U.R.Ananthamurthy Samskara - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

U.R.Ananthamurthy

Samskara

- A Rite for a Dead ManSlide2

Samskara: A Rite For A Dead Man is a religious novel about a deteriorating Brahmin colony in a south

Indian

village of Karnataka. 

Samskara

translated into English from Kannada by A.K.

Ramanujan

, is a novel about the people in

an

Agrahara, Brahmins, contemplating about the last rites of a dead man of Brahmin caste but who breached his caste limits during his life time. This is also the subtitle of the novel, 

Rite for a Dead Man

. 

Characters:

Praneshacharya           –  learned scholar and priest of

Durvasapura

Naranappa                  –  a Brahmin who leads a

non-

Brahminical

life

Chandri

                         – a

dalit

woman who lives with Naranappa

Garudacharya

              – a relative of Naranappa

Lakshmanacharya

       –  a relative of Naranappa

Dasacharya

                   – a poor Brahmin of the

agrahara

Durgabhatta

                  –  a

Smarta

Brahmin living in

Durvasapura

Anasuya

                          –  wife of

Lakshmanacharya

Sitadevi

_ wife of

Garudacharya

Bhagirati

_ wife of Praneshacharya, an invalidSlide3

The novel seems an accurate estimate of Brahmin society in the 1960’s or more correctly the Brahmin societies of all times which suffer from the serious problems of backwardness despite having intellectuals among them.

Their energy is directed towards maintaining age-old convictions, beliefs, customs and superstitions.

Ananthamurthy

raises sensitive issues like rituals ,

untouchability

, sex, communal feeling and human weakness such as

avarice,envy

, selfishness.Slide4

Durvasapura

The name of the

agrahara

is

Durvasapura

because of a legendary story behind it.  It was believed that

Durvasa

, a sage did penance on a hillock in the river,

Tunga

.  The place became famous because of the legendary story and also because of Praneshacharya.

Praneshacharya is the wise man in the

agrahara

. The entire colony came to his doorsteps every morning and evening to listen to his recitations of holy legends.Slide5

The story in a nutshell…

The novel starts with the death of a member ,belonging to an orthodox clan of Brahmins, who do not follow the established customs.

Naranappa is the disreputed person of the

agrahara

who offends the whole community by indulging in forbidden things like wine and women, and meat-eating.

When he dies without an heir nobody from the Brahmin community agrees to perform his last rites due to the fear of disgracing their caste.

For getting a solution, they take the problem to Praneshacharya, the most revered person of the Agrahara.Slide6

One day before eating his meal, Praneshacharya is going about his daily routine.  At that time, he hears the sound of

Chandri

behind him calling ‘

Acharya

’. 

Chandri

is

a dalit.

If Praneshacharya talks to her, he would be polluted and should take bath before eating his meal.  Nevertheless, he listens to her and she informs that Naranappa is dead after having fever for four days.

There is a belief that it is wrong to eat food before doing the funeral rites for the dead.  So, Praneshacharya runs to

Garudacharya’s

house to stop him from eating his meal and then both of them inform others in the

agrahara

. 

Everyone in the

agrahara

thinks, “Alive, Naranappa was an enemy; dead a preventer of meals; as a corpse, a problem, a nuisance.”

The men and their wives assemble in front of

Praneshacharya’s

house to hear his directions to solve the problem of

Naranappa’s

rites.  The women are with fear that their husbands should not accept to do the funeral rites. 

Praneshacharya informs the people that there are two problems to be solved. 

The first problem is doing funeral rites for Naranappa and second is deciding the person for doing the rites, since Naranappa doesn’t have children.

Garudacharya

,

Dasacharya

– a poor Brahmin of the

agrahara

, and

Lakshmanacharya

acknowledge to the words of Praneshacharya.Slide7

Allegations against Naranappa

People in the

agrahara

 cannot do the rites as Naranappa had relationship with a low-caste woman,

Chandri

and also ate the food she cooked. 

Naranappa abandoned his legal wife and when she died he did not attend her funeral. 

he does not observe the death anniversary of his parents. 

In addition to all these sacrileges acts, he has also brought Muslims to the front yard of the

agrahara

to eat and drink forbidden things.Slide8

Praneshacharya is confused whether to proclaim Naranappa as Brahmin or non-Brahmin. 

Fearing that the Brahmins might not do the funeral rites for Naranappa,

Chandri

places all her gold ornaments in front of Praneshacharya, to be used for the expense of

Naranappa’s

funeral rites.

