14. Untouchable(1935)- for TSPSC JL/DL

 

14. Untouchable(1935)- for TSPSC JL/DL

Biography of Mulk Raj Anand

Mulk Raj Anand was an Indo-English writer born in Peshawar, British India (now present-day Pakistan). He is known as Charles Dickens of Indian writing. After graduating from Khalsa College in 1924 Anand moved to England, completed his undergraduate studies at University College London, and went on to earn a PhD in Philosophy from Cambridge University in 1929. While in university he became friends with members of the Bloomsbury Group (also known as the Bloomsbury Set), 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, explicit, and personal consequence of Indian’s uncompromising caste system led Anand to write his first prose essay. His first main novel, Untouchable, followed shortly after and is considered a seminal work for its inclusion of Punjabi and Hindustani idioms transliterated into English. A character study of a member of India’s untouchable caste, Untouchable earned Anand the moniker “India’s Charles Dickens.”

Following this early success Anand continued to be a prolific and socially conscious novelist. During the 1930s and 1940s he bounced between India and England penning propaganda on the behalf of India’s independence movement. Simultaneously he supported movements for freedom around the world, most notably the Spanish Civil War. He traveled to Spain to volunteer for the conflict as a journalist. During World War II he worked as a scriptwriter for the BBC in London, became friends with George Orwell, and published in 1942 The Sword and the Sickle, a novel about the rise of Communism. At this point Anand was renowned as a pioneer of Indo-Anglian, or Indian writing in English, literature.

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, 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.

He died of pneumonia in Pune, India at the age of 98.

 

Introduction: Untouchable

Published in 1935, Untouchable is Mulk Raj Anand’s first major novel. The novel’s format is very simple—it follows the day in the life of an “untouchable,” a member of India’s lowest social caste. Despite its simplicity, Untouchable is a powerful work that 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.

Untouchable 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.

 

Untouchable Summary: Bakha’s Family

Bakha lives in a house made of mud and has only one room. He lives along with his father Lakha, brother Rakha and sister Sohini. Lakha works as a sweeper and is the leader for the sweepers of the town. The town they live in is Bulashah [imaginary place] and their community of outcaste’s restricted to a colony near the latrines of the town.

Bakha always thinks of his friends and is almost obsessed with the “English” way of living. He and his friends call the Englishmen as “Tommies” and try to imitate them in everything. Lakha constantly abuses his son for having such an interest on the Englishmen. As Bakha reminiscences on several things while on bed, his father abuses him for not going to clean the latrines. However, he does not care and thinks of his mother who died. He believes that abusing done by his father started only after the death of his mother. He constantly ignores the words of Lakha when he hears another voice ordering for cleaning the latrine.

As Bakha hears the voice of Havilar Charat Singh, he immediately attends to his duty. He does not soil himself showing that he has great proficiency in his job. Singh comes out after taking care of his daily oblutions and reveals his idea of gifting a hockey stick to the boy. As Charat Singh is a great hockey player, Bakha feels really happy about the promise. Bakha resumes his work with joy as many people enter and exit the bathrooms. He collects the refuse to a chimney and completes his job for the shift. He goes to home only to find that Lakha is sleeping and there is no water to drink. Sohini offers to fetch water.

Analysis:

Although set in a backward family, it is a typical family one can find in India – dreaming son, careless father with no one to remind him of his duties, a hardworking daughter and a burdensome life.  The life of middle class families are similar where there is no aim or meaning to life and it is lived as life is given to live. Bakha is a representation of youth who is thinking beyond his family life through the Englishmen and Charat Singh.

Untouchable Summary: Sohini goes for water

No outcaste is allowed to directly take water from the well and water can be acquired only through the mercy of a high caste person. As Sohini reaches well with a pitcher, she observes many outcastes waiting for any compassioned individual to help with the water. She waits with others for a sympathetic higher caste person. The waiting group has a washerwoman named Gulabo who is very jealous of Sohini. She starts to use derogatory words such as prostitute, bitch, etc. and Sohini feels that she is joking. However, she does not stop and increases her verbal abuse making Sohini to realize that intentions of Gulabo are real. She wonders about her doings that made Gulabo to feel that way. Gulabo even tries to hit Sohini but Waziro – wife of a weaver, stops her. Sohini shocked by the incident stays calm and thinks about thirsty Bakha.

Meanwhile, a sepoy comes to the well to fetch water. Unfortunately, he does not listen to the pleading of the outcastes and leaves. Shortly, priest and in charge of temples – Pundit Kali Nath, comes to the well. He is pursued by the women as he finally accepts to pour water from his pitcher to theirs. Gulabo cries out that she came first and the rest claim the same. However, Sohini stays out from the group and waits for Kali Nath to give water. He observes this and looks at Sohini. He gets attracted by the face of her and the way she refuses to join the group. Therefore, he asks her to come forward and pours water into the pitcher. Further, he asks her to come to the temple for cleaning. She accepts his order and returns to home with water.

As she reaches home Lakha yells for being late and uses derogatory words. He orders her to gather her brothers as he intends to say something. However, Rakha escapes to play and Bakha is the only one to be in the house. As Bakha nears his father, Lakha acts as if he is ill and makes Bakha to fill his duty as a sweeper. Bakha reluctantly accepts as he is completely aware of the fake nature of the illness. He drinks tea and walks towards the temple where he needs to sweep.

Analysis:

Class diversification and caste diversification has always been a topic of discussion in India. It is because the fundamental unity that once existed with King’s rule has been disrupted with the formation of East India Company. Everyone felt that having an upper caste birth meant to dominate the lower class. This is evident with the behaviour of the soldier who came to the well and the habit of lower caste prohibition to fetch water from a well.

The same discrimination has continued for centuries and even now India is suffering from such problems. Sohini is a general example of becoming the subject of discrimination as Gulabo starts to abuse without any reason. Meanwhile, the author reveals that there are higher and lower castes even in the outcaste’s colony leading to such unnecessary yet prideful conflicts.

Untouchable Summary: Bakha and his friends

Bakha, while walking towards the town, observes that the air fresh and clean outside the colony. He stands on the road enjoying the sun unaware that his friends Ram Charan and Chota along with his brother Rakha are watching him. They make fun of Bakha for his weird behaviour and jokes about it.

Ram Charan, the son of Gulabo, declares that his sister is about to get married that day. Bakha feels a bit sad because he has feelings for her. Chota inquires about his duties for the day, when Bakha orders Rakha to clean the latrines in the colony as he is out for another duty. However, Rakha doesn’t seem interested and walks towards his home. The rest force Bakha to join for gambling but he refuses to skip his duties.

