a case study on mulk raj anand

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Mulk Raj Anand

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Mulk Raj Anand (born December 12, 1905, Peshawar , India [now in Pakistan]—died September 28, 2004, Pune) was a prominent Indian author of novels, short stories, and critical essays in English who is known for his realistic and sympathetic portrayal of the poor in India . He is considered a founder of the English-language Indian novel.

The son of a coppersmith, Anand graduated with honours in 1924 from Punjab University in Lahore and pursued additional studies at the University of Cambridge and at University College London. While in Europe, he became politically active in India’s struggle for independence and shortly thereafter wrote a series of diverse books on aspects of South Asian culture , including Persian Painting (1930), Curries and Other Indian Dishes (1932), The Hindu View of Art (1933), The Indian Theatre (1950), and Seven Little-Known Birds of the Inner Eye (1978).

A prolific writer, Anand first gained wide recognition for his novels Untouchable (1935) and Coolie (1936), both of which examined the problems of poverty in Indian society. In 1945 he returned to Bombay (now Mumbai) to campaign for national reforms. Among his other major works are The Village (1939), The Sword and the Sickle (1942), and The Big Heart (1945; rev. ed. 1980). Anand wrote other novels and short-story collections and also edited numerous magazines and journals, including MARG , an art quarterly that he had founded in 1946. He intermittently worked on a projected seven-volume autobiographical novel entitled Seven Ages of Man , completing four volumes: Seven Summers (1951), Morning Face (1968), Confession of a Lover (1976), and The Bubble (1984).

The Criterion: An International Journal in English

Bi-Monthly, Peer-reviewed and Indexed Open Access eJournal ISSN: 0976-8165

Mulk Raj Anand’s Two Leaves and a Bud: A saga of Gangu’s injured self

Dr. priyanka sharma.

Associate Professor Department of Applied Sciences & Humanities

K.I.E.T. Ghaziabad (U.P)

“Man lives consciously for himself but unconsciously he serves as an instrument for the accomplishment of historical and social ends.” i                 (Tolstoy: 1991: 06)

The Indian English Literature is richly dipped in hues of its native cultural ethos. It gives voice to the prevalent malpractice in the contemporary Indian society. The most significant era in the history of Indian English fiction is the appearance of Mulk Raj Anand who, with an observant eye and an understanding heart, portraits India’s contemporary social life with vagaries and varieties. Anand’s art is committed to expose social injustice, economic exploitation and the plight of suppressed castes and classes in India. It is his photographic description and presentation which makes his themes universally more appealing.

The eminence of Anand’s fictional art lies in the realistic portrayal of the abject plight of the suffering mass. Anand presents the loss of identity for his protagonists and prepares them to regain such identity though after a prolonged struggle. His intimate contact with the suffering underprivileged and the myriad levels of Indian masses with their differences of caste, creed and colour seem to have implanted in his mind profound impressions about the still sad music of humanity. Iyengar remarks:

“Some of the best studies of social life are, naturally enough, in the regional languages; and it is not easy to translate the racy idioms of every day speech into English. Urban life in India attracts the novelist by its excitements, perversions, sophistications and violent alternations between affluence and poverty, splendor and squalor; but the interior, the areas of obscurity and inaccessibility have their attractions too and sometimes bring out the best in the creative

novelist”. ii     (Iyengar: 1995: 327)

Anand’s outstanding novel Two Leaves and a Bud reflects social realism and depiction of inhuman behaviour in the layer on working class exploitation. The plantation workers in the novel reveal the growing psychological stigma to survive in the face of exploitation. Anand’s ultimate purpose is to expose social evils and his humanistic stance, acquires greater momentum and stronger intensity in this work.

Anand presents a panorama of the life of the poorest in the colonial India when British rule was showing some of its wickedest features. This Paper presents a confrontation and interaction between Anand’s métier as an artist who demands for his humanistic creed. The Paper exposes the tragic disintegration of the Gangu and his family confronted with the brutal forces of capitalist exploitation.

Two Leaves and a Bud deals with the evils of the class system and covers a wider range of suffered life of downtrodden in India. Its locale is a tea plantation in Assam and its hero a Punjabi peasant Gangu – is an extension of same suffering and exploitation. The novel begins with the philosophic statement of Anand — Life is like a journey . The tragic journey of a

hapless peasant Gangu – the protagonist, starts to the naturally beautiful Assam from a village near Hoshiarpur in Punjab. The realistic description of the natural beauty of Assam and is presented vivaciously that gives the panoramic picture of the Assam tea-plantations. Anand describes the sunrise on the Assam tea plantation:

The morning mist had risen over the valley and evaporated with the dazzling burst of sunlight. The air was still under the clear even sky. The welter of leafage was tense beneath the world’s hollow cup. There was a concentrated lull in the slow heart of the day, as if India missed a heartbeat of the day, in the march of time. (Mulk: 1998: 12)

Anand is known for his realistic and sympathetic portrayal of the Indian poor that combines humanism with realism. His fictions reflect the poverty in rural India and social evils prevalent in the early decades of the twentieth century. Two Leaves and a Bud reflects that the poverty of these Indian downtrodden miserable lives that affects their entire family. Anand depicts the widening gap between the haves and the have notes, the exploiters and the exploited, the rulers and the ruled. Commenting more explicitly on the sufferings imposed upon the Indian labourer by their British masters in the novel, Anand in a letter to J.F. Brown wrote:

“I conceived Two Leaves a Bud as a poem in suffering. I admit that it is the most bitter of my novels, but is poetic. Were it a literary reportage, it would be hundred times more bitter.” iii   (Nandan Sinha: 1972: 06)

Two Leaves and a Bud presents an exploited Gangu whose wife dies of a disease and he was killed while trying to protect his daughter from being raped by a British colonial officer. Through Gangu, Anand portrays the mental state of the laborers of tea-plantation who feel jeopardized while working under the ruthless masters. Gangu roams in the whirlpool of his destiny and passes through various moods from theism to atheism, godlessness to god-fearing attitude, acceptance to realization, selfishness to sacrifice and from illusion to reality.

Gangu, lured by the false promises of a tout, started with his wife Sajani and children Leila and Buddhu to work on the Macpherson Tea Estate in Assam. He was offered a hut which has been constructed without any heed to the hygienic requirements of the occupants. Excessive heat, lack of fresh in the billets, inadequate food, scarcity of drinking water and filthy living brought pathological disorder. In addition to this manual labour, constant ragging and brutal behaviour resulted in physical, mental and emotional loss to coolies. They were compelled to work in unhygienic conditions and thus starved. The tea garden in Assam become a symbol of his slavery and this world of a tea plantation was like a prison house, Narain who was executed on a contract of three months, was confined there for last twelve years. Anand pens the pain:

“The prison has no bars, but it is nevertheless an unbreakable jail”.   (Mulk: 1998: 32)

Gangu drifted from bad to worse and finds no peace at heart. His all hopes destroyed when Narain tells the pitiful stories of how the planters along with police and magistrate torture the erring coolies. Narain says:

“About three thousand men, women children were lying at the station. No train would take them……” (Ibid: P.32)

Improvised Gangu soon realizes that he has been trapped in a pandemonium without escape as he was deprived of his ancestral land in his native town. All promises made to him were false. He seems to lose his grip on his innate potentiality. He has to undergo daily insults at the hands of his plantation masters. The exploitation of Gangu can be seen in the Estate that after a week of hard work, the amount given to him is less than eight annas. This makes him think of what a liar Buta has been in all his talk about high wages, about the free gift of land and so on. Gangu recalls a proverb:

“Never believe a barber or a Brahmins, for the one arranges marriages, and has to describe an ugly girl as a fairy, and the other draws horoscopes; and must make the evil stars appear the luckiest”. (Ibid: P.8)

Anand exposes the bitter suffering or cruelty of humanity at different levels superlatively loathes and condemns evil of all its shapes and shades and greatly succeeds in tuning our hearts to compassion and beauty. Anand creates a scintillating melody of moods–joy and sorrow, hope and fear, tranquillity and anger, love and lust, humour and pathos. The indomitable spirit, the spiritual upsurge of man is the real hero and the plea for universal love is the real theme of his novels. Whenever Anand saw people in deplorable condition, his heart wept which gave him a sensible and sympathetic outlook to see other problems and the sensitivity which made him cry for other’s misery. He made his novels a medium to present his anguish that renders reality of such humiliation. It is true that Anand probes deep into the various facts and facets of human life through his galaxy of characters- it is a specific study of his social ethos which has been betrayed by the evil design of society. In this context K. R. Srinivasa Iyengar remarks:

“There are novelists about whom one critical study could be written, but one would be enough. There are novelists who would be effectively suffocated even by one research performance. And there are the novelists who are large who invoke multitudes- who can survive several attempts to probe and sound and contain them. Mulk Raj Anand is surely of the last category. Each new study adds a little to our understanding of Anand and his work, yet leaves the subject un-exhausted.” iv   (Iyengar: 1974: 05)

Two Leaves and a Bud stand as a breathing document of the sufferings of the tea labourers. Every corner of the garden of Tea Estate— the leaves, buds and the shade shrubs are the silent witnesses of the oppression and agony of poor Gangu, who stands as the insignia of the oppressed class. Within a week of his employment in the Tea Estate, Gangu becomes a victim of Malaria. It is the place where cholera has spread earlier and two hundred coolies levelled out in less than a month. Without giving much concern to his health, he keeps on repeating the well being of his young daughter in his mind. Dutiful Gangu’s life was centred on his daughter:

“I shouldn’t die’ he muttered under his breath, till Leila is married, and Buddhu has grown up.” (Mulk: 1998: 83)

Gangu and his family suffered much due to Malaria in Tea Estate. Unfortunately his wife Sajani becomes a prey to malaria. She dies in Gangu’s arm crying for medicine. Gangu’s sadness is augmented by the worry that he had no money to buy a red cloth and to make a bamboo hearse. Gangu tried hard but could not get a loan for the cremation. Such is the plight of Gangu that he has to run from pillar to post to borrow money for the funeral of his wife. He then recalls what Buta had told him that the manager sahib is a sort of maibap , who lends

money so he approached to Shashi Bhushan to talk on his behalf to the manager sahib in ‘ angrezi ’ to get the loan. Gangu pleads;

“Babuji, I promise to give you some of the money which the sahib may give me if you talk to him in ‘angrezi’ and get me the loan I want……my wife died last night. And I have been ill take pity on me”. (Ibid: P.111-12)

Anand always deal with social problems in his fictions and he uses creativity to serve social and humanistic purposes. Gangu, who scarcely able to save a penny despite the involvement of his wife, daughter and children in the work, strives hard to bring about a change in his destiny but consequently suffers a lot. His never ending sufferings artistically arouse aesthetic sympathy in the readers. The fate of Gangu is the fate of every indentured labourer. He was barbarously beaten and kicked off by Croft-Cooke when he pleaded to lend him some money for the funeral. Mr. Croft Cooke, the Manager, lives enshrouded in his own ethnocentrism and fails to sympathise with Gangu’s urgent need for arranging funeral rites for his wife who met a premature death as a victim of unhygienic condition. Later he approaches Buta with the request:

