Untouchable By Mulk Anand Analysis

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. Untouchable is Anand’s first novel, and his most compact and artistically satisfying work. It depicts

They do not allow untouchables to draw water from their wells, to climb even the steps of their temples, and the very shadow of an untouchable is supposed to pollute them. If an untouchable, even brushes against their clothes they must wash themselves and purify themselves with the water of the holy river Ganges. But they do not hesitate to molest a sweeper-girl if they like her. Thus Pandit Kali Nath in the novel treats Sohini, Bakha’s sister, as a juicy morsel to satisfy his lust. When he fails in his attempt he raises the cry “Polluted!, Polluted!” and all the caste Hindus in the temple rally round

Next moment, however, he felt the cells of his body lapse back chilled. His eyes caught sight of the magnificent sculptures over the doors extending right up to the pinnacle. They seemed vast and fearful and oppressive. He was cowed back. The sense of fear came creeping into him. He bent his head low. His eyes were dimmed. His clenched fists relaxed and fell loosely by his side. He felt weak and he wanted support. “Weakness corrupts and absolute weakness corrupts, absolutely. Centuries of social ostracism have degraded the untouchable, his mind and heart have been damaged and he has grown incapable of self-assertion and absolutely passive and helpless”. He has come to accept his place in society as divinely ordained and the caste Hindus as his natural superiors. Untouchable is a novel of thirties when India was still a colony, when the evil of untouchability was rife through the country and when Mahatma Gandhi was carrying on his crusade for the eradication of this evil and when the burning, torturing and killing of untouchables was a daily event, when these oppressed or down-trodden people could not even complain or grumble. Individuals like Bakha, who resented the treatment meted out to them, were rare, and even such rare individuals lacked the courage to