Part - 1
Kantapura is a village on the slopes of the western ghats.
The roads are narrow. It is situated on the side of the Arabian Sea, and coffee and cardamom are grown here. It is exported to Britain.
It is carried by carts to the Sea-shore at late night.
Trek, Sal, and Sadar are also there in abundance.
An old lady Kenchamma narrates the story about the deity of the village.
Kenchamma had saved the village from a demon, this demon was making the life of the villagers difficult.
The demon took the men as his food and the women as his wife.
It is said that Kenchamma fought bravely, so much so that te earth was soaked with blood and this is why the Kenchamma hill is red.
Kenchamma stayed back at Kantapura. She fulfilled all the wishes of the villagers, she relieved the villagers of all problems and diseases.
The narrator says that whoever prayed to the goddess was cured.
Some people died, but they had to die anyway.
She goes on to say that young Sankamma, Barber Channau’s wife died of disease but she died because she was not faithful to her husband. Such women do not deserve the blessings of the goddess.
Further, the narrator says that people like Ramappa and Subamma die because they were sinners. They carried the disease from the city.
People have full faith in the goddess and all are superstitious.
Kantapura is divided into four quarters. It is a small village, consisting of twenty-four houses.
Speaking about the Brahmin quarter, the narrator says about the postmaster Surya Narayan and Patwari Nanjundia. Their houses are beautiful.
The house of Kamayya is the biggest, but it is very old.
The narrator then tells us about Venkamma. She is nicknamed as waterfall as she always keeps weeping.
She tells about Moorty and Dore.
The narrator is Achakka. She is Seenu’s mother.
Rangamma is a childless widow. She is the sister-in-law of Venkamma but Venkamma was jealous of Rangamma. She lived in a big house.
Venkamma also had a big house but it was not spacious for her big family. She had two sons and five daughters.
Dore was called a ‘university graduate’ actually he had not passed the intermediate. He had not passed the intermediate. He was a rich man. He had lost his father when he was young. He had two sisters. They were married. He called himself ‘Gandhian’. He had taken to dhoti and khadi. He also left smoking but people didn’t like him.
People like Moorthy, he was generous. The coffee planters Ramayaa had offered Moorthy for negotiation of his daughter but the horoscope didn’t match.
There were the other quarters - the Pariah, weaver, and Sudra.
Beadle Timmayya’s house was an important house in the Pariah’s quarter. There were twenty huts. There was Sidda. He was Pockmarked and he had a lot of land. His wifi had gone mad, unfortunately, and a lot of money was spent on her treatment.
Bhatta profited much from the illness of Siddha’s wife.
There were only five houses in the Poeter’s Quarter. The owners of her house were Lingayya, Ramayya, Subhayya, and Chandrayya. The fifth was of old Kamalamma with her only son.
The potters had to take agriculture as their living. The Mangalore tiles had a bad effect on their profession.
Chandrayya made festival pots and deities. The rest went to the next village to make bricks.
Patel Range Gowda was a rich man. He was loved by the people. He helped the Sudras. His daughter lived with him. All were married. His physical appearance was sturdy. He looked like a tiger.
Part - 2
One day Moorthy found a Shivlinga in the backyard of Achakka, the narrator’s house.
The villagers decided to build a temple. So the boys and villagers built the mud- wall and put a tile roof over it. They gave time during the holidays.
The Kanthapurish temple was built, and Bhatta performed the consecration ceremony. It was on the main street promontory. It was built three years ago. Rangamma gave a feast.
The postmaster Suryanarayan said he had a text from Sankara Jayanthi. He suggested that they should read Sankara Vijaya every day and that someone should host a dinner daily.
All agreed Rangamma offered to give dinner.
Ramakrishnayya, father of Rangamma would recite Sankara Vijaya.
The narrator goes on to say that the villagers went to Ramakrishnayya to discuss Vedanta. They gathered at the Ishwara’s temple on the Promontory.
After the Sankara Vijaya was read, they had dinner. The women sang the Mayavada - The philosophy of Maya, or the illusory nature of our experiences.
Days passed people enjoyed and after the Sankata Jayanti was over, they missed it, it was like a ceremony to them.
Sastri, a poet sang the Harikatha.
Moorthy suggested, that they should have the Harikathas. People respected Moorthy. He was honest. He was against untouchability. He followed Gandhi. He favored inter cast and widow marriage.
The Harikatha man was arranged from the city. The Harikatha man was Jayaramachar. Money was collected from all the quarters for the Harikatha.
