Novels of Mulk Raj Anand showing the Mirror Image of India.

Introduction.

 

“India is a curious place that still preserves the past, religions, and its history. No matter how modern India becomes, it is still very much an old country.”

                                                                                                                                 Anita Desai.

When we sit to read the Indian works between 1900s to 1950s, we can visualize the then times of India. The British Raj predominated in India, where the Indians were exploited by the colonizers as they were colonized. If the Indians were the captives of the whites, then they were also the slaves of the blind superstitions and castes that they followed. Indians were many a times demoralized by their own species. They tend to love the culture and tradition of the whites like the character of Bakha in the novel Untouchable because of the  reasons mentioned above. These folk of India  needed lime light and the voice of their own.

 

Coming to the history of the India, we all are cognizant about the social turmoil that prevailed in India during 1900s. Mahatma Gandhi, with other dynamic leaders was fighting for the Free India on one hand, then we also had the critical issues predominant then. The then great writers like, Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Rabindranath Tagore, Mulk Raj Anand and other prominent writers raised their voice against it. They tried to change the perspective of the people and propagate the message of equality and peace in the nation. Here, I would like to focus upon Mulk Raj Anand’s contribution to mimic the mirror image of India in his works.

 

Mulk Raj Anand.

 

Padma Bhusan Mulk Raj Anand (1905-2004), has portrayed the pathetic characters and victims of Indian society. He, the father of Indo-Anglican literature, had added Indian flavors and sprinkled Indian social issues in his works. He colored the works with Indian spirit. Although he was a Kshatriya, Anand supported the Untouchables who belonged to the marginalized group. Thus, he is also known as DARIDRA NARAYAN.  Mulk Raj Anand first made his debut to the literary world as a creative writer in 1935, by writing a sensational novel of the time named ‘Untouchable.’ He then wrote many works like, ‘Coolie’,  ’Private life of an Indian Prince’, ‘Across the black Water’,‘Gauri’ and so on.

 

 

 

 



 

Untouchable.

 

‘DO NOT want to be reborn. But if I have to be reborn, I should be born an untouchable, so that I may share their sorrows, sufferings, and the affronts levelled at them, in order that I may endeavour to free myself and them from that miserable condition. I, therefore, prayed that, if I should be born again, I should do so not as a Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya or Shudra, but as an Atishudra.’ (YI, 4-5-1921, p144)

                                                                                                                                   M.K. Gandhi.

As the title suggests, the novel is about a boy of eighteen years who is untouchable and is living in the pre Independence era. He represents the down trodden society dwelling in India.  Anand gives voice to the voiceless by raising the issue of caste discrimination. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, a Genevan philosopher says in his ‘The Social Contract.’ In the very first line as follows...

           "Man is born free and everywhere he is in c down trodden society hains"

 

These lines are aptly justified by Mulk Raj Anand in this novel. Bakha, the protagonist of the novel.is the lowest of the lowest caste.. He is looked as a castaway even by the untouchables!!!!!!!!!!!! He is marginalized in the marginalized group. He is a Bhangi – who cleans the toilets and is also often referred as a sweeper boy in the novel. Therefore, he is discarded by the high class society. He hates to clean the dirt of others. But, he is bound to do so just because he is born as a outcaste (The word used by Rabindranath Tagore for the untouchables.) As Bakha ones says the below dialogues in frustration…

                          

                                       

                                                 ‘’ …They think we are mere dirt, because

                                                                       We clean their dirt.’’

 

 

He can’t lead a independent life. He always has to depend upon others for food, water, clothes although he had money to buy brand new things. He is dishonoured at every point of the novel. This teenager thus becomes the victim of the society. Hence, he hates the Indian society and wants to emulate the English men.

                                             

                         ‘You have to dream before your dreams can come true.’

                                                                                        Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.

 

Bakha dreams of studying and becoming a officer. But, he is not allowed or admitted at any school just because he was untouchable. He is not able to tie the knot with  his beloved just because he is the low caste untouchable although the girl was herself a untouchable. Anand has thus raised many such controversies in his novel like poverty, illiteracy, inequality, sexual harassment to the backward girls ( Bakha’s sister, Sohini is maltreated by Pandit Kali Nath.) By the end of the novel, Mulk Raj Anand gives a message to all the Untouchables not to follow the blind tradition with superstations. He tells them to get educated and fight for their own rights. H also gives them the message of not eating Tobacco and drinking wine. Thus, we see that a fair  option was given to the untouchables.