“Can you give a loan of money for the creation”? Said Gangu “I have a not a penny and the body has been lying in the house for two days.”   (Ibid: P.111-13)

On the helpless and tragic condition, David Cecil remarks:

“A struggle between men on the one hand, and on the other, the omnipotent and indifferent fate is the interpretation of human scene.” v   (Bhatnagar: 1997: 182)

Anand shows these coolies are under compulsion to renounce all pleasures in life and work as a beast of burden sans humanity. His writing covers essential human sympathy, humanistic compassion, search for identity, human desire to earmark a little space in this vast world and panoramic view of the rural life in India. Anand discloses from the preface of the novel about his vivacious characters and their social conditions which forced him to write about them. He admits:

All these heroes, as the other men and women who had emerged in my novels and short stories, were dear to me, because they were the reflections of the real people I had known during the my childhood and youth. And I was repaying the debt of gratitude I owed them for much of the inspiration they had given to me to mature in to manhood, when I began to interpret their lives in my writings. They were not mere phantoms….. They were the flesh of my flesh and blood of my blood, and obsessed me in the way in which certain human beings obsess an artist’s soul. And I was doing no more than what a writer does when he seeks to

interpret the truth from the realities of life. vi     (Mulk: 1998: 06)

Anand also represents the realistic picture of physically exploited and molested women peasants. The two young girls Barbara and Leila are the symbol of unfulfilled hopes and broken spirits. The European bosses pester and exploit the coolie labourers. The evil atmosphere and an arena of conflict and exploitation, treason and injustice, derision and devilry — is shown in larger dimensions and with greater intensity in the Tea Estate.

The women peasants were the worst sufferers as they were the victims of vicious–base appetites of wicked men. The women in the novel were perilously exposed to any sexual

assault by some lustful British people, particularly by Reggie Hunt. Reggie Hunt, the Assistant Manager of Tea Estate, treats all coolies as inferior human beings and flogs them. He is always drunk and symbolizes cruelty, untamed animality and unmitigated evil. Reggie whips those coolies who grope forward beneath a load of undergrowth on his way with an accusation. This man has no consideration for anyone’s mother, sister, wife or daughter. He lives openly with three coolie-women. The wife of Neogi is a victim to the carnival desires of Reggie who is lust incarnate. Anand tries to vivify Hunt who possessing a mistress in Tea Estate; writer writes:

“She yielded to him, her body limp and contorted into a silent despair, her eyes a gaze at the wild sensual heat in his face, her heart turned inwards at the cold virginity that seemed to freeze her at the contact with him. He made a sudden up charge, as if he swung her body hard, hard, harder, tearing the flash of her breasts, biting her cheeks and striking her buttocks till she was red and purple like a mangled corpse, ossified into a complete obedience by the volcanic eruption of the lust.” (Ibid: P. 186)

Anand has narrated the heart stricken situation of poor Gangu who was too away from his native land with his young daughter Leila and son Buddha to suffer more on present work station. Two leaves and a Bud present the picture of the European club-life along with the Indian hut-life, the exploitation of the bosses and the suffering of the coolies and the lust and ire of Reggie Hunt. Reggie exercises illegal power. This Angrezi sahib cast his lustful eyes on the young coolie’s women’s half naked body—vaguely covered with tattered clothes. His indiscriminate amorous advances make women run away at his sight. The young coolie women in disgust keep themselves at arm’s length from his filthy presence. Reggie’s lustful gaze caught Leila one day and he was fascinated to see her youth. Anand has neatly projected Reggie’s burning lust for Leila who tried to seduce her. Anand sketches Reggie’s mind for her through these lines:

“Slim young body defined by the narrow girth of her skirt and the fine stretch of her bodice, her whole demeanor like a bird that would flatter in the hands of the shikari.” (Ibid: P. 121)

Maddened by frustration, lusty Reggie asks her to come at his bungalow. Leila, a very young child, runs away innocently at the sight of Hunt. She was conscious to her youth and beauty protests against Reggie’s lust. Reggie persuaded her madly. Leila, with great difficulty, escapes an attack on her chastity and slips into her hut. Reggie Hunt’s cruel behaviour and lust for the young child can be seen clearly. He asks her to come out of her hut. But she refused. Seeing this Buddhu got frightened and ran to call his father to rescue her. Lust-blind Reggie attempted rape on his daughter. Gangu tried to save Leila from his orgies but he was indiscreetly fired and shot death at the point of Reggie’s gun. Leila’s escape in her hut resulted in the death of Gangu.

Anand’s portrayal of Gangu’s miserable condition is quite realistic. Gangu the illiterate peasant symbolizes the transformation going on in the minds of people. The relation of his miserable condition makes him aware and he can hear the echo in his soul. Gangu became the universal figure of the suffering Indian peasants. Saros Cowasjee writes:

“It is the self-effacing Gangu, the shrewd peasant possessing a strange, natural dignity, who has all our sympathy. But he never becomes the hero of the story, and herein lays the merit of Anand’s portrayal. Gangu, instead of drawing attention to him, makes us think of the millions of his suffering brethren. In his passivity, his tender loyalties, his compassion and depth of

suffering, he symbolizes the Indian peasantry. Fate has done its worst to him, and now its little gifts are only an anxious burden to life.” vii (Cowasjee: 1977: 92)

The novel ends on a note of unrelieved pain and disenchantment and sombre foreboding. It unfolds the story on anger and awe, cries and crimes with no one to sympathize except the readers. Anand tries to dramatize the cruelties inherent in the caste system and the suffering induced by poverty as well. Strange is the verdict of the jury which consists of so many renowned law savers. Gangu’s murder was followed by a trial which lasted for three days. In the trial Mr. Justice Mowberley and a jury of seven European and two Indian members find Reggie Hunt not guilty on the charge of murder or culpable homicide. In the end Reggie Hunt was discharged from all the accused charges. The honourable court of justice supports the Britisher’s culpable crime.

Anand presents realistic agonies, suffering and misery of coolies falling on the thrones of life and bleeding. He portrays the painful truth and every trials and tribulations of the down- trodden, dispossessed creature with compassion. He is a novelist of passion and strong social conscience who delineates the lives and experiences of people living in an alien and recalcitrant society. He has brought a mellow and creative humanism to his works. His novels are thus the novels of responsibility, of involvement, of creative tension and its resolution, of profound moral beauty and missionary commitment. In this context, Meenakshi Mukherjee is of the view:

“Anand is a rational humanist, in the western tradition, believing in the power of sciences to improve material conditions, in progress and in the equality of all men, and his manifest intention is to propagate his beliefs through his novel.” viii   (Mukherjee: 1971: 27)

Two Leaves and a Bud is the goriest novel where Anand pours out his vitriol on the colonizers who treat the natives as sub humans. The British, with their various complexes, regard the Indians, particularly labourers, with contempt and scorn. All kinds of humiliation are inflicted on the poverty stricken coolies. Continuous and complete dedication to their job of plucking “two leaves and a bud” makes the refrain get into the very souls of the labourers. Anand has revealed exceptional, psychological insight in the portrayal of these characters that once were real men and women and are not mere phantoms of fantasy. Anand succeeds in a little measure to keep up his realism and humanistic sympathies intact. For Two Leaves and a Bud , Goronwy Ree Lauled exposes:

“ Great skill, and without insistence ….. the Indian coolies, exploited, starving, cheated dirty, diseased as the true heirs of one of the world’s great civilizations.” ix   (Ree: 1937: 833)

Two Leaves and a Bud portrays the abominable condition of social degradation, sub-human treatment, bureaucratic high handedness and exploitation of the unorganised labour. Gangu has been cowed down enough to have protested him abjectly before his all sahibs but gets no sign of redemption from his sufferings. The book intends to bring home the plight of the powerless peasants who are baulked at every step. Anand had the right mixture of insight and detachment and the fact that he has come to fiction through philosophy has given depth to his writing.

WORK CITED:

Anand Raj, Mulk, 1998, Two Leaves and a Bud , New Delhi: Arnold Associates India Pvt. Ltd.

i   Quoted in Indian Literature , (1991), Sahitya Academy’s Literary Bi-monthly, No.145 Sept- Oct, Vol. XXXIV,  No. 5, Delhi.

ii Iyengar Srinivasa K.R., (1995) Indian Writing in English , New Delhi: Sterling Publishers

iii   Quoted by Nandan Sinha, Krishna Anand Raj, Mulk (1972), New York: Twayne Publishers Inc.

iv  Iyengar Srinivasa, K.R. (1974) “ Forward” to G.S.Balarama Gupta’s Mulk Raj Anand , A

Study of His Fiction In Humanist Perspective, Bareilly, Prakash Book Depot.

v   Bhatnagar, Manmohan (1997 ), ed. Indian Writing in English, Delhi: Atlantic Publishers Pvt Ltd.

vi Anand Raj, Mulk (1998), Two Leaves and a Bud , New Delhi: Arnold Associates, India Pvt. Ltd.

vii  Saros Cowasjee, (1977), So Many Freedom: A Study of The Major Fiction of Mulk Raj Anand, Madras: Oxford Uni.Press.

viii   Mukharjee,  Meenakshi,  (1971),   The  Twice  Born  Fiction,   New  Delhi,  Heinemann Educational Book.

ix   Goronwy Ree , 30th April, (1937), In The Spectator, No. 5679.

xi Iyengar, K.R.Shrinivasa (2004), Indian Writing in English , New Delhi, Sterling Publishers Pvt Ltd.

• Khan, S.A. (1999), The Novel of Commitment: Mulk Raj Anand, New Delhi, Atlantic Publishers and Distributors.
• George  C.  J.  (1994),   Mulk Raj  Anand:  His Art  and  Concerns ,  New  Delhi,  Atlantic Publishers and Distributors.

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Politics of a revolutionary elite: a study of mulk raj anand's novels.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2008

Mulk Raj Anand was one of the leading figures among the politically committed Indian novelists writing in English during the nineteen thirties and forties. He published several novels after Independence, but most of his writings appeared before 1947 and dealt with the political choices facing the Indian of that era. The intention of this paper is to examine Mulk Raj Anand's novels in order to gain insight into the politics of the Indian revolutionary elite, and, in particular, into the conflicts between their cultural background and professions of political faith, their image of themselves, and the utopia they sought.

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I wish to acknowledge my deep intellectual debt to Professor Lloyd I. Rudolph of the University of Chicago who when at Harvard University supervised my Ph.D. dissertation on which this study is based.

