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	==External links==		==External links==
	~~{{Portal\|Literature\|India}}~~
	*[http://www.therajaraoendowment.org/ Raja Rao Website], sponsored by the [http://www.therajaraoendowment.org/project.html Raja Rao Publication Project] at the University of Texas.		*[http://www.therajaraoendowment.org/ Raja Rao Website], sponsored by the [http://www.therajaraoendowment.org/project.html Raja Rao Publication Project] at the University of Texas.
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	{{DEFAULTSORT:Rao, Raja}}		{{DEFAULTSORT:Rao, Raja}}

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{{Short description|Indian-American English writer}}
{{Use Indian English|date=February 2020}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2014}}
{{Infobox writer 
| name = Raja Rao
| image = Raja Rao.jpg
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1908|11|8}}
| birth_place = [[Hassan, Karnataka|Hassan]], [[Kingdom of Mysore]], [[British India]]<br/>(now in [[Karnataka]], [[India]])
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2006|07|08|1908|11|08}}
| death_place = [[Austin]], [[Texas]], U.S.
| occupation = Writer, professor
| language = [[Kannada]], [[French language|French]], English
| alma_mater = [[Osmania University]]<br/>[[University of Madras]], [[University of Montpellier]]<br/>[[Sorbonne]]
| period = 1938–1998
| genre = Novel, short story, essay
| notableworks = ''Kanthapura'' (1938)<br>''[[The Serpent and the Rope]]'' (1960)
| awards = {{Plainlist}}
* [[Sahitya Akademi Award]] (1964)
* [[Padma Bhushan]] (1969)
* [[Neustadt International Prize for Literature]] (1988)
* [[Padma Vibhushan]] (2007)
{{endplainlist}}
| signature =
| signature_alt =
| website = {{URL|therajaraoendowment.org}}
| portaldisp = no
}}
'''Raja Rao''' (8 November 1908 – 8 July 2006) was an [[Indian Americans|Indian-American]] writer of English-language novels and short stories, whose works are deeply rooted in [[metaphysics]]. ''[[The Serpent and the Rope]]'' (1960), a [[Autobiographical novel|semi-autobiographical novel]] recounting a search for spiritual truth in Europe and India, established him as one of the finest Indian prose stylists and won him the [[Sahitya Akademi Award]] in 1964.<ref>{{cite web|title=Conferred Sahitya Akademi Award in 1964|url=http://therajaraoendowment.org/bio.html}}</ref> For the entire body of his work, Rao was awarded the [[Neustadt International Prize for Literature]] in 1988. Rao's wide-ranging body of work, spanning a number of genres, is seen as a varied and significant contribution to Indian English literature, as well as World literature as a whole.<ref>{{cite web|title=University of Texas acquires Raja Rao's archive|url=http://www.thehindu.com/books/books-authors/university-of-texas-acquires-raja-raos-archive/article8736876.ece|work=The Hindu|access-date=17 June 2016}}</ref>

==Biography==

===Early life===
Raja Rao was born on 8 November 1908 in [[Hassan, India|Hassan]], in the [[princely state]] of [[Kingdom of Mysore|Mysore]] (now in [[Karnataka]] in [[South India]]) into a [[Kannada language|Kannada]]-speaking [[Brahmin]] family<ref>{{cite news|title=Success stories of a few Indians in America|url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/cover-story/story/19800731-success-stories-of-a-few-indians-in-america-821293-2014-01-20|publisher=India Today|access-date=2 December 2014}}</ref> and was the eldest of 9 siblings, with seven sisters and a brother named Yogeshwara Ananda. His father, H.V. Krishnaswamy, taught [[Kannada]], the native language of Karnataka, at [[Nizam College]] in [[Hyderabad]]. His mother, Gauramma, was a homemaker who died when Raja Rao was 4 years old.<ref name ="Guardian"/>

The death of his mother when he was four left a lasting impression on the novelist – the absence of a mother and orphanhood are recurring themes in his work. Another influence from early life was his grandfather, with whom he lived in Hassan and Harihalli or Harohalli).{{fact|date=February 2020}}

