Basham whose book, The Wonder That Was India (1951) was an early attempt at extending the parameters of Indian historiography. His book surveyed the different facets of ancient Indian culture without the prejudices that marked earlier European works. By the 1980s, there was another spur in Indian history writing that were influenced by the earlier nationalist historians. This genre of history is often referred to as communal history as it overplays myths and legends, while censuring all critical studies of the Brahmanical social structure and even support the caste system laid out in the manusmriti. The communal writers are heavily influenced by Hindutva ideologies and heavily criticise eminent historians that adhere to objective standards of historiography.
Their work is marked by an impressive feel for the language, and an authentic presentation of contemporary India, with all the regional variations. They generally write about the urban middle class, the stratum they know
Indian English has started a long journey and it has been entertaining and educating while weaving and mixing together a history of new verbal patterns that reflect social, technological and cultural trends. This paper is a brief attempt
Indian Writing in English started during the period of the British rule in India. Now it has grown into leaps and bounds. Indian English is not only being enjoyed by the native people, but also being by the foreigners. It happened only after the constant improvement by great people like Tagore, Sri Aurobindo, R.K.Narayan, Raja Rao - to name only a few. In modern time, there are number of writers who are getting awards and accolades all over the world.
Indian women novelists have given a new dimension to the Indian literature. Indian English literature has developed over a period of time and writing in English did not start in a day. It took many years and several distinguished personalities to bring the present status and distinction to Indian English literature. Indian literature is not only about novels, it is also about poetries and short stories. Before the rise of novels, several women writers composed songs, short stories and small plays.
His poems, novels and short stories are widely read throughout Bangladesh and India. Some of his famous short stories are Kabuliwala and The Ruined Nest. On the other hand, R.K Narayan is most known as one of the first leading Indian writers in English. He is an eminent figure in Indian literature due to his simple, unpretentious styles of writing. His works have given people outside Indian nations to peek into the cultures which revolve a fictitious South Indian town, Malgudi.
For example Toru Dutt, Pandita Ramabai Saraswati, Sri Aurobindo, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sarojini Naidu, Mulk Raj Anand, R. K. Narayan, Raja Rao, Nissim Ezekiel, Nayantara Sahgal, Kamala Das, Jayant Mahapatra, Anita Desai, Bharati Mukherjee, Salman Rushdie, Shashi Deshpande, and some recent Indian writers such as Arundhati Roy, Kiran Desai, Arvind Adiga, Chetan Bhagat and many others have been using English to represent the Indian culture and spirit. Salman Rushdie is the most notable among all the Indian
Indian writing in English in the recent years has achieved a great significance both in India and abroad. As a consequence of the development, Indian writing in English today enjoys a unique reputation, prestige and responsibilities in the world of English studies. In recent years fiction becomes a powerful form of literary experience and it has attained a place of pride in the form of literature. Anand is one of those Indo-Anglian novelists who are both of the East and West. Mulk Raj Anand is a “novelist in a hurry” for his work is considerable in bulk, and much that is inferior mingles with much else that is of the highest quality.
Chandra Chaterjee becomes the first Indian writer of the novel in English. He made his mark with Raj Mohan’s Wife, published in 1864.Toru Dutt’s novel Binaca or The young Spanish Maiden which published after her death by her father in the columns of the Bengali Magazine, Toru Dutt was the foremost, women novelist in French and English literature. Her sensibility, attitude to feminine beauty and grace , though apparently English is essentially Indian ,closer as it to Indian writers like Meena Alexander,Lalithambika,Antharjanam,AmiritaPritam,NeelamSaxena,Chandra,Githa Hariharan, Anuratha, Ramanan etc..., Contemporary women’s fiction is a challenge to master narratives. It focuses on differences that make a difference to women in dominant masculine culture. It is also significant that women writers have not simply been limited to the private territory but have moved beyond it.
The Indian novelists in English, by using various linguistic and stylistic devices, have succeeded in infusing the rhythm of Indian languages into English and in assigning the Indian sensibility. Their language items form Indian thought and imagery and acquire a distinctive identity and elasticity. In the words of Prof. Gokak, Indian English Literature represents the evolution of a distinct standard, the body of which is English but whose soul is Indian in color, thought and imagery. There are different opinions regarding this experimentation in the style. Meenakshi Mukherjee states that the style is not integral to the author’s point of view but something added to the material like ‘icing on the cake or embroidery on a sari’.