1 The Untouchable appeared in 1935, Coolie in 1936, Two Leaves and a Bud in 1937, The Village in 1938, Across the Black Waters in 1939, The Sword and the Sickle in 1940–1941, and The Big Heart in 1944. Google Scholar His novels got favorable reviews in Indian Writing , a Quarterly popular among Indians in England: ed. Singh , Iqbal , Shelvankar , K. S. , Ali , Ahmad , and Subramaniam , A. (a Ceylonese) ( London : Bibliophile ). Google Scholar Jawaharlal Nehru was one of the contributors to the magazine. Most of the novels were published first in England and then reprinted in the US and India; they have since been translated into major Indian languages. During the British Raj (pre-1947) all of Mr Anand's writings were banned in India. This of course served to stimulate the public's interest in them.

2 Though there exist thoughtful studies on the intellectuals in India and other non-Western countries, notably: Shils , Edward , The Intellectual between Tradition and Modernity: the Indian Situation ( The Hague : Mouton & Co. , 1961 ), Google Scholar and Kautsky , John H. , ed., Political Change in Underdeveloped Countries: Nationalism and Communism ( New York : John Wiley and Sons , Inc., 1967 ), Google Scholar the social scientist continues to under-rate or even ignore the significance of contemporary novels and novelists as an index of political thinking in colonial/under-developed countries. This paper, by exploring the literary scene, attempts to present a fresh approach to the subject while at the same time it tries to etch points that have been raised or implied in the existing works, in particular Shils' observations on the intensity of the intellectuals' political involvement, his attraction to socialism (also see Benda, in Kautsky, op. cit. , pp. 241–3, and Kautsky, ibid. , pp. 46–9 on this), his ambivalence—devotion to, while rebelling against, authority, his rootedness in his traditional culture despite his ‘feelings’ of alienation, his belief in his ability to lead ‘the people’ (also see Kautsky, ibid. , p. 47)—and Mary Mattossian's contention that the intellectual from the under-developed countries ‘looks up to “the people” but down on “the masses”’ ( ibid. , p. 262) are confirmed and elaborated in this study.

3 Anand , Mulk Raj , Apology for Heroism: A Brief Autobiography of Ideas (repr., Bombay : Kutub Publishers Ltd , 1957 ), p. 91 . Google Scholar

4 Ibid. , p. 86.

5 For biographical data I have relied mainly on Anand's , Mulk Raj Apology for Heroism [cited hereafter as Apology ], and Seven Summers (repr., Bombay : Kutub Publishers Ltd , n.d.), an autobiographical novel in which Anand tries to recreate his own childhood; and on a personal interview, London, 24 July 1971. Google Scholar

6 Anand, Apology , p. 9. The sub-caste of coppersmiths, according to Manu Smriti , was of mixed origin: it evolved from the marriage of a Kshatriya male and a mixed caste female (cited in Subsidiary Table VI, Census of India 1911 , vol. XIV , p. 484 ). Google Scholar In the 1911 Census Anands are classified as a Khatri sub-caste (‘ Khatri : a well-known caste of high status among the Hindus. Their chief occupation is trade.’ ibid. , p. 463); Khatri caste claimed to be Kshatriyas who in ancient times took up trade to save themselves from Parasurama's wrath. According to legend Paraśurama was Vishnu's sixth incarnation, born to exterminate the Kshatriya caste. Thathiars (coppersmiths) formed a relatively low sub-caste among the Khatris though in 1911 they were claiming Rajput and Brahmin origins ( ibid. , p. 394).

7 This oral tradition continues in Modern India. It is often the only form of ‘moral’ education imparted to the child: it presents him with ideal modes of behavior he ought to follow in life. These stories, often associated with the warmth of a mother's lap or bed, leave a lasting impression on the child. Mulk Raj Anand's mother had a special talent for story-telling: ‘I found myself rapt in her tales with an intensity of wonder.’ Seven Summers , p. 187; also a personal interview with Mr Anand, London, 24 July 1971. Shils , , The Intellectual between Tradition and Modernity , pp. 61 –2, 64 –5, comments on the Indian intellectuals' emotional attachment to traditional values and moral code. Google Scholar

8 Mulk Raj enjoyed stories of Krishna killing his evil uncle Kansa and various demons who plagued the lives of the good, simple cowherds (Anand, Seven Summers , pp. 190–5), of Rama killing the demon king Ravana, a theme enacted annually by Mulk Raj's father's regiment during the ten days of Dussehra (a popular Indian festival commemorating Rama's victory over Ravana, celebrated during the end of September), ibid. , pp. 195–7, but most of all he enjoyed stories about the exploits of Raja Rasalu (personal interview).

9 Ibid. , pp. 187–8. As a child of 5–6 years he did indeed leave home without telling his parents, armed with a toy sword in pursuit of demons and was found five hours later by a distraught father ( ibid. , pp. 188–9, and personal interview).

10 For an interesting comparison with M. K. Gandhi's favorite stories, see Erikson , Erik H. , Gandhi's Truth ( New York : W. W. Norton and Company , 1969 ), pp. 118 –19, 243 , 253 and 318 . Google Scholar Note that Gandhi's favorite stories of Shravana, Harishchandra and Prahlada all extol suffering. On how the radicalism of the intellectual is often an extension of the adolescent rebellion, see Shils in Kautsky, op. cit. , pp. 206–8.

11 Anand, Apology , pp. 21–2. Anand's attitude to his father reflects the influence on him of the British critique of the Indian Babu as somehow being un-Indian and therefore culturally impure; the Indianized Englishman was equally contaminated. See Greenberger , A. H. , The British Image of India ( Oxford University Press , 1969 ), for an interesting elaboration of the idea of purity of culture being essential for leadership. Google Scholar

12 See Seven Summers , pp. 139–40. Mulk Raj describes vividly his first beating for having stolen a mango. His reactions are very similar to those described by Erikson , Erik H. in Young Man Luther: a Study in Psychoanalysis and History ( New York : W. W. Norton and Company , 1958 ), pp. 64 –5, when Martin is beaten for stealing a nut. Google Scholar

13 After his second beating Mulk Raj cried: ‘the swine! How I hate him (his father)! I hate him! I wish he would die!’, Seven Summers , p. 142.

14 Ibid. , p. 140.

15 Morris Carstairs , G. , The Twice-Born: A Study of a Community of High-Caste Hindus ( Bloomington : Indiana University Press , 1958 ), especially pp. 158 –9. Google Scholar

16 Anand , Mulk Raj , The Big Heart (repr., Kutub Publishers Ltd , 1944 ), p. 226 . Google Scholar See Wolfenstein , Victor , The Revolutionary Personality: Lenin, Trotsky, Gandhi ( Princeton, N.J. , Princeton University Press , 1967 ), for a psychoanalytic explanation for this preoccupation with masculinity: Wolfenstein argues that the revolutionary is generally a person with severe conflicts regarding masculinity arising out of intense Oedipal complex. Google Scholar

17 On 14 April 1919, Martial Law was declared in Amritsar. Any offenders of the law were publicly flogged. General Dyer, the author of the order, admitted to the Hunter Committee that the order was ‘humiliating’, but within the ‘custom’ of the Martial Law: See Mitra , H. N. , ed., The Indian Annual Register 1920 ( Calcutta : The Annual Register Office , 1920 ), pp. 13 , 41 , and 43 . Google Scholar

18 Anand , , Apology , p. 53 . Google Scholar

19 Personal interview with Mr Anand, London, 24 july 1971.

20 Anand , , Apology , pp. 19–20. Google Scholar

21 Ibid. , p. 21.

23 Ibid. , pp. 47–8.

24 Ibid. , pp. 67–8. Jawaharlal Nehru, though he never fully accepted Leninist Marxism, admits in words not too different from Mulk Raj Anand's: ‘A study of Marx and Lenin produced a powerful effect on my mind and helped me to see history and current affairs in a new light. The long chain of history and of social development appeared to have some meaning, some sequence, and the future lost some of its obscurity.’ ( Nehru , J. , The Discovery of India , London : Meridian Books , 3rd ed., 1951 , p. 13 ). Google Scholar

25 The Left Book Club distributed books on socialism singing of ‘Glorious Russia mighty and strong/Glorious Russia can do no wrong.’ See Laver , J. , Between the Wars ( Boston : Houghton Mifflin Co. , 1961 ), p. 160 . Google Scholar John Strachey's The Coming Struggle for Power made a good case for communism; John Middleton Murry pointed out that ‘intellectually, spiritually, ethically, the choice before the conscious Englishman is to be a Communist or nothing’ ( The Necessity of Communism , New York , 1933 , p. 110 ). Google Scholar Prakash Tandon, a student in England around the same time as Mulk Raj, observes: ‘It did not take a young Indian in England long to discover socialism as his political creed. We were vexed by the imperialist attitude of the conservatives. … The socialists on the other hand considered the conservatives as much a problem and a menace as we did. The socialist sympathy for the underdog anywhere naturally appealed to us. They spoke about free-trade, equality of races, ridding the world of poverty; and they included everybody in the future hope of the world’ ( Tandon , P. , Punjabi Century 1857–1947 , London : Chatto and Windus , 1961 , pp. 216 –17). Google Scholar

26 Anand , , Apology , pp. 79–80. Google Scholar

27 Erikson , Erik H. , Young Man Luther , p. 17 . Google Scholar

28 Ibid. , p. 22.

29 E.g. see the role played by Kanwar Rampal Singh's gang in The Sword and the Sickle (repr., Bombay: Kutub Publishers Ltd, 1951), Gandhi in ibid. , and The Untouchable (repr. Bombay : Kutub Publishers Ltd , n.d.), and Colonel Hutchinson in The Untouchable . Google Scholar

30 These are self-control, asceticism, non-attachment to worldly goods and family ties, and an unmitigated devotion to the Truth. See Puranas and the stories in the Indian Epics.

