Chapter I

Introduction

To-day, the themes of the Indo – Anglian novel are many and

varied. K.B. Vaid, commenting on the themes of the Indian novelist, says

that his thematic preoccupations are: ‘portrayal of poverty, hunger and

disease; portrayal of widespread social evils and tensions; examination of

the survivals of the past exploration of the hybrid culture of the

dislocations and conflicts in a tradition – ridden society under the impact

of an incipient, half – hearted industrialization’. Some others themes of

the novel in English are inter – racial relations, the Indian national

movement and the struggle for freedom partition of India and the death,

destruction and suffering caused by it “Depiction of hunger and poverty

of Indians, Indian rural life conflict between tradition and modernity

continue to engage the attention of the novelist. The theme of the

confrontation of the East and the West has been successfully dealt with

by Rajo Rao, Balachandr in Rajan, Kamala Markanadaya and many

others. The younger novelists display an increasing inwardness in their

themes. The themes of loneliness, of rootlessness, the exploration of the

psyche and the inner man have been dealt with by Anita Desai in her two

latest novels. Cry the peacock and Voices in the City and by Arun Joshi in

his The Foreigner.

The Indian novel in English is thus characterised by a variety of

themes and techniques. It continues to change and grow, and adapt itself

to the changing Indian environment. Social, political technological and

industrial changes have brought corresponding changes in its substance.

However, in the field of characterization the Indian novelist in English

has not been quite so successful. With some exceptions his characters

continue to be stereotypes. The problem of creating ‘round’, three

dimensional figures, has not been successfully tackled so far. Even

novelists, like Mulk Raj Anand, despite all their psychological insights,

are deficient in this all – important aspect of the art of a novelist. As K.B.

Vaid points, many Indian novelists have failed to create adequately

individualised characters. Further, the novelist even today is sometimes

carried away by the lure o creating the image of a romantic and

glamorous India, the India of Rajas and Maharajas, and of mystic saints

and sadhus who can achieve miracles. Thus Anand in his private life of a

Prince and Malgonkar in his The Princes portray the splendours of royal

life during its last days, and Kamala Markandaya in her Possession

presents weird picture of a mysterious India. Such novels distort reality

and the novelist must guard himself against this danger.

R.K. Narayan is now regarded as one of the greatest of Indians

writing in English. He is the most artistic of the Indian writers, his sole

aim being to give aesthetic satisfaction, and not to use his art as a medium

propaganda or to serve some social purpose, as in the case with Mulk Raj

Anand.

As is the custom in the South ‘R’ in his name stands for the name

of the village to which his family belonged – Rasipuram – in the district

of Salem. ‘K’ stands for the name of his father Krishnaswami Iyer. The

full form of ‘Narayan’ is Narayanaswami, though the novelist now never

uses this full form. He calls himself simply ‘Narayan’ and never

‘Narainaswami’. Though the family belonged originally to Rasipuram,

lone before R.K. Narayan’s birth, the family has shifted to Madras. It was

here that Narayan was born in 1906. Soon after his birth the father got a

2

job as a school teacher in Mysore, and the family moved there. While

other brothers and sisters went too Mysore with their parents, R.K.

Narayan himself was left behind with his grandmother. It was only later

that he too shifted to Mysore, which has been her home ever since.

The novelist was never a good student. He failed both in the High

school and intermediate examinations. He graduated from Maharaja

College, Mysore, in 1930. As his father was a humble school teacher and

had a large family to support, Narayan was called upon to contributed to

the family income soon after his graduation. First, he worked for some

time as a clerk in the Mysore Secretariat, and then as a teacher in a village

school. But both these professions did not suit him. His ambition, even as

early as his school days, had always been to become a writer. So, only

after a month or so he gave up his job as a school teacher, and decided to

devote all his time to writing. As he tells us he decided not to sell himself

but simply to write novels and live off the joint family system. In those

days, it was unthinkable that an Indian could become a successful writer

in English, his father also did not like the idea, but Narayan went ahead

with great confidence, and soon achieved eminent success as a novelist

and short – story writer.

The most important event of his life took place in 1935, when he

met his future Rajam, for the first time. Narayan has himself described

the meeting, “while I was standing at the corner of the equivalent of a

big– city – mall there, I saw a girl about eighteen. She was tall and slim

and had classical features; her face had the finish and perfection of

sculpture. She walked past me as in a dance…It was spring and I was

3

twenty – eight” It was a case of love at first sight, Narayan went straight

to the girl’s father. Negeshwara Iyer, and proposed marriage.

Their marriage was a very happy one. Though Rajam did not know

English, she took keen interest in the work of her husband, and was a

constant source of inspiration to him. A number of his women –

characters bear close resemblance to her character and personality. One

daughter, Hema, was born to them, and she was dearly loved by her

parents. As a novelist also, Narayan was fast becoming a success. These

of his novels Swami and Friends (1935), The Bechelor of Arts (1937) m

and The Dark Room (1938) published in quick succession, enjoyed wide

popularity, and brought him money as well as fame.

But alas! the novelist’s happiness was short lived. His beloved wife

died of typhoid in 1939, only five years after their marriage. Her death

was a shattering as well as a rewarding experience for the novelist.

Passing through the dark valley of the shadow of death, he emerged a

fuller and a wiser man. He gained that inner illumination, that increased

knowledge of life and its mystery, which comes only through intense

suffering. This personal loss which he suffered colours many of his

works. For six years after his terrible loss, Narayan did not write any

novel. It was period of deep anguish and introspection. During this period

he edited only a journal, The Indian Thought, and published three

volumes of short stories – Malgudi Days, 1941, Dodu and Other Stories,

1943, and Cyclone and Other Stories, 1944.

His next novel, The English Teacher, was published in 1945, and

since then novels have flowed from his pen in quick succession, at the

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rate of one book every two years. An Astrologer’s Day and Other Stories

(1947), Mr. Sampath (1949), The Financial Expert (1952), Waiting for

the Mahatma (1955), Lawley Road (1956), The Guide (1958), Next

Sunday, a collection of sketches and essays (1960), My Dateless Diary

(1960), The Man – Eater of Malgudi (1962), Gods, Demons and Other

Stories (1965), The Sweet Vendor (1967) and A Horse and Two Goats

(1970). A version of the Ramayana based not on Valmiki who wrote in

Sanskrit but on Kamban, the Tamil poet, was published in 1973,

complete the list of his works published up to date.

Narayan enjoyed good health, and there was no decay or decline in

his creative powers till he breathed his last. His The Guide received the

Sahitya Akademi. Award for the year 1960. The novel has been filmed,

though Narayan himself was not very happy with the film. He was

awarded Padma Bhushan in 1964, University of Leads conferred on him

the Honrary D.Litt in 1967, and Delhi University followed suit in 1973.

