SAMSKARA by U. R. Anantha Murthy

Characters

Shripati	Son-in-law of Lakshmanacharya
Naranappa	A Brahmin who leads a non-Braminical life
Belli	Shripati’s concubine

Chapter V

Shripati shocked to see Naranappa’s dead body

Shripati does not know about Naranappa’s death as he is out of Durvasapura to Shirnali.  He shows interest in associating himself with an itinerant drama troupe from Kelur.  During Naranappa’s death, he is with this drama troupe.

After spending time with the drama troupe, on the night of Naranappa’s death he walks through a dense forest to Durvasapura.  While nearing Durvasapura, he sees a hut burning and in the light of the fire, he sees Belli walking to a bush, half naked after having bath in warm water.  He tries to make love with her but she prevents him saying people die due to some supernatural power.  She says Pilla and his woman died and they burned their bodies in their hut.  Belli attributes their death to some unknown demoniac power.  Although he is tempted to make love to her, he has never seen her talking like this before and preventing him to make love to her.  Shripati came to her to make love to her but being disappointed, he goes to Naranappa’s house, thinking of spending the night at his residence.  But to his surprise there is no voice to welcome him.  Since the door is open, he enters the house and sees dead rats lying on the floor.  Then when he sees Naranappa lying on the floor, he thinks he is asleep but when he removes the blanket, he finds his body as cold as a dead rat.

Vocabulary

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1.  balladeer – noun

Meaning: singer (of folk songs)

2. enunciation /ɪnʌnsieɪʃən/ – noun

Meaning: pronunciation

Example –        The balladeer had admired his pure enunciation, his clear voice.

3.  ad-lib – adjective

Meaning: spontaneous

4. profundities – noun

Meaning: depth of knowledge

Example –        Shripati had heard enough Sanskrit and logic and ancient epics from the Acharya to give him enough culture for the ad-lib dialogues and profundities of these players of epic plays.

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5.  writhing – verb

Meaning: – moving with a twisting motion

Example – When she’s with him she twists like a snake coupling with another, writhing in the sands.

6.  footfall – noun

Meaning:  sound of footsteps

Example – Shripati’s footfall stopped dead.

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7.  wench – noun

Meaning: lovely young woman

Example – What a wench she must have been.

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8.  connoisseur – noun

Meaning: person who can discern the difference with expert knowledge.

Example – Actually, the best connoisseur of them all is Praneshacharya, really one in a million.

9.  expounds /ɪkspaʊnd/ – verb

Meaning: explains in detail

Example – Every evening, as he reads the Puranas and expounds the stanzas, the beauty of his style is enough to make any balladeer turn green with envy.

10. becoming – adjective

Meaning: suitable, proper

Example – Really, only he can don a gold-embroidered shawl, and it looks becoming.

11. trail – noun

Meaning: path or track made across a wild region

Example – Tonight Shripati took an inside trail and walked straight to the outcaste hutments on the hillside.

12.  fronds – noun

Meaning: large, finely divided leaf

13. cinders – noun

Meaning: ashes

Example – The hut, built out of bamboo frames, thatched with mats, covered with coconut fronds, burned to cinders in the dry summer heat.

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14. crouched – verb

Meaning: lowered her entire body close to the ground with limbs bent

Example – Shripati waited behind a tree till she disappeared, looked this way and that to make sure no one else was about, then went to the bush where Belli crouched.

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15. swished – verb

Meaning: struck

Example – When he turned the corner, his bare foot swished on something soft and cold.