Article On Dr. Ananthamurthy

Dr.
U R Ananthamurthy’s Samskara: The Rights of the

Living Human Beings
Shri. Rajkumar C. Jain
M. A. B.Ed. M.Phil, Ph. D.(Perciving)
Asst. Teacher,
Nutan Vidyalaya, Ashti,
Tq. Mohol Dist. Solapur.
Con. 9970797818
Dr. U. R. Anmanthamurthy has been a very prominent bilingual writer who wrote and
contributed the masterpieces in Kannada as well as in English. He was a versatile genius who
wrote fiction, poetry, short stories and criticism. He is considered revolutionary because by
birth he was a Brahmin but criticized so many orthodox customs and traditions in the
contemporary Indian society.
There are some important aspects in his writing which are a criticism on the ways or
rites and rituals followed by the Brahmins. What are rites and rituals? The Oxford Dictionary
defines it as ‘a religious or other solemn ceremony that marks an important stage in
someone’s life’. Among all the works of Ananthamurthy, Samskara has a significant place.
The title and the subtitle - Samskara: A Rite for a Dead Man signifies how deeply these rites
and rituals have got significance. Besides the rites and rituals, another important controversial
aspect highlighted in his novel is the caste system. Caste system is a hereditary class of Hindu
society.
The novelist emphasizes persistently on the rites and rituals which are shown in the
novel. The matter of discussion is how deeply he focuses on this aspect. As the novel opens,
we see that the Acharya is busy in feeding his cow before taking his food. To quote:
Before he sat down to his meal, he picked up the fodder for Gowri, the cow,
on a banana leaf and placed it in front of Gowri who was grazing in the back-
ward.(Samskara 4)
The above lines express that not only human beings but also animals are also given
importance. The novel is about the death ceremony of a man who was a Brahmin by birth. Dr.
Ananthamurthy couldnot solve the question who and how the rites of dead man should be
performed. One of the writers S. D. Thirumala Rao expresses his opinion about the author
that he should study and understand Indian mythology because this is such a rite which
doesn’t have any barriers about caste, class, sex or anything. To quote him:
Which Brahmin doesn’t know the dictum: Anatha preta samskaram, kotiyajna
Phalam labhet. (If you do the funeral rites of a destitute corpse, you will get
The merit of one crore sacxrifices.) (Thirumala Rao 63)
The writer has criticized the temperament or the psyche of the author. But Dr.
Ananathamurthy has shown the rites and rituals which are commonly followed in our Indian
society. The novelist has dealt with different kinds of rites in our day today life. The first rite
or rituals which the novelist discusses is the death. The novel completely revolves around
death, the death rites primarily and minor rites in day today life are given secondary status.
The novel speaks about the strict execution of the rites but in reality no such execution
appears.
Besides that, the caste system is also an important factor in the novel. Dr. U. R.
Ananthamurthy deals with the theme with the help of Praneshacharya and Chandri, Shripati
Belli. The Acharya belongs to upper caste and Chandri, Belli belong to lower caste. The
references in the novel depicts how Ananathamurthy depicted this theme perfectly. Following
are the lines which aptly describe the contemporary Indian tendency:
‘Naranappa had contacts with a lowcaste……’ He stopped in the middle of his

sentence, opened his eyes wide, and dug into his nose with his upper cloth.
‘As you know, he even ate what she cooked…’ (Samskara 8)
The above statement describes that the antagonist, Naranappa, lived an epicurean life, stayed
with Chandri, established sexual relations for ten long years and ate whatever she cooked.
Besides Naranappa, Shripati was engaged with Belli, a low-caste woman. Shripati
was a married Brahmin but he also left his Brahminism and got involved in Belli avoiding all
the barriers of caste system in contemporary Indian society. Dr. Ananthamurthy’s India is the
place where the practices like rites and rituals, caste system etc. have no place. He is called a
controversial writer who speaks of the principles like equality, humanity and justice. At one
place in the novel, Dr. Ananthamurthy discusses that god is not the only property of Brahmins
but it is the part and parcel of everyone’s life. He thinks that the god, temples and public
places must be open to all. To quote:
“Your texts and rites don’t work any more. The congress party is coming to
power, you’ll have to open up the temples to all outcastes.” (Samskara 21)
Caste system is a burning issue in Indian society and besides Dr. U. R.

Ananthamurthy, there are other writers also who contributed their ideas. In Marathi,
Bhalchandra Nemade is also such a writer who speaks about the Indian society and
classicism. Ananthamurthy has experienced these facets in his early life when he was a child.
He experienced the same rites and rituals and casteism. He used to live also in Brahmin
colony or agrahara where the outcastes were not allowed or treated subsidiary. It has also an
autobiographical touch from the remembrances of his childhood memories.
One of the writers R. K. Bhushan depicts his view about the novel. He says:
U. R. Ananthamurthy’s Samskara is an honest and bold attempt at initiating a

concrete and constructive debate to breathe new lease of life into the prevalent
and predominant Brahminism; also at revealing and solving the enigma of
Hindu society.(R. K. Bhushan 36)
Ananthamurthy handles these issues like rites and rituals and caste system which
evoked anger in the so called tradition bound society. It is a severe attack on these problems
that the Indian social reality is blurred with these and many more problems. Again its
implications appear in the form that whenever someone speaks against these issues, the
society takes revenge e.g. the assasination of Narendra Dabholkar, Comrade Pansare and
Kalburgi who talked against the irrational practices by Hindu society.
Thus Dr. U. R. Ananthamurthy spoke about the so called practices like rites and
rituals, caste system and many more in contemporary Indian society. He doesn’t talk about
the European modern life style but Indian classicism where Indians do not categorize the
society as caste based or rites or rituals should not be over emphasized but the humanity and
human beings.
Works Cited
1)Ananthamurthy, U. R. Samskara (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1965) Print

2) Rao, S. D. Thirumala.” Still Another View of Samskara,” Vagartha18 July, 1977 Print.
3)Sabharwal, R. K. Bhushan.” The Death of Stagnation in Ananthamurthy’s

Samskara”Indian Journal of Postcolonial Literatures 9.2 Dec. 2009 Print.
4) Gray, Martin. A Dictionary of Literary Terms York Handbooks Pearson Education UK

2009 Print
5) Barry, Peter. Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory, Viva
Books New Delhi I edition 2010 Print.
6) Babar, Ashok. and Koti, Santosh. Indian Nativism, Black Publishers Jan. 2015 Print.

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Dr.

U R Ananthamurthy’s Samskara: The Rights of the

Shri. Rajkumar C. Jain

M. A. B.Ed. M.Phil, Ph. D.(Perciving)

Nutan Vidyalaya, Ashti,

Tq. Mohol Dist. Solapur.

The merit of one crore sacxrifices.) (Thirumala Rao 63)

‘Naranappa had contacts with a lowcaste……’ He stopped in the middle of his

Caste system is a burning issue in Indian society and besides Dr. U. R.

U. R. Ananthamurthy’s Samskara is an honest and bold attempt at initiating a

1)Ananthamurthy, U. R. Samskara (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1965) Print

3)Sabharwal, R. K. Bhushan.” The Death of Stagnation in Ananthamurthy’s

4) Gray, Martin. A Dictionary of Literary Terms York Handbooks Pearson Education UK

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