INTRODUCTION:

The perspicacious words of C.D.Narasimhaiah “……at all times Narayan writes not merely with an intense social awareness of his own age but with the past of India in his bones”(p.198) seem to hold the key to this magnum opus of the master craftsman. True, the Guide is regarded as an ironic version of ethnic Indian society on several occasions, but this does not distract the novel at any level from its mythological motif.

Indeed Narayan seems to have closely concurred with the advice of P. Lal when he says “.......no Indian writer, in English or any of the other Indian languages – should commit pen to paper until he has spent ten years of his adult life carefully planning the Indian classics, learning the Indian tradition, and absorbing the Indian myth.”(p.18) He has faithfully implemented the idea almost spontaneously due to his attitudinal proximity to traditional Indian myths and not because he was coaxed to do so by the critics. Additionally, Narayan the innovator makes use of modern devices of pre-figuration and intertextuality to add spice and colour to the traditional Indian story. In fact, a critical evaluation of these pre-figurations and intertextuality is the staple of this article which intends to shed light on this new element in Narayan.

MATERIAL AND METHODS:

John J. White classifies mythological novel into four forms in his exciting book Mythology in the Modern Novel:

1. total re-narrative of the ancient myth,

2. a juxtaposition of sections related to the myth and others related to the contemporary world,

3. a novel set in the modern world, featuring a series of links to the mythology interwoven in the work and

4. a novel in which a mythological motif prefigures a part of the narrative, but without running consistently through the whole narrative.

One notable feature of all these four types is that they all refer to some traditional mythology and bear with them the dogmatic belief that is attached to them. White's strategy, though, is very cautious. He separates a mythological work from what is considered a mythical work from the very beginning and maintains that a mythical novel is one which is commonly associated with a dynamic quality, a “mana” seldom present in a work that he describes as mythological. Being detached from this kind of religious connotation mythology becomes the equivalent of any ordinary allusion, and this is further reinforced by the use of the term "prefiguration" instead of myth. He discusses the use of myth as a tool and describes that the concept of myth introduced into a book will prefigure and predict the plot in a several possible ways: ordinarily the term "pre-figuration" implies "coming before" and provides a series of commentary on modern events. Liberally extending the term he maintains that even these pre-figurations include literary plot “pre-figurations” such as Shakespeare’s plays in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, Chekhov’s The Seagull and in Macdonald Harris’s Trepleff. As is well known, many novels refer to other works and discourses. As a genre the novel intentionally gives space to other works. This is what is now called intertextuality, and this is a feature that Bakhtin valued in the novel. Going back to the Middle Ages; it was often seen that the relationship to another word was equally complex and ambiguous. The boundary lines between someone else's speech and one's own speech were flexible, ambiguous, often deliberately distorted and confused. Certain types of texts were constructed like mosaics out of the texts of others. The term intertextuality, writes Pramod K. Nayar, “refers to the allusions, references to other works, echoes, quotes and citations and even plagiarized sections of a work”. (p.30)

Intertextuality seems to have remained a viable method for shaping not only literature but also other works of art. Casablanca, Michael Curtiz's film is a brilliant example. Reading the book and visiting the film make it abundantly clear that it is not true that the works are made by their authors. Umberto Eco feels that “works are created by works, texts are created by texts, altogether they speak to each other independently of the intention of their authors. A cult movie is the proof that, as literature comes from literature, cinema comes from cinema”.(p.413) When in an inter-textual collage the author does not know what to do with the story, he puts a stereotype situation in it because he expects that they will work as they have already worked elsewhere. So powerful is the influence of stereotypes that without any reason whatsoever Laszlo, a man with ascetic temper orders something to drink and he changes his choice of drink at least four times. Obviously, Michael Curtiz was unconsciously quoting similar situations in certain other movies. At times Casablanca the film is compared with the play Hamlet by Shakespeare. It is really interesting to know what T.S. Eliot said about the play. Umberto Eco writes:

He viewed Hamlet the result of an unsuccessful fusion of several earlier versions of the story, and so the puzzling ambiguity of the main character was due to the author’s difficulty in putting together different topoi. So both public and critics find Hamlet beautiful because it is interesting, but believe it is interesting because it is beautiful. (p.415)

Intertextuality can be termed as a process through which the reader or audience creates meaning. The audience unconsciously uses his/her vast knowledge of cultural and social patterns that he/she might have picked from other books to read a particular text. Though one book or text should be read in relation to another, yet it needs to be noted here that readers need not be familiar with specific texts to relate intertextually, rather they should be acquainted with a variety of books of the same genre. Intertextual practices have in fact challenged a number of modernist notions regarding authority of the author over the original work of art.

