‘Quest for Truth and Self-realization’ in Raja Rao’s Short Stories
Raja Rao with his manifold contribution to Indian fiction in English in terms of language and style, remains unparalleled in India. To portray essential Indian sensibility, and modes of thought, he has made a creative use of the resources of the English language. Being a careful and conscious artist who is disciplined in himself, Raja Rao allows himself plenty of time to give a perfect shape to his metaphysical ideas. By philosophising the Indian novel in English and by creatively and artistically interpreting Indian Vedantic philosophy, Raja Rao has become a trendsetter in Indo-Anglian fiction. To him, India is not a country like England or France, but a myth, a spiritual …show more content…
Naik, the central theme of Raja Rao’s short story, “The Policeman and the Rose” is man’s quest for self-realization…..The policeman who arrests everyman at birth and who is identified with him is his ego-sense, the idea of private individuality superimposed by every person upon his inner self (the Atman), which is really Brahman within man” (Dhawan 116 -7). Here the protagonist is God manifest in terrestrial form. In the words of Harrex, “In this autobiographical story the narrator is foregrounded, cultural symbols are perplexed by personal symbols and the protagonist is (S)elf in a complicated, obscure metaphysical sense…It is in the typological romance mode of the God hero in a quest or pilgrimage story, because the symbolic and surreal narrative traces the hero’s aspiration and destiny toward the realization of God in self ’’ (43-44). The ego-sense persists in the waking (Jagriti) and dreaming (Swapna) states, but is temporarily suspended in the state of deep sleep (Susupti ) in which “the soul is as it were dissolved in its own self and regains its true nature (S. Radhakrishnan 600). The individual inner self is immortal (Jivatma), but the individual ego-sense is mortal and in fact, its death alone leads to self-realization – the union of the Jivatmawith the Paramatmaor Brahman.The policeman that stands for ego-sense says to the narrator that his happiness is in his own dissolution. As the narrator …show more content…
The rose is red elsewhere, but in Travancore it is white in colour which stands for Satvaguna. This place has a rich personal significance for Raja Rao, for it is the place of his Guru, Sri Atmananda, the place of Truth. The Two- Feet referred to here are the sacred feet of his Guru. The multiple births and deaths of the red rose closely resemble those of the “I” narrator. In the presence of his Guru, the narrator washes himself of his sins and so many changes take place in him. He becomes purified. The continuous wanderings of the narrator from Avignon to Paris, America and Japan and ultimately to Travancore reveals his disturbed soul. His agitating soul needs soothing and solace, and he gets it only at his Guru’s feet in
Raja Rao with his manifold contribution to Indian fiction in English in terms of language and style, remains unparalleled in India. To portray essential Indian sensibility, and modes of thought, he has made a creative use of the resources of the English language. Being a careful and conscious artist who is disciplined in himself, Raja Rao allows himself plenty of time to give a perfect shape to his metaphysical ideas. By philosophising the Indian novel in English and by creatively and artistically interpreting Indian Vedantic philosophy, Raja Rao has become a trendsetter in Indo-Anglian fiction. To him, India is not a country like England or France, but a myth, a spiritual …show more content…
Naik, the central theme of Raja Rao’s short story, “The Policeman and the Rose” is man’s quest for self-realization…..The policeman who arrests everyman at birth and who is identified with him is his ego-sense, the idea of private individuality superimposed by every person upon his inner self (the Atman), which is really Brahman within man” (Dhawan 116 -7). Here the protagonist is God manifest in terrestrial form. In the words of Harrex, “In this autobiographical story the narrator is foregrounded, cultural symbols are perplexed by personal symbols and the protagonist is (S)elf in a complicated, obscure metaphysical sense…It is in the typological romance mode of the God hero in a quest or pilgrimage story, because the symbolic and surreal narrative traces the hero’s aspiration and destiny toward the realization of God in self ’’ (43-44). The ego-sense persists in the waking (Jagriti) and dreaming (Swapna) states, but is temporarily suspended in the state of deep sleep (Susupti ) in which “the soul is as it were dissolved in its own self and regains its true nature (S. Radhakrishnan 600). The individual inner self is immortal (Jivatma), but the individual ego-sense is mortal and in fact, its death alone leads to self-realization – the union of the Jivatmawith the Paramatmaor Brahman.The policeman that stands for ego-sense says to the narrator that his happiness is in his own dissolution. As the narrator …show more content…
The rose is red elsewhere, but in Travancore it is white in colour which stands for Satvaguna. This place has a rich personal significance for Raja Rao, for it is the place of his Guru, Sri Atmananda, the place of Truth. The Two- Feet referred to here are the sacred feet of his Guru. The multiple births and deaths of the red rose closely resemble those of the “I” narrator. In the presence of his Guru, the narrator washes himself of his sins and so many changes take place in him. He becomes purified. The continuous wanderings of the narrator from Avignon to Paris, America and Japan and ultimately to Travancore reveals his disturbed soul. His agitating soul needs soothing and solace, and he gets it only at his Guru’s feet in