B.A. (Hons.

) English – Semester V DSE-2

Modern Indian Writing in English Translation Study Material

Unit-2
O. V. Vijayan : The Legends of Khasak

Edited by: Nalini Prabhakar

Department of English

SCHOOL OF OPEN LEARNING

University of Delhi
 Discipline Specific Elective (DSE-2)
Modern Indian Writing in English Translation

Unit-2

O. V. Vijayan : The Legends of Khasak

Edited by:
Nalini Prabhakar
School of Open Learning
University of Delhi
Delhi-110007

SCHOOL OF OPEN LEARNING

UNIVERSITY OF DELHI
5, Cavalry Lane, Delhi-110007
 Discipline Specific Elective (DSE-2)
Modern Indian Writing in English Translation

Unit-2
O. V. Vijayan : The Legends of Khasak

Contents
S. No. Title Pg. No.
Part- 1: Summary and Analysis 01
1. Introduction 01
2. Learning Objectives 01
3. Historical Background 01
4. Summary and Analysis 02
Part-2 : Characters, Background and Themes 13
1. Introduction 13
2. Learning Objectives 13
3. Characters 13
4. Themes and Symbolism 16
5. The Narrative Technique 21
6. Ending 22
7. English vs Malayalam Version 22
8. Let’s sum it up! 23

Prepared by:
Ayushi Maheshwari

SCHOOL OF OPEN LEARNING

UNIVERSITY OF DELHI
5, Cavalry Lane, Delhi-110007
 Unit-2

The Legends of Khasak

O. V. Vijayan
Ayushi Maheshwari

Part- 1: Summary and Analysis

1. Introduction
O. V. Vijayan was an author, cartoonist and lecturer. He was born in 1930, in
Palakkad, Kerala. He was homeschooled as a child and later went on to obtain a master’s
degree in English literature. His first novel, The Legends of Khasak was published in 1969
and marked his rise to fame as a beloved figure in Malayalam literature. Vijayan wrote six
novels, nine short-story collections, and nine collections of essays, memoirs and reflections.
2. Learning Objectives
After reading this unit, you will:
 Understand the times and life of the author and context in which the work was written
 Be able to summarize and critically analyse the story
 Understand the literal depth of the work and be able to appreciate it
3. Historical Background
There were many factors that made The Legends of Khasak such a celebrated novel. The
1960's was an era of existential dread and disillusionment with the political and economic
realities of the country. Vijayan’s portrayal of the protagonist, Ravi’s emotional struggle, his
journey and evolution made him a very relatable character for the Malayali youth. Vijayan’s
writing in The Legends introduced a new use of the Malayalam language. It combined Tamil
and the local dialects of Palakkad with a sanskritised version of Malayalam, giving the prose
of the novel a poetic touch.
The Malayalam literary landscape of the 1960’s was replete with political Marxist
fiction, social realism or romanticism. The literature available to the readers was highly
politicised and opinionated, there was hardly any writer who touched upon a variety of other
themes about other aspects of human experience. Legends was a daring break from the then
existing literature.
The Legends was a product of Vijayan’s disillusionment with communism, which was
the dominant political ideology in Kerala in the 1960s. The novel focused on the inner human
experience rather than the realism of external events, which was unlike any other Malayalam
novel so far. It was original in its approach and fresh in what it presented to the world
because it was a product of his subsequent inclination towards spirituality. Vijayan writes,

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“In Hungary, they tricked and shot Imre Nagy. It blew my mind. I turned away, I began my
uncharted journey.” (Vijayan in Afterword, The Legends of Khasak)
The Legends of Khasak was also the first novel in Malayalam literature to experiment
with and integrate elements of magic realism. Khasak, the remote village where the novel is
set, is based on the real life village of Thasarak, located near Palakkad. Vijayan’s family
stayed in a rented farmhouse for a year in Thasarak when Vijayan’s sister O. V. Usha was
appointed as the teacher of a single-teacher government school in the Thasarak in 1956. Just
that year, Vijayan had lost his job at the college he was teaching at, and had come to
Thasarak to live with his family. The remote village of Thasarak has been immortalised as
Khasak in Malayalam literature by Vijayan.
4. Summary and Analysis
The Protagonist’s Arrival
The novel opens with the arrival of Ravi, the protagonist of the novel, in the remote village of
Khasak. The opening scene is that of his arrival at Koomankavu by bus. He is greeted there
by an elder luggage carrier, and after refreshing glasses of cool sherbet at the roadside shack,
they travel to Khasak on foot. Through their conversations, the reader learns of the reason
behind Ravi’s journey. The District Board has set up a single teacher school in the backward
village of Khasak, and Ravi has been deployed there to get the school started.
As the story progresses, we learn about Ravi’s past. Haunted by the guilt of an illicit
affair with his stepmother, Ravi leaves behind the house of his paralysed father and a
promising career in astrophysics in search of redemption. He is an undergraduate student of
astrophysics with prospects of a scholarship at Princeton. An opportunity to escape presents
itself in a school teaching job and Ravi takes it, coming to the far away land of Khasak, away
from academic commitments and the charms of city life to get some relief from the memories
of his sin.
Upon his arrival, he is greeted by Sivaraman Nair, the feudal chief of the village, who
has offered his seeding house to be converted into a school. Driven by a sense of competition
and aversion towards the two meagre centres of education in Khasak, one a madrassa and the
other, a school in Koomankavu run by Kelan, who is a man from a lower caste, Sivaraman
Nair looks forward to the commencement of the school and Ravi’s arrival with gusto.
The dwarf and the mullah of Khasak
As the story unfolds, we are introduced to other characters and residents of Khasak. The first
character to be intimated with the reader is Appu-Killi, the village dwarf who speaks with a
lisp. Half man, half child, the character of Appu Killi is the reader’s first glimpse into the
mystical and mysterious phenomenon of nature, that is the land of Khasak. Next we meet
Allah-Pitcha, the mullah of Khasak. Endearingly called mollakka by his students and the
villagers, it is in his classroom in the madrassa that we hear about the origins of Khasak.
Allah Pitcha tells his students the story of how the Badrins, led by their leader, Sayed Mian

