A picaresque novel deals with the adventures of a rogue or
villain. Narayan’s Man Eater of Malgudi has almost all the spices to be a
picaresque novel surrounded by the picaro man, Vasu. He has been shown as an
adventurous and mysterious wanderer. He pretends to be a person of dual
personality. Vasu, the
prototype of Bhasmasur wishes the illusion of becoming omnipotent. The placid
world of Malgudi is
beset with his deeds.
Vasu like Iago in Shakespeare’s Othello, Healthcliffe in Emile Bronte’s Withering Heights, Voss
in Patrick White’s Voss
“is
the prince of darkness and in darkness his activities are to be conducted”.
He has been called ‘man-eater’, ‘terrifying’, ‘unreasonable’, ‘man with the
dark halo’, ‘cruel’, ‘rakshasha’, ‘arrogant by implication’ and one who laughs
‘diabolically’. Vasu, the person with hammer-fist, is farther attributed
as wild animal hunter and a taxidermist.
Literally Vasu is not a man eater as he does not eat the flesh
of persons. Being a secluded individual, he rather by constantly troubling and
terrorizing the human beings with his demonic strength sucks their peace of
mind. He blasts bullies, aggressions and hectors. He beats down the huge
strong ‘phaelwah’. His Herculean strength makes him prepare to knock the tiger
down with his hands and ram the built of his rifle between his jaws if it comes
to that when Sen, the poet, Muthu and Dr. Joshi visit his attic to ask not to
shoot kumar. He threatens them to pick up and toss them down the stairs. He
forcibly snatches the green folder and the list of the donors from Natraj and
collects the money from the Malgudians by threatening, keep the money for his
own use. Vasu not only kills animals but kills the name and fame of Natraj; “he
had destroyed my name, my friendship, and my world”. Vasu’s presence
horrifies and fascinates Nataraj.
Vasu is an intellectual giant who gets his M.A in economics,
History and English from the Presidency College Madras. He knows laws,
talks of Vedanta, of the transmigration of soul and the omnipresence of God.
Even Natraj admires vasu - “He worked single handed on all branches of
his work. I admired him for it”. The pseudo-philosophy of self-willed
and assertive Vasu is revealed in his speech “we are civilized human beings,
educated and cultured and it is up to us to prove our superiority to nature.
Science conquers nature in a new way every day; why not in creation also?
That’s my philosophy, Sir.”
Being a dissolute
womanizer when he can no longer hunt the jungle animals he takes to indulging
in sex. His passion for hunting is transformed into the passion for lascivious
lust. He likes to enjoy the inordinate immoral company of as many loose women
as possible. That is why he is very much against the institute of marriage. He
wants to stick to the Mephistophelian concept of enjoying sex. He freely
satisfies his sexual desire with the excessively passionate Rangi and other
prostitutes of the town.
Vasu is open- hearted, vivacious and sometimes appears kind
hearted too. If he takes Natraj to the Mempi village it is not for any harm but
out of his high spirits and playfulness. If Natraj fears that Vasu has
kidnapped him, it is Natraj’s nothing but false fear. When Natraj visits the Mempi
village and the axle of the bus is broken it is vasu who takes him to Malgudi
in his jeep. Rangi praises him as brave and courageous. He fears no one on
earth or in heaven. These abilities of Vasu show that though he has some
weakness, he cannot be called as man eater.
H. M. Williams in his Indo-Anglian Literature observes Vasu as a mighty force which can hardly be
controlled. He is to him, a mighty avalanche or a tempest. Williams believes
that Vasu who is a revolutionary force, despises in his utter haughtiness and
will, all that is established. He regards Vasu as the embodiment of will.
Vasu’s greatest contribution for the Malgudians is that he exposes all the
absurdities of Natraj and his friends. Vasu is certainly not Bhasmasur who
brings doom on himself. However few critics opine the satanic traits in
Vasu. Meenakshi Mukherjee in her book The Twice Born Fiction says: “The Man-Eater of Malgudi” resorts to the Puranic conflict between Sura and Asura.”
K. R. Srinivasa Iyengar too in his Indian Writing in English finds in the
Man-Eater an absolute evil- “anti-life, anti-nature, anti-faith.”
This theme is implicit in R. K. Narayan himself who cites Vasu as
the modern version of a Rakshasa.
Even though, the death of Vasu is based on the mythology,
the death of Vasu due to the mosquitoes- smashing- hands is not convincing. His
death cannot be accepted by reason and logic. No one has ever been killed in
this way. The death of Vasu is a matter of improbable probability. Vasu is not
such vicious as he being projected by other characters; even such a man simply
happens as Raju in The Guide. Therefore it is not always convincing to
agree with some critics who observe that the man eater of Malgudi is a giant of man, a potent, dangerous bully, a wild threat
to the norms of society. What we can only say that Vasu is the dark domain of
ours. Crises, catastrophe and resolution of the novel is the outcome of picaro.
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