Chapter I. Indian Village: Myth or Reality

Transcription

1 Chapter I Indian Village: Myth or Reality

2 Indian Village: Myth Or Reality 1 INDIAN VILLAGE: MYTH OR REALITY India or the Republic of India is located in South Asia. It ranks seventh as far as area is concerned and is the second most populous nation, after China. The country s economy is dominated by agrarian activity. Village life in India is as interesting as its current prominence among leading economies of the world. Gaynor Borade India is the largest democracy in the world. It is often said that India is a nation of villages. Village is the soul of India, without which it can t survive. While the urban population has dramatically increased over the last couple of decades, the rural life is central to India s existence and identity. Village or village society did not spring up all of a sudden, but they developed slowly as a result of adjustment with environment. In the world the people of different parts lead different types of lives. Their native place has direct impact on their ways of living which are as different as their mentalities. In all over the world the people are divided into two distinct groups: Urban and Rural. Viewed from a distance, an Indian village seems to be a simple community of individuals based on agriculture. It has many images of harmonious simplicity such as a cluster of mud-plastered walls shaded by a few trees, set among a stretch of green or dun-coloured fields, with a few people slowly coming or going, birds singing, cattle lowing and oxcarts creaking etc. Social scientists have written much on the Indian village. Simsey writes: The word village is used generally for the inhabitants of agriculturals (qtd.in Indian Society and Culture, 6.1). Peake defines a village in detail: The village community consists of a group of related or unrelated persons larger than a single family, occupying a large house or a number of dwellings placed close together, sometimes irregularly, sometimes in a street and

3 Indian Village: Myth Or Reality 2 cultivating originally in common a number of arable lands dividing in the available meadowland between them and pasturing their cattle on the surrounding wasteland over which the community claims rights as far as the boundaries of adjacent communities (qtd.in Indian Society and Culture, 6.1). Thus, we can define a village as a small assemblage of houses in the country less than a town or a city. Ogburn and Nimkoff believe that the villages grew in three stages. The first stage was the stage of hunting and collecting fruits and roots. The second stage of society was pastoral stage. In this stage man began to tame animals rather than hunt them. The third stage of society was agricultural life. The real existence of villages came in the agricultural stage. This formation of villages is not a stagnant process but the result of a continuous process. The whole Indian social life revolves around the rural life. Rural life has great history, customs and traditions. In Rigveda, we find the description of villages. In Balmiki Ramayana and Mahabharata, there are two types of villages: small sized villages called Ghosh and bigger village called Gramik. The officer who supervised the work of 10 Gramiks was called Dasi. The chief of 20 villages was known as Visamti and of 100 villages was known as Shati and of 1000 villages was known as Gramdhipati. We find a detailed description of the village from sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries by Habib (1999) in his book on the agrarian system of Mughal India. The outlook towards villages has changed by the passing of time. In the Buddha period, a village was a group of 1000 families which was the basis of social and cultural life. In the Maurya period, villages got more strength. Kautilya advised that a king should establish villages throughout the kingdom by inviting outsiders, even people from foreign countries to reside there or by shifting some of the people from over populated areas, offering them grains, cattle and money and even making provision for purchasing onefourth of the grain produced by them. In this

4 Indian Village: Myth Or Reality 3 period villages were classified into three categories on the basis of their population- Jaistha, Madhyama and Kanistha. Mughal period gave selfsufficiency to the villages. Jagirdari system was introduced. During Akbar s period, it was changed into Thekedari. The British period gave a commercial look to the villages. Villages were brought nearer to the towns on account of the development of means of transport and communication. So, India has been a predominantly village society. The village has always had a special place in it. Different terms like grama, palli, kheta, ghosha, akara, samvaha, madamba, etc. have been used for different types of villages. Of these, grama is the most familiar for us. Ever since the country s independence from the British colonial rule in 1947, the economy of the nation has banked upon its agrarian society. Village life in India is totally dependent on agriculture. The lifestyle of people and their working styles are as interesting as the balance provided by the lifestyles in the metropolitan cities. It can be said that the village has been from its very inception, one of the primary units in which human activities are socially arranged and people throughout Indian history have been mainly village folk. Indian villages have some special features which make them different from other villages of the world. A dominant agrarian economy, open spaces, separate household units with some cattle or goats around them, a place of harmony and belonging, a sense of protection towards the vulnerable, an emotional bonding, various blood relation breathe and live together, a shared community life etc. are some features that describe the true Indian village. Although the caste division, the economic exploitation, lack of education, the gender segregation etc. are also reflected in rural India. Apart from these things, the Indian village is still a very livable world, meaningful and vibrant where the villagers have a strong sense of belonging and represent a rootedness.