Rao was educated at a [[Muslim]] school, the Madarsa-e-Aliya in Hyderabad. After [[matriculation]] in 1927, he studied for his degree at Nizam's College. at [[Osmania University]], where he became friend with [[Ahmad Ali]]. He began learning French. After graduating from the [[University of Madras]], having majored in English and history, he won the Asiatic Scholarship of the Government of Hydrabad in 1929, for studying abroad.{{fact|date=February 2020}}

Rao moved to the [[University of Montpellier]] in France. He studied French language and literature, and later at the [[Sorbonne]] in Paris, he explored the Indian influence on Irish literature. He married Camille Mouly, who taught French at Montpellier, in 1931. The marriage lasted until 1939. Later he depicted the breakdown of their marriage in ''[[The Serpent and the Rope]]''. Rao published his first stories in French and English. During 1931–32 he contributed four articles written in [[Kannada]] for ''Jaya Karnataka'', an influential journal.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEkxbarO7AQ | title=Interview with Novelist Hassan K Raja Rao by Prof C D Narasimhaiah (From the Archival of AIR Mysuru) - YouTube | website=[[YouTube]] }}</ref>

===Nationalist novelist===
Returning to India in 1939, he edited ''Changing India'' with Iqbal Singh, an anthology of modern Indian thought from [[Ram Mohan Roy]] to [[Jawaharlal Nehru]]. He participated in the [[Quit India Movement]] of 1942. In 1943–1944 he co-edited a journal from [[Bombay]] called ''Tomorrow'' with Ahmad Ali. He was a prime mover in the formation of cultural organisation ''Sri Vidya Samiti'', devoted to reviving the values of ancient Indian civilisation. {{fact|date=February 2020}}

Rao's involvement in the nationalist movement is reflected in his first two books. The novel ''Kanthapura'' (1938) was an account of the impact of [[Gandhi]]'s teaching on [[nonviolence|nonviolent]] resistance against the British. Rao borrows the style and structure from Indian vernacular tales and folk-epics. He returned to the theme of Gandhism in the short story collection ''The Cow of the Barricades'' (1947). ''The Serpent and the Rope'' (1960) was written after a long silence, and dramatised the relationships between Indian and Western culture. The serpent in the title refers to illusion and the rope to reality.<ref>Ahmed Ali, "Illusion and Reality": The Art and Philosophy of Raja Rao, Journal of Commonwealth Literature, Leeds, July 1968, No.5.</ref> ''Cat and Shakespeare'' (1965) was a [[metaphysics|metaphysical]] comedy that answered philosophical questions posed in the earlier novels.
He had great respect for women, and once said, "Women is the Earth, air, ether, sound, women is the microcosm of the mind".<ref>{{cite news|title=Editing Raja Rao|url=http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-sundaymagazine/editing-raja-rao/article3232353.ece|work=The Hindu|date=29 July 2006 |access-date=17 June 2016}}</ref>

===Later years===
Rao relocated to the United States and was Professor of Philosophy at the [[University of Texas at Austin]] from 1966 to 1986, when he retired as Emeritus Professor. Courses he taught included ''Marxism to Gandhism, Mahayana Buddhism, Indian philosophy: The Upanishads, Indian philosophy: The Metaphysical Basis of the Male and Female Principle, and Razor's Edge''.{{fact|date=October 2019}}

In 1965, he married [[Catherine Ann Jones|Katherine Jones]], an American stage actress. They had one son, Christopher Rama. In 1986, after his divorce from Katherine, Rao married his third wife, Susan Vaught, whom he met when she was a student at the University of Texas in the 1970s. In 1988 he received the prestigious [[International Neustadt Prize for Literature]]. In 1998 he published Gandhi's biography ''Great Indian Way: A Life of Mahatma Gandhi.''

