14. Untouchable(1935)
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Mulk Raj Anand (12 December 1905 – 28 September 2004)
Mulk Raj Anand was an Indo-English
writer born in a Hindu Khatri family in Peshawar, British India (now
present-day Pakistan). He is known as “the Zola or Balzac of India” and ‘’the Charles
Dickens of India”. He is one of the 'founding fathers` of the Indian
English novel. After graduating from Khalsa College,
Amritsar in 1924 Anand moved to England, completed his undergraduate studies at
University College London, and went on to earn a PhD in Philosophy with a
dissertation on ‘Bertrand Russell and the English empiricists’ from Cambridge
University in 1929. While in university he became friends with members of the Bloomsbury
Group, a loose collective of influential English writers, intellectuals,
and philosophers. Among their members was the English realist novelist E. M. Forster,
who became a close friend of Anand.
Family tragedy sparked Anand’s career
as a writer. One of his aunts committed suicide after being excommunicated by
her family for sharing a meal with a Muslim woman. This violent caste system
led Anand to write his first novel, Untouchable, and is considered a
seminal work for its inclusion of Punjabi and Hindi idioms transliterated into
English.
During the 1930s and 1940s he bounced
between India and England penning propaganda on the behalf of India’s
independence movement. He traveled to Spain to volunteer for the conflict as a
journalist in Spanish Civil War. During World War II he worked as a
scriptwriter for the BBC in London, became friends with George Orwell. He
was also a friend of Picasso, the painter.
After the end of the Second World War
Anand returned to India. From a village in Western India he continued to craft
a range of literature on a plethora of topics, including poetry,
autobiographies, essays, and novels. The Private Life of an Indian Prince
(1953), one of his most celebrated works, was penned during this time.
During this period he also founded a literary magazine, Marg, with the
intention of creating a “loose encyclopedia” of Indian arts. Today it is a
quarterly magazine and a publisher of books on the arts. Besides Marg he was
also a founding member of Progressive Writers Association, a national
organization that was highly influential during India’s struggle for
independence.
For his rich collection of works and
the substantial role he played in India’s literary and sociopolitical spheres
Anand received the International Peace Prize from the World Peace Council, the
Sahitya Akademi Award, and the Leverhulme Fellowship, among other awards and
accolades. Today Mulk Raj Anand is remembered for his seventy-five-years-long
literary career that mirrors the trajectory of India’s search for a just,
equitable, and progressive society.
Anand married English actress and
communist Kathleen Van Gelder in 1938; they had a daughter, Susheela, before
divorcing in 1948. Anand married Shirin Vajifdar, a Parsi classical dancer from
Bombay in 1950. He died of pneumonia in Pune, India on 28 September 2004 at
the age of 98.
Notable awards:
Ø International
Peace Prize – 1953
Ø Padma
Bhushan – 1967
Ø Sahitya
Akademi –1971 (for Morning Face)
Works:
1. Untouchable
(1935) – his first novel: His friend, E. M. Forster (He met while
working on T. S. Elliot`s Criterion) wrote the introduction. Used Stream of Consciousness (cinematic
technique), Brilliant Idioms (Local Language to English). It is the story of a
single day in the life of Bakha, a toilet-cleaner. Lakha is father of Bakha,
head of all of Bulashah's sweepers. Sohini is the sister of Lakha. Mahatma
Gandhi appears in the end of the novel and gives speech about the plight of
untouchables.
2.
Coolie 1936: Set in Bombay
slums, Munoo, a 14-year-old orphan hill boy is the protagonist. His overwork
brings illness and he dies of tuberculosis.
3.
Two Leaves and a Bud (1937)- The story is about a
poor Punjabi labour from Hoshiarpur, Gangu and his wife Sajani, daughter Leila
and his son Budhu. Sajani was died of Malaria and Gangu was killed while trying
to protect his daughter from being raped by a British soldier. It is about the
exploitations in Assam tea plantation. \
4.
A Lament on the Death of Master of Arts
(1938)- covers the events of a single day- futility of
education system is central theme- central character- Nur- despite having
masters degree, unable to get job.
5.
Trilogy: chronicles the life of Lalu as he struggles
to rise from the bottom of Indian society. In the background is India's fight
for independence.
a.
The Village (1939): first in
trilogy with ‘Across the Black waters’ and ‘The sword and the Sickle.’-novel
revolves around Lal Singh a peasant in the Punjab.
b.
Across the Black Waters (1939)- describes
the experience of Lalu, a sepoy in the Indian Army fighting on behalf of
Britain against the Germans in France during World War I.
c.
