriage very quickly in the hill temple. It can be
arranged within a few hours. Alas! I don’t know what her caste is, so how can I” (p.
86). In addition, Jagan also mentions that Gandhi fought against the caste
system in India, when his daughter-in-law innocently asks what is the present status
of caste-system in India?

The next event is from Narayan’s novel from The Painter of Signs when
Raman, the hero announces his decision to marry Daisy, a Christian girl. His aunt
shows a lot of agitation towards this marriage and threatens to leave home for ever.
Raman has to contend with this issue of caste due to the traditional force his aunt is
embroiled in. The very first question she puts to him when he announces his decision
to marry Daisy is, “That girl! What is her caste? Who is she? Isn’t she a Christian
or something…a name which is…How can you bring in a Christian?” (p. 76)
Before she asks all these questions, she shows her distress and drops the vessel, as if
she has lost her hold on things.

Raman’s announcement to a marry a girl of another community and

religion touch something primordial, exposing the racial prejudices dormant in his
aunt, who has slaved all her life to bring him up as her son. This decision of
Raman ends in her aunt’s decision to leave home for Kasi. The above events and
dialogues expose the issues of caste and creed that take precedence in the novels of
Narayan’s time and again.
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Narayan in his novels has limited his characters to the cultural limitations of
India of that time and those male characters were often very weak and they could not
break the barriers of the strong cultural effects. The culture was mainly the strict
following of the caste system, creed and religion and any change or new traditions
were strongly opposed. He raised the issue of caste in Indian culture and tried to
show the disparity of caste and differences of religion which still bring
impediments to legitimate and valid marriages among the Hindus in India.
Variation of caste and creed are an indomitable barrier in a Hindu marriage in India,
in his novels.

Apart from caste, there was a strong feeling of patriotism in the hearts of
Indians and they were revolting against the British domination and power. Narayan
beautifully depicts the characters as having a strong love of their country, despite
the fact the characters are not very strong as individuals. Narayan also evaluated
and exposed the issues of communalism in his various novels. Narayan created a
mini-India in Malgudi, so as to bring out all the essential characteristics of Indian
culture. Curiously enough, Hindu culture of which Narayan is the product has come
down to us surviving the terrible shocks in the Mughal and British empires. No
wonder, poets and writers sang and wrote about its glorious past. It still has
tremendous impact on the minds of Indian public. Narayan writes:

The impact of life, the material and substance

of our thoughts are the same everywhere in
any state. Traditionally, India is The Ramayan,
The Mahabharat and The Puranas. The value
remains the same in every village, town or
city.2

The main stories and characters are vividly real to most people young or old. It is
possibly the reason why the traditional concepts like the Ashramas and Purushastras
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in various disguises and distortion and subterfuges have influenced Narayan in

portraying many of his characters in the novels.

Generally, the middle class people of the conservative Hindu society that
Narayan presents in his novels are hardly ever ready to bring about reformative
change; nor do they seem to receive with interest any alien influence. They are just
complacent with what they possess and are absorbed in glorifying the culture to
which they belong. And yet, under zealously guarded norms, mores and values, there
appears simmering discontent amongst the people of new generation, who awakened
to their rights and liberties, try their utmost to rise above the so-called preordained
roles they have been playing for generations together. Some have gone to the extent
of revolting against the established customs and traditions. But since, they are firmly
rooted in them from their very childhood, their attempts prove futile, they fall back in
the end to their normal station accepting defeat in life.

Hindu culture with its norms and value which Narayan depicts in his writing
discussed here in two aspects - Moral and Philosophical, practically speaking, have a
far-reaching effect on the minds of Indian people. Narayan faithfully presents in his
novels Hindu beliefs and myths around which his themes are usually built. Being a
product of Hindu culture he simply could not avoid the impact of the cultural
surroundings around him.

Conservative South Indian society that Narayan presents with all its irrational
customs induces a sense of futility amongst the people of new generation. Most of his
characters believe that everything on earth is pre-ordained and that they are helpless
creatures. Chandran, The Bachelor of Arts who is intensely in love with Malthi at last
runs away from home because he feels frustrated with the irrational and absurd
custom of telling horoscopes. Mr. Sampath, the cunning shark, also is impelled by the
circumstance to leave Malgudi forever. Krishna, The English Teacher, after the death
of his wife, finds solace in the world of Spirits. Raju, in The Guide, dies a ruined
man, not because he wanted to die, but circumstances so conspire that the only
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alternative before him was to become an unwilling martyr. Truly speaking, all his
characters cherish a heritage of faith and values, customs and rituals and even dogmas
and superstitions. As a result, they have all returned in the end to the original station
accepting defeat and futility of action. Dr. Badal rightly observes:

His characters, mostly printers, journalists,

teachers, shopkeepers, moneylenders, guides,
astrologers, saints, students etc., are people
oppressed with much the same sense of futility
and helplessness generated by age-old social
conventions within which there is no scope for
their talents.3

Total submission largely owes to the cultural atmosphere in which they are
caught. For example, Savitri in The Dark Room finds herself like a bamboo pole
which cannot stand without any support. She has absolutely no rights in her own
household. And yet she puts up with insult and maltreatment at the hands of her
husband. But when she finds it all intolerable, she leaves the home to assert her
individuality. However, she has no courage to face the challenges of life. In the end
she comes back accepting total defeat. Janamma another character in the novel also
believes that total submission to the husband leads to peace.

The dictum laid down by Manu and later moralists that a woman shall have no
right is so deeply embedded in the minds of both that Ramani could bluntly tell
Savitri that she has no right whatsoever. Utterly helpless she repents, “In Yama’s
world the cauldron must be ready for me for the sin of talking back to a husband and
disobeying him, but what could I do?”4 It is very shocking that even in modern times
Ramani quotes the ancient epics and scriptures which enjoin upon women the strictest
identification with their husbands. Even Rosie who is highly educated, and leaves her
husband for the sake of her aspirations, longs to die at her husband’s doorstep. How
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pathetic her words are, “…he may not amidst me over the threshold, in which event it
is for better to end one’s life on his doorstep.”5

Narayan’s novels are not vehicles of mass propaganda. But they depict the
breakdown of feudal society and express the changed ideas concerning the family as
a unit and the conflict between the old and the new. The strains of growing
individualism have not spared the age-old joint family system in India. But it is
gratifying to note that, though the old system is in peril, the sense of kinship is always
strong. For example, Margayya and his brother are next door neighbours, and they are
not on talking terms. But they are always ready to share each, other’s joys and
sorrows.

However, there is a considerable change in human outlook with regard to

some of the cherished ideals. Daisy in The Painter of Signs refuses to pay obeisance
to her would-be-in-laws. And Raman considers it odd to fall at anybody’s feet. Daisy
rebels against her parents’ wishes and domestic orthodoxy. S.P. Bhardwaj rightly
observes:

Narayan has certainly moved along with the

times and the change in his presentation of
domestic life can be clearly seen when his two
novels The Dark Room and The Painter of Signs
are read side by side.6

The perennial struggle between the young and the old has been touched in The
Vendor of Sweets. The portrayal of Mali’s character that makes his father go out in
wilderness is truly a representative of the moronic mentality of present-day youths. In
spite of the changes in his surroundings, Jagan continues to live up to the traditions of
his times. It appears that in Jagan Narayan depicts a Karmayogi, a disciple of
Mahatma Gandhi and one who tries to live in accordance with the teachings of the
Gita. He represents the timeless and unchanging values of the Hindu way of life, of
course, with its obscuritanism and irrationality too. But much of Jagan’s pietism is
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humbug. Tara Malhotra writes, “His artistic pose his Benthemite zeal for public
service, but ostensible high regard for Gandhian tenets bespeaks a hypocrite.”7 Jagan
renounces his home to watch a goddess to come out of stone, but he does not forget to
carry a cheque book with him. It clearly shows that his renunciation is a farce.