Rao died of heart failure on 8 July 2006, at his home in Austin, Texas, at the age of 97.<ref name="Rao's demise">{{cite web |url=http://www.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=70740|title=Noted author Raja Rao passes away|publisher=[[The Indian Express]]|access-date=8 July 2006}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.hindu.com/2006/07/09/stories/2006070901831000.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060717111002/http://www.hindu.com/2006/07/09/stories/2006070901831000.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=17 July 2006|title=Raja Rao passes away|work=[[The Hindu]]|access-date=9 July 2006|location=Chennai, India|date=9 July 2006}}</ref><ref name="Guardian">{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2006/jul/17/guardianobituaries.india|title=Raja Rao: An Indian writer using mysticism to explore the spiritual unity of east and west|work=[[The Guardian]]|access-date=3 July 2017 | location=London | date=17 July 2006 |first=Letizia |last=Alterno}}</ref>

===Raja Rao Award for Literature===
The '[[Raja Rao Award for Literature]]' was created in Rao's honor, and with his permission, in the year 2000. It was established "to recognize writers and scholars who have made an out standing contribution to the Literature and Culture of the South Asian Diaspora."<ref>"Preserving a culture under attack," ''[[The Ottawa Citizen]]'', [[Ottawa, Canada]], 4 Oct. 2003, P. C3.</ref><ref>Shalini Dube, ''Indian diasporic literature: text, context and interpretation'', Shree Publishers & Distributors, 2009 p. 114.</ref> The award was administered by the Samvad India Foundation, a nonprofit charitable trust named for the Sanskrit word for dialogue, which was established by [[Makarand Paranjape]] of [[Jawaharlal Nehru University]] in [[New Delhi]] to bestow the award and to promote education and cultural contributions to India and the South Asian diaspora.<ref name="Ottawa"/> No cash prize was attached to the award during its existence.<ref name="Ottawa"/> The Award was bestowed seven times between 2000 and 2009.

The inaugural recipient of the Award was [[K. S. Maniam]] of [[Malaysia]], who was bestowed the award in 2000.<ref name="Tribune">{{cite web|url=https://www.tribuneindia.com/2000/20001028/windows/above.htm|title=The Indo-Malaysian connection|first=Khushwant|last=Singh|publisher=[[The Tribune (Chandigarh)|Tribune of India]]|date=28 October 2000}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.samvadindia.net/si-web/si-award2000.html|title=Raja Rao Annual Award 2000|publisher=Samvad India Foundation|access-date=9 September 2019}}</ref> Other recipients were [[Yasmine Gooneratne]] of [[Sri Lanka]],<ref>[[Nicholas Birns]], Rebecca McNeer, ''A Companion to Australian Literature Since 1900'', 2007, page 107.</ref><ref name="Award 2001">{{Cite web|url=http://www.samvadindia.net/si-web/si-award2001.html|title=Raja Rao Annual Award 2001|publisher=Samvad India Foundation|access-date=9 September 2019}}</ref> [[Edwin Thumboo]] of [[Singapore]],<ref>Jonathan Webster, ''Understanding Verbal Art: A Functional Linguistic Approach'', Springer, 2014, page 125.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://punemirror.indiatimes.com/others/sunday-read/country-poet/articleshow/67212187.cms|title=Country Poet|first=Vinutha|last=Mallya|publisher=[[Pune Mirror]]|date=23 December 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.samvadindia.net/si-web/si-award2002.html|title=Raja Rao Annual Award 2002|publisher=Samvad India Foundation|access-date=9 September 2019}}</ref> [[Harsha V. Dehejia]] of [[Canada]],<ref name="Ottawa">"Preserving a culture under attack," ''[[The Ottawa Citizen]]'', [[Ottawa, Canada]], 4 Oct. 2003, P. C3.</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.samvadindia.net/si-web/si-award2003.html|title=Raja Rao Annual Award 2003|publisher=Samvad India Foundation|access-date=9 September 2019}}</ref> [[David Dabydeen]] of [[Guyana]],<ref>Brian Shaffer, editor, ''The Encyclopedia of Twentieth-Century Fiction'', 2011, page 1035.</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.samvadindia.net/si-web/si-award2004.html|title=Raja Rao Annual Award 2004|publisher=Samvad India Foundation|access-date=9 September 2019}}</ref> [[Varadaraja V. Raman]] of the [[United States]],<ref name="Paranjape">[[Makarand Paranjape]], ''Science and Spirituality in Modern India'', Samvad India Foundation, in association with Centre for Indic Studies, University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, 2006, page xiii.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rit.edu/news/rit-lecture-addresses-science-and-religion-todays-world-april-17|title=RIT Lecture Addresses Science and Religion in Today's World|first=Susan|last=Gawlowicz|publisher=[[Rochester Institute of Technology]]|date=10 April 2012}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.samvadindia.net/si-web/si-award2006.html|title=Raja Rao Annual Award 2006|publisher=Samvad India Foundation|access-date=9 September 2019}}</ref> and [[Vijay Mishra]] of [[Fiji]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.samvadindia.net/si-web/si-award2008.html|title=Raja Rao Annual Award 2008|website=Samvad India|access-date=2018-02-17}}</ref><ref name="Astro Awani">{{cite web|url=http://english.astroawani.com/lifestyle/ks-maniam-malaysias-soil-so-accommodative-us-why-cant-we-be-same-each-other-206275|title=KS Maniam: Malaysia's soil is so accommodative to us; why can't we be the same to each other?|first=Astro|last=Ulagam|publisher=[[Astro Awani]]|date=28 April 2019}}</ref> [[Meenakshi Mukherjee]], chair of the last awarding jury, died in 2009, and the award was discontinued that same year,<ref name="Astro Awani"/> and has not since been bestowed.

