Ecological Exploitation and Cultural Erosion in Narayan’s Kocharethi

Abstract

This research paper examines the dual phenomena of resource exploitation and cultural erosion in Narayan’s landmark Malayalam novel, Kocharethi: The Araya Woman. As the first prominent “insider” narrative of the Malayarayar tribe of the Western Ghats, the novel serves as a critical postcolonial and eco-critical document. The study utilizes Rob Nixon’s theoretical framework of “Slow Violence” to argue that the tribal community’s displacement is not a singular event of physical eviction, but a protracted process of environmental and social disenfranchisement. The analysis is divided into three primary investigative spheres: the Biocentric Harmony of the presettler era; the Mechanics of Exploitation through market-driven pepper trade and state-mandated land titles; and the Cultural Erosion manifested through the generational schism between the protagonists and their daughter, Parvati. The study concludes that the “progress” of the anthropocentric state is inextricably linked to the systemic erasure of indigenous identity and the commodification of sacred landscapes.