Chapter V

X H E REAL IN

NARAYAN'S NOVELS

CHAPTER - V

The Real in Narayan’s Novels

/ always speak the truth. Not the whole because there's no way, to say it all. Saying it all is literally impossible: words fail. Yet through this impossibility- that the truth holds onto the real

J acques Lacan

There is nothing that can be called as "self', and there is there is no such thing as "mine'' in the world

Lord Buddha

Lacanian concept o f the real is a complex and difficult issue

but once discussed along with the categories o f the imaginary

and the symbolic, as Lacan himself did in a lecture (in 1953)

called “Le Symbolique, le imginare et le re’el” (The symbolic,

the imaginary, and the real), it becomes obvious that the real is

“that which never ceases to write itse lf’. The real cannot be

reduced to meaning because “it does not lend itself any more

readily to univocal imaginary representation than it does to

symbolisation” .1 It is primarily due to its discussion in

isolation, and not in relation to other Lacanian categories, that

has given rise to various misunderstandings: some interpret it

as a ‘slide into irrationality’ whereas others identifying it ‘with

traum a’ make it a cause o f fear and anxiety’. However, viewed

from Lacanian perspective every individual in life has an

1 En. W i k i p e d i a . O r g . / w i k i / T h e J R e a l

158

‘intuitive experience’ o f the real in such phenomena “as the

uncanny, anxiety, the nonmeaningful, and poetic humour that

plays upon the words at the expense o f meaning”. As a result

o f it, when the framework o f ‘the imaginary wavers’ and when

‘reality’ no longer appears organized by the ‘fantasy screen’,

the experience o f the real emerges in a way that is unique for

each person.2

Viewed in this perspective love, beauty, truth and God are

some o f the evident instances of the Lacanian real. In the Hindu as

well as Christian tradition - which Narayan seems to adhere in his

novels - love has been identified with God and gods. Lacan too

identifies gods with the domain o f the Real and strongly believes

that the gods are the mode of the revelation o f the Real.3

2 Ibid.

For a details study o f N arayan 's adherence to various theo log ica l traditions o f India see,

G opinath Kaviraj. Aspects o f Indian Thought. W est Bengal: T he U nivers ity o f

Burdwan, 1966. pp. 77 - 71; Paul Edwards. The Encyclopedia o f Philosophy.

London: M acm illan Publish ing Co., 1972. v o l .3, pp. 3 4 6 - 47; H ans-G eorg Gadamer.

Truth and Method, Garret Barden and John C u m m in g (ed ) , N e w York: Seabury

Press , 1975, p .349; Robert E. Carter. God. The S e lf and Nothingness, Reflections:

Eastern and Western, N e w York: Paragon H o u se Publishers, 1990; S.

Radhakrishnan. Indian Philosophy, London: G eo rg e A llen and U n w in Ltd., 1929,

V o l . 1, pp.4 4 9 ; T.P. Kasulis. Zen A ct io n / Zen purpose, H onolulu: T he University

Press o f H awaii, 1981, p.21; Ram Swarup. Hinduism vis- a- vis Christianity And

Islam, N e w Delhi: V o ic e o f India, 1992; M a d e le in e Biardeau. Hinduism: The

Anthropology’ o f Civilization, Oxford: O xford Univers ity Press , 1995; Dany N obus.

Jacques Lacan and the Freudian Practice o f Psychoanalysis, London &

Philadelphia: R outledge , 2 0 0 0 .

159

Like Lacan, the Hindu perspective puts forward the notion

that love is transcendence of thought and language. In fact, it is

stepping into pre-linguistic or pre - reflective moment, living in

eternity outside time and it transcends primordial subject-object

duality. It demands a jum p into no mind i.e., a zone or realm that is

beyond the linguistic notions and explication. The domain of

thoughts, desires, imagination and all kinds o f ego-projections

make up the mind, which is itself, a principle o f alienation.4 Here,

it is important to mention that the Sanyasi - ‘...Sanyasies who

have renounced...’5 ‘ ...Yogis can travel to the Himalayas just by

thought ...(TG , 32)’- or ascetic o f Narayan leads simple life

keeping away from the material world and always remains in

search o f the ultimate. His only purpose o f life, as discussed

4 For a detailed analysis o f this aspect see. Jean Guitton. E ssays on Human Love.

London: Rockliff, 1951; Margaret Berry. “ R K Narayan: Lila and Literature”.

Journal o f Indian W riting in English, 4,2 (1976). pp. 1 -1 1; Bruce Fink. The

Lacanian Subject: Between Language and Jouissance, Princeton: Princeton

University Press, 1995; J. Dany Nobus. K ey C oncepts o f Lacanian

P sych oan alysis , London: Rebus Press, 1998; The B hagavad Gita, trans.

Bibek Debroy, London: Penguin Books Ltd., 2005 and Sri Sri Paramahansa

Yogananda. Journey to Self-realization , Kolkata: Jaico Publishing Flouse,

2007.

5 Devi Chand. The A tharvaveda. N ew Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt.

Ltd., 1989, p. 43 & 185.

160

elaborately by Ashok Kumar Jha, is to please God.6 He lives

outside language and thus shares undoubtedly in true sense the

realm o f Lacanian real.

R. K. Narayan gives his own concept o f Sanyasi saying:

W h en o n e is se ized with a passion to understand o n ese lf , on e has to

leave behind all normal life and habitual m o d e o f thought, one

b e c o m e s an ascet ic . . . sanyasi. A sanyasi is o n e w h o renounces

every th in g and u n dergoes a com p le te ch a n g e o f p erson a lity .7

He is no longer a subject in Cartesian sense because he

transcends his desiring self-consciousness and becomes witnessing

self or a mirror that simply reflects whatever comes to pass through

it. We know saints remain detached from the samsaric becoming or

worldly concerns as a result o f which attaining sainthood or

becoming a saint means to regain the lost paradise that we lived in

prior to our entrance into the mirror stage.

It is true that Psychoanalysis does not understand love’s

spiritual reality but deals only with its purely psychological

aspects. However, Freud and Lacan did not aim at the ‘cure’ o f the

patient, by drugs instilled from outside but helped a person to love

and love, as we know, does the trick o f healing. Love, in Indian

6 Ashok Kumar Jha. R. K. Narayan: M yths and A rchetypes in His N ovels , Delhi: B.R.

Publishing Corporation, 2000, pp. 92 - 120.

7 AIR Interview on September 8, 1961 published in Writers Workshop M iscellany , 8

(1961), p. 50.

161

mystical perspective, is not to be identified with a certain feeling or

emotion. It doesn’t belong to the domain of psyche but to the spirit.

We must remember that spirit isn’t governed by the laws o f the

psyche with which Lacan deals in his theory.

It is important to note that love alone cures our split subject

and the miseries in which an individual is caught once he /' she

enters into the symbolic order or the law-of-the-father. Love is not

desire but an escape from all determinations and conditionings

which are associated with desire. It demands sacrifice, the sacrifice

of ego and, therefore, presupposes transcendence o f ego and,

therefore, demands acceptance of fate, as there is no desiring

willing se lf that wishes things cut according to its own measure. It

is not a rejection o f the law o f desire or symbolic domain but

transcendence o f them. Without getting attached in any way to the

worldly conceptualization or pleasures, the samsaric becomes a

loving person while moving in the world. Lacan too believes that

love is to give; it is a continual act o f self-sacrifice and an escape

• 8from personality. It is absolute and unconditional giving, a

crucification, and denial o f all claims of self. Accordingly, lover

8See, the Sem inars o f Jacques Lacan , Book II and Jacques Lacan. The Four

F undam ental C oncepts o f Psychoanalysis, trans. Allan Sheridan, N ew York:

Norton, 1978.