The Sword and Sickle (1942)-It is a
satire on the rise of communism. The title for the book was given to Anand by George Orwell.
6.
The Big Heart 1945- covers the events
of a single day- theme of the novel is the conflict between hereditary copper smiths and
the capitalists. 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
7.
Seven Summers: the Story of an Indian Childhood
(1951)- his fictional
autobiography, first seven years of the writer’s life. Anand names
his protagonist Krishan.
8. Private Life of
an Indian Prince (1953)- Maharaja Ashok Kumar
of Sham Pur (princely state) asserts complete independence for his small
hill-state rather than join the Indian Union who was ruined by his mistress
Ganga Dasi.
9.
The Old Woman and the Cow 1960- Gauri is the
central character. (Anand’s only novel with women as protagonist)
10.
The Road (1961): background of
Indian caste system- Chamars
(untouchables) cannot set foot in the Hindu temple to worship the Krishna god.
11.
Death of a Hero: Epitaph for Maqbool Sherwani 1964- story of a poet,
stands against Pakistani invaders.
12. Morning
Face(1968) -his fictional autobiography- won Sahitya academy
award in 1971. This is second volume of Anand’s Seven Summers Anand describes Krishan
Chander’s growth from boyhood adolescence (age 10 to16), hence he has got a “shining morning
face”. This novel
was translated into Telugu language by Revuri Anantha Padmanabha Rao
entitled Prabhata Vadanam in 1992
13. Confession of a Lover (1976)- third in the series of seven autobiographical novels, deals with Krishan
Chander's life at Khalsa College, Amritsar
14. Gauri (1976)- It voices a strong protest against the ill treatment of women
15. The Bubble: A Novel (1984)
16. Nine Moods of Bharata: Novel of a Pilgrimage
(1998)
17. Reflections on a White Elephant (2002)- Militant Hindutva On The Offensive Against Exalted Faith Of Sri
Aurobindo. Author Suggests Reaffirmation Of Hinduism Other Than Idolatery As
Way Towards Self-Realisation.
Other works:
1. Curries and Other Indian Dishes (1932)
2. Marx and Engels
on India (1937)
3. Conversations in
Blooms bury (1981)- It is about his life in London and relationship with Bloomsbury group.
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Plot/Narrative structure:
The novel has neither titled chapters nor it
is not divided into traditional chapters, Instead the book is divided into
vignette-like sections. It covers the
one day events in the life of a 18 year old untouchable, Bakha.
Opening line:
“The outcastes' colony was a
group of mud-walled houses that clustered together in two rows, under the shadow
both of the town and the cantonment,
but outside their boundaries and
separate from them. There lived the scavengers, the leather-workers, the
washermen, the barbers, the watercarriers, the grass-cutters and other
outcastes from Hindu society.”- (Bakha,
the narrator)
Closing line:
‘I shall go and tell father all
that Gandi said about us, he whispered to himself, ‘and all that that poet
said. Perhaps I can find the poet some day and ask him about his machine.’ And he
proceeded homewads.- (Bakha, the
narrator)
Background/Context
Untouchable (1935) is Mulk Raj Anand’s
first major novel. It follows the one day events in the life of an
“untouchable,” a member of India’s lowest social caste. It exposed the
“dehumanizing contradictions” and systematic oppressions inherent in India’s
stratified society. Though intelligent and handsome, the book’s main character,
Bakha, is an outcast and forbidden from improving his life situation because
his touch and presence are considered impure and corrupting. Using Bakha's
story as a vehicle, Anand challenges the barriers and rules that inhibit the
lives of untouchables and argues for the education of untouchables.
Considered revolutionary because of
how it champions the cause of the untouchables and exposes India’s social
evils, Untouchable was well received and highly regarded both domestically and
abroad. Within India, it caused a generation of educated Indians to think about
how India’s internal colonialism was preventing the country’s progression to a
modern civil society.
Outside India, prominent novelists of
the age such as E. M. Forster hoisted up Anand’s novel as having both
historical and literary significance. Though India’s caste system is still in
place today, books like Untouchable raised awareness about the crushing
inequalities and injustices the system fosters. This has resulted in the
passage of numerous anti-discrimination laws and affirmative action initiatives
along caste lines in contemporary India.
Furthermore, the appearance of one
Mahatma Gandhi in the novel explicitly places the book in a distinctive
historical context. Finally, from a literary standpoint, Untouchable stands out
because of its inclusion of Punjabi and Hindu idioms in English.