Marital fidelity is perhaps the most precious and durable of the Indian values.
Savitri, the silent suffering housewife in The Dark Room, puts up with insult and
maltreatment at the hands of Ramani, her husband. But she could not bear her
husband’s infidelity with a trainee officer working under him, “Don’t touch me.” She
cried moving away from him, “You are dirty, you are impure.”8 Sampath himself is
to be blamed for the collapse of his domestic life when he gets emotionally involved
with Shanti, the film actress. Margayya, unable to bear his son’s debauchery, assault
Dr. Pal, responsible for it, so violently that he loses his financial edifice in no time.
Marco disowns his wife Rosie when he learns of her emotional attachment with Raju.

The puritan and holistic Indian approach to sex is also reflected in Narayan’s
novels. A man and woman living together without getting married are regarded as
sinners. Jagan is shocked when he knows that Mali, his Americanized son Grace is
guilty of outraging this eternal tenet. However, Narayan never allows sex to become
an exciting commodity in writing. Sexual passion, in fact, is not a theme which we
come across anywhere in his novels.

Narayan seems to think of it as something too private and holy to appear

publicly. He treats the theme in The Painter of Signs but in a mocking manner. The
morbidity in sex obsession and its ultimate dissipation comes out in Raman’s
frustration. Actually, there is no place for sex permissiveness in the Indian ethos. The
carnal side of sex and its futility is also brought out in The Vendor of Sweets, when
Jagan feels fatigued by all the apparatus of sex, its promises and its futility, the
sadness and the sweet at the end of it all.

R.K. Narayan is evidently making use of the Indian myth of a sinner becoming
a saint on the lines of Valmiki. Raju in The Guide is an admirable modern version of
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the Indian myths. That an ex-convict Raju should be mistaken for Sadhu by gullible
masses is not new to Indian culture. The events leading up to the death of Raju may
sound fantastic to a rational mind, but in India, writes S.C. Sanyal:

Whenever, there is a drought village saints are

always expected to fast and work miracles and
some of them like Raju may die which
thousands watch with devotion studded eyes.9

In fact, Raju has no moral discipline to guide him in his life. Shiv K. Girla rightly
says, “An excess of intellectual pragmatism, coupled with a Machivellian desire to
succeed, result in the total disintegration of his ethos.”10 He finds himself alienated as
the vital links of traditional ethics snap one after another. He feels utterly lonely and
miserable in the midst of a vast ocean of people. The anguished realization which
Krishna had after Susila’s death – a profound and unmitigated loneliness is the only
truth of life – is also echoed in Raju’s feelings.

Unsettling impact of materialism on the traditional world of Malgudi is

projected in the major novels Mr. Sampath and The Financial Expert. Both Sampath
and Margayya uproot themselves from the traditional ethos to run after illusion
(greed) of material success. It is not that something above them has caused their
financial collapse. But it is their weakness and that unquenching greed that has ruined
them in the end. Sampath gets emotionally involved with the film actress Shanti, and
has to leave Malgudi abruptly. Margayya’s financial edifice gets ruined by his own
misdoings. Narayan rightly comments:

He was like a fanatical mountaineer who sets

his heart on reaching the summit of Everest.
He might be standing on the highest peak. Yet
he can never feel that he has really attained the
highest.11
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Margayya thus loses his way in the wilderness of materialism. His pursuit of
money corrodes the very foundation of his being. The realization of the abiding value
of life love dawns on him but only after his material collapse. And yet Margayya does
not seem to learn anything from his experience. His fatalistic attitude has still held his
mind under its firm grip. Margayya puts his arm round his son Balu and pointing to
his old knobby trunk, says, “I hope the tree is still there. Go there, that is all I can say;
and anything may happen thereafter.”12

The present education system has come under severe criticism as it is

completely dominated by materialistic consideration. “This education had reduced us
to a nation of morons; we were strangers to our own culture, and camp followers of
another culture, feeding on leaving and garbage.”13 Narayan favoured a leave alone
system adopted by the Headmaster in The English Teacher which he felt, would
transform children into wholesome human beings. This type of education is, in fact, a
revival of the old Indian tradition of open air schools run by saintly teachers with
specific stress on inculcating moral principles among the students.

The most prominent note in Narayan’s view of life is reflected in the

restoration of moral order with the liquidation of Vasu, the taxidermist, (The Man
Eater of Malgudi). The traditional and quiet, unruffled by social or political
upheavals, Malgudi has never had such a demonic slaught of gross materialism.
Vasu, the only villain in Narayan’s fictional Malgudi is allegorically a demon on the
puranic pattern. His act of self-destruction like Bhasmasura is viewed in Malgudi as
something symbolic of the triumph of good over evil.

However, the belief in such triumph that moral order establishes itself, and
that everything on earth is pre-ordained as we have seen in the case of Natraj and his
friends, has robbed the people of their intellect and human potential. That they are
dependent on an outside agency implied that they are utterly helpless in the hands of
the so-called divine power. As a result, their individual will power lies crippled under
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the tremendous weight of cultural taboos and irrational customs and traditions leaving
no scope for their talents.

Even Shrinivas, the journalist, and Krishna, The English Teacher come under
the same category as Natraj is, totally passive onlookers at the happenings around
them; giving every chance for black marketers, drug stockiest, garrison engineers,
and the like to exploit the gullible masses in every possible way. Even Raman “felt
abashed when he realized that he was perhaps picking his own loot in the general
scramble of a money mad world! He wished he could do without it, but realized too
that it was like a desire for a dry spot, while drifting along neck deep in a cesspool.” 14
This being the case of a majority of persons in traditional Malgudi, one can only
imagine as to what would be the lot of the subjugated dumb race. Malgudi is
conservative and self-complacent, so why should they care for the miserable have-
nots?

R.K. Narayan owes a great deal too Hindu philosophy of life. So great is the
impact that he once admitted to Ved Mehta:

…his inability to write novels without

Krishna, Ganesh, Hanuman, astrologers,
pandit and devdasis or temple prostitutes and
explained his point of view by adding in his
characteristic humble way that in any case that
has turned out to be my India.15

He simply brushes aside the subject other than the Hindu myths and legends
around which his novels are usually woven. With his recent books Gods, Demons and
Others, The Ramayan and the Mahabharat, and also the novel A Tiger for Malgudi
Narayan plunged wholeheartedly into the revival of old Hindu myths. The Hindu
epics and folklores are constantly referred to in his Malgudi circle showing Narayan
in his true spirit.
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It would not be out of context if we peep a little into the basic assumptions
that lie at the heart of Hindu religion which has largely molded Narayan to the core of
his heart. While Hinduism has roots in the literature of the Vedic age extending from
about 1500 B.C. to 600 B.C., the term Hinduism cannot be appropriately applied to
the religion of the period. It can best be called, and as many scholars referred to it as
Brahmanical religion. The Vedic literature that has come down to us through Sanhita,
Brahmnica, Aranyaka and Upanishad was mostly in the form of hymns created and
memorised throughout ages by the priestly class. Hinduism is a modern term coined
by him possibly because it would not then be totally confined to the Brahmin caste.
To put it in a nutshell, it is old wine in new bottle labeled as Hinduism so as to
shrewdly hide its true nature and to accommodate a larger part of Indian population
into its fold.

