Moorthy

Moorthy is a character in Raja Rao's novel Kanthapura, which records the influence of Gandhian ideals on a remote South Indian village during the years of the Indian independence movement. Though it is a story of Gandhiji's charismatic effect on the village, the Mahatma does not appear in the novel. His spokesman is his disciple Moorthy who follows his master by fasting and preaching against the caste system.

Moorthy, the protagonist is an educated, respected young man of Kanthapura. He is one of thousands of young men inspired by Mohandas Karemchand Gandhi to become fighters for the cause of their mother land.

Throughout the novel Moorthy inspires love and respect and wins the confidence of the villagers. The impact of Gandhiji's personality transforms him from a common village lad into able and committed, even though he never personally spoke with Gandhi. Moorthy was in college when he felt Gandhi's full force; he walked out of the college as a Gandhi man. In those days many young men gave up their studies and courted arrest; Moorthy is one of these. Inspired by the vision of the Gandhi addressing a public meeting, he went out alone and later returned to college. Afterwards, he became the life and spirit of the freedom movement in Kanthapura.

It has been pointed out that Moorthy is Raja Rao himself.^{[citation needed]}

However, in the final chapter, the villagers as well as the readers become aware that Moorthy left Gandhi's side (not necessarily his principles at large) to pursue Jawaharlal Nehru's political party as he is now "with him and his men".