Ranga’s Marriage

Chapter Summary

Ranga is a young boy who belongs to a small village of Hoshahali in Mysore. He went to Bangalore and got educated in English. When he returned to the village, everybody gathered around his place to check whether the city has grown on him or not. However, to their dismay, Ranga remained the same as he used to be. He greeted everyone with a Namaskar and eventually everyone left.

Ranga’s return has sparked a topic of discussion among the villagers and the narrator also finds it a good opportunity to fix Ranga’s marriage. At this moment Ranga is not willing to get married just yet and he wishes to marry an admirable and mature girl. This wish of Ranga has emboldened the decision of the narrator to get Ranga married. After certain speculations, he concludes that Ratna would be the perfect bridge for Ranga.

Here, the narrator plays a little game with Ranga, he deliberately calls Ratna whenever Ranga is visiting his place and Ranga is mesmerized by the beauty of Ranga. The narrator however tells Ranga that she is married. This information saddens Ranga as had begun to like her.

The narrator made certain arrangements with the astrologer and then he took Ranga to the astrologer where he said the Ranga was like someone who resembled Ratna. Then he deliberately asked questions to Ranga that got him to confess that he has a liking for Ratna. This however made Ranga sad since he knew that Ratna was married. Upon getting confirmed about Ranga’s love for Ratna.

The narrator finally decides to make arrangements for their marriage. The narrator then went to Ratna’s house to ask about her decision to get married to Ranga. Ten years on, from this incident, Ranga visits the narrator for his son’s third birthday. It was known that Ranga and Ratna were married and they had named the child after the narrator who had made their marriage possible.

Comment on the influence of English — the language and the way of life — on Indian life as reflected in the story. What is the narrator’s attitude to English?

The narrator believes that the language of English and the associated lifestyle have not affected the Indian lifestyle. The story unfolds through the overwhelming approach f the villagers towards the English language and returning to Ranga who was the first from their village to go to Bangalore and get educated in English. They all gathered at Ranga’s place to see if the young boy is influenced by any western habits.

This aspect emphasises that English as a language is held in quite a high regard because of the colonial influence however from Ranga’s behaviour it has been noticed that the language does not influence anyone’s culture or mentality. Ranga’s thought of marrying a modern bride was not appreciated by the narrator.

Astrologers’ perceptions are based more on hearsay and conjecture than what they learn from the study of the stars. Comment with reference to the story.

The astrologer in this story has acted as an assistant to the narrator who has helped Ranga to get married. The light note has associated with astrology in this story. The Astrologer and the narrator had fixed everything beforehand.

The narrator applauds the astrologer for reciting everything as he said and he even laughs at his shastra this situation had hurt the sentiments of the astrologer. In this context, the astrologer has been depicted to follow the perception based on conjecture rather than the course of stars.

Indian society has moved a long way from the way the marriage is arranged in the story - Discuss.

The entire course of the marriage of Ranga, choosing for the bride and the other arrangements depict the archaic measures followed in the country which continue to be prevalent to this day. However Indian society and the younger generation have moved on from this notion and the scenario has changed. People have realised that to get married a certain level of maturity and understanding is required between two people.

Marriages at a young age are not entertained anymore; two individuals look for maturity in terms of education, behaviour and mentality. Marrriages in India take place by considering the opinion and consent of both the people. Currently, most people chose their partner after spending a significant amount of time with them to establish communication and mutual understanding. This scenario was missing in the case of Ranga's marriage which was mostly arranged by the narrator.

What kind of a person do you think the narrator is?

The narrator is an aged individual, who is quite generous. Ranga decides to remain a bachelor if he does not find a mature and modern girl did not sit right with the narrator as he belongs to an older generation. He decides to get Ranga married to a girl who is well accustomed to the native culture.

The narrator however with his experience has become a good judge of character. He is also a light-hearted person who enjoys a good laugh now and then. The narrator however strongly disapproves of the English tradition of love marriage.

FAQs

Q1. What is the writer's perception about Indians copying the western tradition?

Ans. The writer is strongly against this aspect of current Indian traditions. He believes that the young generation is blindly aping the customs and behaviour of western culture. He even expresses his disappointment that neither the English writers nor the Indian geographers have ever mentioned Hoshali village.

Q2. What behaviour of Ranga impressed the narrator?

Ans. Ranga saw the narrator when the crowd dissolved, he approached the narrator and did a namaskara and respectfully uttered that he is doing good because of his blessings. This behaviour was thoroughly traditional and respectful to the elder. Unlike modern traditions, he even bent down to touch the narrator's feet.

Q3. What did the narrator think that he could call his story instead of Ranga’s marriage?

Ans. The narrator feels that the title could be either Ranganatha Vivaha or it could have been Ranganatha Vijaya because this story was about a local guy in the village. The term marriage marked the influence of western culture on the boy Ranga, who went to Bangalore for education.