Untouchable is cited as Mulk Raj Anands finest, yet most controversial novel. The book, in short, is a narration of a day in the life of Bakha, an eighteen year old sweeper who is conflicted about his status and position in life. In Untouchable, Anand expresses, with emotive and rich language, what it means to be an untouchable in a caste biased society. Bakha is a proud and attractive young man but he is an outcast in a system that is only now slowly changing its prejudices against the lower caste. It was a society likened to being as cruel and restrictive as apartheid. With this narrative of Bakha, the sweeper and latrine cleaner, Anand is applauded for presenting a candid version of the other India, an India that lives poorly, and with contempt, in villages and streets. This essay will try to analyze the social evils that had plagued Indian society at that period and the social reforms that had been taking place since.
A conventional narrative with a strong story line is not what the readers should expect while reading Untouchable. E.M.Forster says that the book is simply planned but it has a form. The form he speaks of is likened to a superbly woven chain of pearls, done through all the related anecdotes. The novel has no conventional division of chapters, and tells the story of Bakha, an eighteen year old individualist, who envisions a life devoid of the bondages of caste and class barriers and who fights social evils with tooth and nail with his well idealized soul of a freedom fighter. He is the changing face of India belonging to the colonial era yet he is at the lowest of the social ladder where any change is unexpected. His search for identity is his primary occupation. In the book, he examines his inner self and his great potential and then measures both against the fossilized norms of a society that horribly try to constrain him.
Bakha (the central figure of the novel) is a human being and like us all, he has his own dreams and ambitions
He was a sweepers son and could never be a babu (gentleman). Later still he realized that there was no school which would admit him because the parents of the other children would not allow their sons to be contaminated by the touch of the low-caste mans sonsThese old Hindus were cruel. He was a sweeper, he knew, but he could not consciously accept the fact. He had began to work at the latrines at the age of six and resigned himself to the hereditary life of the craft, but he dreamed of becoming a sahib.
Bakha is one of the brightest members of his outcaste colony, which is segregated from the town and the cantonment both. He displayed superior skills in his work, not the kind of man who ought to be cleaning toilets. Ironically, given his inferior position in life, he was actually quite indispensable to both colonies. A man excelling in life from an inferior position could be praised with the sentiment, Here is a lotus that bloomed in grime. Perhaps Bakha of Bulashah is such a lotus, living amongst a village of outcastes on the fringes of civilized society. By birth he is an untouchable sweeper and the son of Lakha - a man who seemingly despises him. Bakha elevates himself above his peers both in his mind as well as in his aspirations. Bakha, as his fate would have it, is an avid lover of fashion especially European fashion. He saves every bit of money he could to buy a fine cloth but the irony lies in the fact that he could not come near the stores of clothes because the owner of the store will drive him away because he is one of the members of the low-caste strata of the society. Bakha had revered the colonialist, the British, and stared at them with wonder and amazement ... and he had soon become possessed with an overwhelming desire to live their life.
It may be beneficial to take a quick look at the climate in which Anand wrote this novel, in order to understand better the authors perspective as well as the novels tone. While working on the novel, Anand came across Gandhis story of a Brahmin sweeper boy Uka in Young India magazine. The narrative propelled him to visit the leader. Accordingly he visited Sabarmati Ashram (Gandhis residence at the time) in order to glean Gandhis opinion about his novel. There he received guidance and feedback from Gandhi, a stay that proved useful to his professional career in writing this book, but also personally. There was a remarkable change in Anands social and spiritual understanding.
Untouchable can be better appreciated if the reader situates the novel within a tradition of protest literature, addressing caste issues in India and considering it as a predecessor of Dalit writing. Dalit writing specifically engages the topic of marginalization and deprivation of lower classes in modern India. The character of Bakha too is an interesting example of portrayal of Dalit characters in the history of Indian writing. While Bakha has been socialized into believing in his essential inferiority, there lurks just beneath the surface of humility and deference, a volcanic substratum of anger and violence that strains to erupt. Bakha becomes the predecessor of many Dalit literary figures who face the same problems as Bakha does in this novel. The solutions are often elusive to them, some times the solution is such that it becomes a farce, both socially and economically.
Anands powerful writing style unleashes a torrent of biases against the plethora of socially imposed limitations in Bakhas society. Apart from his sentiments about caste, he also fixes his gazes upon the inhuman attitude of the priest class, noting the scene where Bakha attempts to peek inside the temple. He is an untouchable, ergo, forbidden inside. Hence, when Bakha made the attempt, a priest humiliated him by shouting at him,
Polluted Polluted
Towards the end of Bakhas day, he follows a throng of people, drawn to the charismatic, subversive and rather confusing speech resonating out of Gandhi. Gandhi implored the untouchables to stop accepting poor treatment, and that ..untouchability (is) the greatest blot on Hinduism.
