Kaleidoscopic Portrayal of Early Twentieth-Century British India: A Study of Mulk Raj Anand’s Untouchable

Suresh Kumar

doi:10.24113/ijellh.v9i6.11100

Abstract

Mulk Raj Anand (1905-2004) is considered one of the pioneering Indian writers in English of Anglo-Indian fiction who gained international acclaim. Along with R.K. Narayana, and Raja Rao, he is popularly known as the trio of Indian English novelists. He marked his revolutionary appearance by giving voice to the oppressed section of the society with his novel, Untouchable in 1935. In this novel, he takes a day from the life of Bakha, a young sweeper who is an untouchable because of his work of cleaning latrines in the early 20th century British India. Discrimination based on caste and poverty are the two focal points of this novel. This paper aims at portraying a kaleidoscope of socio-cultural, economic and political spheres of life. It aims at painting the unexplored, and less talked vistas of life. Hence while revisiting untouchability and poverty, this paper offers an analysis to a variety of colours or a collage of varied aspects of human life.

Highlights

Mulk Raj Anand unfolds the multi-coloured facets of life in Untouchable by depicting a day from the life of a young sweeper boy of eighteen years
The central concern of the novel is showcasing the discrimination based on caste through the experiences of Bakha’s family, with the untouchable’s experiences, and through the perceptions and behaviour of the upper caste Hindus
A brook ran near the lane, once with crystal clear water, soiled by the dirt and filth of the public latrines situated about it, the odour of the hides, and skins of dead carcasses left to dry on its banks, the dung of donkeys, sheep, horses, cows and buffaloes heaped up to be made into fuel cakes, and the biting, choking, pungent fumes that oozed from its sides