'Kanthapura' (non-violence) & 'Grain of Wheat' (Violence) Freedom fighting movements

BHUMI DANGI
M.A. SEMESTER-4
PAPER-14
AFRICAN LITERATURE

TO EVALUATE MY ASSIGNMENT,

·      Introduction of writers

·     Ngũgĩ Wa Thiongo

Ngũgĩ WA Thiongo was born in Kenya in 1938 into a large poor family. He is currently a distinguished Professor of English and Literature at the University of California, Irvine. His work includes novels, plays, short stories, and essays, ranging from literary and social criticism to children’s’ literature. He is the founder and editor of the Gikuyu-language journal Mũtĩiri. In recent, Ngũgĩ has frequently been regarded as a likely candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature.

A Grain of Wheat is a novel by Kenyan novelist Ngũgĩ WA Thiongo first published in 1967 as a part of the Heinemann African Writers Series. It is a great introduction to African literature. It portrays the politics about struggle for independence and liberation in Kenya and revolt against the British imperialism. The plot revolves around his home villages preparations for Kenya’s Independence Day celebration called Uhuru day. The story clearly illustrates the struggle before and after independence in Kenya. The present time of the story takes place before Kenya’s independence from the British Empire in December 1963. The past time takes place during the emergency in the 1950s during the Mau Mau rebellion against the European settlers.

·    Raja Rao

Raja Rao was born in 1908 in Hassan, Karnataka. Rao studied English at Nizam College, Hyderabad, and then at the University of Madras. He left India for France to study literature and history at the University of Montpellier and the Sorbonne. He lost his mother at the age of 4; this could be the reason for the absence of mother and orphan hood being repeating in his work. From his grandfather, Rao attained a spiritual foundation in Indian philosophy that is also apparent in all of his work. 

 In 1988 he received the prestigious International Neustadt Prize for Literature. Earlier in 1964, Rao won the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Award which is India's highest literary honor for The Serpent and the Rope. Rao received several honors viz. the Padma Bhushan, in 1969; a fellowship in the Sahitya Akademi, India’s national academy of letters, in 1997; and was awarded PadmaVibhushan posthumously in 2007. Rao died on 8 July 2006 at Austin, Texas, at the age of 97.

Kanthapura, the first major Indian novel in English was written in the colonial India in 1930. It was the time during the Civil Disobedience Movement of the 1930.It is a fictional account of a quaint little village in the southern part of India and how the village rises against the British when the cries of the people during the Indian freedom struggle reach its doorstep. The writing is very lyrical and poetic. Raja Rao in his Kanthapura, created a form of modernism – ironic, skeptical and innovative technique such as puranic texture and recurrent use of Hindu myths and legends which is Indian in subject – matter local language usage, local history, racial or national pride, political independence and demands for social justice are among the characteristics of the novel, as are concern with national mythology, with documenting local ways, usually in a realistic literary style.

Comparison:

Moorthy is the main character of Kanthapura, a young Brahmin man who leaves the village of Kanthapura to study in the city and comes back a firm believer in the ways of Mahatma Gandhi.

Well-regarded in the city, Moorthy’s influence allows him to gain many followers as he preaches a way of life that ignores caste and class and rejects Britain’s colonialist rule over India. He is a firm believer in nonviolence and practices what he preaches when it comes to treating all castes as equal—even embracing the Pariah class.

Mugo, the book’s central character, connects in some way to almost every other character. He betrays Kihika, is violently beaten by John Thompson, hears the confessions of Gikonyo and Mumbi, intervenes in the savage beating of Kihika’s girlfriend, and forms a strange, spiritual connection with the old woman whose “deaf and dumb” son was killed during the Emergency. 

·     These are post colonial novels and both have been written on the theme of national freedom struggle. The manner in which Indian National Movement is translated as spiritual struggle for liberation is compared with the way Ngugi uses a Christian metaphor of death and resurrection of Christ as a metaphor for the Mau Mau Freedom Movement in Kenya. Both novels shows the atrocities inflicted upon the natives who are tortured and suffer all kinds of privations. The torture on them further strengthen and the people’s resolve to fight for freedom.

·     “In both novels the characters are infused with the same spirits of religiosity and spiritualism. The role of mythology in both the novels is similar.”

... SO WHAT?

Africa also got independence and India got independence as well. Africans used violence and India took an oath of non-violence largely. What was more important- Violence, non-violence or independence? Well it is independence that matters. And many a time we try to privilege non-violence over violence. But is it so? Does India have independence just of non-violence and higher philosophy that we use to talk about? No. Partially it might be true also but by n large it is not the fact.

It is the world war who played vital role in shaping independence.

And still, it is not the end of discussion. Are we capable enough for independence or not. Today we have democracy in India. But we all are aware of consequences of democracy. Here, voting gets selling. And we do not follow right path of democracy.

What is most important in democracy is –

1.Healthy state of mind

2.Economic settlement

3.Education

Without these three things, we will not be considered ELIGIBLE for democracy. Why is this important? Because if it is not there than our own people will start ruling over us. One observation says that now White people with coat have stopped ruling but coat has got brown skin people. Corruption, fake politicians are the result what we have got for independence.

One thing was discussed that whether “SU-RAAJ” is more important or “SWA-RAAJ” is more important. Ant that that conflict is this – “GOOD GOVERNANCE” OR “SELF-GOVERNANCE”.

It was not that that somebody has ruled over other place for the first time. If we see the history, we may come to know that it have remained the tradition of the world since very long. We claim India as “OUR OWN MOTHERLAND”. But as we know we are the generation of “ARYANS”. Aryans do not belong to India; its origin is not there in India. They have come from Asiatic part. They made “DRAVIDIANS” (the actual natives) to go and live in southern part of India. And we lived here for thousands of year. So these have been the tradition.

And British Governance have provided us many things like English education system, technology; they helped pulling us out from our dark ages. So it was not that staunch.

…Concluding

Still, we are in better condition than Africa. But still some of the part in Africa faces much more problem. There are several parts in Africa which have developed but comparatively India’s condition stands much ahead than them. 

TO EVALUATE MY ASSIGNMENT,