14. Untouchable(1935)- for APPSC TGPSC TREIRB JL/DL

 

14. Untouchable(1935)

for APPSC TGPSC TREIRB JL/DL

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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.

 

 

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.

Among those already waiting is Gulabo, a washerwoman and the mother of Ram Charan, Bakha’s friend. Jealous of Sohini, even though as a sweeper the young woman is the lowest of the low within the caste hierarchy, Gulabo begins to bully Sohini. She calls Bakha’s sister a bitch, a prostitute, and other derogatory names for laughing and “showing her teeth” in the presence of men.  Sohini, oblivious to Gulabo’s jealousy, laughs at the abruptness of the older woman’s attack, thinking it a joke. At this Gulabo’s ire increases and her verbal attacks increase in frequency and vitriol. Soon Sohini realizes that Gulabo’s anger is very real and wonders what she did to spark the washerwoman’s fury.

Suddenly, Gulabo moves to strike Sohini but is stopped by Waziro, the weaver’s wife. She calms Gulabo down. Shocked silent, Sohini sits still and thinks about Bakha waiting at home for the water.

At long last, a sepoy walks by but he pays no heed to the begging outcastes. Luckily for Sohini and the others, shortly after the sepoy is Pundit Kali Nath, one of the priests in charge of the town temples. The women urged the Kalinath: “Oh, Maharaj! Maharaj! Won’t you draw us some water, please? We beg you. We have been waiting here a long time, we will be grateful,’ As he draws the water, Nath is absorbed in thoughts about the source of his constipated bowels. Therefore, when Gulabo shouts loudly that she has been waiting the longest, he is annoyed. At her words all the other outcastes besides Sohini claim they were first and jostle amongst each other for the best position to receive water. Sohini catches Nath’s eye because of her pretty face and her refusal to join the melee. He tells her to come closer and orders the others to back away. After Nath fills Sohini’s pitcher he tells her to come clean the temple later in the day. Sohini agrees and leaves to take the water back to her family.

Back at home, Lakha shouts at Sohini for taking so long. He calls her a daughter of a pig and commands her to call her brothers into the house. Only Bakha comes inside, as Rakha escaped from the house earlier in the morning and went playing. Lakha fakes an illness and tells Bakha to take over his sweeping duties in the temple courtyard and on the main road of Bulashah. Bakha knows his father is lying about his illness but cannot protest. The work must get done. He drinks the tea his sister prepares for him, takes up his tools, and leaves his house in the direction of town.

3.Bakha Talks to the Other Colony Boys

Taking the lane that connects the outcaste colony to the rest of Bulashah, Bakha notes the difference between the “odorous, smoky” air and the “clean, fresh air” of the empty space beyond the colony. He stops, stands in place, and tilts his body towards the sun and revels in the rays, imagining the warmth of them embracing his body. It takes Bakha a minute to realize that his brother Rakha and his friends Ram Charan, the washerman’s son, and Chota, the leatherworker’s son, are watching him. He feels embarrassed that Ram Charan and Chota saw him because they often make fun of him for his unorthodox ways, even though they also aspire to emulate the British.

The boys trade insults and joke amongst each other. Ram Charan announces that his sister will get married today, which sends a slight pang through Bakha because he likes her. Chota then asks Bakha where he’s going. Bakha remembers his assignment for the day and tells Rakha to hurry back and clean the latrines in his absence. Rakha seems to resent his brother’s orders but heads home anyways. Chota and Ram Charan try to convince Bakha to skip his work so he can go gambling with him. Bakha refuses because his sense of duty is too strong and he is afraid of his father’s ire.

Just as Bakha goes to leave, the sons of the burra babu, a caste man, approaches their little group. At 10 and 8 years old, they are considerably younger than Bakha and his friends. Bakha greats them respectfully while Ram Charan and Chota ask them impudently if they would like to join a hockey game later. Because their father is close with the captain of the regimental hockey teams, the sons of the babu have access to lots of spare hockey equipment. The boys agree and then the younger one reminds his brother they must hurry to school. At this, Bakha’s ears perk up. He has a fierce desire to learn how to read but the schools refuse to admit untouchables. Seizing the opportunity in front of him, Bakha asks the eldest son of the babu to teach him how to read in exchange for one anna per lesson. Eager for the extra pocket money the babu’s son agrees and the boys arrange to meet later in the day for their first lesson.

The babu’s sons leave and Bakha’s friends tease him about his forthcoming knowledge. They jokingly predict that soon he won’t even want to talk to them. Bakha brushes their jokes aside and continues on towards the town gates, his heart light.

4.Bakha Touches a High Caste

After he enters the town proper the first thing Bakha sees is a funeral procession. At the sight of the body, he feels a twinge of fear but shrugs it off. He stops and buys some cigarettes. He forgets to buy matches but feels embarrassed at the idea of going back to the cigarette vendor. He sees a Muslim man smoking and asks him for some coal to light his cigarette with. The Muslim man allows Bakha to light up using the same piece of coal he is already using.

Bakha smokes and walks along the main road. Because his duties at the latrines are so time consuming it has been almost a month since he was last in town. He takes in all the sights and sounds avidly. He becomes engrossed in the various products displayed for sale. The sweets shop catches his eyes, and he goes to have a closer look. At the sight of the candy, Bakha’s mouth begins to water. He thinks about his father’s anger if he finds out that his son spent money on candy, but brushes the thought aside, reasoning he has but one life to live. He asks the shopkeeper for 4 annas worth of the cheapest candy. The shopkeeper cheats Bakha by weighing the candy for the shortest amount of time possible. Bakha knows he’s been cheated, but is too timid and shy with people of higher castes to complain. He takes his candy and walks away, embarrassed but happy.

Munching on his candy and walking along, Bakha pauses in front of the signboards advertising lawyers and doctors. He’s standing there lost in thought when an angry voice jerks him out of his reverie. It’s an irate high-caste man that has accidentally run into Bakha. Though the man bumped into Bakha, he blames Bakha for running into him and for falling to warn others of his approach. This unnamed man begins to verbally abuse Bakha: 'Keep to the side of the road, you low-caste vermin!’ he suddenly heard someone shouting at him. ‘Why don’t you call, you swine, and announce your approach! Do you know you have touched me and defiled me, you cockeyed son of a bow-legged scorpion ! Now I will have to go and take a bath to purify myself. And it was a new dhoti and shirt I put on this morning!”. Poor Bakha, though used to this type of verbal attack, is struck dumb and silent. He tries to apologize and express his humility, but the high-caste man won’t listen.

Soon a crowd is attracted by the man’s aggrieved shouting and gathers around. They join in on denouncing Bakha, who is stuck in the middle. He cannot move because to escape he would have to touch the people surrounding them, which would result in their contamination. So he stands still and absorbs the insults and curses spat him, until a little boy accuses him of terrorizing the children of the town. At this lie, Bakha smarts and tries to defend himself to no avail.