Short Summary
Set in the fictional Indian town of
Bulashah, Untouchable is a day in the life of a young Indian sweeper named
Bakha. The son of Lakha, head of all of Bulashah’s sweepers, Bakha is
intelligent but naïve, humble yet vain. Over the course of Bakha’s day various
major and minor tragedies occur, causing him to mature and turn his gaze
inward. By the end of the novel Mulk Raj Anand, the author, has made a
compelling case for the end of untouchability on the grounds that it is an
inhumane, unjust system of oppression. He uses Bakha and the people populating
the young man’s world to craft his argument.
Bakha’s day starts with his father
yelling at him to get out of bed and clean the latrines. The relationship
between the father and son is strained, in part due to Bakha’s obsession with
the British, in part because of Lakha’s laziness. Bakha ignores his father but
eventually gets up to answer the demands of a high-caste man that wants to use
the bathroom. This man is Charat Singh, a famous hockey player. At first Singh
also yells at Bakha for neglecting his cleaning duties. The man has a
changeable personality however. It isn’t long before he instructs Bakha to come
see him later in the day so he can gift the young sweeper with a prized hockey
stick. An overjoyed Bakha agrees.
High on his good fortune he quickly
finishes his morning shift and hurries home, dying of thirst. Unfortunately
there is no water in the house. His sister Sohini offers to go fill the water
bucket. At the well Sohini must wait behind several other outcastes also queued
up. Also waiting for water is Gulabo, mother of one of Bakha’s friends and a
jealous woman. She hates Sohini and is just barely stopped from striking the
young woman. A priest from the town temple named Pundit Kali Nath comes along
and helps Sohini get water. He instructs her to come clean the temple later in
the day. Sohini agrees and hurries home with the water.
Back at home Lakha fakes an illness
and instructs Bakha to clean the town square and the temple courtyard in his
stead. Bakha is wise to the wily ways of his father but cannot protest. He
takes up his cleaning supplies and goes into town. His sweeping duties usually
keep him too busy to go into town, and so he takes advantage of the situation
by buying cigarettes and candies.
As Bakha eats his candies, a
high-caste man brushes up against him. The touched man did not see Bakha
because the sweeper forgot to give the untouchable’s call. The man is furious.
His yelling attracts a large crowd that joins in on Bakha’s public shaming. A
traveling Muslim vendor in a horse and buggy comes along and disperses the
crowd. Before the touched man leaves he slaps Bakha across the face for his
impudence, and scurries away. A shocked Bakha cries in the streets before
gathering his things and hurrying off to the temple. This time, he does not
forget the untouchable’s call.
At the temple, a service is in full
swing. It intrigues Bakha, who eventually musters up the courage to climb up
the stairs to the temple door and peer inside. He’s only standing there for a
few moments before a loud commotion comes from behind him. It’s Sohini and
Pundit Kali Nath, who is accusing Sohini of polluting him. As a crowd gathers
around, Bakha pulls his sister away. Crying, she tells him that the priest
sexually assaulted her. A furious Bakha tries to go back to confront the
priest, but an embarrassed and ashamed Sohini forces him to leave. Bakha sends
his sister home, saying he will take over her duties in town for the rest of
the day.
Distraught over the day’s events,
Bakha wanders listlessly before going to a set of homes to beg for his family’s
daily bread. No one is home, so he curls up in front of a house and falls
asleep. A sadhu also begging for food comes and wakes him. The owner of the
house Bakha slept in front of comes out with food for the sadhu. Seeing Bakha,
she screams at him and at first refuses to give him food. She finally agrees to
give him some bread in exchange for him sweeping the area in front of her
house. As Bakha sweeps, the woman tells her young son to relieve himself in the
gutter where Bakha is cleaning so he can sweep that up too. A disgusted Bakha
throws down the broom and leaves for his house in the outcastes' colony.
Back at home, it’s only Lakha and
Sohini. Rakha, Bakha’s younger brother, is still out collecting food. Bakha
tells his father that a high-caste man slapped him in the streets. Sensing his
son’s anger, Lakha tells him a story about the kindness of a high-caste doctor
that once saved Bakha’s life. Bakha is deeply moved by the story but remains
upset. Soon after story time, Rakha comes back with food. A ravenous Bakha
starts to eat, but then is disgusted by the idea of eating the leavings of the
high-caste people. He jumps up and says he’s going to the wedding of his friend
Ram Charan’s sister.
At Ram Charan’s house, Bakha sees his
other friend, Chota. The two boys wait for Ram Charan to see them through the
thicket of wedding revelers. Ram Charan eventually sees his friends and runs
off with them despite his mother’s protestations. Alone, Chota and Ram Charan
sense something is wrong with their friend. They coax Bakha to tell them what’s
wrong. Bakha breaks down and tells them about the slap and Sohini’s assault.
