Kanthapura

by

Raja Rao

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Narsamma Character Analysis

Moorthy’s pious, elderly mother who steadfastly opposes his anti-caste positions and wants him to marry the daughter of a wealthy brahmin family. She is furious when Moorthy rejects marriage proposals and kicks him out of the house when he shows up with khadi cloth and books about Gandhism. After Bhatta informs her that Moorthy will be excommunicated, she never speaks to him again, and after she finds out that he has carried a dead body (a task usually reserved for untouchables), she falls dead on the banks of the Himavathy river. Her conflict with Moorthy demonstrates the social power of the traditional caste system and the incredible lengths to which Moorthy will go for the sake of social equality.

Narsamma Quotes in Kanthapura

The Kanthapura quotes below are all either spoken by Narsamma or refer to Narsamma. 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:
Oral Tradition, Writing, and Political Power Theme Icon
).
Section 4 Quotes

There was something deep and desperate that hurried her on, and [Narsamma] passed by Rangamma’s sugarcane field and by the mango grove to the river, just where the whirlpool gropes and gurgles, and she looked up at the moonlit sky, and the winds of the night and the shadows of the night and the jackals of the night so pierced her breast that she shuddered and sank unconscious upon the sands, and the cold so pierced her that the next morning she was dead.

Related Characters: Achakka (speaker), Moorthy, The Swami, Narsamma
Page Number: 46
Explanation and Analysis:
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Narsamma Quotes in Kanthapura

The Kanthapura quotes below are all either spoken by Narsamma or refer to Narsamma. 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:
Oral Tradition, Writing, and Political Power Theme Icon
).
Section 4 Quotes

There was something deep and desperate that hurried her on, and [Narsamma] passed by Rangamma’s sugarcane field and by the mango grove to the river, just where the whirlpool gropes and gurgles, and she looked up at the moonlit sky, and the winds of the night and the shadows of the night and the jackals of the night so pierced her breast that she shuddered and sank unconscious upon the sands, and the cold so pierced her that the next morning she was dead.

Related Characters: Achakka (speaker), Moorthy, The Swami, Narsamma
Page Number: 46
Explanation and Analysis: