Assignment: The African Literature

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Religious controversy in Swamp Dwellers with present corrupt Religious Gurus

M.K Bhavnagar University

Department of English

Sem 4

Name- Hema Goswami

Roll no. 13

Enrollment no. 20169108420180020

Paper no. 14 – The African Literature

Topic: Religious controversy in Swamp Dwellers with present corrupt Religious Gurus

Introduction

Ethnic and Religious conflict is common in almost all countries. But India is always forward in ethnic and religious group. The Swamp Dweller by Wole Soyinka is a blunt exposition of religious controversy through the character of Kadiye. It is said that Rural people easily get s convinced by the middleman. They started believing in religious Gurus blindly without thinking in deep that whatever they are told is their own word not God words. All are human and have same tendency. All have power to change their life. There is no need of support, specially the support of corrupt Gurus. But rural people take time to think. Whereas the people of urban area are smart enough that they didn’t believe in all these false religious practices. We can see the contradiction between the thinking of Awuchike and his father Makuri, brother Igwezu. Makuri lives with old traditional values whereas Awuchike learns to move forward.

Corrupt priest Kadiye

Kadiye is a symbol of religious hypocrisy in Swamp Dwellers. He lives in typically cultural and economical backward society of Africa. He knows very well how to use people, how to make people blind in faith with sugar coated words or false promises. Kadiye promised Igwezu that village will be free from rain but his promise is fake. He is not the middleman of God. Igwezu gets the truth in the end. The character of Kadiye is convincing in the play. Wole Soyinka presents the real picture of society of Africa. Kadiye is self centered and he only thinks about himself not other. He wears mask on his face that most religious Gurus are wearing. There is nothing new. This become as age old tradition that every village has its corrupt priest over which all believe blindly. There are many Kadiye all over the part of world.  They live life by fooling others. This becomes their habit that they don’t realize what harm they are doing with the world. In this story kadiye is more like Villain. The portrayal of kadiye, his characteristics signifies evil character. He is immoral and doesn’t follow any kind of morality but force other to be moral. He is rich enough that he can help the poor, but still he keeps on looting people through fake religious practices and becoming richer day by day. He is aware about the problem or weakness of society but he takes benefit of the weakness and makes his plus point. All the villagers treated him as a Godfather. But Kadiye indulge villagers in meaningless cult. Kadiye takes all the harvest of villagers in the name of Serpent whom villagers believe as their God. No one questions where the harvest goes because they have fear in mind that if they raise doubt or question then the God might become angry. Therefore they keep their mouth shut.

Exposing Kadiye

Wole Soyinka is very critical about the character of Kadiye and portrays the real picture. He exposes the character of kadiye through the protagonist Igwezu. Soyinka presents Igwezu as a perfect character who thinks about his family, village and didn’t stay in city like his twin brother Awuchike by forgetting culture and tradition of village. Igwezu is an ideal son of the village who is loyal to his tradition. At first he blindly trust in religious practices and indulge in religious cult followed by Kadiye for the betterment of his village. He feels that all this is necessary rites required by the deity to ensure a good harvest and a happy life. He short stay in city to try his hand to make more money but he fails because he is not corrupt like his brothers. Awuchike becomes wealthier and therefore seduces Igwezu’s wife Desala contrary to the spiritual values of the swamp. Still Igwezu do not overcome his tragic situation of life. He returns to his village back. He has hope in mind that he can live with his harvest and can feed himself and his parents. But that hope is also gone with the village dwelling in swamp, there is excessive rain which washes away all the harvest. Igwezu tragedy is more severe because he returns with a hope to recover from all his despair by harvesting his crops. But he discovers with utter disappointment. The flood ruined his farm.

Izwezu trust over Serpent and Kadiye is shaken because he thinks that even if he is more loyal or righteous yet so forsaken. He requires the priest of the serpent to overcome this trouble of life. But when he faces failure in life then he started questioning or doubting the false religious practices that are guided by Kadiye. He questions Kadiye and makes him speechless. He knows that how much he gave to him still in return his get disappointment. So he comes to know that nothing is true all religious practices is fake. The Kadiye thus trapped by Igwezu red handedly. Igwezu leaves the village in the end. Therefore kadiye is responsible in making life of Igwezu tragic ( Contributors of Literary articles)

Corrupt Religious Gurus of India

    

    1.   Asharam

He is sentenced to life for raping girl.  He is convicted of the 2013 attack on the girl. Before exposing this truth he is very famous religious guru of India. People are blindly following him without any doubt. People are become emotional fools and when they realize then there is already too late for them to come out of this shock. He has very strong believers, that’s why he can easily fooled people (editors of BBC news).

    2.   Radhe Ma

She is an Indian spiritual leader. She is also used to fool people in the name of religion. She started gaining more followers from Mumbai, Delhi and other cities. She has affair with many and used to dance in public shamelessly. She is totally opposite from other religious gurus. She lives her life with fakeness and used to misguide people. She used to wear red clothes all the time. She came under scanner in 2015 for several criminal charges (Joshi)

Conclusion

Thus, we can say that some religious gurus Like Kadiye are corrupt everywhere. It doesn’t matter that from which place they belong. For the sake of money they can do anything in the name o religion. They never think of other, they are always self centered and think of their own benefits and work accordingly.

Works Cited

Contributors of Literary articles. Kadiye in Sawmp Dwellers: A Symbol of Religious Hypocrisy. 16 february 2009. <http://www.literary-articles.com/2009/02/character-of-kaiye-in-sawmp-dwellers.html>.

editors of BBC news. "Asaram Bapu: Indian guru sentenced to life for raping girl." Controversy. 2018.

Joshi, Sahil. "I met Radhe Maa for an interview. This is how she shocked me." 2017.