Jayaramchara told the Harikatha in a different way he referred to Gandhi and the Britishers with the story of god and goddess. He tried to motivate the villagers to fight for freedom. It was propaganda, political propaganda.
Soon Jayramachar was arrested. The Britishers had come to know about his propaganda. After this, Moorthy and the other young villagers threw away their foreign clothes and become active followers of Gandhi.
Bade Khan, the policeman come to Kanthapura after Jayaramchar was arrested.
Being a Muslim he could not get a house in any of the quarters. He was finding it difficult to find a house for himself. He went to Patwari Nanjundia for help. Nanjundia asked him to go to Patel but Patel said, he could not help him.
Patel and Bade Khan both were government employees. Khan gets angry. He calls Patel a Traitor and that he will complain to his employers.
Bade Khan goes to Skeffington Coffee. Estate for help the Proprietor arranges a hut for him. Here he lived with Pariah women. The villagers knew Bade Khan was sent by the government to report about the activist of the villagers.
Part -3
Moorthy and the villagers distributed charkhas in the village. The house of Rangamma had become the center of political activities.
Moorthy had refused to marry Vankamma’s daughter so she had developed hatred for him.
The Karwar congress committee from the city asked Moorthy to visit Jayaramchar.
Nanjamma refused to accept the Charkha but later accepted it.
The cotton was given free of cost.
Moorthy told the people that Mahatma spins for two hours daily.
The charkha becomes a means of living for them
When he was young Bhata was a poor man but now he was a rich man he was against Gandhi and the freedom fighter.
Earlier as a priest, he went to the marriage ceremonies.
Ramanna was the second Brahmin to go to the ceremonies. He was liked by the villagers.
Bhatta’s wife Savitari died. He then married the daughter of a rich landlord’s daughter.
In this way, he inherited a lot of money. This money he gave to the needy people. He charged them high interest.
Earlier he took an interest in Gandhi bhajans. Later he turned against Moorthy and Gandhiman of Kanthapura. He becomes a government agent.
The swami in the city told Bhatta to excommunicate those who spoke with the Pariahs.
On returning from the city Bhatta visited Rangamma's house he told her these movements were futile. The weaver's cloth were useless. The Pariahs will demand to enter the temple.
Rangramma did not agree with Bhata
Further Bhatta told her that girls in the city were unmarried though they passed their marriage-able age as they attend universities and that the Pariahs would soon demand to be equal to Brahmins.
Satamma and Rangamma could not believe it. They said the Mahatma would never support such evils, Mahatma had adopted a Pariah girl as his daughter.
The Swami was against all this. He deputed Bhatta to excommunicate all those who ming with the Pariahs.
Bhatta tells the spinning cloth was not a bad idea but educating and trying to uplift them is not good, but whatever he said, he could not convince her against Moorthy.
Then Kamalamma, Rangamma’s sister came with her daughter Ratna, Ratna was a widow.
Bhatta left, he didn’t like the ways of Ratna. Ratna didn’t live like a widow. She behaved like all the normal girls. If people reprimanded her, she told them it was nobody's suggestion that needs interference in her life. She clearly told them that a ‘ten-year-old girl’ seeing a man just for a day makes her a widow. She said such people should be ashamed of themselves.
Kamalamma also didn't approve of Ratna’s ways. She said people spoke ill about her because of Ratna. She regretted that because she spent Ratna at school, she behaved in such an absurd way.
Ratna’s father was Bhatta’s cousin. So he ignored what people said about Ratna’s modern ways.
The topic of being excommunicated was now an issue of discussion in Kantapura. Narsamma mother of Moorthy was worried. She feared Moorthy would be excommunicated by the Swami. She knew Moorthy. Moorthy would not stop mixing with the Pariahs.
Out of eleven children of Narsamma, only six survived. Her five daughters were married. Moorthy was her only son. He was a hope for her. Proposals of marriage come but Moorthy refused. He did not want to get married.
Moorthy’s mother wanted him to be highly educated and go for a good job but Moorthy left his studies incomplete. His mother was upset, but then she agreed with her son’s desire. He was rich enough. He could survive without a job also.
Part - 4
One morning Moorthy came from the city. He saw Ratna at the river. Rangamma was also not at her place. So he kept his khadi bundle and books in the congress room.
Going back to his home, he found his mother sitting. She had as yet not taken her bath. She did not allow him to touch her feet. She was treating him like a Pariah.
She asked him not to mix with the Pariahs. Swami excommunicated him. Now he needed to be Purified by Swami.