And so it goes until a traveling merchant in a horse and buggy comes and scatters the crowd. The merchant tells the only two people remaining, the high-caste man and Bakha, to move aside too so he can pass, but the high-caste man ignores him. Instead, he gives Bakha a slap across the face and storms off. Bakha is stunned. Tears roll down his cheeks while inside he boils with fury, horror, and indignation. His humility is abandoned; he hungers for revenge. The merchant, a Muslim man who witnessed the slap, tries to console Bakha. Bakha gathers up his things and hurries away. As he scurries away, a shopkeeper that was also watching the proceedings reminds him to announce his presence. Thoroughly chastised, Bakha begins to yell the untouchable’s chant.

As he walks along, Bakha’s mind furiously turns over his recent traumatic experience. He asks himself why he was so humble, why he did not strike the touched man back, why he didn’t remember to shout his approach, etc. Eventually, his thoughts arrive at the question that is at the center of everything: ”I was being abused. Not one of them spoke for me. The cruel crowd ! All of them abused, abused, abused. Why are we always abused?” He realizes that Muhammadans and the sahibs don’t mind touching us: “It is only the Hindus, and the outcastes who are not sweepers. For them I am a sweeper, sweeper — untouchable ! Untouchable ! Untouchable ! That’s the word ! Untouchable ! I am an Untouchable !“ He pauses in the street to fix his turban that the touched man’s slap unraveled. The figure of a bull eating vegetables, made Bakha to think: “How queer, the Hindus don’t feed their cows although they call the cow “ mother !”

5.Bakha at the Temple

Paused in the street, Bakha observes an old brahminee bull meandering by. He watches as an old Hindu man passes the bull and touches it, a Hindu custom Bakha is familiar with, though he is ignorant of its meaning. By the by, he continues on his trek towards the temple. He turns down a narrow street and passes various shops, including one selling cheap jewelry. He remembers how as a child he wanted to wear rings, but now that he knows the British don’t like jewelry he finds such accoutrements garish. As he walks, he cries out the untouchables warning every so often.

Finally, Bakha reaches the temple. Devoid of humans, the quiet and tranquility of the temple courtyard seems to soothe him. Setting down his tools, he begins to work. After a time he notices worshipers entering the courtyard. Afraid of repeating the morning’s disaster, he shouts his presence. He peers furtively at these people as they enter the temple. He, of course, is not allowed to enter into the actual temple itself, and so is immensely curious about the proceedings.

At length the sound of singing emerges from the open doorway of the temple, which answers his queries in part. Still, he wonders about the things mentioned in the song. Who is Shanti Deva? Who is Hari, Narayan? His curiosity overcomes his fear and he approaches the stairs leading to the temple entrance. When he creeps slowly up the stairs he is a “humble, oppressed under-dog that he was by birth, afraid of everything”. Just as he begins to climb the stairs his courage leaves him. He retreats and resumes sweeping.

After sweeping up all the garbage, Bakha gathers his will together again and rushes up the stairs to the very top. Peering into the temple doorway he gazes upon “the sanctuary which had so far been a secret, a hidden mystery to him”. He observes the priests leading the worshipers in song and is deeply moved by the sound of the hymns. Unfortunately, the peace and tranquility of the moment is shattered by the cry of “polluted, polluted!”.

Paralyzed by fear, Bakha collapses prostrate on the stairs. However, this scream about pollution isn’t about him. Instead, it is his sister Sohini that is the cause of a high caste’s contamination this time. Sohini and Pundit Kali Nath, the man that filled Sohini’s water bucket earlier in the morning, stand at the foot of the stairs. Nath continues to accuse Sohini of contaminating him while she stands silently. The sound of the commotion causes the worshipers to rush out of the temple. They see Bakha’s proximity to the holy building and throw fits. They chase Bakha off the stairs, and he and his sister run to the courtyard door.

There, a sobbing Sohini tells Bakha that Nath touched her inappropriately. Nearly blinded by rage Bakha drags Sohini back to the center of the courtyard and looks for the priest. He is nowhere to be found. The worshipers recoil in the face of Bakha’s fury. He feels as if he can kill them all. He fumes at the audacity of the priest, assaulting his sister and them accusing her of willfully contaminating him. It seems as if Bakha will stay and rage in the courtyard indefinitely, but Sohini convinces him to leave.

As the brother and sister walk, Bakha’s thoughts are in a frenzied state. He contemplates getting revenge, but he curbs his anger and bites his tongue. Watching Sohini as she walks along, Bakha switches between wishing she was never born so such disgrace and embarrassment could have been avoided to feeling tenderness and sadness for her. Taking pity on Sohini, Bakha tells her to go home because he can collect their food for the day in her stead. Ashamed and crestfallen, Sohini leaves her brother standing in the town proper.

6.Bakha Takes a Nap

Bakha walks aimlessly through Bulashah, periodically calling out “Posh keep away, posh, sweeper coming, posh, posh, sweeper coming, posh, posh, sweeper coming!” He comes to an alley and turns down it, planning on begging its inhabitants for food. Stray animals and rubbish clutter the street. He approaches the first house and calls out “Bread for the sweeper, mother. Bread for the sweeper.” But no one comes out. All of the homes on the block seem deserted, their occupants either out in town or ignoring him. Feeling defeated, Bakha sits down on a house doorstep and drifts into a half sleep. He has a slew of fantastical dreams, including a vision of himself boarding a train and at a school observing a lesson.

A sadhu who is making his own food circuit jerks Bakha awake. The cries of the sadhu bring a housewife to the door Bakha was napping under. The woman has come for the sadhu, but recoils when she sees Bakha sitting in front of her door. She calls him an “eater of masters” and says he should perish and die for defiling her house by sitting in front of it. Bakha apologizes but asks the woman for food. The woman ignores him and goes back into her house for the sadhu’s food.

Meanwhile, another woman comes out of her house with food. She gives the sadhu some rice and kindly gives Bakha a chapatti. The other woman comes back. She gives the sadhu food, but makes Bakha sweep the gutter in front of her house before she’ll give him anything. As Bakha cleans the gutter the woman’s young son comes and says he needs to use the bathroom. She directs him to relieve himself in the gutter because Bakha can clean it up. She then throws Bakha a piece of bread. He tries to catch it but it lands on the ground. Disgusted by it all, Bakha picks up the bread, throws his broom aside, and walks off. As he goes the woman remarks to herself that the sweepers are getting more and more uppity. The scene closes with the woman instructing her son to wipe his bottom on the ground once he finishes his bathroom business.

7.Bakha and His Family

Hurrying home to his family, Bakha feels the drama and fatigue from the day taking its toll on his body. He’s starving and thinks about the measly two pieces of bread he’s bringing home to his family. He also fears his father’s response when he hears of the day’s events because he knows his father will side with the high-caste people. Still, there’s nothing he can do but hurry home and hope for the best.

