Kanthapura tells the story of villagers fighting British colonialism in India. In the first couple of pages of the book, the narrator introduces us to the villagers and Kenchamma, their totally awesome goddess.

"Kenchamma is our goddess. Great and bounteous is she. She killed a demon ages, ages ago, a demon that had come to demand our young sons as food and our young women as wives. Kenchamma came from the Heavens – it was the sage Tripura who had made penances to bring her down – and she waged such battle and she fought so many a night that the blood soaked and soaked into the earth, and that is why Kenchamma Hill is all red." (Chapter 1)

The narrator in Rao's novel valorizes Hindu culture. Kenchamma, a protector-goddess, is described as "great and bounteous." She's strong, she protects the people against the evil demon, and she fights on their behalf. A pretty cool goddess, on the whole. Wouldn't you want her on your side?

By describing Kenchamma in a positive way, the book takes pride in the Hindu religion. This works against the colonial idea that Hindu culture and religion are inferior to European culture and religion.

What's interesting here is that the narrator is speaking in the first person plural ("our goddess," "our young sons"). That means that we, as readers, are included in the narrator's community. Because we're included, Kenchamma becomes not just the goddess of people in India but, if we want, our goddess as well. By adopting this strategy, Raja Rao makes us all part of the same community. He overcomes our resistance (if we have any) to identifying with Kenchamma. It makes her seem more familiar and more immediate—and that makes her easier to understand for those of us who don't know her.