THE MAN-EATER OF MALGUDI
An Analysis
A. S. RATNAM
The Title of the Novel
R. K. Narayan in an
A. I. R. interview published in Writers Workshop Miscellany No.8 (1961)
on page 50 says: “The Man-Eater is a man, not a tiger, an ego-centred man for whom the objective world is non-existent, a
modern Rakshasa, who wants to kill the elephant that
belongs to the local temple.” The title pronounces the name of the town Malgudi where the main action takes place as in most of the
other novels. The man-eater, as R. K. Narayan himself
says, is a man; but he does not belong to Malgudi.
Just as Mr. Sampath cannot be considered the only man
character of the novel with the same title, the present novel cannot be
considered as a novel treating H. Vasu who is the
man-eater as an exclusively main character, for it equally deals with the
character of Nataraj, the printer. The title, thus,
is misleading at least to a certain extent.
Connections with the Earlier Novels
H. Vasu, in certain
respects, is Mr. Sampath. Raju and Margayya
of the earlier novels. Nataraj is Srinivas in another form. There is a striking resemblance
between Nataraj and Srinivas.
Both are closely associated with the printing business. The printing press
appears in Mr. Sampath, The
Financial Expert and the Man-Eater of Malgudi.
There is a curtain in the Truth Printing Press in Mr. Sampath which shrouds a mystery. It is a purple-dotted
curtain in The Man-Eater of Malgudi. The
mystery of what lay behind the curtain is solved by Nataraj’s
description of his own printing press. (“This seemed a golden chance to enter
the great mystery,” says Mr. Sampath. Page 8). The press of Mr. Sampath
is in
The Significant Disparities
In all the previous novels, the man-wife
(man-woman) relationship plays an important role or the father-son relationship
forms an integral part of the structure of the novel. In The Man-Eater of Malgudi, till the end, not much of the family life of Nataraj figures in the narrative. (This is attributable to
the first person narrative technique adopted by R. K. Narayan
and is in keeping with the modest and shy nature of Nataraj.)
In the end Nataraj shows concern for the safety of
his wife and his child who go to join the procession. His son appears in the
beginning when Vasu is in the parlour
and the giant of a man frightens the boy to run home. Srinivas
and Nataraj are both passive onlookers with a
difference. Srinivas never entertains the thought of
severing his relations with Mr. Sampath. On the other
hand he is a party to the film project. Nataraj is
humane in his attitude to Vasu. His main worry is to
save Kumar, the temple elephant.
The Theme of the Novel
The theme of
corruption by the outsiders is effectively developed once again in this novel, wherein H. Vasu
the outsider, disrupts the normal life in Malgudi
with his boisterousness and destructive genius. He leaves Malgudi
and this world in the end to enable order and normalcy to prevail in Malgudi. Nataraj symbolises the peaceful life in Malgudi.
The orderliness with which he runs his printing press gets a jerk with the
arrival of Vasu. H. M. Williams in his Indo-Anglian
Literature. 1800-1970. A Survey (Orient Longman, New Delhi, 1976) observes on
page 61: “But the story is also
a parody of the Agatha Christie type Mystery. When
the giant is bashed to death, the police do not know who the murderer is.”
Gentle Nataraj, who has worked, himself into a state
of anger, is the chief suspect though he comes from a family which looks upon
the killing of even a fly as a crime. Nataraj is
cleared of the charge when a prostitute reveals that Vasu
has killed himself warding off a mosquito which lands on his forehead.
Meenakshi Mukherjee in her
book The Twice Born Fiction (Heinemann, New Delhi, 1971) on page 155
rightly says: “The Man-Eater of Malgudi” (thus)
has a clear Mythical design ( order – dislocation of order – restoration of order) reiterated by
references to the Puranic conflict between Sura and Asura.” This theme is
implicit in what R. K. Narayan himself says in the
radio interview cited earlier. Vasu is the modern version
of a Rakshasa. Again it is made dear in the novel: Sastri, an orthodox-minded semi-scholar of Sanskrit, who
narrates a long series of anecdotes from the mythologies to Nataraj,
refers to the story of Bhasmasura who brings doom on
himself–and that is what Vasu really is (Pages 95-97). K. R. Srinivasa
Iyengar in his magnum opus, Indian Writing
in English (Asia Publishing
House, Bombay, 1973) on page 383 remarks: ... ... in the Man-Eater evil is as
it were anti-life, anti-nature, anti-faith.”