At home, it’s only Sohini and Lakha. Rahka has gone off to collect food from the English barracks. Sohini is quiet but Lahka is in a pleasant mood and well rested because of his morning spent at home instead of working like his children. He asks Bakha what he’s brought to eat, naming several luxurious foods he’s in the mood to eat. When Bakha reveals his hoard of two pieces of bread, Lakha is not pleased. He thinks back to the feasts following weddings and his mouth begins to water.

Bakha tries to defend himself by saying he doesn’t know all the people in town well enough to beg them for food. His father counters by saying Bakha should begin to know them well, for he will work for them all his life. Bakha sees his future years of life flash before his eyes and feels horrified. He pictures himself working at the British barracks cleaning their toilets and calms down. Lakha notices his son’s strange behavior and asks what’s wrong. At first Bakha tries to keep the truth from his father, but Lakha is so persistent that he finally confesses what happened to him earlier in the day with the touched man.

The narrator compares Bakha’s “hatred for his own town and [his] love for the world to which he looked out” as a type of “the grass is always greener on the other side” syndrome. Bakha points out the cyclical oppression the sweepers are trapped in “they think we are mere dirt because we clean their dirt”.

Lakha reacts to his son’s story of degradation with a mixture of anger and pity. Mostly he is angry with Bakha for forgetting the untouchables' call, but can see his son is upset and so tries to temper the emotion. He asks Bakha if he tried to retaliate. When Bakha confesses he did not seek revenge but wanted to, Lakha fears for his son. A part of him recoils at the idea of challenging high-caste men. He tells his son that the high-caste men are their superiors and they must respect them. Seeing that Bakha is still grieved and upset, Lakha shares with him an anecdote from his own dealings with high-caste men.

It was some years ago when Bakha was a young child. He was deathly ill with fever and Lakha went to a high-caste doctor in town for his help. Because of his untouchability he could enter the doctor’s home, and so beseeched every high-caste person that passed by to help him. They all ignored him, too concerned about their own affairs to help a sweeper. Lakha waited for an hour outside feeling as if a scorpion was stinging him. He had enough money for the medicine that could heal his son, and yet was barred from accessing it because of his class.

Instead of futilely waiting Lakha ran back home to check if Bakha was still alive. His son was still breathing, but only barely. Lakha sprinted back to the doctor’s house, ran straight into the patient reception, and threw himself at the doctor’s feet. The other patients began to scream and leave the doctor’s house in droves because of Lakha’s contaminating presence. The doctor of course was furious, but as Lakha began to explain the unfortunate circumstances surrounding his appearance in the clinic, the doctor’s heart began to melt. The doctor started to write a prescription for Bakha, but then Lakha’s brother ran into the room and announced that Bakha is dying. Lakha rushed home to say goodbye to his son. As Bakha’s parents cried over their son, there was a knock at the door. The doctor had followed Lahka. He “graced” their house by entering it and saving Bakha’s life.

Bakha is deeply moved by Lakha’s harrowing tale, though he tries hard to mask his true feelings. The conversation shifts to Rakha’s whereabouts and everyone’s hunger. Bakha resents his father’s hunger complaints because he stayed at home all morning while his children were laboring and working up appetites. Before long, Rakha appears looking disheveled and haggard. He deposits his food haul and immediately begins to eat. Bakha needles him for looking so dirty and unkempt. Lakha, who loves Rakha more than Bakha, comes to his youngest son’s defense and tells Bakha to leave him alone. Sohini steps in and tries to get Bakha to calm down by offering him some bread.

When Bakha reaches into the basket they are all eating from, his hand touches a piece of sticky, wet bread. The texture of the bread brings to his mind an image of a sepoy washing his hands over the scraps of his meal before giving it to Rakha. At this mental image Bakha grows nauseous and loses his appetite. He stands up quickly from his place around the basket, so quickly that Lakha asks him what the problem is. Thinking quickly, Bakha says he must go to the wedding of Ram Charan’s sister so he can receive his share of the sweets. This placates his greedy father and so Bakha makes his escape.

8.Bakha and the Wedding of Ram Charan’s Sister

As he walks toward the home of Ram Charan, Bakha reminiscences about his relationship Ram Charan’s sister. As children they once play-acted a wedding together, and the pair of them got married. Since then Bakha has looked at her fondly and has “always felt proud of having once acted as her husband.” He thinks about the moment he heard of her engagement, and how his regret over the news felt as “as if a spring of water had burst like a doleful lyric melody in the hard rock of his body”. He also recalls various fantasies he’s had about her, fantasies that put his reputation as a docile, respectable young man at stake.

After a while Bakha comes across a group of washermen working. He watches them for a moment while thinking about how to find Ram Charan. He is too shy to approach the house where the festivities were being held. Gulabo’s hatred and meanness is infamous among the colony dwellers. He walks within ten yards of Ram Charan’s house and stops short at the sight of his other friend, Chota. The two boys great each other amicably and then stare at the wedding celebrations. Chota is unafraid and goes to call Ram Charan, who is surrounded by revelers. At first Ram Charan is too busy stuffing his face with sugarplums to notice them, but eventually they successfully get his attention. Unfortunately they also attract Gulabo’s attention. The boys escape to the grassy knoll north of the colony, Gulabo’s furious cries of “illegally begotten” and “little dogs” echoing in the wind behind them.

As the boys reach the Bulashah Hills, Bakha falls behind and takes in the beauty of the nature surrounding him. The peace and loveliness of his environment, far from the crowds of town and the ugliness of the outcaste colony, soothe his soul. At first he is relieved his friends have gone ahead so he doesn’t have to hear a single human voice. However as he rambles along he begins to desire some companionship to “humanize the solitary excursion of the stoic in him”. And yet, he doesn’t want to call Ram Charan or Chota to him. So he continues on alone, stopping to drink from a natural spring nestled in a valley between two of the hills. He lies down next to the pool and dozes off.

Bakha has barely dozed off when Chota comes up and begins to tickle his nose. Bakha jumps out of his light doze with a violent sneeze. His friends begin to laugh at his reaction. Sleep disrupted and peaceful mood destroyed, Bakha laughs along tensely, the stress from the morning’s events taking its toil on his typical good sense of humor. Noticing his false cheer, Chota asks what’s wrong. Bakha brushes aside his concern and asks Ram Charan for his share of the sugarplums. Ram Charan holds them in a handkerchief and tells Bakha to take one, but Bakha refuses to take it directly from his hands. He tells Ram Charan to throw one to him.

