Kanthapura: Section 11 Summary & Analysis

After Ramakrishnayya’s passing, the villagers wonder who can explain philosophy and the Vedantic scriptures to them. Nanjamma suggests Temple Ranganna, but the rest agree that he knows little and follows Bhatta’s lead. Instead, Nanjamma suggests, someone should read out the books and Rangamma lead the discussion, and she agrees. The group decides that, even though “never was a girl born in Kanthapura that had less interest in philosophy,” Ratna would be the one to read.

So each afternoon, Ratna read the texts and Rangamma interpreted them, “bring[ing] the British Government into every page and line.” Achakka thinks “it must have been all due to her stay with Sankaru” and the villagers ask if Rangamma’s newfound knowledge is truly from the city, but she denies it, saying she learned to practice meditation from Sadhu Narayan and teaching the others in turn.

After a few days of meditation, the others feel stronger in mind and spirit, and Rangamma suggests that the other women learn to resist like the Mahatma when the time comes. “Nay, nay, we are not men,” protest the other women, but Rangamma assures them that they need not be men to fight, for in the city women can be Gandhian “Volunteers,” too. She tells them the story of Rani Lakshmi Bai, who led a revolt against the British during the early days of colonialism before dying in battle, “fighting for her enslaved Mother.”

Rangamma determines that the women should form a Volunteer corps that can meet Moorthy upon his return. Everyone plans their outfits, and most want to wear expensive, foreign Darmawar saris, greeting Moorthy “like a Bridegroom’s Welcome ceremony.” Rangamma decides to call their group “Sevika Sangha” (which translates roughly to “women’s association.”)

The village’s men recoil at the new development, and they beat and ignore their wives because they fear that the women will stop looking after them and cooking because of Sevika Sangha. The women determine to maintain their wifely duties, as well as boycotting foreign cloth and picketing cigarette and toddy shops. They roleplay war with their children, casting them in the role of Rani Lakshmi Bai.

Rangamma instructs the women how to resist the police without budging or using violence. Nanjamma tells them about a dream where her husband beat her, but then she looked up and it was actually Badè Khan. She worries that she cannot fight, but Rangamma insists that they all must.

Seenu and Vasudev join some of the exercises and propose that the villagers organize a corps for the pariahs. Rangamma says that boys must come, but Seenu explains that they are all too afraid of going to jail since Moorthy’s arrest. The men support the Mahatma but worry that their lands will lay empty and their families become destitute. They have no choice, say the women, but the boys do not budge.

The women approach Rangè Gowda, who promises to force the pariah boys to follow Gandhi after the harvests. He worries that Badè Khan will attack the men, and Vasudev agrees, citing his violence at the Skeffington Estate. But Badè Khan is also sick, and “his woman” gives Vasudev a signal when he is sleeping.

Vasudev, Rangamma and Seenu decide to restart the bhajans that Moorthy used to perform, although in prison Moorthy warned Sankar not to let them have processions or bhajans, “lest the police fall on them!” The bhajans start again that Saturday, and the villagers sing a song to Lord Siva.