Kanthapura’s patron goddess, Kenchamma supposedly battled a demon on the red Kenchamma Hill near town “ages, ages ago” and has protected Kanthapura’s people ever since. The villagers frequently pray to her for help, perform ceremonies to honor her, and thank her for their good fortune. Kenchamma exemplifies the traditional religion that Kanthapura’s people gradually come to leave behind.
Kenchamma Quotes in Kanthapura
The Kanthapura quotes below are all either spoken by Kenchamma or refer to Kenchamma. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Note: all page numbers and citation info for the quotes below refer to the Oxford University Press edition of Kanthapura published in 1963.
Section 1
Quotes
Sometimes people say to themselves, the Goddess of the River plays through the night with the Goddess of the Hill. Kenchamma is the mother of Himavathy. May the goddess bless us!
Related Symbols:
Kenchamma Hill, The River Himavathy
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Section 11
Quotes
Changing he changes not,
Ash-smeared, he’s Parvati’s sire,
Moon on his head,
And poison in his throat,
Chant, chant, chant the name of Eesh,
Chant the name of Siva Lord!
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Section 13
Quotes
“This is all Ramayana and Mahabharata; such things never happen in our times.”
Related Characters:
Dorè (speaker), Moorthy, Rangamma, Mahatma Gandhi, Kenchamma
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Section 18
Quotes
“In the name of the goddess, I’ll burn this village”
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Kanthapura LitChart as a printable PDF.
Kenchamma Character Timeline in Kanthapura
The timeline below shows where the character Kenchamma appears in Kanthapura. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Section 1
...hear this as the Goddess of the River playing with the Goddess of the Hill. “Kenchamma is the mother of Himavathy,” explains the narrator.
(full context)
“Great and bounteous” Kenchamma is the town’s goddess. Once, “ages, ages ago,” a demon came to take Kanthapura’s children...
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The goddess Kenchamma also cures disease. By walking through a holy fire, everyone has been cured of smallpox...
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The narrator prays that Kenchamma will protect the village “through famine and disease, death and despair.” She promises that the...
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Section 5
...hills around our village.” Decrepit, miserable, starving coolies were regularly marched through Kanthapura, past the Kenchamma Temple to the Estate, by the maistri who recruited them from their dried-up, foodless villages.
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...the ill asks who the local goddess is and then makes a small charm to Kenchamma; she wakes up without fever, but one of the children gets worse and worse despite...
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Section 6
...force when he asks for his 76 rupees in unpaid wages. The family before goddess Kenchamma’s grove and heads to Kanthapura, where Moorthy brings them to Patel Rangè Gowda, who orders...
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Section 8
...of yarn per day, and he asks them to take an oath before the goddess Kenchamma—but they refuse, saying they cannot handle her anger.
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Section 9
...horoscope compatible with her daughter Ranga’s. She is so delighted that she weeps and thanks Kenchamma. Word spreads around the village; the other brahmins congratulate Venkamma and Ranga on their luck.
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Section 10
...to Karwar and the Skeffington Estate, respectively, and the Gandhian villagers agree that the goddess Kenchamma will free Moorthy—except Vasudev, who thinks the government will hold him for “a good six...
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...“Patel-ship,” which means the government has broken “the ancient laws,” and the villagers pray that Kenchamma will destroy the government.
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Section 12
...from the mountains through the valleys and into Kanthapura, where its residents thank the goddess Kenchamma. Rangè Gowda, who no longer runs Kanthapura, asks the villagers about their preparations for the...
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...the people still recognize as their true Patel, rides his horse into town. The Goddess Kenchamma appears to the townspeople, and Rangappa splashes the bulls with holy water. Rangè Gowda identifies...
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...ask for rain and Moorthy’s return, in exchange for which they make various offerings to Kenchamma. That afternoon, Postman Subbayya runs to Rangamma’s house town with the Blue paper and announces...
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Section 18
...helped them at all. She declares that they were “mad to follow Moorthy.” The goddess Kenchamma and river Himavathy never refused their prayers, she laments. But suddenly she feels “some strange...
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Section 19
...Bombay men, and even Waterfall Venkamma left town. Rangè Gowda prayed for blessings from Mother Kenchamma and Father Siva before leaving town, but admits that “my heart it beat like a...
(full context)