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Kanthapura

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Raja Rao (1908-2006) was born in Hassan (Karnataka) and had his education in Madras, and later in France. He has divided his time among India, Europe (mainly France) and the USA. He is considered one of the trio (along with Mulk Raj Anand and R. K. Narayan) that forms the precursor to Indian Writing in English as we know it today.
Raja Rao’s works are steeped in Indian spiritualism, and often the theme is metaphysical. Based on his experiences in Europe, his novels are also about the interplay between Indian and Western culture. The influence of the Indian nationalist movement and Gandhi on Raja Rao is evident in his early books.
He received the Neustadt International Prize for Literature in 1988 and the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1963. He passed away in Texas, Austin.
Works
* Kanthapura * The Cow of the Barricades, and Other Stories * The Serpent and the Rope * The Cat and Shakespeare * Comrade Kirilov * The Policeman and the Rose * The Chessmaster and His Moves * On the Ganga Ghat * The Meaning of India * Great Indian Way: A Life of Mahatma Gandhi *
Kanthapura
Kanthapura – The South Indian Village
The story of the Nobel belongs to knthapura, a small, obscure village in remote corner of south India. The people here were mostly poor, illiterate and backward. The village was caste-ridden, with different quarters in it housing people of different castes—the highest caste being Brahmins, the lowest, the Pariahs. People were extremely religious-minded. Goddess Kenchamma was the presiding deity of the village.
Village Temple – Katha-man Arrested
The protagonist of the novel is a young Brahmin boy, named Moorthy. Moorthy was a staunch follower of Mahatma Gandhi. Once this boy found a half-buried linga in the village. He dug it out and installed it at another place and built a temple there. This temple became

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