31 Anand , , Coolie , p. 335 . Google Scholar

32 Ibid. , p. 280 (italics mine).

33 Ibid. , p. 282.

34 Anand , , The Sword and the Sickle , pp. 357 –9. Google Scholar

35 Ibid. , p. 88.

36 Ibid. , p. 207.

37 Anand , , The Big Heart , p. 112 . Google Scholar

38 Ibid. , p. 142.

39 Ibid. , p. 74 (italics mine).

40 Anand , , Coolie , p. 334 . Google Scholar

41 Ibid. , p. 284.

42 Ibid. , p. 268.

43 For a comparison see Mattossian in Kautsky, op. cit .

44 Anand , Mulk Raj , The Village (repr. 2nd ed., Bombay : Kutub Publishers Ltd , 1960 ), p. 87 . Google Scholar

45 Ibid. , p. 80.

46 Ibid. , pp. 153–5.

47 Anand , , The Sword and the Sickle , pp. 170 –74. Google Scholar

48 Ibid. , p. 160.

49 Anand , , Coolie , p. 96 . Google Scholar

50 Anand , Mulk Raj , Across the Black Waters , (repr., Bombay : Kutub Publishers Ltd , 1955 ), p. 205 . Google Scholar On the theme of the intellectuals' preoccupation with authority, see Shils in Kautsky, op. cit. , pp. 205 –8. Google Scholar

51 Anand , , The Big Heart , p. 225 (italics mine). Google Scholar

52 Anand , , The Sword and the Sickle , p. 392 . Google Scholar

54 Anand , , The Big Heart , p. 82 . Google Scholar

55 Ibid. , p. 81.

57 Ibid. , pp. 124–31.

58 Ibid. , p. 153.

59 Anand , , Coolie , p. 46 . Google Scholar

60 Anand , , The Village , p. 163 . Google Scholar

61 Anand , , The Sword and the Sickle , p. 292 . Google Scholar

62 Here I accept Tucker's , Robert C. thesis (see his Philosophy and Myth in Karl Marx, Cambridge : Cambridge University Press , 1961 ) that the only community Marx was concerned with was the community of the self: man with his external and internal human nature; this split of man's human nature was evident in the material world by the splitting of collective man into classes—the exploiter and the exploited. To Marx, self change, or Revolution, was to be the work of the fully alienated worker, the proletariat: ‘emancipation of the workers contains universal emancipation’ (Marx, Manuscripts of 1844 , p. 82). Google Scholar

63 Anand , , The Sword and the Sickle , pp. 391 and 393 . Google Scholar

64 Anand , , The Big Heart , p. 226 . Google Scholar

65 Ibid. , p. 170.

66 Anand , , Two Leaves and a Bud , p. 130 . Google Scholar

67 Anand , , The Sword and the Sickle , p. 171 . Google Scholar

68 Anand , , Apology , p. 93 . Google Scholar

69 Anand , , Apology , p. 99 (Anand's emphasis). Google Scholar

70 Ibid. , p. 100 (Anand's emphasis).

71 Ibid. , p. 101.

73 Anand , Mulk Raj , Letters on India ( London : George Routledge & Sons, Ltd , 1942 ), p. 47 . Google Scholar

74 According to Hindu Cosmogony, acquisitiveness is considered the cause of the moral decline of the world from a state of virtue ( Krita Yuga ) to one of moral decadence ( Kali Yuga ).

75 Anand , , The Big Heart , pp. 197 –8. Google Scholar

76 For an interesting comparison see Tocqueville , Alexis de , Democracy in America , Vol. 2 ( New York : Vintage Books , 1961 ), pp. 189 –98, on the relations of masters and servants in a democracy. Google Scholar

77 Anand , , Apology , p. 110 . Google Scholar Camus points out the paradox between abstractions and reality: between ‘killing tyranny, killing despotism’ and ‘killing a human being’. Man is the end of Revolution but he is also used as a means. ‘He who loves his friend loves him in the present and the revolution wants to love only a man who has not yet appeared. To live is in a certain way to kill the perfect man who is going to be born of the revolution’, Camus , Albert , The Rebel: an Essay on Man in Revolt ( New York , Vintage Books , 1958 ), p. 239 . Google Scholar

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• Volume 8, Issue 4
• Suresht Renjen Bald (a1)
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0026749X00005618

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Introducing Mulk Raj Anand: the colonial politics of collaboration

• Anna Snaith
• Published in Literature and history 1 May 2019

One Citation

Introducing lilo linke and hilary newitt: storm jameson’s anti-fascist collaborations in the 1930s, 18 references, shit writing: mulk raj anand’s untouchable, the image of gandhi, and the progressive writers’ association, t.s. eliot and the art of collaboration, translator's preface., negotiating, claude mckay in britain: race, sexuality and poetry, the exclusions of postcolonial theory and mulk raj anand's "untouchable": a case study, an interview with mulk raj anand, related papers.

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Mulk Raj Anand – Untouchable – Summary and Analysis

Mulk Raj Anand, acclaimed as Charles Dickens of Indian writing , focused on the everyday problem of pre-independence and post-independence of India. He is especially known to shed light on the lives of lower caste people who are treated with great bias and unfairness. Almost all of his novels and short stories like Untouchable, Coolie, The Big Heart, Two leaves and a Bud, etc. touch the problems of the political structure, oppression of classes, un-touch-ability and so on. Untouchable is a novel written in the year 1935 and revolves around a day’s consequences in the life of Bakha. There are no chapters in the book; hence, they are split to different sections for the convenience of the reader.

Untouchable Summary: Bakha’s Family

Bakha lives in a house made of mud and has only one room. He lives along with his father Lakha, brother Rakha and sister Sohini. Lakha works as a sweeper and is the leader for the sweepers of the town. The town they live in is Bulashah [imaginary place] and their community of outcaste’s restricted to a colony near the latrines of the town.

Image source: Shunya blog

Bakha always thinks of his friends and is almost obsessed with the “English” way of living. He and his friends call the Englishmen as “Tommies” and try to imitate them in everything. Lakha constantly abuses his son for having such an interest on the Englishmen. As Bakha reminiscences on several things while on bed, his father abuses him for not going to clean the latrines. However, he does not care and thinks of his mother who died. He believes that abusing done by his father started only after the death of his mother. He constantly ignores the words of Lakha when he hears another voice ordering for cleaning the latrine.

As Bakha hears the voice of Havilar Charat Singh, he immediately attends to his duty. He does not soil himself showing that he has great proficiency in his job. Singh comes out after taking care of his daily oblutions and reveals his idea of gifting a hockey stick to the boy. As Charat Singh is a great hockey player, Bakha feels really happy about the promise. Bakha resumes his work with joy as many people enter and exit the bathrooms. He collects the refuse to a chimney and completes his job for the shift. He goes to home only to find that Lakha is sleeping and there is no water to drink. Sohini offers to fetch water.

Untouchable Analysis: Bakha’s Family

Although set in a backward family, it is a typical family one can find in India – dreaming son, careless father with no one to remind him of his duties, a hardworking daughter and a burdensome life.  The life of middle class families are similar where there is no aim or meaning to life and it is lived as life is given to live. Bakha is a representation of youth who is thinking beyond his family life through the Englishmen and Charat Singh.

Untouchable Summary: Sohini goes for water

No outcaste is allowed to directly take water from the well and water can be acquired only through the mercy of a high caste person. As Sohini reaches well with a pitcher, she observes many outcastes waiting for any compassioned individual to help with the water. She waits with others for a sympathetic higher caste person. The waiting group has a washerwoman named Gulabo who is very jealous of Sohini. She starts to use derogatory words such as prostitute, bitch, etc. and Sohini feels that she is joking. However, she does not stop and increases her verbal abuse making Sohini to realize that intentions of Gulabo are real. She wonders about her doings that made Gulabo to feel that way. Gulabo even tries to hit Sohini but Waziro – wife of a weaver, stops her. Sohini shocked by the incident stays calm and thinks about thirsty Bakha.

Meanwhile, a sepoy comes to the well to fetch water. Unfortunately, he does not listen to the pleading of the outcastes and leaves. Shortly, priest and in charge of temples – Pundit Kali Nath, comes to the well. He is pursued by the women as he finally accepts to pour water from his pitcher to theirs. Gulabo cries out that she came first and the rest claim the same. However, Sohini stays out from the group and waits for Kali Nath to give water. He observes this and looks at Sohini. He gets attracted by the face of her and the way she refuses to join the group. Therefore, he asks her to come forward and pours water into the pitcher. Further, he asks her to come to the temple for cleaning. She accepts his order and returns to home with water.

As she reaches home Lakha yells for being late and uses derogatory words. He orders her to gather her brothers as he intends to say something. However, Rakha escapes to play and Bakha is the only one to be in the house. As Bakha nears his father, Lakha acts as if he is ill and makes Bakha to fill his duty as a sweeper. Bakha reluctantly accepts as he is completely aware of the fake nature of the illness. He drinks tea and walks towards the temple where he needs to sweep.

Untouchable Analysis: Sohini goes for water

Class diversification and caste diversification has always been a topic of discussion in India. It is because the fundamental unity that once existed with King’s rule has been disrupted with the formation of East India Company. Everyone felt that having an upper caste birth meant to dominate the lower class. This is evident with the behaviour of the soldier who came to the well and the habit of lower caste prohibition to fetch water from a well.

The same discrimination has continued for centuries and even now India is suffering from such problems. Sohini is a general example of becoming the subject of discrimination as Gulabo starts to abuse without any reason. Meanwhile, the author reveals that there are higher and lower castes even in the outcaste’s colony leading to such unnecessary yet prideful conflicts.

Untouchable Summary: Bakha and his friends

Bakha, while walking towards the town, observes that the air fresh and clean outside the colony. He stands on the road enjoying the sun unaware that his friends Ram Charan and Chota along with his brother Rakha are watching him. They make fun of Bakha for his weird behaviour and jokes about it.

Ram Charan, the son of Gulabo, declares that his sister is about to get married that day. Bakha feels a bit sad because he has feelings for her. Chota inquires about his duties for the day, when Bakha orders Rakha to clean the latrines in the colony as he is out for another duty. However, Rakha doesn’t seem interested and walks towards his home. The rest force Bakha to join for gambling but he refuses to skip his duties.

As Bakha tries to move towards the town, two boys come to them. They are the sons of a high caste man named Burra Babu and Bakha greets them well. They discuss about hockey and agree to play later that day. When one of the boys say that it is time for school, Bakha’s curiosity immediately increases as he always wanted to know about schools and teaching. Therefore, he offers one Anna for a lesson to the eldest of the two boys. He accepts and says that they can meet again to begin with the lessons. Chota and Ram Charan joke at the interests of Bakha. He takes them lightly and walks towards the town with great anticipations that day.

Untouchable Analysis: Bakha and his friends

Mulk Raj Anand cleverly portrays the innocence of childhood and the effects of no education through the introduction of Bakha’s friends. All of them are not bothered with the restrictions of caste and class systems followed by the elders. They have fun and decide to play together. On the hand, use of foul language shows that they have no education whatsoever and they do not know how to behave.

Once again, Mulk Raj Anand brings out another social problem found in India – education. For centuries, there is no proper education offered for the lower classes and it was only restricted to the children of higher classes. This was partly due to the traditions followed and the unwilling nature of the higher castes to share their knowledge with others. There are many like Bakha who show interest in education but are not fortunate to receive any directly. This has led to the contemporary problem of “Reservations” making India a difficult nation to survive and succeed.

Untouchable Summary: Touching a High Caste

Bakha buys a cigarette and takes the coal to light up from a Muslim. He enjoys being in town absorbing every scene and sound he could. He gets attracted to some sweets and shrugs off the fear of his father who would abuse him for spending money on such things. He asks the shopkeeper to give candy for four annas and the shopkeeper cheats the boy by weighing the scale incorrectly. Despite knowing this Bakha does not protest and takes what he is given. He feels happy for the fact that he has some candy to eat and he munches them while walking.