162

just is: his action is no action because he has only needs but not

demands and desires and also because he has no need o f

recognition from the Other, a reciprocal act o f love from the

Other9. It is an open death o f se lf for the sake o f the Other. It is to

be written or constituted by the Other and the Big Other is God, the

totality. It is dissolution into the whole, the existence and,

therefore, the notion o f love logically follows from the recognition

o f the illusoriness o f ego that is Lacan’s fundamental tenet.

While analyzing the concept o f God in R. K. Narayan Ashok

Kumar Jha indicates in his famous book, R. K. Narayan: Myths

and Archetypes in His Novels, that for Narayan God is the Supreme

power behind the creation and regulation o f the universe. He

believes that the Town Hall Professor who sits cross-legged on the

parapet and delivers a spiritual message to the small circle o f

listeners best expresses the notion of God. He says:

S o w h y worry about anything? G od is in all this. H e is on e and

in d iv is ib le . H e is in yesterday, tom orrow , and today (P S , 25).

Similarly, the master o f the tiger in A Tiger fo r Malgudi

describes God as -

T he Creator, the Great Spirit pervading every Creature, every rock and

tree and the stars, a source o f p ow er and strength . . .G o d m ust be an

9 See, Dany Nobus. Jacques an d the Practice o f P sychoanalysis , London: Roulledge.

2000, pp. 123 - 140.

163

e n o rm o u s tiger, spanning the earth and the sky, w ith . . . im m easurable

strength to m atch (T M , 1 5 7 - 158).

In the novel, it is also interesting to see how master

experiences the absurdity of existence. He tells the tiger:

I w a s a m an o f the w orld , busy and act ive and l iv in g by the c lock ,

scrutin iz ing m y bank book . . . on e day it se e m e d all w rong, a

se n s e le s s repetition o f activ it ies . . . and abruptly shed everyth ing

and fled a w ay from w ife , children, h o m e , p o s s e s s io n s all o f w h ich

se e m e d in to le r a b le . . . (T M , 161).

This act enables the master to enter into the Lacanian Real.

Since, Narayan’s characters live in Malgudi, Shantha

Krishnaswamy rightly points out:

W h en Narayan thinks o f M algudi. o f India, it is not in terms o f a

polit ica l or e c o n o m ic but as a spiritual e n t i ty .10

Narayan describes the follies and irregularities as well as

the empty revolts and dreams o f the Malgudi folk. He finds

majority o f them trapped in their illusions, wooing their ladies,

worshipping the self constructed gods or idols, hankering after

wealth and power, gossiping, entertaining and doing a thousand

other things. But there are jolts in life, the great experiences of

nothingness that awake men from their dreams and slumbers. He

10 Ashok Kumar Jha. R. K. Narayan: M yths an d A rchetypes in His Novels, Delhi:

B.R. Publishing Corporation, 2000, pp. 73 - 74.

164

deftly shows many o f his heroes such as Raju awakening from

these dream s." Accordingly, his fiction has been treated as

allegories and odyssey o f self-discovery, the discovery o f love.

Dreams are given up and all passion spent. Life employs its built in

ironic devices that trims individual instincts and ambitions.

In Narayan’s novels, irony underscores a fundamental

fact o f human existence that our instincts and aspirations are

subject to the tantalizing nature o f the society or the external world,

that we are more or less Don Quixotes living with our Lady

Dulcineas or fighting with wind mills. In these novels, tradition,

society or collective self totally has the final word and the fate

plays a perpetual hide and seek with man’s emotions and ambitions

I ̂ 'in order to shed their illusions ultimately. “ In contrast to Faustian

and Promethean unbridled aspirations or figures who represent

11 For a detailed study see, Jayant K. Biswal. A C ritica l Study o f the N ovels o f R. K.

N arayan: The M algudi Comedy, N ew Delhi: Nirmal Publishers and

Distributors, 1989; S. Krishnan. M algudi Landscapes: The Best o f R. K.

N arayan , London: Penguin Books. 1992; P.K.Singh. The N ovels o f R. K.

N arayan: A C ritica l Evaluation , New Delhi: Atlantic Publishers and

Distributors, 2001. pp. 65 - 74; Dieter Riemenschneider. The Indian N ovel in

English: Its C ritica l D iscourse (1934 - 2004), N ew Delhi: Rawat

Publications, 2005, pp. 163 - 280; M. K. Naik. A H istory o f Indian L iterature ,

N ew Delhi: Sahitya Akademi, 2005. pp. 160 -166 and S.R.Ramteke.

R .K .N arayan, New' Delhi: Atlantic Publishers & Distributors Pvt. Ltd.. 2008.

12 See, for details, Jayant K. A C ritica l Study o f the N ovels o f R K N arayan , New

Delhi: Nirmal Publishers and Distributors. 1987.

165

tragedies o f desires and transgression, Malgudi world presents an

amusing sense o f life with its small dreams and defeats. Jagan’s

words are worth mentioning:

W e are b lin d ed b y our attachments. Every attachm ent creates a

d e lu s io n and w e are carried aw ay by it (T V S . 138).

They represent the governing logic o f nemesis that

characters meet in his fiction.

There is no room for individual sentiments in Narayan’s

worldview. His protagonists assert their identities in the face of

cruel world that always defeats their expectations, aspirations or

dreams. Raju’s yearning for Rosie, Sampath’s ambitious projects,

Ravi’s impossible vision of beauty and Raman’s passion for a

woman who can’t love are certain example o f frustrations of

individual aspirations. Unfortunately, the world is not cut

according to human desires, aspirations or demands.13 In mystical

perspective ego surrenders other, to the big Other that constitutes

us. The other, non - I, is from an Eastern perspective the final

resting place, the vision o f God or Enlightment, realm o f Real.14

b See, Shantha Krishnaswamy. The Woman in Indian Fiction in English (1950-80),

N ew Delhi: Ashish Publishing House, 2001.

14 For details see, Jayant K. Biswal. A C ritica l Study o f the N ovels o f R K Narayan: A

M algudi Com edy, New Delhi: Nirmal Publishers & Distributors, 1987 and

The B hagavad G ita , trans, Bibek Debroy. N ew Delhi: Penguin, 2005, pp. 18

- 4 3 .

166

In his book, A Critical Study o f the Novels o f R K Narayan:

A Malgudi Comedy15, Jayant K Biswall makes it clear that

Narayan’s protagonists, who are ordinary men and women, move

out o f their ordinariness in order to make life more pleasurable and

meaningful. They passionately cling to a life that time and again

betrays and batters them. He explicates the fact that Narayan treats

not only individual’s experiences, but also a collective, social

experience: we come to know that it is not only the life story of

Swami, Chandran, Raju, Jagan and others; it is the saga o f a vast

Malgudi experience. Narayan portrays the diverse experiences of

an average human existence - dreams, anxieties, actions,

frustrations and so on in a manner in which

. . . i t is not the phrase that lingers in the m em o ry as the th ing i t s e l f . . .

W ords are m erely a plain g lass through w h ich on e see s the th in g s 16

While depicting the characteristic features o f the people of

his imaginative Malgudi, Narayan tries to inculcate in the mind of

the reader that man dreams big dreams without realizing that these

dreams remain ‘fantasies’ only because in this existential world

15 For details see, Jayant K. Biswal. A C ritica l Study o f the N ovels o f R K Narayan: A

M algudi Com edy, N ew Delhi: Nirmal Publishers & Distributors, 1987.