In fact The Veda is neither a book nor the collection of books like The Bible or
The Koran. It is the collection of diverse materials created over a period of a thousand
years. Naturally it is bound to have several contradictions. There are a number of
Hindu myths not at all consistent with each other. At times the universe is represented
as having been created by God after the analogy of the work of a carpenter but at
other times it is suggested that the whole of creation including the gods is the product
of the process of natural generation. As regards the Upanishad it is said that:

Over a hundred works are given the name of

Upanishad but only about thirteen of these can
be dated with assurance as belonging to the
Vedic age. They do not present any consistent
religion or philosophical system.16

Such contradictions in Vedic literature and even in later additions such as

Shrutis and Smritis have one way or the other benefited the priestly class to a
considerable extent. For they have interpreted them differently at different time to
suit the changing moods of the time. And that has been given legal sanction. Special
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provision has been made in Manu Smriti to accommodate all the conflicting views,
“When two sacred texts (Shruti) are conflicting, both are held to be the law, for both
are pronounced by the wise to be valid law.”17 While they proclaim rigidity in the
matter of one’s calling according to the station in life accorded by the so-called
Divine Shastras, they allow too much flexibility and pave the way for double
standard in every walk of life.

The dominating theme of the Upanishad is the identity of Brahmin and Atma.
The formula ‘tat tvam asi’ (that art thou) has different meaning to different authors.
Shankara the much acclaimed Hindu sage held that individual soul Atma and the
universal soul Brahmin were completely identical, Brahmin being the only reality.
The word Brahmin, the first of the four varnas was consciously used to make it
synonym to Brahma, the supreme God. And the Shastras have been created to show
that the individual soul Atma identified as being beyond change, something that is in
fact, immortal, that Purush the immortal and the fearless is no other than Brahmin.
S.N. Dasgupta comments, “Underlying the exterior world of change there is an
unchangeable reality which is identical with that which underlies the essence of
man.”18

Ramanuj, another South Indian Hindu scholar interpreted the formula ‘that art
thou’ is a non-monistic sense believing that the human soul and the universal soul
called God were distinct identities. It was this qualified non-dualism of Ramanuja
that has played a very influential role in the history of Hindu religion by proving a
metaphysical basis of the devotional worship.

In fact, the priestly classes have attempted everything possible to maintain

their supremacy. They have gone to the extent of making the will of God almost
irrelevant while performing sacrificial ritual to win him over; the ritual has assumed
enormous significance within the whole cultural tradition. If a sacrifice were properly
performed, the gods could not withhold the boons sought. Thus the sacrifice was
regarded as controlling power that could bring blessings or destructions. After all,
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their main endeavour was to extol their supremacy and make all possible attempts to
make the writings to suit the purpose. They have thus come to occupy the key
position in the drama of the cosmic order. The priest is said to have controlled the
secrets of the universe.

Making himself unchallenged and superior even to gods, by virtue to his

being Brahmin, the priest has subjugated all others belonging to the lower strata of
society, brainwashed them to accept the things (writings) as divinely ordained and
lulled them into eternal passivity, in the fond worship of God, fasting and praying,
sacrificing everything to relieve themselves of the miseries and sufferings heaped
upon by the self proclaimed Bhu-Devs of Hindu society.

Fasting and praying to God for his blessings seem to be a common feature
most popular among Hindus. Narayan’s characters are no exception. Nartaj and his
friends in The Man Eater of Malgudi prayed to Vishnu to save the temple elephant
from Vasu, the taxidermist. ‘Oh Vishnu, save our elephant’ and lo! The temple
elephant is miraculously saved when Vasu, to trap a couple of mosquitoes bangs on
his forehead with the flat of his palm and dies of concussion. We have a similar
incidence of praying for the boons of goddess Laxmi in The Financial Expert where
Margayya, in order to propitiate the goddess undertakes the forty day ordeal of
fasting and praying till, “his jaws ached, his tongue has become dry…he fell faint
with hunger since he had to fast completely while praying.”19

When there is a drought in the surrounding area of Malgudi, Raju

(The Guide), an ex-convict who has taken refuse in the temple is mistaken for a
Sadhu and is implored by Velan and others to undertaken a twelve-day fast for the
rains.

He went down to the river; stood facing

upstream with his eyes shut and repeated the
litany. It was no more than a supplication to
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the heavens to send down rains and save

humanity.20

It sounds incredible that a pseudo-saint like Raju should bring down rains by fast and
prayers. Dr. Balram Gupta observes:

It is wrong to believe that Raju who is a selfish

opportunist, a gross materialist and a
voluptuous hedonist has all of a sudden become
a martyr capable of making grace descend
from heavens. The rains he sees (or thinks he
sees) are indeed, a pathetic hallucination of a
starving impostor…. For Raju life has become
one stupendous hollowness and he collapses in
the effusive and deceptive belief that there are
rains in the hills.21

The events leading unto the death of Raju may sound fantastic to the western reader.
But here in India it is a common phenomenon. Absolute faith in the invisible God
makes Indian masses gullible and superstitious. Narayan’s is a realistic portrayal.
Some elders in the village The Painter of Sings points out:

God gives us children, how can we reject his

gift? The chieftain argues: There is an old
shrine in a cave over there where barren
women can go and pray, and bear children.
How would you explain it? Daisy answers, you
should ask the priest of that temple.22

Jagan and his wife in The Vender of Sweets are taken to the temple of Santana
Krishna, and very soon after this Ambika conceive. Similarly, the ritual carried out by
Margayya (The Financial Expert) bears the fruit promised and as expected. Despite
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all planning and progress it is shocking to see people living in abysmal ignorance.
Even long after independence the monster of illiteracy stands unvanquished and the
social workers like Daisy have to face humiliation at the hands of the priest, and R.K.
Narayan remains as unattached and objective, as if he has nothing to do with such
things. As a result, the coming of a new child in the family is still regarded as the gift
of the Almighty, and not as men owns doing. Barren women still seek the blessings
paying lonely visits to the priest in the cave temple to get exercised their sterility.

God is supposed to be the infinite spirit whose presence is felt everywhere.

Assuming that there exists a God outside us, the question is, would he really help us
in relieving of our miseries and granting boons in life? Assuming it to be so, the God
is most unjust to low caste people. In fact the so-called untouchables (a large part of
the Indian population), have worshipped the God honestly and yet they have suffered
untold miseries and sufferings, and also inhuman cruelties at the hands of the high-
caste people. Are they free from subjugation even today? The Times of London adds:

Various incidents are mentioned such as slicing

of the ears of a Harijan girl in Bihar for
drawing water from a caste well. An
unpleasant thought especially not common
mutilation is the cutting of pieces of Harijan
young man with an axe by a caste Hindu mob
in a village in Aurangabad…over the renaming
of Marathwada University as Dr. Ambedkar
University.23

As a matter of fact, whether we pray to God or not, his benevolence should be

alike to one all, for we are supposed to be equal in his eyes. A.R. Kulkarni says, “If
the supposed God could be won over by prayers it means that God is partial or in any
case it will mean that he likes to be praised. Such a conception of God is revolting to
a human mind.”24
 164

Man is so much accustomed to be belief in God that he finds himself amiss

without him. Therefore he creates a God to fill in the void in his mind. It is further
clear that God exists in the mind only, and has no separate existence. The conception
of an extraneous God is mere speculation. The theory that God is omnipotent and is
all pervading, is without any basis and no rational being can accept it. A.R. Kulkarni
observes:

In fact two evils flow when a man places

reliance on God for the solution of the
problems…firstly; he is always dependent on
God and is not prepared to take any initiative
himself. There is no scope for self-reliance.
Faith in God and faith in one-self run counter
to each other. Secondly, this belief leads to
idleness and inaction.25

Most of Narayan’s characters dependant as they are on God, appear mere

puppets. To them everything on earth is pre-ordained, and that they are absolutely
helpless. For most part of their life they remain captive of circumstances. As a result,
they are frustrated either with their own self, or with the world around them.
Sometime they run away from home in protest and take to the role of Sannyasi.
Sometime they accept defect in total submission to age-old traditional beliefs and
social customs. Swami (Swami and Friends), Chandran (The Bachelor of Arts),
Sampath (Mr. Sampath), Margayya (The Finanical Expert), Jagan (The Vender of
Sweets), Raju, (The Guide) and Shrinivas of (The Man Eater of Malgudi) are all
helpless creatures torn this way and that by the caprice of fortune. Savitri (The Dark
Room) is more than a bamboo pole which cannot stand without support. She runs
away from home in protest against her husband’s illegal love affair with a trainee
officer working under him. But she too accepts defeat in the end. The futility, the
frustration and her own inescapable weakness made her cry and sob. R.K. Narayan
 165

asserts in The Dark Room, ‘‘a wretched fate that wouldn’t let me drown the first
time…this is defeat. I accept it I am no good for this fight.’’26

Narayan consciously deals with the immortality of soul and its ultimate
merger with the divine Spirit as is evident in the second half of The English Teacher.
The death of the wife fills the hero Krishna, the English teacher with belief that death
is not the end of everything and that human personality has several other planes of
existence. With this belief in mind perhaps Krishna on his wife’s death undertakes
psychic contact with the spirit of his wife on the lines the writer has undergone when
he too lost his dear wife. Narayan writes, “This outlook may be unscientific, but it
helped me survive the death of my wife… I could somehow manage to live after her
death…”27

To the completely western-oriented persons who have no use for ghosts and
planchettes, Narayan would no doubt seem to stretch their faith excessively. So far as
they are concerned, Narayan’s attitude in The English Teacher would be a puzzle.
How could he, an English educated man, writing in 1945, tell us that the dead wife of
his hero communicated with him regularly through a medium and referred to events
and things in the house known only to her while living and found when checked, to
tally? To the question whether the Tathagata exists after his death, the Buddha has a
very rational and convincing reply:

That such a question is incapable of an answer

as nobody can say what happens to the soul or
mind after the death of the saint…. To say that
the mind of the person dying with his desires
unfulfilled hovers somewhere and again reborn
is a baseless speculation and no rational being
can accept it.28

Death is the termination of life. The so-called soul is a combination of both life and
mind. Since life and mind cannot survive without body it is meaningless to talk about
 166

an everlasting life or an immortal soul. Narayan seems to believe in an existence

within a series of existence in the past and the future with spiritual and moral
dividends – the result of accumulated actions leading to our present predicament and
future prospects. This is evidently seen in many of his novels, and most of Narayan’s
characters take their present sufferings with a sense of resignation.

The theory that all people were divided into four classes is one of the most
important aspects of the Hindu religion, laying emphasis on the performance of social
duties and obligations according to carefully formulated codes of behaviour so as to
keep the Brahmins on a higher plane in the society of all times. Of the four classes
such as Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vashya and Shudra, it is the two classes, the first and the
last that attract attention of the scholars. For, the Brahmins controlled the religious
institutions while the Shudra constituted the bulk of the composition.

Literature of the Hindu religion was mostly written by the priestly class; and
naturally therefore they presumably forward their own class interest. The statement of
A.T. Embree is, “A Shudra is the servant of another to be slain at will, would have
led to social anarchy, whereas the emphasis was always on social order.”29 The origin
of the class structure was supposed to be divine and not human. “No priestly class in
any other civilization perhaps has made such claims for its sanctity, as did the
Brahmins; but neither has any other received such willing recognition of that
sanctity.”30

Manu, the acknowledged Hindu law giver gives a graphic description as to the
duties of each class and prescribes penalties for the transgression of the customary
law in his Manusmriti:

To Brahmins be assigned teaching and

studying (The Vedas) sacrificing for their own
benefits and others and giving, accepting (of
alms). One occupation only the Lord
 167

prescribed to the Shudras to serve meekly even

these (other) three castes.31

From the emphasis on the correct fulfillment of the proper duties of one’s
class; two main features come to the fore. On the one hand, it explains the high
privilege accorded to Brahmins as the key stone of the social structure, on the other,
it keeps Shudras entirely deprived of the basic needs required for the development of
their personalities. The social order so structured and declared as divinely ordained
has been maintained all through even in the great epics Ramayan and Mahabharat.

It is interesting to note that while scholarship was confined to only one caste
i.e., the Brahmin, Valmiki has been singled out for special favour and made the
creator of the great epic called The Ramayan, possibly with the intention to show that
there was no rigidity in caste barriers and that even Valya the low caste, could attain
the status at par with the high caste. However, we are shocked to learn therein the
instance of one Shambhuk, the low caste, harassed and done to death for the alleged
transgression of his Dharma he was supposed to follow, staying within the limits of
the Divine social order.

What the duties of the Shudras are, Bhisma said in Mahabharat, “The creator
intended the Shudra to become the servant of the other three orders. For this the
service of the other three classes is the duty of the Shudras. By such services of the
three, a Shudra may attain great happiness. He should wait upon the three other
classes according to their order of seniority. A Shudra should never amass wealth,
lest by his wealth, he makes the members of the three super classes obedient to him.
By this he could incur sin.”32 The religious laws so propounded and maintained all
through ages have been upheld above everything else in Bhagwad Geeta also:

Better in one’s dharma (class duties) which one

may be able to fulfill but
imperfectly, than the dharma of others which
is more easily accomplished. To adopt the
 168

dharma of other is perilous… Krishna further

adds: The fourfold class system was created by
me in accordance with varying disposition and
the actions (resulting from them).33

From the above passage one common feature that comes out vividly is the
interpretation of the system of Chaturvarna being more or less the same in all the
religious books said to have been divinely ordained. Well all know it that the
religious books have been written by the priestly class. But to say that they have been
divinely ordained and therefore eternal and perfect is to befool the gullible masses
and rob them of their natural rights. They had been foolish enough so long to tolerate
the unnatural social stratification in the name of religion. But to expect the same
thing from new generation standing at the threshold of 21st century is an attempt at
self-deception.

The irreligious things perpetuated so unashamedly in one form or the other

now stand openly criticized and ridiculed by educationists and scientists alike. The
new generation cannot be so easily taken for granted. They accept only when they
find anything natural and reasonable. When we see them revolt against the age-old
social tradition, we dub them as sentimentalists. But we fail to understand the
feelings that lie choked up in their hearts. Their attempts at self-assertion simply fail
to prevail. Narayan appears vehemently opposed to any kind of sentimentalism. And
restoration to normalcy is widely welcome by Narayan.

It is really disgraceful that even today the system of Chaturvarnya is being

upheld in one form or the other. The lower castes are looked down upon with disgust.
Raju’s mother (The Guide) is first sympathetic towards Rosie, but she changes her
attitude when she learns that Rosie belongs to the dancing girl’s class. She flares up:
“Are you of our caste? No, our class? No …After all you are a dancing girl. We do
not admit them on our families.”34 Jagan (The Vendor of Sweets) is reluctant to accept
a non-Hindu girl as his daughter-in-law. Even Raman’s aunt (Painter of Signs) does
 169

not favour Daisy to be Raman’s wife. Narayan does really touch the pulse of the
Hindu society in depicting the perverted mentality of the Hindus.