Ram Charan is quiet and embarrassed by Bakha’s tale, but Chota is indignant. He
asks Bakha if he wants to get revenge. Bakha does but realizes revenge would be
a dangerous and futile endeavor. A melancholic atmosphere falls over the group.
Chota attempts to cheer Bakha up by reminding him of the hockey game they will
play later in the day. This reminds Bakha that he must go and get his gift from
Charat Singh.
Bakha goes to Charat Singh’s house in
the barracks, but cannot tell if the man is home. Reluctant to disturb him or
the other inhabitants, Bakha settles under a tree to wait. Before long, Singh
comes outside. He invites Bakha to drink tea with him and allows the
untouchable to handle his personal items. Singh’s disregard for Bakha’s
supposed polluting presence thrills Bakha’s heart. Thus he is overjoyed when
Singh gives him a brand-new hockey stick.
Ecstatic about this upswing to his
terrible day, Bakha goes into the hockey game on fire. He scores the first
goal. The goalie of the opposite team is angry over Bakha’s success and hits
him. This starts an all-out brawl between the two teams that ends when a
player’s younger brother gets hurt. Bakha picks up the young boy and rushes him
home, only to have the boy’s mother accuse him of killing her son. Good mood
completely destroyed, Bakha trudges home, where his father screams at him for
being gone all afternoon. He banishes Bakha from home, saying his son must
never return.
Bakha runs away and takes shelter
under a tree far from home. The chief of the local Salvation Army, a British
man named Colonel Hutchinson, comes up to him. He sees Bakha’s distress and
convinces the sweeper to follow him to the church. Flattered by the white man’s
attention, Bakha agrees, but the Colonel’s constant hymn singing quickly bores
him. Before the two can enter the church the Colonel’s wife comes to find him.
Disgusted at the sight of her husband with another “blackie,” she begins to
scream and shout. Bakha feels her anger acutely and runs off again.
This time Bakha runs towards town and
ends up at the train station. He overhears some people discussing the
appearance of Mahatma Gandhi in Bulashah. He joins the tide of people rushing
to hear the Mahatma speak. Just as Bakha settles in to listen, Gandhi arrives
and begins his speech. He talks about the plight of the untouchable and how it
is his life’s mission to see them emancipated. He ends his speech by beseeching
those present to spread his message of ending untouchability. After the Mahatma
departs a pair of educated Indian men have a lively discussion about the
content of the speech. One man, a lawyer named Bashir, soundly critiques most
of Gandhi’s opinions and ideas. The other, a poet named Sarshar, defends the
Mahatma passionately and convincingly. Much of what they say goes above Bakha’s
head, so elevated are their vocabulary and ideas. However, he does understand
when Sarshar mentions the imminent arrival of the flushing toilet in India, a
machine that eradicates the need for humans to handle refuse. This machine
could mean the end of untouchability. With this piece of hope Bakha hurries
home to share news of the Mahatma’s speech with his father.
Character List
Bakha, son of Lakha- An
18-year-old Indian youth, Bakha is a sweeper and the protagonist of
Untouchable. Strong and able-bodied, he is fascinated by the life and ways of
India’s English colonizers. His position as an untouchable has resulted in high
levels of self-deprecation and depression. Bakha can be judgmental and at times
helps perpetuate the very system that keeps him oppressed. Paradoxically, he
still questions the status quo and challenges a caste system that is supposedly
“set in stone.”
Chota- The
son of a leather-worker, Chota is one of Bakha’s best friends. Though they are
of the outcaste class, Chota is higher than Bakha in the caste system’s
hierarchy. Like Bakha, he is also obsessed with the English.
Ram Charan- Ram
Charan is the washer’s son and Bakha’sother best friend. He is also higher in
the hierarchy than Bakha because his family only washes other people’s clothes
(an act deemed cleaner than clearing refuse).
Lakha, Jemadar of the sweepers- Bakha’s
father. A lazy, abusive man that takes advantage of his children. He resents
Bakha’s obsession with the English and urges Bakha to be satisfied with their
family’s lot in life as untouchables and sweepers.
Rakha- Bakha’s
younger brother. Somewhat of a foil to Bakha’s character, he is described as “a
true child of the outcaste colony.”
Sohini- Bakha’s
younger sister, Sohini is described as nubile and beautiful. Patient and
resilient, she bears the brunt of her family’s frustrations. Her altercation
with a member of the high caste is one cause of Bakha’s existentialist woe.
