Representation of Caste in Samskara

This research paper analyzes the complex portrayal of caste in U. R. Ananthamurthy’s renowned novel Samskara, placing the novel in the historic and cultural life of India’s caste system. Composed in the mid-20th century, Samskara critically engages with the Brahminical social order, exposing its embedded contradictions, ritualistic orthodoxy, and the ethical dilemmas confronted by human beings who inhabit this hierarchical order. Through the existential and ethical dilemma of the hero Praneshacharya on the death of Naranappa, the novel makes complex the ideological underpinnings of caste, purity, and pollution and tradition and modernity. Using a qualitative literary critique, this research weaves together postcolonial theory, Dalit studies, and feminist theories to understand how Samskara problematizes and criticizes the rigid caste order. This research adds to the larger debate on caste representation in Indian literature and also insists on the necessity of narrative as a means for social reflection and change.