Bharathipura

Perhaps the most significant work in caste literature since Premchand’s Godan (1936), Bharathipura reveals U.R. Ananthamurthy’s preoccupation with moving beyond caste and class interests.

First published in 1973, Bharathipura is about the practice of untouchability in a traditional society that is evolving into modernity through new economic forces brought in by a certain class of people. When the town’s wealthiest landlord returns home, multiple realities unfold. Violent and unexpected events follow Jagannatha’s attempts to revolutionize everyone and everything by linking his own transformation to the changes he wishes to orchestrate. Emotional, fast-moving, and deeply philosophical, this novel by one of India’s most famous living authors, himself the grandson of a priest, confronts every kind of reader with India’s greatest tragedy: caste.

While Susheela Punitha’s translation retains the cultural and linguistic power of the original, the Introduction by N. Manu Chakravarthy sketches the contextual map of the work. The interview with the author unveils his rare worldview.

About The Author
U.R. Ananthamurthy, a teacher of English literature and one of India’s leading contemporary writers, does all his creative writing in Kannada. A Jnanpith awardee and author of five novels, including the widely acclaimed Samskara (English translation, OUP 1976), he has six collections of short stories, five collections of poems, a play, and sixteen volumes of critical writings. He was Vice-Chancellor, Mahatma Gandhi University (Kerala) and President, Central Sahitya Akademi.

Susheela Punitha has taught undergraduate and postgraduate courses in English language and literature. Her publications include children’s fiction for UNICEF and coursebooks in spoken English.

N. Manu Chakravarthy, a leading literary critic, teaches English at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels in Bangalore and has edited an omnibus of U.R. Ananthamurthy’s writings.