Untouchable examines this relentless process with which a majority community (and caste) systematically alienates certain groups of people, apparently within its own fold, all in the name of religion and tradition. At the same time the novel exposes the searing effects of such segregation by considering the binary a new and united nation. Bakha is the alien within the nation, whose very touch is considered dirty and defiling. This notion of the upper caste Indians about the other half of it holds India back even now. If people like Bakha can not identify themselves with the majority of the people, how can any one imagine India to be a nation The social evils that come out from such alienation often result in anger and rage among the Dalits that threaten to go out of control and destabilize the notion of a nation-state by inheriting some of the characteristics of civil disobedience and widespread hatred.
As irony is a powerful weapon in Anands literary expression, so also is his incisive understanding of a young mans cognitive journey. The effective amalgamation of tradition and modernity make the novel a playground for conflicting ideas. Gradually, all of the authors ideas take shape to culminate in the overall theme one mans resistance to the inflexible rules of his society, and with each interaction where he grapples with this theme, it generates a ripple in his psyche. Introspection seemingly matures him in stages. Meanwhile, his robust libido haunts him at times, though his desires show restraint. As we see in the novel, Bakha considers the Indian method of ablution with gargling and spitting, the Islamic way of purifying oneself in a peculiar ritual, and the open squatting of the Hindus in the morning to relieve themselves.
He fantasized about Ram Charans sister, and was conflicted between two feelings urges to embrace and ravish her and shame. He knew his identity was being forged right alongside his reputation, which he felt was at stake with every sensual feeling held toward Ram Charans sister and her sylph-like form. Meanwhile, he is condemned to the profession of cleaning waste, for he knows that a sweepers son can never be a babu. It is better to devote oneself wholeheartedly to the hereditary life of the craft. Detestation and anger, aggression and self-pity, reality and poetry act and react within the framework of the novel. Reflection, questionings, introspection, analysis and polemic come at intervals in between the riotous happenings. Bakha translates in his own way Gandhis ideas of equality of rights, privileges and opportunities for every one and finds standing alone in the commotion of social transformations.
This transformation cools his body and soul as he searches for his identity within himself and within the society he lives into. The journey never ends for Bakha. The emotional journey ends but there starts another journey, the physical journey towards his home. The transformations of space and time have gathered all the elements that have dispersed in the stream of his thought and cemented within him an assertion of self through the process of self-respect and self-valuation.
A conventional narrative with a strong story line is not what the readers should expect while reading Untouchable. E.M.Forster says that the book is simply planned but it has a form. The form he speaks of is likened to a superbly woven chain of pearls, done through all the related anecdotes. The novel has no conventional division of chapters, and tells the story of Bakha, an eighteen year old individualist, who envisions a life devoid of the bondages of caste and class barriers and who fights social evils with tooth and nail with his well idealized soul of a freedom fighter. He is the changing face of India belonging to the colonial era yet he is at the lowest of the social ladder where any change is unexpected. His search for identity is his primary occupation. In the book, he examines his inner self and his great potential and then measures both against the fossilized norms of a society that horribly try to constrain him.
Bakha (the central figure of the novel) is a human being and like us all, he has his own dreams and ambitions
He was a sweepers son and could never be a babu (gentleman). Later still he realized that there was no school which would admit him because the parents of the other children would not allow their sons to be contaminated by the touch of the low-caste mans sonsThese old Hindus were cruel. He was a sweeper, he knew, but he could not consciously accept the fact. He had began to work at the latrines at the age of six and resigned himself to the hereditary life of the craft, but he dreamed of becoming a sahib.
Bakha is one of the brightest members of his outcaste colony, which is segregated from the town and the cantonment both. He displayed superior skills in his work, not the kind of man who ought to be cleaning toilets. Ironically, given his inferior position in life, he was actually quite indispensable to both colonies. A man excelling in life from an inferior position could be praised with the sentiment, Here is a lotus that bloomed in grime. Perhaps Bakha of Bulashah is such a lotus, living amongst a village of outcastes on the fringes of civilized society. By birth he is an untouchable sweeper and the son of Lakha - a man who seemingly despises him. Bakha elevates himself above his peers both in his mind as well as in his aspirations. Bakha, as his fate would have it, is an avid lover of fashion especially European fashion. He saves every bit of money he could to buy a fine cloth but the irony lies in the fact that he could not come near the stores of clothes because the owner of the store will drive him away because he is one of the members of the low-caste strata of the society. Bakha had revered the colonialist, the British, and stared at them with wonder and amazement ... and he had soon become possessed with an overwhelming desire to live their life.
