E. Y. KALINNIKOVA Candidate of Philological Sciences India Keywords:, literature. Raja Rao On November 8, 1909, in the vicinity of Mysore (in southern India), in the village of Nassana, the future great writer Raja Rao was born into a noble Brahmin family. The first novel, Kantapura, written and published in French by the 20-year-old Raja, attracted the attention of the French classic Romain Rolland. After graduating from the University of Madras, at the age of 19, Raja Rao left to continue his education in Europe. He first attended the University of Montpellier, in the south of France, and later the Sorbonne. The young brahmana accumulated knowledge and simultaneously tried to write in English and French. In 1930, after the publication of the novel "Kantapura" in Paris, Romain Rolland invited the author to visit. The 3rd year student intrigued the interlocutor and made a deep impression on him. After a conversation with the young writer, the master of French literature wrote in his diary: "On July 8, 1930, I was visited by a young Indian from Mysore, Raja Rao. He is full of vital energy and a desire to act. He intends to go to North Africa and preach the Ramakrishna mission there. " 1Raja Rao also celebrated this momentous event in his life by publishing the article "Romain Rolland-a great wise man"in his homeland2. The intellectual kinship of two people from different continents was the basis of their mutual sympathy. "KANTAPURA " The novel "Kantapura" in English was published only in 1938 in London. The novel and the author were discussed in the literary community, and from the "eternal student" Raja Rao immediately turned into a famous writer. Kantapura is the name of an Indian village, the life of which we learn from the mouth of a folk storyteller. Villages like Kantapura, nestled in the Himavatha River Valley like a child on its mother's lap, are not uncommon in southern India. "The great Brahma, the creator god, was reclining among the clouds on a serpent wh ... Read more