Malgudi

Malgudi is a fictitious town somewhere in south India created by R.K. Narayan in his novels and short stories. It forms the setting for most of Narayan's works. Starting with his first novel, Swami and Friends (1935), all but one of his fifteen novels and most of his short stories take place here. Narayan has successfully portrayed Malgudi as a microcosm of India. Malgudi was created, as mentioned in Malgudi Days, by Sir Fredrick Lawley, a fictional British officer in the 19th century by combining and developing a few villages. The character of Sir Fredrick Lawley may have been based on Arthur Lawley, the Governor of Madras in 1905.

Malgudi is a small town somewhere in South India, a few hours journey from Madras. It is located on the shore of the fictional river Sarayu. Mempi Forest is nearby.

Narayan has often asserted that Malgudi is a fictional town. However, this has never deterred fans from speculating about its actual location. It is certain that it is located in South India, for Narayan himself says in an interview:

The exact location, however, is a matter of speculation. Many are of the opinion that it may be Coimbatore, with a river on one side, forest on the other, and many similar buildings and lanes as Malgudi like Lawley road, Variety Hall, Bombay Anand Bhavan, etc. It is also speculated that it may be Lalgudi on the river Kaveri, or Yadavgiri in the erstwhile state of Mysore. But as per one of the writings in RK Narayan's book, he loved Malleshwaram and Basavanagudi, two prominent and old areas of Bangalore and used the first few letters from Malleshwaram (Mal) and last few letters of Basavanagudi (gudi) to create Malgudi.

Malgudi is located on the banks of the river Sarayu. In Swami and Friends, Swami, Mani and Rajam spend most of their evenings playing or chatting by the river. In The Guide, holy-man Raju fasts on the banks of the dry river Sarayu, praying for the rains to come. When Mahatma Gandhi visits Malgudi, the meetings and speeches are held right on the banks of river Sarayu.

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Wikipedia