5 Indian Village: Myth Or Reality 4 When we talk about the village, we also remember the city. The emergence of cities has been a milestone in the progress of mankind. Basically, cities are not treated as opposites to villages. It is easy to understand a city but it is a bit difficult to define a city. According to C.P. Loomis: City is a unit which can be separated from its neighbouring areas on the basis of characteristics like the size and density of population, nature of occupations and nature of social relations. Actually city is characterized by a bigger size, multiplicity of occupations, preponderance of secondary relations, specialization and division of labour, social mobility etc. which are peculiar in urban communities (qtd.in Indian Society and Culture, 7.1). Though it is possible to distinguish between village and city landscape, there are some difficulties as both are interrelated. City is a larger and higher form of a village. Cities are blessed with technological advancement. Due to this advancement cities have all the modern facilities, educational facilities and career opportunities. Urban people lead an economically more stable and a luxurious life. Urban areas have majority of people. But the rise in economic growth also begets self-centred people. Rural people have great attachment for their soil and their relations. But in cities human beings don t have much sympathy and close interdependence. They have no time for each other though technological advancement has brought the world closer. They maintain distance from others. The cities are characterized by multi-ethnicity, skilled craftsmanship, brisk trade and commerce. In villages, the general masses lead a simple life, depend on agriculture. Village people are greatly attached to their religion and rituals as compared to the city people. In cities, people are more educated than the people in the village. They are not ready to accept religious beliefs as they are but try to rationalize them. Rural living is deprived of education and advancements in technology so it is affected by some traditional customs and shortcomings such as caste distinctions, dowry system, lower status of women, class difference, gender bias etc.

6 Indian Village: Myth Or Reality 5 Urban and rural women lead two different lives. Urban women get equal importance to men but in villages women are not much educated and their social status is lower than that of their counterparts in the towns. Political life is very backward and superstitious in the rural community. On the other hand, the cities are the centres of political life of our country. The political interest of villagers is limited to casting of a vote at the time of elections. Public opinion has great value in a village. Everyone fears being cast outside for doing something not thought to be proper by others. Panches are God for them. But in cities, people lead their own life and are not influenced by other s thinking. In a village, Varna, caste, religion and status are some important factors in determining social status of a man, but in a city, the individual status of a person is more important than any other factor. The townsman and the village folk consider each other as a different social category. They have great difference in their ideology, attitude and the way of life. When we compare urban and rural areas, we find interdependence between both the areas. Urban living provides great prosperity and development but the prosperity has been eclipsed by the decline in peace. The rural regions have a slow paced life but they have room for emotions and affection. In villages, humanity is still alive. They follow the joint family system but urban people feel more comfortable in a nuclear family. They marry according to their interest and behavior not for their family. Rural humane qualities, environmental balance are necessary for urban living as advancement of technology and career prospects are needs of a progressive rural living. Both are complementary to each other. In India, after independence the revolt and resistance movements against colonial oppression can be seen in the villages. Bipin Chandra s et al. India s Struggle for Independence (1987) has a fine description of the widespread revolts in rural India which reveals the rural communities

7 Indian Village: Myth Or Reality 6 reaction to injustice and oppression at the local and regional levels. The Gandhian movement was a major force in focusing on the reform of rural community. This shift of focus on the rural areas encouraged the urban youth who were politically active, so the gap between the city and the village began to be bridged. Certain villages have become so prosperous that it is quite difficult to differentiate a big prosperous village from a small town. As we know, change is a universal truth while exact rate of change may differ according to the environment and circumstances. Rural society has also faced many changes with the passing of time. These changes may be geographical, cultural, economic, psychological, political and technological. Basically, urbanization is the root of these changes. Rural lifestyle is characterized by the principles of Unity in Diversity. The Indian village life adopts the fascinating city lifestyle with its own unchanging immense beauty. Traditionally, rural living is the symbol of backwardness. A.R. Desai says, India s village life presents a scene of real adversity, social degradation, cultural backwardness, and over all of them a period of crisis (qtd.in Indian Society and Culture, 6.24). But actually the process, organization, social institutions, religion, art, literature, culture, and thought of village community are all passing through changes. In the post-independence period, we see a race for industrialization, urbanization, extension of scientific tendencies, education and developed means of transport. The exploitation of innocent villagers by unscrupulous zamindars, greedy moneylenders and dishonest officials has come to an end. In present day India, the involvement of villagers in the country s development is increasing with the wider economic and political world. The spread of capital intensive agriculture with hybrid seeds, chemical fertilizers, mechanized equipment together with tractors and trolleys expand the economic growth in villages. Now farming becomes a valued and honorable

8 Indian Village: Myth Or Reality 7 occupation. Due to the government influence in rural areas the village has an elective panchayat and headman system which is different from the traditional council and headman and it also includes women and even low caste members. Rural women are also getting their real status by participating in different financial and political activities. Because of education they are redefining their identity. Now the villagers have become aware and know their rights. They are trying to break themselves free from traditional cultural shackles such as child marriages, the dowry system, gender bias, caste distinction etc. The educated village youth are challenging the older system of society and authority. Rural living lacks in hygiene, properly paved streets, drainage, medical, educational and shopping facilities but these issues are being taken care of nowadays. Now in the countryside middle class and upper middle class people lead an urban life style with all modern facilities. People living in villages regularly commute for work as clerks, laborers, rickshaw pullers, drivers etc. which makes the village not much different from a suburban location in town. Overall, the villages are facing many positive changes in the social and community life. It clearly explores the gap between the conceptual and traditional understanding of the village and changing reality of it. As a mirror of the society literature gives the true picture of human civilization or social life. Literature gives similar importance to rural and urban areas. But Indian literature is mainly based upon Indian society, its culture and conditions. Although it has no boundaries and limitations, it is closer to Indian society than any other culture. Village as the dominant part of Indian society has great impact on Indian literature. If village is the soul of India, literature gives breath to this soul. Indian literature depicts the village as a simple and backward place. But it also reflects upon the changes that have taken place over the years.

