Samskara: Evolution of Self Essay Example

Brahmin community; however, since he was not, it was understood that he must be cremated by Brahmins, lest any pollution enter upon the ceremony. This was problematic for two men, Lakshmana and Garuda, who wanted to acquire the gold jewelry donated by Naranappa’s wife Chandri towards the death rites. In this way, the samskara, or refinement, of these Brahmin men is called into question through Naranappa’s samskara.

Praneshacharya is affected in a very different way by Naranappa’s death. Having lived the life of an orthodox Brahmin all his life, studying the scriptures and such, Praneshacharya knows only of the ascetic lifestyle of purity, avoiding pollution at all times, learned from scriptures and tradition. His samskara, his perfecting, involved not lived experience but recitations of scripture. He even reads erotic scriptural passages yet understands not of the sexual compulsions they relate to.

However, through his stressful dealings with Naranappa’s death rites, he has a sudden reversal moment of his thinking in his experience with Chandri. This moment is the beginning of his samskara, which takes his through various stages of self-reflection, thinking through his past (samskara), until he ultimately decides to return to the village, yet it is unclear what he plans to do once there. By the end of the novel, Praneshacharya does not entirely change his way of thinking to that of Naranappa’s. Indeed, he is still very different in personality, however there are many overlaps.

Praneshacharya does many things which are strictly forbidden by his orthodox Brahmin Mahdva background. He sleeps with a lowcaste woman, Chandri, also the widowed wife of Naranappa, herein lying one major connection between the two

men. He also frinks coffee in town with Putta, and even eats food at the temple during the time he should be fasting after his wife’s death. Praneshacharya seems to accept these violations as his decisions, and therefore his identity. By identifying with these experiences, he is confirming his experience as samskara, a rite of passage.

He does however still fear many aspects of his anti-brahmin lifestyle as reflected through his experiences with Putta in the town. He fears the cock-fighting ring and the demoniac attitudes of those involved. He also still cannot bear the pollution of his unwashed hands after leaving the temple meal. Clearly, Praneshacharya is in a state of transition in the novel, and indeed it is part of his samskara. The final line of the novel suggests even he does not know where he stands, just that it isn’t as before.