He has been included in the Writers and Their Works series being

published by the British Council; he is the only Indian so far to have

achieved this distinction. He visited U.S.A. in 1956, on an invitation from

the Rockfeller Foundation. Many of his stories and sketches have been

broadcast by the B.B.C., a rare distinction. His works have been

published both in England and the U.S.A. and in both these countries he

has enjoyed wide popularity. In America he is regarded next only of

Faulkner and Graham Greene.

His works throw considerable light on his character and

personality. Narayan himself tells us that, “for the past many years his

weight has been the same, i.e., 140 lb., whether he starved, overate,

5

vegetated or travelled hectically. He started smoking at the age of eleven

with the knowledge of anybody at home, but has now given it up having

lost the taste for it. Like most South Indian Brahmins he does not eat

meat nor likes alcohol but unlike them has no objection to eggs. Another

South Indian trait is a relish for coffee and an insistence that it must be of

the very best quality. He also likes to suck an areca nut and felt

hopelessly lost when, during his first visit to the United States, his stock

ran out and he had to do without the nut for six months. He made

arrangements with his mother to buy some from his favourite shop in

Mysore and send them to him by air. His main problem was no convince

the American custom officers that he was not getting a consignment of

dope.

Swami and Friends, 1935, was Narayan’s first novel, and it was at

once hailed by competent critics as a great work of art. Graham Greene,

for example, called it. “A book in ten thousand”, and Compton Mackenzie

said “I have never read any other book about India I the lease like it .”

This is really creditable for a first attempt.

The novel describes the life of boys in South Indian schools, and

much of R.K. Narayan’s personal experience has gone into the making of

the novel. We get a vivid portrayal of the thoughts, emotions and

activities of school boys. The plot revolves round the activities of Swami,

the hero, and his friend Mani (the Dada) Shanker, the most intelligent boy

of the class, Somy, the monitor, Samuel, the short – statured, and so

called the Pea, and Rajam, a late arrival, intelligent and charming, the son

of the Police Superintendent.

6

His next novel The Bachelor of Arts, was published in 1937. It is a

mature work than the earlier novel, and it deals with a later stage in a

youngman’s career, when he is about to leave college and enter life, when

he is neither a boy nor a man, but somewhere in between. It is divided

into four parts.

The first part divided into five chapters, gives us a vivid account of

the college – life of the hero, Chandran. Practically, every aspect of

college life is covered up to illuminate the personality of the hero.

Chandran is a brilliant speaker, and so he is appointed the Secretary of the

College Historical Association, by Regavachar, the professor of history.

The second part deals with the youngman in search of a job, and

his many frustrations. The third part describes his aimless wanderings in

Madras and other parts of South India. The fourth part deals with

Chandran’s marriage and his settling down in life. The novel ends on an

optimistic note and gives us the message of the continuity of life – of life

flowing on in spite of setbacks and shocks which threaten to block its

way.

The Dark Room, Narayan’s third novel, was published in 1938.

Critics do not rate it very high. Thus A.N. Kaul regards it as insignificant,

and one of Narayan’s failures, and S. Iyenger regards its and as a

“Cynical Conclusion”. The Dark Room is a moving tale of a tormented

wife. Ramani, the office secretary of Engladia Insurance Company is

very domineering and cynical in his way and hence governs his house

according to his own sweet will.

7

The English Teacher, his next novel, was published in 1945, seven

years after the Dark Room. Probably it was the shattering blow, that he

(Narayan) received in the death of his wife, which made him incapable of

sustained artistic effort, and during this interval he could compose only

short stories or sketches.

Much of Narayan’s personal suffering has gone into the making of

this novel. It tells a love – story, but a love – story entirely different from

the conventional love – stories. It narrates the story of the domestic life of

Krishna, a lecturer in English, in the Albert Mission College, Malgudi.

Mr. Sampath was first published in 1949 in London, and in 1956 in

India. It has been filmed both Tamil and Hindi, and despite some

weaknesses, ranks very high in the world of info – Anglian fiction.

The novel is called Mr. Sampath but in the first 64 pages out of a

total of 219, his name is not mentioned, though the man exists and is

going in and out of the pages. A rather clumsy flashback lets us know the

dramatic manner in which Srinivas, who seems till now to be the hero of

the story, got acquainted with his future printer.

Narayan’s sixth novel, The Financial Expert, (1952), is his

masterpiece, and Mr. Walsh calls Margayya, the hero of the novel,

“probably Narayan’s greatest single comic creation”. An extremely well –

constructed novel, in five parts, corresponding to the five Acts of an

Elizabethan drama. The Financial Expert tells the story of the rise and fall

of Margayya, the financial expert.

8

Margayya begins his career as a petty money – lender doing his

business under a bunyan tree, in front of the Central Co-operative Land

Mortgage Bank in Malgudi. He helps the shareholders of the bank to

borrow money at a small interest and lends it to the needy at a higher

interest.

Waiting for the Mahatma published in London in 1955 is not a

political novel, though the Mahatma figures in it quite frequently. It

narrates the love – story of Sriram and Bharati against the background of

the political life of India during the years which immediately preceded

the independence of the country in 1947.

Sriram, a yougman of twenty, lost his parents at an early age. He

was looked after by his grand-mother who deposited over thirty – eight

thousand rupees for her pampered and good – for – nothing grandson out

of the pension of his father. Bharati is the daughter of a patriot who died

the hands of a policeman. She was adopted by the local Sevak Sangh and

was brought up and educated on Gandhian principles. She is true follower

and devotee of Gandhi.

The man Eater of Malgudi came out in 1961, and is considered by

competent critics to be his finest work. It is an allegory or table showing

hat evil is self – destructive. The title is ironic for the man – eater in the

novel is no tiger, but a mighty man, Vasu, who not only kills a large

number of wild animals in Mempi forests, but can also kill a man with a

single blow of his hammer fist.

9

The Sweet Vendor latest of Narayan’s novels came out in 1967. It

is the story of Jagan, a sweet – vendor. He is religious – minded and has

been considerably influenced by the Gita. He is also a staunch follower of

Gandhi and tries to live up to the Gandhian way of life. He wears Khadi

and spins Charkha. However, he is very careful about money and keeps

two account books to avoid paying income tax.

R.K. Narayan and Mulk Raj Anand are two of the greatest of

Indian writers of fiction. But while Anand is a writer with a purpose ; a

writer who writes because he has some political or economic axe to grind,

R.K. Narayan is a novelist who has no axe to grind. He is the rare

example of a pure artist, one who writes for the sake of art, and not out of

any ulterior motives. That is why his popularity has been world – wide

and lasting. His works have been translated into a number of languages of

the world, and his reputation as an artist has been steadily rising, while

that of Anand has suffered a setback, for many of his pre-occupations

have ceased to be of interest with the passing of time.