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Sheikh, settled in Khasak. He tells them the myth of his spirit’s residence on Chetali, the
mountain overlooking Khasak.
Allah-Pitcha, disturbed by the news of Ravi’s arrival, is resentful towards the new
school. He is distrustful of English alphabets and modern education, none of which, he
believes will bring any good to the land steeped in legends and myths. Unsupported by his
peers and his own prodigy in his protests against the new school, he makes his students swear
that they will not go to the kafir’s school. It was a tradition for the students to bring
mollakka’s breakfast everyday, in turns. When Kunhamina, a ten year old girl, lets a peacock
eat mollaka’s breakfast instead, he forgives her, but in exchange makes her promise that she
will not forsake the madrassa for the new school.
The narrative then goes back in time to give the reader a glimpse into Allah Pitcha’s life.
Twelve years ago, mollakka had adopted the wild orphan Nizam Ali, in his search for a
successor, someone who would be the next mullah of Khasak. Vijayan portrays Nizam Ali as
a rebellious man, who refuses to get his head shaved, in accordance with the Muslim
customs. Shattering the mollakka’s dreams of making him Khasak’s next mullah and getting
his daughter, Maimoona wed to him, Nizam Ali leaves Khasak to become a beedi- roller in a
factory run by Khasak’s first capitalist, Attar. Attar is described as the first ambitious man
from Khasak to leave the village, gain material wealth and start a factory in the nearby town
of Koomankavu.
 Check your progress:
1. What is the reason behind Ravi’s arrival in Khasak?
2. Why is Allah-Pitcha against the establishment of the new school?
Capitaliism, Communism and the New School
The scene shifts to Koomankavu, where after five years of working for Attar under horrible
wages and conditions, Nizam Ali sets up his own successful enterprise and returns in pride to
Khasak. However, the news of Maimoona, who was the object of his desire, being wedded
off to Chukkru, the ‘Diving Fowl’ hurts him deeply and he leaves Khasak again, in despair.
He joins the ranks of Attar’s poorly paid workforce again, but this time he becomes a
Communist and starts a workers union. After he is fired from the factory, he initiates a strike
which results in him being arrested under charges of war against the state and collision with a
foreign power. He ends up being beaten up by the police behind bars. This experience leads
to a spiritual revelation and Nizam Ali becomes a self -proclaimed Khazi, a superior spiritual
being, blessed with special powers by the ghost or djinn of Sayed Miyan Sheikh, the deity of
Khasak.
Parallels of Vijayan’s own disillusionment with Communism and his subsequent
inclination towards spirituality can be seen in Nizam Ali’s story. Nizam Ali returns to
Khasak, its first Khazi, shrouded in a cloak of mystic power, chanting spells, sermonizing to
its people. Much to the mollakka’s chagrin, Nizam Ali openly supports the new school.

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 The novel now focuses on the new school and the events surrounding it. Sivaraman Nair
gives the walls of the seedling house-turned-school a personal touch by hanging pictures of
Gandhi, Hitler and the monkey God Hanuman. Through Sivaraman and Madhavan Nair’s
efforts, the strength of the class increases and reaches an unstable twenty. The children who
join the school are tribal, poor and deeply connected to nature. The addition of Appu Killi
adds a play-like quality to the classroom. The classroom becomes a site of storytelling, where
students and teacher exchange stories of spiders, and debate on the cause and effect of karma,
plants and animals alike. Sums and recitations are traded for the charms of stories of lizards.
Stories flow and erupt, only to pause for short lunch breaks.
Djinns, Death and the tragic fate of the poor
In the meantime, Madhavan Nair arranges for Abida, the daughter of Chukkru and step
daughter of Maimoona, to work as a housemaid for Ravi. Always quick to pick a fight and
bored sitting at her shop, Maimoona accuses Abida of seducing Ravi. Hurt by the false
accusation, she confronts Maimoona. Later that night, the village is woken by sounds of
Abida’s cries. Chukkru is seen chasing her in mad anger, with a burning torch, wanting to
hurt her. Ultimately Abida finds refuge in Mollakka's house. Lonely and a victim of her
orphanhood, she finds companionship and compassion in the arms of nature.
The tragic trajectory of the lives of Chukkru and his daughter Abida, the mollakka’s
struggle with poverty, his daughter’s indifference towards his hardships, his decision to work
as the school's masalji to earn a meagre income of five rupees a month, the kinship of being
motherless orphans that bring the master and maid closer, the novel explores the lives,
emotions and struggles of the residents of Khasak with intricate humaneness. Appu Killi,
who would otherwise be an object of ridicule in the real, cruel world outside Khasak, is loved
and cared for by the entire village. Abida, a lonely orphan, shunned by her stepmother finds
companionship in the arms of nature. Chukkru’s death is described with a neutral ease. He
dies like he lived, diving in wells, laid to rest in the depths of deep water.
Followed by Chukkru’s death is the story of Neeli, Kuttappu and Appu Killi’s birth.
Born a bastard from Neeli’s womb, Appu Killi was nurtured by five doting mothers. The
novel shifts to the present, where Nizam Ali, the Khazi, meets Neeli. He claims that Appu-
Killi’s physical condition is of half man and half child because both mother and child are
possessed by a djinn. The Khazi promises to relieve them from the djinn’s possession.
Kuttapu, the father, confronts the Khazi and threatens him to stay away from his child. After
the confrontation, Kuttapu finds himself walking away from Khasak in an involuntary stupor.
He becomes obsessed with the notion that a pootham is chasing him. Unable to come back to
his senses, Kuttapu dies. Soon after, suffering from a bout of illness, despite the Khazi’s
efforts to heal her, Neeli also dies. Appu Killi, now an orphan, comes down with a high fever.
The villagers believe that Neeli’s grieving spirit had taken possession of Appu Killi’s body.
They arrange for an exorcism by the local priest Kuttadan and soon after the exorcism is
performed, the fever goes away, rendering Ravi’s medicines useless.

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 Check your progress:
1. Who is Maimoona married off to? What nickname does the village give him and
why?
2. Which characters come in support of the new school?
3. What led to Nizam Ali’s transformation into the Khazi ?
4. Which character represents Vijayan’s disillusionment with Communism?
5. How does Appu-Kili's father, Kuttapu die in the novel?
The School Inspection
Khasak’s first brush with the outside world happens as the school completes a year, during
the annual inspection. Ravi and the school inspector exchange stories from their respective
pasts, which reveals some more of Ravi’s background to the reader. The flashback introduces
Ravi’s girlfriend Padma, to the reader, who like everything else, Ravi has left behind in his
quest for redemption.
After the uneventful inspection, things return back to as they were in Khasak. The novel
gives us a glimpse into the mind of Sivaraman Nair. Ravi’s unbiased acceptance of the
Muslims, hiring molakka as the school’s handyman and Chand Umma, a Muslim widow as
his servant, plants the seeds of resentment in Nair’s mind towards Ravi. The unsolicited
rumors that Chand Umma is Ravi’s mistress, spread by the village gossip monger Kuppu
Acchan, add fuel to the fire. Ravi’s camaraderie with his nephew, Madhavan Nair, who chose
tailoring, a profession beneath his caste, was also a sore spot for Sivaraman. Even though
tolerance and acceptance are natural virtues of the natives of Khasak, Sivaraman’s character
represents the quintessential Brahmin figure, adhering to the rigidities of the caste system and
religion. He uses the word ‘bouddha’ to refer to the Muslim natives, which has negative
connotations.
The novel makes digressions from events and actions to intimate the reader with the
stories of other characters. It paints in detail a picture of their respective pasts so that it
becomes easy for the reader to empathise with the people they have become, in the novel.
The narrative brings us to the stories of Kuppu- Acchan and Chand Umma.
The tragic lives of Kuppu- Acchan and Chand Umma
In his youth, Kuppu Acchan was a toddy tapper. He tapped the sap of palm trees and brewed
it into toddy, the local liquor. He sold the liquor in his toddy shop and made a living out of it.
But his career was destroyed when the government passed a temperance law allowing
artificial liquor to be brewed from adulterated chemicals. His shop closed and his wife
Kallu’s dreams of becoming rich by vending toddy came to an abrupt end. Disillusioned, she
left Khasak, leaving Kuppu Acchan a broken man, a shadow of what he used to
be. Purposeless, he roams around the town collecting and dispelling rumors and gossip,
freeloading off other residents and Ravi, whenever the opportunity presents itself.

