Kaveri Mudaliyar, Payel Dutta Chowdhury
Kavery Nambisan is a renowned Indian writer and she has written six novels so far, namely: 'TheTruth about Bharath (Almost)' (1992), 'The Scent of Pepper' (1996), 'Mango Coloured Fish' (1998), 'Onthe Wings of Butterflies' (2002), 'The Hills of Angheri' (2005) and 'The Story That Must Not Be Told'(2010). She is a physician by profession and she serves the poor and needy. She says that she has beeninfluenced greatly by Mahatma Gandhi and Henry David Thoreau. This study aims at an analysis ofKavery Nambisan's novel, 'The Scent of Pepper' so as to bring out her treatment of the cultural identity andmulticulturalism seen in Kodagu through her perceptions. Kavery Nambisan's 1996 novel 'The Scent ofPepper' is a detailed fictional journey into the world of Kodavas. It gives a great picture of the Kodavaswho are a fierce, proud, martial race and owners of vast coffee estates. For the first time, the small ethnicminority, the Coorgis, enter Indian English fiction in her second novel, 'The Scent of Pepper'. Thecharacters in the novel are very real as the author has picked up real life stories from Coorg which sheheard from her grandmother and used them in the plot of her novel. The distinctive culture and religiouspractices of the people of Coorg are faithfully presented by the novelist by tracing the fortunes of Nanji,who enters the Kaleyanda clan as a young bride.
Culture, Identity, Multiculturalism, Tradition, Religion