9 Indian Village: Myth Or Reality 8 Vedic literature gives the real picture of ancient rural India and its customs. The Arthashastra (400 BC-200AD) provides us a picture of ancient village with a classification of the king s duties related to the administrative affairs of the village. Manusmriti, the book of Brahminical laws, (100 AD-300 AD) classifies villages in terms of their size and habitation. Classical literature does not treat village and town as opposites. The dharma-sutras and the grihya-sutras throw light on the various aspects of the lives of villagers. But classical literature gives some facts to distinguish one from the other. The village is presented as inhabited by peasants, artisans and the food suppliers and the city is portrayed as a seat of royal power in the classical literature. Krishna- Sudama s narratives, the vrat-kathas, all of them, differentiate both on the basis of the quality of life. Indian literature reflects the writings written in 22 officially recognized languages and the Indian village is described in most of the languages. In Hindi, Sanskrit and other literature, village life has an important place. In Hindi literature, many writers wrote about Indian villages such as Premchand s Godan (1936), Rangbhumi (1924) and Karmabhumi (1932), Rahi Masoom Reza s Adha Gaon (1966) and Neem ka Ped, and Bhupendra Nath Shukla s Gaon ka Aadmi (1988). Premchand portrayed the village as a nation. Rahi Masoom Reza presented the village in a different form but in a typical manner. Thoppil Mohammed Meeran s Oru Kadalora Kiramathin Kathai (1988) is a Tamil novel, based on rustics, translated into English as The Story of a Seaside Village. But Indian English literature refers to the works of those writers who write in the English language and whose native or co-native language could be one of the numerous languages of India. Indian English literature comes under the broader realm of postcolonial literature. The term colonial was

10 Indian Village: Myth Or Reality 9 based on the theory of the dominance of European culture or imperial culture and the aptness of the empire. The literature, written by the native people including the writings by creoles and indigenous writers during the colonial times, is known as colonial literature. Postcolonial literature means the literature written after the withdrawal of colonial rule. Postcolonial literature deals with colonization or the colonized people. The postcolonial people raised their voice against the past exploitation and oppression and struggled at establishing their identity. So the question of identity is important for postcolonial writers. India was a British colony until Postcolonial Indian English literature dealt with the lives of ordinary people and their culture. Postcolonial Indian English novelists as R.K. Narayan, Kamala Markandaya, Anita Desai, Shashi Deshpande, Salman Rushdie, Amitav Ghosh and V.S. Naipaul deal with the conflicts of identity and cultural belonging as the result of post-colonialism. English language was established in India during the British rule to solve the communication problems. In the mid nineteenth century Raja Ram Mohan Roy, a master of Sanskrit, Persian and Arabic languages favoured the English language for spreading the information about social reform programmes. The first book written by an Indian in English was Sake Dean Mahomet s Travels of Dean Mahomet. It was a travel narrative, published in 1793 in England. The Indian English novel has been acclaimed as a powerful medium of depicting the experiences and expressions in English. It is the most important part of English literature. Actually it is the story of changing India. H.M. Williams writes in his book Indo-Anglian Literature: 1800 to 1970, It is undoubtedly the most popular vehicle for the transmission of Indian ideas to the wider English speaking world (109). The first Indian novel in English is Rajmohan s Wife (1864) written by Bankimchandra Chatterjee. During that time, Indian novels dealt with the

11 Indian Village: Myth Or Reality 10 social problems due to the impact of history and tradition. Early writers, who were upper class Bengalis like Bankimchandra Chatterjee, Romesh Chandra Dutt, Toru Dutt and Rabindranath Tagore, also tried to establish novel writing in accordance with the old Indian tradition of story-telling. Story-telling is well acquainted form in India from very early period. The didactic stories like Hitopdesh, Jatak-kathas, Panchatantra and the narratives like Dashkumarcharita and Kadambari were written long before the western novels of Hugo, Scott and Dickens. Indeed, narrative writing is an important part of Indian literature. The origin of Indian English novels is the result of our own story-telling tradition and the tradition of English novel. But the first generation novelists of Indian English literature imitated the western novel in respect of plotconstruction, characterization and narrative techniques. In 1930, the Indian English novels were established in the Indian soil successfully. Before it Indian novels in English were immature and imitative. With the coming of Mulk Raj Anand, R.K. Narayan and Raja Rao the journey of Indian English novel began. Now Indian English novels became a mirror to reflect upon contemporary society. The novels like Untouchable (1935), Swami and Friends (1935) and Kanthapura (1938) established the tradition of Indian-English fiction. These writers were labeled as The founding fathers, the genuine novelists by William Walsh. Between 1930 to 1970 which is called the pre-independence and the post-independence era, the Indian English writers observed the Indian sensibility and the Indian way of life and wrote about the humble and the poor Indian society. They turned to representing rural life in India. Their writings also reflect the changes that have taken place over the years. In fact, Indian rural life has always remained as the centre of attraction among the Indian writers. Early writers like Rabindranath Tagore examined the life of simple villagers in his short stories. He typically associated his novels with the life of