5
 Chand Umma’s fate seems ever more cruel than Kuppu Acchan’s. There was a great
tamarind tree in Khasak and legend had it that only a man with a chaste wife could climb the
tree. Chand Umma’s husband, blinded by greed and the thought of selling the plucked harvest
of tamarind for a fortune, climbs the tree, against people’s better judgement and falls to his
death. Unable to bear the sting of accusations against his daughter’s chastity, Chand Umma’s
father leaves Khasak to become a wandering fakir. Widowed and orphaned, she is left to fend
for her two children, Kunhu Noor and Chandu Mutthu. Waiting to redeem her honour, she
waits for her son to grow up and save the family. But fate seldom smiles on those who need it
the most, and Chand Umma’s children are wiped out in an epidemic of smallpox, later in the
novel.
 Check your progress:
1. Chand Umma is an outcast in the novel. What events condemn her to a life of
loneliness?
2. Describe the events that lead to Kuppu-Acchan’s tragic fate in the novel.
3. What causes the change in Sivaraman Niar’s attitude towards Ravi?
Money, Fame and Gimmicks
Fate however does smile on some of the characters in the novel. Gopalu Panniker, the village
astrologer was one of them. The setting up of the new school puts a halt to his tedious and
long methods of learning. When his wife, Lakshmi enrolls their son, Ramankutty in the new
school, in hope of turning him into a big man like her cousin, who worked as a city clerk in a
government office, Gopalu leaves Khasak, disillusioned, in search of fortune and a different
way of life. He settles down in Pollachi, a bigger Tamil town near Khasak and becomes rich
and famous for his healing spells.
He meets Ramacchar, the penniless cattle breeder from Khasak and who teams up as
Panniker’s fellow- soccerrer. Together in the city, they give people fake spells and potions,
which somehow seem to work, and make a decent living as fake healers.Gopalu returns back
to Khasak, where his fame spreads and people come from far away for his healing spells and
potions. In Khasak, he continues his fake sorcery. He and Ramacchar stage an elaborate
exorcism for a rich miller, who comes from outside Khasak to get himself de-possesed. They
soften his senses with liquor and incense and delude him into believing that a burning lizard,
deliberately caught earlier that morning and set on fire was the evil spirit fleeing from his
body.
The focus shifts to Kuttadan, the oracle of goddess Nallamma. Nallamma was believed
to be the goddess of smallpox by the villagers of Khasak.
The novel reveals his story and the reason behind his burning envy towards Gopalu
Panniker, in flashbacks. Slow at learning and frequently at the receiving end of his teacher’s
rod, Kuttadan falls in love with the teacher’s daughter, Lakshmi. One day when they were
alone at home, she teases him erotically, as a teenager, making her an object of Kuttadan’s

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desire. However, Lakshmi later marries the learned Gopalu Panniker, leaving Kuttadan in the
throes of unfulfilled love.
Goddess, Oracle and the Pox
Pannniker’s return to Khasak as rich and successful, drives Kuttadan mad with jealousy.
Kuttadan knew that Panikker’s fame was undeserved and his sorcery was fake. Driven by
disgust and jealousy, a strange obsession to outperform Panniker takes over Kuttadan. He
locks himself inside the shrine of the goddess Nallamma and practices extreme penance. He
smites his head with the sword of the goddess and walks over a bed of live cinders. He is
driven mad by the memory of Lakshmi erotically teasing him. The madness, the dramatic
spectacle of his dedication to the goddess draws devotees from both inside and outside
Khasak. Offerings pour in plenty, which makes Kuttadan rich, so much so that he has to hire
a handyman, Theinagan, to keep the accounts.
He announces an annual festival to be arranged in the temple to celebrate the goddess.
The day of the festival arrives. Kathakali dancers are hired and the village is decorated. A
large throng of devotees gathers to witness the spectacle. To soothe his nerves, Kuttadan,
along with the dancers, consumes a large portion of illicit liquor, which causes them diarrhea.
The diarrhea puts a stop to the frenzy and the festival is cancelled.
As the frenzy of the festival ends in embarrassment, an epidemic of smallpox breaks out
in Khasak. The epidemic is interpreted by the villagers as a sign of the goddess’s anger. Ravi
, who gets caught in the death wave of the pox is looked after by the villagers. He had not got
himself vaccinated, which is at odds with his image as the modern, urban man. He shifts in
and out of consciousness, reminiscing memories of his childhood, his time with his father and
flashbacks from the life that he had left behind haunt him in his delirium. It is through these
delirious memories that the reader is familiarised with his sin of incest. It is in his sickness
that the reader gets to know his character most intimately.
The fever subsides and Ravi recovers slowly. The women of Khasak nurse him back to
health with motherly affection, healing the scars left behind by the pox with their own breast
milk. Their love is also sensual, and Ravi finds comfort in their warmth. He even mates with
the ‘houri’ of Khasak, Maimoona. The novel suspends judgement and weaves on the
narrative of the outsider’s relationship with the villagers with equanimous ease. If the women
nurture him with motherly affection, the men of the village provide him with fatherly care.
The Khasi offers Ravi a place to stay in the mosque for better recovery. The Khazi prays for
him, Madhavan Nair bathes him and the mullah sends a neem and turmeric paste to be used
in place of soap.
 Check your progress:
1. What is the cause of Kuttadan’s envy towards Gopalu Panniker?
2. How does Gopalu Panniker acquire fame and wealth after leaving Khasak?
3. How does the annual temple festival end? Why?

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 4. How do the villagers take care of Ravi during his sickness?
Lice, Death and Religion
Even though Ravi is saved, the epidemic proves fatal for a few unfortunate villagers. Kuppu-
Acchan loses his eyesight. Many are laid to rest in the arms of death, including Kunhu Noor
and Chandu Mutthu. Since the epidemic takes away many children, the strength of students at
school wavers. Life at Khasak however goes on and so does the school. Another force of
nature that threatens to disrupt the learning inside the classroom is the lice in Appu Killi’s
hair. The lice spread to the heads of the other children in class sparking a discussion on the
necessity of shaving Appu Kili's hair.
Appu Killi goes to the barbershop to get his head shaved. The Hindu barber gives him a
tuft, cajoling him with hopes of getting a girl. The tuft is shaved off when the Muslim
children convince him that donning a tuft is the least sure way to get a girl. And just like that,
a frayed Muslim cap is placed on Appu’Killi’s head and he is converted to Islam with absurd
ease. He is given the Muslim name of Appu- Ruthwar.
Appu Kill’s conversion to Islam angers Sivaraman Nair and he decides to blame Ravi for
it. Simmering with fear and anger, he pens a long petition to the school inspector, accusing
Ravi of creating religious strife and leading the village children astray.
In the meantime, proving Sivaraman’s fears wrong the village elders grant Appu Killi the
freedom to practice both religions. He could be a Hindu on certain days of the week, and for
the rest he could be muslim. The absurdity, yet peace and ease with which this incident
occurs, the freedom granted to Appu Killi to practice both religions is Vijayan’s way of
reminiscing the nostalgia of pre- partition times, before the religious divide had left a
permanent imprint on both religions. Unlike the outside world, religion is not a site of
conflict in Khasak. Their faith in their Gods and Goddesses and their belief in superstitions
and myths that surround the land gives them an anchor to ground themselves in their daily
struggles. With the exception of a few like Sivaraman Nair, the villagers stick together in
times of crisis, irrespective of their religions.
Even though the political and economic realities of the outside world hardly touch the
sensibilities of the villagers, Khasak is not untouched by the realities of life. Death and decay
are a part of life at Khasak. The villagers’ acceptance of death as a part of the human
experience is brought across beautifully in the last days of Allah-Pitcha’s life. Throughout the
novel, the mullah is shown to be struggling with a lesion on his foot. He and his wife think
that the lesion has developed because of Allah- Pitcha’s broken footwear and is nothing more
than a shoe pinch. He has no money to get the sandal repaired, let alone buy a new pair. So
the mullah mends the footwear as best as he could, his wife bandages his foot in oil soaked
rags to soothe the pain, but life drags and the lesion stays, getting more prominent with
passing time. Allah-Pitcha’s condition deteriorates and he is taken to a hospital in the nearby
city of Palghat. There, he is diagnosed with cancer. He passes away peacefully, on the day of
the feast for ancestors. It was a tradition in Khasak to arrange a feast for its ancestors every