As Bakha tries to move towards the town, two boys come to them. They are the sons of a high caste man named Burra Babu and Bakha greets them well. They discuss about hockey and agree to play later that day. When one of the boys say that it is time for school, Bakha’s curiosity immediately increases as he always wanted to know about schools and teaching. Therefore, he offers one Anna for a lesson to the eldest of the two boys. He accepts and says that they can meet again to begin with the lessons. Chota and Ram Charan joke at the interests of Bakha. He takes them lightly and walks towards the town with great anticipations that day.

Analysis:

Mulk Raj Anand cleverly portrays the innocence of childhood and the effects of no education through the introduction of Bakha’s friends. All of them are not bothered with the restrictions of caste and class systems followed by the elders. They have fun and decide to play together. On the hand, use of foul language shows that they have no education whatsoever and they do not know how to behave.

Once again, Mulk Raj Anand brings out another social problem found in India – education. For centuries, there is no proper education offered for the lower classes and it was only restricted to the children of higher classes. This was partly due to the traditions followed and the unwilling nature of the higher castes to share their knowledge with others. There are many like Bakha who show interest in education but are not fortunate to receive any directly. This has led to the contemporary problem of “Reservations” making India a difficult nation to survive and succeed.

Untouchable Summary: Touching a High Caste

Bakha buys a cigarette and takes the coal to light up from a Muslim. He enjoys being in town absorbing every scene and sound he could. He gets attracted to some sweets and shrugs off the fear of his father who would abuse him for spending money on such things. He asks the shopkeeper to give candy for four annas and the shopkeeper cheats the boy by weighing the scale incorrectly. Despite knowing this Bakha does not protest and takes what he is given. He feels happy for the fact that he has some candy to eat and he munches them while walking.

He stands and observes the advertising boards when a high caste man runs into Bakha. Although, Bakha is not to blame for the hurriedness of the high caste man, he starts abusing him and starts shouting about his presence so that others could know. Bakha pleads his apology but the man won’t listen and soon a huge crowd circles him. His option of escaping is closed out as he needs to touch someone if he has to escape the circle. All of them start to insult Bakha for his actions and falsely accuse him of previous actions.

Fortunately, for Bakha, a horse buggy with a travel merchant comes to the road scattering the people gathered around. However, the high caste man stays despite many urges from the merchant and only leaves after giving a hard slap to Bakha. Many emotions flow from the furious and crying Bakha like anger, frustration, indignation, horror, etc. Bakha decides to take revenge when the travel merchant tries to console him. Bakha gets up to leave when a shopkeeper reminds about chant of the untouchables. He starts to sing the chant as he walks forward to the temple.

Bakha is confronted with many questions after that incident. He could not understand the humility shown by him despite the arrogant behaviour of the public. He regrets for not hitting the high caste man when receiving a slap for no reason. He questions the relevance of the system, wonders about the reason for untouchables to get abused. Bakha realizes that his duty of cleaning latrines makes him repugnant to everyone in the society.

Analysis:

The faults that were found through the practice of one religion make a man to take another religion as shelter. Hindu civilization cherished when the four castes were living in harmony and when one caste tried to oppress the other, chaos ensued. Bakha knew that he could not ask fire to light a cigarette from anyone in the town as it would be unholy. Therefore, he approaches a Muslim man who is not into the caste system. Further, the travel merchant is also a Muslim who helps the crowd to disperse.

 

The religious conditions that motivated in many faith conversions are clearly depicted by Mulk Raj Anand. Although, Bakha does not think of a new religion understands his position in the current one and feels helpless. The circle of people around Bakha is a symbol for the oppression of the outcastes from many higher castes smothering the movements [progress] of lower castes.

Untouchable Summary: The Temple

Bakha after observing the happenings of the town finally reaches the temple. Being in such a tranquil place gives him peace as he starts to work. He sees some worshipers approaching and starts to chant his presence to avoid the same treatment again. As he is not supposed to enter the temple, Bakha is always curious about the worship and the prayers used. He listens to the prayers with joy but does not understand the words. He does not understand who the gods are! Therefore wonders who is Narayan, Shanti Deva, Hari, etc. Curiosity increases within him and slowly approaches the entrance. Suddenly, he becomes discouraged and returns to his work.

After completing the clean up, Bakha tries to see the inside of the temple again and goes to the top stair. He observes the temple, the priests, the hymns, the worshippers and is in a divine state. Unfortunately, he hears someone shouting “polluted, polluted!” and alarmingly falls down in a prostrate position. Slowly, he realizes that the cry was not meant for him but for his sister – Sohini.

Pundit Kali Nath accuses Sohini for intentionally touching him and abuses her in many ways. The worshipers lead her and Bakha forcefully out of the stairs. Sohini explains that Pundit Kali Nath has tried to touch her, which infuriates Bakha. He holds her sister and comes near the stairs to spat at the people for not realizing what has actually happened. As Bakha starts to talk in rage all the worshipers remain calm with fear. However, Sohini realizes that it could end up bad, convinces Bakha to leave the matter and leave the Temple. Bakha is filled with rage but understands that he is not able to cross the barriers set by traditions and experienced me of the past. Therefore, he asks Sohini to go back home while he leaves to collect food for the day.

Analysis:

Temple is a very holy place to Hindus and any unholy doings in it would result in temporary closure or permanent closure. However, one can observe that there is a social bias here also as Pundit Kali Nath escapes from his wrong doings by showing his stature as a higher caste man. The worshippers despite confronted by Bakha do not react about the matter showing caste conflict. There is no proper justice done for Sohini and the two leave with distraught thoughts.

 

Untouchable Summary: High Caste Woman

Bakha goes from street to street to beg some food so that his family could eat. No one shows pity for him and he finally gets tired of begging. Bakha sits in front of a house and naps. A Sadhu comes to the same house and his voice wakes the boy. At the same time a woman comes out of the house and is aghast by the presence of Bakha at the doorstep. She abuses him and Bakha moves away from the door.

Another woman comes out and gives some food to the Sadhu and a Chapatti to Bakha with the same kindness. She exits and the first woman comes with some food to Sadhu and orders Bakha to clean a gutter before receiving any alms. He does so and she asks to clean the bathroom, which he does. Then, the higher caste woman throws bread into the ground for Bakha to pick. Unable to do anything, Bakha picks the bread and frustrated throws his work broom. The woman criticizes the lower castes in common that they are getting too much excited these days.

