RELIGION, PHILOSOPHY AND THE
SECULAR STATE IN
R.
K. NARAYAN’S FICTION
I.
Satyasree
In this paper, I attempt
to highlight R. K. Narayan’s views on religion, philosophy and the secular
state in the Indian context, with reference to his fiction.
Religion and philosophy play a very prominent role in India. There is lot of diversity in the matter of religion and it plays quite a dominant role in India. India is not only one of the most religiously diverse nations in the world but it is also one of the most deeply religious societies and cultures. Religion occupies a central place in the life of Indian people and Indians enjoy perfect freedom to follow their religion and behave in the way it moves their soul. Religious worship is a part and parcel of Indian culture. Especially Indian women are deeply religious and orthodox. In all orthodox homes a separate place is set apart for worshipping God. It is designated as the puja room and we find R. K. Narayan mentioning about this special place of worship in most of his novels.
Krishna in The English Teacher, talks about his wife Susila as she converts the corner of the dining room as the place for her puja. In The Financial Expert, Margayya asks his wife to clean up a little space for his puja as he wants to perform Lakshmi puja in the house for the next forty days. Decorating the floor with colourful Rangoli designs is customary while performing puja. That is the reason for R. K. Narayan to mention that Margayya commands his wife to put Rangoli, a decoration necessary for all auspicious occasions.
Certain rituals are customary in performing the puja whether it is in the temple or in the house. For example, lighting oil lamps with cotton wicks, incense sticks, sitting on deer skin, decorating the idols with flowers like jasmine, lotus, rose etc, breaking coconuts, telling the beads, waving of camphor flames, sounding cymbals and bells, preparation of offerings like sweet rice, milk pudding, coconut and banana pieces and distributing to the devotees. Chandran’s mother in The Bachelor of Arts, performs puja with religious fervour, before she takes her meal.
In the novel The Dark Room, Savitri too follows this schedule everyday with all faith and devotion. She does not eat her food without offering prayers to God. God protects if we offer anything in cash or in kind. This Indian belief is presented by R. K. Narayan in his novels. In The Painter of Signs, Raman’s aunt, while leaving for Kasi, tells him to drop a ten-paisa coin into the money –chest at the temple as it has been her habit for years.
We find a sea change of attitude in the younger generation in the matter of belief in God’s worship and in following the rituals attached thereof. They laugh away at these rigid formalities which were practised by the elders and do not take them quite seriously. We find a generation gap in this regard as R. K. Narayan presents this very strikingly in his novels.
In The Guide, Raju’s mother, while leaving the house after Rosie’s entry, tells Raju not to forget lighting the lamp in God’s niche. Raju’s mother knows very well that Rosie will not keep up the religious and spiritual traditions of her house. So she takes her small prayer books with her which she used to read every day of her life. Raman’s aunt too faces the same kind of situation as Daisy enters the house. She makes the little room beside the dining-room as her puja room. It is hardly ten feet wide and now it has to be allotted to Daisy. His aunt, who belongs to the older generation, decides to leave for Benares so that she can make way for Daisy’s entry into the house. As she leaves the house, her puja room is converted into a living-room for Daisy.
These incidents in Narayan’s fiction mirror the clashing ideas between generations in the modern times. The new generation women, who are educated, do not subscribe to the views of their elders. These changes that occurred in the aspect of religious beliefs in India are very well presented by Narayan quite systematically by using his women characters as a link of the past and the present.
Throughout the ages, Indian philosophy has shown a great influence on the world thought. The great Indian sages were the first ones to propound Indian philosophy through the eternal Upanishads. Their deep passion for realizing the ultimate Truth, coupled with a humane interest has resulted in developing a vedantic and social philosophy. This vedanta is both philosophy and religion for India.
When many other civilizations in the world collapsed, the Indian civilization has survived because its most important component is the central thought or dominant philosophy .It is the three-dimensional principle i.e. enjoyment, non-attachment and renunciation . There are some cultures which recommend a life of enjoyment. There are yet others which endorse renunciation. But Indian culture is a golden mean shaping a compromise between the two extremes–enjoyment and renunciation. Life can be enjoyed but one should not be attached to the things that give enjoyment. Indian philosophy lays stress on the principle of attached detachment. In other words, one should know that one day or other these sources of enjoyment like money, power and relatives will disappear. Renunciation does mot mean rejection or running away from life, but unselfishness. It is neither unworldliness nor other worldliness but better worldliness.
