Kanthapura: Analysis of Major Characters

Author: Raja Rao

First published: 1938

Genre: Novel

Locale: Kanthapura, a village in Kara, South India

Plot: Folklore

Time: The early 1930's

Achakka, the open-minded Brahmin female narrator, who recounts the rise of Gandhian resistance to British colonial rule. Weaving Kanthapura legends and Hindu myths into her story, she documents the wisdom and daily routines of village life while recalling her own conversion to Mohandas K. (Mahatma) Gandhi's philosophy. Although she is a grandmother who survives by subsistence farming, she seems ageless in her strength and charity. As Achakka becomes increasingly involved in the resistance, she studies Vedic texts and yoga with Rangamma and participates in boycotts of foreign cloth and in picketing against tobacco and liquor shops, during which she is beaten, along with other Gandhians. When her house, with much of Kanthapura, is burned, she goes to live in the nearby village of Kashipura.

Moorthy, a young Brahmin, the principal organizer of Gandhian resistance and the Congress Party in Kanthapura. Noble, quiet, generous, and deferent in manner, the smart and handsome deep-voiced only son drops out of the university to follow Gandhi and teach reading and writing to “untouchables.” After experiencing a holy vision of the Mahatma (great soul), Moorthy distributes spinning wheels as a measure of resistance, as well as engaging in fasts and meditation. Ever admonishing Gandhians against hatred and violence, he is sorrowful but calm, and submissive but steadfast, in his leadership of nonviolent actions. Although beaten severely and imprisoned frequently, Moorthy remains loyal to Gandhian principles, despite becoming a supporter of the more pragmatic Jawaharlal Nehru in the nationalist movement.

Bhatta, the First Brahmin, or chief priest at ceremonial feasts, and primary landlord of Kanthapura. A clever, over-weight opportunist, he exploits the conflict among villagers, siding with the traditionalists who oppose Gandhi's doctrine of equal treatment for untouchables because his profits are larger as a result of the cheap labor that they provide. He lobbies his cause with phony smiles of religious devotion, wearing holy ashes to enhance his image. Through frequent trips to the city of Kawar, he becomes the official legal agent of the colonial administration and the sole banker of Kanthapura, using his position to raise interest rates on mortgaged lands belonging to Gandhi's supporters. When Kanthapura is nearly destroyed in the police assaults on the resisters, the untouchables burn Bhatta's house. He sells the deeds that he holds to Bombay land speculators and moves to Kashi.

Patel Range Gowda, the primary executive officer of Kanthapura, acting as mayor, constable, and minor judge. Sturdy but fat, wealthy but charitable, smart, and aggressive, Gowda resents British intrusion into his authoritative role and sides with the Gandhians for their materialistic stability and nationalist fervor rather than for spiritual reasons. His stand results in his loss of favor with Bhatta, who essentially strips him of power. The Congress Party acknowledges his authority, a hereditary right. For accepting a minor role of leadership, the tall man is imprisoned. He returns to Kanthapura after the social upheaval and political turmoil but is rumored to have stayed only long enough to retrieve his buried jewels.

Belur Narahari Sastri, a middle-aged poet whose patron is the Maharaja of Mysore. Performing with bells on his ankles and cymbals in his hands, the singer wears a shawl given to him by the maharaja, for whom he writes an epic about the journey of the gods Rama and Sita. Their love serves as an analogy to the Gandhian struggles to achieve harmony among Hindus and Muslims and among all castes within Hinduism. Sastri's presence suggests that the nationalist movement is comparable in proportion to other legendary fights in Hinduism.

Bade Khan, a Muslim policeman whose ill-tempered grumbling and growling encourages the villagers to drive him to seek refuge on the Skeffington Coffee Estate. Short and fat, the bearded petty tyrant is particularly vindictive toward the Gandhians and brutal in his repression of those who participate in the picketing. As the violence escalates during protests, he becomes insignificant among the many policemen who are sent to Kanthapura in the attempt to quell the resistance.

Rangamma, a wealthy young Brahmin who is converted by Moorthy to Gandhi's views. Widely respected but lonely, she reads frequently and nurtures curiosity about other countries. As the resistance movement grows, she publishes a weekly political pamphlet and sponsors daily discussions on the nationalist movement, turning her home into Kanthapura's center for Congress Party activities. Bold in a traditionalist context, she refutes Bhatta's self-serving religiosity and inspires many villagers to follow Gandhi's teachings. When Moorthy is imprisoned and her father, a Vedantic teacher, dies, she continues both as organizer for the Gandhians and as Vedic interpreter and yoga teacher. Eventually, she organizes the women of Kanthapura as the Sevis, who lead nonviolent resistance marches, a role that results in her being beaten and imprisoned.

Kamalamma, Rangamma's thirty-year-old traditionalist sister. A strict adherent to the Vedic caste system, she rejects Rangamma's conversion to Gandhi's teachings and her own daughter Ratna's modern behavior and attitude. Kamalamma embodies the larger conflict within the village through her divisive stance within the family, being far more concerned with Ratna's eligibility for remarriage than with her daughter's role in the Swaraj (self-rule) movement.

Ratna, the fifteen-year-old widowed daughter of Kamalamma. Thoroughly modern in her behavior of speaking her mind and walking alone in the village, the educated, attractive niece of Rangamma follows her aunt's example by joining the resistance movement. She breaks tradition by assisting Rangamma in the teaching of the Vedic texts as justification for Gandhi's views, suffers beatings in the protest marches, and is nearly raped by a policeman. When Rangamma is imprisoned, Ratna assumes leadership of the Sevis and, eventually, also suffers imprisonment. After being released, she leaves Kanthapura to continue her activism in Bombay.

Sankar, the twenty-six-year-old secretary of the Kawar Congress Party. A saintly, ascetic widower with a young daughter, he is a lawyer of renowned integrity who embodies Gandhian ideals. He wears khadi, the homespun, symbolic cloth of resistance; eschews expensive status symbols such as the cars and fine Western-style suits that his colleagues acquire; insists on using and teaching Hindi as the nationalists' language; and renounces the use of tobacco and liquor. He contributes heavily to the Congress Party funds, and he teaches Rangamma the organizational skills of activism. When Bhatta attempts to harvest the Gandhians' crops and to auction their lands in retaliation for their refusal to pay taxes to him, Sankar organizes a massive resistance from other villages and Kawar to prevent Bhatta from succeeding in his punitive seizure of their properties.