16 P.S. Sundaram. R. K. Narayan, New Delhi: Arnold-Heinemann India, 1973, p. 135.

167

outside, the human sufferings lead man back to the consciousness

o f one’s nothingness. Most often one realizes the futility o f his

experiences in the world where peace and salvation can be attained

easily but in some situations and instances which remain beyond

the comprehension o f ordinary mind. As Biswall rightly argues

while discussing The Guide that Malgudi remains the only true

image o f baby in Raju who after experiencing the toughness o f life

gets a new birth into spirituality in order to attain and experience

what can be called the Lacanian Real. Raju in the novel is not

hostage to the traps and illusions of symbolic domain but an

incarnation o f childhood, representing innocence o f becoming a

transcendental visionary who neither identifies him self with the

ego nor possesses any individual demands or aspirations. He

desires less, does not feel absence or lack o f anything, and in the

journey o f life proves to be whole. He doesn’t need any trapping

into the symbolic order as he hardly feels his requirement for

him self and trusts existence. Against the ordinary human being,

Raju flows with life, instead of imposing his patterns on life as a

result o f which, through love, beauty and joy, he connects the

world with the Supreme Being, who remains above all worldly

168

concerns and other limitations, reaching very close to the Lacanian

Real.17

Raju is not a distinctive or unique but perhaps typical

example o f how Narayan’s heroes initially fail to stand with their

stupidity and rebel against all social constrictions that thwart their

freedom: their actions embody their existential defiance against the

universe but in the process they fall into incongruous and absurd

situations in relation to their society. They also overstep their

limits, forget the reality o f their stations, and traverse along a path

of follies and misadventures. They seemingly throw the social

stability into peril and return to the fold o f social, the apparent

disasters resulting from their unbridled impulses and instincts of

the hero to build up tension. However, while we laugh at the

eccentricities and absurdities o f these characters, Narayan

affectionately presents the various existential compulsions that

confront them. He accepts life and human nature and operates

within a definite social framework with roots in traditional and

17 For a detailed study o f the spiritual growth o f Narayan's heroes see, Ganeswar

Mishra. "The Holy Man in R.K. Narayan's Novels'", Journal o f L iterary

Studies , 2,2 (1979), pp. 91 - 110 and D.W. Akkinson. '"R.K. N arayan's A

Tiger fo r M algudi: A New Way o f Expressing an O ld Theme". Journal o f

South A sia L iterature 20 (1985), pp. 237-242, and Chitra Sankaran. The Myth

Connection: The Use o f Hindu M ythology in Som e N ovels o f Raja Roa and R.

K. N arayan , New Delhi: Allied Publishers, 1993.

169

18 •moral values. He lifts common, ordinary men and women and

fills them with their human ambitions, desires and flaws.

Margayya, Raju, Jagan, Vasu, and many others are bound to their

obsessions and thus exist in states o f ritual bondage. A thorough

analysis o f the novels in which these characters figure shows that

their obsessions are wealth, money, son or some other common

human aspirations.

Narayan, however, takes some o f his characters beyond ego

and its imaginary props by making them experience sad things or

bitter facets o f life that are at the very human existence. He places

them in a situation where they admit the painful fact that man is

living in an ironical universe whether it is the painful process of

aging, or death of a grandmother, whether it is disintegration of

Jagan’s dream and ideals compelling ordeal and Raju are woven

into one fabric o f life as inevitable facts o f life, these are accepted

not with bitterness but with humility.19

18 M.K. Bhatnager. New> Insights into the N ovels o f R. K. N arayan , N ew Delhi:

Atlantic Publishers and Distributors Pvt. Ltd., 2008.

19 For more details see, Amar Nath Prasad. Indian W riting in English, N ew Delhi:

Sarup & Sons Publishers, 2002; Mohammad Ejaz Alam. R. K. N arayan and

The Inhabitants o f M algudi, N ew Delhi: Rajat Publication, 2005 and Chhote

Lai Khatri (ed). R. K. Narayan: Reflections an d R e-evaluation , New Delhi:

Sarup & Sons Publishers, 2006.

170

In Narayan’s novels, one also finds such characters who

experience frustration and madness due to their impossible dreams

or passion or limitless desires. In The Guide, for example, Raju’s

obsession with the dancer Rosie, whom he dubs ‘lovely and

elegant’ (TG, 65), is the best illustration o f an individual’s

aspiration for endless passions and unlimited desires. This

philosophy o f Narayan is apparent even in Mr Sampath when the

old man, the landlord of Sampath and Srinivas utters the following

words:

. . .W h e n I b e c o m e a handful o f ash what do I care w h o takes m y purse,

w h o cou n ts m y co in s and w h o locks the door o f m y safe , w'hen m y

b o n es lie b leach in g , w hat matter i f the door o f m y h o u se is left

u n lo ck ed (M S , 170).

We also learn in the novel about the fate o f Srinivas’s friend,

Ravi, who comes to believe that the actress in the mammoth

Malgudi film-epic, The Burning o f Karma is the woman o f his

dream and turns mad with jealousy, destroying the film. The result

is that he, like Raju, ruins his all possessiveness and family life and

ends up as a sanyasi to attain freedom o f soul and thus gets

transferred beyond the illusory empires o f ego and imaginary.20

In The English Teacher, one notices the hero turning almost

insane, as he could not bear the absence o f his object o f love.

However, the reader soon realizes that for the same hero Susila

becomes an embodiment o f divine power that brings a

transformation in him and enables him to establish a union even

after death, through spiritual communion: the ascendancy o f the

individual psyche is that to annihilate the terrible reality o f time

itself. In this context, A.V. Krishna Roa remarks:

K rish n a’s p sy c h ic perception o f S u s i la 's spirit f inds favour w ith the

traditional b e l i e f o f the V is ish ta -A d va ita that r e c o g n iz e s the individual-) |

sa lvation as freedom from this m undane existence."

At the end o f the novel Krishna reaches a kind o f harmony, a

solace beyond joy and sorrow:

A c o o l b reeze lapped our faces. The boundaries o f our personalit ies

su d d en ly d isso lv ed . It w a s a m om en t o f rare, im m utab le joy - a

m o m e n t for w h ich one fee ls grateful to Life and D ea th .22

20 Amar Nath Prasad. C ritica l Response to R. K. N arayan , N ew Delhi: Sarup & Sons

Publishers, 2003, pp. 102 - 107 and Ashok Kumar Jha. R.K. N arayan: Myths

an d A rchetypes in His Novels, Delhi: B. R. Publishing Corporation, 2000, pp.

9 0 - 120.

21 See, AV Krishna Roa. Indo- Anglian N ovel and the Changing Tradition. Mysore:

Roa & Raghvan Publication, 1972. p. 77.

172

These and other such illustration, multiple in the

novels lead us to conclude that Narayan too believes in the

universal truth o f the Lacanian Real according to which the

intuitive, the unconscious psychic, or even the spiritual

factor in m an’s life implies his realization o f unification with

the Absolute Reality that cannot be judged by any means

even language as it is always above the linguistic signs,

conception or domain.“ It can only be felt and experienced

at the pragmatic or empirical domain because like death it is

to be comprehended not in the physical sense but in the

transcendental sense. Susila’s spirit tells Krishna:

B e t w e e n thought and fu lf il lm ent there is no interval. T hought is

fu lf i lm en t, m otion and everything. That is the m ain d ifferen ce betw een

our ph ysica l state and y o u r s . . .M u s ic d irectly transports u s . . . I think o f

the subtlest perfum e and it already pervades m y b e in g . . . the real part

o f the th ing is that w hich is in thought, and it can never be lost or

destroyed or put a w ay (ET, 131-132) .