It may be beneficial to take a quick look at the climate in which Anand wrote this novel, in order to understand better the authors perspective as well as the novels tone. While working on the novel, Anand came across Gandhis story of a Brahmin sweeper boy Uka in Young India magazine. The narrative propelled him to visit the leader. Accordingly he visited Sabarmati Ashram (Gandhis residence at the time) in order to glean Gandhis opinion about his novel. There he received guidance and feedback from Gandhi, a stay that proved useful to his professional career in writing this book, but also personally. There was a remarkable change in Anands social and spiritual understanding.
Untouchable can be better appreciated if the reader situates the novel within a tradition of protest literature, addressing caste issues in India and considering it as a predecessor of Dalit writing. Dalit writing specifically engages the topic of marginalization and deprivation of lower classes in modern India. The character of Bakha too is an interesting example of portrayal of Dalit characters in the history of Indian writing. While Bakha has been socialized into believing in his essential inferiority, there lurks just beneath the surface of humility and deference, a volcanic substratum of anger and violence that strains to erupt. Bakha becomes the predecessor of many Dalit literary figures who face the same problems as Bakha does in this novel. The solutions are often elusive to them, some times the solution is such that it becomes a farce, both socially and economically.
Anands powerful writing style unleashes a torrent of biases against the plethora of socially imposed limitations in Bakhas society. Apart from his sentiments about caste, he also fixes his gazes upon the inhuman attitude of the priest class, noting the scene where Bakha attempts to peek inside the temple. He is an untouchable, ergo, forbidden inside. Hence, when Bakha made the attempt, a priest humiliated him by shouting at him,
Polluted Polluted
Towards the end of Bakhas day, he follows a throng of people, drawn to the charismatic, subversive and rather confusing speech resonating out of Gandhi. Gandhi implored the untouchables to stop accepting poor treatment, and that ..untouchability (is) the greatest blot on Hinduism.
Untouchable examines this relentless process with which a majority community (and caste) systematically alienates certain groups of people, apparently within its own fold, all in the name of religion and tradition. At the same time the novel exposes the searing effects of such segregation by considering the binary a new and united nation. Bakha is the alien within the nation, whose very touch is considered dirty and defiling. This notion of the upper caste Indians about the other half of it holds India back even now. If people like Bakha can not identify themselves with the majority of the people, how can any one imagine India to be a nation The social evils that come out from such alienation often result in anger and rage among the Dalits that threaten to go out of control and destabilize the notion of a nation-state by inheriting some of the characteristics of civil disobedience and widespread hatred.
As irony is a powerful weapon in Anands literary expression, so also is his incisive understanding of a young mans cognitive journey. The effective amalgamation of tradition and modernity make the novel a playground for conflicting ideas. Gradually, all of the authors ideas take shape to culminate in the overall theme one mans resistance to the inflexible rules of his society, and with each interaction where he grapples with this theme, it generates a ripple in his psyche. Introspection seemingly matures him in stages. Meanwhile, his robust libido haunts him at times, though his desires show restraint. As we see in the novel, Bakha considers the Indian method of ablution with gargling and spitting, the Islamic way of purifying oneself in a peculiar ritual, and the open squatting of the Hindus in the morning to relieve themselves.
He fantasized about Ram Charans sister, and was conflicted between two feelings urges to embrace and ravish her and shame. He knew his identity was being forged right alongside his reputation, which he felt was at stake with every sensual feeling held toward Ram Charans sister and her sylph-like form. Meanwhile, he is condemned to the profession of cleaning waste, for he knows that a sweepers son can never be a babu. It is better to devote oneself wholeheartedly to the hereditary life of the craft. Detestation and anger, aggression and self-pity, reality and poetry act and react within the framework of the novel. Reflection, questionings, introspection, analysis and polemic come at intervals in between the riotous happenings. Bakha translates in his own way Gandhis ideas of equality of rights, privileges and opportunities for every one and finds standing alone in the commotion of social transformations.
This transformation cools his body and soul as he searches for his identity within himself and within the society he lives into. The journey never ends for Bakha. The emotional journey ends but there starts another journey, the physical journey towards his home. The transformations of space and time have gathered all the elements that have dispersed in the stream of his thought and cemented within him an assertion of self through the process of self-respect and self-valuation.
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