8
four to five years. The mullah’s dead body is brought back on the day of the feast and he is
cremated in a festive aura.
The villagers’ cremation of the mullah’s body aligning with the day of the feast is
symbolic. It is a representation of the villagers' understanding of death. In Khasak, death is
not seen as an end. Rather it is a celebration; of rebirth, of the body’s freedom from the cycles
of karmic retribution.
The days before the mullah’s death are also a testament to the unity in diversity that is
representative of Indian villages. Even though Sivaraman Nair is at a war of religions with
the mullah, he still sends his bullock cart so that he can be taken to the hospital. Ravi lends
money for the journey. Nizam Ali, after long years of rebellion and estrangement, takes care
of the mullah, like the son the mullah always wanted him to be. He becomes the mullah’s
successor, announcing the muezzin's call for prayer after Allah-Pitcha’s death. They spent
their lives hurting each other, playing ego battles. Nizam Ali does so by his rebellion and his
defiance to bow down to the authority of the mullah. The mullah takes revenge by marrying
off the woman Nizam loves to the most ineligible man in town. But it is in death that all is
forgiven and father and the adopted son reconcile.
 Check your progress:
1. What solution do the village elders propose to tackle the religious dilemma of
Appu-Kill’s conversion?
2. What causes Allah-Pitcha’s death in the novel ?
3. How do villagers deal with Allah-Pitcha’s diagnosis and death in the novel?
Picnic on the Mountain
The celebration of death and the feast end and the annual examinations of the school begin.
The teacher and students mark the end of the exams by going for a picnic to Chetali. At the
picnic, the children dance, sing and eat together. They chase spiders and butterflies and
marvel at the creatures of nature. Like all children they ask questions about the things around
them and entertain the reader with their innocent wonderment. The childrens’ questions
reflect on how deeply connected these village children are with nature and the local
landscape. The myths and legends of the land are their legacy. Their questions and
wonderings are different from those of a child exposed to modern, city life. They don’t think
about what they would want to be when they grow up or what books they are being taught.
Rather they wonder if lice have souls or if they throw stones in the water, will it hurt the
water demon living inside.
The picnic seems like an idyllic event frozen in time. The innocent, child-like quality of
the picnic scene takes a turn when Ravi and Kunhamina realise that she is having her first
menstrual period. She refrains from going in the pool along with the other children and tells
Ravi she feels sick. She bends over in pain, drops of crimson puddling around her feet. That

9
is when Ravi realises she has crossed the threshold that transforms a girl into a woman, her
first period.
Letters and a Lover’s Promise
After the picnic the school closes down for summer vacations. Ravi gets busy with
paperwork, answering weekly queries from the District Board about the strength of the
classroom or level of literacy in the village. One day Kelu Menon the postman brings him a
letter from Padma, his girlfriend. Kelu Menon is the character in the novel who brings news
from the outside world to the villagers. All the news about politics that Khasak receives is
through the postman. He tells Ravi about the elections in Kozhanasseri and the probable win
of the Communist Party.
Ravi opens the letter from Padma. In the letter she informs him she will be coming to
meet him in ten days. The letter from Padma acts as a reminder of the life that he had left
behind, a life that he was reminded of only through memories during bouts of sickness or
melancholic contemplation now.
He spends the next ten days restless with anticipation, idling in the pleasant company of
Madhavan Nair. On the day of Padma’s arrival, he reaches Palghat. He sees her and they
engage in awkward banter punctuated with long silences, like lovers meeting after years of
estrangement. They rest at the guest house suite that Padma is lodging at, and over glasses of
liquor, Padma tells Ravi about her seven long year research stint at Princeton and how tedious
and difficult the process of tracking him down was. They exchange notes on the paths they
had taken over the last seven years. She tells him of her visit to Ravi’s parents house in Ooty,
about how sick his father was. She chides him for leaving them without any warning, without
telling them where he was. She asks him to come to Princeton with her, so that they can have
a future together. Ravi half listens, lost in thoughts, only to be brought back by Padma’s
voice. While Padma tries to bring him back to the realities of the present, the reader finds him
immersed in philosophical contemplation. He asks himself ‘What is remorse?’ While Padma
advises him to resume his studies, he ponders over the futility of his education. He feels that
there is nothing in the outside world of physics that is worth learning. He feels that the only
reality worth seeing is on the inside and only mysteries worth seeking answers to were the
mysteries of the human mind and spirit. He has a moment of spiritual epiphany during his
conversation with Padma, where he realises that he doesn't wish to escape anymore. He
realises the futility of his escapism. He had thought that by moving far away from the places
and people that reminded him of his sin, he would be able to escape from the guilt that
haunted him. In a moment of clarity he realises he couldn’t escape from this past, because the
guilt and remorse was in his mind. He had been carrying the baggage of his past wherever he
went. Khasak, in that sense, was just a distraction. It was his sarai, a place in transit, a
temporary stop in the journey of life. Ravi had intended Khasak to be his escape, his hiding
place. He had wished to escape the bounds of morality, the cost that society demands of an
individual. Instead, Khasak became a place for Ravi’s healing and spiritual evolution. He had
come to the village to teach but it was his students and villagers of Khasak that taught him