12 Indian Village: Myth Or Reality 11 common villagers. His novel Gora (translated into English in 1923) deals with rural life with a penetrative depth and feeling. In Gora, Tagore presents a graphic picture of the exploitation of the Indian tenants by the British planters and zamindars. Dhan Gopal Mukherjee s novel Hari, the Jungle Lad (1924) is a story of a young boy who resides in a village on the outskirts of a forest. It is a fine portrayal of the countryside life. Several examples may be quoted to show that right from the beginning rural life has been one of the most significant and constant themes of the Indian English novels. The writers explore the contemporary Indian rural society without distorting the reality. Here one thing needs to be mentioned that some rural novels also deal with the city life as a part of rural living. K.S. Venkataramani has described an ideal village based on the Gandhian concept of love, devotion and sacrifice in his novels Kandan- the Patriot (1932) and Murugan, the Tiller (1927). In Murugan, the Tiller he also talks about industrialization and urbanization of the village. Raja Rao s Kanthapura is the best example of a rural novel which presents social development of a south Indian village Kanthapura. During that time Indian villages were facing many problems such as unemployment, illiteracy, poverty, caste distinction etc. But Raja Rao presented a total reformation of a village where caste distinction, backwardness and superstition have no place but self employment, women participation, social awareness and the pride of their Sthalapurana. He says in Kanthapura, There is no village in India, however mean, that has not a rich sthala-purana, or legendary history of its own (43). R.K. Srivastava writes in Six Indian Novelists: Raja Rao s Kanthapura is a garrulous account of primitive, religious, political and social activities of rural people. The novel is not a two dimensional picture of villagers but a colourful audio-video presentation characterizing the entire country. Kanthapura is India in miniature (15).

13 Indian Village: Myth Or Reality 12 Kanthapura also took forward the tradition of narrative writing because of its effective story-telling qualities. If Raja Rao presented a metaphysical man in his novels, Mulk Raj Anand portrayed man as the maker of ever new worlds. Anand had great knowledge of social, economic and political aspects of village life which he shows in his village trilogy that comprises The Village (1939), Across the Black Waters (1941) and The Sword and the Sickle (1942). Anand basically wrote about the lower class of a village. He also followed the ancient Indian tradition of story-telling. His novel Untouchable is a classic experimentation of narrative writing. His novel The Old Woman and the Cow (1960) represents the story of a rural woman. Between 1930 and 1950, the Gandhian impact was seen in the Indian English novels. Most of the novelists of that time wrote under the impact of Gandhism which is an ever changing amoeba. Kanthapura was also based upon Gandhian philosophy. Many other novels which were dealing with the evils of modernization and urbanization had the impact of Gandhian thought. In the Gandhian era, the writers of rural India were writing about the freedom struggle against social evils such as poverty, hunger and exploitation. The miserable condition of the peasants is the main theme of the novels of that era. Mulk Raj Anand s Untouchable (1935) and Two Leaves and a Bud (1937) are also based upon Gandhian ideology. Not only English writers but Hindi authors like Premchand were also inspired by the Gandhian philosophy. Premchand s novels Godan, Karmabhumi are realistic rural narratives, inspired by the Gandhian ideology. R.K. Narayan who did not write about pure rural areas is known as a writer of the middle class life in a fast semi-urban town called Malgudi. But in his novels we find the scenario of Indian rural life. His novels like Swami and Friends (1935), The Dark Room (1938) and Mr. Sampath (1949) depict Indian rural life in different ways. Narayan s The Guide ( ) is regarded

14 Indian Village: Myth Or Reality 13 as the most rural of his novels. It gives the description of the superstitious and gullible villagers of Mangala. During the failure of monsoon, these simple villagers are easily carried away by the divine afflatus of the pseudo-saint, Raju. He adopted a very simple and straight forward style of narration. We can say that Mulk Raj Anand, R.K. Narayan and Raja Rao have really enriched the heritage of Indian English novels. They gave a rich contribution to Indian narrative writing. Besides these writers, Dhan Gopal Mukherjee, K.A. Abbas, Ahmed Ali and Humayun Kabir also wrote about the social, political and economic life of rural India in their novels. During this era the women novelists did not contribute much to Indian English fiction and the male writers mainly dealt with the themes of social and industrial evils, the status of women, caste distinction, class system, illiteracy etc. in the rural areas. But in the post-independence era, both the male and the female writers changed the form of the novel and it evolved and matured. Now the novels experienced a change in their theme and the focus was shifted from the public to the private sphere. The writers of this generation such as Khushwant Singh, Arun Joshi, Manohar Malgonkar and Bhabani Bhattacharya introduced a new kind of rural novel which related with contemporary issues. Similarly, they followed the tradition of the early novels which were mainly dealing with the social, political and historical concerns. But now their novels were depicting a balance between the social and the personal life. They were also influenced by the postcolonial issues. These writers were psychologically dealing with the social and the individual s life. They deal with humanity at large. For instance, Khushwant Singh s Train to Pakistan (1956) not only gives the picture of a village in Punjab but also describes the partition tragedy. It is the story of love, hate, anger and the revenge of whole humanity who felt the pain of partition. Through this narrative the novelist depicts the village along with its humanity.