 

Analysis:

Bakha is insulted many times for the day and it shows how dire the situation of a lower caste in the community is. If men try to take advantage of the women of lower castes, women try to exploit the helpless nature of men of lower castes to fulfil their needs. There is neither equality nor justice in treating people like for things that that are superficial, superstitious and far from their reach. They are chained by fate of their great, great elders who were treated like untouchables for some mistake they have done. Everything is far from grasp to Bakha as he is subject to such humiliations from childhood and all he can do is force a broom stick from his hand.

 

Untouchable Summary: The Doctor

Bakha reaches home desolated only to find his father’s frustration for brining just two pieces of bread. Rakha is not home as usual and is said to fetch food for the family from the barracks. As Lakha asks about small amounts of food collected, Bakha says that he is not aware of many people in the town. Lakha says that he needs to know people as it is the only way to get food in the future. However, Lakha sees some distress in his son and asks about it. Bakha explains the happenings of the day and feels very sad.

Lakha tries to convince his son that high caste people are far superior to them in everything. Therefore, it is their duty to respect them without any questioning. He reveals about a doctor who saved Bakha from severe illness. When Bakha was only a child, he was sick with fever that was not healed. Therefore, Lakha goes to a doctor of high caste to get help. Lakha stood outside the home of the doctor pleading everyone entering to pass the massage to the doctor. No one helped and he cannot even buy medicine [although having money] for he is not allowed to be in the place. Lakha desperate comes back to see if his son is alive and to his great fortune he is alive.

But, he notices that the child was barely able to take breaths and runs back to the doctor. This time he does not wait and enters to the chamber directly not thinking about the circumstances. He, at once, falls at the feet of the doctor while other patients scream and run because of his presence. Not minding them and the furious doctor, Lakha explains the situation and begs the doctor to help.

The doctor understands and starts to write medicine when Lakha’s brother enters and announces that Bakha is about die. Lakha not taking the prescription rushes back to the house to look at his son. As the parents cry dejectedly, the doctor knocks the door. The high cast doctor enters the house of Lakha and saves the life of Bakha. After hearing the story, Bakha feels so happy but controls his emotions.

They have a conversation about Rakha and wonder where he is. He soon appears with some food from the barracks. However, Bakha feels that the food is collected from the water used to wash hands after eating. This idea repels Bakha from eating and makes an excuse of attending the marriage of Ram Charan’s sister.

Analysis:

All the negative elements shown throughout the earlier pages are turned to a slight positive note with the story of the high caste doctor. Anand shows that not everyone in the high caste upbringing is indifferent towards the hardships of the lower caste. Indeed, the caste system is intended to help each other so that everyone could live in harmony.

 

According to Hindu Dharma, Brahmins are supposed to help the society through prayers to Gods and helping others perform various rituals. Kshatriyas are supposed to protect the people and rule them based on the principles of Dharma. Vysyas are supposed to look after trade and commerce helping everyone to acquire sufficient goods. Sudras are supposed to help in providing labour for everyone thus ensuring better living within a community.

Although the doctor recoils at the beginning is a good example of following the Hindu Dharma as he saves Bakha from death. He comes to the house of Lakha and provides aid to the dying child. From this one can understand that there is no concept of untouchability and there are no untouchables. They are only created by some malicious men in the higher castes so that they could dominate the society with great authority.

 

Untouchable Summary: The Wedding

Bakha moves towards the wedding thinking about the sister of Ram Charan. Both of them used to play together when they are children and once they contemplated marriage through a game. They were even married in that game and Bakha always had feelings for her. As he enters the area of the wedding, he is too shy to enter directly into washer man wedding. He is afraid of Gulabo as she has acquired a name of having great hatred towards people.

Fortunately, Chota appears and together they try to get the attention of Ram Charan who is busy eating sugarplums. When they do get his attention, Gulabo also watches and chases them away. Rama Charan also runs with them towards the hills. Bakha contemplates on the beauty of nature and falls back while his friends move forward. He drinks from a natural pool in the hill and tries to take a nap. As he sleeps, Chota tickles his nose making Bakha to sneeze louder with a weird noise. He laughs along with other but not in a natural way arising suspicions. The two inquire Bakha, but he says that it is nothing to worry about.

Bakha then asks Ram Charan to give his lot of sugarplums. Ram Charan opens a hand kerchief and asks Bakha to take a sugarplum. However, Bakha refuses and asks Ram Charan to throw one so that he can catch. This dismays Ram Charan as well as Chota who understand that something is terribly wrong with their friend. There was no difference between them previously as they ate together and shared the same bottle of soda. So, they pressure Bakha to reveal the reason for such behaviour. Bakha confesses about the three incidents that took place earlier.

Ram Charan feels ashamed of the behaviour of the high caste people and remains silent. Chota tries to console Bakha and shows great frustration towards the way they are treated. However, he resorts to cheering his friend and reminds about the hockey game. He also offers to take revenge on the priest for his treatment of Sohini. Ram Charan reminds them that if he needs to attend the game, then it is imperative to go home now. All of them head back and decide a time to meet. Chota leaves home and Bakha moves towards the place of Charat Singh to receive a hockey stick as promised.

 

Analysis:

Bakha cannot express his feelings towards Ram Charan’s sister because of caste restrictions. No lower caste individual can marry a higher caste individual. In addition, there is Gulabo who is feared in the colony as a mean lady who accuses everyone in the name of caste. Such remnant and inevitable thoughts make Bakha to suffer and his conditioned nature of a lower caste man comes out when he asks Ram Charan to throw a sweet. This creates a drift amongst the friends, which is solved very quickly. It also indicates that Bakha is accepting the barriers of the society and may become like his father.

 

Untouchable Summary: Charat Singh

Charat Singh lives in a deserted barracks where there is no one. Only two sentries who stand guard a solar topee can be seen. There are many legends surrounding the topee and Bakha was always attracted to it. He even thought to steal it in order to possess the topee. However, his plans to have the topee diminished over the years. Bakha observes the topee and wonders if his courage witnessed in his younger days is declining. He hesitates to talk to the sentries about the hat and leaves to the house in fear of insults. The door is closed at the house of the Charat Singh and he waits outside for someone to open the door. After a while, Charat Singh comes out and does not notice Bakha. So, he gently calls out for Charat Singh and he greets him gladly.