Then she left for the river. She returned and went to cook. She felt sorry she behaved in a rude way with Moorth. She went in search of him.
Bhatta come and told Narsamma that Moorthy had come to him. He scolded him saying, he had been telling people of being excommunicated.
He told Narsamma that Moorthy said he would continue doing work for the Pariahs, and that whatever Swami wanted to do, he could do.
Moorthy and his mother stopped talking to each other. His mother was getting thinner. Moorthy did not stop going to the Pariahs quarter.
Pattayya’s wife died. Moorthy carried her body for a while, and everyone saw this.
Bhatta came back from the city and told the people that Moorthy and his family were excommunicated, and not only that but the upcoming generations would also be excommunicated.
That night his mother died, she fell in a field in the night she died. Moorthy buried her in the field where she died.
As he was excommunicated, Moorthy refused to perform the funeral rites. He went to a far off where he performed his mother’s funeral rites.
When he returned, he lived at Rangamma’s place but he was treated like an untouchable.
Moorthy continued to be educated the Pariahs. He decided to go to the Skeffington coffee Estate to teach the Pariahs working there.
A large number of coolies had come to work at the coffee estate. The coolies were told that the Sahib was a nice man but things were different here.
They sat under the Banyan tree and the Sahib spoke rudely to them. The men were paid four annas and the women were given two annas, whatever the Maistri had told them was fake.
The owner Hunter Sahib died. After him, the nephew took over the estate.
The condition of the coolies was pathetic. They had to work continuously. They were given only ragi and water.
The men dug pits and the women killed the vernuns. One afternoon, they worked continuously. It was very hot. Here people suffered from different diseases, and many died.
They didn’t eat the medicines given by the Sahibs. The coolies were superstitious. They wanted to go back to their homes but they had no money.
The new owner was better than his uncle. He did not beat the coolies.
But he had a weakness for women. If a woman said ‘no’ to him, he used to ill-treat her and her family members.
After the incident of the death of a Brahmin girl, he did not dare to touch the Brahmins but with the Pariahs, he was the same. There were more Pariahs than Brahmins in the estate.
Bade Khan was at the estate. He helped the Sahib in Bringing girls to him. Here he did whatever he wanted.
Part - 5
One day when Moorthy went to teach the coolies at the estate, he was not allowed to enter. Bade Khan did not allow him to enter. Moorthy was determined to enter. Chaos started The crowd started abusing and beating. Moorthy tried to stop all these.
Vasudev, Gangadhar, and Maistri all came up Maistri beat the coolies.
Rachanna was a Pariah working in the estate because he supported Moorthy, he was thrown away from the estate.
He went to Kanthapura with his wife and grandchildren. At the request of Moorthy, range Gowda asked Timmaya to give him a place. Their Rachanna built a hut.
Moorthy started ‘don’t touch the government’ campaign. He decided to go on fast. He blamed himself for the violence, at the gates of Skeffington coffee estate.
Rangamma tried to stop him, but Moorthy was adamant to go on fast. Seenu also tried to stop him. Moorthy slept in the temple.
Venamma and Dore made fun of Moorthy. Ratna came to meet him. She wanted to help Moorthy. Moorthy asked her to pray so that the sins of others would be purified.
Ratna was only fifteen years old. She could not perceive what Moorty said. She would do as Moorthy told her.
Moorthy went weaker day by day. On the third day, he broke the fast. Bhatta accused him of pretending to be pious. The people sang bhajans.
From the coffee estate, only Vasudev and Gangadhar came to join bhajan.
Moorthy planned to make a Congress group in Kantapura. For this he went to Range Gowda, he knew without Ranga Gowda nothing would be possible. Moorthy said that all the members had to give four annas or two thousand yarns per year and that he would have to were khadi.
Initially, Ranga Gowda hesitated but later he agreed he was made a member of the congress. Other people were influenced by Gowda. They also joined the congress.
Venkamma, Rangamma, Patwari Nanjundi,school master Devarayya and Bhatta were against the Mahatma.
Few were against the Mahatma.
Moorthy went to all the quarters and requested each one of them. Weaver elder Ramayya, and potter Siddayya all joined the party.
At Pariah’s quarter, Rachamma was not at home. His wife requested him to come inside the hut. Moorthy had never entered the house of a Pariah. He hesitated but he entered. He was offered milk. He took a sip, but they were not convinced. So he decided to come again after Rachamma returned.
Returning to Rangamma’s house he told her everything, everything about entering the pariahs’s house and drinking milk. Then he asked her if he could enter the house. She asked him to enter from the other side. She asked him to take a bath and change his clothes and sacred thread and that he needed to drink Ganga water.