10
lessons in living. The villagers taught him the laws of karma, the nature of cause and effect.
They taught him to accept death as a part of life, decay as another aspect of rejuvenation. The
landscape, with its supernatural and mystical elements taught him to submit to the forces of
fate and nature. His students taught him lessons in simplicity and unconditional love.
By the end of his stay, the reader is able to identify the maturity and evolution of Ravi's
character. He comes to realise that Khasak is just his sarai, a temporary rest stop in the
journey of life. So when Padma extracts a promise from him to leave Khasak, he readily
agrees.
The Peon’s Visit
While Ravi is spending time with Padma in the city, the school inspector’s peon comes to
Khasak. Finding Ravi absent, he runs into Madhanavan Nair and after being fed with food
and tact, confides in Madhavan about Ravi's probable suspension. He tells Madhavan that the
letter that Sivaraman Nair had secretly written to take vengeance on Ravi had reached the
authorities, anonymously. The letter had accused Ravi with serious charges and could have
consequences. It accused Ravi of having an unsound character, cutting corners at his job and
fanning religious hatred. The old friendly inspector that Ravi had met earlier in the novel had
been replaced by a new one who could fire Ravi from his job at Khasak. The peon advises
Madhavan Nair to bribe the inspector into ignoring the charges and making Ravi apologise.
The peon leaves and shortly, Ravi returns. Madhavan Nair informs him of the peon’s
visit and his impending suspension. He assures Ravi that he would help in settling the matter
with the inspector so that the threat of the school closing down is averted and Ravi’s stay at
Kahsak continues. Even if the worst happens and the inspector doesn’t relent, the village
would raise money for a new school and learn to run it with the help of the communists from
Kozhanasseri.
Ravi however, refuses Madhavan Nair’s offers for help. He thinks about how he was an
alien presence in the land of Khasak. He feels that his presence was an intrusion on the
pristine sensibilities of the people of Khasak. Padma’s conversation and the spiritual
epiphany still fresh in his mind, he realises that the time to leave his sarai has come.
A day after his return, the communists from Kozhanasseri pay Ravi a visit. Their sudden
presence disrupts the story Ravi was telling Appu- Killi, forcing Ravi to end the story mid-
way, without meaning or a proper ending. They declare that the government’s decision to
shut the school is a conspiracy and offer Ravi their assistance and support. The conversation
that the comrades and Ravi exchange is awkward and laden with Maxist terms. Kelan, the
affluent educator from the nearby village becomes a ‘compradore bourgeois’, Sivaraman Nair
becomes a feudalist and the inspector’s peon is labelled as an agent of the bureaucracy by the
comrades. The comrades also visit Nizam Ali, a former communist, in the mosque but
hurriedly go away when he casts spells against imperialism.

11
Departure
As the hour of Ravi’s departure comes close, a storm of wind and rain rages through Khasak,
symbolising the end of a tormented man’s journey. He spends his last days in Khasak in the
company of Madhavan Nair, both men going on long walks around the village landscape,
engaging in small talk about other villagers. He slips his resignation letter in the attendance
register and leaves the village with his meagre belongings. As he waits at the bus stop of
Koomankavu, a snake bites his foot. Ravi neither calls out in pain, nor makes an attempt to
get himself any help. He catches sight of the snake before it bites him and does not react. As
the snake’s fangs pierce Ravi’s foot, he wonders if the snake is teething. The novel ends as
Ravi lays down, becoming one with the earth and rain.
 Check your progress:
1. What is the event that stands out during the school picnic at Chetali?
2. What epiphany does Ravi have during his conversation with Padma?
3. What was the reason behind the peon’s visit to Khasak in Ravi’s absence?
4. Who writes the letter against Ravi that becomes the cause of his suspension? What
was in that letter?

12
 Part-2 : Characters, Background and Themes
1. Introduction
It took Vijayan twelve years to write and rewrite The Legends of Khasak. A year before its
publication it was serialized in the magazine Matrabhumi. The Malayalam original was
published in 1969. The English translation, translated by the author himself, was published in
1994. Popularity of the novel among young readers was such that literary critics described it
as “the novel of the century” written in the Malayalam language. The novel’s impact was
such that it sparked off a literary revolution so much so that it divided Malayalam literature
into a pre and a post Khasak era. It has run into 50 reprints and is the most widely sold novel
in South Asia.
2. Learning Objectives
In this unit the student will learn about:
 the psychological and social makeup of the characters and how their motives,
behaviors, and personalities are influenced by their past and present struggles and the
dictates of fate.
 significant themes that run through the course of the novel like nature, atonement and
introspection, the juxtaposition and intermingling of tradition and modernity, religion,
superstition, the supernatural, and the human condition
 how experiences and influences from the author’s own life contributed to the shaping
of this novel and the presence of autobiographical elements in the novel
 the intricacies of translation and how the English translation The Legends of Khasak
differs from its original in Malayalam, Khasakkinte Itihasam
 Check your progress questions:
1. What made The Legends of Khasak the most important work in the history of
Malayalam fiction?
2. Which is the real life village on which the fictional village of Khasak is based?
3. Characters
1. Ravi
Ravi is the protagonist of the novel. He is a final year undergraduate student of astrophysics
at Christian College, Tambaram, although he leaves his studies mid-way. He is the outsider in
the novel, we see Khasak through his eyes. He is Vijayan’s torch bearer of modernity. Even
though he is the outsider, he fits easily in the scheme of things in Khasak. He is haunted by
memories of an illicit affair with his stepmother. Unable to face his paralysed father and the
guilt of his sin, he leaves him home and journeys to Khasak to take up a teaching job in a
single teacher school set up by the District Board in Khasak. Disillusioned with the academic

13
world and city life, he experiences love, kinship and spiritual growth in Khasak. His journey
to Khasak is a metaphor for man’s journey within. He is kind to his students and uses
unconventional methods for teaching. He uses the example of Appu-Killi’s lice to teach his
students about the Aryan invasion. He is humble enough to acknowledge to his students that
he does not have answers to the questions of life and death and hence ends up learning from
his students as well. He is generous and helps the villagers whenever they need him. He is not
a staunch believer of society’s norms of morality. He engages freely in sensual encounters
with the women of Khasak, not being averse to the bottle either.
2. Nizam Ali
Nizam Alli is the Khasi of Khasak. Orphaned as a child, he is adopted by Allah-Pitcha to
succeed him as the next mullah of Khasak. Quirky and rebellious as a child, he refuses to get
his head shaved or bow down to the authority of Allah-Pitcha. He leaves Khasak, first to
become a capitalist, then a communist,and finally the Khazi of the legendary Sheikh. He gets
disillusioned with communism and the capitalist ethos of city life after he gets arrested and
beaten up in jail for organising the Beedi Workers Union and participation in political rallies.
He undergoes a spiritual transformation and becomes Saved Mian Sheikh’s Khazi. Echoes of
autobiographical elements from Vijayan’s life can be found in Nizam Ali’s characters.
Vijayan’s disillusionment with communism and his inclination towards spirituality mirrors
Nizam Ali’s in the novel. The villagers of Khasak accept his authority as the Khazi without
question even though his spells don’t work most times, although he genuinely cares about the
villagers. He supports the school, unlike the mullah, he is not averse to the arrival of modern
education.
3. Sivaraman Nair
Sivaraman Nair, a brahmin Hindu, is the chief of Khasak. He is a fundamentalist in his
beliefs about caste and religion. He fears that the values of Hinduism might be suppressed by
the Muslim population in Khasak. He uses the word ‘bouddha’ to refer to the Muslim
women, which has negative connotations. Unlike the other characters in the novel, who are
poor folk, he is the only man who owns property and a bullock cart in Khasak, by virtue of
his position. Despite his wealth and power, he is a fearful and envious man. His warm
welcome towards the school is driven by personal vendetta. He welcomes the school in hopes
of outperforming Kelan, a man from a lower caste who runs a successful school in
Koomankavu. He offers his seedling house for the new school so that his wife can’t have her
secret extra marital affairs at the seedling house anymore. He is a casteist and disowns his
nephew, who chooses tailoring, a profession beneath his caste. Despite his generosity and less
quirks, his funadmentalist beliefs and attitude towards the villagers make him a misfit in
Khasak.
4. Madhavan Nair
Madhavan Nair is Sivaraman’s nephew and a tailor in Khasak. Unlike his uncle, he is neither
a fundamentalist, nor uses his caste to his advantage. Scarred by the childhood memories of