He inquires about the absence of Bakha in recent hockey games for which the boy tells that he has to perform his duties. However, Charat Singh tries to emphasize the importance of the game [earlier that morning he wants the latrine to be cleaned by Bakha] and tells the boy that he can ignore the work. Despite observing the contradictory ideas of the hockey player, Bakha is happy to spend time with him as he is a famous player of the game.

Charat Singh asks Bakha to enter the house and bring some coal from the kitchen. Bakha becomes astonished to realize that Charat Singh being a Hindu is fine with him entering the house. He enters into the house with great joy and is filled with love towards Charat Singh. He collects the coal from a cook and hurries back to the hockey player. Then Charat Singh gives a new hockey stick to Bakha. He denies having a new stick as a gift, but the hockey player asks him to take the stick and go. Bakha receives his gift and is overwhelmed with joy and thinks that he has good fortunes. As he leaves the house, he immediately thinks about the lessons promised by the elder son of Burra Babu.

Analysis:

Once again Bakha witnesses some good treatment from a high caste man supporting the story of Lakha. This shows that not all the high caste men are the same and some understand their practice of religion instead of following what others believe to be true. If the reader observes, Charat Singh does not treat Bakha in a special way but he talks to him as a fellow human being. Such treatment is only observed by Bakha through his friends and no one else. Gifting a hockey stick, allowing him to the house, letting him handle objects, etc. are simple but they are new and wonderful aspects to Bakha. Thus he claims that he could work as a sweeper for his entire life for Charat Singh.

 

Untouchable Summary: Game of Hockey

Burra Babu’s youngest son brings all the hockey gear needed to play. Chota tells everyone that Bakha is a bearer to a Sahib to mask his true identity. Bakha shows his new hockey stick and everyone congratulates him. Unfortunately, the youngest son does not get to play and is dejected. To console him Bakha gives a task of protecting his overcoat which means so much to him. As the game begins Bakha proves to be a wonderful player with no equal in the field. He moves swiftly between the opponents and scores a goal for his team. This infuriates the goal keeper who hits the leg of Bakha.

Chota orders his team to attack and everyone starts to quarrel. They throw rocks without observing the young son of Burra Babu is amongst them. A stone thrown by Ram Charan hits his head and he falls unconscious and bleeding. Bakha rushes him to his house expecting some treatment to the kid. As he reaches the home, he is abused by the mother for attacking the child. Bakha is shell shocked and the elder son tries to say that it was Ram Charan’s fault. The boy’s mother does not listen and constantly abuses Bakha for the condition of his son. He withdraws from the place and realizes that her hate is because of his untouchability.

He walks back home dispirited expecting more abuses from his father. He hides the hockey stick under a cactus bush and enters his home. Lakha and Rakha abuse him for being away from the house leaving them to work. As things get more serious, Lakha shouts at Bakha to leave the house and asks him to never come back. Bakha could not control his rage and bursts through the house leaving his family. He runs towards the plains without even looking back at the colony or thinking about anything associated with his life.

Analysis:

Bakha has bared the burden of an untouchable for as long as he could. He gets slapped; his sister gets insulted, receives food from the ground and gets insulted many times by his friend’s mother. He does not deserve such fate as he is a compassionate individual who cares for everyone. This is evident from his actions at the hockey game. He rushes the youngest son to the family without realizing the consequences. The boy’s mother, out of hatred towards the untouchable caste blames the injury over Bakha. He remains silent and comes home only to face more insults.

Bakha is the one who does all the hard work while Lakha and Rakha escape their duties. He leaves once for a wedding and game, they start to blame him with indescribable words. The incident does not make Bakha to raise hand against the two; instead he leaves the place running as if possessed. Deep within, he might have realized that talking is an unnecessary task as no one would listen to an untouchable.

 

Untouchable Summary: Christianity

Bakha after running a fair distance settles under a pipal tree [sacred fig]. He expects someone to come and relieve him from his sufferings. However, he understands that such expectations are wrong and impossible.

But, Colonel Hutchinson comes near the tree and tries to comfort him. Now, the Colonel is a party of the Christian Salvation Army trying to convert untouchables into Christianity. His wife often chides him for his incapability and wasting time on untouchables. Bakha is surprised to see an Englishman laying his hand on him. They introduce each other and the Colonel talks about Jesus. Bakha inquires who Jesus is and the Colonel says that he will explain everything in the Church.

Colonel Hutchison starts to drag the boy to the Church and singing songs about God. Bakha cannot understand a thing and wonders the difference between Jesus and Ram or any other God. Gradually, he becomes bored of the hymns but bears it because he likes the presence of an Englishman. He begins to dream about wearing trousers similar to that of the Colonel.

Even his thoughts do not create interest as Bakha tries to escape from the Colonel. Observing the growing disinterest, the Colonel says that Jesus died for the sins of mankind. This piece of information does not attract the boy; therefore, Colonel Hutchison claims that Jesus treats Brahmins and the Untouchables in the same way with equality. Bakha is immediately attracted to the words of equality, but loses his interest as the Colonel starts to blabber so many religious aspects.

Finally, they reach the Church compound with Bakha hoping for a trouser and Hutchinson hoping for a new convert. Then, the Colonel’s wife shouts at him to join her for tea. He says that he will come but could not decide whether to attend Bakha or his wife. As he stands there wondering, his wife comes and shouts at the presence of Bakha by calling him a “blackie” indirectly. She screams about Bhangis and Chamars making Bakha to grow fearful of the two. He takes leave from them and runs away from the Church. A helpless Colonel Hutchison watches as Bakha runs off from his grasp.

Analysis:

Christianity was never a part of India; hence, the conversion rate was very slow. However, this has led to creation of stories like the ones mentioned by Colonel Hutchison. He says that Jesus died for the sins of Brahmins and Bhangis, which is not a concept of Christianity and it not written in The Bible. Such stories gradually attracted the oppressed increasing the conversions leading to more chaos in India. There are only a few like Bakha who realize that running away from one religion to another would only mean to select a different book to realize that the preaching’s are the same. It is the individual who has to follow the exact path set by religion and most of the “pious” do not believe this. Now, religion has become more commercial and there is no charity or faith observed in most religious places.

Untouchable Summary: Mahatma Gandhi

Bakha is very upset to see that everyone blames the untouchables as if they had done some mistake. He feels that the hatred shown by the Colonel’s wife was much greater than the Hindus he encountered that day. Unknowing where he is going he reaches the railroad station of Bulashah. A train seems to approach and all the people shout about the coming of Mahatma Gandhi. All of them are in white and are walking towards Golbagh where Gandhi is expected to address the gathering.