Malgudi wears a festive look on Mahatma Gandhi’s visit to the town. But
Shriram’s Granny appears restless for the reason that he allows untouchables to touch
the Hindu gods. But the crux of the matter lies elsewhere. It is not simply allowing
them to enter the temples but in giving them equal rights, and treat them as human
beings. From the conversation Mahatma Gandhi undertakes with an urchin of a
sweeper occupying the Divan much to the chagrin of the Municipal Committee
chairman, it becomes clear that he takes immense interest in listening to him about
his father’s calling. The Mahatma advises him to be neat and tidy no doubt, but he
never enquires of him whether he goes to school at all. This shows how the Mahatma
looks at the problem. It is a paradox that a person, who thinks untouchability as a bolt
on the Hindu society, should defend the system of Chaturvarnya.

Now the question remains, whether Narayan too upholds the Hindu
philosophy with all his customs and traditions. Apparently it appears that Narayan’s
is an objective method of writing novels. And he has depicted what he has seen or
observed in the society around him. But one should not overlook the fact that
Narayan’s writing centers round one common pattern of order disorder and return to
normalcy with revival of old social order. K.R.S. lynger interprets this theme of “a
flight and an uprooting, a disturbance of order followed by a return, a renewal, a
restoration of normalcy.”35 However there is something arch and elusive about
Narayan’s treatment of Indians. In the words of H.M. Williams:

The key to the Malgudi cycle appears to me to

lie in the complicated nature of Narayan’s
conservatism. He is typically (orthodox) Hindu
in his celebration of the static: change and
progress and ‘future shocks’ – all beat in vain
 170

upon Indian eternal passivity and on the

persistence of her ageless traditions.36

The pattern is seen clearly revealed in The Man Eater of Malgudi where the
peaceful life of Natraj and his friends get completely disturbed on the entry of one
Mr. Vasu, the taxidermist. His self-destruction in the end is viewed as symbolic of
the validity of faith in the age-old religious system. At the end of the novel Natraj and
Sastri return to printing bottle labels for aerated water company and the blue curtain
of printer’s room is peacefully drawn upholding the moral order of traditional
Malgudi. The moral order seems to be something divinely ordained rather than the
one to be instinctively followed by human beings on earth. It also establishes the fact
that man is a mere puppet and that he has no scope whatsoever for his talents and
potentialities to develop his personality in Hindu religion.

Narayan perceived a balance of power in human relationship as is evidently

seen in the philosophy of life upheld by Shrinivas, the journalist in Mr. Sampath. He
marveled at the invisible forces of the universe which maintained the subtle balance
in all matters. The whole scheme of things “seemed so perfect that it was unnecessary
for anybody to do anything… it seemed to him a futile and presumptuous occupation
to analyse, criticize and attempt to set things right anywhere.”37 It is this kind of
philosophy that has resulted in total inaction of the part of Hindus and hence India’s
social backwardness! P.S. Sundram asserts:

Shrinivas is by profession a journalist who

would like to wield his paper ‘The Banner’ less
as a flag than as a broom to sweep the many
cobwebs that has taken possession of every
nook and corner of our land. Is it for him to
talk of the futility of action, of reform? 38

The doctrine of Karma, an important aspect of Hinduism is one of perfect

justice, nor is there anything pessimistic about the scheme, since man is master of his
 171

fate; but the crux of the matter lies elsewhere. Indissolubly linked with the concept of
karma is the other great characteristic feature of the Hindu thought, the belief in
transmigration of soul. The idea that the human soul in death finds lodging in another
body and to link it with the doctrine of karma has given it a different turn. And all the
three concepts, such as karma, rebirth and transmigration of soul, in the ultimate
analysis are linked with one’s calling or dharma according to his station of life in the
so-called divine order of Hindu society.

While it is admitted that all scholarship was mostly confined to Brahmin, it

must be recognized that the selfish interest of a person or the class to which he
belongs always acts as an internal limitation which regulates the direction of his
intellects as it happen in the case of R.K. Narayan despite the fact that he is placed in
high esteem for his objective method of writing. Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar is worth
quoting when he says:

The power and position which the Brahmins

possess is entirely due to Hindu civilization
which treats them as supermen and subjects
the lower classes to all sorts of disabilities so
that they may never rise or challenge and
threaten the superiority of the Brahmins over
them. As is natural, every Brahmin is
interested in the maintenance of Brahmin
supremacy be the orthodox or unorthodox, be
he a scholar or not.39

R.K. Narayan’s portrayal is realistic and authentic. The unfounded beliefs and
irrational attitudes have come down to us from generation, and there is nothing
uncommon about views and philosophy of life, the Hindus follows in their life. What
is surprising is that they never question the validity of the Sashtras and Puranas. The
Hindu philosophy upheld therein along with myths and legends are accepted as they
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are. And if at all any one comes forward to denounce them, his attempts beat in vain
on Indian’s eternal passivity. He simply fails to withstand the collective force of the
society. His total submission is looked upon as something traditionally good, serene
and transcendental. His outlook is considered as matured when he accepts the
traditional good of the society. This is what we find in most of the novels as
suggestive of Narayan’s bent of mind however detached he appears to be to the
readers.

Narayan’s novels and short stories reflect almost all the elements of Indian
culture in their conflicting form on different issues - religion, Indian philosophy,
myths and magic, superstitions, rituals and beliefs, belief in stars and fate, respect to
Sannyasis/ godly men, family system, marital system, art and literature, freedom
struggle and Gandhian philosophy, and corrupt government and Hypocratic officials
etc. Hinduism and Hindu traditions and customs play a dominant role in the
fiction of R.K. Narayan. In his stories, Narayan portrays the conflicting environment
of religions and religious faiths. In the novel Swami and Friends, when Swami
complains against his fanatic teacher Ebenezar for his venomous criticism of Hindu
Gods and traditions in the classroom, it appears more as the inner feeling of
Narayan against the propagandists of Christianity.

The influence of religion on Hindu life is also evident from the

portrayal of women characters in Narayan’s novel, Savitri of The Dark Room and
Susila of The English Teacher. He created the characters to show the pathos and
superficial pride of Hindu wives in accordance with the accepted Hindu
concept of a married woman immersed in the daily rituals of their caste and
religion. Other features like the decoration of the threshold of homes with a
festoons of green mango leaves, and the floors and doorways with white rice
flour drawings of many designs; then there are the traditional reception of
welcoming the daughter-in-law with arathi – bringing a huge plate or tray full
of oil with a piece of camphor burning in the center and moving the plate up and
around in front of the girl - before she enters her new home, and such rituals are
 173

some of the influences of cultural and religious, as well as caste traditions in the
novels of R.K. Narayan.

In The Man Eater of Malgudi, the festival procession is organized to celebrate

the poet’s completion of his epic on Radha and Krishna. In the novel, The Vendor
of Sweets, the protagonist Jagan is considerably influenced by the
Bhagavadgita. The four ashrams, dharmas of Hindu way of life also are
intervened in Narayan’s stories. In Vendor of Sweets, the protagonist Jagan finally
hands over his business to his son and leads a retired life in an ashram. In the novel A
tiger for Malgudi, even a tiger also goes through the four ashrams. The novel The
Painter of Signs presents the dilemma of the modern generation over religion.