14
his mother’s polyamorous relationships with multiple men after his father’s death, he leaves
home at a young age.
He is a self- made man, who earns respect and a living through his skill and hard work.
He is the closest friend Ravi has in Khasak. They have mutual respect for each other. He is
helpful and knows how to handle tricky matters. He bribes and cajoles the peon into telling
him about Ravi’s impending suspension and a way to settle the matter. He gets children
enrolled in the new school and is a fatherly figure to Appu-Killi throughout the novel.
5. Appu- Killi
With a body of half man, half child, Appu-Killi is the village dwarf. The odd mix of his
guttural manly voice and a child-like lisp makes him sound like a parrot. He is fond of stories
and is mostly seen catching dragonflies in the novel. Even though he is orphaned in the early
parts of the novel, the entire village takes care of him like their own child. His deformity
doesn’t get him shunned or ridiculed, rather the villagers embrace him as a gift from nature,
and give him special treatment. The character of Appu-Killi is an embodiment of the villagers
deep connection with nature and highlights their capacity for unconditional love.
6. Allah-Pitcha
Endearingly called Mollakka, Allah-Pitcha is the mullah of Khasak. He runs the madarssa
and gives the daily call for the Muslim prayer, the namaaz, from the Mosque. Throughout the
novel, he is seen suffering from poverty and old age. His daughter, Maimoona, is too proud
of her beauty and indifferent to his sufferings. He is deeply religious. When someone defaults
on their payment to the tea shop owner, Aliyar, Allah-Pitcha advises him to put it on Alllah’s
credit. He is a kind husband. When his wife, Tithi B gives him money to get his sandal
mended, he uses the money to buy her a ring instead. Initially distrustful of the new school,
he befriends Ravi when he has to take up a job as a school’s handyman to make ends meet.
He is deeply hurt by Nizam Ali’s rebellion and reconciles with him only in his last days. At
the end, he is diagnosed with cancer which proves fatal. His simplicity in the novel is
touching. The fond remembrance with which his students and the villagers remember him, is
a testament to the impact his character has in The Legends.
 Check your progress questions:
1. Describe Ravi’s role as the outsider in the novel
2. What are the motives behind Sivaraman Nair’s enthusiasm towards the school?
3. Sivaraman Nair is a casteist and a fundamentalist in his beliefs. Elaborate with
examples.
4. Describe Nizam Ali’s transformation from capitalist to communist to finally being the
Khazi of Khasak.

15
4. Themes and Symbolism
1. Khasak
The fictional village of Khasak in the novel is based on Thasarak, where Vijayan stayed with
his family during his sister’s posting as a teacher in 1956. In his portrayal of a remote village,
untouched by the rubrics of civilization and events of the outside world, Khasak takes a
living, breathing quality. The vivid description of the nature around gives the landscape a life
of its own. Vijayan’s portrayal of Khasak and its characters is intricately human. They are
bound to the landscape and each other by virtue of their shared humanness. It is this raw
humanity that makes the characters of Khasak so relatable. Despite their poverty, ignorance,
quirks, unique customs and myths and legends, the reader is able to relate to the struggles of
the characters and empathise with the tragi-comedy of their lives. Khasak’s foundation is the
shared oral legend that tells the story of its origin. Vijayan’s portrayal of Khasak is his way of
indulging in nostalgia for a simpler place and time, when people stayed together and shared
happiness and grief, helped each other in times of need and faith wasn’t a site of conflict.
Even though two religions inhabit Khasak, rather than being divided, the people share the
same local customs, worship the same Gods and believe in the same myths and legends. The
landscape of Khasak is Vijayan’s antidote to the national landscape, which was then torn by
the aftermath of the partition and trauma of the Hindu Muslim riots.
Khasak does not adhere to the rigid norms of civilization and society. Institutions like
morality, monogamy, definitions that separate sanity from insanity, do not exist in Khasak. It
is freer and values the agency of individual choice more than civilised society. Even so,
Khasak is far from being an idyllic haven. Khasak is untouched by the realities of modern
civilization but it is not untouched by the realities of life. Death, decay, poverty and
marginalisation are rampant in the village. Khasak is also representative of the lack that is
characteristic of many Indian villages. Lives of people who could be saved by access to
medical facilities are lost during an epidemic of smallpox. There are no provisions for
sanitization, people still defecate in the open.
Hierarchies of caste and class are also prominent in Khasak. People from the lower
castes are poorer. Sivaraman Nair, the Brahmin chief is the only landowning resident.
Women are discriminated against on the basis of patriarchal notions of honour and chastity.
Chand Umma is made an outcast after her husband falls to his death trying to climb a
tamarind tree that, according to legend, only the husband of a chaste woman could climb. She
becomes the tragic victim of a blind superstition. The superstition takes precedence over
rationality and justice in her case.
The intimacy with which Vijayan has portrayed Khasak in the novel, it is evident that
The Legends is not the story of Ravi, it is the story of Khasak. It is Khasak who is the hero of
the novel.

16
2. Nature
Nature is integral to the novel. The people of Khasak are governed by the laws of nature and
obediently submit to its authority.
Nature as a healer
Nature is portrayed as a healing force in the novel. Ravi’s body during the smallpox epidemic
is healed not by medicines, but naturally, by the breast milk of the Khasak womenfolk. The
cycle of disease, bodily suffering and the subsequent recovery that Ravi goes through is also
symbolic of his emotional and spiritual healing. Ravi comes to Khasak as a tormented man,
scarred by the sins of his past. He lives in guilt and existential dread. Through the course of
his stay in Khasak, he heals. Even though Khasak is far from the ideal heaven, the simplicity,
reverence and love of the villagers, the magic of legends and myths, the raw forces of nature,
the lack of judgement and the ease of acceptance that reverberates through Khasak heals
Ravi.
Nature as a teacher
Even though the villagers are ignorant of the world outside, they learn everything they need
to survive and live peaceful lives, from nature. In the end, Ravi becomes disenchanted with
his purpose of staying in Khasak because he realises he had burderend the children of Khasak
with bookish education when they already had a better method of learning in place; they
learnt directly from nature. He ponders with dismay about how his history lessons were
irrelevant in a place where people measured time in the length of stories, not in
chronologically ordered timelines. Children who wondered whether lice had souls, who sang
songs about the origins of their land, who ran free and chased dragonflies, had no use of
arithmetic crammed down their throats in closed classrooms. They could not relate to the
things being taught in the classroom. Their world was filled with struggles of poverty, disease
and untimely death. The parallel words of stories, legends and myths helped them in making
sense of their real one. Their war was with their marginalisation and the foreign wars taught
in history classes were irrelevant to them.
 Check your progress
1. What is the oral legend of the origins of Khasak?
2. How is the village of Khasak different from the rest of the nation?
3. Describe the role played by nature in the novel.
3. Religion, Superstition and Spirituality
Religion
A multi- religious society is represented in the novel. In Khasak both religions co-exist
peacefully, the Hindu and Muslim residents seek protection from the same deity. They
worship the same local Gods and follow the same customs. The mixing of deities when a ten
year old girl, Kanhamina swears to Allah-Pitcha that she will not attend the new school,