Further, she informs Krishna:

22 R.K. Narayan. The English Teacher. Mysore, Indian Thought Publication, 2007,

p. 184. All subsequent references, given in parenthesis (as ET), are from this

edition unless otherwise stated.

23 R.K. Narayan. The English Teacher, Mysore, Indian Thought Publication, 2007.

p. 184. All subsequent references, given in parenthesis (as ET), are from this

edition unless otherw ise stated.

I think I lo o k the sam e as on earth. O nly free from all a i lm ents , i lls and

cares (ET, 132).

The evident sacrifice element is seen when Krishna resigns

from the college saying:

I’m se e k in g a great inner peace. 1 find 1 can 't attain it un less I

w ithdraw from the adult world and adult w ork into the world o f

children. A n d there . . . is a vast s torehouse o f pea ce and harm ony (ET,

183).

These illustrations make it evident that Krishna’s

experiences and suffering are beyond the words to capture as it is

an anxiety that corresponds to Lacanian notion o f real.

The Bachelor o f Arts as already analysed in previous

chapters, is a romantic tale of two lovers. Narayan him self calls it

an “optical communion” .24 In this novel, Chandran falls in love

with Malathi and wants to experience love with her to an

inexplicable extent. It becomes evident from the assertions that he

makes during the night. In fact, once ‘the thought o f her melted

him to such an extent that he clutched his pillow and cried in the

darkness: “Darling, what are you doing? Do you hear me?(BA,79).

There are countless other instances — such as “She had no

double in the world” (BA, 83); “He tried to force his mind to think

24 James Dale. “The Rootless Intellectual in the novels o f R K Narayan”, R.K.

N arayan: C ritica l Spectrum, Bhagwat S. Goyal (ed), Meerut: Shallabh Book

House, 1983, p.89.

174

o f other things.... Staring was half the victory in love” (BA, 55-

61);“Probably going to bed; blessed those pillows or probably ...

crush her in his arms”(BA, 71) which reveal how Chandran is

completely lost in M alathi’s love and can’t focus on any other

activity. He is engrossed in such a blissful state that cannot be

easily defined and. described because this ‘anxiety’, in Lacanian

terms, is beyond the grasp of words or signs of language. We

realise about this ‘very disturbing phase’ o f his life when he fails to

express his inward pent up feelings and his passions remain

unexplored due to societal and parental forces. He loses his dream

girl — and the Lacanian object o f love, home and even his own

excitement and passion — and he finally ends in frustration, chaos

and despair, becoming a sanyasi who wanders for a life free from

distracting illusions. Narayan says:

W h en he w a s hungry and found n one to feed h im , he usually dragged

h im s e l f about in a w ea k , and enjoyed the pain o f h u n g e r . . .” (B .A ..

107-108) .

Chandran fits in Lacanian Concept o f Real as a frustrated

lover, liberated soul and sanyasi who searches for a state free o f all

worldly attachments and possessions.2'"'

25 See, Sri Sri Paramahansa Yogananda. Journey to Self-rea liza tion , Kolkata, Jaico

Publishing House, 2007.

175

Similarly, The Guide all along presents Rosie as a puzzle for

Raju because his attraction towards her remains throughout as

indescribable and inexplicable. Words fail to explain what or how

he felt in her company, their passion and love for each other and

how she reciprocates in terms of as his object o f love, passion and

jo u issance . From the innocent days of childhood to the days of his

later experience, Raju undergoes innumerable experiences related

mainly to an instinctual way of living without any respect for social

ethics. In a long series o f unscrupulous acts, falls in love with

Rosie, seduces her, drives out his mother, forges Rosie’s signatures

and at last plays on the beliefs o f innocent villagers. His entire

career becomes one of deception and he is gradually led to its

heights where he must meet the inevitable Fate o f being doomed or

being resurrected. It is because o f the inherent goodness in him and

the unique mask that he wears that Raju is metamorphosed from an

impostor to a compulsion of his martyr. His life takes a dramatic

turn when he meets Rosie and after this incident, he is engaged in

perpetual conflict with the society or the world outside. For the

satisfaction o f his libidinal instincts, he offends not only Marco,

but also his mother, uncle and Gaffur and the whole Indian

Tradition.

176

The element o f possessiveness is very clearly evident in The

Guide. Here, Raju is greatly possessive about Rosie, never for once

stopping to think that she is married to the person whom he hates

for being associated with her. He even contemplates on terminating

his links with Gaffur because he doesn’t like his association with

Rosie. The height o f obsession is reached when he even

contemplates on Rosie and Marco’s sexual life and feels inclined to

barge into the privacy o f their bedroom saying: “I praised her art

whenever I could snatch a moment alone with her and whisper in

ea r...”(TG, 9). ‘By and by’ as pointed out rightly by P. K. Singh,

26Raju gets close to Rosie’ and the impact o f Rosie is so much on

him that even in his loneliness he could feel ‘the girl’s scent filled

presence’ (TG, 68). Raju couldn’t control and communicated the

fact to Rosie that ‘...life is so blank without your presence’ (TG,

73). In fact, he becomes Rosie-centric and his own universe gets

shrunk because o f this he becomes mentally prepared to sacrifice

everything for Rosie. Likewise, even Rosie’s love increases toward

Raju and she ‘blindly entrusted her everything’, completely is lost

in the world o f her lover and art." Rosie too demands Raju's

26 Pramod Kumar Singh. Five C ontem porary Indian N ovelists , Jaipur: Book Enclave,

2001, p.97.

27 O.P. Mathur. “77ze G u ide : The Novel and Film”, C ritica l R esponses to R. K.

N arayan , Amar Nath Prasad (ed). N ew Delhi: Sarup & Sons, 2003, p. 35.

177

company more and more even in front o f her husband. She once

goes to the extent o f saying: “Come along ...Y ou are not going to

leave me to mercy o f prowling beasts.. .”(TG, 78). For Rosie too,

Raju was always her true object o f love. While soaring more and

more heights in love, she once voices her inner saying: “Here at

least we have silence and darkness, welcome things, and something

to wait for out o f that darkness’' (TG, 79). Here, Raju reacts saying:

I w a s o v e r w h e lm e d by her p er fu m e .. . Her bright e y e s sh on e am idst the

fo l ia g e . S h e p u lled m y s le e v e and w hispered e x c ited ly . ‘S o m e th in g -

W hat can it be . . . w o n ’t y o u be m y sweetheart? ' (T G , 79 )

Raju’s profound obsession o f Rosie can be viewed when

Raju sleeplessly thinks:

. . .D i d they sit up in bed and fight or did she fatigue h im w ith a curtain

lecture? I w anted to cry out. 'oh. master, what do you do to her that

m a k es her sulk like this on rising? W hat a treasure y o u have in your

hand, w ith ou t rea liz ing its worth..." '(TG. 80).

Raju’s expression o f love toward Rosie is voiced in these

lines:

I praised her dancing . I spoke out m y lo v e , but san d w ich ed it

co n v e n ie n t ly b e tw een m y appreciations o f her art. I sp o k e o f her as an

artist in on e breath, and continued in the next as a sw eat h ea rt . . . (T G .

84).

