RAJA RAO http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/rao.

htm Indian writer of novels and short stories, whose works are deeply rooted in Brahmanism and ind!ism. Raja Rao"s semi#a!to$io%raphical novel, The Serpent and the Rope &'()*+, is a story of a search for spirit!al tr!th in ,!rope and India. It esta$lished him as one of the finest Indian stylists. -.ritin% is my dharma,- he has once said.
I hear you saying that liberation is possible and that Socratic wisdom is identical with your guru's. No, Raja, I must start from what I am. I am those monsters which visit my dreams and reveal to me my hidden essence. &/0eslaw 1ilos0 in "2o Raja Rao"+

Raja Rao was $orn on 3ovem$er 4, '(*4 in assan, in the state of 1ysore in so!th India, into a well#known Brahman family. is native lan%!a%e was 5anarese, $!t his post#%rad!ate ed!cation was in 6rance, and all his p!$lications in $ook form have $een in ,n%lish. 7ike the 3i%erian novelist /hin!a Ache$e, writin% in ,n%lish, Rao has $een concerned with lan%!a%e and conscio!sness. In the foreword to Kanthapura &'(84+ he admits the diffic!lties in !sin% -a lan%!a%e that is not one"s own the spirit that is one"s own,- and conveyin% -the vario!s shades and omissions of certain tho!%ht#movement that looks maltreated in an alien lan%!a%e.Rao was ed!cated at 1!slim schools. After takin% a de%ree from 1adras 9niversity, he left India for ,!rope, where he remained for a decade. e st!died at the !niversities of 1ontpellier and the :or$onne, doin% research in /hristian theolo%y and history. In '(8' he married a 6rench academic, /amille 1o!ly. 7ater he depicted the $reakdown of their marria%e in The Serpent and the Rope. is first stories Rao p!$lished in 6rench and ,n%lish. ;!rin% '(8'#8< he contri$!ted fo!r articles written in 5annada for Jaya Karnataka, an infl!ential jo!rnal. .hen his marria%e disinte%rated in '(8(, Rao ret!rned to India and $e%an his first period of residence in an ashram. ;!rin% .. II, he travelled widely in India in search of his spirit!al herita%e. In '(=< he was active in an !nder%ro!nd movement a%ainst colonial r!le. ;!rin% these years he edited the literary ma%a0ine Tomorrow. Rao"s involvement in the nationalist movement is reflected in his first two $ooks. 2he novel Kanthapura &'(84+ was an acco!nt of the impact of >andhi"s teachin% on non#violent resistance a%ainst the British. 2he story is seen from the perspective of a small 1ysore villa%e in :o!th India. Rao $orrows the style and str!ct!re from Indian vernac!lar tales and folk#epic. 2he narrator is an old woman. :he tells how the comm!nity o$tains from daily life, with its millennia#old worship of the local deity, the stren%th to stand a%ainst the British Raj. In the character of the yo!n% 1oorthy, who comes $ack from the city, Rao portrays an idealist and s!pporter of ahimsa and satyagraha, who wants to cross the traditional $arriers of caste. 2he yo!n%er %eneration has city ways, they read city $ooks, and they even call themselves >andhi# men. ;or?, as the old woman calls the -!niversity %rad!ate,- has %iven !p his -$oots and hat and s!it and had taken to dhoti and khadi, and it was said he had even %iven !p his city ha$it of smokin%.- 2he work was hi%hly praised $y the ,n%lish writer ,.1. 6orster, whose masterwork A Passage to India &'(<=+ critici0ed British imperialism. owever, India in Rao"s $ooks is not a certain %eo%raphical or historical entity, $!t more of a philosophical concept and a sym$ol of spirit!al callin%.

