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 of Indo-Anglian fiction, he, together with R. K. Narayan, Ahmad Ali and Raja 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. He became known for his protest novel '' Untouchable'' (1935), which was followed by other works on the Indian poor such as ''

Coolie Coolie (also spelled koelie, kouli, khuli, khulie, kuli, cooli, cooly, or quli) is a pejorative term used for low-wage labourers, typically those of Indian people, Indian or Chinese descent. The word ''coolie'' was first used in the 16th cent ...

'' (1936) and '' Two Leaves and a Bud'' (1937). He is also noted for being among the first writers to incorporate Punjabi and Hindustani idioms into English,"Mulk Raj Anand Profile"
iloveindia.com. and was a recipient of the civilian honour of the

Padma Bhushan The Padma Bhushan (IAST: ''Padma Bhūṣaṇa'', lit. 'Lotus Decoration') is the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India, preceded by the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan and followed by the Padma Shri. Instituted on 2 Januar ...

, the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India.

Early life and education

Mulk Raj Anand was born in a

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

Khatri Khatri () is a caste system in India, caste originating from the Malwa (Punjab), Malwa and Majha areas of Punjab region of South Asia that is predominantly found in India, but also in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The Khatris claim they are war ...

family in

Peshawar Peshawar is the capital and List of cities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by population, largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It is the sixth most populous city of Pakistan, with a district p ...

. Anand studied at

Khalsa College, Amritsar Khalsa College ( ''khālsā kālaj'') is a historic educational institution in the northern Indian city of Amritsar in the state of Punjab (India), Punjab, India. Founded in 1892, the sprawling campus is located about eight kilometers from the ...

, graduating with honours in 1924 before moving to England. While working in a restaurant to support himself, he attended

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

as an undergraduate and later studied at

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

, earning a Ph.D. in philosophy in 1929 with a dissertation on

Bertrand Russell Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, and public intellectual. He had influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, and various areas of analytic ...

and the English empiricists. During this time he forged friendships with members of the

Bloomsbury Group The Bloomsbury Group was a group of associated British writers, intellectuals, philosophers and artists in the early 20th century. Among the people involved in the group were Virginia Woolf, John Maynard Keynes, E. M. Forster, Vanessa Bell, a ...

. He also spent time in

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

, lecturing at the

League of Nations The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...

International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation The International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation, sometimes League of Nations Committee on Intellectual Cooperation, is an advisory organisation for the League of Nations which promotes international exchange between scientists, researche ...

. Anand married English actress and communist Kathleen Van Gelder in 1938; they had a daughter, Susheela, before divorcing in 1948.

Career

Mulk Raj Anand's literary career was launched by a family tragedy arising from the rigidity of India's

caste system A caste is a fixed social group into which an individual is born within a particular system of social stratification: a caste system. Within such a system, individuals are expected to marry exclusively within the same caste (endogamy), foll ...

. His first prose essay was a response to the suicide of an aunt excommunicated by her family for sharing a meal with a Muslim woman. His first novel, '' Untouchable'', published in 1935, is a chilling exposé of the lives of India's untouchable 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 Christian

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thoma ...

, listening to a speech about untouchability by

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethics, political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful Indian ...

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 the Punjabi and

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

idiom in English, was widely acclaimed, and won Anand his reputation as India's

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and Social criticism, social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by ...

. The novel's introduction was written by his friend E. M. Forster, whom he met while working on

T. S. Eliot Thomas Stearns Eliot (26 September 18884 January 1965) was a poet, essayist and playwright.Bush, Ronald. "T. S. Eliot's Life and Career", in John A Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (eds), ''American National Biography''. New York: Oxford University ...

's magazine '' Criterion''. 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, Anand was active in the

Indian independence movement The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events in South Asia with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British colonial rule. It lasted until 1947, when the Indian Independence Act 1947 was passed. The first nationalistic ...

. While in London, he wrote propaganda on behalf of the Indian cause alongside India's future Defence Minister

V. K. Krishna Menon Vengalil Krishnan Krishna Menon (3 May 1896 – 6 October 1974) was an Indian academic, independence activist, politician, lawyer, and statesman. During his time, Menon contributed to the Indian independence movement and India's foreign r ...