Havildar Charat Singh- One
of Bakha’s heroes, Singh is a famous hockey player. His personality is jocular,
his mood extremely changeable. At the beginning of the novel he harangues Bakha
to clean the latrines but later on he gives Bakha a brand new hockey stick. His
willingness to share his afternoon tea with Bakha illustrates his lack of
belief in untouchability.
Ali- A
young man of Bakha’s age group, Ali is the son of a regimental bandsman and
Muslim. Bakha asks him questions about Islamic practices and is accused of
insulting the religion.
Ramanand- Described
by Bakha as a “peevish old black moneylender,” Ramanand is of a higher class
than Bakha. He interrupts Bakha’s morning musings by shouting at him to clean
the latrines.
Gulabo- A
washer woman, Gulabo is Ram Charan’s mother. She has a superiority complex
because she has a high place in the hierarchy of the low castes/outcastes. She
resents Bakha’s friendship with her sons and hates Sohini.
Pundit Kali Nath- He is
one of the priests in charge of the temple in Bulashah, the town Bakha and his
family live outside of. He sexually assaults Sohini and then accuses her of
defiling him.
Waziro- weaver’s
wife and prevents Gulabo from hitting Sohini.
Lachman- A
Hindu water-carrier, he is 26 years old and attracted to Sohini.
Hakim Bhagawan Das- A
local doctor, Hakim Bhagawan saved Bakha’s life when he was a small child.
Ram Charan’s sister- Bakha’s
childhood crush, Ram Charan’s sister is a symbol of the things Bakha is barred
from because of his low status in the caste system.
Colonel Hutchinson- The
chief of the local Salvation Army, Hutchinson is a Christian missionary tasked
with converting Hindus to Christianity. The face of the Christian religion in
the novel, he symbolizes one facet of England’s colonization of India.
Mary Hutchinson- Mary
is the Colonel’s irreligious wife. Miserable about their life in India, she
constantly demeans and disparages her husband’s work amongst Indian peoples,
who she refers to as “blackies.”
Mahatma Gandhi- One
of several real-life people alluded to/featured in Untouchable, Gandhi was one
of the leaders of India’s independence movement. In the novel his purpose is to
offer a religious, moral, and political denunciation of untouchability
Kasturabai Gandhi- The
wife of Mahatma Gandi. Like her husband, Kasturabai was heavily involved with
India’s independence movement. In the novel she accompanies Gandhi during his
visit to Bakha’s town.
Miraben Slade- Another
real-life person that makes an appearance in the novel, Miraben was the
daughter of a British admiral. She left Britain to work at Gandhi’s side for
India’s independence in 1925. In the novel, she also accompanies Gandhi during
his visit to Bakha’s town.
Iqbal Nath Sarshar- A
young poet who defends Gandhi despite his misgivings about the revolutionary’s
political and economic views. Sarshar offers up a Marxist interpretation of the
plight of the untouchables and suggests a Marxist solution.
R. N. Bashir- An
Indian lawyer that studied at Oxford. Bashir is highly critical of Gandhi and
the Marxist solution suggested by Sarshar.
Themes
You are what you wear
Habiliments,
known in contemporary vernacular as clothing, play a pivotal role in
Untouchable. For starters, Anand uses characters' clothing to signify
everything from religion to caste level. During the beginning of Bakha’s day,
clothing is used to differentiate the many men that come to use the latrines.
The Hindus are naked except for their loincloths. Muslims are distinct from
Hindus because they wear long white cotton tunics and baggy trousers (Anand
32). Furthermore, when the crowds gather to hear the Mahatma speak, they are
separated into their various castes and religions. The “Hindu lallas,” or
high-caste Hindu ladies, are “smartly dressed in silks” while members of the
outcaste colony are dressed in rags (Anand 264).
Clothing as a signifier of religion and caste
level is only one aspect of the “you are what you wear” theme. Through the eyes
of Bakha, clothing becomes a metaphor for superiority and enlightenment. He
marvels at the “clear-cut styles of European dress” and considers those that
wear them “sahibs,” or superior people. He thinks that if he were to wear these
habiliments, he would cast off his untouchable status and become a sahib too
(Anand 20). To this end, he begs Tommies for their extra clothing no matter how
loosely they fit him. Though seemingly superficial, Bakha’s musings about
clothing reflecting the inner person have a strand of truth. His own getup,
though ill fitting, supposedly “removes him above his odorous world” in the
eyes of the onlooker as he cleans the latrines (Anand 30). The onlookers are
perplexed that someone dressed as Bakha is from the untouchable caste. Here is
a clear example of the theme “you are what you wear.”
