Kanthapura - Paperback

by Raja Rao (Author), R. Parthasarathy (Translator)

Regarded as the first major Indian novel in English, Kanthapura is the story of how Gandhi's struggle for Independence came to a casteist south Indian village. Young Moorthy, back from the city, brimming with new ideas, seeks to cut across ancient barriers and unite the villagers in non-violent action. The story emerges through the eyes of a delightful old woman, who comments on the villagers' actions with sharp-eyed wisdom, evoking the spirit of India's traditional folk epics.

Author Biography

Raja Rao (1909-2006), a path-breaker of Indian writing in English, was born in Hassan, Mysore. After he graduated from Madras University, he went on to the University of Montpellier in France on a scholarship. He moved to the United States in 1966, where he taught at the University of Texas at Austin until 1983, when he retired as emeritus professor. R. Parthasarathy is a poet and translator. The author of the long poem 'Rough Passage', he edited the influential anthology Ten Twentieth-Century Indian Poets. His translation of the fifth-century Tamil epic, the Cilappatikaram, was awarded the 1995 Sahitya Akademi Award. He is a professor emeritus of English and Asian studies at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York. He was Raja Rao's editor from 1974 to 1998.