A Critical Survey Of Raja Rao’s Early Short Stories

Abstract

The fame of Raja Rao chiefly rests on his achievements as a novelist, but his short stories, though
in a meagre number, should not be cast aside while discussing Indian thought and tradition. ‘A Client’
is one of the nine stories which were published in the first collection of his short stories called ‘The Cow
of the Barricades and Other Stories’ (1947). The story is very simple but it is a fine evidence of thought
and tradition. People are of the mind that marriage is a social necessity. But they do not think about its
appropriate age. A comparative study of ‘Javani’ and ‘Akkayya’ shows that a widow is, after all, a
widow. It matters a little wheather she belongs to a low caste or a high one. The miserable plight of the
widows as described in the two stories, reminds one of the statement given by Adam Gondavi, ‘wound
of widowhood pinches alike both a ‘Kshatrani’ and ‘Sudrani’. ‘The Cow of the Barricades’ is an
outstanding one among the first collection. Its title becomes the title to the first group. The Hero is a
representative of Mahatma Gandhi. He persuades people to remain non-violent. The chief of the soldiers
is a British man. He shoots Gauri to death. The Indians erect a statue of the cow. The love for the cow
is the love for Mother India.
Key words: Raja Rao, A Client, Javni, Akkayya, Narsinga, Nimka & The Cow of the Barricades.