Rejection of Indian Roots
The rejection of Indian habits and social
customs is a central idea of Untouchable. Bakha is the best personification of
this theme in the novel. We are first introduced to his distaste for certain
Indian habits when he watches the Hindu men performing their morning ablutions.
Anand writes that after working in the British barracks Bakha had become
ashamed of the “Indian way” of washing up (Anand 34). Other Indian habits that
Bakha shows contempt for are how some Hindu men and women relieve themselves in
the open on the streets (Anand 36), the Indian tendency to wear “florid
ornaments” (Anand 107), and even the Indian way of drinking tea (Anand 62). The
disapproval Bakha feels for these various habits stem from British feelings
about them. For example, when the British see Hindus relieving themselves on
the ground in public, they say kala admi zamin par hagnewala (black man, you
who relieve yourself on the ground) (Anand 35). These words are a condemnation
and something to be embarrassed about, in Bakha’s opinion. His rejection of
Indian ways of life is directly correlated to his embracement of British ways
of life. If the British sahibs dislike something, they must be right, and he
must emulate them in all things.
The rejection of Indian roots is closely
intertwined with Britain’s colonization of India and extends far past Bakha to
Indian society as a whole. Bakha is not the only Indian fascinated by English
culture. The presence of the Salvation Army in Bulashah is a testament to this.
It shows that there are some Indians interested in Christianity, the religion
of the colonizer. Further, at the end of the novel it is suggested that
accepting the European “machine” (i.e., moving away from an agricultural
economy to an industrial one) might be the path to salvation for untouchables.
Rejecting the Indian way of clearing waste and embracing the European way of
flushing it away without human contact could mean an end to the demands that
sweepers satisfy, which would allow them to seek out other types of work that
wouldn’t make them untouchable.
However, things aren’t always so
straightforward. An example of this is the British-Indian penal code the poet
Iqbal speaks of near the end of the novel. This code recognizes the rights of
every Indian before the court, which on the de jure level makes everyone equal.
And yet, the Hindu caste system simply adjusted and made profession the
determinant of caste level. Because families typically have the same profession
across generations, this did not alter much. After walking a day in Bakha’s
shoes it is clear that the caste system persists despite British attempts to
eradicate it. While certain ways of Indian life have been rejected in the face
of supposed British superiority, others are upheld. Here the push and pull
between Indian and British sociocultural mores can be seen.
Class Struggle
At its core Untouchable is a tale about class
struggle. The paralyzing and polarizing differences between the various caste
levels shape Bakha’s day and fuel the narrative. Class and caste play a role in
every interaction Bakha has over the course of his day. When his hero Singh
speaks with him in the morning, it is with a “grin [that] symbolized six
thousand years of racial and class superiority.” When Singh promises to give
Bakha a hockey stick, he calls forth a “trait of servility” embedded in Bakha that
he inherited from his forefathers. Bakha is “queerly humble” and passively
content like a “bottom dog” (Anand 31). This is clear example of how caste
levels and what they symbolize about your station in life can be internalized
and then manifested in your personality and demeanor.
Inter-caste inequality is not only about
personal interactions. It is fueled by a set of rules that limits the lives and
rights of outcastes, particularly the untouchables. For example, the outcastes
are not allowed to draw their own water from the public well because this would
make the water polluted in the eyes of the upper-caste Hindus. They must
prevail upon the charity of higher-caste people drawing water to share some
with them. Particular to the untouchables is the law of their untouchability. They
must take care not to touch those of other castes, and to shout a warning about
their presence wherever they go.
Though the struggle between the caste levels
takes precedent in the story, intra-caste conflict also exists. Gulabo, Ram
Charan’s mother, is a great illustration of this. Though she is an outcaste
like Bakha and his family, because she and her family are washer people, they
occupy a higher place within their shared outcaste status than the sweepers.
Gulabo uses her higher station to terrorize Bakha and Sohini. Thus the
stratification of the castes isn’t only an “inter” issue but also an “intra”
one.
Charity
Charity occupies an interesting place in the
world of Untouchable. The outcastes are dependent on the charity of higher
castes for fresh water (Anand 50), food (Anand 130), clothing (Anand 20), etc.
Oftentimes the begging of the outcastes is met with derision and anger by the
higher castes. This uncharitable reaction is shortsighted when considering that
outcastes must beg for water since the caste system deems them unworthy of
drawing their own. The higher castes are unable to see the poverty of the outcaste
is their own doing, not that of the outcaste.