He further says: “I looked her up and down and ventured,

‘The finest, whatever it may be, and I don’t believe in class or

178

caste” (TG, 84). Raju says that she wanted a man like him who

would prove ‘a live husband’ (TG, 85). On listening to this

assertion o f Rosie, he ‘sighed deeply, overcome with the sadness of

her life’ (TG, 86). Raju realized that ‘there was an appeal in her

eyes’ (TG, 86). In Raju’s love, she sees ‘the world’ and

experiences ‘ecstasies’ (TG, 87). Now Raju turns fully mad in his

love toward her. He says:

A ll m y m ental p ow ers w ere n o w turned to keep her w ith in m y reach,

and keep her sm il in g all the tim e, ...1 w o u ld w i l l in g ly have kept at her

side all t im e as a sort o f p arasite . . ."(TG. 118).

He makes a promise with her stating:

. . . I w il l do any th ing for you. I w ill g iv e m y life to see you dance. Tell

m e w hat to do. 1 w il l do it for y o u ” (TG . 1 2 1 -1 2 2 ) .

Raju’s love compels her to leave Marco permanently

and come into Raju’s lap. He finds her one day outside his

door. He feels happy and cries: “Here is Rosie! She is going

to be a guest in our house...” (TG, 140).

It is Raju’s love which strengthens Rosie to become brave

herself and come straight to Raju for experiencing more and more

o f love in his lap. Here, she is absolutely free from the symbolic

domain o f the love for father or social restrictions and she does not

even experience the imaginary because she is not wavering

179

between either / or so far as relation with Marco and Raju is

concerned. She is totally absorbed in love and, like Lacanian

concept o f it wants always to gain more and more in love. It is a

phase beyond the description of linguistic domain and realm of

signs because it cannot be explained or elucidated through any

medium o f expression. It can only be felt silently.

In Indian mystic tradition to which Narayan belonged,

though he may not have confessed it directly, the ‘ sanyasi has no

name, no class, no ancestry as he is a free soul, a mukta atma and

28any kind o f bondage is foreign to his nature’. Indian culture,

philosophy and society acknowledge and recognize such people

with respect and faith, and according to Narayan, “ ...A sanyasi is

one who renounces everything and undergoes a complete change of

personality...A sanyasi is a wanderer living on alms, never rooted

to any place except when he seeks the seclusion o f a cave or a

99forest at some stage o f prolonged meditation.”"

Vivid and clear examples of sanyasi protagonist appear in

most o f N arayan’s novels including The Guide, The Bachelor o f

28 Amar Nath Prasad & S. John Peter Joseph. Indian W riting in English: C ritica l

R um inations, N ew Delhi: Sarup & Sons, 2006, p. 33.

29 R. K. Narayan. A Tiger o f M algudi. Chennai: Indian Thought Publication. 2004, p.

138. All subsequent references, given in parenthesis (as TM), are from this

edition unless otherwise stated.

180

Arts, The Financial Expert, The Vendor o f Sweets, Waiting for

Mahatma and The Painter o f Signs. In The Guide, Narayan not

only exposes the modern man’s hollowness but also explores those

saintly qualities o f man that raise him above the self with no

binding o f linguistic compulsions. Here, man carries an unfractured

psyche and stays in the realm o f real only to act as a redeemer of

mankind. Though his actions are not always guided by any religion

or anti-religious inspirations, his transformation takes place under

circumstances beyond his control and access. The hero’s worldly

life, the life o f desiring se lf appears just meaningless and futile

once he attains spiritual elevation. It is a fact that his suffering

becomes a kind o f ‘payment for his spiritual health and honour’30.

He reaches a desire free world of cosmic consciousness radiant

with the principles o f austerity, universal love and sacrifice. Raju’s

life illustrates m an’s perpetual quest for happiness, which he attains

only after transcending the limitations o f the ego and the lure of

worldly pleasures to seek fulfillment in universal love and

sacrifice. The Guide, thus, narrates man’s metaphorical journey

from the bondage o f this sphere, showing how the killing o f se lf

30 Gajendra Kumar. Indian English Literature: A P erspective , N ew Delhi: Sarup &

Sons, 2001. p. 26.

181

and ending o f desire transports an individual into the world of

Reality.31

It is important to note that it is only when Raju transcends

his self interests, desires and worldly pursuits and sympathizes

with the needs o f suffering people hit by severe drought becomes

attuned to the cause o f larger humanity. We know that his hunger

strike enabled him to attain the impossible: He says that he is

staying ‘for the first time, outside money’ in order to ‘bring rain to

-J2upon the hills’' . God and such noble ideals o f behaviour form a

state that is outside language. Lacan believes that the obsession for

the Other, the craved things lead us to tragedy. The same is very

obvious in The Guide when Raju’s pursuits o f material gains

compel him to name his fractured psyche’s concerns only to inflict

him suffering and despair; it constantly causes his degeneration and

degradation. What is remarkable in the novel is in fact the part in

Radhakrishnan. The Hindu View o f Life, London: Unwin Books, 1963; S.

Radhakrishnan. The Principal U panisads, New Delhi: HarperCollins

Publishers India, 2000; Saryug Yadav. "The Guide: A Journey to the Soul o f

India”, Indian N ovelists in English: C ritica l P erspectives, Amarnath Prasad

(ed), N e w Delhi: Sarup and Sons, 1971, p.27; Robin Rinehart. C ontem porary

Hinduism: Ritual, Culture, an d P ractice, California: ABC- CLIO, 2004 and

The B hagavad G ita , Trans. Bibek Debroy, London: Penguin Books, 2005.

pp. 19 - 85 and 233 - 257.

32 Mithilesh K. Pandey. Akcidemi A w arded N ovels in English- New Delhi: Sarup &

Sons, 2003, p.68.

182

which we find Raju, the worldly man, turning into a swami to

perform saintly act o f penance in order to ‘reach the ultimate

reality’33, he negates the world of egoistical pleasure to seek in an

act o f goodness and God becomes the goal o f his life. From the

empirical reality, he journeys to world o f eternal cause and his

•>/<soul’s return forms part o f Lacanian realm o f real. It is in a state

o f sainthood only that Raju’s assertions appear like words of

scriptures. While advising Velan’s sister, we find that in Raju’s

advice Lacanian Real is in operation. He, as an ascetic says:

. . . . 'W hat m ust happen must happen; no p o w er on earth or in heaven

can ch a n g e its course, ju st no on e can ch an ge the course o f that river'.

T h ey g a zed on the river, as i f the c lu e to their p rob lem s lay

th e r e . . . (T G , 22) .

Like The Guide, the novel, The Painter o f Signs is highly

pregnant with the evident instances of Lacanian real. Like Raju,

Raman ‘had liked Daisy... preferred’ to sit with her ‘without

interruption...liked to look at her’ (PS, 31-32). Her thought would

33 N.R. Gopal & Suman Sachar. Indian English P oetry & b ic tion : A C ritica l

E valuation, N ew Delhi: Atlantic Publishers and Distributors, 2006, p. 1 7.

34 Sri Swami Sivananda. What Becom es o f The Soul A fter D eath , U.P.: The Divine

Life Society, 1989; Ashok Kumar Jha. R. K. Narayan: M yths a n d A rchetypes

in H is N ovels , Delhi: B. R. Publishing Corporation, 2000, pp. 92 119 and

Agarwal & M.P.Sinha. M ajor Trends in the P ost - Independence: Indian

English F iction , New Delhi: Atlantic Publishers and Distributors, 2003.

pp. 189-191.

mean ‘a sudden racing o f his pulse’ (PS, 41) and he would smell

her body and her ‘perfume, reminiscent o f some strange herbs’ (PS,

42). Raman shares his experience saying: “She had touched him ...