While everybody thinks of a way out to do the funeral rites for Naranappa,

Dasacharya

suggests the idea of requesting the

Parijatapura

Brahmins to do the funeral rites for two reasons.  

The first reason is Naranappa was friendly with the

Parijatapura

Brahmins

the other reason is that the

Parijatapura

Brahmins are

Smarta

Brahmins ,not as orthodox as the

Madhvas

.  The

Parijatapura

Brahmins are pleasure lovers and some of them are rich as they run

betelnut

farms.Slide9

The family of Lakshmanacharya

and

Garudacharya

are perturbed by the decision of Praneshacharya because the golden ornaments would be taken away by the person who does the funeral rites.

Praneshacharya goes through the palm leaf texts to find a solution to

Naranappa’s

funeral rites while the

Madva

Brahmins are in

Parijatapura

to inform about

Naranappa’s

death.

The thought of

Naranappa

makes Praneshacharya realize how he has been a problem all through his life.

Praneshacharya recollects a bitter conversation when he went to

Naranappa’s

house to meet him. 

Naranappa

disrespected and treated him with contempt.  Slide10

He also remembers how Naranappa made Garuda’s

son

Shyama

and

Lakshmana’s

son-in-law

Shripati

to go astray from

Brahminical

tradition. 

Shyama

ran away from home and joined the army, while

Shripati

almost took the lifestyle of Naranappa. 

He even remembers the day when he brought Muslims with him to the

Ganapathi

temple stream and caught the sacred fish.  During their heated conversation Naranappa has said,

“I’ll destroy

Brahminism

, I certainly will.  My only sorrow is that there’s no

brahminism

really left to destroy in this place – except you.”Slide11

Praneshacharya does a detailed and prolonged search of the scriptures without success. Then he retires for meditating in the Maruti

temple hoping for God's guidance for disposing the body.

For solving the problem the Brahmins seek help from a colony in the neighbourhood (

Parijatapura

) and later, a monastery.

"The

brahminism

of your entire sect is in your hands. Your burden is great."Slide12

The stench of dead rats and

Naranappa’s

dead body makes the night sleepless for many in the

agrahara

. 

Naranappa

died of bubonic plague (Black Death).

Meanwhile, there is a break out of plague in the

agrahara

due to

Naranappa's

rotting corpse. Slide13

Praneshacharya becomes frustrated due to his inability to arrive at a decision. As he staggers out of the temple he sees

Chandri

, the low-caste mistress of

Naranappa

. Praneshacharya is physically attracted to

Chandri

and the two make love, thus ending the

Acharya’s

celibacy.

This incident is a turning point in

Praneshacharya’s

life. Meanwhile his wife dies due to the plague. He cremates his wife and then leaves the

agrahara

not able to confront the people who had respected him until then as a learned teacher.Slide14

Praneshacharya, long devoted entirely to the cause and tradition, is forced (and/or allowed) by circumstance to question it, freed, over the course of the story, from several of his burdens.

However, Ananthamurthy does not offer a resolution here: 

Samskara

 remains open-ended.Slide15

Samskara – The Title

Samskara means religious purificatory rites and ceremonies for sanctifying the body , mind and intellect of an individual so that he may become a full-fledged member of the community.

A rite of passage or life-cycle ceremony; the

realizig

of past perceptions.

In trying to resolve the dilemma of who ,

if

any , should perform the death-rite (

a

samskara

), the

Acharya

begins a

samskara

( a transformation) for himself.

Praneshacharya undergoes the process of purification. He shifts from a hardcore ritualistic Brahmin to a realist.

A rite for a dead man becomes a rite of passage for the living.

In life as in death,

Naranappa

questioned the Brahmins of the village, exposed their

Samskara

( refinement of spirit , maturation through many lives)

or lack of

it.Slide16

Naranappa

Naranappa

a catalytic agent who affects change,

favors

modernism, rejects

brahminhood

and brings home

Chandri

, a prostitute, from

Kundapura

, a nearby town. He drinks alcohol and invites

muslims

to eat meat.

He throws

Saligrama

, the holy stone which is believed to represent God Vishnu, into the river, and spits after it.

