Write the explanation of the story "Under the Banyan Tree".

Write the explanation of the story “Under the Banyan Tree”.

Ans.

Explanations

(1) On the nights he……………of the temple.

Reference: This passage has been taken from the story Under the Banyan Tree. written by R. K. Narayan, a famous story writer writing in English.

Context: This story is about a village and its people. The name of the village was Somal. The story moves round the character of Nambi. He was a story teller. He entertained the villagers by telling them interesting stories. His stories were so interesting and his manner of telling stories was so impressive that the villagers felt lost in the atmosphere of the story.

Explanation: Whenever Nambi had a story to tell a story to the villagers, he would light a lamp at night and put it in the hollow of the trunk of the banyan tree. This was an invitation to the villagers to gather under the banyan tree. When the villagers returned home in the evening and saw the lighted lamp, they asked their wives, to serve them with food quickly as the story teller was calling them. As the night advanced and the moon went behind the hillock, all the villagers, men and women gathered under the banyan tree Nambi would not take his seat. He would sit inside the temple before the image of the goddess. He would pose as if he were lost in deep meditation. He remained in this position as long as he thought necessary to impress the villagers. Then he appeared before the villagers with his forehead pasted with ash and vermilion. He took his seat on a stone platform in front of the temple.

(2) The light in the niche…………………..for a happy ending.

Reference: These lines appear in the story. Under the Banyan Tree, written by R. K Narayan, a well known Indian story writer as well as novelist, writing in English.

Context: The present story is set in the background of a very dirty village, named Somal. The central character of the story is Nambi, the story teller. He entertained the villagers by telling them interesting stories. The story would take several days to reach its completion. The first day barely conveyed the setting of the tale.

Explanation: After two or three days when the story teller intended to resume the story, he would again light the lamp and put in the hollow of the trunk of the banyan tree. The villagers would assemble under the banyan tree. Nambi would start his stories in partly moonlit night. In his story, there appeared kings and heroes, warriors and villains God and goddesses also took part in the story in human form. Fairy like creatures, saints and murderers were also shown struggling against each other. The villagers listened to the story attentively. Nambi was a good story teller he knew where to rise his voice and where to fall to make the story amusing. The atmosphere of the moonlit night added to the charm of the story. The villagers responded to Nambi by laughing and weeping with him. They praised heroes and cursed villains, They became sad when the conspirators for initial success and prayed to gods for a happy ending of the story.

(3) The next moon peeped……………….don’t miss it.

Reference: These lines are extracted from the story Under the Banyan Tree, written by R. K. Narayan.

Context: Nambi the story teller entertained the villagers by telling them interesting stories. But there came a day when he lost his power of enacting a story. So villagers stopped coming to him. One day, he went door to door urging people to come to hear the story. He also prayed to the goddess not to deprive him of his gift of story telling.

Explanation: When the new moon appeared behind the hillock, Nambi lit the lamp and put it in the hollow of the trunk of the banyan tree. The villagers who were returning home noticed the lamp, but only a few of them turned up to hear the story. Nambi refused to tell the story to the few villagers gathered there. He asked them to wait for the others. He emphatically said that he would tell the story only when all the villagers were present there under the banyan tree. It was a mighty story and he wanted all the villagers to hear the story. The man rose high and a few villagers waited for the story teller to begin his story. Nambi came out of the temple and told the villagers that he would not tell any story unless the entire village came to hear him. He insisted on the presence of the whole village as he was going to tell a wonderful story and he did not want them to miss it.