Both Ram Charan and Chota are aghast. Though they are of different hierarchical levels within the outcaste group, they had long since abandoned the rules and regulations of caste amongst their little trio. They ate together, and drank from the some soda bottles during hockey games. Hence, Bakha’s refusal to touch them directly sends up red flags. At first Bakha tries to deny anything is wrong but at Chota’s prodding he confesses the events around his slap in the morning, Sohini’s assault, and the uncharitable woman in town. To each tale of degradation Chota reacts in anger and sympathy, while Ram Charan remains silent, embarrassed by Bakha’s narrative. Chota does his best to soothe Bakha’s heart, telling him to be brave and that these things will happen as they are outcastes. He tries to cheer Bakha up by reminding him of their hockey game later in the day. Ram Charan chimes in that he must go home briefly if he wants to be allowed out later for the game. The boys begin to troop back.

As they walk the atmosphere is melancholic and tense. The sympathy and understanding of his friends relights Bakha’s self-righteous indignation from earlier. He imagines his friends helping him teach Pundit Kali Nath a lesson for his assault of Sohini. When Chota offers to help catch “the swine of a priest” one day, Bakha realizes his friend shares his thirst for retribution. However, he feels as “unequal to [Chota’s] suggestion as he [feels] unequal to his own desire”. He wonders what would be the use of revenge.

Ram Charan has snuck off while Chota and Bakha were preoccupied with thoughts of revenge. Chota and Bakha plan to meet up in time for the hockey game, as Chota must go home and Bakah will go receive the hockey stick Charat Singh promised him. The two boys part ways.

9.Bakha Goes to Charat Singh

The barracks where Charat Singh lives are deserted except for two sentries guarding an infamous solar topee. Many rumors and urban legends circulate about the solar topee and whom it belongs to. A popular story says it belonged to a white man that shot a sepoy. He was court-marshaled but because he was white and could not be put behind bars to wait for his sentencing, his hat, belt, and sword were confiscated as collateral. The man fled in the night anyways and supposedly left behind his belongings.

The popularity of the solar topee is rooted in the desire of Indian youths to wear Western dress. And since the boys of the area are all the sons of sweepers, leather workers, washermen, shopkeepers, etc. buying a complete European outfit is not possible. But to them, having something European is better than having nothing European. And so the idolatry of the unclaimed solar topee persists.

Bakha, of course, is one of its most fervent worshipers. During the time he worked at the English barracks he dreamed up a plethora of plans to get the hat. His schemes ranged from stealing the hat to outright asking someone to give it to him. As the years passed, however, his plans lost their forthright and bold elements. Bakha wonders to himself why he lost his dauntlessness and courage as he grew older. Even now, he struggles with asking the sepoys on guard about the hat. He fears they will abuse him for asking and so hastens on his way to Charat Singh’s quarters in the barracks. As he goes Bakha pictures himself wearing the solar topee while playing hockey, the idol of all the other boys. Then he realizes that you cannot wear a solar topee while playing such a high contact sport and is embarrassed by his predilection for English dress.

Reaching Singh’s house he sees that the door is closed. There is no way for him to know if his benefactor is at home, away, sleeping, etc. because his untouchability bars him from approaching Singh’s door. He is fearful of shouting for Singh because he might disturb the other sepoys on the block. With no other option Bakha settles down to wait. Before long, Charat Singh comes out onto the veranda of his house with his brass jug. He begins to wash his face and is too absorbed in his ablutions to notice Bakha. Half-embarrassed but half-daring, Bakha calls out to him.

Singh greets Bakha enthusiastically and asks him why he’s been absent from the official regimental hockey games lately. Bakha tells him that work has kept him busy, to which Singh replies “Oh work, work, blow work” (Anand 204). Bakha notes the contradiction between Singh yelling at him earlier in the day for neglecting the latrines and his dismissal of Bakha’s work commitments now, but keeps his opinions to himself. Despite this anomaly, he is a big fan of Charat Singh and thinks “for this man I wouldn’t mind being a sweeper all my life” (Anand 205).

Taking out his hookah, Charat Singh instructs Bakha to fetch him two pieces of coal from his kitchen so he can light up. Bakha is awestruck. For a Hindu to be fine with an untouchable handling something he was about to put near his mouth was unprecedented. He feels a thrill of pleasure run through him and jumps to do Singh’s bidding. As Bakha bustles to the kitchen, Singh calls after him, “and tell [the cook] to bring my tea” (Anand 206). As he walks, Bakha swings between disbelief and joy. He wonders if Charat Singh has forgotten he’s a sweeper and untouchable, but quickly rules that out since they were just talking about his work schedule. Thus reassured, he walks with a happy step, his soul full of love, adoration, and worship for the hockey player.

At the kitchen, Bakha gets the coal from the cook, who looks at him strangely but cannot remember where he’s seen Bakha before. Since the young man is holding Singh’s smoke pot the cook concludes he must at least be of the grass-cutter caste, a low caste but not an untouchable one. He gives Bakha the coal and Bakha tells him that Singh wants his tea now. Hastening back to Singh, Bakha gives him the pot and watches as he lights up his hookah and begins to gurgle away. Soon the cook comes with a brass tumbler and a jug of tea. Singh points at a pan that the sparrows drink water from, tells Bakha to grab it and to pour the water out. Then, the hockey player pours tea from his tumbler into the pan for Bakha to drink. Bakha protests in the typical way of Indian guests, but Singh insists, saying that Bakha works very hard and deserves the drink.

The two drink their tea in silence. Once Bakha finishes, Singh gets up from his seat and goes into his house. He comes out with an almost brand-new hockey stick that looks as if it were only used once. He holds it out for Bakha to take. Bakha protests at being given such a gift. Singh tells him to accept the gift and run along. Bakha takes the stick and, overcome with gratitude, flees the scene. Walking aimlessly, he marvels at this change in his kismet, at his good fortune. He struts like a proud soldier then realizes what a foolish sight he must be and stops. Uncomfortable now, he wishes someone would come and relieve his loneliness. He wonders where his friends and the babu’s sons are. The older one promised him an English lesson. Perhaps they can have the lesson before the boys' hockey game. And so Bakha’s thoughts drift, as directionless as his body.

10.Bakha Leaves Home

Eventually Bakha comes across the younger son of the babu. He has just finished his meal and is going to fetch the sticks and balls for the hockey game. Bakha feels pity for the little boy, because he knows the others will not allow him to play. As the babu’s son runs off for the equipment, Chota, Ram Charan, and other boys that will play arrive. Chota whispers to Bakha that he has told the other boys he is not an untouchable, so they won’t forbid him from playing. Bakha agrees that this is sensible and shows off his new stick to Chota. Chota congratulates Bakha on his good fortune and tells the other boys to get ready. When the babu’s younger son comes back with the gear, he is devastated to hear he won’t get to play. Bakha tries to comfort him by entrusting the boy with the care of his prized overcoat.

The game begins. Bakha is a superior player, dribbling, ducking, and dodging between the bodies of the other boys. He makes it around the opposing team’s line of defense and scores a point. Upset, the opposing goalkeeper hits Bakha in the leg with his stick. At this, the members of Bakha’s team all attack the offending goalkeeper. An all out brawl ensues between all the boys. Chota tells their team to throw stones at the opposing side. In all the pandemonium no one notices the babu’s youngest son standing in the line of fire. Though most of the rocks sail over his head, one thrown by Ram Charan hits him square on the head. The little boy falls to the ground, hits his head, and falls into unconsciousness. All of the other boys rush up to him and see streams of blood pouring from his head. Bakha picks him up and rushes him home.

