- Raja Rao
Raja Rao (
November 8 ,1908 –July 8 ,2006 ) was anIndia n writer of English language novels and short stories, whose works are deeply rooted inHinduism . Raja Rao's semi-autobiographical novel, "The Serpent and the Rope " (1960), is a story of a search for spiritual truth in Europe and India. It established him as one of the finest Indian stylists.Early Life and Career
Raja Rao was born on
November 8 ,1908 inHassan , in the state ofMysore (nowKarnataka ) inSouth India , into a well-known Brahmin (Hoysala Karnataka ) family. He was the eldest of nine siblings - two brothers and seven sisters. His native language wasKannada , but his post-graduate education was in France, and all his publications in book form have been in English. His father taughtKannada at Nizam's College in what was thenHyderabad State . The death of his mother, when he was four, left a lasting impression on the novelist - the absence of a mother and orphanhood are recurring themes in his work . Another influence from early life was his grandfather, with whom he stayed inHassan and Harihalli.Rao was educated at
Muslim schools, the Madarsa-e-Aliya in Hyderabad and theAligarh Muslim University . He began learning French at the University. Aftermatriculation in 1927, Rao returned to Hyderabad and studied for his degree at Nizam's College. After graduation fromMadras University , having majored in English and History, he won the Asiatic Scholarship of the Government of Hyderabad in 1929, for study abroad.Rao moved to the
University of Montpellier in France. He studied French language and literature, and later at theSorbonne inParis , he explored the Indian influence on Irish literature. He married Camille Mouly, who taught French at Montpellier, in 1931. The marriage lasted until 1939. Later he depicted the breakdown of their marriage in "The Serpent and the Rope". Rao published his first stories in French and English. During 1931-32 he contributed four articles written inKannada for "Jaya Karnataka ," an influential journal.Nationalist Novelist
Returning to India in 1939, he edited with Iqbal Singh, "Changing India", an anthology of modern Indian thought from
Ram Mohan Roy toJawaharlal Nehru . He participated in theQuit India Movement of 1942. In 1943-1944 he coedited withAhmed Ali a journal fromBombay called "Tomorrow". He was the prime mover in the formation of a cultural organization, "Sri Vidya Samiti", devoted to reviving the values of ancient Indian civilization; this organization failed shortly after inception. In Bombay, he was also associated with "Chetana", a cultural society for the propagation of Indian thought and values.Rao's involvement in the nationalist movement is reflected in his first two books. The novel "Kanthapura" (1938) was an account of the impact of
Gandhi 's teaching on non-violent resistance against the British. The story is seen from the perspective of a small Mysore village in South India. Rao borrows the style and structure from Indian vernacular tales and folk-epic. Rao returned to the theme of Gandhism in the short story collection "The Cow of the Barricades" (1947). In 1998 he published Gandhi's biography "Great Indian Way: A Life of Mahatma Gandhi." In 1988 he received the prestigiousInternational Neustadt Prize for Literature . "The Serpent and the Rope" was written after a long silence during which Rao returned to India. The work dramatized the relationships between Indian and Westernculture . The serpent in the title refers to illusion and the rope to reality. "Cat and Shakespeare" (1965) was a metaphysical comedy that answered philosophical questions posed in the earlier novels.Later Years
Rao relocated to the
United States and taught at theUniversity of Texas at Austin from 1966 to 1983, when he retired as Emeritus Professor. Courses he taught included "Marxism to Gandhism, Mahayana Buddhism, Indian philosophy: The Upanishads, Indian philosophy: The Metaphysical Basis of the Male and Female Principle".In 1965, he married Katherine Jones, an American stage actress. They have one son, Christopher Rama. In 1986, after his divorce from Katherine, Rao married his third wife, Susan, whom he met when she was a student at the University of Texas in the 1970s.
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