He stands and observes the advertising boards when a high caste man runs into Bakha. Although, Bakha is not to blame for the hurriedness of the high caste man, he starts abusing him and starts shouting about his presence so that others could know. Bakha pleads his apology but the man won’t listen and soon a huge crowd circles him. His option of escaping is closed out as he needs to touch someone if he has to escape the circle. All of them start to insult Bakha for his actions and falsely accuse him of previous actions.

Fortunately, for Bakha, a horse buggy with a travel merchant comes to the road scattering the people gathered around. However, the high caste man stays despite many urges from the merchant and only leaves after giving a hard slap to Bakha. Many emotions flow from the furious and crying Bakha like anger, frustration, indignation, horror, etc. Bakha decides to take revenge when the travel merchant tries to console him. Bakha gets up to leave when a shopkeeper reminds about chant of the untouchables. He starts to sing the chant as he walks forward to the temple.

Bakha is confronted with many questions after that incident. He could not understand the humility shown by him despite the arrogant behaviour of the public. He regrets for not hitting the high caste man when receiving a slap for no reason. He questions the relevance of the system, wonders about the reason for untouchables to get abused. Bakha realizes that his duty of cleaning latrines makes him repugnant to everyone in the society.

Untouchable Analysis: Touching a High Caste

The faults that were found through the practice of one religion make a man to take another religion as shelter. Hindu civilization cherished when the four castes were living in harmony and when one caste tried to oppress the other, chaos ensued. Bakha knew that he could not ask fire to light a cigarette from anyone in the town as it would be unholy. Therefore, he approaches a Muslim man who is not into the caste system. Further, the travel merchant is also a Muslim who helps the crowd to disperse.

The religious conditions that motivated in many faith conversions are clearly depicted by Mulk Raj Anand. Although, Bakha does not think of a new religion understands his position in the current one and feels helpless. The circle of people around Bakha is a symbol for the oppression of the outcastes from many higher castes smothering the movements [progress] of lower castes.

Untouchable Summary: The Temple

Bakha after observing the happenings of the town finally reaches the temple. Being in such a tranquil place gives him peace as he starts to work. He sees some worshipers approaching and starts to chant his presence to avoid the same treatment again. As he is not supposed to enter the temple, Bakha is always curious about the worship and the prayers used. He listens to the prayers with joy but does not understand the words. He does not understand who the gods are! Therefore wonders who is Narayan, Shanti Deva, Hari, etc. Curiosity increases within him and slowly approaches the entrance. Suddenly, he becomes discouraged and returns to his work.

After completing the clean up, Bakha tries to see the inside of the temple again and goes to the top stair. He observes the temple, the priests, the hymns, the worshippers and is in a divine state. Unfortunately, he hears someone shouting “polluted, polluted!” and alarmingly falls down in a prostrate position. Slowly, he realizes that the cry was not meant for him but for his sister – Sohini.

Pundit Kali Nath accuses Sohini for intentionally touching him and abuses her in many ways. The worshipers lead her and Bakha forcefully out of the stairs. Sohini explains that Pundit Kali Nath has tried to touch her, which infuriates Bakha. He holds her sister and comes near the stairs to spat at the people for not realizing what has actually happened. As Bakha starts to talk in rage all the worshipers remain calm with fear. However, Sohini realizes that it could end up bad, convinces Bakha to leave the matter and leave the Temple. Bakha is filled with rage but understands that he is not able to cross the barriers set by traditions and experienced me of the past. Therefore, he asks Sohini to go back home while he leaves to collect food for the day.

Untouchable Analysis: The Temple

Temple is a very holy place to Hindus and any unholy doings in it would result in temporary closure or permanent closure. However, one can observe that there is a social bias here also as Pundit Kali Nath escapes from his wrong doings by showing his stature as a higher caste man. The worshippers despite confronted by Bakha do not react about the matter showing caste conflict. There is no proper justice done for Sohini and the two leave with distraught thoughts.

Untouchable Summary: High Caste Woman

Bakha goes from street to street to beg some food so that his family could eat. No one shows pity for him and he finally gets tired of begging. Bakha sits in front of a house and naps. A Sadhu comes to the same house and his voice wakes the boy. At the same time a woman comes out of the house and is aghast by the presence of Bakha at the doorstep. She abuses him and Bakha moves away from the door.

Another woman comes out and gives some food to the Sadhu and a Chapatti to Bakha with the same kindness. She exits and the first woman comes with some food to Sadhu and orders Bakha to clean a gutter before receiving any alms. He does so and she asks to clean the bathroom, which he does. Then, the higher caste woman throws bread into the ground for Bakha to pick. Unable to do anything, Bakha picks the bread and frustrated throws his work broom. The woman criticizes the lower castes in common that they are getting too much excited these days.

Untouchable Analysis: High Caste Woman

Bakha is insulted many times for the day and it shows how dire the situation of a lower caste in the community is. If men try to take advantage of the women of lower castes, women try to exploit the helpless nature of men of lower castes to fulfil their needs. There is neither equality nor justice in treating people like for things that that are superficial, superstitious and far from their reach. They are chained by fate of their great, great elders who were treated like untouchables for some mistake they have done. Everything is far from grasp to Bakha as he is subject to such humiliations from childhood and all he can do is force a broom stick from his hand.

Untouchable Summary: The Doctor

Bakha reaches home desolated only to find his father’s frustration for brining just two pieces of bread. Rakha is not home as usual and is said to fetch food for the family from the barracks. As Lakha asks about small amounts of food collected, Bakha says that he is not aware of many people in the town. Lakha says that he needs to know people as it is the only way to get food in the future. However, Lakha sees some distress in his son and asks about it. Bakha explains the happenings of the day and feels very sad.

Lakha tries to convince his son that high caste people are far superior to them in everything. Therefore, it is their duty to respect them without any questioning. He reveals about a doctor who saved Bakha from severe illness. When Bakha was only a child, he was sick with fever that was not healed. Therefore, Lakha goes to a doctor of high caste to get help. Lakha stood outside the home of the doctor pleading everyone entering to pass the massage to the doctor. No one helped and he cannot even buy medicine [although having money] for he is not allowed to be in the place. Lakha desperate comes back to see if his son is alive and to his great fortune he is alive.

But, he notices that the child was barely able to take breaths and runs back to the doctor. This time he does not wait and enters to the chamber directly not thinking about the circumstances. He, at once, falls at the feet of the doctor while other patients scream and run because of his presence. Not minding them and the furious doctor, Lakha explains the situation and begs the doctor to help.

The doctor understands and starts to write medicine when Lakha’s brother enters and announces that Bakha is about die. Lakha not taking the prescription rushes back to the house to look at his son. As the parents cry dejectedly, the doctor knocks the door. The high cast doctor enters the house of Lakha and saves the life of Bakha. After hearing the story, Bakha feels so happy but controls his emotions.

They have a conversation about Rakha and wonder where he is. He soon appears with some food from the barracks. However, Bakha feels that the food is collected from the water used to wash hands after eating. This idea repels Bakha from eating and makes an excuse of attending the marriage of Ram Charan’s sister.

Untouchable Analysis: The Doctor

All the negative elements shown throughout the earlier pages are turned to a slight positive note with the story of the high caste doctor. Anand shows that not everyone in the high caste upbringing is indifferent towards the hardships of the lower caste. Indeed, the caste system is intended to help each other so that everyone could live in harmony.

According to Hindu Dharma, Brahmins are supposed to help the society through prayers to Gods and helping others perform various rituals. Kshatriyas are supposed to protect the people and rule them based on the principles of Dharma. Vysyas are supposed to look after trade and commerce helping everyone to acquire sufficient goods. Sudras are supposed to help in providing labour for everyone thus ensuring better living within a community.

Although the doctor recoils at the beginning is a good example of following the Hindu Dharma as he saves Bakha from death. He comes to the house of Lakha and provides aid to the dying child. From this one can understand that there is no concept of untouchability and there are no untouchables. They are only created by some malicious men in the higher castes so that they could dominate the society with great authority.

Untouchable Summary: The Wedding

Bakha moves towards the wedding thinking about the sister of Ram Charan. Both of them used to play together when they are children and once they contemplated marriage through a game. They were even married in that game and Bakha always had feelings for her. As he enters the area of the wedding, he is too shy to enter directly into washer man wedding. He is afraid of Gulabo as she has acquired a name of having great hatred towards people.

Fortunately, Chota appears and together they try to get the attention of Ram Charan who is busy eating sugarplums. When they do get his attention, Gulabo also watches and chases them away. Rama Charan also runs with them towards the hills. Bakha contemplates on the beauty of nature and falls back while his friends move forward. He drinks from a natural pool in the hill and tries to take a nap. As he sleeps, Chota tickles his nose making Bakha to sneeze louder with a weird noise. He laughs along with other but not in a natural way arising suspicions. The two inquire Bakha, but he says that it is nothing to worry about.

Bakha then asks Ram Charan to give his lot of sugarplums. Ram Charan opens a hand kerchief and asks Bakha to take a sugarplum. However, Bakha refuses and asks Ram Charan to throw one so that he can catch. This dismays Ram Charan as well as Chota who understand that something is terribly wrong with their friend. There was no difference between them previously as they ate together and shared the same bottle of soda. So, they pressure Bakha to reveal the reason for such behaviour. Bakha confesses about the three incidents that took place earlier.

Ram Charan feels ashamed of the behaviour of the high caste people and remains silent. Chota tries to console Bakha and shows great frustration towards the way they are treated. However, he resorts to cheering his friend and reminds about the hockey game. He also offers to take revenge on the priest for his treatment of Sohini. Ram Charan reminds them that if he needs to attend the game, then it is imperative to go home now. All of them head back and decide a time to meet. Chota leaves home and Bakha moves towards the place of Charat Singh to receive a hockey stick as promised.

Untouchable Analysis: The Wedding

Bakha cannot express his feelings towards Ram Charan’s sister because of caste restrictions. No lower caste individual can marry a higher caste individual. In addition, there is Gulabo who is feared in the colony as a mean lady who accuses everyone in the name of caste. Such remnant and inevitable thoughts make Bakha to suffer and his conditioned nature of a lower caste man comes out when he asks Ram Charan to throw a sweet. This creates a drift amongst the friends, which is solved very quickly. It also indicates that Bakha is accepting the barriers of the society and may become like his father.

Untouchable Summary: Charat Singh

Charat Singh lives in a deserted barracks where there is no one. Only two sentries who stand guard a solar topee can be seen. There are many legends surrounding the topee and Bakha was always attracted to it. He even thought to steal it in order to possess the topee. However, his plans to have the topee diminished over the years. Bakha observes the topee and wonders if his courage witnessed in his younger days is declining. He hesitates to talk to the sentries about the hat and leaves to the house in fear of insults. The door is closed at the house of the Charat Singh and he waits outside for someone to open the door. After a while, Charat Singh comes out and does not notice Bakha. So, he gently calls out for Charat Singh and he greets him gladly.

