Mulk Raj Anand
Mulk Raj Anand (12 December 1905 – 28 September 2004) was an Indian writer in English, recognised for his depiction of the lives of the poorer castes in traditional Indian society. One of the pioneers of Indo-Anglian fiction, he, togethe ...
, London, New York tc.Hutchinson international authors Ltd.
945
Year 945 ( CMXLV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Byzantine Empire
* January 27 – The co-emperors Stephen and Constantine are overthrown barely ...
/ref> is a novel written in 1945 by Indian novelist
Mulk Raj Anand
Mulk Raj Anand (12 December 1905 – 28 September 2004) was an Indian writer in English, recognised for his depiction of the lives of the poorer castes in traditional Indian society. One of the pioneers of Indo-Anglian fiction, he, togethe ...
. The theme of the novel is the conflict between hereditary copper smiths and the capitalists. It is a novel about a village of artisans in
Amritsar District
Amritsar district is one of the twenty three districts that make up the Indian state of Punjab. Located in the Majha region of Punjab, the city of Amritsar is the headquarters of this district.
As of 2011, it is the second most populous distr ...
in the early 1940s whose livelihood is destroyed by the establishment of a factory producing copper utensils.
Characters and places
*Ananta, a Coppersmith who returns from Bombay
*Janaki, a young Widow and a T.B Patient
*Puran Singh Bhagat, a poet
*Satyapal, a student leader
*Ralia, an ex-laborer
*Muralidhar & Gokul Chand, Chowdaries who set up the factory,
*Places: Amritsar, Billimaran (Cat-killers lane), Kesarin Bazar, Ironmonger's Bazar
*Community: Thathiar
*Duration: one day
Story
The story of the novel, takes place in
Amritsar
Amritsar (), historically also known as Rāmdāspur and colloquially as ''Ambarsar'', is the second largest city in the Indian state of Punjab, after Ludhiana. It is a major cultural, transportation and economic centre, located in the Majha r ...
town. The man with a big heart, Ananta, who has had the experience of participating in the Gandhian struggle for freedom in Bombay, arrives in Amritsar. By this time, the situation in Amritsar is already explosive and chaotic. It becomes more intensive and violating with Ananta's arrival in the town.
The cause behind all this, is that, two Chowdaries - Muralidhar and Gokul Chand set up a factory, which has rendered the local coppersmiths jobless and hopeless. Though Ananta supports the cause of the coppersmiths, he has faith in the power of modernity and efficiency of machines. Ananta, while coming from Bombay, accompanies a woman, Janaki, and keeps her as his mistress and enjoys romance. But she is slowly dying of
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...
.
Satyapal, Puran Bhagat Singh, and Ralia all play their role in the struggle against the capitalists in their own way. Ananta's Gandhian approaches are unwelcomed. Ralia, in his utter madness kills Ananta, hitting his head against a machine repeatedly. The story ends with the machine emerging the winner over human.