Till yesterday I was a free man with my mind unfettered. Today I

am unable to think about any other subject. She has even deprived

me o f ... mental ca lm ...” (PS, 44). These and other illustrations in

the narrative o f the novel prove that Raman is enamoured of Daisy

and cannot stay without her. He seems rather mad, confused and

frustrated and says:

H e w o u ld be saved i f she did not flash her e y e s on h im . . . T he e y e w as

really the source o f m isch ief . O n e 's thoughts fo l lo w e d what the eye

saw. T h ou gh ts d e v e lo p ed from sight. He w o u ld w ear co lou red g lasses

so that she m igh t not note w here he w a s lo o k in g (P S . 41) .

He was so mad in her love that ‘at the thought o f her, he was

conscious o f a sudden racing of his pulse’ (PS, 41). He buys a pair

o f sunglasses and the lenses are uneven and full o f errors.

Everything looks grotesque. Seen ‘through the dark, smoked glass’

(PS, 42) even Daisy looks ridiculous. He finds her no less than a

demoness, heavy jeweled and grinning with the uneven, jutting -

out teeth. The result is that Raman is disillusioned and comes to the

conclusion - “To keep one’s mind pure” (PS, 43).

184

The novel also reveals how Daisy becomes his object o f love

and like Rosie, tells him once “come, dear to my side . . .” (PS, 45);

“I have no freedom ... This is true love - sickness...” (PS, 46)

which prompts him to say: “She is planning to eat me up” (PS, 47)

and “Her eyes seemed to acquire extra brilliance in that sunlight”

(PS, 49). It is also important here to mention that Daisy acts like

Rosie at Raman’s home. When Raman says: “I am sorry, I don’t

have chairs; we mange with mats.” She replies: “Oh, what does it

m atter...” (PS, 55). Raman understands that “Love is blind. It

probably also deadens the wits and makes one dumb. One likes to

please the other at any cost. . . .” (PS, 63). Once it so happens that

they together were at a shrine and Raman prays: “May Daisy be

mine without further delay. I cannot live without her” (PS, 77).

Raman whispers: “D on’t fear, it’s only me, my sweetheart. D on’t

torment me . . .” (PS, 93). Soon we find him saying: “ I love you, I

like you” (PS, 125).

Like Raju, Raman turns Daisy-centric as he him self says:

“ ...w asting him self in Daisyism” (PS, 137). Like Raju, Raman

talks like a blind lover for whom it is difficult to find any hurdle

between him self and his beloved that may separate them from each

other. He states:

185

N o th in g m ore than the nam e o f a f low er , that's all . . . on ly k n o w that

her n am e is D a isy . I have not thought o f a sk in g w hether she is

Christian or what. N e v e r occurred to m e to ask, that's all. I'll ask you

not to bother about it. She is a human b e in g just like you or m e, that's

all. 1 like her very m uch (PS , 147).

These illustrations very vividly prove that like Raju, Raman

wavers and to him reality itself, including his relation with Daisy,

does not seem to appear organized by the ‘fantasy’ screen as Lacan

would call it but emerges in a way that seems unique to him and,

therefore, inexplicable in ordinary linguistic or social terms. This

characteristic feature o f an individual’s ‘unique’ experience is

labeled by Lacan as the Real as Narayan in his mystic tradition

calls it sanyasi, experiences of love and passion. Even Raman’s

aunt refers to such a vivid experience in the narrative of the novel

which shows clearly that the Lacanian notion o f real is here

evidently in operation. She says:

A darshnam o f the G od in Badrinath. and i f p o s s ib le to Amarnath,

w h ere the lingam is shaped in ice. 1 w o u ld n 't care what happened to

m e or to the w orld after 1 have seen the h o ly p la ces and dipped into the

G a n g es from its birthplace all a lon g its course , until 1 end m y

p ilgr im age in Benares. After this 1 shall want noth ing m ore in life

(T P S , 151).

186

Her visit to the mentioned will end her all desires and she

will experience a state that is beyond the description o f linguistic

domain.

Even Raman during his carrier several times offers to write a

signboard for The Boardless Hotel, but the proprietor resists the

offer. The Boardless, according to the narrator, is the solid and real

world, which suggests that reality is without a label. This is what

Lacan believes while arguing that the real can’t be confined to

linguistic signs or notions as it is always beyond all human

comprehension.33

The Vendor o f Sweets too exhibits numerous manifestations

o f the Lacanian Real. The novel primarily deals with Jagan’s

tremendous love for his only son Mali who abandons school and

goes to America for becoming a writer. His fatherly feelings are

thrown into still greater confusion when a year or two later he

comes back with a half- Korean, half-American wife and a

grandiose scheme for marketing a novel-writing machinery. Jagan

is fully confused and is confronted by the new world shockingly.

35 Rudi Keller. A Theory o f Linguistic Signs, N ew York: Oxford University Press.

1998 and Niall Lucy. Postm odern L iterary Theory: A n thology , Oxford:

Blackwell Publishers, 2002.

187

The tragic- comic clash of generation deepens and he escapes

finally from the galling chains of paternal love.

Remarkable about Jagan is the fact that he not only sells

sweets but also preaches some philosophy. In fact, the novel opens

with his philosophy:

C onquer taste and you will have conquered the s e l f .. . ( T V S ,7).

Even when we see Jagan busy in accumulating plenty of

wealth; it is only for making his future life and son’s career bright

one. Unfortunately, it is the same son who smashes his all hopes to

ground hardly caring for any aspirations o f his father.

To Jagan, M ali’s whole project appears useless and beyond

any scope o f yielding any profit either to the family or to the

individuals even. As a result of his indifference, Jagan is informed

by Mali that his would be wife wants to go back as according to

her she has no work for which she had arrived in India. This

disturbs Jagan and breaks his reactive and unexpected attitude and

turns him heavily dejected. The novelist states:

Jagan w a s for a m o m en t confused . He reaffirm ed his faith in his son in

the loudest terms p oss ib le . . . He had a lw a y s got h im w hatever he

w anted . . .a f te r the boy lost his m other (T V S , 3 6 -3 7 ) .

Jagan further believes:

188

E very gift o f life you are b lessed with; w hat n inety out o f a hundred

p e o p le crave for - m oney; and what a hundred out o f a hundred crave

for - contentm ent. Y et you have not m astered o n e th ing that is the art

o f lo o k in g happy. Y o u are a lw ays lo o k in g lo v e w orn (T V S , 4 3 -4 5 ) .

After realizing how Mali has done harm to his aspiration, the

novelist states:

. . .h i s m ind w a s too full o f con fu s ion and quest ions . He felt hum m ed

in: the room had lost its original appearance and looked like an o f f ic e

in a foreign c o u n tr y . . . (T V S . 78 -79) .

Jagan’s comfort was lost and Narayan says:

Jagan’s m in d w a s in turmoil; at the t im e he had a fe e l in g that his

identity w a s undergo ing a change. I f that w a s so; w h y should he bother

or resist the idea? C om m itted to various th ings . . . he w a s no longer the

father o f M ali (T V S , 121 - 122).

Here the imaginings o f symbolic and desiring economy

collapse and one approaches the real beyond desires and

constructions o f mind. To quote Jagan:

I d o n ’t care w hat he d oes . I am g o in g to w atch a G o d d e ss c o m e out o f

stone. I f I d o n ’t like the p lace, I w ill g o a w a y so m e w h e r e e lse . I am a

free man. I have never felt m ore determ ined in life. I am happy .. .

E veryth ing can go on w ith or w ithout m e. T he w orld d o e s n ’t co l la p se

e v e n a great f igure is assassinated or d ies o f heart failure. Think that

m y heart has failed, that's all (T V S . 1 84-185) .

