Showing posts with label Samskara. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Samskara. Show all posts
Role of Chandri in "Samskara".
U. R. Anantha Murthy is one of the masters in the art of characterization in the history of Indian-English literature. In the novel, "Samskara", his characterization proves his mastery. Chandri, one of the major women characters in the novel is portrayed beautifully by the author.
Chandri Cameron is the handpicked concubine of Naranappa quite remarkable for her beauty and sex-appeal. In the novel, we find that many Brahmins of Agrahara are attracted by her charm and grace. This very clearly shows the characteristics of the Brahmins. They apparently oppose Chandri and Naranappa's relationship and tag her as a prostitute but they themselves are longing for her appealing body.
However Chandri is the character who helps in the development of the plot for the first time. She is the person who brings the news of Naranappa's death which becomes the central twist of the novel. Though she is a whore, "She remains pure like the river Tunga. She is forever pure....."
Not only that, Chandri is also responsible in the transformation of Praneshacharya. As the novelist writes ----
"In the arid sexless life of the Acharya, Chandri comes as an angel and let's him sow the seed seeds of joy into her. Thus she serves as a symbolic figure bringing in fertility to the arid Acharya for his regeneration and to herself for reproduction. She combines the symbolic figures of the earth mother and Venus Aphrodite."
Thus Chandri is a very important character in the novel and in the transformation of Pranedhacharya's mind. Though she is a prostitute, she brings the message of brotherhood in the novel as she makes no distinction between Hindus and Muslims. She is also the character who acts as an anti-brahminical instrument in the novel. To conclude, we may say ----
"Besides being beautiful, everyone's sex object, a prostitute,.......She is "an exception to all the rules", a "running river" that "doesn't dry, doesn't tire". She is the opposite of the Acharya's ascetic rulebook...."
Ending of the novel, "Samskara".
The novel,"Samskara" by U. R. Anantha Murthy ends up abruptly. At the very last chapter of the novel, Acharya cremated Bhagirathi's body. Many people of the village die because of plague. Anantha Murthy here represents a very realistic picture of the then South-Indian villages.
In the novel, Anantha Murthy also presents a contradiction between the orthodoxical brahminical principals and the modern sceptic outlook toward life. The first is represented by the Acharya and the other Brahmins of Agrahara and the later by Manjayya, a true leader of Parijatpura. While in Durvasapura all the Brahmins are totally depended on conventional Hindu rituals to be free from the plague, the rationalist Manjayya Rook quick decisions to go to municipality authority to get the dead body removed, to summon the doctors, to exterminate the rats because all these things are responsible behind the epidemic plague.
At the ending, we also find an important meeting of Pranesha to Padmavati who like Chandri and Belli represents life and happiness. When he meets Padmavati, he becomes aware of the sin and goes to Agrahara without making love with Padmavati to admit his sin to the agrahara Brahmins.
In the novel, Anantha Murthy also presents a contradiction between the orthodoxical brahminical principals and the modern sceptic outlook toward life. The first is represented by the Acharya and the other Brahmins of Agrahara and the later by Manjayya, a true leader of Parijatpura. While in Durvasapura all the Brahmins are totally depended on conventional Hindu rituals to be free from the plague, the rationalist Manjayya Rook quick decisions to go to municipality authority to get the dead body removed, to summon the doctors, to exterminate the rats because all these things are responsible behind the epidemic plague.
At the ending, we also find an important meeting of Pranesha to Padmavati who like Chandri and Belli represents life and happiness. When he meets Padmavati, he becomes aware of the sin and goes to Agrahara without making love with Padmavati to admit his sin to the agrahara Brahmins.
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