Unfortunately the child’s mother, having heard all the commotion, is outside waiting for them. At the sight of her bloodied, unresponsive son in the arms of Bakha, she goes berserk. She calls him an “eater of his masters” and accuses him of killing her son. The older son of the babu tries to tell her it was Ram Charan’s fault, but the woman refuses to listen. She condemns Bakha for defiling her house, in addition to wounding her son.

Silent throughout this whole display, Bakha hands the woman her child and withdraws. He wonders miserably why the happiness from Charat Singh’s generosity could only last for half an hour and why the babu’s wife abused him even though he was helping her son. Similar to his conclusion following the altercation with the touched man, he realizes the answer to his questions is his untouchability.

Suddenly, Bakha realizes that he’s been walking alone. All of the other boys have disappeared. Weary, he clutches his new stick tighter in his hand and turns onto the path leading to his house. Before he comes into sight of his house he looks for a place to hide his stick because if his father sees it there will be another abusive argument about laziness. He hides his stick under a cactus bush and walks into his house. At his entrance, Lakha immediately starts spewing vitrol. He calls Bakha a son of a pig, a son of a dog, and illegally begotten for being away for so long. He says the sepoys and sahibs have been shouting and calling for someone to clean the latrines. He accuses Bakha of being ungrateful and not giving his father some rest in his old age.

Bakha remains cool in the face of his father’s fury, too weary over the day’s events to summon up the energy for a response. He goes to pick up his tools and clean the latrines, but sees that Rakha is holding them. Now Rakha is shouting at him as well, asking self-righteously where Bakha has been while he slaved the afternoon away. Bakha doesn’t resent his little brother for his preening and posturing, but cannot stand his impudence and his father’s abuse much longer. He starts to walk toward the latrines, but Lakha calls after him, “Go away! Get out of my house. And don’t come back! Don’t let us see your face again” (Anand 229). Normally, Bakha would bear such abuse quietly and calmly. Today, however, he’d had more than enough. Anger over the day’s calamities, combined with the endless flow of verbal violence from his father, fires up his soul. He tears off running across the plain without looking back.

11.Bakha and the Christian Missionary"

After running for a few minutes, Bakha begins to slacken his pace. He asks rhetorically what he’s done to deserve such an unlucky day. He realizes he is homeless, something he’s familiar with since his father frequently threatened him and his brother in that way. As he muses about his horrible day, he spies a pipal tree and sits under it.

Resting under the tree, Bakha longs for a sympathetic person to come and comfort him, but thinks such a person will not pass by. He is wrong. Colonel Hutchinson, chief of the local Salvation Army, is never far from the outcaste’s colony, much to his wife’s chagrin. Her husband’s efforts to convert untouchables amongst the rubbish heaps and latrines of Bulashah do not impress her. In his 25 years working in India, the Colonel has only converted five Indians to Christianity, making his mission here a waste of time in Mrs. Hutchinson’s eyes. Still, Colonel Hutchinson persists.

The Colonel comes across Bakha sitting under the pipal tree. He surprises Bakha by touching his shoulder and asking him in broken Hindustani what’s wrong. Both the touch and the language shocks Bakha, so rare it is to find Englishman that deigned to learn the native tongues of India. Bakha feels flattered that he is the recipient of the Englishman’s pity and sympathy. The two go through the typical pleasantries of asking about each other’s health before the Colonel pronounces himself as a “padre” whose God is Yessuh Messih. He quotes some Scripture, telling Bakha “come all ye that labor and I will give you rest” (Anand 243).

Perking up at “labor” and “rest” Bakha asks who Yessuh Messih is. Colonel Hutchinson says he will explain, and begins to drag Bakha with him towards the church. As he leads the way the Colonel begins singing Christian songs about Jesus, which confuses Bakha because he cannot understand a word. He wonders how the Christian God is different from Rama, the God his father and their ancestors worshiped. He tries to ask the Colonel to explain, but the man is caught up in his singing and rambling. Any questions he manages to ask simply sparks another round of hymn singing. Bakha asked the Colonel: “We are all sinners. Why, why is anyone superior to another ? Why are we all sinners ? Why are we all sinners, Sahib ?” Bakha is bored by the proceedings but is happy and proud to be walking with a white man, so he suffers through the boredom.

Eventually though it grows too tiresome even for the English-loving Bakha. He followed the Colonel because the priest wore trousers and trousers were his dream. For Bakha, interacting with Colonel Hutchinson had conjured up visions of himself wearing trousers and speaking English. But now, Bakha begins to think maybe he should try sneaking off by telling him he needs to go clean the latrines. Just as he is about to make his escape, the Colonel notices Bakha’s lagging interest and tries to engage him in conversation. He tells Bakha that YessuhMessih is the Son of God and died for their sins. Noticing that this bit of information didn’t grab Bakha’s attention, Hutchinson adds that YessuhMessih sacrificed himself for the Brahmin and the Bhangis, and sees them as equals.

At this, Bakha is captivated. But then the Colonel loses him again by saying they are all born sinners and must confess their sins in order to be saved. Not only does Bakha take offense at being called a sinner, but he also doesn’t understand the concept of confessing your sins. At this point, he only continues to follow the Colonel in hopes the man will give him a pair of cast-off trousers.

The pair finally reaches the compound containing the church and the Colonel’s bungalow. Before they can enter the church, the shrill voice of the Colonel’s wife pierces the air. She screams that the afternoon tea is ready, to which the Colonel replies automatically, “Coming, coming” (Anand 254). He is afraid of his wife and doesn’t know if he should go meet her or take Bakha into the church. Before he can decide, it’s too late. His wife comes out their house and at the sight of Bakha begins to shout again. She scolds her husband for “going to [those] blackies again,” even when he is met with derision and violence. In the face of her anger, Bakha tries to slip away, thinking he is the cause, but the Colonel tells him to wait. At this, Mary Hutchinson says she refuses to wait for the Colonel while he “messes about with all those dirty bhangis and chamars” and goes back inside (Anand 256).

All this time Bakha hadn’t understood the argument between the Colonel and his wife, but at the words bhangis and chamars he grows fearful. He quickly says goodbye to the Colonel and runs away, as the Colonel stares forlornly after him.

12. "Bakha and Two Great Speakers"

Bakha walks along and talks to himself. “Everyone thinks us at fault,” he says, thinking of the various Hindus over the course of the day that blamed him for various deeds to the Colonel that called him a sinner to the Colonel’s wife who was furious at the sight of him. He walks, feeling heavy and oppressed by his memories from the day. He thinks back to the look of hatred on the touched man’s face, and how it mirrored the look on the face of the Colonel’s wife. But, the fury of the wife was “a hundred times more terrible than the fear inspired by the whole tirade of abuse by the touched man” (Anand 260).