Marco (of The Guide) takes rooms in Mempi Peak House on the

topmost cliff : “there was a glass wall covering the north veranda,

through which you could view the horizon a hundred miles away. Below

us the jungles stretched away down to the valley, and on a clear day you

might see the Sarayu sparkling in the sun and persuing its own course far

away. This way like heaven to those who loved wild surroundings..”

Macro explores caves with their carved doorways and wall – paintings,

and discovers musical notations on the walls.

10

The Guide is the most popular novel of R.K. Narayan. It was

published in 1958, and won the Sahitya Academy Award for 1960. It has

also been filmed and the film has always drawn packed – houses.

It narrates the adventures of a railway guide, popularly known as

‘Railway Raju’. As a tourist guide he is widely popular. It is this vocation

which brings him to contact with Marco and his beautiful wife, Rosie.

While the husband is busy with his archeological studies, Raju seduces

his wife and has a good time with her. Ultimately the husband comes to

know of the affair and goes away to Madras leaving Rosie behind. Rosie

comes and stays with Raju in his one – roomed house. His mother

tolerates her for some time, but when things become unbearable, she calls

her brother and goes away with him, leaving Raju to look after Rosie and

the house.

Rosie is a born dancer, she practices regularly and soon Raju finds

an opening for her. In her very first appearance she is a grand success.

Soon she is very much in demand and their earnings increase

tremendously. Raju lives lavishly, entertains a large number of friends

with whom he drinks and gambles. All goes well till Raju forges Rosie’s

signatures to obtain valuable jewellery lying with her husband. The act

lands him too jail. Rosie leaves Malgudi and goes away to Madras, her

home – town. She goes on with her dancing and does well without the

help and management of Raju, of which the was so proud.

On his release from jail, Raju takes shelter in a deserted temple on

the banks of the river Sarayu, a few miles away from Malgudi, and close

to the village, called Mangla. The simple villagers take him to be a

11

Mahatma, begin to worship him, and bring for him a lot of eatables as

presents. Raju is quite comfortable and performs the new role of a saint to

perfection. However, soon there is a severe famine and drought, and the

villagers expect Raju to undertake a fast to bring down the rains. Despite

his best efforts to the contrary, he has to undertake the fast. The fast

attracts much attention and people come to have darshan of the Mahatma

from far and wide. On the 12th day of the fast, Raju falls down exhausted

just as there as signs of rain on the distant horizon. It is not certain

whether he is actually dead, or has merely fainted. Thus the novel ends on

a note of ambiguity.

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Chapter II

Vision of Life

Narayan’s heroes are constantly struggling to achieve maturity, and

each one of his novels is a depiction of this struggle. William Walsh calls

Narayan’s novels, ‘comedies of sadness”. “The sadness comes from the

painful experience of dismantling the routine self, which, the context

being Indian, seems less a private possession than something distilled by

powerful and ancient conventions, and secondly the reconstitution, or

more frequently, the having reconstituted for one, another personality.

The comedy arises from the sometimes bumbling, sometimes desperate,

sometimes absurd, explorations of different experience in the search for a

new, and it may be, an exquisitely inappropriate role. The complex theme

of Narayan’s serious comedies, then, is, one must not burke at the word in

an Indian context, the rebirth of self and the process of its pregnancy or

education”.

In other words, Narayan’s novels depict the hero’s efforts towards

maturity. “Each stage of the impulse towards maturity is defined with

meticulous accuracy in minutely specified circumstances, so that the

reader is left not with a vague scheme of some dialectical progress but

the conviction of an individual living his chequered, stumbling life.” For

example Krishna in The English Teacher is one such young hero. In the

beginning of the novel this impulse or aspiration is too vague or dim to be

recognised, and it gives rise to vague feelings of dissatisfaction with the

kind of life—like that of a cow which he has been leading. The same mild

haplessness is to be seen in Srinivas in Mr. Sampath, a man so bogged

down in indecision that the question of a career seemed to him as

embarrassing as a physiological detail. Agriculture, apprenticeship in a

bank, teaching law, e gave everything a trial once, but with every passing

month he felt the exciuciating pain of losing time. The passage of time—

the ruthlessness with which it flowed on—depressed him. It is present in

the lighter, less formed character of Chandran in The Bachelor of Arts.

Even in The Guide, Narayan’s most complex novel “where the lines of

development and of narrative are folded in subtler convolutions, one

comes across this feeling of being lost in a pointless, endless routine,

although here it is expressed in the nervier, more sophisticated manner

proper to this advanced character”. For example, we get, “but I was

becoming nervous and sensitive and full of anxieties in various ways.

Suppose, suppose—suppose ? What ? I myself could not specify. I was

becoming fear-ridden. I couldn’t even sort out my worries properly. I was

in a jumble.”

Awakening from this dreary, illusory existence comes through

some critical event which precipitates a crisis of consciousness and a new

effort of will. In The English Teacher the event is the illness and death of

Krishnan’s wife, but more often it is a meeting or a series of meetings.

The meetings may be disconcerting or terrifying, bewildering or exalting.

In The Financial Expert, Margayya, perhaps Narayan’s most brilliant

single comic creation, gradually realises his desire for a life freed from

illusions in a series of encounters: first with Arul Doss, the dignified peon

of the Co-operative Bank, who shows up Margayya’s utter insignificance,

then with the strangely impressive priest in the seedy temple who

rehearses him in rituals for propitiating the Goddess of Wealth, then with

Dr. Pal, whose “sociological” work, Bed Life (later renamed Domestic

Harmony), eventually makes Margayya’s fortune, and finally with Mr.

Lal, the astute businessman. The effect of these meetings, as of Sriram’s

14

exalting meeting with Gandhi in Waiting for the Mahatma or Chandran’s

baffling meeting with the middle-aged rake in Madras in The Bachelor of

Arts, is to wake the character from “an age-old somnolence,” from what

he now sees to have been his illusory and hysterical past and to determine

him wholly in favour of a completely new life.

“If the analysis of the subject’s struggle to extricate himself from

habitual, dreamy automatism of his past shows Narayan’s gift for serious

moral analysis, then the various solutions adopted by his personae, in the

search of another, more conscious life, exhibit his remarkable comic

talent. Tracts of human experience are looked at with an affectionately

ridiculing eye, and with that kind of humour in which the jokes are also a

species of moral insight. Such treatment brings out the note of the bizarre,

of human queerness, in the activities of many sorts of people—

businessmen, printers, teachers, holy men, press, agents, money-lenders.