Striking a beautiful balance between the two extremes of enjoyment and renunciation, which is an essential feature of Indian culture, men and women in India pursued this better worldliness. They sought spiritualism and renunciation, the twin ideals of Indian culture. Women, after fulfilling all their responsibilities, wish to spend a retired life peacefully in the presence of God. It is a kind of spiritual journey for them and they desire to spend their last days in sacred places like Benares, Haridwar, Hrishikesh, Prayag and Nasik. Especially this desire of spending the last days in Kasi is more prevalent among widows. Undertaking pilgrimage to Kasi by elderly women is a common feature in orthodox households in India. In The Painter of Signs, we find Raman’s aunt expressing her desire to visit Kasi along with some more people, who will be her co-pilgrims.
Ever since the Vedic times, Indians realized that renunciation leads to everlasting bliss and thus it is much favoured by elderly women in India .Yet another striking feature in Narayan’s women characters is their belief in God and performing puja is a daily activity for them. We find a tulasi plant in their backyard. They also visit the temple in the evenings and join the bhajans that are held in temples in the evening times especially on Tuesdays and Fridays. Even in the houses, a place is designated to keep the idols for daily worship. All customs and austerities are observed very strictly by the orthodox women folk in R. K. Narayan’s novels.
The Preamble to the Indian Constitution, which was amended in 1976, summarizes the aim and objective of the Constitution as having solemnly resolved to Constitute India into a Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic. Every citizen of India has the liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship. Indian Constitution has given to every individual the liberty to profess, practice and propagate religion so long as he/she does not injure the conviction of other people. Indian culture which is like an invincible fortress, is supported by very strong pillars and of all those mighty pillars, the most significant one is secularism. Secularism is not being irreligious. It is respecting the faith and beliefs of other people. This secular aspect is not new to India. It has its roots in ancient Indian culture and is significantly found in the ancient texts too.
R. K. Narayan has taken the secular aspect of Indian culture even in selecting the names of his women characters. In his most celebrated novel, The Guide, he chooses a woman, here Rosie, as Indian ambassador for cultural preservation and also for propagation of culture and art. Narayan could have given any other known, common household name to her. He did not name her Rosie just because he was falling short of names. It shows the extent of Indian culture being accepted and adopted by fellow Indians belonging to different castes, creeds and cultural backgrounds. Rosie, which sounds to be a different name, is generally used by either Westerners or by that sect of people who profess Christianity .It is surprising to see that such a name is given to the daughter of a traditional family. It reflects on the national understanding and tolerance of each other.
The other outstanding trend is that, this national integration, acceptance and synthesis are the basis of India’s rich culture. The author intelligently brings out the change in name from Rosie to Nalini as it looks Western, and at the same time Rosie performs ‘Dance’ which is essentially Indian. Indianness is not the monopoly and property of Indians alone. A Western name can also satisfy such requirement striking that thinking is to be Indian, doing is to be Indian and it is not in the ‘Name’. It reflects on tradition and openness to accept and accommodate other people’s faith and belief. Narayan knew the secular aspect of India. He understood well the strength of India’s diversity .He celebrates that as and when he gets an opportunity. Yet again, in the novel The Painter of Signs Narayan names the heroine Daisy. Narayan, time and again, displays his secular view in his fiction.
This secular aspect of Indian culture is portrayed by Narayan even in his other novel The Vendor of Sweets, where he names the heroine Grace. Grace is half-Korean and half-American and she suddenly descends on the sleepy town of Malgudi. Her arrival creates a flutter in the otherwise conventional Malgudi town. Here again Narayan wants to show symbolically the most significant aspect of Indian secularism regarding acceptance, assimilation and synthesis of various cultures. Grace, a foreigner, comes as a bride of Mali, the son of Jagan, who is highly orthodox .Yet, Jagan accepts Grace as his daughter-in-law. Inter-religious and inter-caste marriages are not new to Indian culture. Right from the days of Mughal rule, marital ties between Indians and foreigners have been in vogue. Catholic outlook has been the hallmark of Indian culture, so Narayan has taken this aspect and depicted the arrival of Grace to show that he himself accepts and subscribes to this important feature of Indian culture.
Hence in the aspects of Religion, Philosophy and the Secular State, Narayan subscribes to the most important features of Indian culture and he celebrates Indian culture in all its myriad forms and flavours in his fiction.