When science undermined the literal truth of myths, millions of people in western culture concluded that there was nothing to believe, nothing to hold on to. As a result, our society is disintegrating. “The centre cannot hold”, Yeats asserted in one of his poems and accordingly, the centrifugal forces of our time are causing pieces to fly up in all directions. Just as a research paper has an itinerary to be pursued for its successful completion, life needs an estimated blueprint for its fulfilment. But what are the requirements for this completion?

Is it mere accumulation of money?

Is just communication with others?

Is it being popular on social media?

Is it a life of scientific temper?

Or is it the desire of literature with all its all-encompassing ideology combined with pleasure?

I presume the answer is obvious. Literature is a logical choice. And what is literature without mythology! What a creative writer will be writing about if not regarding emotions of love and hate, war, peace and pride? And where will he find the complexities of these feelings and activities if not in the world of myths. The gods and goddesses are not out there, separated permanently from us; nor are the anti-gods and rakshasas. They populate the earth and to know them is to really know ourselves.

DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS:

Narayan has used traditional myths like the “nataraj dancer”, “devdasi”, “snake-lady” with reference to Rosie but from a modern standpoint it is only to entice his readers. His individual talent comes to the forefront when he incorporates ideas from various books like Music for Mohini, Inside the Haveli, Henderson the Rain King, The Strange Case of Billy Biswas and uses them as pre-figurations. Even references to his works like The Bachelor of Arts and The English Teacher fall in the same category. Traditional myths and pre-figurations are used by him as an attractive, colourful package, acceptable and relevant for the modern men.

Saul Bellow’s Henderson the Rain King and Raju guide were the cause for bringing rain to their natives. And in order to achieve it Henderson had to change his trainer from Queen Willatale to King Dahfu, who implemented “lion-therapy” at the initial stage of his sessions to prepare him for the greatest cause i.e. rain. He was exposed to ghastly and deadly objects like corpse hanging in the hut at night, corpses displayed throughout the Wariri village, human skulls lying in a large wooden utensil and so on, but the real training for his transformation started with the “lion-therapy”. Finally, he could bring down rain and become rain king. Similarly, Raju who had passionate feelings for Rosie, Marco’s wife and money, went through “spiritual-therapy” with the help of Velan to achieve true sainthood. He, who at the initial stage had put on the mask to keep open the passage of his livelihood (food) from the villagers, finally fasted for them to satisfy their requirement i.e. rain. And he became successful only to bring virtual rain and attain martyr hood. Like Raju, Henderson always says from within “I want, I want” and this made him accomplish his desire. Apart from this, in both the novels one finds a picture of immense suffering from drought, death of cattle, scarcity of water for both human beings and animals.

As in The Guide, Narayan with the help of a villager, Velan of Mangala transforms the lying, corrupt, ungrateful and irresponsible Raju to a saintly, pious soul just like Dasyu Ratnakar being transformed to the mythical Valmiki. This is exactly in tune with the remote African villagers who had the power to bring meaning to Henderson’s life and transform him into a spiritually motivated man with a western fragrance.

Inside the Haveli of Rama Mehta has an influence on The Guide. The character of Rosie is sketched with the borrowed ideas from Rama Mehta. She, like Geeta is educated, “the women of the upper class”(p.13) in living style and mentality, but unlike her got married to a person, Marco, who was the reason for her upper class life style. Rosie chose to live a rustic, traditional life for a period, and then Raju, her career-manager guided her to accomplish her wish of being a classical dancer and gain name and fame. Geeta of Rama Mehta after her marriage had to lead a simple life style similar to that of Rosie. And she like Rosie explored her creative talent and opened a school in the haveli (mansion). Like people becoming mad for the dancer Nalini (Rosie), with her skill Geeta brings a new look to the surrounding which is appreciated by people. For Shyam S. Agarwalla Geeta of Inside the Haveli, Narayan’s Rosie and Savitri of The Dark Room share “the balancing feat of Draupadi”, the protagonist of The Mahabharata. Rosie and Geeta were well-bred and part of the modern society. They had to face the traditional and conservative villagers including Raju’s mother. But both the ladies knew how to handle the situation and overcome it with their natural talents, like the princess Draupadi who had to lead a painful and unrecognized life in the forest. Finally, like Draupadi regaining her power and position with her skills, the heroines of Narayan and Mehta closely follow the footprints of their mythical predecessor.