The range is impressive but it has to be said that it follows naturally on

Narayan’s reading of the key experience at the heart of his novels. Since

it was a meeting, the intervention of human difference, human otherness,

into the hero’s narcissistic world which first shattered it for him, he feels

in response that he has to break out of his solipsistic circle into a novel,

even a deliberately alien, field of action. To evoke so much variety with

such casual, convincing authority and to make it also organic and

functional testifies to a notable and original talent.”

- (William Walsh)

“Sometimes these solutions end in a moment of illumination, like

Krishna’s vision of his dead wife in The English Teacher, or in a total

reversal like Margayya’s bankruptcy, or even for Raju in The Guide in

15

death. Often they show a character now more solid yet also more

conscious, more finished, yet more sensitive, accepting, though with

misgivings and backslidings, the responsibilities of ordinary life. Always

they conclude on a note of acceptance.” The following lines towards the

end of Waiting for the Mahatma convey the feeling, although usually it is

quieter and more implicit than this. For the first time these many months

and years he hadafree and happy mind, a mind without friction and

sorrow of any kind. No hankering for a future or regret for a past. This

was the first time in his life that he was completely at peace with himself

satisfied profoundly with existence itself. The very fact that one was

breathing, feeling and seeing seemed sufficient matter for satisfaction

now.”

Narayan’s heroes ultimately accept life as it is, and this is a

measure of their spiritual maturity. This acceptance includes, “delight in

the expressive variety of life, cognisance of its absurdities, mockery at its

pretensions and acknowledgement of its difficulties.” This acceptance is

something which is gradually worked towards, grown upto, and matured,

and as Narasimaiha points out this maturity is achieved within the

accepted religious and social frame-work.

T.D. Brunton is of the opinion that The Guide is radically flawed

because the career of Raju himself is too fantastic for Narayan’s

essentially realistic mode to cope with, and the book cannot overcome its

inherent improbability. On the contrary says, Uma Parameswaran, “The

Guide is the only one of Narayan’s novels which comes close to having a

perfect unity and a compound of realism and fantasy. In The Guide

Narayan uses the literary device of ambiguity to get this compound.”

16

Raju, the guide, becoming a fake swami, is quite probable in the Indian

context, as is the drought and the peasant’s faith that the Swami’s

undertaking the fast can end it and bring down rain. The novel ends on a

note of ambiguity. Critics in general are of the view that Raju really dies,

but it is preferable to suppose that Raju revives, is persuaded to break his

fast (under instructions from the government) and lives to enjoy the halo

of sainthood which now envelops him. Writes Uma Parameswaran in

this connection, “I prefer to pay tribute to Narayan’s ambiguity and art by

speculating that this risk, though imposed on Raju and not planned by

him, pays dividends; that he recovers from his swoon and graciously

accedes to the humble requests of his disciples and the government

allows glucose-saline injections to re-invigorate his bloodstream, while

his halo shines brighter than ever in the eyes of the myth-loving rustics

and sensation-loving urbanities.”

R.K. Narayan is an Indian writing in English, and his Indianness is

reflected in various ways in the novels. He is a story-teller first and last,

and he is a story-teller in the Indian tradition. His tales are episodic and

loose in construction. Except in The Guide, there is a straightforward,

chronological narration. He has a great regard for family ties and pieties

of the home and the family. Human relationships, particularly domestic

relationships, occupy a central place in his novels. If the accepted norms

are violated, the order is disturbed, and order is restored and normalcy

established once again largely as a result of the influence of the family.

This stress on the role of the family shows his Indianness.

There are a number of housewives in his novels, who bear the

tyranny of their husbands, passively and meekly. They are all typically

17

Indian wives. Even when they revolt, like Savitri in The Dark Room, the

revolt is temporary arid they return to their home and their children. Even

Rosie in The Guide, shows her essential Indianness in her solicitude for

her husband and the attitude of resignation she adopts when Raju is

arrested for forgery. She tells him: “Ifelt all along you were not doing the

right things. This is Karma. What can we do ?” His Indianness is further

seen in the introduction of much that is fantastic but which is credible in

the Indian context. Many popular superstitions, rituals and beliefs are

frequently exploited. Sadhus, Sanayasis and Swamis are ever-recurring

characters. In The Guide there is fasting to [bring down the rain, and Raju

is easily taken to be a Mahatma by the credulous villagers.

Communication with the spirit of the dead, undertaking bf a fast to please

a god or goddess to win some favour or other, are other relevant

examples. Much is woven into the fabric of his novels, which recognises

no logic.

There is the exploitation of such Indian motifs as cobras and

dancing girls as, devadavis for example, in The Guide. Rosie reads Natya

Shastra of Bharat Muni. Frequent use is made of Indian myth and legend

as in Gods, Demons and Other Stories. An Indian myth forms the

background to The Man-Eater of Malgudi.

But in one important respect he deviates from the Indian tradition.

He steers clear of didacticism, he makes no attempt to preach or deliver a

message. He is perhaps a moral analyst, an analyst of character and

conduct, but he does not attempt to impose his views on his readers. “He

is an analyst of individual feelings, emotions and actions, in an

18

exploration of hidden human conflicts. Nowhere in his novels does he

preach or pontificate in the Indian tradition”.

The Guide, R.K. Narayan’s most popular novel, was published in

1958. Narayan came to it after he had already written seven novels and a

large number of short stories and sketches. By this time his powers had

fully matured, and the result is that he could produce a work which

received immediate acceptance and recognition, and which has continued

to enjoy popularity ever since. Narayan was awarded for it the Sahitya

Akademi Award for 1960, a rare distinction. The novel has been

translated into most of the important languages of the worid. It has also

been filmed, and the film has never failed to draw packed houses. It is the

triumph of R.K. Narayan’s art, his masterpiece. It is one of the immortal

classics of the world. “The sex interest in the novel—husband-wife-lover

—tickles the average reader whether Indian or foreign, while the usual

“properties” the Westerner associates with India—caves, cobras, dancing-

girls, swamis—are all present to make a special appeal to a European or

an American”. In other words it is a great work of art, having one thing or

the other to please every taste—and so universal in its interest and appeal.

The title of a novel or a short-story or any other piece of literary

composition is like the signboard of a shop. Just as the signboard

indicates the contents of a shop, so also the title must refer to the subject

matter of the work concerned. The title The Guide is quite apt and

suggestive, for it deals with the’life and career of Raju, popularly known

as ‘Railway Raju’ who is a tdurist guide, and*the novel shows that he is a

‘guide’ in a number of other matters also.

