Summary
The novel begins in Durvasapura, a small village in India. A well-respected Brahmin man named Praneshacharya tends to his severely ill wife, preparing her dinner before eating his own. Suddenly, Chandri, a woman from a lower caste, comes rushing to Praneshacharya. She is extremely upset and agitated. Praneshacharya asks her what's going on and she tells him that her lover Naranappa, another Brahmin, has just died suddenly, from a fever.
Praneshacharya rushes over to the house of Garuda, one of Naranappa's relatives. Garuda is about to eat dinner but Praneshacharya swiftly tells him not to, as it goes against their belief system to eat while another Brahmin's corpse has not been tended to. The narrator notes that Garuda and Naranappa had an unresolved familial quarrel. The other Brahmins, and Chandri, gather to discuss the matter of Naranappa's burial rites. Praneshacharya reminds everyone that his body has to be dealt with, as does the matter of who inherits his property and wealth.
Garuda claims that he has a bond of kinship with Naranappa, but also reminds everyone that they had a family conflict over an orchard. He adds that Naranappa acted in an disrespectful manner after this and they did not speak for many years. Looking at Chandri, he also adds that the biggest strike against Naranappa was his leaving his wife and taking up with a woman of a lower caste. Another Brahmin dismisses this critique, but Garuda says that it holds weight and asks Praneshacharya to consider it.
They continue to remark on Naranappa's various faults. They say he drank and ate meat. Annoyed with Garuda, Praneshacharya instructs him to stop speaking for a little while. Another Brahmin, Lakshmana, then also starts to angrily talk about Naranappa's behavior. He is related to Naranappa by marriage, as Naranappa's wife was Lakshmana's wife's sister. He says that Naranappa's wife died after he left her and that he did not even attend the funeral ceremony. Lakshmana's wife, Anasuya, glares at Chandri and wishes terrible things on her. Then she thinks about how the gold chain that Chandri is wearing would be hers if her sister had lived.
They continue to argue back and forth, trying to decide how to handle these funeral rites. Then, Chandri shocks everyone by laying down her jewelry. She offers the jewelry as tribute for the funeral rites. The women in the room begin to calculate how much this gold is all worth. Instantly, people begin to think about performing the rites in order to get the gold. They also continue to criticize Naranappa, talking about how he caught fish in the temple pond, which was considered highly sacrilegious.
Praneshacharya becomes increasingly upset and says that they cannot just sit here while the body is left unattended. People say that because he was not formally excommunicated, this creates a quandary. People don't want to perform the rites because Naranappa was a bad Brahmin, but not performing the rites makes them bad Brahmins as well. Praneshacharya ends the meeting, saying he will review the sacred texts and search for a suitable answer to this dilemma. The narrator then goes on to describe the village in greater detail, noting its various markets, proximity to a river, and incredibly hot climate.
Praneshacharya talks to Chandri about her actions, telling her she is clearly extremely pure-hearted. He then thinks back to a previous conversation with Naranappa. Naranappa mocks Praneshacharya's piety in a way that makes him incredibly angry. He tells Praneshacharya that Brahminism will dissipate in the years to come and that he and the other Brahmins are living in the past. He says the Brahmins are missing out on a number of earthly pleasures. Praneshacharya ends up feeling deeply discouraged by his comments. In the present day, he sits reading and then goes to tend to his wife when he hears her crying out in pain in the adjacent room.
Analysis
Class is a theme immediately at the forefront of the novel. When Naranappa dies, his funeral becomes a matter of importance, as he is a member of the Brahmin class. People are forced to deal with his funeral rites, as he was never formally excommunicated, although he treated the traditions with a great deal of disrespect. Many of the Brahmins are primarily concerned with how his death might benefit them, as some of them stand to receive gold. In contrast, Chandri, who is from a lower caste, shows the most compassion and worry about Naranappa's funeral. From the beginning, the novel questions the social order, as the Brahmins, save for Praneshacharya, worry a great deal about status, but show no compassion, while members of the lower class have a stronger sense of duty to the people around them. The book questions the value of a social order that upholds this kind of selfishness.
Community is another key theme in this part of the book. The village is a tightly knit community where everyone is constantly observing everyone else. Naranappa's whole history is widely known by the entire town, as they are able to recount multiple episodes from his life while discussing his potential funeral. However, what quickly becomes apparent is that this proximity does not translate to kindness. No one expresses a meaningful interest in performing Naranappa's funeral rites, but they are quick to try and get his gold. They also speak viciously about Chandri, despite the fact that she is nothing but kind and charitable. The initial conversation about Naranappa devolves into in-fighting and nasty comments, immediately revealing the fault lines in the community.
Greed is also an important theme in these opening pages. No one wants to deal with Naranappa's body until Chandri offers her gold as payment for his funeral rites. Suddenly, people are estimating the value of the gold and thinking about what they stand to gain from performing the rites. Praneshacharya is disturbed by this behavior, as he sees the change in everyone's attitudes about the ceremony. He is worried because he perceives that greed could easily become the motivation behind people carrying out their duty to their fellow Brahmin. This greed is disturbing in that it immediately reveals how hollow the values of this society are. The Brahmins pride themselves on the strength of their beliefs, and treat others as inferior as a result, yet their common desire for gold reveals their hypocrisy.
Mortality is another major theme in this first part of the book. Immediately after Naranappa dies, people take stock of the meaning of his life. They quickly offer their critiques of his behavior, angrily taking note of his infidelity (with a woman of a lower caste), drinking, consumption of meat, and familial quarrels. His death creates the moment in which the sum of his life is totaled. At the same time, Praneshacharya does not feel right about not giving him a proper funeral, as he was still a Brahmin. This conflict about his body amounts to a fight over whether or not they think there is any hope for his redemption in death. Mortality is treated as important in that it forces the people around Naranappa to decide what his life meant.
The opening of the novel lays out its main themes. The early discussion of Naranappa's funeral rites reveals the lingering resentments and tension beneath the surface in Durvasapura. People's greed and venomous dislike show how there is no sense of civic duty in the town, as people pursue their own interests and show no particular care for traditional Brahmin values. The only two characters who seem concerned with doing the morally right thing are Chandri and Praneshacharya, but their respective attempts to push the funeral rites along are met with resistance. Chandri, in particular, receives the brunt of everyone's vitriol, as they believe she corrupted Naranappa and created this whole problem. This perception of her indicates how much class status is valued over true charity.