, while trying to make a living as a novelist and journalist. At the same time, he supported Left causes elsewhere around the globe, traveling to Spain to volunteer in the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

, although his role in the conflict was more journalistic than military. He spent

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

working as a scriptwriter for the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

in London, where he became a friend of

George Orwell Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950) was an English novelist, poet, essayist, journalist, and critic who wrote under the pen name of George Orwell. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to a ...

. Orwell's review of Anand's 1942 novel '' The 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". He was also a friend of

Picasso Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, Ceramic art, ceramicist, and Scenic ...

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 are '' The Village'' (1939), '' Across the Black Waters'' (1939), '' The Sword and the Sickle'' (1942), all written in England; ''

'' (1936) and '' The 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 Marg or MARG may refer to: People * Elwin Marg (1918–2010), American optometrist and neuroscientist * Harald Marg (born 1954), German canoer * Marg Downey (born 1961), Australian comedian * Marg Helgenberger, American actress * Marg Moll (1 ...

'', and taught in various universities. During the 1970s, he worked with the International Progress Organization (IPO) on the issue of cultural self-awareness among nations. His contribution to the conference of the IPO in

Innsbruck Innsbruck (; ) is the capital of Tyrol (federal state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the Wipptal, Wipp Valley, which provides access to the ...

(

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

) in 1974 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, including

Jawaharlal Nehru Jawaharlal Nehru (14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat, and statesman who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20th century. Nehru was a pr ...

and

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Thakur (; anglicised as Rabindranath Tagore ; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengalis, Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer, and painter of the Bengal Renai ...

, commemorating their achievements and significance and paying special attention to their distinct brands of

humanism Humanism is a philosophy, philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential, and Agency (philosophy), agency of human beings, whom it considers the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The me ...

. His 1953 novel ''The 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 titled ''Seven Ages of Man'', of which he was only able to complete four parts beginning in 1951 with ''Seven Summers'', followed by '' Morning Face'' (1968), ''Confession of a Lover'' (1976) and '' The Bubble'' (1984). Like much of his later work, it contains elements of his spiritual journey as he struggles to attain a higher degree of self-awareness. His 1964 novel ''Death of a Hero'' was based on the life of Maqbool Sherwani. It was adapted as ''Maqbool Ki Vaapsi'' on DD Kashir. Anand was associated with the

's ''Eastern Service'' radio station in the 1940s where he broadcast literary programmes including book reviews, author biographies, and interviews with authors like Inez Holden. In a multi-part broadcast programme that he hosted, he discussed poetry and literary criticism, often calling for working class narratives in fiction.

Political orientation

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. He was a founding member of the Progressive Writers' Association and also he helped in drafting the ''manifesto'' of the association.

Later life

Anand married Shirin Vajifdar, a

Parsi The Parsis or Parsees () are a Zoroastrian ethnic group in the Indian subcontinent. They are descended from Persian refugees who migrated to the Indian subcontinent during and after the Arab-Islamic conquest of Iran in the 7th century, w ...

classical dancer from

Bombay Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...

in 1950. He died of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

Pune Pune ( ; , ISO 15919, ISO: ), previously spelled in English as Poona (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1978), is a city in the state of Maharashtra in the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau in Western ...

on 28 September 2004 at the age 98.

Works

Novels

* '' Untouchable'' (1935, London: ''Wishart'') * ''

'' (1936, London: Lawrence & Wishart) * '' Two Leaves and a Bud'' (1937, London: Lawrence & Wishart) * '' The Village'' (1939, London:

Jonathan Cape Jonathan Cape is a British publishing firm headquartered in London and founded in 1921 by Herbert Jonathan Cape, who was head of the firm until his death. Cape and his business partner Wren Howard (1893–1968) set up the publishing house in ...

) * ''Lament on the Death of a Master of Arts'' (1939,

Lucknow Lucknow () is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the largest city of the List of state and union territory capitals in India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is the administrative headquarters of the epon ...