On the other hand, in order to maintain their
current status and/or rise in the caste hierarchy in the next life, Hindus must
perform acts of charity. The Brahmins and the Kshatriyas, the two upper castes
in Hindu society, claim they earned their positions because of all the good
deeds they did in previous lives. So in a way the higher castes are dependent
on charity as well.
Cyclical Oppression
The suffering of the outcastes is cyclical,
generational, and perpetual. This is the idea that is at the center of
Untouchable, the idea that Anand seeks to highlight and criticize. The Hindu
caste system and the stigmas it casts upon the outcastes ensure that they stay
poor and destitute while the other castes maintain their higher standings and
better lifestyles. The inability of the outcastes to draw their own water from
the community well or even gather together the funds to build their own well
ensures they will always be dependent on charitable Hindus for water (Anand
43). Shopkeepers and food vendors charge outcastes higher prices, “as if to
compensate themselves for the pollution they [court] by dealing with outcastes”
(Anand 87). This is nonsensical, making poor people that lack money pay more
than rich people with money, and yet is somehow justified in the eyes of the
higher castes. Furthermore, because teachers refuse to teach untouchables for
fear of pollution, most of them cannot read and so must pay to have texts read
to them or letters written (Anand 74). The answer would be teachers that are
untouchable, but who would first teach them? Here we see the cyclical nature of
the outcaste’s plight.
The life of the outcaste is cyclical not only
because it is perpetuated by corrupt interpersonal dealings, but also because
it is generational. The oppression and terrible life standards the outcastes
face persist across generations. Bakha began working in the latrines as a
sweeper at the age of 6, same as his father, his grandfather,
great-grandfather, etc. (Anand 75). His status and life as a sweeper was
inherited and passed down by his forefathers. Unless untouchability is
abandoned, the Hindu caste system eradicated, and the unequal treatment of
outcastes stopped, Bakha’s children will pick up the cross their father bears.
The Untouchable’s Responsibility/Burden
Deeply intertwined with the themes of class
struggle and cyclical oppression is the idea of the untouchable’s
responsibility or the untouchable’s burden. Aside from their job as sweeper,
the untouchables are also tasked with ensuring they don’t touch higher-caste
people and higher-caste people don’t touch them. Bakha first mentions this
responsibility after he bumps into a caste man. Surrounded by a mob of angry
Hindus, Bakha realizes that “he was surrounded by a barrier, not a physical
barrier… but a moral one. He knew that contact with him, if he pushed through,
would defile a great many more of [the] men” (Anand 92). Instead of the burden
being on the men to make sure they don’t touch Bakha, he is the one that must
take care. Bakha reinforces this idea when he apologizes to the man he bumps
into and says, “I have erred now. I forgot to call. I beg your forgiveness”
(Anand 94). The call Bakha refers to is “Posh keep away, posh, sweeper coming,
posh posh…” (Anand 98). Untouchables must shout this as they walk to notify
others of their approach. Not only must they clean up the refuse of others,
they must also protect the cleanliness of others.
The untouchable’s burden is another means of
keeping the untouchable suppressed. This is best illustrated by Sohini’s brush
with Pundit Kali Nath in the temple. Here we have a Hindu high-caste man that
willingly touched Sohini in an amorous manner. When she rejected him, Nath
cried “polluted, polluted” and accused Sohini of defiling him (Anand 120).
Because she is an untouchable, Sohini has no means of defending herself. She
cannot argue that Nath touched her of his own volition, because such a defense would
make no sense to Hindus that observe the caste system. Making bodily contact
negligence on the part of the untouchable and not the caste person allows
sexual assaults like Sohini’s to be permissible. This is another example of the
class struggles between untouchables and caste people, and another way
untouchables are reduced to a subhuman status.
Religion
Religion is the thread that connects all of
the themes in Untouchable. Anand uses clothing to separate the Hindus from the
Muslims from the Christians. The rejection of Indian roots is in part made
manifest by the conversion of Indians from Hinduism to Christianity. The class
struggles between the different caste levels and the cyclical oppression the
outcastes experience is rooted in the hierarchy Hinduism created, as is the
need for the higher castes to be charitable. Furthermore, Bakha sees his responsibility
of alerting the world to his presence as a moral obligation.
There are a few ways that religion acts as an
explicit mediator between the characters of Untouchable as well. Of course
Hinduism influences interactions such as Gulabo’s with Sohini and Bakha’s with
the caste man he touches. There are other examples however. Colonel
Hutchinson’s interest in Bakha is fueled by his belief that Bakha wishes to
convert to Christianity. Also, though alienated from his father Lahka, Bakha
feels a connection to him when thinking about how his father, his mother, and
their forefathers all worshipped Rama, god of the Hindus (Anand 244). While
religion is a source of the many issues the novel grapples with, it is also the
force that brings our characters into contact with one another.
