Mulk Raj Anand (12 December 1905 – 28 September 2004) was an Indian writer in the English language, recognised for his depiction of the lives of the poorer class in the traditional Indian society. One of the pioneers ofIndo-Anglian fiction, he, together withR. K. Narayan,Ahmad Ali andRaja Rao, was one of the first India-based writers in the English language to gain an International readership. Anand is admired for his novels and short stories, which have acquired the status of classics of modern Indian English literature; they are noted for their perceptive insight into the lives of the oppressed and for their analysis of impoverishment, exploitation and misfortune.[1][2][3] He became known for his protest novelUntouchable (1935), which was followed by other works on the Indian poor such asCoolie (1936) andTwo Leaves and a Bud (1937).[4] He is also noted for being among the first writers to incorporatePunjabi andHindustani idioms into English,[5] and was a recipient of the civilian honour of thePadma Bhushan,[6] the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India.
Mulk Raj Anand's literary career was launched by a family tragedy arising from the rigidity of India'scaste system. His first prose essay was a response to the suicide of an aunt excommunicated by her family for sharing a meal with aMuslim woman.[10][11] His first novel,Untouchable, published in 1935, is a chilling exposé of the lives of India'suntouchable caste which were neglected at that time. The novel follows a single day in the life of Bakha, a toilet-cleaner, who accidentally bumps into a member of a higher caste, triggering a series of humiliations. Bakha searches for salve to the tragedy of the destiny into which he was born, talking with a Christianmissionary, listening to a speech about untouchability byMahatma Gandhi and a subsequent conversation between two educated Indians, but by the end of the book Anand suggests that it is technology, in the form of the newly introduced flush toilet, that may be his savior by eliminating the need for a caste of toilet cleaners.
Untouchable, which captures the vernacular inventiveness of thePunjabi andHindi idiom in English, was widely acclaimed, and won Anand his reputation as India'sCharles Dickens. The novel's introduction was written by his friendE. M. Forster, whom he met while working onT. S. Eliot's magazineCriterion.[12] Forster writes: "Avoiding rhetoric and circumlocution, it has gone straight to the heart of its subject and purified it."
Dividing his time between London and India during the 1930s and '40s,[5] Anand was active in theIndian independence movement. While in London, he wrote propaganda on behalf of the Indian cause alongside India's future Defence MinisterV. K. Krishna Menon, while trying to make a living as a novelist and journalist.[13] At the same time, he supported Left causes elsewhere around the globe, traveling to Spain to volunteer in theSpanish Civil War, although his role in the conflict was more journalistic than military. He spentWorld War II working as a scriptwriter for theBBC in London, where he became a friend ofGeorge Orwell. Orwell's review of Anand's 1942 novelThe Sword and the Sickle hints at the significance of its publication: "Although Mr. Anand's novel would still be interesting on its own merits if it had been written by an Englishman, it is impossible to read it without remembering every few pages that it is also a cultural curiosity. The growth of an English-language Indian literature is a strange phenomenon, and it will have its effect on the post-war world".[14] He was also a friend ofPicasso and had paintings by Picasso in his personal art collection.
Anand returned to India in 1947 and continued his prodigious literary output here. His work includes poetry and essays on a wide range of subjects, as well as autobiographies, novels and short stories. Prominent among his novels areThe Village (1939),Across the Black Waters (1939),The Sword and the Sickle (1942), all written in England;Coolie (1936) andThe Private Life of an Indian Prince (1953) are perhaps the most important of his works written in India. He also founded a literary magazine,Marg, and taught in various universities. During the 1970s, he worked with theInternational Progress Organization (IPO) on the issue of cultural self-awareness among nations. His contribution to the conference of the IPO inInnsbruck (Austria) in 1974[15] had a special influence on debates that later became known under the heading of the "Dialogue among Civilisations". Anand also delivered a series of lectures on eminent Indians, includingMahatma Gandhi,Jawaharlal Nehru andRabindranath Tagore, commemorating their achievements and significance and paying special attention to their distinct brands ofhumanism.
His 1953 novelThe Private Life of an Indian Prince is autobiographical in the manner of the rest of his subsequent oeuvre. In 1950 Anand embarked on a project to write a seven-part autobiographical novel titledSeven Ages of Man, of which he was only able to complete four parts beginning in 1951 withSeven Summers, followed byMorning Face (1968),Confession of a Lover (1976) and The Bubble (1984).[16] Like much of his later work, it contains elements of his spiritual journey as he struggles to attain a higher degree of self-awareness.[17] His 1964 novelDeath of a Hero was based on the life ofMaqbool Sherwani. It was adapted asMaqbool Ki Vaapsi onDD Kashir.[18][19]
Anand was associated with theBBC'sEastern Service radio station in the 1940s where he broadcast literary programmes including book reviews, author biographies, and interviews with authors likeInez Holden.[20] In a multi-part broadcast programme that he hosted, he discussed poetry and literary criticism, often calling for working class narratives in fiction.[20]
Anand was a lifelong socialist. His novels attack various aspects of India's social structure as well as the legacy of British rule in India; they are considered important social statements as well as literary artefacts. Anand himself was steadfast in his belief that politics and literature remained inextricable from one another.[21] He was a founding member of theProgressive Writers' Association and also he helped in drafting themanifesto of the association.[22]
Apology for Heroism: An Essay in Search of Faith (1946, London: Lindsay Drummond)
Homage to Tagore (1946, Lahore: Sangam)
On Education (1947, Bombay: Hind Kitabs)
Lines Written to an Indian Air: Essays (1949, Bombay: Nalanda Publications)
The Indian Theatre (1950, London: Dobson)
The Humanism of M. K. Gandhi: Three Lectures (1967, Chandigarh: University of Punjab)
Critical Essays on Indian Writing in English (1972, Bombay: Macmillan)
Roots and Flowers: Two Lectures on the Metamorphosis of Technique and Content in the Indian English Novel (1972, Dharwad:Karnatak University)
The Humanism of Jawaharlal Nehru (1978, Calcutta: Visva-Bharati)
The Humanism of Rabindranath Tagore: Three Lectures (1978, Aurangabad:Marathwada University)
Is There a Contemporary Indian Civilisation? (1963, Bombay: Asia Publishing House)
Conversations in Bloomsbury (1981, London: Wildwood House & New Delhi: Arnold-Heinemann)
Pilpali Sahab: Story of a Childhood under the Raj (1985, New Delhi: Arnold-Heinemann);Pilpali Sahab: The Story of a Big Ego in a Small Boy (1990, London: Aspect)
"A Writer in Exile", in 'Ferdinand Dennis,Naseem Khan (eds), 'Voices of the Crossing – The impact ofBritain on writers from Asia, the Caribbean and Africa, London:Serpent's Tail, 1998, p. 77.
^"...it can be said that they have taken over from British writers like E. M. Forster & Edward Thompson the task of interpreting modern India to itself & the world."The Oxford History of India,Vincent A. Smith (3rd edition, ed.Percival Spear), 1967, p. 838.
^Cowasjee, Saros.So Many Freedoms: A Study of the Major Fiction of Mulk Raj Anand, New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1977.
^Orwell, George.The Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters of George Orwell – My Country Right or Left 1940–1943, London: Martin Secker & Warburg, 1968, pp. 216–220.
^Berry, Margaret (1968–1969). "'Purpose' in Mulk Raj Anand's Fiction".Mahfil.5 (1/2 1968–1969). Michigan State University, Asian Studies Center:85–90.JSTOR40874218.
