RK Narayan’s The Guide: A portrait of a spiritual guide

Abstract

Rashipuram Krishnaswamy Narayan has presented the saga of a man who was an emblem of transition from tradition to modernity in the South Indian socio-cultural background in the novel “The Guide”. Through the character Raju, Narayan has presented the changing human scene, entangled in the web of domestic life, question of morality and over commercial leanings in social life around himself.After all the jail life, Raju abandons his previous life and wanders away to a very distant and remote village where he takes shelter in a temple and by chance he is taken to be a saint. Therefore basic aim of this paper is to study the charismatic character of spiritual guide Raju who adhere the spirituality without ignorance and gullibility of the villagers of Mangal.