The term Mahatma creates great curiosity in the mind of Bakha wanting him to join the crowd. As Bakha does not have his tools, the crowd do not realize that an untouchable is standing amongst them. He observes that there are different kinds of people in the crowd. He could easily identify ‘who is who’ by their mannerisms and attire. As he looks forward, there are many people in front of him and he decides to take a shortcut from a nearby marsh. Some people follow him and they end up much closer to the oval [stage] where Gandhi would talk. Bakha decides to stay under a tree and leans against it.

The men around discuss about the struggles and achievements of Gandhi. They talks about the political progress he could bring and his dedication towards uplifting people who are called untouchables. Gandhi has done fasting for the sake of untouchables and Bakha is grateful that at least someone is trying to help them. A motorcar enters from which Gandhi along with his wife and daughter of a British admiral come out. He reaches the centre of the oval and greets the crowd.

Mahatma Gandhi begins by praying to the Gods and Bakha feels purged of all the filth of the day. He begins his speech with the mention of imprisonment for protesting against the rule of British. He agrees that the Government has let him out by making an agreement of ‘not speaking against’ British Government. Therefore, he declares that he would speak on another important problem i.e. untouchability. Gandhi says that the people are being oppressed both by the British rule and the unscrupulous principles followed in the society. He emphasizes:

“I regard untouchability as the greatest blot of Hinduism. The view of mine dates back to the time when I was a child.”

Gandhi relates a story from his childhood, where he would go to meet the untouchables and conceal the fact from his parents. Bakha listens many things about abandoning practices like drinking, scavenging, eating carrions and gambling. Although, they seem to criticize the untouchables he understands the importance of them. Gandhi says that untouchables should never take anything that is left over from plates. He states that only good food and grain must be accepted. Bakha feels that Gandhi should tell the same to his father so he could understand the importance of these things. Mahatma even declares that untouchables should have access to temples, schools, wells, etc. The speech ends and Mahatma Gandhi passes by Bakha. The boy is spellbound by the speech and remains near the tree.

Analysis:

Mahatma Gandhi speaks of all the aspects that were causes of insults for Bakha. Therefore, Bakha is greatly influenced by the words coming out from a leader. The efforts made by Mahatma Gandhi to eradicate untouchability are great and it is the primary reason for Mulk Raj Anand to include his character. Further, Gandhi played a direct role in suggesting editions to the novel. Mulk Raj Anand removed almost three hundred pages from the manuscript and made modifications to the main character. All of these greatly collaborate the meeting of Bakha and Mahatma Gandhi.

Sohini is insulted at the temple, Bakha longs for education, bread is thrown to the ground while scavenging and other aspects create negative clouds in the mind of the protagonist. He finds no console in his own house or the society or in a new religion; the only thing that gives solace and drive away the dark clouds are the pure words of Mahatma Gandhi. However, he does not find an immediate solution for his problem as his day continues.

Untouchable Summary: The Muslim and the Poet

As Mahatma Gandhi slowly leaves with the crowd behind him a Muslim calls him a hypocrite. Bakha identifies him as a Muslim and the young man who protests such claims as a poet. The poet agrees that Gandhi has indeed made some mistakes but he has achieved a force to attract the nation towards freedom. He states that India is abundant in philosophy, resources and knowledge of living. Someone in the crowd identifies the poet to be Iqbal Nath Sarshar. The Muslim is identified as Mr. R. N. Bashir, a lawyer.

Bashir expresses his dislike towards the concept of eradication of untouchability by Gandhi. The dislike alone surprises Iqbal as he believes that the issue is the most legible of all. Then he explains about the origin of untouchables, which is the creation of some cruel Brahmins who do not know how to interpret the Holy texts. He emphasizes that such creations of men can be easily destroyed through proper effort. People are following the system based on the work done by the untouchables and according to Iqbal if people start to use the “Flush System” then there would be no need of human intervention. The latrines would be clean without humans and cleaning profession would completely vanish resulting in the eradication of the untouchables. Bashir cannot respond to the claims of Iqbal and they leave.

Bakha wants to listen to the discussion as it gives solutions to the problems in his mind. He is cleansed of all the bad things that happened on that day. Bakha then decides to follow the instructions given by Mahatma Gandhi. He understands that having a flush system would decrease the problems faced by untouchables and heads back home to say all these things to his father.

Analysis:

The debate helps the purged Bakha to find a solution to untouchability. He is a happy soul with many conflicting happy thoughts in the mind after the debate. He decides to go back and relate the speeches to his father. He is no longer in confusion as he decides to follow the path of Mahatma Gandhi. Further, he realizes that religion has not made him an untouchable; but, it is the people who have created such a profession.

In Yajur Veda, it is written thus: “Om Yadhemam vacham kalyani mavadhani janebyaha|

Brahmarajanyabhyam suudraya chaaryaya cha swaaya chaaranaaya||”

 

General Translation: The four Vedas are intended for the study of all Varnas [castes]. Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaisya, Suudra, etc. and women can read, propagate and listen to the knowledge of Vedas. This will help to remove all the sufferings from life and help to live a harmonious life.

Untouchable by Mulk Raj Anand clearly intends to show that Hindu religion is meant to perform on this Vedic Mantra rather than the fictional creation of some people. Bakha is in harmony with his life, for he has realized the truth through the two knowledgeable men he listens to – Iqbal and Mahatma Gandhi.

 

Untouchable 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’s other 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                 Waziro is the 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.

 

 

Untouchable 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 hagne wala (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.

 

Untouchable Quotes and Analysis

“Get up, ohe you Bakhya, you son of a pig.”       --Lakha, p. 23

These words serve as Bakha’s wake-up call; they are the start of his day. With the insult “you son of a pig,” Lakha shows his abusive nature towards his children but is also unintentionally funny. Not only does Lakha call himself a pig, he also shows his hypocrisy when he orders his son to wake up while he remains comfortably ensconced in his bed. This quote is a prime example of the violent language motif and Lakha’s laziness.

"'A bit superior to his job,’ they always said, ‘not the kind of man who ought to be doing this.”

--Unnamed onlookers, p. 29

The “he” the onlookers are talking about is Bakha. They comment on how ill suited Bakha is for the job of the sweeper. Not because he is too small or incapable, but because the work seems beneath him. He is superior to the job; he doesn’t deserve to have such a degrading job. With the phrase “not the kind of man who ought to be doing this,” the onlookers illustrate that sweeping is a job for certain type of people, people that are inferior to the rest of society. Bakha’s outward demeanor distinguishes him from other sweepers that (from the perspective of the onlookers) deserve the punishing life of a sweeper.