Those who served as jurors for selection of the recipient included [[Meenakshi Mukherjee]] (Chair),<ref name="Jury">{{cite web|url=http://www.samvadindia.net/si-web/si-jury.htm|title=Jury for the Award|publisher=Samvad India Foundation|access-date=9 September 2019}}</ref> [[Braj Kachru]],<ref name="Award 2001"/> [[Victor Ramraj]],<ref>"In Memoriam: Victor J. Ramraj", Pamela McCallum, ''Ariel''; University of Calgary, Vol. 45, Iss. 3 (Jul 2014): 1-2. DOI:10.1353/ari.2014.0020.</ref><ref name="Jury"/> and [[Makarand Paranjape]]<ref name="Jury"/>

==''Kanthapura''==

Raja Rao's first and best-known novel, ''Kanthapura'' (1938), is the story of a south Indian village named Kanthapura. The novel is narrated in the form of a [[Sthala Purana]] by an old woman of the village, Achakka. Dominant castes like [[Brahmins]] are privileged to get the best region of the village, while lower castes such as [[Paraiyar|Pariahs]] are marginalized. Despite this [[class discrimination|classist]] system, the village retains its long-cherished traditions of festivals in which all castes interact and the villagers are united. The village is believed to be protected by a local deity named Kenchamma.

The main character of the novel, Moorthy, is a young Brahmin who leaves for the city to study, where he becomes familiar with [[Mahatma Gandhi|Gandhian]] philosophy. He begins living a Gandhian lifestyle, wearing home-spun [[khaddar]] and discarded foreign clothes and speaking out against the caste system. This causes the village priest to turn against Moorthy and excommunicate him. Heartbroken to hear this, Moorthy's mother Narasamma dies. After this, Moorthy starts living with an educated widow, Rangamma, who is active in India’s independence movement.

Moorthy is then invited by Brahmin clerks at the Skeffington coffee estate to create an awareness of Gandhian teachings among the pariah [[coolies]]. When Moorthy arrives, he is beaten by the policeman Bade Khan, but the coolies stand up for Moorthy and beat Bade Khan - an action for which they are thrown out of the estate. Moorthy continues his fight against injustice and social inequality and becomes a staunch ally of Gandhi. Although he is depressed over violence at the estate, he takes responsibility and goes on a three-day fast and emerges morally elated. A unit of the independence committee is formed in Kanthapura, with office bearers vowing to follow Gandhi’s teachings under Moorthy's leadership.

The British government accuses Moorthy of provoking the townspeople to inflict violence and arrests him. Though the committee is willing to pay his bail, Moorthy refuses their money. While Moorthy spends the next three months in prison, the women of Kanthapura take charge, forming a volunteer corps under Rangamma's leadership. Rangamma instills a sense of patriotism among the women by telling them stories of notable women from Indian history. They face police brutality, including assault and rape, when the village is attacked and burned. Upon Moorthy's release from prison, he is greeted by the loyal townspeople, who are now united regardless of caste. The novel ends with Moorthy and the town looking to the future and planning to continue their fight for independence.

