MAALA PALLI
(A
Great Telugu Novel)
R. S. SUDARSHANAM
[Unnava Lakshminarayana,
Bar-at-Law, one of the stalwarts of the freedom movement, was a distinguished
writer. His novel “Maala Palli”
is considered to be one of the great novels in Telugu. His birth centenary was
celebrated this year in Andhra Pradesh.
–EDITOR]
Mahatma
Gandhi was a rare one among politicians. Maala
Palli is a rare book among novels. To Gandhi
politics was not merely the art of the possible, but the striving after
perfection. His programme of revolution was something unique: social
reformation and political change to be simultaneously wrought by spiritual
regeneration in the individual man. Because the Mahatma combined in himself the
spiritual seeker and the political leader, the tension between politics and
ethics, between social revolution and spiritual evolution was always present,
which he tried to resolve from time to time, and which made him an enigma even
to his close followers. He was never totally acceptable either to the social revolutionaries or to the spiritual seekers. The theme of
the novel, Maala Palli
similarly combines within itself both social conflict and spiritual quest.
It is a novel of social realism as well as spiritual idealism. It has both
range and depth. It presents successfully social perspective as well as
spiritual insight, which is a rare combination to be found in a single novel.
The only example that readily comes to mind is War and Peace, which
presents the historico-social exterior along with the
personal inwardness of individual characters.
Modern trends in Telugu literature since the beginning of
this century may be categorized as (1) the rejection of tradition, (2) the
nostalgic plea for the revival of tradition, or (3) the total adoption of
Western ideological postures. The novel Maala
Palli written about 1920 does not fit into any of
the three categories. It reconciles the past with the present, takes into
account the dynamic realism of life and postulates the bases for an indigenous
revolution: social, political and personal, towards a future that is ever
perfecting and not limited by any particular goal at a point of time.
In
the context of the Indian Renaissance, it was possible to adopt either
of two diametrically opposite attitudes towards the Indian tradition. One view
was that the Vedic tradition is decadent and dead with the neglect of Vedic
rites, the decline of Sanskrit studies, and the denunciation of the caste
system. The second view was that the basic elements of the Indian tradition, in
spite of the vicissitudes of political life, continue to be renewed from age to
age in the life of the people. The first view, to cite an example, was
reflected in the nostalgia-dominated novel, Veyi
Padagalu by Sri Viswanatha Satyanarayana. It is
the second view that is reflected in Maala Palli. Sri Kasinadhuni Nageswara Rao in his Foreword to Maala
Palli makes a pointed reference to this aspect:
“The Sanskrit scholarship yielded place to scholarship in the regional
languages. The tenets of Vedanta formerly accessible through Sanskrit learning
found their new expression in the stories and songs of the people. The Vedic
ritualism transformed itself into Bhakti Vedanta. The ways of Ramanuja and Basaveswara illustrate this process, how the path of
devotion gained ascendance in the lives of the common people. A devotee can
belong to any caste. Bhakti is within the reach of all the castes without
discrimination. The policies adopted by the Muslim kings, and later by the
British rulers, though appeared antagonistic to the Indian tradition, in course
of time promoted the growth and development of literatures in regional
languages, as it happened in Telugu...The rulers changed, governments fell,
religious schools came and went, but the life in the villages rooted in the
basic Indian tradition continued in spite of political and social turmoil. It
is this tradition that the novel Maala Palli portrays beautifully.”
