Discuss the character of Praneshacharya ?

Discuss the character of Praneshacharya ?

Ans : The writer has described the character of Praneshacharya beautifully that, his activities are divided into domestic and religious.  He begins a day by doing his regular duty of helping his wife in getting bathed.  It is understood from the first line, “He bathed Bhagirathi’s body…”, that she is almost a vegetable.  It is he who bathes her, dresses her up, feeds her with the essential food and administers with regular medicine.After completing his domestic duties, he then crosses a stream to worship at Maruti temple and comes back home for his recitation of holy legends.  The Brahmins of the agrahara (the place a Brahmin community lives) regularly assembles in front of his house to listen to his recitation, both in the morning and in the evening.  He is a scholar and his recitations are new every day. Praneschacharya sacrifices his life for the sake of his wife and she understands his pain and the marital bliss that he lacks.  Therefore she asks him to marry again and bring forth children, to make his house a home.  Nevertheless, Praneschacharya refuses to marry, believing in Lord Krishna’s will, that one should not expect reward for his/her toil.  Moreover everyday when they eat, both of them request the other to eat first.  These instances show the mutual love and concern they have for each other. One day before eating his meal, he places fodder in front of his cow, Gowri and is about to get into his house.  At that time, he hears the sound of Chandri behind him calling ‘Acharya’.  Chandri is a dalit.  If Praneshacharya talks to her, he would be polluted and should take bath before eating his meal.  Nevertheless, he listens to her and she informs that Naranappa is dead after having fever for four days. There is a belief that it is wrong to eat food before doing the funeral rites for the dead.  So, Praneshacharya runs to Garudacharya’s house to stop him from eating his meal and then both of them inform others in the agrahara.  Everyone in the agrahara thinks, “Alive, Naranappa was an enemy; dead a preventer of meals; as a corpse, a problem, a nuisance.” The men and their wives assemble in front of Praneshacharya’s house to hear his directions to solve the problem of Naranappa’s rites.  The women are with fear that their husbands should not accept to do the funeral rites.  Praneshacharya informs the people that there are two problems to be solved.  The first problem is doing funeral rites for Naranappa and second is deciding the person for doing the rites, since Naranappa doesn’t have children.  Garudacharya, Dasacharya – a poor Brahmin of the agrahara, and Lakshmanacharya acknowledge to the words of Praneshacharya.