If the flowers in the backyards of the other

brahmins

are meant mainly for the altar, and if their women wear only withered flowers gathered from the altar in their hair which hangs at their back like a rat’s tail,

Naranappa

grows the night-queen plant in his front garden. Its intense smelling flowers are meant solely to decorate

Chandri’s

hair which lies coiled like a thick black cobra on her back.Slide17

Naranappa

Naranappa

, with his

muslim

friends catches sacred fish from the temple tank, cooks and eats them. Other

brahmins

are aghast at this sacrilegious act. They have believed, till then, that these fish should not even be touched, that whosoever touches them will vomit blood and will die!

Naranappa

has even corrupted the youth of the

agrahara

. Because of him one young man left

Durvasapura

and joined the army, where he is forced to eat beef. Another young man left his wife and home, and joined a

traveling

group of singers and actors.

Naranappa’s

only ambition in life seems to do everything that destroys the

brahminhood

of the

agrahara

. His only sorrow is that hardly anything of it is left to destroy, except for the

brahminism

of Praneshacharya. Slide18

Orthodox society does its best t suppress the revolutionary

Naranappa

and by excommunicating they want to get rid of him.

But Praneshacharya is against this radical step. He still hopes to win over

Naranappa

, and lead him back to Dharma, the proper path.

Ananthamurthy has invested

Naranappa

with reformative vigour and violence.

Naranappa

is an active player in the novel. His death puts a big question mark on the ritualistic society.

Naranappa

is an autocrat, he lives freely breaking all traditions and practices of

brahminism

. Slide19

He does what he likes without pretensions and hypocrisy. So he seems an anti-social. But an anti-social individual is eventually a reformer also.

He re-orients the society – so also a spiritual man does not conform to society either and is a leader of society. Slide20

Major

Concerns

Samskara

 is a fine discussion on the caste and class structure of India.

Through the novel Ananthamurthy explores the lack of human concern in the Brahmin community.

The characters in the end

favour

freedom from the shackles of rituals and superstitions.

In the beginning

Naranappa

is the rebel , and Praneshacharya is the righteous Brahmin.Slide21

After the death of his invalid wife Bhagirathi he wishes to settle down with Chandri, the Dalit concubine.

It is the death of Naranappa that brings out the humanity as well as the real man out of the Acharya.

Until then he was living a life burdened with suffocating scriptural knowledge.

At the end of the novel he decides to live like an ordinary man neither a righteous Brahmin nor ‘the crest jewel of

vedic

learning’.Slide22

It is

Chandri

, the concubine ,who brings the

Acharya

down to the land of the

ordiary

mortals.

He even runs away from home after his wife dies of plague. But wherever he goes he is haunted by the fear of discovery and haunted by

Chandri’s

touch.

The novel ends as Praneshacharya decides to return to

Durvasapura

, and to own up his fall.

But Ananthamurthy, does not answer the other important question. It is the question of what the

brahmins

should do when they are confronted with the confessions of Praneshacharya.

What does one do when faced with such truth? As the translator A.K.

Ramanujan

puts it, the novel ends, but does not conclude.Slide23

Praneshacharya is a victim of his own fickle mind, practicing egotism, full of fear of losing

honour

.

As a normal human being he wants to enjoy all the material pleasures

centered

to woman and children. But he cannot do this because his wife is an invalid whom he nurses following the Law of

Nishkama

Karma.

The lack of sensual pleasure is creating psychological lacuna(a gap) in him. He perceives some truth in

Naranappa’s

ways of

life.

When

Naranappa

attacks the

Acharya’s

reading of lush, erotic

Puranic

tales and his life devoid of sexual pleasure,

Acharya

stops telling the luscious

Puranic

stories in the evening and starts on moral tales of penance .Slide24

The society of

Durvasapura

requires immediate reform. The novel presents a sexually suppressed society, where sex is considered taboo, yet everyone wants to enjoy it.

According to the Vedic system of

Varnashrama

, the Brahmanas

those who are by nature intellectuals, contemplative, and inspired by acquiring spiritual and philosophical knowledge, and motivated to work in this way for the rest of society.Slide25

In actual sense none of the characters in the novel except Praneshacharya stands in favour of Brahmanism strictly.

All the Brahmins

Durgabhatta

and

Sripathi

,

Dasacharya

,

Lakshmana

and Garuda, are depraved and damned souls having insatiable lust for body, food, gold and property.

The Brahmins of the

agrahara

are utterly decadent, narrow-minded, selfish, greedy, jealous. Their

brahminhood

consists solely of fulfilling rules, following traditions which are thousands of years without understanding reasons and logic behind them. They are afraid that if the rules are not followed disasters will fall upon them.