19

Raju begins his career as a stall-keeper. Soon he acquires tit—bits

ot knowledge by going through old journals, magazines, etc., which he

stocks. He is intelligent, observant, and a shrewd judge of human

character. He has an inborn gift of eloquence. He has sound

commonsense and is tactful in his dealing. Those who come to his stall

are pleased with his manners as well as with the information he provides

them regarding Malgudi and its scenes and sights. He is always ready to

help and arranges for their board, lodging, taxis, etc. His fame spreads

and the tourists who come to Malgudi at once inquire for ‘Railway Raju’.

Raju learns as he earns. He acquires detailed knowledge about Malgudi

and its whereabouts by talking with the tourists, and uses the knowledge

to great advantage. He has a rare knack of sizing up his customers, their

means and their tastes. His understanding of human psychology is

profound, he never says no, and makes vague, ambiguous statements so

that he is never ‘caught’ even when talking about things he does not

know. Soon he engages a boy to look after his stall, and himself sets up as

a full-fledged tourist-guide. Raju is a model guide, and those who intend

to take up the vocation of a tourist guide can learn much from his

example.

Soon, there is a slight change in Raju’s role. From the tourist guide

he becomes the guide to one single family. This change takes place as

soon as Marco and Rosie come to Malgudi. Marco is immensely pleased

with him and engages him as a whole time guide. Raju takes Rosie by

storm, as it were, and is able to win her heart and seduce her within no

time. He shows himself to be an adept lady-killer, one who can play

havoc with the female-heart with his bold compliments, smooth talk and

20

flattery. In this respect also he is a model ‘guide’, and valuable lessons in

the art of love-making may be learned from his example.

The next role which Raju plays is that of a theatre-manager or

impresario or the guide and manager of a dancer. It is he who launches

Rosie as a dancer, manages her affairs so ably that soon her fame spreads

and contracts pour in. They earn a lot of money and begin to live in a

lavish style. His tactful handling of Rosie’s affairs, his shrewdness in

business dealing, are beacon lights to those who intend to play this role.

They can learn much from, Raju. They can also learn from him that,

whether out of jealousy or a feeling of insecurity, a man should not

commit forgery, for it is sure to land him in jail. One should beware of

mysterious enigmatic people like Marco, for all the time they may be

plotting and laying traps.

In jail, Raju proves to be a model prisoner. He is well-mannered,

hard-working and helpful. The result is that he is quite happy and

comfortable in a jail, and is surprised that people are afraid of prison.

Indeed, he is so comfortable that when his release comes, he goes out

with fear and regret in his heart. Raju’s example, therefore, should be

followed by all prisoners. Raju is a ‘guide’ in this respect also.

Next, Raju takes up the role of a Mahatma, or to be more exact, the

role is thrust upon him. After coming out of the jail, he becomes a

spiritual guide or Mahatma and plays the role with rare success. He

makes mystifying statements, and talks big, and tries to look big. The

people are impressed, hisj fame spreads, and devotees flock to him with

21

their gifts and offerings. His example shows that the same qualities make

a man successful both as a tourist guide and a spiritual guide.

In short, the title is apt and suggestive, for its central figure plays

the role of a ‘guide’ during the successive stages of his career. The novel

is a guide to life also, for it tells us both how to achieve success in life

and how to avoid the various pitfalls which were Raju’s undoing. It is

also a guide to conduct, for it teaches us what to do and what not to do.

R.K. Narayan is a story-teller in the Indian tradition of story-

telling. The narration moves forward chronologically, each succeeding

event being linked causally with the previous one. There is no looking

backward or forward, no probing of the sub-conscious or even the

unconscious as is the case with novelists like Virginia Wolf, James Joyce

and others. As Paul Vergheese points out, “Narayan’s is the most simple

form of prose fiction—the story which records a succession of events.

There is no hiatus between character and plot; both are inseparably knit

together. The qualities the novelist attributes to these characters

determine the action, and the action in turn progressively changes the

characters and thus the story is carried forward to the end. In other words,

as a good story-teller, Narayan sees to it that his story has a beginning, a

middle and an end. The end of his novel is a solution of the problem

which sets the events moving; the end achieves that completeness

towards which the action has been moving and beyond which the action

cannot progress. This end very often consists either, in a balance of forces

and counter-forces or in death or both.” However, The Guide is an

exception in this respect. The narrative technique Narayan has followed

in this novel is different from that of the other novels.

22

In all his novels except The English Teacher, The Guide and The

Man-Eater ofMalgudi Narayan is the omniscient author writing in the

third person and thus following the traditional and conventional mode of

narration. In The Guide Narayan deviates from the traditional mode of

narration; part of the story is told by the author and part in the first person

by the hero himself. This is certainly an improvement in Narayan’s

narrative technique; here however it is necessitated by the nature of the

story. The novel begins with the release of Raju from prison. Whatever

happens to Raju after his release is told by the narrator—the novelist;

whereas whatever had happened to Raju before he was imprisoned is told

in a series of flashbacks in Raju’s own words, in the form of a confession

to Velan who has come to think of him as a saint.

The effect of this technique is to make the figure of the hero more

sharp and real than the other characters. Also, Raju in making the

confession, characterizes himself by what he reports and how he reports

it. The impression that the reader gets is that Raju’s character develops

because of certain events and the events in turn change his character till

he finds himself a saint, fasting to induce rain for the drought-affected

village in response to the expectations of a crowd of admirers and

worshippers. In other words, character and action develop simultaneously

and both influence each other. It is in this way that the complex

personality of Raju is built up and made convincing and credible.

The interesting technique of narration Narayan has used in this

novel keeps the curiosity of the readers alive, regarding both the past and

the present of Raju. It makes the narrative, fresh, vigorous and

23

interesting. As the past and present are cunningly jumbled, there is a

constant impression of suspense and anticipation. The zig-zag narration

gives a piquancy to the novel without in any way confusing the reader. In

this way Raju becomes his own critic and we are enabled, “to see the

action as Raju sees it, and as the later Raju Sober sees the earlier Raju

Drunk”‘. In this way, the past and the present are juxtaposed, and each

illuminates the other.

The frame-work of a Narayan novel, as also of the Guide, is not

mechanical or external. There are no thrills and sensations, no long lost

heirs, no accidental discoveries. The action flows out of character, and

also influences and moulds character. The hero is just ordinary, the

common, the average, the great, but not so great, and the action illustrates

his ordinariness as well as brings out his potentialities for greatness. Thus

Raju is just ordinary, the action flows out of his character, and shows his

attainment of maturity. All the events are organised round this central

theme and this imparts unity and coherence to the plot.