Rao ret!rned to the theme of >andhism in the short story collection The Cow of the Barricades &'(=@+. In '((4 he p!$lished >andhi"s $io%raphy Great Indian ay! A "ife of #ahatma Gandhi . After the war, Rao spent m!ch of his time in 6rance and travellin% thro!%ho!t the world. e visited America in '(A* and later spent some more time livin% in an ashram. In '()A he married an actress, 5atherine Jones. 6rom '()A to '(48 Rao lect!red on Indian philosophy at the 9niversity of 2eBas, A!stin. In '(44 he received the presti%io!s 3e!stadt International Cri0e for 7iterat!re. :everal 3e!stadt 7a!reates have also received the 3o$el Cri0e for literat!re, amon% them >a$riel >arcDa 1ErF!e0, /0eslaw 1ilos0, and Octavio Ca0. The Serpent and the Rope was written after a lon% silence d!rin% which Rao ret!rned to India. e renewed a connection with his roots in the modern renderin% of the 1aha$harata le%end of :atayavan and :avithri. 2he work also dramati0ed the relationships $etween Indian and .estern c!lt!re. Ramaswamy, a yo!n% Brahmin st!dyin% in 6rance, is married to a 6rench colle%e teacher, 1adeleine, who sees her h!s$and a$ove all as a %!r!. As Ramaswamy str!%%les with commitments imposed on him $y his ind! family, his wife $ecomes a B!ddhist in her spirit!al F!est and reno!nces worldly desires. :he leaves her h!s$and to find his own tr!e self. 2he serpent in the title refers to the ill!sion and the rope to the reality. Cat and Shakespeare &'()A+ was a metaphysical comedy that answered philosophical F!estions posed in the earlier novels. In the $ook the ind! notion of karma is sym$oli0ed $y a cat. 2he hero discovers in his attempts to receive divine %race, that there is no dichotomy $etween himself and >od. Comrade Kiri$$o% &'(@)+ was written early in Rao"s career and was first p!$lished in 6rench. It satiri0ed comm!nism as an ideolo%ical mis!nderstandin% of man"s !ltimate aims, and ar%!ed that all forei%n creeds %rad!ally $ecome Indiani0ed. The Chessmaster and &is #o%es &'(44+ is peopled $y characters from vario!s c!lt!res seekin% their identities. Rao !sed the metaphor of the chess %ame to animate philosophical ideas. In the story :ivaram :astri, an Indian mathematician in Caris, meets Cro!st, and reco!nts his love affairs and friendships. Rao has confessed: -I am no scholar. I am a creative writer. I love to play with ideas. It is like a chess %ame with horses, elephants, cham$erlains and kin%s which mi%ht fi%ht with one another. 2he %ame is not for winnin%. It is for rasa#deli%ht.For further reading: The 'iction of Ra(a Rao) ed. $y Rajeshwar 1ittapalli and Cier Caolo Cici!cco &<**'+G *ncyc$opedia of or$d "iterature in the +,th Century, vol. 8, ed. $y :teven R. :erafin &'(((+G Critica$ Study of -o%e$s of Arun Joshi) Ra(a Rao and Sudhin -. Ghose $y 2.J. A$raham &'(((+G #yths of the -ation $y R!mina :ethi &'(((+G The -o%e$s of Ra(a Rao $y ,. ;ey &'((<+G Ra(a Rao $y 1.5. 3aik &'(@<+G Ra(a Rao $y /.;. 3arasimhaiah &'(@8+G Indian riting in *ng$ish $y 5.R. :rinivasa Iyen%ar &'()<+ # See also: 2he 2r!th of it all $y H.5. :hashik!marG India Beyond :orrow $y 5athleen Raine

Selected wor s! 5anthap!ra, '(84 /han%in% India, '(8( &ed., with I. :in%h+ 2he /ow of the Barricades, and Other :tories, '(=@ .hither India, '(=4 &with I. :in%h+ 2he :erpent and the Rope, '()* 2he /at and :hakespeare, '()A /omrade 5irilov, '(@) 2he Coliceman and the Rose, '(@4

 2he /hessmaster and is 1oves, '(44 On the >an%a >hat, '((8 2he 1eanin% of India, '(() >reat Indian .ay: A 7ife of 1ahatma >andhi, '((4 2he Best of Raja Rao, '((4