The
Gandhian movement against untouchability was a major step in our political and
social revolution. The humanist and the social reformer
denounce untouchability as inhuman and irrational. The politician recognises the significant group of social outcastes as a
force to reckon with. To the Marxian point of view, they represent the
exploited working class, the obvious instrument of revolution. The Gandhian
view is a comprehensive one, which embodies within itself the humanist, the
reformist and the political viewpoints. Gandhi wanted the oppressed
untouchables to be integrated into the main-stream of Indian society, and he
wanted it to happen through peace, non-violence and charity. The privileges
given to the Harijans in the Indian Constitution are
an outcome of the Gandhian view, as interpreted by the political followers of
Gandhi. However Sri Unnava Lakshminarayana,
the author of Maala Palli,
interprets the Gandhian view differently and perhaps more authentically,
when he suggests by the choice of his characters, that Harijan uplift can ultimately come
only through the self-efforts of the Harijans themselves,
whatever might be the attitude of the privileged classes. Like freedom,
equality cannot be conferred or gifted, and has to come by assertion. The Harijans have to play an active role. It is not enough for
them to be at the receiving end of charity always. In the novel, the central
character Ramadas is a Maaladaasari,
a Vaishanava Harijan
priest. His sons Sangadas and Venkatadas, represent the
two faces of the Indian revolution. In Ramadas we
have the source of spiritual energy and philosophic outlook. While in Sangadas we have a constitutional and open-handed leader.
In Venkatadas, we have the rebel, who goes
underground to seek justice. Ramadas is thus the Gandhi of the novel, Sangadas
and Venkatadas representing the roles played by Nehru
and Bose respectively in the Freedom Movement in later years. The novel is that
way prophetic of the future of the National Movement. The main thrust of the
novel is, however, not political; it is on the importance of the Harijans, their sufferings and the role to be played by
them in the Indian revolution. This is still of great relevance, in 1979. While
an ordinary novelist would have made a liberal Gandbian
Brahmin the central figure of his novel, advocating a new deal to the
untouchables, Sri Lakshminarayana places a Harijan right in the centre of his story as a great
representative of the Indian tradition of tolerance, love and surrender to God,
so that he has something to teach to the so-called superior castes.
The
fight of Sangadas is not for the social rights of Harijans as a caste. He fights for human rights, and in
particular for the rights of the working class. This is a significant aspect of
the portrayal of the Harijan characters in the novel.
Just as Gandhi’s goal was not merely political, social or national, but went
beyond these limitations, embracing humanity and dharma in their
universal aspect, even so the Harijan characters of Maala Palli aspire
towards the larger goal of social justice as a first step towards the brotherhood
of man.
The
character of Ramadas is not a philosophical
abstraction; nor is Sangadas an ideal hero. Their
portrayal is a part and parcel of the social scene realistically drawn. In Ramadas love and detachment, tolerance and patient
suffering, faith and devotion take precedence over comfort and luxury, revenge
and retaliation, pride of family and scholarship. He has no urge to triumph
over his adversaries. It is this which is sometimes called the fatalism of the
Indian character. Ramadas in the novel, because of the aforesaid qualities of character and
values of life, emerges as a hero worthy of reverence and admiration.
In
the
Ramadas has the opportunity to
retaliate, but decides to forgive Chowdariah. This is
taken advantage of by Chowdariah and his advisers,
who suppress the criminal case by paying off the police. It also emboldens them
to initiate steps to drive out Ramadas and his family
from the village, depriving him of his land-holding and other possessions. It
is guilt and arrogance which combine in Chowdariah
and egg him on to persecute Ramadas’ family to get
them out of sight and to ensure his safety from criminal proceedings forever.
When Chowdariah takes to deliberate persecution,
something happens, which leads to the disintegration of his own family and the
destruction of what he holds as dear and precious. Chowdariah’s
daughter-in-law, Kamala (Rama Naidu’s wife) elopes
with one Mohan Rao to the city being bored with village life. The connection between
Chowdariah’s deliberate injustice to Ramadas and the blow he receives to his own family life is
not apparent on the surface. But the connection does exist. Chowdariah
is very much attached to his grandson, Sahu, and when
Kamala deserts the home, the child pines away and finally dies. The elopement
of the daughter-in-law occurs because of her being neglected by her husband who
is drawn away into social work by the influence of Sangadas.