“‘Kala admi zamin par hagne wala’ (black man, you who relieve yourself on the ground).”Tommies, p. 35

Here the Tommies are addressing Hindu people that conduct their bathroom business in the open areas outside of Bulahshah instead of visiting the latrines. The cultural differences between the Hindus and the British are thrown into relief in this quote. Bakha believes that Hindus who relieve themselves in public should be embarrassed and shameful because anyone, especially the British, can see them and criticize them. Here we see how Bakha uses the opinions of the British as a litmus test and model for his own opinions. This is a perfect example of the rejection of Indian roots theme.

“'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!”             --High-caste man, p. 89

The events surrounding this diatribe against Bakha is the climax of Untouchable and the novel’s major pivot point in terms of plot and literary elements. Bakha’s day and the micro-aggressions he experiences before his brush with the high-caste man all lead up to this explosive exchange. Everything that occurs after this point traces back to this run-in at the town square and/or is impacted by it. In terms of literary elements, several of the novels major themes and motifs are demonstrated in this excerpt. The high-caste man references the untouchable’s responsibility/burden when he asks why Bakha does not call and announce his approach. His aggressive, derogatory language towards Bakha is a clear example of the class struggle theme and the violent language motif.

“Posh keep away, posh, sweeper coming, posh, posh, sweeper coming, posh, posh, sweeper coming!”             ---Bakha, p. 98

This is the warning Bakha must shout whenever he approaches an area populated by caste people. This chant is the epitome of the untouchable’s burden and is a good example of the literary device repetition. After neglecting to call out and being soundly reprimanded for it, Bakha begins to call out his warning feverously. At this point he still shaken because of the verbal and physical attacks he received, but his responsibility to the other castes comes before his own well-being. It is arguable that the entire existence of the outcastes is one of sacrifice for the greater good. They are shunned and hated in exchange for clearing away waste so everyone can have some sort of cleanliness.

“Why are we always abused?”   --Bakha, p. 98

This plaintive cry of Bakha’s is tragic and rhetorical. He is asking why the rest of Hindu society singles out and victimizes untouchables. This question is significant because it illustrates Bakha’s genuine despair and confusion about his life as an untouchable. Furthermore, it shows that despite what his father says and how society treats him, Bakha refuses to believe that being an untouchable makes him inferior to others, or deserving of their abuse.

“For them I am a sweeper, sweeper — untouchable! Untouchable! Untouchable! That’s the word! Untouchable! I am an Untouchable!"     --Bakha, p. 100

The repetition of “untouchable” in this quote helps to convey Bakha’s anguish and anger regarding the slap he receives from the high-caste man. After asking rhetorically why he is abused, he answers his own question by reaffirming his status as a sweeper, as an untouchable. This quote is significant because in addition to evoking the class struggle theme it also depicts an eureka moment for Bakha. In this moment he truly realizes that to be an untouchable in Hindu society is to be a second-class citizen. Before, it was something he knew distantly, something hovering in his subconscious. Now, following the slap from the high-caste man, his untouchability is something Bakha knows intimately and consciously.

“It was a discord between person and circumstance by which a lion like him lay enmeshed in a net while many a common criminal wore a rajah’s crown. ”  --The Narrator, p. 182

Bakha is the “him” in the quote that the unidentified narrator describes. The narrator points out the unfairness and randomness of the caste system, a system under which someone like Bakha is enslaved while worse men than him live like kings. Using the image of the lion in a simile about Bakha is powerful because it ascribes to Bakha all the qualities of a lion—strength, regality, pride, etc. Alternatively, the imagery of a criminal wearing a raja’s crown (i.e., a prince’s crown) brings to mind scoundrels like Pundit Kali Nath who have high positions in society but are actually the worst kind of men.

“It was with difficulty, however, that he prevented himself from stumbling, for his soul was full of love and adoration and worship for the man who had thought it fit to entrust him, an unclean menial, with the job and his eyes were turned inwards.”               --The Narrator, p. 207

After Charat Singh asks Bakha to fill his smoking pipe with coal, Bakha is filled with awe and wonder. This is a task most people would refuse to give to an untouchable, for fear of contamination. The significance of this quote is manifold. One, it shows that not every Hindu adheres to the rigid laws of the caste system. While Charat Singh doesn’t treat Bakha as an equal, he also doesn’t treat him as if the young man is subhuman. By doing this Singh is undermining the Hindu religion in favor of his own morals and beliefs. Two, it shows Bakha’s paradoxical and complicated relationship to his sweeper and untouchable status. In some situations Bakha clearly hates being treated different just because he clears waste. In others, such as this moment with Singh, he shows that he has internalized certain prejudiced thoughts and stereotypes. For example, in this quote he describes himself as “an unclean menial," even though he takes such pains to remain clean and presentable. And three, this quote illustrates how starved Bakha is for respect and kind treatment from the people that populate his life.

“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, p. 302

This passage is Untouchable’s “light at the end of the tunnel.” It paints a picture of a coming future where sweepers like Bakha and his family will no longer be needed and can perhaps find different employment. Though the advent of the flush system may not be revolutionary for Bakha’s generation because they are already untouchable in the eyes of other Hindus, perhaps life will be different for the generations to come. This passage is connected to the rejection of Indian roots theme because only by abandoning the current, traditional means of clearing waste and adopting the modern, mechanized way can untouchables have a chance at liberation from untouchability.

 

 

 

Untouchable Summary and Analysis

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 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. Lakha however is not impressed by his son’s interests and abuses him for it, often calling Bakha derogatory names like “son of a pig.” There is no love lost between the father and son.

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. 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. It is Havilar Charat Singh, a famous hockey player. 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, without soiling himself in the process. 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, 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 bases his opinions on the Tommie perspective regarding Indian ways of cleansing. Generally the Tommies condemn the Indian ways and so Bakha follows suit.

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. 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. They successfully prevail upon Nath to draw for them. 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.

Analysis

Untouchable eschews the typical chapter-by-chapter division. Instead the book is divided into vignette-like sections. In these two introductory sections, we learn the book is set in the fictional Indian town of Bulashah. Because Untouchable is a work of historical realistic fiction, we can assume Bulashah is modeled after actual Indian towns and society. The allusions to the Hindu caste system, different Indian habits, and the British occupation of India all serve to place the book in a specific historical time and place.