The sight of a begging black leper jerks Bakha out of his musings. He looks up and sees that he has wandered to the Great Trunk Road near the Bulashah railroad station. Suddenly, he hears the rumbling of an incoming train and a chorus of voices crying, “Mahatma Gandhi ki-jai! The Mahatma has come! The Mahatmas has come!” (Anand 263). The shouting people are all dressed in white and are heading to the golbagh, where the Mahatma will speak. Bakha is caught in the crowd and swept along by their eagerness at the word “Mahatma.” He too is drawn like a magnet by the word. Luckily for him no one notices he is an untouchable because he doesn’t have his broom and basket. Thus he is able to stand amongst the crowd without a fuss.

The crowd at the golbagh is a myriad of races, colors, castes, and creeds. Bakha uses the clothes of the people to tell them apart, noting for example that the Kashmiri Muslims are wearing white cotton, while the Hindu lallas are dressed in fine silks. There are even some Europeans in the mix. The one thing everyone has in common is the pressing, urgent desire to see and pay homage to Mohandas Karam Chand Gandhi.

Bakha looks ahead and sees he still has a long way to go before reaching the golbagh. Swerving into a little marsh, he forges a shortcut. The crowd behind him follows, trampling the flora populating the patch of green. Beyond the marsh was the oval where the speech would take place. Rather than joining the thousands milling on the concrete, Bakha leans against a tree. He wanted to remain detached. He felt connected to the emotions fueling the mob of people that had come to see Gandhi, but had been reminded of his place in the world. His dirty khakis, when compared to the pristine white clothes most of the crowd was wearing, made him remember the barrier of caste separating him and the rest of humanity. Still, Gandhi united all of them, however fleetingly. And so he waited for the Mahatma’s arrival.

Next to Bakha, a lalla and babu discuss Gandhi, speaking of his past struggles with the Indian government, his recent release from prison, and his ability to change the world in its current age of political upheaval. Much of what the men say goes over Bakha’s head, but it makes him remember his own nugget of information about the Mahatma. He recalls hearing that the man wanted to uplift the untouchables, and had even fasted for the sake of the bhangis and chamars. Bakha doesn’t completely understand how Gandhi thought he could help the untouchables by fasting, but appreciates the gesture.

Then, from where he is standing, Bakha watches the crowd surge towards a motorcar that has just pulled up. He realizes he cannot rush with them even if the Mahatma himself says untouchables are fine. He decides to climb up the tree he was leaning against to get a better view. From above Bakha can view everything. He sees Gandhi, swathed in a milk-white blanket, with his protruding ears and glinting glasses. The feature that registers the most with Bakha is Gandhi’s skin, which is as black as Bakha’s. With the Mahatma are two women, an Indian woman and an Englishwoman. Bakha hears another person crouched in the tree say that the Indian woman is Gandhi’s wife and the Englishwoman is the daughter of an English admiral.

As the crowd chants his name, Gandhi goes to and sits on a platform in the center of the oval. He raises his arm and blesses the crowd with a gentle benediction. As a result, silence falls rapidly over the crowd. Ready to begin, Gandhi closes his eyes and begins to pray. As he recites a Hindu hymn, every person present is transfixed, including Bakha, who feels the horrible details of his day wash away. And then, the Mahatma begins his speech, his voice a soft whisper through a loudspeaker. He first speaks of his time in prison, where he paid penance for going against the British government and their rule of India. He says one of the agreements of his release is that he won’t speak negatively about the government. So he will focus his speech on the plight of the untouchables. The Mahatma points out that while Indians are seeking release from British rule, they themselves have oppressed and ruled over millions of people for centuries without any remorse. In his opinion, untouchability is the greatest blot on Hinduism.

At this, Bakha’s ears perk up. Gandhi goes on to share a personal anecdote from his childhood when he was confused about why he needed to wash himself after accidentally touching a boy named Uka that cleaned his family’s latrine. He then confesses that he loves to scavenge, and that he wishes to be reborn as an untouchable, as an outcaste, in the next life. At these words Bakha is thrilled to his core. He forgets to pay attention to Gandhi’s speech because he is so happy at the Mahatma’s admissions. When he tunes back in, he hears Gandhi say that the untouchables must purify their lives and rid themselves of gambling, drinking, and eating carrion. These remarks seem unfair to Bakha, who believes Gandhi is blaming them. But then the great speaker instructs untouchables to refuse the leavings from the plates of high-caste Hindus, and to accept only good, sound grain. If they do all of this, says the Mahatma, they will be emancipated. These words are more to Bakha’s liking. He feels them like a balm in his soul. He thinks, “If only [Gandhi] could go and tell my father not to be hard on me!”

Gandhi finishes his speech by declaring that all public wells, temples, roads, schools, and sanatoriums must be made open to the untouchables. He tells the crowd that if they love him, they will spread his message of ending untouchability. With that, he blesses the crowd again and begins to depart. Spellbound, Bakha is frozen in the tree and so sees the Mahatma pass by right under him.

The crowd Gandhi leaves in his wake is full of good cheer and brotherhood. One man declares that the Mahatma has made Hindus and Muslims one. Another suggests they “discard foreign cloth” and soon enough people begin to throw their felt caps, silk shirts, and aprons into a pile and light it on fire. Among the throng, there is only one dissenting voice that wasn’t impressed by Gandhi’s speech. He calls Gandhi a humbug, a fool, and a hypocrite. This man is Muslim, dressed in a fine English suit and wearing a single monocle in his eye. His companion, a young man dressed in flowing Indian robes like a poet, tells him it is unfair to abuse the Mahatma. The poet says that Gandhi may have his faults, but he is the greatest liberating force of the age.

As the two intellectuals enter into a debate, Bakha comes down from his tree and moves away from them while staying within listening distance. The two men continue to argue passionately about Gandhi and India’s place in the world. The poet argues that India is one of the richest countries in the world because of its abundant natural resources and knowledge of life’s secret flows, a flow that India’s British slavers are ignorant of. He says that unlike the British, India will not become slaves to gold and will see life steadily and wholly. When the poet, who a spectator identifies as Iqbal Nath Sarshar, finishes his harangue, the crowd he and his companion, a barrister named Mr. R. N. Bashir, attracted falls silent.

Bashir returns by attacking Gandhi’s views on untouchability. At this Sarshar is amused, saying that Gandhi’s views on untouchability are his most logical. Sarshar goes on to trace untouchability to its origins, describing it as system devised by “wily Brahmins” who misinterpreted the philosophical idea of karma for their own gain. As such, untouchability is a man-made system, one that can be easily dismantled since all men are actually equal. Sarshar finishes by saying that since the British-Indian penal code broke the legal and sociological basis of caste, the only remaining determinant of caste is profession. Once India accepts and installs the flush system, a way of clearing dung without human handling, sweepers can change their profession and leave behind the stigma of untouchability.