17
“By Mariyama,’ the girl chanted, again adding gratuitous divinities to her oath. ‘By the
goddess on the tamarind branch, by the snake-gods -- I will not go to the kafir's school !”
the presence of Hindu, Muslim, and the local gods in the same breath, a Hindu girl attending
a madrassa is very representative of the villagers’ attitude towards religion in the novel.
The non ritualistic conversion of Appu-Killi into Apppu Ruthwar, which happens organically
when a fez cap is placed on his head and the village’s collective decision to grant him the
freedom of practicing both religions; he could be a Muslim on some days and a Hindu on
other days of the week, all this is a true testament to Vijayan’s secularism.
Even when fundamentalists like Allah-Pitcha and Sivaraman Nair impose their beliefs on
the other villagers, the social fabric of the village remains intact.
It is interesting to note that even through the novel covers the details of Ravi’s stay at
Khasak for more than an year, we never see the popular Hindu and Muslim festivals like
Diwali, Holi and Eid being celebrated at Khasak. Rather, the villagers have their local
festivals like the ancestral feast or the temple festival, which is celebrated with much vigour.
Despite their differences, the villagers help each other. Even though Sivaraman Nair wastes
no opportunity to bully and taunt the mullah, he does send his bullock cart in the time of
need, when he is to be taken to the hospital.
Khasak’s religion is humanity.
Superstition
Superstition is woven into the lives of the characters organically and is integral to their
understanding of religion. The myths and legends are sacred to the people of Khasak and
form the foundations of their belief systems. They believe in djinns and poothams, which are
evil spirits. They interpret the outbreak of smallpox in the village as a sign of the local
Goddess Nallamama’s anger. When the epidemic subsides, they believe that the Goddess is
pleased. Although when their superstitions coincide with unfortunate events, like it happens
in Chand Umma’s case, it wreaks havoc on their lives. Their superstitions are not open to
questioning or rational inquiry. Even when the Khazi’s spells don't work, the villagers
question neither the Khazi, nor his spells.
Spirituality:
Unlike his other novels, Vijayan does not politicise religion in The Legends. The stories in
Legends bring to fore the spiritual aspects of the human experience and undertones of
spirituality reverberate throughout the novel. The ease with which the villagers accept the
cycles of life and death is reflected in Kunhamina’s question: ‘Saar , do lice have souls ? And
when Ravi, the modern educator fails to answer that question, his students educate him in the
lessons of rebirth and karma. They tell him that all creatures have souls and their classmates
who had died in the epidemic will be reborn again as babies. Ravi teaches them about
invasions and wars in history, and his students teach him about the cycle and meaning of life.

18
4. Tradition vs Modernity
Even though the novel tells the story of a village, the story is narrated through an urban gaze.
Ravi is Vijayan’s bearer of modernity in the novel. Ravi’s character as the outsider and the
new school, which are representative of modernity are juxtaposed with the villager’s lives
and landscape, which symbolize tradition.
The villagers are shrouded from the economic and political realities of the rest of the
nation and the nuances of modern life. They are not exposed to modern medicine and rely on
prayers and priests. They interpret a fever as possession of the body by an evil spirit and
perform elaborate exorcist rituals to cure it. They are unaware of the comforts of electricity,
connectivity and sanitisation. Even though the characters don’t enjoy the comforts of modern
life, Vijayan’s intention behind the portrayal of such a traditional and rustic society as
Khasak was to highlight the simplicity of traditional living. Tradition offers that which is
hard to find in modern life, gifts of intimacy with nature, a shared acknowledgment and
acceptance of the sufferings and joys of human existence, a deeper connection among people
and the leisure of time. Although Khasak welcomes modernity without friction. The school
acts as a middle ground, where the old legends of Khasak blend with the new narrative of
modern education.
 Check your progress:
1. How does Vijayan portray religion in the novel?
2. What are the symbols of modernity in the novel? How do the villagers treat the arrival
of modernity in Khasak ?
5. Communism
Communism is a prominent theme in The Legends. Vijayan had initially intended The
Legends of Khasak to be a political novel about the communist movement of the 1960s in
Kerala. But the Soviet invasion of Hungary and the subsequent killing of Imre Nagy, a
Marxist who sought to turn his country into a multi-party democracy, left Vijayan
disillusioned with Communism. He writes in his Afterword to the English translation,
“I thank providence, because I missed writing the ‘revolutionary novel’ by a hair’s
breadth. Had I written it, I would have merely made one more boring entry in Marxism’s
futile, repetitive bibliography.”
Echoes of his disillusionment with communism can be found throughout the novel. The
fictional village of Khasak was a product of it, along with his inclination towards spirituality.
The caricature of the comrades and their exchange with Ravi, towards the end of the novel is
Vijayan’s satire on communism. His graphic representation of Nizam Ali’s role in the
founding of Koomankavu Beedi Workers Union, followed by a strike and workers
demonstration; is a caricaturist version of Kerala’s long history of communist inclinations.

19
 Parallels could be drawn between Nizam Ali's character and Vijayan as well. His arrest
and spiritual transformation mirrors Vijayan’s own. Both men were former communists,
ultimately finding a sense of purpose in spirituality.
6. Time, Magic Realism and the Supernatural
Magic Realism
Magic Realism is a genre of literature where elements of magic and fantasy are incorporated
into the real world. The lines between fact and fiction, myth and reality are blurred, although
the magical or fantastical events are presented as normal. In this genre, the author deliberately
leaves the mysterious events or elements unexplained, with the intention of treating it as part
of the ordinary. Most works of magic realism do not follow a conventional narrative arc with
a clear and chronological beginning, middle and end. Time in such works takes on a fluid
quality. The usage of magic realism was popularised by Latin American writers, since it
made a good narrative vehicle for satire. The most celebrated work that popularised the usage
of magic realism was Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude. It was
published in 1967, two years before the publication of the original Malayalam version of The
Legends of Khasak. However it was the English translation published in 1994 that drew
comparisons between the two novels because of their brilliant usage of magic realism.
Vijayan’s Khasak is often compared to Maquez’s Macondo. Both fictional settings were
inspired from real life places. While Macondo resembled Maquez’s native Aracataca in
Colombia, Khasak was inspired by Vijayan’s stay in Thasarak. Both fictional villages had
very little contact with the outside world, both pristine and magical in their solitude.
Time
The Legends is replete with elements of magic realism. The narrative of the novel is
characteristic of magic realist fiction. There is no fixed storyline or timeline for the events
that occur in the novel. Nothing ‘happens’, there is no chronological plot driving the story.
The past and present flow into each other and folklore merges with reality seamlessly. Time
is subjective in the novel. Life at Khasak is not bound by the dictates of objective time. The
villagers are in no hurry and things take a pace of their own.
Supernatural
Supernatural elements like spirits and haunted locales are woven into the story. The villagers’
superstitions and belief in them bring them alive. The story of the goddess at the tamarind
tree, the insides of the desolate mosque, Abida’s tryst with the magic of nature on a lonely
night, Kutthapu’s flight from a pootham haunting his back, are all supernatural elements in
the novel.
Poothams and djinns are as much a part of Khasak as its residents. It is a cosmos of
myths and legends, the legends help the villagers in making sense and meaning out of the
sufferings and harsh realities of their life.

