Name: Shweta Ahuja
Country: India

Year: 2018
Volume: Volume-3, Issue-2 (July-December)
Page Number: 79-82

The novel Kanthapura traces the psychological revolution that accompanied the emergence of the woman from within the twin incarnations of the devil and the dasi, that has reigned in the imagination of the patriarchy since age. Raja Rao’s Kanthapura is a refined study of the profound change that the Gandhian movement of the theories brought into the life of Indian women. Different female characters portrayed in the novel take on various roles as per the demand of situation and need. The novel throws light on the importance of female voice in Indian society especially during the time of freedom struggle. Some women are represented as having a modern viewpoint, others orthodox and stereotypical in their attitude. Some are satyagrahis and rational and there are others who are portrayed as housewives and widows. They play the leading roles in their respective pursuits. History, in the novel is looked from the female point of view as opposed to the analytical power of the male view. Raja Rao describes through the novel that women can also take part in the affairs of state as well as of religion. Kanthapura is also a novel which criticizes the orthodoxy of Indian culture and patriarchy. The paper is an effort to study polyphonic female characters who face various hurdles in the event of freedom struggle. They face the lathi charge, bullets, riots, rampage boldly along with their male counterparts. They are ready to take charge whatsoever come their way. They are at peace in the end ready to face on new challenges of their life. The woman characters represented here are in sharp contrast to the weak, humble, meek, subdued and victimised women as represented in other novels of those times. The paper tries to refurbish the identity of women despite all odds.