“And they can do that soon, for the first thing we will do when we accept the machine, will be to introduce the machine which clears dung without anyone having to handle it—the flush system. Then the sweepers can be free from the stigma of untouchability and assume the dignity of status that is their right as useful members of a casteless and classless society.”---Iqbal Nath Sarshar

To this, Bashir has no response. He complains about the heat and urges Sarshar to leave and find some shade. The two men depart, the crowd surrounding them following in their wake. Bakha stands still. He only understood bits and pieces of what the men said. He is most intrigued by the machine the Sarshar described, the one that can remove dung without anyone needing to handle it. He wishes the lawyer hadn’t hurried the poet away, so he could have asked him more about it. Around Bakha, the fires of sunset “blaze on the horizon.” He feels at a lost, unsure of what to do or where to go. The day’s misery and anguish begin to creep back over him. Suddenly, the Mahatma’s parting prayer, “May God give you the strength to work out your soul’s salvation to the end” resounds in his ears. He wonders what the Mahatma meant by these words. No answer is forthcoming, but Bakha still draws strength from the words. He resolves to try and follow Gandhi’s instructions. On the outside, he is calm as he walks, though the conflict in his soul over his commitment to Gandhi’s message and the realities of his own life is fierce.

The sun sets. Bakha emerges from the grassy area that housed the tree he sat on during the Mahatma’s speech onto the dusty road. As the Indian twilight flashes through the sky he comes to a decision. “I shall go and tell father all that Gandhi said about us… and all that the poet said,” he whispers to himself. And so Bakha turns his feet homeward.

 

Untouchable Symbols, Allegory and Motifs

Clothing (Symbol)

Bakha’s obsession with European dress is deeply rooted in the "you are what you wear" theme and proof of the symbolic role clothing plays in Untouchable. The clothing of Europeans and Indians are often juxtaposed, with the former symbolizing modernity and progress, and the latter symbolizing tradition and backwardness. Bakha supports this conclusion when he describes “the clear-cut styles of European dress… [with their] stark simplicity [as] furrowing his old Indian consciousness” (Anand 19). The simple, clear-cut styles of Europe are dichotomous to the ostentatious, loosely flowing saris and dhotis of Indian dress.

Bakha’s Tools (Symbol)

The relationship between the worker, the products of his labor, and his tools of production has long been a topic of interest for philosophers and writers. Anand is no different. Bakha’s status as an untouchable hinges on his handling of other people’s refuse. He is considered dirty because the product of his labor, the removal of feces, makes him dirty. The tools he uses to clear dung are paradoxically the means of his livelihood and his suffering. While the tools allow Bakha to make a living for himself and his family, they simultaneously make living extremely difficult for them. The paradoxical nature of Bakha’s tools is symbolic of the contradictions of untouchability and the overall Hindu caste system.

Violent Language (Motif)

Anand uses violent language in Untouchable for comedic yet ironic effects. The violent language also reveals the brutality of Bakha’s society. For example, it is both funny and tragic that Bakha’s father calls Bakha the “son of a pig” (Anand 23). Evidently Lakha is so possessed by ire that he doesn’t mind calling himself a pig. This is funny, but also sad because it illustrates the strained father-son relationship between the two men.

The brutal nature of the violent language is depicted during Gulabo’s unrelenting haranguing of Sohini. The washerwoman calls Bakha’s sister a bitch, a prostitute, an “eater of dung,” and a “drinker of urine” with no provocation. She attempts to add to her diatribe of Sohini by hitting the young woman, but is stopped by the weaver’s wife. This is a prime example of how violent action quickly escalates to violent actions in the novel. However, besides Gulabo’s attempt to strike Sohini and the slap Bakha receives from the caste man he accidentally touches, physical violence is in short supply in Untouchable. This is a somewhat perplexing when considering the real-life mob violence the untouchables have experienced throughout history. Perhaps the recurring violent language in the book is intended to be a stand-in for real-life tactile violence. In any case, violent language is pervasive throughout Untouchable and used to great rhetorical effect.

Hockey Stick (Symbol)

One of the positive points of Bakha’s day is when Charat Singh gifts him a hockey stick. This stick represents not only the theme of charity, but also Singh’s personal feelings about untouchability. Unlike other Hindus, he does not view Bakha as contaminated, as being worth less than the filth the young man clears away everyday. The hockey stick also symbolizes a life that is beyond Bakha’s reach. Despite being the best in the colony at hockey, Bakha cannot even dream of playing professionally like Charat Singh. His status as an untouchable bars him from many avenues, many paths. The hockey stick, while uplifting for Bakha, is a tacit reminder of his constrained life trajectory.

Escapism (Motif)

The desire to escape the harsh realities of life is a major motif of Untouchable. Many of Bakha’s quirks and character traits, such as his obsession with the English and their culture, are grounded in his fervent wish to escape his own life and circumstances for a time. Though he knows he is untouchable and will be his entire life, a part of him seeks to escape that life by dressing like the English and adopting their social mores. Still, Bakha’s escapist tendencies aren’t limited to his adoration of the English. His fixation with hockey and his desire to learn to read can also be interpreted as attempts at avoiding his reality.

Lakha, Bakha’s father, is another example of escapism in the novel. To Bakha’s chagrin, he often “foxes” out of his sweeper work and sends his children in his stead. Instead of being confronted daily with his life as an untouchable and a sweeper, Lakha prefers to stay at home so he can receive “salaams” from people. If he avoids contact with the world outside of the outcaste’s colony he can escape the trappings of his actual life and live in a fantasy world of his own creation.

 

Untouchable Metaphors and Similes

Bakha’s Father (Simile)

Anand makes liberal use of similes in Untouchable. One of the most effective of these is a simile comparing the voice of Bakha’s father to a bullet searching for its target. This simile is particularly striking because of the violent language Lakha uses with his children. The simile shows how the delivery of Lakha’s words is a mirror of the words’ mean-spirited, aggressive content.

Bakha’s Work Ethic (Simile)

A plethora of similes are used to describe Bakha’s work ethic when he is cleaning the latrines. His active engagement with his task is likened to the constant flow of water from a spring. His muscles when working “seem to shine forth like glass,” and his disposition is “as easy as a wave sailing away on a deep-bedded river” (Anand 29). In all of these examples Bakha is light and easy. Taken all together, these three similes suggest that while Bakha may hate aspects of his life as an untouchable, he derives some level of pride and pleasure from his job. Others may look down upon his job as a sweeper and persecute him for it, but Bakha doesn’t necessarily think that the act of sweeping warrants such derision and hatred.