There is also the influence of Bhabani Bhattacharya’s Music for Mohini on Narayan’s The Guide. His inspiration in building the character of Rosie is prominently marked while reading the novel. Mohini’s passion for music, her social lifestyle and inner characteristics have motivated Narayan for developing Rosie. Rosie is passionate about dancing and she never cared for the money she earned by her stage shows. This classical dancer Nalini, a devdasi (servant of God) by birth was “traditionally dedicated to the temples as dancer”(p.84). She falls into the wrong hands of Marco, her husband, who had interest in dancers carved on stone rather than real life dancers. Because of Marco she enjoyed a polished, modern and sophisticated lifestyle being deprived of her passion. Similarly, Mohini belonged to a city and was an accomplished radio artist. She was always found with her musical instrument “dilruba” which in Persian means “sweet-heart”. She like Nalini was a mismatch for her life-partner, Jaydev. Other similarities are also marked in both the heroines. As Malta Grover points out “the bridge between the values of the city and the traditions of the village, between sophistication and simplicity”(p.46) is indeed remarkable. Even Jaydev’s mother helped Narayan to design the character of Raju’s mother, a true representative of traditional orthodox mentality.

Arun Joshi’s The Strange Case of Billy Biswas made Narayan believe in Sankhya philosophy of Bhagawad Gita and inspired him for character selection of Marco and Rosie. The perfect example of prakriti and purusa in Arun Joshi’s novel is the down-to-earth Billy and Bilasia, the primitive, naturally beautiful, honest and innocent forest girl. It has nothing to do with his first marriage with Meena, the sophisticated, money-centric, cosmopolitan lady. Bilasia, the prakriti and Billy the purusa were a heavenly made couple. Prakriti is shakti to Purusa from ages and so also is Bilasia to Billy. Narayan on the other hand has inter-mixed the individualistic and sophisticated character of Meena; and honest and skilful Bilasia to make Rosie. Though Rosie left Marco and lived with Raju, she stayed faithful to her husband throughout in her memories. The other borrowed character is Raju the protagonist of The Guide who like Billy passed through the “3-tier operation, namely, construction, deconstruction and reconstruction”. Raju was constructive in handling Rosie’s career but then forged her signature and brought destruction upon himself. He finally reconstructed his life by getting prepared to fast for the Mangal villagers. Billy was leading a constructive life from his early days (fourteen years) with his philosophical thought, but his marriage with Meena which was more of marital fiasco brought destruction upon him while his harmonious love with Bilasia reconstructed his life. Again Raju, the casual lover and social escapist attains mokshya because of Velan and the Mangal villagers. And they also treat him as “saint”, “guru” and man-god who had the power to resolve their conflicts and problems and bring down rain. In The Strange case of Billy Biswas Billy, the son of the judge of Supreme Court of India moves from Orissa (India) to Harlem (America) in search of “self” but he attains mokshya like Buddha in the Maikal Hills, among the primitives, and they considered him the man-god, who had the power to cure them.

Narayan has also used the idea of loneliness of soul in the mid of the crowd in his different novels like Waiting for the Mahatma where he says “one heard night and day the babble of the crowd moving on the market road.” In the concluding part of The English Teacher it is mentioned, “a profound and unmitigated loneliness is the only truth of life”. “Unmitigated loneliness” in “the babble of the crowd” is what we sense at the end when we find Raju in knee deep water struggling for his consciousness, physical strength and existence.

Narayan has shown neutral approach in the treatment of his male and female characters, neither is it entirely male dominated novel nor female dominated. May be Raju or Marco of The Guide or Rosie, both the genders enjoy their importance in the novel and none of them is affected by the other. Raju plays his role of Raju guide, career guide and spiritual guide; Marco the role of successful academician and Rosie renowned Bharatanatyam dancer. Narayan’s fascination for Sankhya philosophy can be marked in his other works like The Bachelor of Arts and The English Teacher though both the novels are not completely developed as the present one. Rama Mehta’s Inside the Haveli, Bhabani Bhattacharya’s Music for Mohini and Arun Joshi’s The Strange Case of Billy Biswas are the other novels where one can mark “Sankhya Concept” prominently. The Dark Room and The Painter of Signs of R.K. Narayan also vouch for the same. As P.P. Piciucco writes: “there is also another side of the picture to which we need to give its true weight: the cases of gender–switching”(p.173). Narayan’s (interview with S. Krishnan) opinion of Daisy in The Dark Room is that “not only is she not dependent on men, she actually has no use for them as an integral part of her life…. She is a very strong character. All the same, when you read the novel you will find she is very feminine also. There is a conflict. That is the whole point.”(p.40) So, here the author has ironically targeted “altered physical traits” of the opposite characters in his novel. And nowhere this reversal of roles is more vivid than the novel The Painter of Signs.

