 Malgudi is a fictional , semi @-@ urban town in southern India , conjured by Narayan . He created the town in September 1930 , on Vijayadashami , an auspicious day to start new efforts and thus chosen for him by his grandmother . As he mentioned in a later interview to his biographers Susan and N. Ram , in his mind , he first saw a railway station , and slowly the name Malgudi came to him . The town was created with an impeccable historical record , dating to the Ramayana days when it was noted that Lord Rama passed through ; it was also said that the Buddha visited the town during his travels . While Narayan never provided strict physical constraints for the town , he allowed it to form shape with events in the various stories , becoming a reference point for the future . Dr James M. <unk> , a scholar of Narayan 's works , created a map of Malgudi based on the fictional descriptors of the town from the many books and stories . 