The novel opens in the outcaste’s colony located on the outskirts of Bulashah, where our protagonist and his family live. The omniscient third-person narrator of Untouchable describes the colony using a combination of the five senses with special emphasis on smell. For example, the narrator says that the air around the colony is “biting, choking, and pungent.” The narrator ends their description of Bulashah by pronouncing it an “uncongenial” place to live, a conclusion shared by the protagonist of Untouchable, Bakha.

The eldest son of Lakha, leader of all of Bulashah’s sweepers, Bakha is an 18-years-old untouchable. Intelligent and vain, he is obsessed with the habits and dress of the British. This obsession often leads him to reject his own country’s customs and clothes in favor of those of the Tommies. The rejection of his Indian heritage is one source of the discord between Bakha and his father. The other is Bakha’s resentment over his father’s laziness with regards to their jobs as sweepers. Ever since Bakha’s mother passed away his father has grown increasingly lazy. As a result, Bakha stepped into the role of head of household, often taking the brunt of the sweeping work.

Although several circumstances of Bakha’s life (like his complicated relationship to his father and the fourth-class citizen life he leads because he is a sweeper) make him a sympathetic character, he is oftentimes difficult to relate to. His naïve, non-nuanced adoration of India’s British colonizers can seem paradoxical and offensive to modern-day readers. It is important to keep in mind the escapism motif when considering Bakha’s absorption in British ways. His obsession becomes more relatable when we understand he does it to escape the harsh realities of his own life.

A far more sympathetic character is Sohini, Bakha’s younger sister. A patient, composed, and peaceful young woman, Sohini does her best to help Bakha with his burdens as the de facto head of their household. Sohini does a better job than her brother in terms of accepting the harsh realities of their lives as untouchables, even in the face of Gulabo’s hatred. Although one would hope Gulabo’s behavior towards Sohini was a caricature of the actual treatment untouchables receive, at this point there is no evidence to say either way.

Though it is early in the novel, several of Untouchables' major themes and motifs have already made an appearance. Bakha uses the clothing of the Hindu and Muslim men to differentiate between them. This is a clear allusion to the "you are what you wear" theme. That theme and the "rejection of Indian roots" theme are also invoked when Bakha muses about his love for British “fashun” and habiliments. He enjoys wearing British clothing instead of Indian clothing because it distinguishes him from his countrymen and creates (in his eyes) a link between himself and what he imagines the clothes represent. That is, modernity and sophistication. "Charity,""cyclical oppression," and "class struggle" are also present. In an act of charity, Charat Singh promises to give Bakha a hockey stick. Bakha’s family is a great example of oppression that is cyclical and generational. His father was born an untouchable and so he and his siblings are also untouchables. And finally, class struggle is present in almost every interaction in this first section of the novel, from Bakha’s and Charat Singh’s to Sohini’s and Gulabo’s.

Other literary elements used in these two episodes from Bakha’s life are flashback, anthropomorphism, and hyperbole. When he is lying awake waiting for his day to begin Bakha’s thoughts flashback to his mother and how she cared for him when she was alive. During Gulabo’s verbal assault of Sohini, she directs several hyperbolic attacks towards the younger woman, such as calling her a slut for laughing and “showing her teeth” in the presence of men. And finally, after Sohini’s conflict with Gulabo, she feels something in her heart “asking for mercy.” Here Sohini’s heart is anthropomorphized and given the ability to speak.

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. This unnamed man begins to verbally abuse Bakha, calling him everything from a “cockeyed son of a bow-legged scorpion” to a son of a bitch (Anand 88). Though the man bumped into Bakha, he blames Bakha for running into him and for falling to warn others of his approach. 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: why are untouchables always abused? He realizes it is his job of handling dung that makes him anathema to Hindus. In this moment, he fully understands what being an untouchable truly means. He pauses in the street to fix his turban that the touched man’s slap unraveled.

Analysis

Though still early on in the novel, this section of Untouchable contains the novel’s climax. The climax of the novel is when a high-caste person accidentally touches and then slaps Bakha in the Bulashah town center. This moment impacts all subsequent events and interactions in the novel. It stays in the forefront of Bakha’s mind for the rest of the book and influences many of his choices and behaviors. In addition, the climax features two of Untouchables key themes and motifs. The touched man’s reaction after realizing he touched Bakha is a fundamental example of the "untouchable’s responsibility" theme. He places the blame for the accidental touching wholly on Bakha’s shoulders, first accusing Bakha of touching him, then verbally abusing Bakha for not announcing his presence. Bakha is also tasked with maintaining a healthy, non-polluting distance between him and the angry mob gathered around to witness the drama, even though he wants to flee the scene. Again, the responsibility of protecting the “purity” of the high-caste people falls on the untouchable.

The motif of violent language is used liberally in the climax of the novel as well. The touched man and the crowd that gathers to support him verbally abuse Bakha with an array of colorful language. Some of these insults, such as “cockeyed son of a bow-legged scorpion” are most likely the transliterated Punjabi to English idioms that Mulk Raj Anand is famous for. Similar to Sohini’s fight with Gulabo, some of the language and anger of the high castes can be comical for readers because the grievances of the high castes are overexaggerated. However, for Sohini and especially for Bakha the violent language the high castes use against them is no joke. As both experience first hand, the verbal abuse of the high castes can quickly slip into physical abuse.

Many of the novel’s other themes and literary elements can be found in these two vignettes. One of the first is the "class struggle" theme. In “Bakha Talks to the Other Boys of the Colony” we see both intra- and inter- caste conflict. Though Bakha and his friends Ram Charan and Chota are all outcastes, because Bakha is a sweeper he is an untouchable and lower than his friends in the caste hierarchy. The difference in social standing amongst Bakha and his friends is exhibited when the boys discuss the marriage of Ram Charan’s sister. Though Bakha has always had feelings for his friend’s sister, he could never even dream of acting on them. Besides rules of the caste system forbidding a marriage between the two, Gulabo, the girl’s mother, would probably have a conniption. The struggle between the different castes is exhibited when Bakha thinks about his lack of an education. The fear of his contaminating presence means schools and professors refuse to admit and teach him. As an untouchable, he is virtually forbidden from learning how to read, to write, to do math, etc. which puts him at a significant disadvantage to people of the higher castes.