 

Here, in this novel, we can see the the then existing issues in India. The obstacle of untouchability brought divisions in caste all over the nation. This lead to the social turmoil. The women of the lower caste were exploited by the high caste people. These lower caste people were not given food hand to hand. They were thrown food as thrown to animals. If they accidentally touched any high caste person, then they were abused by the high class public. Apart from this, the other problem that we find in the novel is about the colonized India. The untouchables wanted to follow these Goras just because there were no barriers in their caste, All were treated equal. At the same time, it was pointed out by Anand that these high class people were blindly following the tradition instead of revolting against the injustice done to their brother Indians. The Hakim is the best example of that. He comes to treat the little Bakha when he was ill to his home and gives him the medicine and cures him of his disease. It wasn’t that these people had no heart. But then, their minds were conditioned to follow the traditions without raising their fingers on its origin and its virginity.  In a word, the novel ‘Untouchable’ is the microcosm of the Indian Society.

 

 

Coolie.

 

’Child labor and poverty are inevitably bound together and if you continue to use the labor of children as the treatment for the social disease of poverty, you will have both poverty and child labor to the end of time.’’                                 

                                                                                                              Grace Abbott

 

Mulk Raj Anand, also called as the Charles Dickens of India, has portrayed the pathetic character named Munoo in the novel named ‘Coolie’ In this novel, Anand tries to throw light on the poverty stricken India. People in those days, drew not only caste barriers, but also classified themselves on the econimic basis. The Marxism ideology was playing a main role. Thus, this little orphan boy of fourteen years was forced to run away from his village to earn money just because of poverty.

 

Munoo’s parents die leaving him penniless. He is provoked by his uncle and aunt of being jobless. Thus, he is forced to leave the village to earn a livelihood for him. There this little boy undergoes many adventures by taking up many sundry jobs like,   servant, factory worker, rickshaw driver, ultimately a coolie living far away from his home. He lives in a slum area. He thus leads a subhuman life. By the end of the novel, we see this tragic hero dies suffering from tuberculosis.

 

This novel was written during the pre-Independence era. Hence, we can see that the boy suffers even due to the British Raj. He is been exploited by the white people. The boy goes under a psychological trauma as he lost his parents and is staying away from his native land. His views and ideologies are suppressed. There are many issues like, communal riots, child labour, illiteracy, police injustice, caste ridden society, Marxist issues etc.

 

           ‘ Money is a crystal formed of necessity in the course of the exchanges.’

                                                                                                                Karl Marx

 

The novel reflects the contemporary issues of India too. Although, the novel was written in 1936 for the, the then present times, it seems as if the novel has passed the exam of time. We can see the same past picture of India prevailing even today. The only difference that we find is, then we were colonized and ruled by the British Raj, now we are colonized by our mind, and ruled by our own men, In the most of the novels of Mulk Raj Anand, we see that his ideas are very much influenced by Gandhi an ideas. Even the people of that time followed the mantras of our Father of the Nation – Mahatma Gandhi.

 

Two Leaves and a Bud.

 

‘Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the Higher consideration.’

                                                                                                          Abraham Lincoln.

 

 

The issue of Coffee estate has been the theme of most of the novels during the Pre Independence era. The Coffee house was the symbol of colonized India. Laborers were exploited by the coffee estate owners. They were forced to work for more hours and were not given the extra wages. They were not given accommodation at good and hygienic places. Thus, they suffered from many contagious diseases. Anand raised the contemporary issues in his novel too.

 

‘Two Leaves and the Bud’ is the third novel of Mulk Raj Anand . The protagonist of the novel, is a coolie named Ganju. The miserable condition of the coolies in the tree plantation estate is been portrayed by Anand. The here, in this novel, we can also see the financial issues. The lands that are mortgaged for money are confiscated by the greedy land lords. Hence, it results to deprivation of shelter and the immense need to search a job.

 

Ganju is not only exploited by the Europeans, but also by Indians. He is supressed by them. He is not well paid by the estate owners. He barely earns his livelihood although he works very hard. When he goes to buy the provisions, the merchants sold the things at the exorbitant rate. They were deprived of a good shelter and thus, ultimately, they suffered from water scarcity and sanitary problems. This lead to the attack of contagious disease and Ganju’s wife, Sajani becomes the victim of Malaria and died Ganju, although had an employment, did not have money for his wife’s funeral. This shows the tragic situation of this poor coolie. When the coolies revolted against the Estate Owner, they were bet black and blue. Their voice was supressed. By the end of the novel, Ganju is killed by Reggie Hunt. The novel has a tragic end.

 

Mulk Raj Anand has drawn the attentions of the readers to the issues like Marxism, fight for freedom, exploitation of Indians in the hands of Europeans and Indians, caste discrimination etc. The revolt against the coffee estate owners is the revolt against the British Raj in India. The down trodden class or rather the Colonized Mother India is given the voice in the novel. 

 

The Village, Across The Black Water and The Sword and the Sickle.

      

                            "You will be home before the leaves have fallen from the trees."

                                                                                                              Kaiser Wilhelm II.

