One of the greatest Indian-American author Raja Rao’s archive has been acquired by the University of Texas, for enriching the study of arts and humanities. This archive contains a wide range of literary works which includes many of his unpublished works and manuscripts of his famous novels. Rao’s estate donated the archive to the Ransom Centre, a humanities research library and museum at The University of Texas in Austin.
According to Ransom Centre, "It's a notable acquisition in part because Rao is widely considered to have been one of India's most noted authors, having received the Neustadt International Prize for Literature and other honours". The Harry Ransom Museum is a literary archive and museum at the University of Texas, which is famous for its collection of archival literary and cultural artifacts from Europe and USA for advancing the study of Literature and Humanities.
Raja Rao (1908-2006) was one of the earliest and famous novelist in English Language in India. He wrote numerous short stories, fictions, essays, Poetry, talks and The Great Indian Way: A Life of Mahatma Gandhi" (1998), about Mohandas Gandhi's days in South Africa.
Rao’s archive includes a broad range of manuscript of his well known novels like Kanthapura, The Serpent and the Rope. The Chess-master and his Moves. R Parthasarathy, professor emeritus of English at Skidmore College said, "Departing boldly from the European tradition of the novel, Raja Rao has indigenized it in the process of assimilating material from the Indian literary tradition,"
Rao completed his education from Aligarh Muslim University, University of Madras and some other foreign universities where he already got some International exposure as a writer. Later the President of the University of Texas recruited him to teach Indian Philosophy and Budhhism in Austin.
The archive contains many of his works in different languages he could speak including English, French, Sanskrit and his native language Kannada. Rao won the Indian National Academy of Letters’, Sahitya Academy award for Literature, in 1964 for his philosophical novel The serpent and the rope. He achieved the Padma Bhushan award, which is one of the highest award in India for Literature. And in 2007 he was awarded Padma Vibhushana award posthumously by the government of India.
Along with Rao’s archive, the Ransom Centre acquires the collection of manuscipts of some famous writers including J M Coetzee, Anita Desai, Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
By Prakriti Neogi
