Manifestation of Self-realization in Raja Rao's The Serpent and the Rope

Abstract

Raja Rao is one of the three founding pillars of Indian writing in English, along with R. K. Narayan and Mulk Raj Anand. Rao‟s oeuvre was distinct from his contemporaries because he attempted incorporate Indian metaphysics and philosophy into his fictional work. Raja Rao‟s second magnum opus The Serpent and Rope, the Sahitya Akadamy Award winning novel, appeared in 1960. It is very complex and may-sided novel. The narrative closely mirrors Rao‟s own life. It has an autobiographic quality, the protagonist Ramaswamy, a young Hindu Brahmin narrates his own tragic triangle love story. The novel is too philosophic that it has become complex. There are lines very difficult to get meaning out of it at first reading. For instance two very important phrases: “Waves are nothing but water. So is the see” and “Meaning is meaningful to meaning” these prove how brilliantly and intellectually Rao has chosen his diction. The quest for the ultimate reality is a metaphysical quest, and it forms the heart of the novel. Rama constantly reasons about such metaphysical verities as illusion and reality. He exposes the significance of the journey towards self-realization. Thus, the world is the illusion and the self is the truth. Once the truth is known then sorrows and miseries do not affect the man.