If Sangadas were alive, wouldn’t Chowdariah’s
daughter-in-law have eloped, is a moot question. This is where the hand of
divine justice is seen. In this intricate pattern of human relationships, the
novelist subtly works out his theme of crime and punishment. With the death of
his grandson, Chowdariah ultimately loses what he
values as the most precious thing in his life.
Emotional
attachments have to be shed for spiritual progress and ultimate liberation.
While the destruction of such an attachment in the case of Chowdariah
comes as a punishment, in the case of Ramadas, it
comes as an onward step in his spiritual journey. In the first pages of the
novel, we see Ramadas is self-satisfied because of
his possessions, and proud because of his two sons, though he is a humble
devotee of God and is always in search of enlightenment. He reflects: “How can
one make the worldly life a stepping-stone to the life of the spirit? For one
could use it as a ladder to heaven or hell. The three human motivations-attachment
to wife, attachment to sons and attachment to possessions–should be used as
stepping-stones to the liberation of the spirit.” These thoughts of Ramadas at the beginning become an index to his spiritual
progress as events follow one another. After Sangadas’
death and Venkatadas’ disappearance, he is deprived
of all his possessions. He is jailed; his nephew and daughter die a violent
death; then his wife passes, and finally he is subjected to utmost humiliation
by his jailer. At the last instance, the jail warder orders Ramadas
to strip and stand naked. He is not satisfied when Ramadas
covers his shame with his hands, and commands him to lift up his hands. Ramadas says
to himself: “Oh, God, this last vestige of self-love is now gone. What You did to Draupadi and the Gopis, You have done to me and now You have taken me finally
into Your hands!” This is the ultimate in egoless surrender, indicated by the
novelist, in the spiritual quest of Ramadas.
Gandhi’s
attitude to marriage was characterized by severe restraint and he laid down
that marriage was only for the performance of dharma, and with the birth
of children, sex should be given up so that brahmacharya
may be observed for spiritual progress. In this respect, Sri Lakshminaryaoa takes a different view, which is as much
deep-rooted in the Indian tradition as Gandhi’s. Gandhi could never conceive of
the sublimation or transformation of sexual love into the love of God. He once
remarked: “Every college girl wishes to be a Juliet at least to half-a-dozen
Romeos!” This was his appraisal of romantic love. The Indian Renaissance as
well as the new literature in Indian languages was greatly influenced by the romantic movement from the West. As a result, the attitude
to woman underwent a sea-change through the concept of romantic love. Gandhi
never considered this seriously. Sri Lakshminarayana
was a student of the Bhagavata Purana and
perhaps loved it better than the Ramayana. In the novel he remarks:
“Rama lived as a man. He never knew he was God till he was told so. Even then
he was not aware of it always. Rama is expected to serve as an example to a
householder; but the
The
novelist considers the tragic death of Jyoti and Appadas united in love as their spiritual liberation. The
reconciliation of sexual and human love with the devotional love of God, which
the novelist proposes in Maala Palli, makes him a more acceptable interpreter of the
Hindu Advaitic tradition than Gandhi ever was, from
the modern point of view.
But
Sri Lakshminarayana is careful enough, as a great
artist, to distinguish in the novel itself between what is merely love and the
sexual love, which is a component of the ultimate principle of love, by
providing a clear contrast in the elopement of Kamala with Mohan Rao, and the
retribution that follows.
Maala
Palli is a great novel
because it depicts Indian men and women not only as individuals but also as
social representatives of a particular place and time, and above all as
cultural representatives of the timeless spirit of Indian Vedanta. In the last
lines of the novel, the author exhorts: “Jnana and
Karma may not be necessary, but one’s attunement with God, through love and
surrender to Him, is necessary. Indeed it alone is enough to attain liberation.
For love and surrender to Him to be accomplished, one has to shed one’s pride;
pride of caste, birth, education, learning, wealth, etc. Egoistic pride is the
stumbling block for all the privileged members of society. The outcastes are
the really privileged in this respect, as they have nothing to sustain their
egos. They are near to God. They are Harijans.”