Sketch the character of Nataraj in the novel "Man Eater of Malgudi".

 

The owner of a small printing press that is located in Malgudi, Nataraj is a father and a husband who is very much concerned with family affairs. At the beginning of the novel, Nataraj is a man who is obsessed with power. He enjoys his position as boss, so much so that he separates his press with a blue curtain, assuring that his customers will not see him lowered to a handyman position beneath Sastri. The blue curtain maintains his ego. Nataraj's blue curtain, as well as his ego, is slowly cast aside, and by the end of the book, Nataraj has lost the curtain and his ego. It is this change in character that qualifies the press owner as the only round character in The Man-eater of Malgudi.

 

Natraj is a prosperous seasoned printer of Malgudi. He has a small, cosy, warm world which there is his loving wife, his pretty son Babu, his dear friends, the poet sen and his sincere assistant, Sastri, a semi-scholar. He is some what timid hen pecked, religious, simple, gentle, modest, sensitive and intelligent.

 

He is a simple, gentleman and the world in which he lives seemed to be happy and innocent. It is when he faces with Vasu, he realizes the raw realities of life. Natraj is temperamentally some what becomes timid to Vasu because he had developed  a fear phobia for Vasu. He has the weakness and so he always take his wife into confidence. It is his weakness which tortures him the most. His fear of Vasu remains until Vasu dies. His timidness admits his weakness.

 

Natraj is unworldly, he is blessed with touch of spiritualism. Though he is cheated by the lawyer and Vasu, Natraj is so gentle that he does not demand money from them. He does not find any difference between the employer and the employee and he works together with them -naturally very co-cooperatively. He helps Mathu in finding out a veterinary doctor for the treatment of Kumar. He has to undergo many hardships and hurdles.  

 

Natraj’s love for Kumar knows no bound when he learns that Vasu plots to kill the elephants, he is consciously concerned. He lives no stone unturned in saving the life of Kumar. He is even prepared to neglect his business. The thought of murdering Kumar by Vasu never remain aloof from him. He thinks various plans and finally he risks his life when he enters in the attic of Vasu for checking him. He picks up the gun of Vasu so that he may not shoot Kumar. His love for his wife and son is very much tender and true. He is loveable husband and affectionate father.

Natraj is brought up in a family where he is taught never to kill animal, to feet the ants with sugar, to share his food with the crows and the sparrows, and to allow the squirrel and the sparrows deplete the granary. But, after Vasu’s coming Natraj’s establishment is turned into a charnel house.

Natraj’s character appears prominent in contrast with that of Vasu. William Walsh contrasts the “Passivity of Natraj with the violence of taxidermist hunter, Vasu who is not only a character but also an oppressive and destructive force”.