RESULT:

Looking at the number of movies that reach the theatres every year, we might claim they thrive in intertextual forms of reference. Be it Shakespeare's Othello or Macbeth, or R.K. Narayan's The Guide, we find various movies being made on them. We see Omkara as a lively and Indianized version of Shakespeare's Othello in the Indian film industry. The director of the movie draws upon various points of similarity and difference while adapting the original theme of the drama. Of course, such forms of intertextual references are not limited to films alone. Following the success of the movie The Jurassic Park and its sequel, we saw a number of theme parks popping up around the country, as theme park owners thought that young children could easily connect to such parks. Similarly, it is the case that comic book characters and even gods like Krishna, Bhima and Ganesha become part of children's cartoon shows and movies. Thus, an adaptation of a text or concept can be understood as remodelling something new from an old form.

CONCLUSION:

This is not to deny the fact that the success of Narayan's masterpiece, The Guide, depends heavily on intertextuality, which is a device parallel to myth. The influence of Saul Bellow's Henderson the Rain King is just too palpable in the current novel. Similarly, no one can deny the novelty of Rosie's character, even though the influence of Rama Mehta's Geeta and Bhabani Bhattacharya's Mohini is unmistakable. The inclusion of pre-figuration and intertextuality in The Guide is not an end in itself. Rather they not only complement but also reinforce the traditional myths contained therein, that is, the myths of Nataraja, Valmiki, Daupadi and Bhasmasura, etc. Just as the mythical themes such as mokshya and karma go into the novel to make it what it is, the texts of earlier writers, as it has been already shown, have strongly influenced the writing of this Narayan novel. They work together to create a masterpiece, which is a mythological marvel.

REFERENCE:

1. Bellow, Saul. (1996) Henderson the Rain King. London: Penguin Classics. Print.

2. Bhattacharya, Bhabani. (1959) Music for Mohini. Angus and Robertson. Print.

3. Eco, Umberto. (2007) “Casablanca: Cult Movies and Intertextual Collage” Modern Criticism and Theory. Ed. David Lodge & Nigel Wood. New Delhi: Pearson Publication. Print.

4. Grover, Malta. (1991) Bhabani Bhattacharya as a Novelist of Social Conscience. Meerut: Shalabh Prakashan. Print.

5. Joshi, Arun. (2008) The Strange Case of Billy Biswas. New Delhi: Orient Paperbacks. Print.

6. Lal, P. (2011) “Myth and the Indian Writer in English: A Note.” Aspects of Indian writing in English. Ed. N.K. Naik. New Delhi: Macmillan. 15-18. Print.

7. Mehta, Rama. (1995) Inside the Haveli. UK: Quatet Books. Print.

8. Narasimhaiah. C.D. (1970) Indian Literature of the Past Fifty years, 1917-1967. Print.

9. (2011) “R.K. Narayan’s The Guide.” Aspects of Indian Writing in English. Ed. M.K. Naik. Delhi: Macmillan. 172-80.

10. Narayan, R.K. (2002) The Guide. Madras: Indian Thought Publication. Print.

11. (2011) The English Teacher. Chennai: Indian Thought Publication. Print.

12. And S. Krishna (eds). (2001) The Writerly Life. New Delhi: Viking – Penguin Books. Print.

13. Nayar Pramod K. (2010) Contemporary Literary and Cultural Theory. New Delhi: Pearson. Print.

14. Piciucco, Pier Paolo. (2008 ) “Feminity in the Fiction of R.K.Narayan: A Study.” New Insights into the Novels of R.K.Narayan. Ed. M.K.Bhatnagar. New Delhi: Atlantic.

15. White John J. (1971) Mythology in the Modern Novel: a Study of Pre-figurative Techniques. Princeton. Print.

Received on 12.06.2020 Modified on 29.06.2020

Res. J. Humanities and Social Sciences. 2020; 11(3):167-171.

DOI: 10.5958/2321-5828.2020.00029.7