==Bibliography==

{{colbegin}}
'''Fiction: Novels'''
*''Kanthapura'' (1938), [[Orient Paperbacks]] {{ISBN|978-81-222010-5-5}}
*''[[The Serpent and the Rope]]'' (1960), [[Penguin India]] {{ISBN|978-01-434223-3-4}}
* ''The Cat and Shakespeare: A Tale of India'' (1965) [[Penguin India]] {{ISBN|978-01-434223-2-7}}
* ''Comrade Kirillov'' (1976), [[Orient Paperbacks]] {{ISBN|978-08-657808-0-4}}<ref>{{cite web|last1=reserved|first1=the complete review - all rights|title=Comrade Kirillov - Raja Rao|url=http://www.complete-review.com/reviews/india/raoraja1.htm|website=www.complete-review.com}}</ref>
* ''The Chessmaster and His Moves'' (1988), [[Orient Paperbacks]] {{ISBN|978-81-709402-1-0}}

'''Fiction: Short story collections'''
*''The Cow of the Barricades'' (1947)
*''The Policeman and the Rose'' (1978)
*''On the Ganga Ghat'' (1989), Orient Paperbacks (Vision Books) {{ISBN|978-81-709405-0-0}}

'''Non-fiction'''
* ''Changing India: An Anthology'' (1939)
* ''Tomorrow'' (1943–44)
* ''Whither India?'' (1948)
* ''The Meaning of India'', essays (1996), [[Penguin India]]
* ''The Great Indian Way: A Life of Mahatma Gandhi'', biography (1998), Orient Paperbacks {{ISBN|978-81-709430-8-2}}

'''Anthologies'''
* ''The Best of Raja Rao'' (1998)
* ''5 Indian Masters'' (Raja Rao, [[Rabindranath Tagore]], [[Premchand]], Dr. [[Mulk Raj Anand]], [[Khushwant Singh]]) (2003).
{{colend}}

==Awards==
* 1964: [[Sahitya Akademi Award]]
* 1969: [[Padma Bhushan]], India's third highest civilian award<ref name="Padma Awards">{{cite web | url=http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/LST-PDAWD-2013.pdf | title=Padma Awards | publisher=Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India | date=2015 | access-date=21 July 2015}}</ref>
* 1988: [[Neustadt International Prize for Literature]]
* 2007: [[Padma Vibhushan]], India's second highest civilian award

==See also==
* [[List of Indian writers]]

==References==
*Stefano Mercanti, 2009. ''[https://brill.com/view/title/27924 The Lotus and the Rose. Partnership Studies in the Works of Raja Rao]''
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Portal|Literature|India}}
*[http://www.therajaraoendowment.org/ Raja Rao Website], sponsored by the [http://www.therajaraoendowment.org/project.html Raja Rao Publication Project] at the University of Texas.
* {{Books and Writers |id=rao |name=Raja Rao}}
*[http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5032 The Literary Encyclopedia's article on Raja Rao].
*[http://www.beilharz.com/autores/rao/ "Breathing India In America: A Tribute to Raja Rao"] by Francis C. Assisi. (2006)
*[http://www.uv.es/~calaforr/to_raja.html "To Raja Rao"], a 1969 English poem by [[Czeslaw Milosz]].

{{Padma Vibhushan Awards}}
{{PadmaBhushanAwardRecipients 1960–69}}
{{Sahitya Akademi Award for English}}
{{SahityaAkademiFellowship}}
{{Neustadt International Prize for Literature}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Portal bar|Biography|India|Literature|Society}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rao, Raja}}
[[Category:Recipients of the Padma Vibhushan in literature & education]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in literature & education]]
[[Category:1908 births]]
[[Category:2006 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian short story writers]]
[[Category:Indian male novelists]]
[[Category:Aligarh Muslim University alumni]]
[[Category:Kannada people]]
[[Category:People from Hassan]]
[[Category:English-language writers from India]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Award in English]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian novelists]]
[[Category:Novelists from Karnataka]]
[[Category:Indian male short story writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian male writers]]
[[Category:Indian emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:American male novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century American novelists]]
[[Category:University of Texas at Austin faculty]]
[[Category:American male short story writers]]
[[Category:20th-century American male writers]]
[[Category:20th-century American short story writers]]

Raja Rao - Revision history

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