But when Moorthy said, it was no use, as he would keep going to the Pariah’s quarter.
The congress committee elected Moorthy, Range Gowda, Rachamma and Seenu were elected as a member. Gradually members increased.
Moorthy became popular. People respected him Bhatta could not bear it. He wanted to punish the people who followed Moorthy.
He charged a higher rate to the people when he lend the money on interest.
To impress Venkamma, Bhatta arranged her daughter’s marriage with Seenappa. Seenappa was an advocate his wife died leaving three children behind he was rich and aged.
This didn’t matter to Venkamma. She thought her daughter would live a happy life. Venkamma spends a lot of money. She gave a rich gift to her guests but Moorthy was not invited.
Moorthy gets arrested. It was the month of Kartik. People opposed the arrest of Moorthy. The policemen arrested the people.
Rangamma cried loudly. ‘Mahatma Gandhi Jay’ Rachamma was also arrested with several other villagers but they were released they were beaten badly.
Moorthy was taken to Karwar. Several advocates came forward to help him but Moorthy refused. They said he needed support from students from the town who collected money to help Moorthy.
In the meeting at Gandhi Maidan, several people delivered their speeches. Sankara, Rangamma and Dasappa said in their speeches that the government wanted to stop the movement. They also spoke of charkhas and Hindu-Muslim unity. The students in their speech said that Moorthy was arrested because he was a follower of Gandhi.
A follower of Gandhi said that there would not be Ramraj after the Britishers left. People hooted against him but he continued to say against Gandhi and Moorthy.
The advocate Rangamma said that the fight was between a saint like Gandhi and bribed Brahmins. Gandhi had given us all comforts. While the Brahmins feared that their identity in society would be lost. There Brahmin frightened the people of being excommunicated because they had allowed the Pariahs to enter the temple.
Rangamma was arrested. The people in the village came to know about the news through the newspaper and what was going on all around them. They now knew that Bhatta was an agent of government. Bhatta left for Kashi.
Rangamma went to Karwar to help Sankara arranged the paper. She did not stay with her cousin Seetha Raman. Venkamma made stories about her but Rangamma didn’t mind. She knew how she had to work for the congress.
Sankara was an honest advocate. He was not very rich. Even then he did not charge much. If he came to know that his client was guilty, he refused to take the case. His father was a follower of Gandhi. His wife had died. So his parents stayed with him.
He didn’t attend marriages. He demanded that at the marriage party, all should wear khadi, including the bridegroom. He had full faith that, “Hindi would become the national Language”. He was not against English but he was for the rights of language.
Rangamma returned from Karwar for the cattle fair. It was in the month of Magh. Rama Krishnayya died.
Part - 6
Moorthy’s imprisonment was increased for another three months.
After the death of Ramakrishnayya, Ratna read the Vedanta and Rangamma explained it to the villager. Earlier Ramakrishnayya explained the Vedanta text to the villagers.
Rangamma told the villagers how to meditate and hold their breath. She motivates the women of Kanthapura to form a group. The group was sevis. They worked for Congress, but not at the cost of household work. That they should be non-violent and that in any situation they should be calm.
Seenu also wanted to form a group by collecting the boys, but he could not convince them.
The harvest season had come. It was the month of Vaishakh. They prayed to the goddess Kenchamma. Moorthy was released. The people planned to give him an honourable welcome.
Venkamma could not accept all their celebration but then she could not openly oppose it. So she planned to get her daughter married on the same day. She succeeded in her plan.
Very few people were at the gate to welcome Moorthy but Moorthy didn’t come at the place planned. He was brought by car. He was at Rangamma’s house. They cried and shouted slogans in favour of Moorthy.
To avoid problems Rangamma and Ranga Gowda asked them to disperse quietly.
Moorthy tells the people about the Dandi March. That the Mahatma would walk to Dandi Beach. He would manufacture salt.
The villagers were anxiously waiting for the Mahatma. They gathered at Dandi Beach. They took a dip in the water.
Moorthy motivated them, to be honest and treat all men equally. He also asked them to spin one thousand yarn daily.
Salt was manufactured. It was distributed among the villagers. The people of Kanthapura also wanted to manufacture salt. They also wanted to fight for the nation but with non-violence. They were beaten but they were determined to support the Mahatma
The Mahatma was arrested. The people took the oath, ‘don’t touch the government’ campaign. He asked them not to pay the tax. He asked them to make a parallel government. They decided to pay the revenue to Patel Ranga Gowda.