15 Indian Village: Myth Or Reality 14 Some novelists like Manohar Malgonkar, Bhabani Bhattacharya and Kamala Markandaya dealt with the poverty of rural people, their exploitation and their horrendous standard of living. Through their artistic narrative style they worked for those rural people who were the victims of defective economic policies and planning of the government. These writers established a relation between the rural living and the city life. It was a different form of the rural novel in which the author presented an rural-urban encounter. Bhabani Bhattacharya s So Many Hungers (1947) and He Who Rides a Tiger (1954), Kamala Markandaya s Nectar in a Sieve (1954) and A Handful of Rice (1966), Sudhin Ghose s The Balaram Tetralogy [The tetralogy comprises four novels- And Gazelles Leaping (1949), Cradle of the Clouds (1951), The Vermilion Boat (1953), The Flame of the Forest (1955)] and Anand s The Old Woman and the Cow (1960) are some dynamic novels which depict rural hunger and poverty, exploitation of rural people with the cognate theme of village city encounter. Arun Joshi s The Apprentice (1974) is also based upon the rural-urban encounter. In this novel, the central character Ratan Rathor, is a jobless village boy who later becomes a very successful urban man. The narrative keeps on swinging between the past and the present of Ratan. He was the son of a martyr whose mother was ill. He came to the city in search of a career. Due to the harsh circumstances of his life he chose the corrupt way to get success and reached the high point of his material success. After independence, industrialization and urbanization played an important role in the lives of rural masses. Rural industrialization was inspired by the ideas of Jawaharlal Nehru who was a staunch champion of industrialization. The theme of industrialization and technological advancement created a great change in the rural novel in Indian English. Now the Indian English authors started writing about the biggest historical truth of industrial

16 Indian Village: Myth Or Reality 15 revolution. They wrote about the serious conflict between the rural tradition and technology. But the traditional issues like poverty, illiteracy, exploitation of poor, status of women etc. have always been reflected in the Indian English fiction. Early Indian English novelists who wrote about Indian village and rural-urban encounter presented city life as chaotic where people felt restlessness. Villagers who go there for their betterment also feel very awkward and uneasy. Village writings depicted urban life as a hectic life in comparison to the calm rural life. The rural woman is also an important part of their writings. Kamala Markandaya s The Coffer Dams (1969), Manohar Malgonkar s Combat of Shadows (1962), The Princes (1963), Bhabani Bhattacharya s Shadow from Ladakh (1966) and Anita Desai s The Village by the Sea (1982) present a complex picture of the clash of traditional life with the machine, the resentment of the elders against the invasion of technology, the welcome of the materialistic culture by the younger generation and the disintegration of the rural families. With the changing scenario of rural India, one thing that needs to be mentioned is that early novelists of Indian English fiction like Raja Rao, Mulk Raj Anand were influenced by Gandhian ideology and favoured only the small industries and swadeshi but the modern writers welcome modernism and also show the sympathy towards the traditional values. It is interesting to note here that the authors of other languages presented mostly the destructive side of industrialization. For instance, Premchand s Rangbhumi in Urdu, G.N. Dandekar s Padghwali in Marathi present the loss of the rugged rural atmosphere caused by industrialization. They don t show the idea of synthesis between tradition and modernity. But modern English novelists accept this change and do experimentation in their novels. Unlike the pre-independence period when most of the literary field was male dominated, in the post-independence period women novelists had made

17 Indian Village: Myth Or Reality 16 a significant contribution to Indian English novels. A number of women novelists such as Kamala Markandaya, Nayantara Sahgal, Ruth Prawar Jhabwala, Anita Desai and Shashi Deshpande worked for the development of the Indian English novel. These women writers mainly wrote about female experiences, sexual politics, gender relationship, the status of women in society and her quest for identity. The condition of women was very pitiable in the pre-independence era but after independence some positive changes came into the lives of women due to education and government policies. Some women writers wrote about rural India effectively. Women writings reflected the change in rural scenario. They described the lives of women under the impact of rural background. They presented the concept of a new woman who was strong, fully awakened and ready to fight against the patriarchal norms. Male novelist in general and female novelist in particular began to treat rural women as a legitimate subject for their novels. In 1960, feminism rose against the colonial rule, patriarchal practices and traditions enhance the ideology of female subordination. Feminism works against the secondary and inferior position of women in the male dominated society. As a socio-economic movement, it demands legal and political rights for women. It challenges the age long tradition of gender differentiation. In India, feminism appeared as an organized movement in the late 1970 s. Many feminists have realized that in the Indian context the subject of women s emancipation should not be reduced to the contradictions between man and woman. The Indian English writers explore the psychological, domestic and personal life of their women characters. Through the feministic approach the problems and predicaments peculiar to the Indian women found artistic expression in the Indian literature in English. In the rural narratives, the female protagonist evinces sufficient vigour and courage to question the oppressive role of society, religion and culture but they avoid the path suggested by the western feminists. They choose their own path.