: Naya Sansar) * '' Across the Black Waters'' (1939, London: Jonathan Cape) * '' The Sword and the Sickle'' (1942, London: Jonathan Cape) * '' The Big Heart'' (1945, London: Hutchinson) * ''Seven Summers: the Story of an Indian Childhood'' (1951, London: Hutchinson) * '' The Private Life of an Indian Prince'' (1953, London: Hutchinson) * ''The Old Woman and the Cow'' (1960, Bombay: Kutub) * '' The Road'' (1961, Bombay: Kutub) * ''Death of a Hero: Epitaph for Maqbool Sherwani'' (1964, Bombay: Kutub) * '' Morning Face'' (1968, Bombay: Kutub) * ''Confession of a Lover'' (1976, New Delhi: Arnold-Heinemann) * ''Gauri'' (1976, New Delhi: Orient Paperbacks) * ''The Bubble'' (1984, New Delhi: Arnold-Heinemann) * ''Nine Moods of Bharata: Novel of a Pilgrimage'' (1998, New Delhi: Arnold Associates) * ''Reflections on a White Elephant'' (2002, New Delhi: Har-Anand Publications)

Short story collections

* ''The Lost Child and Other Stories'' (1934, London: J. A. Allen) * ''The Barber's Trade Union and Other Stories'' (1944, London: Jonathan Cape) * ''The Tractor and the Corn Goddess and Other Stories'' (1947, Bombay: Thacker) * ''Reflections on the Golden Bed and Other Stories'' (1953, Bombay: Current Book House) * ''The Power of Darkness and Other Stories'' (1959, Bombay: Jaico) * ''Lajwanti and Other Stories'' (1966, Bombay: Jaico) * ''Between Tears and Laughter'' (1973, New Delhi: Sterling) * ''Selected Stories of Mulk Raj Anand'' (1977, New Delhi: Arnold-Heinemann, ed. M. K. Naik) * ''Things Have a Way of Working Out and Other Stories'' (1998, New Delhi: Orient) * ''The Gold Watch'' * ''Duty''

Children's literature

* ''Indian Fairy Tales'' (1946, Bombay: Kutub) * ''The Story of India'' (1948, Bombay: Kutub) * ''The Story of Man'' (1952, New Delhi: Sikh Publishing House) * ''More Indian Fairy Tales'' (1961, Bombay: Kutub) * ''The Story of Chacha Nehru'' (1965, New Delhi: Rajpal & Sons) * ''Mora'' (1972, New Delhi: National Book Trust) * ''Folk Tales of Punjab'' (1974, New Delhi: Sterling) *
A Day in the Life of Maya of Mohenjo-daro
' (1978, New Delhi: Children Book Trust) * ''The King Emperor's English or the Role of the English Language in the Free India'' (1948, Bombay: Hind Kitabs) * ''Some Street Games of India'' (1983, New Delhi: National Book Trust) * ''Chitralakshana: Story of Indian Paintings'' (1989, New Delhi: National Book Trust)

Books on Arts

* ''Persian Painting'' (1930, London:

Faber & Faber Faber and Faber Limited, commonly known as Faber & Faber or simply Faber, is an independent publishing house in London. Published authors and poets include T. S. Eliot (an early Faber editor and director), W. H. Auden, C. S. Lewis, Margaret S ...

) * ''The Hindu View of Art'' (1933, Bombay: Asia Publishing House, London:

Allen & Unwin George Allen & Unwin was a British publishing company formed in 1911 when Sir Stanley Unwin purchased a controlling interest in George Allen & Co. It became one of the leading publishers of the twentieth century and established an Australian ...

) * ''How to Test a Picture: Lectures on Seeing Versus Looking'' (1935) * ''Introduction to Indian Art'' (1956, Madras: The Theosophical Publishing House, author: Ananda Coomaraswamy) (editor) * ''The Dancing Foot'' (1957, New Delhi:

Publications Division Publications Division (India) is a publishing house in India, with its headquarters at Soochna Bhawan, CGO Complex, Lodhi Road, New Delhi. It functions as a division of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (India). It publishes books in ...

) * ''Kama Kala: Some Notes on the Philosophical Basis of Hindu Erotic Sculpture'' (1958, London: Skilton) * ''India in Colour'' (1959, Bombay: Taraporewala) * ''Homage to Khajuraaho'' (1960, Bombay: Marg Publications) (co-authored with Stella Kramrisch) * ''The Third Eye: A Lecture on the Appreciation of Art'' (1963, Chandigarh:

University of Punjab The University of the Punjab (UoP) is a public research university in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. Founded in 1882, its international influence has made it one of the most prestigious universities in South Asia; being the oldest and largest publ ...

