Raja Rao (1908-2006) was an Indian-American writer and one of the most outstanding writers of the 20th century. He wrote many novels and short stories, his main works include the novel “Kantapura” (1938), “The Chess Master and His Moves” (1988), “The Cat and Shakespeare” (1965), Raja · Rao called it a “metaphysical comedy”, “The Snake”, the semi-autobiographical novel “The Rope” (1960), and the short stories “The Client” (1934), “The Bull at the Barricade” (1938), “The Cop and the Rose” (1963), Jupiter and Mars (1954), and The Writer and the Tao (1965). In 1996, Raja Rao published a series of non-fiction articles titled The Meaning of India. On July 8, 2006, Raja Rao died of heart failure at the age of 97.
Wiki/Biography
Raja Rao was born on Sunday, November 8, 1908, in Hassan, Kingdom of Mysore, British India (now in the Indian state of Karnataka). He was 97 years old. His zodiac sign is Scorpio. Raja Rao completed his entrance examination in 1927 from Madarsa-e-Aliya Muslim School in Hyderabad. He graduated from the University of Madras with an undergraduate degree in English (major) and history (major) in 1929, and then went to the University of Montpellier in France to pursue a postgraduate degree in literature. He studied French at the Sorbonne in Paris. Raja Rao lived in France from 1928 to 1939. In 1932, he became a member of the editorial board of Mercure France and served for 7 years. In 1942, he stayed at Sevagram, Mahatma Gandhi’s ashram, and actively participated in India’s independence movement against the British. He also volunteered for the Quit India Movement of 1942. In 1950 he went to the United States, where he served as professor of philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin from 1966 to 1986. In 1998, he published the biography “The Great Indian Road: The Life of Mahatma Gandhi”. In 1984, Raja Rao was also elected as an Honorary Fellow of the Modern Language Association of America. R. Parthasarathy, an Indian poet and director of the Asian Studies Program at Skidmore College in New York, said:
Rao is one of the most innovative novelists working today. He boldly departed from the European novel tradition and localized it in the process of absorbing traditional Indian literary materials. “
Raja Rao’s childhood
Raja Rao as a young man
family and caste
Raja Rao belonged to a Kannada Brahmin family.
Parents and siblings
Raja Rao’s father HV Krishnaswamy was a professor of Kannada at Nizam College in Hyderabad and died in 1940. In 1912, Raja Rao was only four years old when his mother Gauramma died. He was the eldest of nine children. brothers and sisters. He had seven sisters and a brother named Yogeshwara Ananda.
wife and children
Raja Rao’s first wife, Camille Mouly, was a French professor in Montpellier. Camille Mouly translated the Bhagavad Gita into French. In 1939, they parted ways. Raja Rao writes about his marriage to his first wife in his novel The Snake and the Rope. Raja Rao married American actress Katherine Jones in 1965. They both have a son named Christopher Rama. In 1986, he divorced Catherine. Raja Rao met Susan Vaught, a student at the University of Texas in the 1970s, who later became his third wife in 1986.
Raja Rao and his wife Susan
religion
Raja Rao follows Hinduism.
sign
Profession
scholar
As an academic, Raja Rao authored many papers and articles.
Essays and Articles
- “European Pilgrimage”, Jaya (Dharwar), Karnataka, 1931
- Europe and Ourselves, Jaya (Dharwar), Karnataka, 1931
- “Romain Rolland, the Great Saint”, in Jaya (Dharwar), Karnataka, Vol. 11, No. 1, 1933
- “Pandit Taranath,” Asia (New York), 1935
- Prime Minister Sakuntala, Asia (New York), 1943
- “Jupiter and Mars” in The Pacific Observer, 1954
- Varanasi, Illustrated Weekly of India (Bombay), 1961
- Trivandrum, in The Illustrated Weekly of India (Bombay), 1962
- “Books that influenced me”, The Illustrated Weekly of India (Bombay), 1962
- André Malraux among the Indian Gods, United Asia Society (Bombay), 1964
- “Memories of EM Forster” in EM Forster: Selected Tributes to His Writings on India. K. Natwar-Singh, editor. 1964
- Seminar on Jawaharlal Nehru: Memories and Reflections, Illustrated Weekly of India (Bombay), 1964
- Gandhi’s Path, Illustrated Weekly of India (Bombay), 1965
- “Writers and Words”, Literary Standard (Mysore), 1965
- “Irish Interlude,” Saturday Review (New York), 1966
- “Climate of Indian Literature Today”, Literary Standard (Mysore), 1972
- “The Meaning of India,” in First Writers’ Seminar Literature Reader. CD Narasimhaiah, Editor. 1978
- “British Caste” in The Awakening Conscience: Studies in Commonwealth Literature. CD Narasimhaiah, editor, 1978
- ‘Autobiography: Entering the World of Literature’, Commonwealth Journal of Literature (London), 1979
- “The Cave and the Conch,” in The Eye of the Beholder: Indian Writing in English, ed. Maggie Butcher, editor. 1983
non-fiction
- Selections from Changing India, written by Raja Rao and Iqbal Singh, 1939
- Where has India gone?Written by Raja Rao and Iqbal Singh in 1948
- In 1949, Raja Rao edited the text Soviet Russia: Some Random Sketches and Impressions by Jawaharlal Nehru.
- The Meaning of India, a 1996 article by Raja Rao
- In 1998, Raja Rao wrote a biography, The Great Indian Road: The Life of Mahatma Gandhi
professor
From 1966 to 1986, Raja Rao served as professor of philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin, from which he retired as professor emeritus.
writer
As a writer, Raja Rao is known for his novels, short stories and poetry.
novel
Kanthapura(1938)
The Chess Master and His Methods (1988)
Cats and Shakespeare(1965)
Snake and Rope(1960)
short story collection
In 1947, Raja Rao published a collection of short stories, The Cow at the Roadblock and Other Stories. Later in 1978, several stories were published in Cops and Roses. His films include “Jaffni” (1933), “Akkaya” (1933), “A Client” (1934), “In Kandesh” (1934), “The Golden Protector” (1935), “Little He is famous for his stories such as “Kedian” (1937) and “Nasiga” (1944). “Indian Stories” (1953), “Cats” (1959) and “Nimka” (1963).
Publish a poem
“The Atonement of the Infidel” is an autobiographical poem written in Kannada verses by Raja Rao in 1932.
Awards, Honors, Achievements
- In 1929, he received an Asia Scholarship from the Hyderabad government to study abroad.
- Sahitya Academic Award (1964)
- In 1969, he was awarded the Padma Shri.
- Raja Rao received the Neustadt International Literary Award in 1988, sponsored by the University of Oklahoma, for his novel “The Chess Master and His Moves.”
- In 2007, he was awarded the Padma Vibhusan, India’s second highest civilian award.
die
On July 8, 2006, Raja Rao died of heart failure at his home in Austin, Texas, at the age of 92.
Facts/Trivia
- In 2000, the Samvad India Foundation, a charitable trust, came up with the idea of setting up an award in the name of Raja Rao. The Raja Rao Literary Award was awarded seven times from 2000 to 2009. . This award is given to writers who have had a profound impact on literature. Made a contribution to South Asian diaspora literature; however, the award was later terminated.
- Raja Rao has written four articles in Kannada for Jaya Karnataka magazine.
- In 1972, Raja Rao became a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center in Washington, D.C.
Categories: Biography
Source: HIS Education