He inquires about the absence of Bakha in recent hockey games for which the boy tells that he has to perform his duties. However, Charat Singh tries to emphasize the importance of the game [earlier that morning he wants the latrine to be cleaned by Bakha] and tells the boy that he can ignore the work. Despite observing the contradictory ideas of the hockey player, Bakha is happy to spend time with him as he is a famous player of the game.

Charat Singh asks Bakha to enter the house and bring some coal from the kitchen. Bakha becomes astonished to realize that Charat Singh being a Hindu is fine with him entering the house. He enters into the house with great joy and is filled with love towards Charat Singh. He collects the coal from a cook and hurries back to the hockey player. Then Charat Singh gives a new hockey stick to Bakha. He denies having a new stick as a gift, but the hockey player asks him to take the stick and go. Bakha receives his gift and is overwhelmed with joy and thinks that he has good fortunes. As he leaves the house, he immediately thinks about the lessons promised by the elder son of Burra Babu.

Untouchable Analysis: Charat Singh

Once again Bakha witnesses some good treatment from a high caste man supporting the story of Lakha. This shows that not all the high caste men are the same and some understand their practice of religion instead of following what others believe to be true. If the reader observes, Charat Singh does not treat Bakha in a special way but he talks to him as a fellow human being. Such treatment is only observed by Bakha through his friends and no one else. Gifting a hockey stick, allowing him to the house, letting him handle objects, etc. are simple but they are new and wonderful aspects to Bakha. Thus he claims that he could work as a sweeper for his entire life for Charat Singh.

Untouchable Summary: Game of Hockey

Burra Babu’s youngest son brings all the hockey gear needed to play. Chota tells everyone that Bakha is a bearer to a Sahib to mask his true identity. Bakha shows his new hockey stick and everyone congratulates him. Unfortunately, the youngest son does not get to play and is dejected. To console him Bakha gives a task of protecting his overcoat which means so much to him. As the game begins Bakha proves to be a wonderful player with no equal in the field. He moves swiftly between the opponents and scores a goal for his team. This infuriates the goal keeper who hits the leg of Bakha.

Chota orders his team to attack and everyone starts to quarrel. They throw rocks without observing the young son of Burra Babu is amongst them. A stone thrown by Ram Charan hits his head and he falls unconscious and bleeding. Bakha rushes him to his house expecting some treatment to the kid. As he reaches the home, he is abused by the mother for attacking the child. Bakha is shell shocked and the elder son tries to say that it was Ram Charan’s fault. The boy’s mother does not listen and constantly abuses Bakha for the condition of his son. He withdraws from the place and realizes that her hate is because of his untouchability .

He walks back home dispirited expecting more abuses from his father. He hides the hockey stick under a cactus bush and enters his home. Lakha and Rakha abuse him for being away from the house leaving them to work. As things get more serious, Lakha shouts at Bakha to leave the house and asks him to never come back. Bakha could not control his rage and bursts through the house leaving his family. He runs towards the plains without even looking back at the colony or thinking about anything associated with his life.

Untouchable Analysis: Game of Hockey

Bakha has bared the burden of an untouchable for as long as he could. He gets slapped; his sister gets insulted, receives food from the ground and gets insulted many times by his friend’s mother. He does not deserve such fate as he is a compassionate individual who cares for everyone. This is evident from his actions at the hockey game. He rushes the youngest son to the family without realizing the consequences. The boy’s mother, out of hatred towards the untouchable caste blames the injury over Bakha. He remains silent and comes home only to face more insults.

Bakha is the one who does all the hard work while Lakha and Rakha escape their duties. He leaves once for a wedding and game, they start to blame him with indescribable words. The incident does not make Bakha to raise hand against the two; instead he leaves the place running as if possessed. Deep within, he might have realized that talking is an unnecessary task as no one would listen to an untouchable.

Untouchable Summary: Christianity

Bakha after running a fair distance settles under a pipal tree [sacred fig]. He expects someone to come and relieve him from his sufferings. However, he understands that such expectations are wrong and impossible.

But, Colonel Hutchinson comes near the tree and tries to comfort him. Now, the Colonel is a party of the Christian Salvation Army trying to convert untouchables into Christianity. His wife often chides him for his incapability and wasting time on untouchables. Bakha is surprised to see an Englishman laying his hand on him. They introduce each other and the Colonel talks about Jesus. Bakha inquires who Jesus is and the Colonel says that he will explain everything in the Church.

Colonel Hutchison starts to drag the boy to the Church and singing songs about God. Bakha cannot understand a thing and wonders the difference between Jesus and Ram or any other God. Gradually, he becomes bored of the hymns but bears it because he likes the presence of an Englishman. He begins to dream about wearing trousers similar to that of the Colonel.

Even his thoughts do not create interest as Bakha tries to escape from the Colonel. Observing the growing disinterest, the Colonel says that Jesus died for the sins of mankind. This piece of information does not attract the boy; therefore, Colonel Hutchison claims that Jesus treats Brahmins and the Untouchables in the same way with equality. Bakha is immediately attracted to the words of equality, but loses his interest as the Colonel starts to blabber so many religious aspects.

Finally, they reach the Church compound with Bakha hoping for a trouser and Hutchinson hoping for a new convert. Then, the Colonel’s wife shouts at him to join her for tea. He says that he will come but could not decide whether to attend Bakha or his wife. As he stands there wondering, his wife comes and shouts at the presence of Bakha by calling him a “blackie” indirectly. She screams about Bhangis and Chamars making Bakha to grow fearful of the two. He takes leave from them and runs away from the Church. A helpless Colonel Hutchison watches as Bakha runs off from his grasp.

Untouchable Analysis: Christianity

Christianity was never a part of India; hence, the conversion rate was very slow. However, this has led to creation of stories like the ones mentioned by Colonel Hutchison. He says that Jesus died for the sins of Brahmins and Bhangis, which is not a concept of Christianity and it not written in The Bible. Such stories gradually attracted the oppressed increasing the conversions leading to more chaos in India. There are only a few like Bakha who realize that running away from one religion to another would only mean to select a different book to realize that the preaching’s are the same. It is the individual who has to follow the exact path set by religion and most of the “pious” do not believe this. Now, religion has become more commercial and there is no charity or faith observed in most religious places.

Untouchable Summary: Mahatma Gandhi

Bakha is very upset to see that everyone blames the untouchables as if they had done some mistake. He feels that the hatred shown by the Colonel’s wife was much greater than the Hindus he encountered that day. Unknowing where he is going he reaches the railroad station of Bulashah. A train seems to approach and all the people shout about the coming of Mahatma Gandhi. All of them are in white and are walking towards Golbagh where Gandhi is expected to address the gathering.

The term Mahatma creates great curiosity in the mind of Bakha wanting him to join the crowd. As Bakha does not have his tools, the crowd do not realize that an untouchable is standing amongst them. He observes that there are different kinds of people in the crowd. He could easily identify ‘who is who’ by their mannerisms and attire. As he looks forward, there are many people in front of him and he decides to take a shortcut from a nearby marsh. Some people follow him and they end up much closer to the oval [stage] where Gandhi would talk. Bakha decides to stay under a tree and leans against it.

The men around discuss about the struggles and achievements of Gandhi. They talks about the political progress he could bring and his dedication towards uplifting people who are called untouchables. Gandhi has done fasting for the sake of untouchables and Bakha is grateful that at least someone is trying to help them. A motorcar enters from which Gandhi along with his wife and daughter of a British admiral come out. He reaches the centre of the oval and greets the crowd.

Mahatma Gandhi begins by praying to the Gods and Bakha feels purged of all the filth of the day. He begins his speech with the mention of imprisonment for protesting against the rule of British. He agrees that the Government has let him out by making an agreement of ‘not speaking against’ British Government. Therefore, he declares that he would speak on another important problem i.e. untouchability. Gandhi says that the people are being oppressed both by the British rule and the unscrupulous principles followed in the society. He emphasizes:

“I regard untouchability as the greatest blot of Hinduism. The view of mine dates back to the time when I was a child.”

Gandhi relates a story from his childhood, where he would go to meet the untouchables and conceal the fact from his parents. Bakha listens many things about abandoning practices like drinking, scavenging, eating carrions and gambling. Although, they seem to criticize the untouchables he understands the importance of them. Gandhi says that untouchables should never take anything that is left over from plates. He states that only good food and grain must be accepted. Bakha feels that Gandhi should tell the same to his father so he could understand the importance of these things. Mahatma even declares that untouchables should have access to temples, schools, wells, etc. The speech ends and Mahatma Gandhi passes by Bakha. The boy is spellbound by the speech and remains near the tree.

Untouchable Analysis: Mahatma Gandhi

Mahatma Gandhi speaks of all the aspects that were causes of insults for Bakha. Therefore, Bakha is greatly influenced by the words coming out from a leader. The efforts made by Mahatma Gandhi to eradicate untouchability are great and it is the primary reason for Mulk Raj Anand to include his character. Further, Gandhi played a direct role in suggesting editions to the novel. Mulk Raj Anand removed almost three hundred pages from the manuscript and made modifications to the main character. All of these greatly collaborate the meeting of Bakha and Mahatma Gandhi.

Sohini is insulted at the temple, Bakha longs for education, bread is thrown to the ground while scavenging and other aspects create negative clouds in the mind of the protagonist. He finds no console in his own house or the society or in a new religion; the only thing that gives solace and drive away the dark clouds are the pure words of Mahatma Gandhi. However, he does not find an immediate solution for his problem as his day continues.

Untouchable Summary: The Muslim and the Poet

As Mahatma Gandhi slowly leaves with the crowd behind him a Muslim calls him a hypocrite. Bakha identifies him as a Muslim and the young man who protests such claims as a poet. The poet agrees that Gandhi has indeed made some mistakes but he has achieved a force to attract the nation towards freedom. He states that India is abundant in philosophy, resources and knowledge of living. Someone in the crowd identifies the poet to be Iqbal Nath Sarshar. The Muslim is identified as Mr. R. N. Bashir, a lawyer.

Bashir expresses his dislike towards the concept of eradication of untouchability by Gandhi. The dislike alone surprises Iqbal as he believes that the issue is the most legible of all. Then he explains about the origin of untouchables, which is the creation of some cruel Brahmins who do not know how to interpret the Holy texts. He emphasizes that such creations of men can be easily destroyed through proper effort. People are following the system based on the work done by the untouchables and according to Iqbal if people start to use the “Flush System” then there would be no need of human intervention. The latrines would be clean without humans and cleaning profession would completely vanish resulting in the eradication of the untouchables. Bashir cannot respond to the claims of Iqbal and they leave.

Bakha wants to listen to the discussion as it gives solutions to the problems in his mind. He is cleansed of all the bad things that happened on that day. Bakha then decides to follow the instructions given by Mahatma Gandhi. He understands that having a flush system would decrease the problems faced by untouchables and heads back home to say all these things to his father.