) * ''The Volcano: Some Comments on the Development of Rabindranath Tagore's Aesthetic Theories'' (1968, Baroda: Maharaja Sayajirao University) * ''Indian Paintings'' (1973, National Book Trust) * ''Seven Little Known Birds of the Inner Eye'' (1978, Vermont: Wittles) * ''Poet-Painter: Paintings by Rabindranath Tagore'' (1985, New Delhi: Abhinav Publications) *
Splendours of Himachal Heritage
' (editor, 1997, New Delhi: Abhinav Publications)

Letters

*
Letters on India
' (1942, London:

Routledge Routledge ( ) is a British multinational corporation, multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, academic journals, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanit ...

) * ''Author to Critic: The Letters of Mulk Raj Anand'' (1973, Calcutta: Writers Workshop, ed. Saros Cowasjee) * ''The Letters of Mulk Raj Anand'' (1974, Calcutta: Writers Workshop, ed. Saros Cowasjee) * ''Caliban and Gandhi: Letters to "Bapu" from Bombay'' (1991, New Delhi: Arnold Publishers) * ''Old Myth and New Myth: Letters from Mulk Raj Anand to K. V. S. Murti'' (1991, Calcutta: Writers Workshop) * ''Anand to Alma: Letters of Mulk Raj Anand'' (1994, Calcutta: Writers Workshop, ed. Atma Ram)

Other works

* ''Curries and Other Indian Dishes'' (1932, London: Desmond Harmsworth) * ''The Golden Breath: Studies in five poets of the new India'' (1933, London: Murray)
''Marx and Engels on India''
(1937, Allahabad: Socialist Book Club) (editor) * ''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 Karnatak University (KUD) is a public university, public State university (India), state university in Dharwad, Karnataka, India. KUD was officially established in 1950 through the Karnatak University Act, 1949, passed by the legislature of t ...

) * ''The Humanism of Jawaharlal Nehru'' (1978, Calcutta: Visva-Bharati) * ''The Humanism of Rabindranath Tagore: Three Lectures'' (1978, Aurangabad:

Marathwada University Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University (BAMU), is an public university located in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Maharashtra. It is named after B. R. Ambedkar, Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar, an Indian social reformer and political leader who cha ...

) * ''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.

Notable awards

* International Peace Prize – 1953 *

– 1967 *

Sahitya Akademi Award The Sahitya Akademi Award is a literary honour in India, which the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, annually confers on writers of the most outstanding books of literary merit published in any of the 22 languages of the ...

– 1971 (for '' Morning Face'')

References

External links

Marg Publications
* Mulk Raj Anand
"The Search for National Identity in India"
in: Hans Köchler (ed.), ''Cultural Self-comprehension of Nations''. Tübingen (Germany): Erdmann, 1978, pp. 73–98. * Talat Ahmed
"Mulk Raj Anand: novelist and fighter"
in ''

International Socialism ''International Socialism'' is a British-based quarterly journal established in 1960 and published in London by the Socialist Workers Party which discusses socialist theory. It is currently edited by Joseph Choonara who replaced Alex Callini ...

'', Issue 105, 9 January 2005.
Mulk Raj Anand: A Creator with Social Concern
''Frontline'', Volume 21, Issue 21, 9–22 October 2004. * Charlotte Nunes
"Scholar explores work and career of writer Mulk Raj Anand"
Cultural Compass. Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas at Austin. * Yasmin Khan, biography of Mulk Raj Anand's time in Britain in the 1930s and 1940s in
A Passage to Britain: Series 1:1 The Viceroy of India
' {{DEFAULTSORT:Anand, Mulk Raj 1905 births 2004 deaths 20th-century Indian journalists 20th-century Indian novelists Alumni of the University of Cambridge Alumni of University College London Deaths from pneumonia in India English-language writers from India Fellows of the Lalit Kala Akademi Indian magazine editors Indian male journalists Indian male novelists Indian socialists People from Punjab Province (British India) People of the Spanish Civil War Progressive Writers' Movement Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in literature & education Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Award in English Writers from Peshawar War correspondents of the Spanish Civil War