Ancestral Connections (Simile)

When thinking about his “countless outcaste ancestors,” Bakha imagines the connection between himself and them as “fixed, yet flowing like a wave, confirmed at the beginning of each generation” (Anand 127). This simile suggests that the connection is primordial, natural, and enduring, something that has withstood the passage of time. It alludes to Bakha’s and his siblings’ inherited untouchability, a status that is fixed and confirmed at the beginning of each generation by the Hindu caste system.

Burning the Refuse (Metaphor)

The burning of refuse is a metaphor for the power to eradicate and destroy. After collecting the refuse from the latrines, Bakha must take it to a pyre for burning. As he burns the waste, Bakha feels powerful. He thinks, “the burning flame seemed to ally itself with him. It seemed to give him a sense of power, the power to destroy. It seemed to infuse into him a masterful instinct” (Anand 39). This passage suggests that when he is burning the waste, Bakha believes he can be a figure of destruction, imbued with the ability to destroy anything that stands in his path.

Trampling Blades of Grass (Metaphor)

After Gandhi’s speech, the crowd disperses and walks over patches of garden bowers. Anand describes this grass as being planted by the Hindu kings but henceforth neglected and now trampled under the feet of Gandhi’s progressive listeners. This grass is a metaphor for the facets of traditional Hindu society and civilization that “must be destroyed in order to make room for those of the new [civilization].” By trampling the grass, the crowd is crushing “everything, however beautiful or powerful, that lay in the way of their achievement of all that Gandhi stood for” (Anand 266). The implication is that one of these beautiful and powerful things is the Hindu caste system, a system central to Hindu society since the time of the kings but now something that prevents the progression of the Hindi.

 

Untouchable Irony

Bakha’s Father

Bakha’s father is a prime example of the novel’s irony. For example, he calls his children lazy and yells at them for neglecting their sweeper duties whilst he is the one faking illnesses and pains so he can shirk off working (Anand 61). It is also a comical type of irony when Lakha reprimands and insults his children by calling them sons and daughters of pigs because in effect he is calling himself a pig.

Pricing of Goods for Outcasts

When Bakha buys sweets with his pocket money, we see a glance of the unjust and ironic pricing of goods for outcastes. The shopkeepers charge sweepers and other poor people much higher prices, “as if to compensate themselves for the pollution they courted by dealing with the outcastes” (Anand 87). Not only is it discriminatory that the poor pay higher prices than the wealthy, it is also ironic that the people with the least amount of money are made to pay the most.

Educating the Untouchable

From a young age, Bakha has had the burning desire to go to school and get an education. In particular, he wishes to learn how to read so he can read classic Hindi and Punjab works. However, no schools would admit him because the parents of other children refused to “allow their sons to be contaminated by the touch of the low-caste man’s sons” (Anand 75). Bakha notes the absurdity and irony of this situation when he thinks about all the Hindu children that willingly play contact hockey with him and thus are already “contaminated” by him.

Sohini’s Assault

In addition to being one of the novel’s major plot points, Sohini’s assault by Pundit Kali Nath is also an example of the corrupt Hindu caste system and Untouchable’s irony. The caste people purportedly live in fear of an untouchable’s touch. And yet, here is a high-caste man willingly touching Sohini in a salacious manner. Rather than repudiating physical contact with an untouchable, Nath is actively seeking it out. Sohini, accustomed to people shying away from physical contact with her, must now defend herself against unwanted physical advances from the unlikeliest of sources. Furthermore, when Sohini spurns him, Nath goes on the defensive and accuses her of defiling him. These three ironic elements of Sohini’s assault exist because of the rigid Hindu caste system that says contact with untouchables is anathema.

 

Untouchable Imagery

The Outcast’s Colony

Untouchable opens with a shot of the outcaste’s colony. Anand gives us a thick description of the home of Bulashah’s outcastes by describing not only the visual appearance of the colony, but also the types of people that live there and their living conditions. For example, besides the sweepers, the colony is also home to “the scavengers, the leather-workers, the washermen, the barbers,” etc. They live in “mud-walled” houses near a fetid, rank brook filled with the filth of the public latrines (Anand 16).

The smells of the colony are also described in explicit details. The air is polluted by “the odour of the hides and skins of dead carcasses left to dry,” the dung of various livestock “heaped up to be made into fuel cakes,” and human waste. As the reader reads on it's as if the “biting, choking, pungent fumes ooz[ing]” from the colony is constricting their breathing in addition to the characters' (Anand 16).

Morning Ritual

Anand uses a multitude of gerunds to craft a mental image of how the Hindu and Muslim peoples perform their ablutions. For example, they are “crouching by the water, rubbing their hands, with a little soft earth; washing their feet, their faces; chewing little twigs bitten into the shape of brushes”(Anand 34). The morning routines of the different people are so similar that Bakha uses their clothing to tell them apart, which is a direct reference to the "you are what you wear" theme. The "rejection of Indian roots" theme is also present when Bakha judges his fellow Indians for their loud “gargling and spitting” with the gaze of a condescending Englishman (Anand 35).

Bakha vs. the High-Caste Man

Bakha’s altercation with the high-caste man in Bulashah’s square is the climax of Untouchable and therefore is painstakingly depicted. The onlookers that gather around to contribute to Bakha’s public shaming belie the anger of the touched man. Their combined shouts and jeers come together in a cacophonous, mob-like scene. This is juxtaposed with Bakha’s mortification, humility, fear, and general paralysis. In the face of everyone’s anger, he is paralyzed. The narrator offers us a window into Bakha’s inner turmoil, into the “queer stirring” of the boy’s heart and his feeling that every second of the incident was an “endless age” (Anand 95).

The actual moment the high-caste man slaps Bakha is “seen” through the perspective of a passing Muslim merchant. The man hears a “sharp, clear slap” pierce the air. After that, we flash back to Bakha so we can witness his reaction. Not experiencing the slap from Bakha’s point of view creates a bit of distance between the reader and the event. For example, we aren’t privy to Bakha’s physical pain from the strike, only to his psychological and emotional pain. We don’t feel the red-hot pain on his cheek, but we can feel the red-hot rage “smouldering… in his soul” (Anand 98). This is important because it shifts the attention from the physical implications of the slap to its metaphysical import.

Gandhi’s Speech

There are a myriad of sights, sounds, and feelings during Gandhi’s speech. The very air seems to tingle with “electric shocks” pulsing through it (Anand 280). Words and phrases like “mass of humanity” are used to illustrate the sheer overwhelming size of the gathered crowd (Anand 280). Similarly, Anand uses specific language to detail the sounds of Gandhi’s address. Particular attention is paid to the reverent silence of the crowd and the “faint whisper” of Gandhi’s voice (Anand 282). Finally, several figures of speech are used to describe Bakha’s feelings during the speech. For example, the moment when Gandhi confesses he loves scavenging, Bakha feels “thrilled to the very marrow of his bones” (Anand 287). Of course, this is not meant literally, but rather that Gandhi’s confession strikes at Bakha’s emotional core deeply.

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