18 Indian Village: Myth Or Reality 17 Kamala Markandaya wrote about the rural peasant society in her novel Nectar in a Sieve. She also depicts how the rural woman can fight against her fate. Anita Desai who holds a unique place among women writers also wrote about the problems of Indian village in her novel The Village by the Sea. Women novelists, who write about Indian villages, raise their voice for all the fundamental human rights as religious, social, economic and political. Shashi Deshpande, who has a prominent place among the writers of the Eighties, basically writes about family relationship, women issues in most of her novels such as The Dark Holds No Terror (1980), A Matter of Time (1996) and The Stone Women (2000). Her novel reveals the emergence of the new woman in the Indian firmament. In the Indian English novels, the women characters of rural background present the change in their traditional life, modernity in their search for identity, independence and fulfillment of their dreams. They are different from the early rural women characters who were illiterate and worked like puppets in the hands of men. During this period we find the combined influence of the great philosophers of the west and the fast changing elements in the social structure of India and it is portrayed in the village narratives. Postcolonial writers also made some experiments with their style and form of novel writing. Narrative writing is one of the famous forms of novel writing. Narrative is an art of storytelling in which a narrator (a person who tells the story) narrates the whole theme, events and environment of the novel. Most of the rural novels were written as a narrative. Indian English authors wrote not only social but personal narratives also. Khushwant Singh, Kamala Markandaya, Anita Desai and many other novelists followed the Indian tradition of narrative writing. Unlike the 1930 s and 50 s, the year 1980 marks significant changes in the development of rural India. With post-colonialism, postmodernism also

19 Indian Village: Myth Or Reality 18 entered the arena of Indian English fiction. Postmodernism is a reaction against the modernism in the wake of the Second World War. After the First World War we find a remarkable change in novel writing, which is called modernism. After First World War, many people questioned the chaos and fragmentation of human belief. Modernism tends to present a fragmentation view of human subjectivity and history, but presents that fragmentation as something tragic and mourns at that chaotic world and fragmentation as a loss. Postmodernism, in contrast, rejects that which modernism champions. In the words of Mary Klages, postmodernism, doesn t lament the idea of fragmentation or incoherence but rather celebrates that. Both modernism and postmodernism have some similar characteristics. Postmodernism, like modernism, also rejects boundaries between genres, emphasizing pastiche, parody, bricolage, irony and playfulness. The key characteristics of Postmodernism are lack of universal truths, reflexivity and self-consciousness, fragmentation and discontinuity, specifically in narrative structures, ambiguity and simultaneity, and an emphasis on the destructed, decentred subject. In India, postmodernism refers to the works of literature after By the end of the nineteen seventies and the early eighties, some fresh faces appeared on the Indian fictional scene. Postmodernist writings break the old traditions and recreate a new vision. Postmodern writers introduce a new pattern in writing novels. It is the period of the so-called new fiction. It includes a breed of new novelists such as Salman Rushdie, Vikram Seth, Shashi Deshpande, Shashi Tharoor, Amitav Ghosh, Arundhati Roy, Upamanyu Chattarjee, Amit Chaudhury, and Shoba De. In the field of village writings during this era, the Indian English novelist wrote about the luxuriant growth of the Indian villages. Development is a continuous process and it is true in the reference of Indian villages. In Indian English literature, the male and female novelists

20 Indian Village: Myth Or Reality 19 present this continuous process and write about their own experiences. They write about different issues to depict the changes which have come in rural living from the British Colonial rule to the modern era of 20 th century. They also offer a great contrast between the urban luxury and sophistication and the traditional rural modes and manners. In the 1980s we find a variety of themes in the rural novels of Indian English literature. The eighties and nineties have been the most valuable, eventful and productive decade of Indian English literature and it is also proved in the reference of village writings. The writers of this era deal with the theme of alienation, the loss of identity and the search for identity. Alienation means estrangement and separation. We can say that an alienated person is stranger to himself and he is in search of his existence. Novelists like Shashi Deshpande, Anita Desai and Kiran Desai have dealt with the themes of alienation in their novels. In Anita Desai s novels, her characters mainly female characters are highly sensitive and alienated from their environment. Their opinions are different from others and they are in search of their being. In postcolonial literature, the theme of migration is depicted in many novels. Colonialism led to the migration of many Indians to other countries for better prospects and education. In the 1980s migration became the popular theme of Indian English literature. Migration means the settlements or shifting of an individual or a group of individuals from one cultural place of habitation to another. Simply it refers to the change of residence or living place from one geographical location to other region. Amitav Ghosh, one of the most popular names in recent Indian English fiction writing started with The Circle of Reason (1986) which is followed by the village background and presents the theme of migration. In this novel he presents diasporic exiles as his dominant characters who are banished from their home or country.