There is nothing superfluous or external, every event that takes

place has a bearing on the hero’s character takes him a step forward

towards maturity. There are also comic elements which provide dramatic

relief, sustain interest, give additional emphasis on action, and also serve

as a sort of sub-plot without, in reality, being one. As the events follow

each other logically, and are causally linked together the end is implicit in

the beginning. In the beginning there is disorder, usually a conflict

between traditional morality and individual aspiration and by the end the

conflict is resolved, either by death or by the acceptance of the existing

24

order. All these remarks, are applicable to The Guide and can easily be

illustrated from the novel.

The action of the novel flows out in two streams or currents, and

these two threads have been knit into a single whole by the presence of

Raju in both of them, and by an intricate pattern of parallelism and

contrast. One stream flows in the legendary Malgudi with its rich

tradition of classical dances offered by Rosie-Nalini and the breath-taking

cave-paintings that Marco uses in his book. The Cultural History of South

India. Another stream flows in the neighbouring town of Mangal, when

the spiritual aspect of Indian culture is presented through Raju’s growth

into a Swami. Raju’s presence in both these strains indicates the close

affinity between art and spirituality in India.

Thus Raju, Rosie and Marco become symbols of India’s culture.

While Marco’s aspirations seek their fulfilment in unearthing the buried

treasures of India’s rich cultural past, Rosie seeks satisfaction in the

creative channels of classical dancing in the midst of an ever-present live

audience. Raju all the time I dreams of an elusive future, till a time comes

when he is committed to a definite future by undertaking a fast in the

hope of bringing down rain. While Marco is a cultural historian of the

past, Rosie is a cultural ambassador of the present, and Raju is a cultural

prophet of the future. Before reaching the supreme excellence in their

respective fields, however, they are debased and corrupted by the

exclusiveness of their passions. Marco’s obsessive devotion to the pursuit

of India’s cultural heritage keeps him tied down to a sterile, dry

intellectualism. Similarly, Rosie compromises with the purity of her art,

and this results in her submission to mixed dance-forms like the cobra

25

dance. Raju is able to achieve a new spiritual status only when the dross

of his unholy desires is burnt away in the fire of self-purification.

— (B.S. Goyal)

Growth and maturity of Raju is paralleled in the growth of Malgudi

from a small town to a big city. There are no railways and no railway

station in th?. beginning, but as Raju grows Malgudi also grows. Raju

plays on sand anc gravel heaped for the construction of the station, and

learns vulgar abuses ‘from the labourers. The rails are laid and the station

is built, and Malgudi ikconnected with the outside world. Raju also grows

from a school boy into a railway stall-keeper, and acquires bits of

knowledge by reading old magazines, newspapers and books which he

stocks. As Malgudi grows Raju also grows into ‘Railway Raju’, the

popular tourist guide.

Further, as Raju is the creator of Rosie-Nalini, the dancer, Velan is

the creator of Raju, the swami and martyr. Says Meenakshi Mukerjee.

“Raju had more or less created Nalini the dancer, and his motivation was

not exactly an artistic passion for Bharat Natyam. But Nalini does not

remain a doll in Raju’s hands. For her dance is not a profession, a means

of making money, but a cause, a devotion, and as Raju gets more deeply

involved in the forgery case, Nalini begins to lead an independent life of

her own. Finally she goes out of Raju’s influence altogether to become an

illustrious artist on her own strength and lead a fuller life devoted to her

art.”

“The parallelism between the Rosie-episode and the final episode

of Raju, the holy man, is too pronounced to be accidental. In both cases

the first phase involves a little struggle, but in both, once launched in the

26

field, Raju never has to look back. Both as a business manager and as a

sage Raju’s success exceeds all his expectations. The episodes begin very

casually, almost by accident, and in both cases Raju makes every effort

later on to fill in the details of his part. In both cases he becomes a public

man eventually. In one he makes a slip and lands in jail. In the other,

owing to a misunderstanding, he is pushed into fasting, which at first

appears as disastrous an experience as a prison sentence. At the end, in

both cases Raju’s creations transcend him. Nalini soars high above him,

leaving him below behind the bars, and the saint that Raju unwillingly

creates passes into a different levelof reality, leaving the imposter

behind.”

Further, just as Raju narrates to Velan the story of his past, Rosie

narrates to Raju the story of her own experiences with Marco from the

time Raju left her with Marco in the cave to the time she came to stay

with Raju. While narrating this part of the story Raju allows Rosie to

speak for herself in the same way as Narayan has allowed Raju to narrate

the first part of his life that ended with his lock-up. This story within the

story reminds one of the inset story of “the’Man on the Hill” in Fielding’s

Tom Jones. In this way, both Raju and Rosie present themselves as they

wanted to be seen by their admirers, in the first case Raju and in the

second case, Velan.

Raju has nothing heroic about him. Rather he is an anti-hero, a

typical Narayan figure, a common man with a touch of the uncommon.

He is just Ordinary, certainly not ‘so great’, as he is considered to be. He

is one of those unformed, shapeless characters, who easily take up the

suggestions of others, so much so that it may rightly be said that his

27

personality is the product of other peoples convictions. He is extremely

susceptible to the suggestions of others, and this plasticity of response

determines his career and ultimate destiny.

Raju was born in a lower middle-class family of Malgudi. He was a

born romantic, and the panorama of life enchanted him. He took immense

delight in men and vehicles, boys and dogs, bullock-cart rides, games and

wandering. Romantic curiosity impelled him to know the unknown.

However, he was not so good at studies and his father condemned him as

“clay-headed” and his mother once called him an, “unmitigated loafer” a

boy who was good-for-nothing, and who was sure to come to a bad end.

When the Railways came to Malgudi, Raju, the romantic, was thrilled,

and it was a pleasure for him to stroll on the station watching the trains,

as they arrived and departed, and the people they brought to Malgudi. A

significant step in his life was taken when his father took a stall on the

station and gradually left it to Raju to look after. Raju may not have been

a good student, but he was certainly very observant and intelligent, and

could acquire much knowledge by glancing at the papers, magazines,

periodicals and old books which he stalked, as well as by talking with his

customers.

From a stall-keeper, Raju gradually drifted into playing the role of

a tourist guide. His career was determined by his inability to say ‘no’ to

anybody. It was not in his nature. “If he had the inclination to confess the

truth about his inabilities and capabilities, he would not have invited

trouble. He knew his customers by their faces, showed them places of

their interest. As a tourists’ guide, he knew all places where exactly a

particular thing could be obtained or what suited most at a particular

28

moment, whether closeted with a ‘monster’ like Marco, or the divine

creature, Rosie, or the ignorant villagers of Mangala. “He was always

ready with the answer that would suit the occasion or the person. He had

the water diviner’s instinct and self-confidence, coupled with a delightful

nature which came almost always to his rescue. “He is a grotesque

character almost fantastic for those who believe in human industry and

cause-effect theory.” Says William Walsh in this connection, “Much the

most vivid part of Raju’s life was lived in public places; first the streets,

the shop, the railway station; and later, concert halls, jail, the temple. He

was always in some sense an institutional figure.”