‘The Village’, ‘Across the Black water’ and ‘The Sword and the Sickle’ are the Punjab trilogy novels. Here, we can have a close view upon the issues that were faced by the Indians who enrolled their names for the World War I army. These people had to stay away from their mother land and their family. They went across the seas just to clear their debts and get their homes and land free from mortgages. At the background of the novel, we can also see India’s fight for freedom.

 

The protagonist of the novel, Lal Singh, a peasant’s son struggles against the societal forces keeping him pinned at the bottom of Indian society. There is the combination of colonialism and the modernist project that is quite evident. India was rich in agricultural field in those days. Even after Independence, more than 60% of people opted for becoming a farmer as India was the land of Agriculture and villages.

 

In these novels, we see Lal Singh the peasant’s son, enrolling his name for being a soldier in the World War I. The whole novel revolves around him depicting his sufferings in the unknown land. Finally, he comes back to his own nation by the end of the novel ( trilogy). There is the issue of Marxism, Communalism, social unrest in the trilogy novel. The Whites tried to destroy the Indian culture and tradition by destroying the concept of Village in India. Ina word, we can also say that they wanted to destroy India as most of the part in India was a village.

 

Mirror Image of India in Mulk Raj Anand’s novels.

 

In the above mentioned texts of Mulk Raj Anand, we can see that Anand’s heroes are mostly common rustic man. Most of them come from Indian Villages. India is rich of Villages. The culture and traditions of India are yet preserved in the villages. Hence, the people off the village are very orthodox. They strictly bind themselves to the superstitions and follow the old conduct of rules given by their ancestors. So, we see the issues of caste discrimination and illiteracy very much prevailing in the novels. The people classify themselves on the basis of their caste. Moreover, they try to run away from their native village and try to adjust in the cities. They come to the city India to earn some bread and butter. But, then they get entangled in the city politics and become the victims of Marxism, illiteracy, contagious disease and sometimes end up befriending Death.

 

The concept of Marxism is also very much evident in his works. The rich and the capitalist people exploit the poor and take the pulp out of them. In all the above mentioned works of Mulk Raj Anand, ewe can see the issue to be very much alive and playing a active role. They are not paid their wages accordingly. They are not given the accommodation free from all malicious disease. They are not privileged to the minimal needs of life. Thie voice is being suppressed by the people in power position.

 

     

 The works are written during Pre Independence era. Hence, we can see the fight of Indians against the British Raj. People wanted to free themselves from the clutches of British Raj. Therefore, they participated in different freedom movements. This lead to the revolt against the British Government. The fight for the freedom of India is very much alive in almost all his works rapped in the cultural and social problems. Mulk Raj Anand was a man of Gandhian views. Therefore, we can see Gandhian ideology in his works. He propogateds the message given by Mahatma Gandhi in his works. 

 

We all are very much aware that Indian were taken as soldiers to fight during the world war. Mulkj Raj Anand has also given place for such characters in his novels. The people he enrolled themselves for fighting against the opponent nation had no personal grudge and rivalry against the nation. They even did not know why they were fighting. They just did it to free themselves and their families from the financial discomfort. Many of them lost their lives too.  

 

Th main issue that India faced then and it is facing even now is of Untoucability. People had the wrong notion about this caste. They were not respected in the society just because they were untouchables. They were not allowed to enjoy the rich esteems of life. They were not allowed to live with their fellow beings in the same village. Instead, they were forced to live in a damp. They  became the victims of Indian Society. the untouchables are not given the basic human rights. They are forced to live the life of a slave. They are not treated as human beings. Therefore, we see that Anand has tried to give justice to these characters by giving them the voice and also gave the new mantras of leading a life.

 

Mulk Raj Anand also threw light upon the issues like child labour. It is also the contemporary issue of India. This is also one of the prime reasons why the children are deprived from going to school and getting educated. This ultimately leads to the illiteracy and gives rise to the issues of poverty and exploitation. Children are not paid more wages and are expected to work for more hours. They even suffer from malnutrition and are attacked by various breeds of disease. 

 

We can also see exploitation of women in some of his works. Women of lower caste become the prime victims. Men at least have the attitude and strength to revolt against the unjust at least ones in some of his works. But, when it comes to women or a girl, it seems as if they are very timid and are quite contended with the ill treatment and insults that they face. They are rustic women. So many a times, they become the victim of their own customs and traditions.

 

Mulk Raj Anand has very well presented the colonized India. He gave the window view of all the issues that prevailed in our country India. India was rich of cultural heritage and Villages are in fact the symbol of that. He very well depicted the characters that gave justice to the melancholy which was caused by the issues. He gave the true picture and portrayal of India to this Free India. The struggles and traumas that were faced by the Freedom fighters and their supporters is also indirectly shown to us. It is the hidden message of Mulk Raj Anand to maintain the peace in the nation and make the use of our Freedom in a genuine way.