21 Indian Village: Myth Or Reality 20 Some modern writers depict the theme of displacement and relocation in their village narratives due to urbanization, industrialization and several other reasons. Displacement assumes an attachment to a given landscape and that landscape becomes the anchor for bonds of kinship and religion. Migration gives birth to the sense of displacement and rootlessness and it becomes the reason of alienation. So, migration, displacement and alienation are interconnected. Ashish Gupta s Dying Traditions (1992) and David Davidar s The House of Blue Mangoes (2002) are the two village narratives which deal with the theme of migration and displacement. These narratives depict the story of three generations of a family removed from a village. These village narratives focus on the village culture and traditions and on the influence of time on the village life. Both the writers reveal how a major part of village life is influenced by the modernization or urbanization with the passage of time. By locating the village within a historical framework, they also explore the shifting of traditional customs to the modern values. Both the novels present the reflections of the contemporary times, when the village with their inherent sense of bonding, close interdependence, traditional values and kinship among people have been pushed to the margins due to urbanization and technological development. These village narratives have great significance in the early twentieth century in the context of the cultural values and social relationship nurtured in the villages. Upamanyu Chatterjee s English, August (1988) is also the story of rural-urban relationship and crossculture phenomena. It is true that the post-independence Indian village society experienced many changes, transitions and transformations in various fields of life. The postmodern writers of this era identify Indian village as a global village. They write about the different aspects of the life of villagers, new technologies introduced in the villages, capital and the village culture. At the same time the burning social issues such as gender bias, class conflict, the

22 Indian Village: Myth Or Reality 21 rich-poor divide, superstitions, caste system, untouchability and exploitation of the lower class people by the leading upper class people have also been highlighted by the modern writers. Novelists like Anita Desai, Shashi Deshpande and Arundhati Roy have always been giving voice to the voiceless women. Arundhati Roy s The God of Small Things (1997), a Booker prize winning novel, is based upon the Indian rural background. It is a fantastic village narrative which deals with the ravages of caste system in a South Indian village of Kerala and the struggle of a woman in a patriarchal society. Here Roy focuses on the life of Ammu and her two children Rahel and Estha, who live in a fisherman s village in Kerala. Roy also raises a question about the arranged marriage system in which a woman has no right to tell about her choice. Being a modern woman writer, Roy presents the conflict which exists at both the individual and societal level. On the one hand, she presents a pessimistic picture of rural society, but on the other hand as a feminist writer, she portrays a strong woman character who fights for her freedom in the male-dominated society. Indian English fiction right from its inception represents various phases of Indian village society and its developments. But due to the increasing forces of urbanization and industrialization most of the modern novelists shifted gradually their focal point from rural to metro India as Anita Desai, Kamala Markandaya, Ruth Prawar Jhabvala, Shashi Deshpande, Amitav Ghosh, Rohinton Mistory etc. But it doesn t mean that the rural masses have no place in it. Indian English fiction is continuously dealing with village life, its problems and its reforms. Industrialization and urbanization are dealt as the part of it. Vikram Seth s A Suitable Boy (1994) which is not a pure village narrative but it is set in a village like small town Brahmpur and reflects rural culture and tradition includes Hindu-Muslim strife, abolition of

23 Indian Village: Myth Or Reality 22 zamindari system, land reforms and empowerment of Muslim women also. It is really the story of changing India and Indian interwoven family networks. In the recent times, the Indian English novelists are presenting an authentic view of contemporary India. They give a double vision of both, the rural and the urban Indian life. For instance, Arvind Adiga s The White Tiger (2008) portrays both urban and rural life. By following the tradition of modern writers, Adiga also discusses globalization and urbanization in his novel. It is a superb narrative, based on a village theme which reflects the emergence of new India. These modern writers follow the story-telling mode like the early writers of Indian English fiction. They have significantly contributed to the gradual development of the Indian narrative style. Recent writers in Indian English fiction such as Arundhati Roy, David Davidar, Arvind Adiga and Shashi Tharoor show a particular direction towards narration, narrative style and its techniques in their works. The Indian village has always been the midpoint of magnetism for the writers of Indian English fiction. From the pre-independence era to the recent times, village life and its multi aspects are highlighted by the Indian English novelists. Through their narrative art they have presented the changes that have come in recent years in the rural context. The different narratives of different time period open the various dimensions of village life and analyze different village focused issues. Different locations also have a strong impact on both the narrative and its concerns. The present dissertation will analyze five different village narratives, written by the writers of the post-independence era. The review of literature shows that a good deal of critical writings has been done on Indian English fiction but very little work has been done in the field of village writing. There is a lack of comparative, comprehensive and inter disciplinary study of