At the station he came to be known as “Railway Raju” and he was

sought out by everyone who wanted advice and directions. “It is written

on the brow of some”, he tells Velan, “that they shall not be left alone. I

am one such.” He couldn’t be left alone because he was felt to be a

naturally public character, one of those who seem hardly to exist in

private. It is a compulsion of such people (we feel we have known them

intimately, perhaps because they display something latent in us all today,

but grossly, extremely) to respond in the way the audience wants. Raju’s

answers to his questioners at the railway station bear no relation to

conviction of reality but only to the feeling he senses in the questioner. It

was inevitable, therefore, that he should become a guide, but a guide with

no content in his message, only an attitude determined from outside. As a

guide, a projection of his audience, he was a great success. Tourists from

all parts insisted on his services. And whatever he did for them he did

with a certain detachment, not for any private gain, but simply because

they asked him. “Anything that interested my clients was also my own

interest. The question of my own preferences was secondary”. He learned

29

as he earned, and soon acquired not only intimate knowledge of Malgudi

and its surroundings but also of human nature. Indeed, throughout his

career he shows an amazing understanding of human psychology.

Raju would have remained a tourist guide, but for the arrival of

Marco and his fascinating but discontented wife, Rosie. Raju is at once

fascinated by her and wins her heart by his sympathy and consideration,

as well as by his keen interest in her art. Both of them are born romantics,

and it is the coming together of two similar temperaments. Says William

Walsh, “She and Raju are two of a kind and they fall in love at once. Not

that there is anything headlong or tumultuous about their affair, which

strikes one as being as much a crisis of nerves as of passion. Their

relationship, both at the beginning and later when she breaks off with

Marco and comes to live with Raju, appears to be much more one of

feeling than sensuality, a temperamental rather than a passionate union.

Sexual passion, in fact, is not a theme which Narayan any where develops

very convincingly in his work. He seems to think of it as something too

private and holy to be allowed to appear publicly in art.”

Rosie has great talent as a dancer and with Raju’s eager support

she applies herself rigorously to develop her art. As she succeeds, as her

gift gains recognition, Raju’s status changes. He is less the lover and

more the manager, trainer and agent. Rosie or Nalini as she becomes in

the theatrical world-blooms into a great artist, and Raju thrives as a

successful entrepreneur. They enjoy a period of immense success, and the

money, parties, drinks, and acclaim that go with it. “And as one would

expect—there is a kind of logic in the reversal—it collapses as suddenly

as it came about. Out of some muddled system of motives, a mixture of

curiosity, jealousy, goodwill, sheer love of the devious, and the habit of

30

doing things for no adequate reason at all, Raju forges Rosie’s signature

on a document claiming her jewel-box, which is in her husband’s

keeping. At once Marco, all this time a distant, faintly ominous presence,

takes his revenge. Raju is prosecuted, his friends evaporate, his lawyer is

a shark, the judge is unsympathetic. He is sentenced to two years in jail

and this phase of his career is summarily terminated.” — (William

Walsh)

On coming out of jail, Raju is soon called upon to play the role of a

saint. Some are born saints, others become saints, but sainthood was

thrust upon Raju. “As a matter of fact, there is an unbroken connection

between Raju, the guide, who lived for others, whose character and

activity were a reflection of otherness, and Raju (ex-jailbird, ex-lover of

Rosie the dancer) the prophet surrounded by devout villagers waiting for

a message or a miracle. In each case he is a projection of what people

need. He is there to be used, a tractable form prompt to assume any shape

that may be required. So extreme a degree of accommodation means that

Raju’s sincerity consists in being false, and his positive existence is being

a Vacancy filled by others. The events leading from the beginning to the

conclusion of Raju’s career, the links between the guide in the railway

station and the Swami in the temple, make up a natural, realistic

sequence.”

Out of jail he takes shelter in a deserted temple on the banks of the

river Sarayu, near the village called Mangal. “There he is found by the

pious peasant, Velan. Velan’s attitude of submissive respect towards

Raju, prompted in part by the temple itself, in part by his own traditional

expectations, in part by Raju’s bearing and appearance, is to someone of

Raju’s character pretty well an explicit (and irresistible) invitation to

31

assume a manner appropriate to the context, the guise of the holy man.

And since this is a role which in its public features corresponds closely to

the bias of Raju’s nature, he instinctively puts himself into the correct

posture and slides smoothly, almost helplessly, into the part.” He decides

to play the role of the Mahatma as is expected from him. “He decided to

look as brilliant as he could manage, let drop gems of thought from his

lips, assume all the radiance available and afford them all the guidance

they required without stint. He decided to arrange the stage to display (his

gifts) with more thoroughness. With this view he transferred his seat to

the inner hall of the temple. It gave one a better background. He sat there

at about the time he expected Velan and others to arrive. He anticipated

their arrival with a certain excitement. He composed his gesture to

receive them. He had called the village teacher and cowed him by

uttering brilliant aphorisms.”

The climax of the novel, and of Raju’s life, begins in the middle of

a drought when he finds himself accidentally involved through the

misunderstanding of an idiot boy, in undertaking a total fast as an act of

intercession to the gods for rain. “Perhaps ‘accidentally’ is not the right

word, i for his own nature is the most positive of the several influences—

the drought, the plight of the people, the context of tradition and religion

—which forces him into his predicament. Raju is horrified at the fix he is

in.” He hoards his remaining scraps of food, but there isn’t enough for

more than a day or two. He tells Velan the candid story of his life in a

desperate effort to explode the legend about himself. But Velan, who is

very much of the stuff that disciples are made of, takes the confession

simply as a piece of singular condescension on Raju’s part. That he

32

should address Velan at such length is only one more proof of Raju’s

goodness and humility.

Raju finds that he can do nothing but go through with the ritual

which also requires him to stand for several hours a day up to his waist in

the stream while he prays for rain. Now at last his will matches his

receptivity. The inner pattern and the outer events flow together. “If by

avoiding food I should help the trees bloom, and the grass grow, why not

do it thoroughly ?....For the first time in his life he was making a personal

effort, for the first time he was learning the thrill of full application,

outside money and love.” In this way, spiritual regeneration takes place,

and Raju becomes a martyr for the good of others. It is now that he rises

above his narrow, selfish individualism and identifies himself with the

people of Mangal, and with humanity as a whole. A rogue, a picaro, is

thus transformed or metamorphosed into a saint or saviour. He may or

may not have died, but he is certainly regenerate.

