Open AccessKaleidoscopic Portrayal of Early Twentieth-Century British India: A Study of Mulk Raj Anand’s Untouchable
Author(s) -
Suresh Kumar
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
smart moves journal ijellh
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2582-4406
pISSN - 2582-3574
DOI - 10.24113/ijellh.v9i7.11115
Subject(s) - caste , poverty , politics , history , kaleidoscope , underclass , literature , sociology , art , visual arts , law , anthropology , political science
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.