24 Indian Village: Myth Or Reality 23 literature on rural India. The present study is an effort to give an analysis of the rural theme in Indian English fiction through the five selected narratives. These narratives draw attention to the complex variety of the village writings in the Indian English literature and the journey of village writings from time to time and from perspective to perspective. These narratives explore the reflections of the changing scenario of rural India as every narrative relates to the different time span and raises different issues regarding Indian village life. The concerning village narratives in this study are Kamala Markandaya s Nectar in a Sieve (1954), Anita Desai s The Village by the Sea (1982), Shashi Deshpande s Roots and Shadows (1983), Amitav Ghosh s debut novel The Circle of Reason (1986) and David Davidar s first novel The House of Blue Mangoes (2002). Kamala Markandaya ( May 14, 2004) belonged to a Brahmin family of Mysore, South India. Her real name was Kamala Purnaiya Taylor who began her writing career using the pen name Markandaya. From 1940 to 1947, during her study at the University of Madras, she worked as a journalist and published short stories in Indian newspapers. In 1948, she moved to England and married Bertrand Taylor. They had one daughter Kim Oliver who currently resides in England. She had written eight novels. In her novels, she brings to light the complication of postcolonial and traditional Indian social hierarchy as well as the implications prevalent within both systems. In her novels, she depicts different aspects of life as domestic, economic, political, social, ethical, cultural and religious. Her novels deal with diverse themes like conflict between traditional and modern values, poverty and unemployment, East-West conflict, conflict between religion and science, degradation of society from the original village atmosphere etc. She was awarded the National Association of Independent Schools Award (U.S.A.) in 1967 and the Asian Prize in She became famous with the

25 Indian Village: Myth Or Reality 24 publication of her very first novel Nectar in a Sieve, It was a Book-ofthe-Month Club main selection and was named a Notable Book by the American Library Association in Nectar in a Sieve is a tale of poverty, hunger and starvation. It narrates the story of a rural woman Rukmani s past, the heroine-narrator of the novel. It is the story of the struggle of Rukmani. Rukmani tells the story in first person, from her arranged marriage to Nathan at age twelve to his death many years later. It gives the true picture of the poverty stricken peasant society of rural India just after the independence. On the other hand, Shashi Deshpande narrates the story of a modern girl Indu in Roots and Shadows. Sahitya Akademi Award winning novelist for her novel That Long Silence Shashi Deshpande was born in 1938 in Dharwad, Karnataka. She is the renowned daughter of the dramatist and Sanskrit scholar Shriranga. She pursued her education in Dharwad, Mumbai and Bangalore. She graduated in Economics from Bombay and in law from Bangalore. She later received an M.A. degree in English Literature. Her writing career began in 1970 at the age of thirty. She began her literary career as a story writer but soon she became the most popular novelist amongst Indian women writers. Deshpande has written a great deal about woman and womanhood in her writings. Her novels project a true picture of the middle class woman who finds herself standing at the cross-roads of tradition and modernity. But her women characters are not passive sufferers; they revolt against the male dominated world and raise their voice high against the established customs. She has written four children books, a number of short stories and nine novels, besides several perspective essays. She won the Padma Shri Award in Her novel Roots and Shadows describes the breakup of a joint family of an Indian village. It also depicts the women status in rural society. It is the story of a girl Indu, where the novelist unfolds the thoughts and emotions of this singular Indian girl Indu married to Jayant now staying in the city. But she basically belongs to the rural background. The novel is concerned with

26 Indian Village: Myth Or Reality 25 the conflict between the modern and the traditional values. The protagonist Indu is caught in the dilemma of tradition and modernity but she manages to come out of it and strikes a balance between these conflicting values like Deshpande s other women characters. Anita Desai s narrative The Village by the Sea deals with the economic hardships of the villagers. Anita Desai was born on 24 th June, 1937 in Mussoorie. Her father was a Bengali and her mother was a German. She emerged as a novelist on the Indian literary firmament in She has written ten novels and many short stories. She has been shortlisted for the Booker Prize three times. In 1978, she received a Sahitya Akademi Award for her novel Fire on the Mountain. She won the British Guardian Prize for her novel The Village by the Sea. The main aspect of Anita Desai s fiction is her manner of individualizing the character. Her characters are shaped by psychological observation and experience. Although her novels have great variety and originality of themes, the most recurring theme of her novels is the complexity of human relationships, mainly the man-woman relationship. Her novels deal with the life of women who belonged to the East as well as the West. She also raises the social problematic issues related to the rural or urban society, traditional or modern society and Indian or Western society. The Village by the Sea presents the struggle of two children Hari and Lila as well as their efforts for future economic independence. Hari and Lila are young but they take upon the burden of running the family as elders. Their family lives in the village Thul by the sea off Maharashtra. The story presents Hari s release from Thul, his earning of money in Bombay and his return and the possibility of independent economic status. It psychologically presents the inner conflict of the children who shoulder the responsibility, which is greater than their age. It depicts the impact of industrialization on the life of simple villagers and their whole society.