Intersections of Indian and Western Aesthetics: Mulk Raj Anand as a Critic of the Arts

Abstract

Mulk Raj Anand is a well-established novelist and critic. But his work as a critic of the arts, starting with Persian Painting (1930), The Hindu View of Art (1933) and moving on to Kama Kala (1968) and Seven Little-Known Birds of the Inner Eye (1978), with the intervening period of his astounding performance as editor of Marg, the elitist art journal, needs a closer assessment. The Hindu View of Art written under the influence of Herbert Read and Ananda Coomaraswamy explores the religio-philosophical basis of Indian aesthetics, but Seven Little-Known Birds of the Inner Eye is a psycho-philosophical exposition of East-West comparative aesthetics. This paper explores various stages of Anand's development as a critic of the arts and the basis of his aesthetic philosophy with the ultimate emphasis on truth, beauty, good, equality and the humanist values.