Thus, Raju is an intricate and complex. He is mysterious and

unpredictable in his ways and so difficult to understand. He is

unconsiderate and selfish in his plans and actions. Money and sex are his

chief pre-occupation and in the pursuit of his objective he is ready to

sacrifice every other thing and every other person. Because of his

obsession with sex and money, he plays havoc with the lives of others.

Yet he is not an unredeemed villain. He has much good in him for he

does not harm others intentionally and recognize and is repentant for his

misdeeds. He is fascinating, dynamic, intelligent and shrewd. This makes

him likeable throughout the novel.

33

Chapter III

Summing Up

Narayan has always been a student of human-relationships. In his

early novels he dealt with such simple relationships as the relations

between students and teachers, between friends and classmates, or

relationships within the family/between father and son, husband and wife,

etc. His powers gradually matured and in his later novels, beginning with

Mr. Sampath, he studies characters and relationships of a more complex

kind. These relationships usually turn round sex and money. This is also

the case with the Guide-Rosie-Raju relationship is the most important

relationship studied in the novel, and it turns upon sex and money.

Narayan is a pure artist. His is an art for art’s sake, but it does not

mean that is a writer without any vision of life. It simply means that there

is no intrusive message, philosophy or morality in his novels. They are

entirely free from all didacticism.

In fact Narayan is a penetrating analyst of human passions and

human motives—the springs of human action—and this makes him a

great critic of human conduct. Human relationships—relationships within

the family circle, and relationships centring round sex and money—are

his ever-recurring themes, and we can learn from them how to establish

right-relationships. Whatever disturbs the norm is an aberration, a

disorder, and sainity lies in the return to, and acceptance of, the normal.

Life must he accepted and lived, despite its many short-comings, follies

and foibles. This may be said to be the Narayan message, but it has to be

gleaned by each reader according to the light that is in him.

In The Guide, for example, we find that Raju comes into conflict with

traditional morality as he seeks to realise his aspirations. The result is the

accepted order is disturbed, and there is chaos and disorder. He seduces

Rosie and thus is guilty of immorality and corruption. When she comes to

live with him, conventional morality is violated, and there is displeasure

all around.

The neighbours are annoyed, and his widowed mother is obliged to

leave the home of her husband and go away with her brother. Raju does

not attend to his work, has to give up the railway stall and soon is in

financial trouble. He is unable to pay his debts and has to face

prosecution in the law courts. His violation of conventional norms creates

choas and disorder in his own life and in the life of his social

environment.

He is an egotist, an individualist, a self-seeker who exploits Rosie

both sexually and commercially. They earn fabulous amounts but he

wastes it all in drinking, gambling and extravagant living. He is too

possessive and self-centred and forges Rosie’s signatures to get a box of

jewellery. It is a criminal act, and it soon lands him in jail. It is a violation

of ordinary norms of human conduct, and his example shows that crime

does not pay. It is, as if, Raju were being held up as an example of the

disorder which follows quick upon the heals of any violation of the

accepted order. We must not act as Raju acted; we must not be over-

possessive, so self-centred, and so extravagant and jealous.

Raju’s self-confidence and non-chalance enable him to make

himself quite comfortable in jail. But nemesis overtakes him soon after.

35

He plays the role of a Swami, exploits the credulity of the simple people

of Mangal who bring to him rich offerings of food. He lives on them as a

parasite, and, expects food from them even when they themselves are

victims of famine and drought. This is certainly inhuman and monstrous

He is a fraud who deceives himself, as well as the people of Mangal. But

he is soon caught in his own trap. He is compelled to undertake a fast to

bring down the rains. It is during the course of his fast that Raju achieves

a measure of self-awareness and identifies himself with the community at

large: “For the first time in his life he was making an effort; for the first

time he was learning the thrill of full application outside money and love;

for the first time he was doing a thing in which he was not personally

interested. He felt a new strength to go through the ordeal.”

It is now that spiritual regeneration takes place. Raju rises above

his self, recognises the claims of humanity and learns to live and die for

others. He may die, but his very death is his spiritual re-birth. Raju has

matured, has achieved self-realisation and self-fulfilment and has died

into a new birth. His example shows that salvation and regeneration, the

realisation of one’s highest aspirations, comes not through self-seeking

but through self-negation and self-effacement. One must learn to live and

die for others, before really noble and worthwhile achievement becomes

possible.

Narayan’s vision is essentially comic. His comedies are comedies

of sadness; he is the practitioner of the serious comedy, a very difficult

art-form. He has achieved in his comedies what is generally achieved in

the tragedies. The theme of his comedies is essentially tragic. A tragedy is

concerned with inner illumination, with spiritual cleansing and

36

regeneration. It results in a better apprehension of the mystery of life. All

this Narayan does through his comedies, only the comedies, big

comedies, are pitched in a lower key. The hero is no exceptional

individual, no man of high rank and social status, but, like Raju, “just

ordinary, not so great”, and the comedies display his rather bumbling

attempts at realising his potential for greatness, and the spectacle of his

struggle towards maturity is spiritually illuminating and morally uplifting.

Thus emotionally, Narayan’s serious comedies are as rewarding as a

tragedy. In The Guide “we see Raju maturing before us by stages, over a

length of time. His self-awareness is hard-earned but not in the way in

which a tragic character earns it, self-wrung, self-strung. The cleansing

takes place no doubt but not in the heroic strain. For the central character

is a kind of anti-hero, Narayan’s common man with potential for the

uncommon. Nowhere does he reach anything like the tragic height of a

Lear, although Raju’s self-awareness and the sense of social and spiritual

fulfilment that results from it in the end is something that extorts our

admiration. Only his fortunes and his progress are set in a lower key—the

province of the comic mode”.

37

Works Cited

Primary Sources

Narayan R.K. The Guide. Chennai : Indian Publications, 2005.

Print.

Secondary Sources

1. Gupta, G.S. Balarama. A Sinnet is a sinner – A Study of Raju.

Ghaziabad : Vimal Prakashan, 1981. Print.

2. Nair, Rama. Gunas as Determinates of character. Osmania journal,

1990. Print.

3. Paranjape, Makarnand. “The Reluctant Guru”. South Asian Review,

2003. Print.

4. Patil, Vjwala. “A Revaluation of Raju”. Journal of the Karnatak

University : Humanities, 1984. Print.

5. Reddy K. Venkata. An Approach to Raju in The Guide. New Delhi :

Prestige Books, 1990. Print.

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