Indian culture does not attach much value to money and physical
attainments. But, the western influence on material acquisition is on increase in 21th
century. This conflict is very well presented in Narayan’s works. The novel Mr.
Sampath reveals the general Indian belief in the futility of running after money. The
Financial Expert also echoes the same philosophy. But, the materialistic philosophy
of life has humorously been presented by Kailas in The Bachelor of Arts, who says:
“A man must spend forty years in making money and forty years in spending it”
(p. 28).

Narayan writes about the myths and magic’s in his novels, which may
appear unconvincing to the modern and western readers. In his autobiographical
novel The English Teacher, the protagonist Krishna, after the death of his wife
Sushila, communicates with her spirit, with the help of a Sannyasi. Frequent use is
made of Indian myth and legends in his novels and short stories. An Indian myth
Bhasmasura forms the background to The Man-Eater of Malgudi.

Narayan frequently narrates the rituals, superstitions, traditions and beliefs as

if they are quite common and credible in Indian context. Many popular superstitions,
rituals and beliefs are frequently exploited in his novels and short stories. In The
Guide, there is fasting to bring down the rain, and Raju is easily taken to be
 174

a Mahatma by the credulous villagers. Communication with the spirit of the dead is
also shown in The English Teacher.

Astrology plays vital role in the day-to-day life of Indians. The conflict
between the believers and non-believers in stars and fate is frequently seen in
Narayan’s stories. In The Bachelor of Arts, there is mismatch between the horoscopes
of Mr. Chandran and his dream girl Malathi. In The Financial Expert, Margayya is
assured of a better future by an astrologer. In the same novel, another episode reveals
how “money can dictate the very stars in their courses” (p. 40). In the short story An
Astrologer’s Day, Narayan presents an astrologer who dons the role under forced
circumstances.

Indian culture respects the Sannyasis and Godly men without waiting for a
proof of their virtues or miracles. The role of Sannyasi, whether as a truly
remarkable and powerful holy man in The English Teacher and The Tiger for
Malgudi or as a cheat in The Guide or merely as a wanderer in The Bachelor of Arts,
is a recurring character in Narayan’s fiction. Foolish veneration of Sannyasis
reaches such a height in The Guide that Raju, originally, a cheat, mistaken by
the villagers as Sannyasi, is worshipped by them. Interestingly, Raju is
compelled to live in the character by fasting for twelve days to appease the rain gods.

Almost all the works of Narayan show the traditional patriarchal family
system where the men are dominant and the women are true representatives of
traditional Indian womanhood. However, in his novel The Darkroom, the central
character Savitri questions the patriarchal family system and women’s place in
it. But, she too realizes the futility of her attempt to escape from her bonds with the
temporal world and returns home. In the same way, Rosie in The Guide shows her
essential Indianness in her solicitude for her husband. Perhaps, this is the reality that
exists in Indian family system which Narayan wanted to project.

Narayan presents the conflicts pertaining to family systems. In Swami and

friends, Swami’s grandmother tells him stories during bedtime. In the novel The
 175

Painter of Signs, the aged aunt of Raman tends to her nephew’s needs. But, in
other stories like, The Vendor of Sweets and The Financial Expert, the strained
relations between parents and spoilt sons are seen.

The conflict between the concepts of arranged marriages and love

marriages is frequently seen in Narayan’s novels. Narayan gives reverence to Indian
marriage and family system. He tries to present love episodes, some with
success and some others with failure. In the novel Vendor of Sweets, when the
son of Jagan returns from America with an American woman whom he did not marry,
he is unwelcome in his own family. In the novel The Painter of Signs, Raman finds
himself being torn between his Aunt and Daisy, the traditional way and the modern
way.

Narayan’s novels and short stories depict the writers, poets and other artists
who are interested in creating the literature and art influenced by the ancient Indian
classics, Hinduism and epic stories. The poet in The Man-Eater of Malgudi composes
a story of Krishna and Radha in monosyllabic verse. In the novel The World of
Nagaraj, the protagonist is interested in writing about life of the great sage Narada.
Rosie in The Guide is interested in dance. In The Painter of Signs, Raman is
interested in art and calligraphy. Occasionally there are persons like Mohan (poet) in
The Bachelor of Arts, who, under the influence of the waves of western art forms, try
to experiment in them.

Narayan touches upon the issue of conflict between languages by

referring to the education system of his times. The Education system introduced by
the Britishers in India allowed the dominance of English language over the regional
languages. The negligence of regional languages can be seen in the novels like Swami
and Friends- where the students don’t pay attention to the Tamil Pundit’s class but
are very much attentive in English class.

The adoration to Gandhian principles and the hypocrisy attached to it are very
well presented in Narayan’s works. The plot of the novel Waiting for the Mahatma
 176

has the freedom movement and Gandhian principles as background. In the novel
Vendor of Sweets, the protagonist Jagan is a staunch follower of Gandhi. He wears
Khadi and spins Charkha. But he is very careful about money and keeps two account
books to avoid paying income tax – which shows the hypocrisy of his principles.

The major and minor characters of Narayan’s novels and stories pass their
remarks on the inefficiencies of governments and corrupt acts of officials. In the
novel The Financial Expert, Margayya manages the police, and contributes to
the war fund when asked to do so. In the novel The Talkative Man, the Station
master at the Railway station is manageable with money.
In the novels of Narayan, Malgudi in the 1930s is a small town across the
river Sarayu with an officers’ club and two schools, a municipality, a town hall.
There is Nallapa’s mango grove and the Mempi forest. The hold of traditional values
on characters like Swami is as strong as the effect of modern civilization. Malgudi is
shown as a town at the crossroads of Indian culture. It is tied to its ancient moorings,
yet submits to various compulsions of change. The railway station, the England
Insurance Company, the Truth Printing Works, Anand Bhavan, the Central
Co-operative Land Mortgage Bank, Lawley Extension and many other modern
institutions go to build up Malgudi’s existence. Thus Malgudi exists on two
dimensions simultaneously- the age old values and beliefs that have gone deep down
the Indian psyche shaping its cultural and emotional outlook, and the new way of
living that the Western notions of economic progress have forged.
Grandmothers, uncles and aunts with their rigid caste system, their
innumerable religious rituals are finely counterpoised against the new generation
represented by Mali, Balu, Dr. Pal and others. A.N. Kaul writes:
Malgudi …stands at a nicely calculated comic
distance between the East and the West… Just
as the true tragedy of colonialism lay in the
culturally untouched but economically ravaged
Indian countryside, the true comedy of this
 177

same historical fact was to be observed in the

Indian small town.40

Narayan’s writing spans over sixty years and we can see that he is the direct
witness of the modern transition of India and his writing can be regarded as the epic
of modern India because the background of nearly all his fiction is an imaginary town
called Malgudi, somewhere in South India, which is actually a sample for the change
of the whole country. Through his writings we can see what has been actually
happening to India in these years. From his story we experience the change of their
life, the change of their values and their way of looking at themselves. He faithfully
reflects the change of women’s social position and also the change of their role in
the households. He creates a series of New Women who dare to pursue their own
happiness, ignoring the confinement of the tradition or the codes of religion. But to a
certain degree, his writing about the modern transition of India only relates to the
elites, or at the most, the middle class.
From Swami and Friends to A Tiger for Malgudi, it is a march along a
historical time. With each of the novels, Malgudi unfolds new vistas of life. A simple,
innocent and conservative society undergoes fast changes because of the incursions
of modern civilization. From a sleepy, silent and small town atmosphere on the banks
of river Sarayu to a fast developing metropolitan ethos with modern streets, banking
corporations, talkies and smugglers’ den, and even a circus, Malgudi marks a
movement in time. This movement not only affects the geography of the place, but
also the social and cultural milieu. Innocence gradually gives way to Wessex
experience and Malgudi begins to live up to the modern spirit. Like Hardy’s and
Faulkner’s Yoknapatawha which experience the gradual decadence of the agricultural
community of England and that of the Southern aristocracy of the United States
respectively, Malgudi at different points of time experiences the swift changes, the
innumerable contradictions that make a mark on the orthodox Indian society with its
age-old culture, beliefs and superstitions. Graham Greene in the introduction to The
Financial Expert remarks:
 178