It is certainly the story of the eternal
conflict between the Good and the Evil personified in the two characters pitted
against each other in peculiar circumstances. The story of Vasu
makes it clear that R. K. Narayan’s conception of
life is essentially an Indian one in that he shows through his story, as in
Indian classical writings, that “Dharma protects those who protect Dharma and
Dharma destroys those who destroy Dharma” (A famous Sanskrit aphorism). The Rakshasa is edowed with enormous
strength; but he uses it for destruction. He is invincible. The sins and crimes
he commits have to accumulate to the optimum and then comes the end. God is
always represented as weak and submissive in the face of overbearing evil and
evil triumphs for a time. God in various shapes appears to punish the bad or
the evil. Nataraj, who represents the good, maintains
the love-hate relationship with Vasu as he is torn
between his friendship for Vasu and his desperate
dislike for Vasu.
Vasu has committed sins which horrify Nataraj. Vasu hits his teacher
(Guru) and runs away from him. He attempts to improve upon nature by stuffing
animals. In the end he is ready to commit the sacrilege of killing the temple
elephant. In his last bid to save the elephant, Nataraj,
the tolerant and non-violent person, decides to kill Vasu.
But he is saved of committing this most un-Nataraj
like act by Providence. Had he killed Vasu, the
man-eater would have become, a martyr and this would have adversely affected
the very fibre of the novel.
Nataraj and Vasa: A Study
in Contrast
Nataraj is a typically self-effacing simple man
whose words and deeds tend to create an impression that he is timid, shy and
submissive. In the words of Vasu, Nataraj
is “a spineless person.” (Pages 101-102) He is generous, helpful and
co-operative. At Memphi, where he is dragged by Vasu, Nataraj gets involved in
the affairs of the village and assures Muthu of
printing the notices and helping Muthu in conveying
and curing the temple elephant, Kumar. He helps the poet in getting the poems
printed and takes a leading part in arranging the function in the temple. He is
honest and generous. He waxes eloquent about the neighbouring
Star Press, which owns an original Heidelberg machine, whenever he is unable to
take up a difficult task of printing. He lets others bully him and never
resists such attempts by other people because of his inherent weakness of not
being able to say “no” to anyone. (Page 199) He is a law-abiding citizen.
Vasu, on the contrary, is a gigantic ex-circus “trong-man”, wild animal hunter and a taxidermist. Vasu is not interested in other people’s affairs. He is a
secluded individual. He is aggressive in nature and not sensitive to subtler
aspects of life. Taxidermy is his obsession. He is energetic and always on the
move. His presence horrifies and fascinates Nataraj.
He comes like a storm and sweeps Nataraj with a
torrent of words. He is obliged by Nataraj for the
attic; but behaves as if Nataraj is in debt to him.
(Page 31) The pseudo-philosophy of Vasu is, we are civilized
human beings, educated and cultured and it is up to us to prove our superiority
to nature. Science conquers nature in a new way every day; why not in creation
also? That’s my philosophy, Sir. (Page 20) Incidentally, he is an educated
person unlike Mr. Sampath, Margayya
and Raju; and he is endowed with intelligence. He
tours extensively and drops names like Nagpur and Junagadh. He is self-willed and assertive. He cares neither
for Nataraj nor for the forest officials. (The only
instance cited in the novel to show Vasu as a
supplicant is when he accompanies the officer to the press for the purpose of
getting the book of golden thoughts published.) He is not a respecter of law.
He goes hunting when he is not given a licence for
big-game hunting. He kills animals which happen to come his way. He is thus an incarnation of evil trying to re-create while
destroying life.
The use of Irony
in the Novel
The end of the black man comes through a
mosquito. The mosquito, a tiny and weak insect, happens to be the instrument
for the death of Vasu. The mosquito is the one
creature dreaded most by Vasu. (Page 30) Kumar, the
elephant, is the cause of tension for both Nataraj,
who is anxious to save and Vasu, who is eager to
kill. Vasu, in the end, while waiting to kill a big
and strong animal is killed because of an extremely tiny and weak creature.
All the references to the text are based on
the Hind Pocket Book edition of THE MAN-EATER OF MALGUDI published
in 1979.)