Chapter wise detailed Summary
1. The Beginning of Bakha’s Day
Bakha, son of Lakha, begins his day in
his family’s one-room mud-walled house. He lives with his father, who is the
leader of their town’s sweepers, his sister Sohini, and his brother Rakha.
Their house is located in the outcastes' colony, a collection of decrepit
buildings situated on the outskirts of Bulashah. The omniscient third-person
narrator says that the air around the colony is “biting, choking, and pungent.”
The proximity of the colony to the town latrines makes it an “uncongenial”
place to live in Bakha’s eyes.
Before he must get up and begin his
day, Bakha lies awake and muses about his friends and the Englishmen occupying
his town. Bakha and his friends are obsessed with the “Tommies” and try
to emulate them in both dress and behavior. The Tommies amazed Bakha in
particular after he worked as a sweeper in their barracks.
And so Bakha lies in bed in between
sleep and wakefulness. Before long, the dreaded call ordering him to get up and
clean the latrines comes from his father. “Get
up, ohe you Bakhya, you son of a pig.” Sullen and annoyed, Bakha annoys his father
and remains in bed. His thoughts shift to his dead mother, who doted on him.
Her passing marks the beginning of his father’s early morning wake-up calls and
abusive behavior. As Bakha contemplates if his mother would have a place in his
current world populated by all things English, his father orders him again to
get up. And once again, Bakha ignores him. He dozes off.
Suddenly a new voice demands Bakha to
come and clean a latrine: “‘ Oh, Bakhya ! Oh,
Bakhya ! Oh, you scoundrel of a sweeper’s son ! Come and clear a latrine for me
!” It is Havilar Charat
Singh, a famous hockey player of 38th Dogras regiment. He calls Bakha a rogue
and admonishes him for neglecting his duties. Bakha apologizes and attacks his
job with alacrity. He cleans the latrines swiftly and easily. The onlookers
illustrate: “What a dexterous workman ! And
though his job was dirty he remained comparatively clean. He didn’t even soil
his sleeves, handling the commodes, sweeping and scrubbing them. ‘ A bit
superior to his job,’ they always said, ‘ not the kind of man who ought to be
doing this.” When Singh
emerges from his toilet business, the sight of a clean Bakha contradicts the
stereotypes of untouchables as dirty and smelly. Forgetting his earlier
annoyance with Bakha, Charat Singh was
feeling kind, though he did not relax the grin which symbolised six thousand
years of racial and class superiority. He promises to gift the
young man with a hockey stick later in the afternoon.
Overcome with gratitude and happiness,
Bakha throws himself into his work. Around him, Hindu and Muslim men come and
go to the latrines. They are distinct from one another because of the
particular clothes they wear.
After working without pause for an
untold period of time, Bakha stops and takes in his surroundings. He looks at
his fellow Indians performing their morning ablutions and judges them for their
ostentatious and noisy conduct. He recalls how Tommies criticizes Hindu people
for their bathroom business in open areas instead of visiting latrines as: “Kala admi zamin par hagnewala’ (black man, you who
relieve yourself on the ground).”
Ramanand, a moneylender, jerks Bakha
out of his reverie and demands a latrine be cleaned for him. Bakha complies and
finishes cleaning all of the latrines in the area. Then, he begins his least
favorite part of his job. He shoves all of the collected refuse into a chimney
near his house. This takes around 20 minutes, and yet Bakha does not feel the
strain from his toil. The fire of the chimney seems to give him a sense of
power and energy.
After finishing his morning shift,
Bakha goes back home and looks for water. He finds his brother has left to go
play, his father is still sleeping, and his sister is trying to start a fire.
He helps her and then discovers there is no water in the house. Sohini, sensing
her brother’s exhaustion and frustration, volunteers to fetch some water from
the well.
2. Sohini Fetches Water
Sohini leaves the house with the water
pitcher and heads to the well to fill it. When Sohini reaches the well she sees
outcastes crowded around it, none of whom are drawing water. If any of the
outcastes were to draw water from the well, the high castes would consider the
water polluted. The outcastes cannot afford to have their own well built.
Therefore, they must wait at the foot of the high-caste well for a high caste
to come along, take pity on them, and pour water into their pitchers for them.
Unfortunately when Sohini approaches there are ten outcastes waiting in front
of her and not a high caste in sight. Depressed but not discouraged Sohini
settles with the others in to wait.
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