…the life of Malgudi never ruffled by politics

proceeds in exactly the same way as it has done
for centuries and the juxtaposition of the age-
old convention and the modern character
provide much of the comedy.41
In most of his novels, however, Narayan’s concerns as a citizen-writer are
voiced in a much more complex manner. Instead of taking the form of columns on
civic failures or letters to newspapers, they work themselves out through his
characters and their conflicts. This is how Narayan’s novels show India negotiating
the complex terrain of the modern. Malgudi, in that sense, becomes a laboratory
where various possibilities and positions are tried out. With such a view, The Guide,
undoubtedly Narayan’s best-known novel can be examined as a narrative of modern
India. More specifically, it is about the nature of an ancient Indian institution, that of
the Guru. Indeed, this word, Guru, has no exact English counterpart.
R.K. Narayan’s use of the slightly lighter, slightly more frivolous, and
certainly more ambiguous word, “guide,” is therefore telling. The central question for
such a reading of the novel is precisely whether The Guide undermines in Narayan’s
famously ironic manner, the idea and the institution of the Guru, of a man or woman
who attains to a higher state of consciousness and is therefore able to lead others? Or
does it, despite such an undermining, eventually reinforce it? This question is by no
means casual or trivial because it suggests a larger method of dealing with the entire
corpus of Narayan and how it engages with India’s modernity. The characters are
situated against the backdrop of Post-Independence economic theories of India and
analyzed in the light of those theories. There is also a discussion of the impact of
westernization and modernization and how the new culture, new ideologies, new
trends, gradually transform the idyllic mindset of the protagonist, Raju.
Narayan’s novels represent a section of Indian society where life is steeped in
middleclass consciousness. His characters portray certain characteristic features -
either they are docile, timid, adhering to traditional values and pacifist by nature or
they appreciate vulnerability, violence and excessive greed for money. In this context
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we can expound the fact that Narayan studies economic problem minutely and
exquisitely and thereby frames several economic groups. While Marco and Rosie
represent the well-to-do class, Gaffur and Joseph denote the low wage earner. In the
words of Prof. Krishna Sen:
At first sight, the world of The Guide seems to
be structured along simple binaries- Malgudi
and Mangala, the town and the village, urban
sophistication versus rural simplicity,
modernity versus tradition, and cynicism
versus faith. On closer inspection, each of these
components reveals itself to be highly
problematic, full of hybrid ties, fissures and
contradictions. As with the binary that
Shakespeare created in As You Like It, settings
off the court against the Forest of Arden, but
with positive and negative elements existing
within each ideological space so here too
Malgudi and Mangala stand for cultural
locations that appear to be simple only from a
distant view.42
His third novel, The Dark Room, tries to handle the issue of subaltern
groups. In the fiction, the dark room is not only a place for the retreatment of the
woman when she is abused by her husband, but also a metaphor which discloses the
miserable conditions of women and the oppression by men. They are often victims
within a marriage. This is the first novel that casts spotlight upon women issues.
From Savitri in The Dark Room to Bala in Grandmother’s Tale, Narayan’s women
characters grow stronger and show that the emergence of the ‘New Woman’ is not a
myth or a utopia in India. She struggles for freedom, asserts equality and searches for
identity.
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Narayan’s new woman might not have brought earth-shaking changes to

India, yet she has certainly brought positive changes not only in her man but also in
Indian society. It is usually noticed that, though R.K. Narayan is a traditionalist, he is
undoubtedly aware of the oppressive elements of Indian traditional culture, which is
quite different from the findings of many other Indian experts who attribute all the
sufferings of subalterns to colonial rule and western culture. And further from his
depiction we can also see that in his understanding, the modernization of India not
only means the reexamination of colonial rule and it’s left over but also the re-
examination of their own tradition which is cherished by the nationalists.
The Financial Expert is considered to be among his greatest masterpieces.
When the miserable conditions of subaltern groups are talked about, this book is most
likely to be mentioned as the supportive evidence to indicate that colonial institutions
are the source of the sufferings of the subaltern groups. In the story, British opened
the bank in the small town which actually trapped the poor into deep debt and they
could not get out of the circle. But a closer reading reminds us that it is the native
financial advisors who misled the poor people and brought them to misery.
Narayan notices the social stratification in the modern transition of India. The
elites are actually the groups who take the share of the benefits from colonizers’
institutions and after independence they are comfortable with the existing hierarchical
structure and unwilling to make any significant change, which is the real source of
the sufferings of subaltern groups. In his writing, he seems satisfied with the
exposure of India’s clumsy imitation of modernity.
The Guide was cheered by many readers for the heroine’s strong
resistance against the deeply-rooted patriarchal culture of India. First she has the
courage to get out of unhappy marriage and associate herself to a tourist guide she
loves deeply. Second, when she finds that her new love is just using her as a
moneymaking machine, she leaves him without slightest hesitation. This broke the
stereotype of Indian women, who were imagined as cowardly, dependent and fragile.
The book won him the Sahitya Akademi award in 1958 and his contribution lies in
his boldness and courage when facing Indian nationalists who are always blindly
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against outside civilized elements, labeled colonial and defend everything traditional,
even oppressive elements, as Indian civilization essence.
In 1961 Narayan published his next novel, The Man-Eater of Malgudi, which
was reviewed as having a narrative that is a classical art form of comedy, with
delicate control. The Man-Eater is also a metaphor here. The elites, both from foreign
country or from India, are actually the man-eaters. They take profits from the mass of
India, but they never know that they should pay back or at least show their slightest
gratitude to the people. On the contrary, they take them as prey and maltreat them.
Subalterns here are the victims in his writing and besides the author believes that the
strength, muscle or power of the dominant groups is not a blessing but a tomb for
themselves, like Vasu. The figure of Rangi (The Man-Eater of Malgudi), a temple
public girl of Malgudi shows us that the condition of Rosie is not the worst. She is the
temple prostitute, and in being a woman of the temple, she is married to the God of
that temple, who in this case is Krishna. She is both the highest woman and the
lowest woman. She is looked down upon by the people around. Rangi also makes a
very important comment when she says, “Sir, I am only a public woman, following
what is my dharma” (p. 68).
Ironically, the author tries to make us believe that Rangi has followed her
dharma and acquired some sort of higher power, and then Rangi could have caused
Vasu to end his life through the blow to his head. She is so selfless that she is even
willing to risk her own happiness for the sake of the temple by aiding Nataraj in his
attempt to stop Vasu from killing Kumar. It makes one realize that women are
trapped in all kinds of futile Indian traditions that are illogical, resulting in their
endless suffering. The pictures of the middle class women are discernible from The
Dark Room of the colonial period, to The Guide, a piece written after independence.
Women in India, not like their male counterparts, who hold the instinctive
hostility to western culture, begin to make use of the concepts, values and lifestyle of
the West as a tool to subvert the oppressive forces. That is only part of the story.
Rosie is resistant and independent and has courage to seek the happiness of her own
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because she is a great dancer and able to survive herself without any financial aid.
But for most women, destiny is not so merciful.
The Guide which won for Narayan huge accolades shows the novelist’s skill
in placing the orient into focus for occidental eyes. In this novel Narayan depicts a
comprehensive picture of human activities, the comic and the tragic, the silly and the
serious, the ridiculous and the sublime. Here we witness the spectacular
representations of an ordinary man who eventually becomes a Mahatma as he begins
to identify himself with the world and takes the terrible decision of sacrificing his life
for a noble cause. K.R.S. Iyengar rightly holds the view:
Speaking generally, Narayan’s is the art of
resolved limitation and conscientious
exploration; he is content, like Jane Austen,
with a ‘little bit of ivory’, just so many inches
wide: he would like to be a detached observer,
to concentrate on a narrow scene, to sense the
atmosphere of the place, to snap a small group
of characters in their oddities and angularities:
he would, if he could, explore the inner
countries of the mind, heart and soul, catch the
uniqueness in the ordinary, the tragic in the
prosaic.43