His renunciation is his escape from his personal anxieties or

what William Walsh indicates:

189

Jagan ’s renunciation o f the world, then, is o f a p iece w ith the Indian

tradition. But he adm its that he is a lso pushed into it by his personal

c ircu m sta n ces .36

Mahatma Gandhi says:

R enunciat ion o f objects w ithout the renunciation o f desires , is short­

lived , h o w e v e r hard you may b e .37

On the whole, we find Jagan experiencing a transformation,

o f his whole ‘se lf . He realizes that everything in this world

transcends an illusion or an illusory act. In this way, he attains a

state o f the Lacanian Real because he transcends his desires,

aspirations and demands. He no longer hankers after worldly

possessions. In fact, we feel his plight but fail to put it in linguistic

signs or to voice it because in him, we find a person who has

nothing to cherish or to look for. He is now an enlightened being

who has entered the realm that is hard to explain and undoubtedly

36 See, William Walsh. R K Narayan, New Delhi: Allied Publisher Private Limited,

1983, p. 150.

31 See, M K Gandhi: An A utobiography , Ahmedabad: Navjivan Publishing House,

1984, p.9.

190

beyond linguistic domain; it remains beyond human

comprehension.38

The Financial Expert also focuses on the question o f human

desire that completely destroys the hero. It is only towards the end

that the eyes o f the hero open and he realizes that nothing carries

significance in this, world which is full o f illusion. He believes that

neither wealth nor love for one’s son or o f any possession earns a

*permanent joy or pleasure for a person. According to him the real

joy lies in staying desireless and away from all worldly concerns as

happens in Lacanian state o f the real.39 Even Raman, the hero, in

the novel, Dark Room is blindly obeyed, loved and respected by his

wife, Savitri who even after becoming aware o f the fact that her

husband is infatuated with Santa Bai, his new office assistant

hardly changes her love towards him. She after her husband’s

repeated cynical irrational behaviour, and violent teasing goes to a

dark room in his house where she moons and sulks. Soon she

comes to know that possessiveness leads to suffering and in

38 Ranga Rao. M akers o f Indian Literature: R. K. N arayan. N ew Delhi: Sahitya

Akademi, 2004, pp. 85 - 88 and Mohammad Ejaz Alam. R. K. N arayan A nd

The Inhabitants o f M algudi. N ew Delhi: Rajat Publications. 2005.

39 See, John B. Alphonso - Karkala. “ Symbolism in The F inancial Expert". Indian

W riting Today, 1 1 (1970). pp. 14 18; M.K. Naik. “Irony o f Fate in R.K.

Narayan's The Financial Expert". Orbit. 1, I (1982), pp. 30 - 39 and Veena

V. Mohod. “Narayan's World o f Values in The F inancial Expert". The Quest.

15, 1 (2001), pp.58 - 68.

191

desperation and frustration, she leaves her home only to realize the

bitter truth. Ultimately, she gives up her pride, her illusions and

thus enters the Lacanian realm of real.

Narayan’s another novel, The English Teacher, is highly

loaded with Lacanian brand of Real, and in the words o f K. R.

Srinivasa Iyengar it is:

A ch astened R o m e o married to a sen s ib le Juliet, this is a ' lo w e r . . .

m id d le c la ss ' Ferdinand enacting married lo v e w ith a rather unesoteric

M iranda.40

Like Raju and Raman, Krishna also turns terribly lovesick,

severely mad and finally loses his own se lf entirely after his object

o f love, Susila, dies. We come across the psychic communication

of Krishnan with the soul o f Susila, his dead wife. Narayan, like

Lacan, believes that nothing is impossible for pure blind lovers and

presents Krishna fetching her wife back from heaven on the earth

on account o f his platonic love. Krishna states:

Her c o m p le x io n had go ld en g low ; her e y e s sparked w ith a new7 light,

her saree sh im m ered with blue in terw oven w ith Light as she had

term ed it . . . H o w beautiful!"(ET, 184)

40 K.R.Srinivasa Iyengar. Indian W riting in English, N ew Delhi, Sterling Publishers

Private Limited, 2003. p.367.

192

It is important to note here that following the Lacanian

concept o f love, Narayan presents Krishnan-Susila affair in a

conscious way. Krishnan very strongly smells Susila’s presence

even in non-living objects that concern her in one or the other way:

“I sm elt...a mild jasmine smell surrounded her and all possessions

ever since I had known her” (ET, 20). Further, we find a romantic

love scene on the railway platform where the reunion brings a glow

on his face:

I g a zed on m y w ife , fresh and beautiful, her hair sh in ing , her dress

w ithout a w rinkle on it, and her face fresh . . .

I looked at her and whispered:

O n ce again in this saree. still so fond o f it (ET. 33).

He says on his return from college, he would find:

. ..hair dressed and beflow ered , faces e legan tly pow ered (ET. 36).

My mind unconsciously quoted:

" 1 w a s h igh ly elated. The fresh sun. m orn ing light, the breeze, and m y

w if e ' s presence , w h o looked so lo v e ly - e v e n an unearthly lo v e l in e s s -

her tall form , dusky co m p le x io n , and the sm all d iam on d ear-rings

Jasm ine , ja sm in e . . . I w il l call you Jasm ine, hereafter” (ET, 53).

Remarkable is Krishna’s imagined world tour in which he

tells his beloved “You must see everything.. .”(ET, 56). Very

193

conscious and strange is also Krishna talks about Susila’s

appearance in front o f the image o f God Srinivas: “ ...M y

w ife...shone with an unearthly brilliance. Her cheeks glowed...I

felt transported at the sight o f i t .. .”(ET, 64). After Susila death, for

Krishna, ‘Malgudi becomes a tragic place’41 for Krishna. He turns

blind and his life, becomes meaningless. Talking about himself

after her w ife’s death, he says:

M y fe e l in g s w ere all in a m ess. I don't k n o w w hether I w a s happy or

u n h a p p y . . . (TE, 109).

Hence, the strange love affair between the two reminds one

o f the journeys from the mundane empirical passion to a serious

realization o f the eternal, spiritual and transcendental or what can

be termed as development from the Lacanian symbolic to real. It is

truly a world which is free, absolute and perfect.42 Hence, it is

beyond linguistic conception.

The ultimate aim of Narayan in The English Teacher,

therefore, is his quest for a positive philosophy of life and

attainment o f spiritual maturity. In this context, it is important to

look at the following a mystic sign o f truth:

41 A.V.Krishna Rao. The Indo-Anglian N ovel A nd The Changing Tradition. Mysore:

Rao & Raghvan Publication, 1972, p.77.

42 Sivananda. What Becom es o f The Soul After Death, Himalayas: The Divine

Society, 1989 and M. Hiriyanna. Outlines o f Indian P h ilosophy , London:

Allen and Unwin Publication, 1932.p. 12.

194

. . . Let her cry till she brings d o w n the sky. I am g o in g to treat m y s e l f

as dead and m y life as a new' birth. Y o u will see - I d on 't k n o w i f that

hermit m ight m y death, after all, in that s e n s e . . . ( E T , 166).

Further, we find him saying:

I tell you , friends, no m ore o f this w i fe and fam ily for m e. Y o u m ay

treat m e as o n e w h o has taken Sanyasa A sh ram a (ET, 168).

Krishnan personally experiences the presence o f strange

spiritual forces:

T heir de licate arom a filled every particle o f the air. and as I let m y

m ind float in the ecstasy , gradually perceptions and se n se s d eepened .

O b liv io n crept o ver m e like a cloud. T he past, present and future

w e ld e d into o n e (ET, 183).

