Melange of Nature and Culture in Kavery Nambisan’s The Scent of Pepper

Abstract

Kavery Nambisan is the noteworthy Indian writer in English and also a surgeon working in rural areas. The Scent of Pepper was written in 1996. Kavery Nambisan begins the novel with a striking epigraph of the destructive power of wind and fire related to a person’s knowledge and action. The burning fire itself cannot be spread unless it is stimulated by the moving wind. The author questions – “Do men know it’s like that with knowing and doing” (ii). The Scent of Pepper reveals the story of Kodava race, known for their valour and unique rituals. This paper analyses how nature is fused with culture among this courageous race.

When the entire place of Athur was shifting from red shades of sunset to gradual darkness, Nanji, the seventeen year old bride was gently welcomed by Rao Bahadur, the Pattedara of the Kaleyananda clan to place a handful of saffron coloured rice in to the reddish-brown vessel. Chambavva, the wife of Rao Bahadur was known for her royalty and had two panther cubs as pets. Though Nanji is a widow, Chambavva allows her son Baliyanna to marry her. Nanji’s unpleasant marriage with a drunkard husband ended when she was thirteen. Her return to father’s home troubled her stepmother as she loathed her stubborn courage. Baliyanna accidentally sees Nanji’s ease of milking the cow. With the soothing rhythm of milk flowing in to the bucket, the righteous sentiments of Baliyanna induced him to marry Nanji.