Untouchable Analysis: The Muslim and the Poet

The debate helps the purged Bakha to find a solution to untouchability. He is a happy soul with many conflicting happy thoughts in the mind after the debate. He decides to go back and relate the speeches to his father. He is no longer in confusion as he decides to follow the path of Mahatma Gandhi. Further, he realizes that religion has not made him an untouchable; but, it is the people who have created such a profession.

In Yajur Veda, it is written thus:

“Om Yadhemam vacham kalyani mavadhani janebyaha|

Brahmarajanyabhyam suudraya chaaryaya cha swaaya chaaranaaya||”

General Translation: The four Vedas are intended for the study of all Varnas [castes]. Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaisya, Suudra, etc. and women can read, propagate and listen to the knowledge of Vedas. This will help to remove all the sufferings from life and help to live a harmonious life.

Untouchable by Mulk Raj Anand clearly intends to show that Hindu religion is meant to perform on this Vedic Mantra rather than the fictional creation of some people. Bakha is in harmony with his life, for he has realized the truth through the two knowledgeable men he listens to – Iqbal and Mahatma Gandhi.

notes on art in a global context

Mulk Raj Anand

Rashmi Viswanathan

February 20, 2019

Mulk Raj Anand is perhaps best remembered as a cultural critic, writer, philosopher, and patron of the arts. But Rashmi Viswanathan turns her attention to his lesser known initiative to establish India’s First Triennale of Contemporary World Art in 1968. This essay explores Anand’s optimistic use of the triennale to shift international cultural relations and make a claim for cultural self-determination. Anand’s engagement with the arts should be understood within his broader project of imagining a progressive secular state, as India negotiated the terms of its unfolding nationhood and modernity.

Mulk Raj Anand (1905–2004), the founder of  Marg  magazine (since 1946), one of India’s oldest publications dedicated to the visual and performing arts, is perhaps best remembered as a cultural critic, writer, philosopher, and patron of the arts. Less well-known is his initiative to establish India’s First Triennale of Contemporary World Art in 1968, the country’s first contribution to a now-common global art-exhibition format. Left in relative obscurity as a result of its failure to generate regular successive editions, this ill-fated exhibition nonetheless casts light on the efforts to reorient India’s position in the modern art world, as a newly decolonized country and in the Cold war era. 1 Ranjit Hoskote connects the impoverished momentum of the  triennale  to the loss of its original political drive, which resulted in institutional desiccation: “The India Triennial is an instance of a biennial lapsing into neglect and oblivion as a result of the loss of its original propulsive ideological fervor and the political commitment of its organizers, followed by a bureaucratization of culture, which causes the fossilization of an inspiring idea into a set of routine commissioning procedures traced over diplomatic treaties of cultural exchange between the host nation-state and other nation-states.” Ranjit Hoskote, “Biennials of Resistance: Reflections on the Seventh Gwangju Biennial,” in  The Biennial Reader , eds. Elena Filipovic, Marieke van Hal, Solveig Øvstebø (Ostfildern, Germany: Hatje Kantz, 2010), 310.

Anand was born in 1905 in Peshawar, in what is now Pakistan, and in 1925, he moved to London, partly as the result of a self-imposed exile following his arrest for anti-British agitation in India. He enrolled at University College London in 1929, earning a doctorate in philosophy under the supervision of the Kantian scholar Dawes Hicks. His earliest associations in England sparked interest in the young writer in a brand of egalitarianism. He sympathized with the general strike of 1926, a broadscale worker-led protest against labor conditions in the coal-mining industry. He found like-minded intellectuals while working as a reviewer for T. S. Eliot at  Criterion , a literary magazine, and for Leonard Woolf with Hogarth Press and associating with the Bloomsbury Group. Bound by shared political sympathies, the left-leaning group shared an aesthetic commitment to a socialist internationalism that was sensitive to the commercial and political tethering of India to Great Britain and vice versa. In 1928, he briefly returned to India, where he met Jawaharlal Nehru (India’s future first prime minister), whose politics of international solidarity and belief in progress through secular state interventionism in the cultural sector would also impact Anand. In 1932, he initiated a fulfilling friendship with the Indian advocate for independence Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, who inflected Anand’s turn toward a more political commitment to social reform. Holding architecture and art as potent liberating forces, Anand saw their instrumentality in British India’s claims to nationhood.

At stake for Anand was the articulation of an identity for the incipient nation through material cultural expression—art and architecture for a country that was “situated between two worlds, one not yet dead, the other refusing to be born.” 2 Mulk Raj Anand, “The Monkey Business or a New Experimental Architecture in India,” typed draft manuscript, undated, cited in Mustansir Dalvi, “Mulk and Modern Indian Architecture,” in  Mulk Raj Anand: Shaping the Indian Modern , ed. Annapurna Garimella, Marg (Monograph series; Mumbai: Marg Publications, 2005), 56–57. Anand neither romanticized an imagined pristine Indian past nor shunned the emancipatory project of the European Enlightenment. Rather, within the crucible of modern state formation, art, in his estimation, had the unique capacity to express local sociologies of knowledge and universalist aspirations. His model of Indian-European philosophical synthesis in his advocacy of a modern India evolved over time as India’s position shifted on the Cold War geopolitical stage, following its independence from British rule in 1947. 3 See Geeta Kapur, “Partisan Modernity,” in ibid., 28–42. See also Jessica Berman, “Toward a Regional Cosmopolitanism: The Case of Mulk Raj Anand,”  MFS Modern Fiction Studies 55 , no. 1 (Spring 2009): 142–62.

By the 1950s, the momentum of the decolonization movements had sharply accelerated. The Bandung Conference of 1955 saw a number of Asian and African nations meet in the spirit of economic and social cooperation as well as allied opposition to colonial rule. Formalized in the Non-Alignment Movement of 1961 under Gamal Abdel Nasser (Egypt), Kwame Nkrumah (Ghana), Sukarno (Indonesia), Jawaharlal Nehru (India), and Josip Broz Tito (Yugoslavia), the initiative formally distanced member countries from the postwar geopolitical tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union. In 1958, the Afro-Asian Peoples Solidarity Organization, a non-governmental pluralist and democratic organization, was established at an inaugural conference held in Cairo. Perhaps more importantly, the organization, of which Anand was a vocal advocate, endured considerable infighting in the mid-1960s. Continually shifting alliances in the newly formed coalitions placed India in a rather precarious position vis–à–vis the Soviet Union, whose support (unexpectedly) became politically expedient by the late 1960s. In a landscape of shifting alliances, Anand may have viewed the  triennale  as a strategy for articulating new cultural affinities and as an independent act of self-determination—of “cultural self-comprehension” for the newly independent and uncertain India. 4 Mulk Raj Anand, “The Search for National Identity in India,” in  Cultural Self-Comprehension of Nations , ed. Hans Köchler (Tübingen/Basel: Horst Erdmannn Verlag, 1978), 73–97.

The First Triennale of Contemporary World Art (February–March 1968)

With the support of the Indian government, Anand, then chairman of the Lalit Kala Akademi (National Academy of Art), initiated India’s First Triennale of Contemporary World Art in 1968. In his preface to the catalogue, he makes explicit the exhibition’s emulation of the Venice, Sao Paolo, Tokyo, and Paris biennials, and his envisioning of it as a key shift in “international cultural relations” for India. 5 Mulk Raj Anand,  The First Triennale of Contemporary World Art  (New Delhi: Lalit Kala Akademi, 1968), 5.  Its international jury reviewed works from thirty-one countries, the final selection from which was displayed in national pavilions. The exhibit featured more than six hundred works in two New Delhi venues: the Lalit Kala Gallery and the National Gallery of Modern Art at Jaipur House. 6 The jury consisted of Anand; the poet and art critic Octavio Paz; Nasayoshi Homma, Curator in Chief, the Museum of Modern Art (Tokyo); Norman Reid, Director, Tate Gallery; Prithwish Neogy, Professor of Fine Arts, University of Hawaii; Dr. A. F. Jakimowicz of the International Association of Art Critics; and R. Von Leyden, contributing editor to  Marg , art critic, and connoisseur.  In addition, Anand mounted published a corollary pictorial exhibition of sorts for in the journal Marg (1968), which included a catalogue of sculpture organized by nation. 7 This was intended to offset the lack of large-scale plastic arts, which were prohibitively expensive and difficult to ship.

The global format of the triennale offered an aspirational space for the redrawing of national interrelationships and the production of new community networks. The catalogue entries for the triennale are preceded by a set of notes from well-wishers, including Henry Moore; the English anarchist and art historian Herbert Read; Joan Miro; George Keyt; the English artist and historian Roland Penrose; the English art critic, novelist, painter, and poet John Berger; the office of the Director-General of UNESCO, and Alfred H. Barr Jr. Fierily invoking the utopian communality of the project, Berger wrote: 

“I send my greetings to the first Triennale of Contemporary World Art to be held in India. It would suggest the possibility of escaping from or even overthrowing the hegemony of Europe and North America in these matters. This hegemony is disastrous because, whatever the personal feelings or ideas of individual artists or teachers may be, it is based upon the concept of a visual work of art as property. The historical usefulness of such a concept has long past: it stands now as a barrier to further development. The ideology of modern European property is inseparable from imperialism. The fight against imperialism and all its agencies is thus closely connected with the struggle for a truly modern art. I wish you clear-sightedness, strength and courage in your struggle.” 8 John Berger in a letter dated January 10, 1968 among a number of letters reproduced in Anand, preface to  The First Triennale of Contemporary World Art.

Aligning a new modernity in the arts with a political trajectory, Berger echoed Anand’s disdain for what he viewed as the art market’s empty promises of individuality and self-expression. The  triennale , in a sense, provided a platform for the re-inscription of values in and of art, which drew from the force of individual expression to symbolically validate new cultural affinities and invalidate existing cultural and political hegemonies.

The Global Stage

Anand’s engagement with the arts extended beyond his support of contemporary practice, and should be understood within his broader project of giving historical context to India as it negotiated the terms of its unfolding nationhood and modernity. In line with Nehruvian thought, Anand looked both backward to pre-colonial Indian art to give historical heft to the forming nation, and forward, to an unfolding rational humanist state. Consequently, he articulated national-cultural identity within a larger supranational frame. 9 Besides his  triennale  undertaking, Anand wrote a series of art histories, including_ Persian Painting (1930), The Hindu View of Art (1933), and the controversial Kama-Kala: Some Notes on the Philosophical Basis of Hindu Erotic Sculpture_ (1958).  Keenly aware of the global field in which the proposed political restructuring of the non-alignment took place, Anand may well have viewed New Delhi, the site of the  triennale , as reflective of the importance of the Indian state to the progress of the cultural sector. The  triennale format—global with discrete national pavilions—provided an exemplary space for the reconfiguration of the art world. Moreover, its lack of precedent in the Indian context permitted it to function as an experimental theater of sorts—as a forward-looking endeavor. It made it a thing of possibility; capacious; the product, reflection, and demonstration of collective efforts, one in which India could physically take its place alongside American and Soviet cultural production. And Anand was keen on the potential of experiment as progressive practice, and modernist art as a revolutionary tool: “Even a cursory look at the contributions from the various countries, will confirm the impression that the large majority of the artists of the world have gone on to an experimentalism which was, perhaps, implicit in the force released by the machine civilization of the world.” 10 Anand, preface to The First Triennale of Contemporary World Art .