The people of Kanthapura marched to Boranma’s toddy gove. They went with drums, trumpets and horns. Policemen tried to stop them. They continued shouting, ‘Mahatma Gandhi ki jai’ and ‘Vande Matram’.
The satyagrahis were arrested. They were beaten. They didn’t spare the women and children. All were sent to jail.
The people had brought a toddy tree and(check handwritten notes pg no -7). They felt having these was like winning a trophy Venkamma made fun of this but the villagers were very happy with this achievement.
The satyagrihis planned to go on strike on the market day of Kantapur. So they went to the coffee estate they lay on the ground. The policemen asked the coolies to tramp the satyagrihis.
The coolies refused to tramp the satyagrihis the policeman then whipped them mercilessly.
Moorthy and many satyagrahis were arrested. They were taken to the promontory. The rest returned to Kantapura.
Many coolies came to Kantapura. The followers of Gandhi, the villagers were asked not to drink. The people agreed not to drink.
Many toddy shops were closed. They refused to pay the tax to the government. Those who were against the Mahatma paid the revenue.
The villagers hid their property so that the policeman would not get their property. They feared that the policemen would surely come to seize their property as these people were not paying the revenues.
The policemen didn’t come but one morning the streets and lanes of Kanthapura were barricaded. The people were asked to pay the punitive tax.
They were asked to pay one rupee and three paise or they would have to say the tax. They added that those people who would create chaos would be prisoned.
Things became delicate, the satyagrihis were determined to face all challenges to attain the mission.
So they planned that if any guest, or police came to threaten any of them then they would ring the bell. Hearing the bell others would come to help them.
The torture of the policemen and government increased. The coolies were forced to join the coffee estate. They were tied up and made to walk with their heads bent down. This was beyond xxxxx but they had to bear it.
This was not the end of the suffering of the freedom fighters. Women were raped and molested. In the mid of the night, men were picked up and sent to jail.
Shrieks and shouts were heard all around. The atrocities of the police increased.
Elephant was hired to break the house of Rangamma. Her house was sealed. Moorthy was arrested again.
Ratna now becomes the leader of the satyagrahis. Boys from the city came to help the people of Kantapura. It was announced that those people who would not pay the tax on their land would be auctioned.
On the other Satya Narayan pooja was being planned at Ratna’s place. The people from the city assured the villagers that their land would not be auctioned. Some people blamed Moorthy for all these sufferings.
Two carts were kept in Swami’s background. This was done to avoid the people to see the preparation of the procession. In between the people cried, “Satya Narayana ki jai” The policemen come to stop the procession but when they saw it was a religious procession, they didn’t interfere.
Ratna blew the conch. She burned the camphor. The policemen tried to know as to where the procession was being led to, but they could not find out. The people kept shouting “Vandematram - Vandematram” and “Satya Narayan Maharaj ki jay”.
And then from Brahmin Street, Pariah Street and Weaver’s Street came the cry, ‘Mahatma Gandhi ki jay’. Many people were hiding. They all came to join the procession. The policemen were shocked and very angry. They didn’t know what to do. They were helpless.
The policemen attacked the Satyagrahis with lathis but this had no effect on them. Many were killed and many wounded. They kept walking to Maddur. The wounded stayed behind at Maddur others moved to Mysore. They decided to settle at Kashipur.
One year and a half passed. Nothing changed the condition of Kashipura and Kantapura remained the same.
People moved to different places -
Sitanja and her daughter Nanja left for Malur at Chikkama’s house. They were searching the house. They were searching for a bridegroom for Nanja.
Rachamma’s wife Raihi lived in Kanthanahalli at Patel Chandrayya’s house.
Timmamma and the narrator Acchakka remained at Jodidar Seetharamiah’s house.
All were living a peaceful and normal life for the time being.
Rangamma was to be released and so would Seenu and Ratna. Ranga Gawda returned to Kanthapura his wife was at Patel Chennue Gowda’s place. He returned to Kanthapura to get the Jewels that he had dug in the earth. He went back to Kashipura and told the people about the bad condition of Kantapura.
Men from Bombay had built houses. Bhatta had sold all his land. He had gone to Kashi.
Mahatma signed a pact with the viceroy. On the pact, Moorthy was released. Freedom struggle was suspended. The people did not like the idea. They felt Gandhi was cheated by the Britishers.
Mahatma was going to Britain. It was said that on his return, he would bring ‘swaraj’.
The people could not forget the sufferings but they had the hope that things would change and they will get their ‘swaraj’.
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