Gandhian Ideology in R K Narayan ‘s
work and Indian Writing In English
- · INTRODUCTION:-
Gandhi is the well-known figure
world-wide who fought against the British Rule over India and made India free.
He was the follower of Non-Violence and peace and truth. As we all know that
literature is the reflection of society so that literature has also an
influence Gandhi in it. Only few writers wrote about Gandhi and his ideas. R K
Narayan was one of them. He was a pre independence writer of Indian. And the
situation of that time reflects in his work.
India writing in English began in the pre
independence era. When is began it gave the voice to natural feelings. But
later on it could not escape the inevitable element of nationalism. That time
the public of India was so much frustrated with the British government that’s
why it reflects in the works of the writers of that time. The main theme in
writing was colonialism, exploitation, and awakening. There were three writers
R K Narayana , Mulk Raj Anand, Raja Rao who wrote about the real situation of
contemporary India.
- · Mahatma Gandhi in Pre-Independence India :-
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi is
the father of Indian nation because he succeeded in giving India its freedom
back from British rule. He has the weapon of peace and non-violence. Under his
leadership the movement took place.
- · Gandhian Ideology :-
Gandhi was a political leader
still he gave priority to Religion.
He gave the message of AHINSA
which is one of the most important messages in Hinduism. Gandhi has the
influence of RAMAYANA and BHAGAVAT GITA on is a well known fact. Not only these
two but QURAN and BIBLE have also the same respects in his mind.
- · INDIAN WRITING IN ENGLISH AND GANDHI :-
Gandhi was not only the leader
who made India free but he remained an influential figure in Indian life and
literature. Gandhi wrote many things but it was in Gujarati but it is now
available in English also. Gandhi was the source of inspiration to write of
many writers. All prominent Indian writers in English have written about
Gandhi. Rao, Anand, Narayan are the important authors to praise. Some of this
writer gave voice to the Gandhian thoughts and ideas. In brief , Gandhian
philosophy and ideology has invariable motivated and invigorated the
contemporary Indian writers and a huge corpus of contemporary Indian writing is
Fore grounded on Gandhi.
- · Gandhi’s idea of truth :-
Truth or satya is the most
important thing for Gandhi. Gandhi considers the power of truth as controlling
the universe. It is synonymous to god and amounts to sincerity of heart and
inner force of soul that implies the discovery of one’s own self. He balanced
his social, political and spiritual life on the foundation of truth. According
to the Gandhian concept of truth, “The instruments of the quest of truth are as
simple as they are different.” In Narayana’s novel his characters are in search
of truth and self. There is a mixture of Gandhism and pseudo-Gandhism in his
most of the novels. Narayan exposes the class of pseudo-gandhism as Jagan, Sriram
and delineates the process of transformation in the protagonist in their search
for truth and self-realization.
- · R K Narayan And Gandhiyan Ideology :-
Gandhiyan ideology was covered
by R K Narayan in many of his novels. Like waiting for mahatma, The Vendor of sweet,
The English Teacher, The man eater of malgudi, In Narayan’s imaginary town he
has artistically interwoven Gandhiyan ideology in these novels. His works
mamifest the multifarious facets of Gandhian ideology.
- · Gandhian idea of non-violence :-
Gandhian idea of non-violence
can be seen in the novels of R K Nrayana. In one of his novel there is a reference
of mahatma arrival. From when Gandhi had mass appeal a huge gathering if Malgudian
citizen are waiting on the bank of Saryu to receive their beloved leader. Volunteers
in white khadi maintained the law and order at place of meeting. Despite severe
heat, the crowd sat patiently and uncomplainingly on the hot sand. When the
mahatma came at the venue and gave his speech. The words of mahatma were like
this, “No good, not enough. I like to see more vigor in your arms more rhythm,
more spirit. It must be like the drum beat of non-violent soldiers marching to
cut the chains that bind Mother India … I want to see unity in it.”
- · Gandian idea as myth in Raj Rao’s Kanthapura:-
In this novel of Raja Rao the
story of a village Kanthapura is given. This novel is a Semi autobiography of
Raja Rao. His major focus was on the cast conflict of that time.The difference between
Bramhins, Shudra and pariahs was one of the biggest issues in that time. The
story is narrated by Achchka whom is a widow.
At that time one side freedom
fight was going on and at the other side the people of this village didn’t even
knew about that. Young man Moorthy who came back from the university came to
knew about Gandhi and is movement. Thus he came back to his village and saw the
situation of village. He tried to tell them about Gandhi and his movement. but
being villagers they were not interested. Moorthy found a new way to talk about
Gandhi and explain the situation. Jayramachar knew that all the villagers are
mad in the name of religion. So he took the story of Ramayana. In which he made
Gandhi Ram sita as bharat mata and English men as ravan or evil side as Ravana.
He started convincing them. The people thought that Gandhi was an angle of
god. We can see that uneducated people
do believe in myth of god and not in real life hero. The main theme was to reflect
the cast problem and the freedom fight. Bade khan was a policeman who was Muslim
so no one gave him a house to stay because of his cast. The story goes on as
there was no rain in the village thus farmers were not able to give lagan so
British soldier. That’s why British man took their farms in their custody. Many
of the family leave the village and settles down in a village named Kashipura.
At that time Gandhiji and Lord Ervin did
a settlement. After that many outsider people comes and starts living there.
The main focus was to display the power of non-violence and Gandhi with the
help of religious myth.
- CONCLUSION:-
Indian writing in English in
pre-independence time the influence of Mahatma Gandhi was too much on many
writers and people. And the problems of cast conflict and class conflict with
also some others problems of society. The writers tried to reflect all types of
good and bad point in their work in pre-independence. The Gandhian idea of
Non-violence and peace also shines out in their work.
References:-
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