“The prophet Tolstoy called it (art) an ‘instrument of peace’. I suggest that art is the most important weapon of creative humanism—the only ism left in the world in which we might believe.” 11 Ibid., 8.

Nancy Adajania explores Anand’s establishment of the  triennale  in light of decolonization movements and the Non-Alignment Movement in “Globalism Before Globalisation: The Ambivalent Fate of Triennale India,” in  Western Artists and India: Creative Inspirations in Art and Design , ed. Shanay Jhaveri. (London: Thames and Hudson, 2013), 168–85,  http://www.academia.edu/7818709/Nancy_Adajania_Globalism_Before_Globalisation_The_Ambivalent_Fate_of_Triennale_India .

• 1 Ranjit Hoskote connects the impoverished momentum of the  triennale  to the loss of its original political drive, which resulted in institutional desiccation: “The India Triennial is an instance of a biennial lapsing into neglect and oblivion as a result of the loss of its original propulsive ideological fervor and the political commitment of its organizers, followed by a bureaucratization of culture, which causes the fossilization of an inspiring idea into a set of routine commissioning procedures traced over diplomatic treaties of cultural exchange between the host nation-state and other nation-states.” Ranjit Hoskote, “Biennials of Resistance: Reflections on the Seventh Gwangju Biennial,” in  The Biennial Reader , eds. Elena Filipovic, Marieke van Hal, Solveig Øvstebø (Ostfildern, Germany: Hatje Kantz, 2010), 310.
• 2 Mulk Raj Anand, “The Monkey Business or a New Experimental Architecture in India,” typed draft manuscript, undated, cited in Mustansir Dalvi, “Mulk and Modern Indian Architecture,” in  Mulk Raj Anand: Shaping the Indian Modern , ed. Annapurna Garimella, Marg (Monograph series; Mumbai: Marg Publications, 2005), 56–57.
• 3 See Geeta Kapur, “Partisan Modernity,” in ibid., 28–42. See also Jessica Berman, “Toward a Regional Cosmopolitanism: The Case of Mulk Raj Anand,”  MFS Modern Fiction Studies 55 , no. 1 (Spring 2009): 142–62.
• 4 Mulk Raj Anand, “The Search for National Identity in India,” in  Cultural Self-Comprehension of Nations , ed. Hans Köchler (Tübingen/Basel: Horst Erdmannn Verlag, 1978), 73–97.
• 5 Mulk Raj Anand,  The First Triennale of Contemporary World Art  (New Delhi: Lalit Kala Akademi, 1968), 5.
• 6 The jury consisted of Anand; the poet and art critic Octavio Paz; Nasayoshi Homma, Curator in Chief, the Museum of Modern Art (Tokyo); Norman Reid, Director, Tate Gallery; Prithwish Neogy, Professor of Fine Arts, University of Hawaii; Dr. A. F. Jakimowicz of the International Association of Art Critics; and R. Von Leyden, contributing editor to  Marg , art critic, and connoisseur.
• 7 This was intended to offset the lack of large-scale plastic arts, which were prohibitively expensive and difficult to ship.
• 8 John Berger in a letter dated January 10, 1968 among a number of letters reproduced in Anand, preface to  The First Triennale of Contemporary World Art.
• 9 Besides his  triennale  undertaking, Anand wrote a series of art histories, including_ Persian Painting (1930), The Hindu View of Art (1933), and the controversial Kama-Kala: Some Notes on the Philosophical Basis of Hindu Erotic Sculpture_ (1958).
• 10 Anand, preface to The First Triennale of Contemporary World Art .
• 11 Ibid., 8.

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Through the novel, ‘Untouchable’ Anand tries to explore the various rules imposed on the lower caste, for example, walking with dhol or whistle so that they can produce sound to announce their arrival so that the  people of upper caste could give them space to walk and to avoid themselves to being polluted. The untouchables must live outside the village. They don’t have the right to take water from village well by their own hands. They have to attach a sweep at their back so that when they walk their footprints do remove from the earth. Because in that time it is believed that by the upper caste if the untouchable footprints remains on the earth, the earth will be polluted. It also reveals the hypocrisy of Hindu religion and shows the helplessness of the lower community.

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A DEVASTATING ACCOUNT OF POVERTY AND EXPLOITATION IN MULK RAJ ANAND'S NOVEL "COOLIE"

2019, Transstellar Journals

Coolie is a devastating account of poverty and exploitation faced not only by Munoo, but thousands like him. Anand shows how the racial and class hierarchies imposed by British Colonialism have intersected or overlaid the existing caste to make life impossible for coolies. The incidents and the situations in the novel reflect the actualities of Indian life of the time at which it was written. This theme is more acute, more pressing and more complicated in today's world, as it has been in those days. Poverty is recurrent theme in the novel Coolie. We have vivid pictures of the wretchedness and misery in the novel.

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Anand Mahanand

Interal Res journa Managt Sci Tech

Mulk Raj Anand is the greatest and the most prolific of the Indian writers. His three novels Untouchable (1935), Coolie (1936), Two leaves and a mud (1937) were produced in quick succession. Coolie is a truly a picaresque novel an epic of thousands of " coolies " in India. A picaresque novel is a novel which deals with the adventures of rogues and villains. The picaro, the central figure in the novel is Munoo and he plays many roles and wears many masks. A writer " s views and attitudes which condition his work are the resultant of a number of influences that operate upon him from childhood onwards, and Anand is no exception in this respect. His heredity, his social milieu, his education, the books he has read and the people he has met, have all conditioned his art, and gone into the making of Anand, the novelist. Coolie is another great epic of misery. Its action is not confined to some particular village, but moves from the village to the city, from the North to the South, and then again to the North. It conducts us on a guided tour of India and gives us a cross-section of India and Indian society. It studies the relationship of the rich and the poor, of children, of servant and master, and of the poor themselves, and of Indians and Europeans. Coolie is the one of the great hunger novels, with hunger, starvation, suffering, sickness, disease and degradation.

International Journal of English Literature and Social Sciences

Dr. Purnima Bhardwaj

Since civilization has started caste system based on profession not by birth. Later on it turns into a power game and the whole human society were divided into four varnas. Manusmriti, widely regarded to be the important and authoritative book on Hindu law and dating back to at least 1000 years before Christ was born ''acknowledges and justifies the caste system as the basis of order and regularity of society .''(Web) The caste divides Hindu into four main categories-Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras. Many believe that the groups originated from Brahma , The Hindu God of Creation. They are classified according to occupation and determine access to wealth , power and privilege. In recent years Violence has become a common phenomenon in India. It has engulfed the entire political, social, economic, cultural and even our personal lives. Violence of social justice and caste discriminations of complex characters have added additional burden to our society whereas we Indians have been specially advised to practice "non-violence". The growing trend in violence thus provokes us to talk about non-violence and identify the roots of violence in India. Caste Violence is perhaps one of the most hazardous forms of violence in India. It often intermingles with the most political, social, cultural, and class atrocity. So caste discriminations and atrocities against the socially weaker sections with age-old traditional and unconventional norms deserve a careful historical investigation. Indian Caste system is the most widely discussed subject all over the world. Caste system is a social evil in which the higher caste people exploits and persecutes the lower caste people and forced them to live subhuman lives like beasts. This paper is based on caste and vulgarism of 'Untouchable' and 'Coolie' poignantly portrayed by M R Anand. It is an attempt to explore its origin, nature, gravity, and deprivation.

International Res Jour Managt Socio Human

Mulk Raj Anand the eldest of the three great Indian novelists, is regarded as the father of Indo-English literature, the other two being Raja Rao and R.K.Narayan. He was born on December 12, 1905 at Peshawar. He was the greatest exponent of Indian writing in English, whose literary output was infused with a political commitment that conveyed the lives of India " s poor in a realistic and sympathetic manner. He writes realistically in his novels all about the miserable lives of the poor. Anand being a novelist of the common man, has profoundly dealt with the villages, with the extreme poverty, with orphans, untouchables and urban labourers. He took upon himself the task of attacking social snobbery and prejudice. The Indian life that he portrays in his novels is that of outcastes, peasants, soldiers, the depressed and oppressed ones of the society. Anand has, says the noted critic P.K. Singh, great concern for down-trodden people of India and his novels therefore throw light on the existing pains and predicaments of " have-nots ". His novels present minute pictures of Indian society, withspecial focus on the plights of poor people.1 Anand " s early novels deal with the misery and the wretchedness of the crushed and oppressed people and their struggle for a better life. His subsequent novels are almost a variation on the same theme. The present research is an attempt to study how several social issues and aspects are reflected in Mulk Raj Anand " s " Untouchable " .

IntInternational Journal of Novel Research And Development

Iti Tiwari , Abhay Mudgal

Anand has provided a voice to society's underprivileged and voiceless through his literary works. He writes about those who are socially, politically, economically, and culturally marginalised, repressed, suppressed, and exploited. There are many ways someone can be marginalised; it need not be based on race, religion, or caste. Other elements, such as animosity, behaviour, and character, are as crucial in mentally repressing a person. We can see how Munoo, the protagonist, is mistreated in Coolie despite the cultural variations. Marginalised people frequently suffer brutal treatment from social forces and lack personal identity. Anand tries to highlight the miserable state of the impoverished through Coolie. Despite being published in 1936, Coolie still holds to today's reality, marked by a widening disparity and a failure to reduce that gap. This paper is a discernible attempt to explain how Anand's Coolie portrays cultural marginalisation.

Sanjay Kumar

Oindrila Ghosh

Ars Artium, Vol. 9

Mulk Raj Anand, R. K. Narayan and Raja Rao are known as the trio of Indo-Anglian fiction writers. Anand, senior among the three and committed to creative writing, is a prolific writer. His popular novels include Untouchable, Coolie, Two Leaves and a Bud, The Sword and the Sickle, etc. Besides, he has more than seven collections of short stories to his credit. A committed humanist, he presents the predicament of the deprived people of society not only in his novels but also in his short stories. The paper explores the depiction of the realistic picture of the deprived and the untouchable people in his short stories, who are subjected to perpetual pains and sufferings in our society, and his concerns and sympathy for such people. The short stories discussed in this study include "Old Bapu", "The Barber's Trade Union", and "Lajwanti".

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