Narayan’s A Tiger fo r Malgudi is developed under the

influence o f philosophical Indian myths, allegorical mask and

religious parable. It shows a belief in the pure spirit o f Flinduism, a

better understanding o f Hindu’s myth o f Bhasmasura or The

Vendor o f Sweets, composed in the Hindu concepts o f cyclical

existence and the four stages of human life. The religious tradition

is the prime concern and the spirit o f social consciousness remains

a backdrop here. Raja, the tiger, is the hero o f the novel who comes

out better than most human beings. Religion is once again a major

concern in the novel and Narayan probes into the sanctity o f the

terms Sanyasi, Sadhu, Yogi or Swamiji indicating more or less the

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same state. Narayan says that a sanyasi is one who renounces

everything and undergoes a complete change o f personality. Why

one would become a Sanyasi is not easily answered — a personal

tragedy or frustration, a deeply compelling philosophy o f life, or a

flash o f illumination may drive one to seek a change.

Whatever the cause, when one becomes a Sanyasi one

obliterates one’s entire past only to experience oneness with God.

A Sanyasi therefore is to be taken as he is, and not asked or

questioned about his earlier life, nor need he to refer it because in

that case everything would sound chaotic. Once a person turns a

sanyasi, he is supposed to have liberated or redeemed him self from

all possessions and humanities. Among certain sects, the man will

even perform his own funeral ritualistically before becoming a

Sanyasi. A Sanyasi is thus a wanderer living in alms, never rooted

to any place except when he seeks the seclusion o f a cave or forest

at some stages for prolonged meditation. Thus, he lives outside the

4 3symbolic world. '

Viewed in this context, it sounds strongly unexplainable that

the novel, A Tiger fo r Malgudi, opens with an aged tiger Raja lying

in its cage contemplating on its past, its cubhood and wild days in

the jungle, and later life from a film shooting camp and wanders

43 See, K. Natwar Singh. A Tiger fo r Malgudi: The Times o f India. August 7, 1983.

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into the town. The terror- stricken public attempts to get it shot; an

ascetic appears on the scene and adopts as a companion after

protecting it. Its master becomes a Sanyasi. Narayan shows, how

credulous people, like the villagers in The Guide keep blind faith in

his sainthood even after his protest. Before going to attain

Samadhi, the master explains religious philosophy o f Hindu’s in a

nutshell saying:

N o relationship , hum an or other, or a sso c ia t io n o f any kind could last

for ever. Separation is the law o f the law o f l ife right from the m other's

w o m b . O ne has to accept it i f one has to live in G o d 's plains (T M ,

174).

The novel vividly highlights the glimpse o f Lacanian real

and glory o f Hindu Society and philosophy.

The lover in The Painter o f Signs feels very protective

towards his beloved. When their affair has been consummated, he

overcomes with tenderness and she becomes serene, a totally un-

Daisy like quality:

Her angularities and se lf-a sser t iven ess w ere g o n e . He w as struck by

the e le g a n c e o f her form and features, su d d en ly sa w her as an

abstraction— perhaps a g o d d ess to be w orsh ipped , not to be disturbed

or d ef i led w ith coarse fingers (PS, 175).

His he-man temperament undergoes a transformation. He

understands his role as a classic commitment to being both father

and mother to the woman he loves. She on her part ceases being

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Goddess Durga battling against the demons. She matches Raman in

her appreciation o f his tender, protective attitude towards her. Here,

the background o f Hindu metaphysics deepens the commonplaces

o f life into sublimity. Narayan evolves a concept o f love that

emphasizes the transcendental power o f love, rather than its

immediate physical allure.

Daisyism invades Raman’s life so deeply that he turns

him self upside down to get her favours, agrees to the strange and

impossible conditions she lays down for a marriage and generally

makes a fool o f himself. This shows how love blinds a lover and

thus he shuns aside all individual identity o f him self and seeks

something which is in fact beyond the domain or capture of

linguistic devices. This state is truly Lacanian real, as it is

inexpressible and beyond the usual human comprehension.

The lover, Raman, for her sake, tears up his roots, defies his

old aunt who took care o f him ever since he lost his parents in an

accident. His same aunt refuses to live with them in the ancestral

home. Hers is the classic objection: “What is her caste? What is her

history? She ran away from home. Don't you know all that...? A

girl who finds her parents intolerable! Those who are orphaned

pray for parents while this girl...”(PS, 154) But she hardly knows

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that love doesn’t observe any consideration. For Raman, ‘she is a

rare type o f girl’; ‘she is a good girl’ (PS, 153).

Leaving him desolate, she decides to go on a journey to

Benares and to spend the remaining days of her life, vowing not to

come back to a home defiled by him and Daisy. This is similar to

Jagan's flight from his house. Flence, she too experiences delusion

and as such corresponds to Lacanian state o f Real.

In N arayan’s novel, we find usually mother’s affection

towards her son is purely Lacanian in nature because it is

undoubtedly above linguistic conception and description. For

instance, Swami’s mother, Lakshmi, Chandran’s mother and

Raju’s mother all represent those ideal Indian mothers who love

their children blindly and can’t feel at rest if ever anything

untoward happens to their dear ones.44 In the Western context one

may not be fully acquainted with this concept but in oriental

philosophy and literature we usually come across those mothers

whose love for children remains inexplicable. Narayan, in Malgudi,

projects the only true image of a microcosm within macrocosm of

Indian tradition, presents such diverse situations and events where

the innocent, pure and transcendental notion of life transcends the

44 See, Neeraj Kumar. Women in the Novels o f R. K. N arayan , Delhi: Indian

Publishers’ Distributors, 2004, pp.33 - 4 2 .

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se lf or ego in mundane sense. Since such situations remain

incomprehensible and remain individualistic, one can include these

in the realm o f the Lacanian real.

It needs to be mentioned here that though the instances o f the

Lacanian Real traced in the Narayan’s novels amply reveal the

reliability and authenticity o f our conceptualization, these instances

also reveal the influence of the Indian mystical thought on

Narayan. Mysticism and Lacan sharply part ways in their

conception o f reality and liberation from mundane worldly

passions and desires Lacan in the strict sense o f the term believes

in impossibility o f liberation whereas in Mystical tradition it is the

ultimate goal o f human achievement. However, Lacan’s

importance for understanding Narayan’s philosophy cannot be

denied because in the description o f human condition Lacan offers

quite useful insights and which converge in large measure with

Indian world view, though in descriptive and diagnostic rather than

prescriptive ways. Both Lacan and Indian mystics believe in the

illusoriness o f ego and all its subterfuges, both posit transcendence

o f ego regime, and both condemn the too much attachment to

passion and desire. As a result o f it, in both cases the access to

‘inexpressible’ is denied because language can lead only to the

symbolic realm and fails to go beyond it. Again, Lacan is not a

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mystic and one can’t claim that his psychological insights are

similar to mysticism. For Lacan it isn’t possible to step outside the

samsaric flow o f events to be a detached witness, to rest in

Transcendental One, to enjoy the repose o f being that transcends

all becoming. For Lacan, ascetic withdrawal isn’t an option. Lacan

is preoccupied with body and psyche while as Narayan is

ultimately concerned with spirit. Flowever, both agree that in the

human development there comes a stage when an individual fails to

decide between either / or, his language does not help him to grasp

the reality in an organized way. In such situations the events,

incidents and images emerge in such a way that an individual in its

own intuitive and unique way decides the future course o f action.

This is the Lacanian Real and Narayan’s Sanyasic transcendence or

Mukti which can be experienced but not explained in words, signs

and symbols.