20
 It is not only the legacy of its oral tales but the geography and landscape of Khasak also
give it a supernatural quality. The land is protected by Chetali, the mystic mountain shrouded
by the clouds, home of their founding deity’s spirit, looking over Khasak like a God.
 Check your progress:
1. In what ways is The Legends of Khasak a satire on communism?
2. Elaborate on Vijayan’s use of magic realism in the novel.
3. The landscape of Khasak is replete with supernatural elements. Explain with
examples.
7. Atonement
Ravi comes to Khasak as a tormented man haunted by the sins of his incest and guilt. He
leaves home and wanders, in search of a way to atone for his sins. Ravi’s journey to Khasak
is also a metaphor for the inner journey of introspection. Through his character, Vijayan
highlights the meaningless of rational inquiry and encourages the reader to find answers
within. Ravi’s question to himself,
“What am I trying to accomplish scanning galactic distances and reading the bands of colour
split out of stellar lights by lowly prism? Doesn’t my sin lie within?” Vijayan’s message to
the reader is that redemption can only be achieved through introspection.
8. Suffering and the human condition
Through the stories of his characters, Vijayan highlights the inevitable role of suffering in our
lives. The lives of these characters are like Shakespearan tragedies without the dramatic
grandiose, rendering the reader able to relate and empathize with the sufferings of the
characters. Whether it is the tragic fate of Chand Umma and her two children, or Kuppu
Acchan’s descent into poverty and purposelessness, when man is pitted against his fate, it is
man who is defeated.
The novel also explores the nature of karma and the laws of cause and effect. Through
the children in the novel, both Ravi and the reader are provoked to wonder if lice do indeed
have souls, if human life is just a microscopic span of time between life and death, dictated
by the forces of karmic retribution. Vijayan’s own thoughts on the metaphysical questions of
life,
“Life has two terminals: life and death. A political party can analyse what goes on between
the two historically and scientifically. But what lies beyond has to be indeterminate.”
are echoed in the novel.
5. The Narrative Technique
The novel does not employ a linear narrative. We are introduced to Ravi’s and other
characters’ backgrounds through flashbacks, in pieces, scattered throughout the novel. The
narrative style of the novel merges the stories of plants and animals with the stories of the

21
characters’ lives with ease. The narrative shifts back and forth between action and events, the
past and present of characters’ lives and Ravi’s gradual transformation from being an outsider
to eventually becoming a thread in the web of Khasak’s landscape.
The novel makes frequent digressions from the action happening in the present to delve
into the stories of other characters, giving the novel an epic like quality, of stories within a
story. The narrative of the novel also possesses the characteristics of oral literature. Oral
legends form a part of the novel. The presence of gothic and supernatural elements, the use of
storytelling give The Legends the qualities of an oral and fantastical folktale.
6. Ending
The ending of the novel is significant. It described with poetic brilliance by Vijayan. The
scene witnesses Ravi waiting at the Koomankavu bus stop. It is raining and as Ravi waits for
the bus to arrive, a blue green snake slithers out of the bushes and bites his foot. The manner
in which the scene is weaved, the rain, the otherwordliness of a blue-green snake, Ravi’s last
thought as he lays down on the soft earth waiting for death, gives the ending an eternal,
elemental quality. The title of the last chapter ‘A Journey Begins’ is symbolic because it
marks the beginning of a different journey, the journey of the eternal soul.
7. English vs Malayalam Version
The original version of the novel in Malayalam was published in 1959 under the title
Khasakkinte Itihasam. The English version, translated by Vijayan himself, was published in
1994 as The Legends of Khasak. The English version differs substantially from its original,
almost making it a different novel rather than a translation. A few episodes from the original
are absent in the English translation. Although what makes the two versions worlds aparts is
the significant difference in the way the sensibilities of Khasak are portrayed. The Hindu and
Muslim in the English version are ‘Ehzavars’ and ‘Rowthers’ in the original. These
differences in the way Khasak is sketched make it clear that while the original was rooted in
the local sensibilities of Malayali landscape and Kerala, the English version was written with
the intention of appeasing global sensibilities, which in turn had to be a compromise on
preserving the authenticity of the original version.
Many critics opine that even though the translation was done by the author himself, The
Legends is simply not a translatable novel. M Mukundan, in his essay, ‘O.V. Vijayan: Death
and Afterlife of a Writer’, highlights the impossibility of the novel’s translation,
“If the novel that marked a milestone in contemporary fiction in Kerala couldn't
make the same impact in its English translation, that's because it is impossible
to render it in any other language—its language, imageries and subtleties
which are culture-specific are not simply translatable.”

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8. Let’s sum it up!
In this and the previous unit, we learnt about the life and times of the author, the context of
the novel and the political and social factors that influenced the work. Every work of
literature is a product of its times and reflects on the life and experiences of the author. It is
important to be aware of the influences in the author's life and know the background of the
times the work is written in to understand the factors and forces that birthed and shaped it.
In Unit 1, we familiarised ourselves with a brief view of the plot, storyline, action, events
and the trajectory of the characters’ lives. We critically analysed characters’ motives behind
their behaviour and actions and understood the social and psychological makeup of the
village of Khasak.
In Unit 2, we looked at the factors that went into making The Legends of Khasak the
greatest work in Malayalam literature. The novel arrived when the readers’ collective
imaginations were the most fertile for it. We interrogated how the novel was born out of
Vijayan’s disillusionment with Communism. We looked at the sketches of some important
characters in the novel and analysed the themes of atonement, religion and the supernatural
that run throughout the novel. We explored the characters’ relationship with nature, delved
into the juxtapositions of tradition and modernity, the novel’s treatment of time as non-linear
and usage of a fluid narrative. We understood the use of elements of magic realism, the
intricacies of translation and an open ending. Our study of the novel brought us to the
conclusion that the story of the novel is really the story of Khasak, seen through the gaze of a
man tormented by past, who finds in Khasak, magic, love, care, nurture, redemption, spiritual
growth, lessons of life and finally a peaceful death. Our study of both Unit 1 and Unit 2
enabled us to reach a comprehensive understanding of O. V. Vijayan’s The Legends of
Khasak.
Reading List:
1. M. Mukundan, O.V. Vijayan: Death and Afterlife of a Writer
https://www.jstor.org/stable/23346631
2. P.P. Raveendran, Translation and Sensibility: The Khasak Landscape in Malayalam
and English
https://www.jstor.org/stable/23342612
3. Divya Anand, Inhabiting the Space of Literature: An Ecocritical Study of Arundhati
Roy's “God of Small Things” and O.V. Vijayan's “The Legends of Khasak”
https://www.jstor.org/stable/44086431
4. Makarand Paranjape, Reworlding Homes: colonialism, `national' culture, and post-
national India
https://www.jstor.org/stable/23005821

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