Sense And Sensibility Of The Gandhian Myth In Kanthapura

Indian Sense and Sensibility of the Gandhian Myth in Kanthapura

The topic of this thesis is “Indian Sense and Sensibility in the Fiction of Raja Rao”. Before we proceed further, it will be in the fitness of things to throw light on the words ‘sense’ and ‘sensibility’. According to Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, ‘sense’ means: “a feeling about something important”1 (p.1392) and ‘sensibility’ according to this dictionary means: “the ability to experience and understand deep feelings, especially in art and literature”2. In this context, Indian sense and sensibility in the novels of Raja Rao means the novelist’s ability to ‘feel’ India as an important country and his ability to understand India as a nation and experience it not in geographical terms, but in physical, emotional, social, moral, religious, philosophical and metaphysical aspects of the life of people of India at large. The concept of ‘sensibility’ emerged in the 18th century Britain and was closely associated with the “studies of sense perception as the means through which knowledge is gathered”.3

William Walsh in his book Indian Literature in English interestingly traces Indian sensibility in the language of R.K. Narayan. He opines: “Narayan’s language is beautifully adapted to communicate… an Indian sensibility”, and that: “his writing is distinctive blend of western technique and eastern material, and he has succeeded in a remarkable way in making an Indian sensibility at home in English art.”4

Indian