Mulk Raj Anand was an Indian novelist who wrote in English, focusing on the lives of low caste members in traditional Indian communities. He was a pioneer of Indo-Anglican literature and gained readership in numerous countries. Anand studied in England and made his literary name with his novel Untouchable. He became an important figure in the Indian independence movement and continued to write for many years. Anand died in Pune at the age of 99 in 2004.
Mulk Raj Anand, born 12 December 1905, was an Indian novelist who wrote his works in English. He is known for his attention to the life of low caste members in traditional Indian communities. Before his time, members of such castes were not afforded the kind of literary humanity generally accorded to the main characters of novels. Rather, they were shadowy figures with little or no personality in novels about colonial English or high caste Indian characters. Anand was a pioneer of Indo-Anglican literature, and was one of the first Indians to write novels in English and to gain readership in numerous other countries.
The author was a student in Amritsar, India at Khlasa College. Subsequently, he studied as an undergraduate in England at University College London. After his time at University College, he went to Cambridge University. Anand graduated from Cambridge in 1929 with a Ph.D.
Anand made his literary name with his novel Untouchable which was published in 1935. Untouchable is a novel about the life of Bakha, a member of the untouchable caste. It is his destiny in his life to be a public cleaner, sweep the streets and toilets of his city. Because he has to work with dirt, he is socially associated with dirt and is therefore forbidden to touch a person of higher caste. In the novel, it is clear how terribly oppressed the members of the untouchable caste are. When his sister, for example, is molested by a holy man, she has absolutely no recourse as society does not accept the idea of someone from a higher caste deigning to touch an untouchable. Untouchable won Anand much acclaim. Indeed, he has been touted as the Charles Dickens of India.
For many years, Anand moved back and forth between India and England. He became an important figure in the Indian independence movement. He continued to write novels, poems, essays and even autobiographical works for many years. Some of his latest novels include The Village, The Sword and the Sickle, Across the Black Waters and The Private Life of an Indian Prince. He also founded Marg, a literary magazine and worked as a professor at several universities.
Mulk Raj Anand died in Pune at the age of 99 on 28 September 2004.
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