Rasipuram Krishnaswami Narayan was born in Madras (now known as Chennai), South India, on October 10, 1907. Although his family moved to Mysore when he was a child, he continued to live in Madras under the care of his grandmother, who ensured that he led a very disciplined life. A Brahmin (one who belongs to the priestly caste) by birth, he learned Sanskrit as part of his training in Hinduism. His mother tongue was Tamil, a language spoken by some sixty million people in India. His knowledge of English came from his education.A voracious reader, he learned a great deal of English literature during his school years, and this knowledge was crucial to his own development as a writer. Until he passed his university entrance examination he remained in Madras, and then joined Maharaja's College, Mysore. After considerable effort, he obtained his B.A. in 1930 and decided...