So a critical study of this novel gives a complete vision of free India with all its
varied economic, social and spiritual problems. One without a doubt agrees with
K.R.S. Iyenger:

…that Malgudi is the real hero of the ten

novels and the many short stories: that
underneath the seeming change and the human
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drama there is something-the ‘soul’ of the

place? – That defies or embraces, all change
and is triumphantly and unalterably itself.44
Thus, as seen from the above, Narayan’s novels and short stories reflect the
elements of Indian culture and the conflicting features in the 21th century. They help
non-Indians understand the vibrant culture of India in its widespread form. Further,
the photographic narrative style of R.K. Narayan presents the cultural nuances of
India in their realistic state than in the idealistic or imaginative condition. One who
reads the novels or short stories of Narayan cannot help but appreciate Indian
culture along with its shortfalls. So, it can be undoubtedly said that the fiction
of Narayan is a window to Indian culture and its conflicts, to the outside
world and foreign readers.
 184

NOTES AND REFERENCES:

1. Walsh, William. R.K. Narayan: The Unobtrusive Novelist. In: Paolucci,

Anne Ed. “India” RNL 10: 59-69. (Special issue) New York: Council
for National Literatures, 1979.

2. R.K. Narayan: Illustrated Weekly of India, June 23, 1963. p. 43.

3. Badal, R.K. R.K. Narayan: A Study. Bareilly: Prakash Book Depot, 1976.
p. 9.

4. Narayan, R.K. The Dark Room. Delhi: An Orient Paperbacks, 1978. p. 80.

5. Narayan, R.K. The Guide. Mysore: Indian Thought Publications, 1983.

p. 220.

6. Bhardwaj, S.P. The Painter of Signs: An Analysis From Perspectives on

R.K. Narayan, edit. Dr. Atma Ram, Ghaziabad: Vimal Prakashan,
1981. p. 176.

7. Malhotra, Tara. Old Times, Old Faces, Old Tunes. Banasthali Patrika
No.13, 1969. p. 54.

8. Narayan, R.K. The Dark Room, Delhi: An Orient paperbacks, 1978. p. 75.

9. Sanyal, S.C. Indianness in Major Indo-Anglian Novel. Bareilly: Prakash

Book Depot, 1984. p. 249.

10. Girla, Shiv K. Narayan’s World of Values: From Perspectives on R.K.

Narayan, 1984. p. 41.

11. Narayan, R.K. The Financial Expert. Mysore: Indian Thought

Publication, 1981. p.158.

12. Ibid., p.178.

 185

13. Narayan, R.K. The English Teacher. Mysore: Indian Thought

Publications, 1981. p. 205.

14. Narayan, R.K. The Painter of Signs. Great Britain: Penguin Books, 1982.
pp. 14-15.

15. Baghmar, G.B. R.K. Narayan: As a Novelist. Thesis submitted to Nagpur

University, Nagpur, 1981.

16. Embree, A.T. The Hindu Traditions: Readings in Oriental Thought. Chpt.
III, p. 48.

17. Manu Samriti: 11; 6-14 Sacred Book of the East: XXV, pp. 31-32.

18. Dasgupta, S.N. A History of Indian Philosophy. Cambridge, 1922. Rpt.

Motilal Banarsi Das Delhi, 1975. p. 42.

19. Narayan, R.K. The Financial Expert. Mysore: Indian Thought

Publications, 1981. p. 56.

20. Narayan, R.K. The Guide. Mysore: Indian Thought Publications, 1983.
p. 238.

21. Gupta, Balaram. A Sinner is a Sinner: A Study of Raju, from Perspectives

on R.K. Narayan, Ghaziabad: Vimal Prakashan, 1981. p. 135.

22. Narayan, R.K. The Painter of Signs, Great Britain, Penguin Books, 1982.
p. 56.

23. Wright State University Student Body. The Guardian, August 8, 1978.
Wright State University.

24. Kulkarni, A.R. The Buddha, The Trimurti and the Modern Hinduism.
Nagpur Suvichar Prakashan, Dhantoli, 1980. p. 73.

25. Ibid., p. 162.

 186

26. Narayan, R.K. The Dark Room, New Delhi, Orient Paperbacks, 1978.
p.124.

27. Narayan, R.K. My Days. Mysore: Indian Thought Publications, 1979.

p. 135.

28. Ref. Quotation from Kulkarni, A.R. The Buddha, The Trimurti and the
Modern Hinduism. Nagpur Suvichar Prakashan, Dhantoli, 1980. p. 141.

29. Embree, A.T. The Hindu Traditions: Reading in Oriental Thought, p. 75.

30. Ibid., p. 82.

31. Manu Smriti: I and X passim: Sacred Books of the East. XXV, p. 24.

32. Roy, P.C. The Mahabharat, I and XII; 60 passim.

33. Bhagwad Geeta: III: 17-19 in Sources of Indian Tradition, p. 287.

34. Narayan, R.K. The Guide, Mysore: Indian Thought Publications, 1983.
p.169.

35. Iynger, K.R.S. Indian Writing in English. New Delhi: Sterling Publishers
Pvt. Ltd, 1983. p. 385.

36. Williams, H.M. Precarious Innocence: Patterns in the Novels of R.K.

Narayan. Atma Ram ed., Perspectives on R.K. Narayan, p. 15.

37. Narayan, R.K. Mr. Sampath , Delhi: Hind Pocket Book, 1979. p. 76.

38. Sundaram, P.S. Ambivalence of R.K. Narayan: from Explorations in

Modern Indo-English Fiction edit, R.K. Dhawan, New Delhi: Bahri
Publications, 1982. p.145.

39. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, The Untouchables, Jetwan Mahavihar, Shravasti,

Balrampur, 1977. Preface XI.
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40. Kaul, A.N. R.K. Narayan and The East-West Theme. Considerations. Ed.
Meenakshi Mukerjee. New Delhi: Allied Publications, 1977. p. 51.
41. Greene, Graham. Introduction to the Financial Expert. Mysore: Indian
Thought Publications, 1973. p. VII.

42. Sen, Krishna. Critical Essays on R.K. Narayan’s The Guide with an
Introduction to Narayan’s Novels, Kolkata: Orient Longman, 2005.
p. 17.

43. Iyengar, K.R.S. Indian Writing in English. Bombay: Asia publishing

House, 1973. p. 360.

44. Ibid., p. 363.