The barrier to education for untouchables is also an example of the "cyclical oppression" theme. Because they cannot learn skills and trades in school or in apprenticeships, the untouchables are unable to rise through the ranks of society by changing their professions. Without the opportunity for education they are stuck in a cycle of poverty, suffering, and oppression. Another example of the "cyclical oppression" theme appears just before the book’s climax. When Bakha buys candy, the shopkeeper cheats him and gives him significantly less candy than his money is actually worth. This effectively means that the candy was more expensive for Bakha than it would have been for non-untouchable person. Higher prices for the untouchables contribute to the perpetuation of their poverty. It is also paradoxical and nonsensical to have the highest prices for those with the least amount of money.

Finally, the theme of religion is imbedded throughout this section of the novel, starting with the moment Bakha asks a Muslim man for some coal to light his cigarette. The Muslim man has no problem with using the same coal as Bakha, a fear that most of the novel’s Hindus would definitely have. This is a great example of the religious differences that divide India’s populace. Another example of the religious divisions between Muslims and Hindus vis-à-vis their treatment of untouchables occurs after Bakha has been slapped. The Muslim merchant that witnessed the slap is shocked by the touched man’s violence against Bakha, and stops to console our protagonist. Thus far in the novel, no Hindu person has given an untouchable the kind of compassion the Muslim merchant gave to Bakha. The fact that Muslims do not believe in untouchability is one major difference between them and Hindus, a difference that is thrown into great relief in Untouchable.

Similes and metaphors are used liberally throughout Untouchable. There were a few noteworthy ones in “Bakha Talks to the Other Colony Boys” and “Bakha Touches a High Caste.” When Bakha leaves the outcastes' colony he stops to take in the fresh air of the area directly outside of the colony. He has escaped the “odorous, smoky world of refuse” and all the burdens that world has for him. Outside of the colony, he can breathe deeply and enjoy the clean air surrounding him. In this way, air is used as a metaphor for freedom. In that instance, as Bakha stands in the sun, just breathing deeply and allowing the fresh air to settle in his lungs, he is free from the weights and responsibilities holding him down. Unfortunately for Bakha, this moment of freedom is short-lived. “Like a ray of light shooting through the darkness, the recognition of his position, the significance of his lot dawned upon him.” This simile marks the moment Bakha is forced to realize that because he is an untouchable, his freedom is limited. Though he is intelligent, Bakha is also naïve about his place in the world. Until now he believed that if he dressed like a sahib he would be treated differently than other untouchables. His altercation with the high-caste man in the Bulashah town square is just the beginning of his fall to reality.

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. 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” (Anand 115). 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!” (Anand 116).

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. However, he cannot “overstep the barriers which the conventions of his superiors had built up to protect their weakness against him” (Anand 125). And so 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, 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.

Analysis

In “Bakha at the Temple” and “Bakha Takes a Nap” Bakha wallows in the feelings sparked by his incident with the high caste man in addition to grappling with two new traumatic events. The first of these events is Pundit Kali Nath, one of the priests of Bulashah’s temple, sexually assaulting his sister. The other is a high caste woman treating him like scum when he goes to beg for food. Between his public shaming, Sohini’s assault, and the rudeness of the high-caste woman, this is shaping into a horrendous, inauspicious day for Bakha. Because these events occurred in such close temporal proximity to one another he hasn’t had much time to process them. It feels as if he is wandering the streets of Bulashah listlessly, flitting from one catastrophe to the next.

Before he learns of Sohini’s assault Bakha does manage to have a moment of reflection while cleaning the temple courtyard. Surrounded by all the religious iconography and the noise from the temple service he begins to wonder what it all means. As he approaches the temple door to spy on the worshipers we witness the internal battle between his curiosity and his fear of discovery, a fear cultivated by “the dead weight of years of habitual bending cast on him.” This is a direct reference to the generational trauma and burdens Bakha must grapple with as someone descending from a long line of sweepers. When he creeps slowly up the stairs he is a “humble, oppressed under-dog that he was by birth, afraid of everything” (Anand 112). This is another reference to the cyclical oppression theme. Not only does society condition Bakha to be a “humble dog,” he already is one by default when he is born. Anand uses a simile about the fixed, flowing nature of water to further elucidate the connection between Bakha and his ancestors and how their continued degradation across centuries is considered natural and perpetual in Hindu society.

When he finds the courage to watch the worshipers and later when he contemplates getting revenge on Nath for assaulting his sister, Bakha is clearly pushing back against the conditioning and teachings forced upon the untouchables. Sadly, rarely does his strength and courage to fight back crescendo and manifest into action. For example, when he plots to confront the priest it is all for naught because he cannot bring himself to overstep the barriers of caste and class that separate the untouchables from everyone else in society. The inability of Bakha to avenge his sister’s honor and Sohini’s inability to defend herself against Pundit Nath’s accusations are examples of the class struggles and social disparities between untouchables and the rest of Hindu society. This is especially true for Sohini. Though she was the priest’s victim she has become the accused because no one would believe the word of an untouchable over a high-caste person. This is true of both pedestrian people and members of the judicial system and allows for an array of crimes to be committed against untouchables with little to no consequences for the perpetrators of those crimes.

The differential treatment untouchables receive extend to the realm of charity as well. When Bakha and the sadhu beg the high-caste woman for food, she is verbally abusive and unkind to Bakha but the picture of generosity and politeness to the sadhu. This exposes how many Hindus view untouchables as lesser humans. Both the sadhu and Bakha were beggars at that moment, but the woman saw one as deserving of her charity and the other as undeserving. Some of her deference to the sadhu can be attributed to the sadhu’s ability to give her a religious blessing in return for the food she gifts him. As an untouchable, Bakha of course doesn’t have this ability. However, according to Hinduism, by giving him alms the woman is ensuring she maintains her high-caste position in the next life. So in a way she is also receiving something from Bakha. Clearly, she does not interpret the situation through that lens though.

To close, the two steps forward, one step back routine Bakha did at the steps of the temple parallel his overall character development. Earlier with the touched man and Pundti Kali Nath, Bakha could not find the courage to stand up for himself or his sister. Given the circumstances, including his tenuous place in his society, Bakha cannot be blamed for his unwillingness to defend himself. However, he does manage to find the courage to take a stand later with the high-caste woman. When the woman instructs her son to defecate in the gutter next to Bakha so he can clean it up, Bakha lets his disgust and anger over the situation rise to the surface. Rather than following the woman’s orders and providing his sweeper services, he throws down the woman’s broom and leaves. This type of civil disobedience can be powerful and shows how Bakha is coming into his personhood. His refusal to clean up after the woman’s son is a step forward. Time will tell if he takes a step back.

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.

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” (Anand 168). 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” (Anand 179). 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” (Anand 190). 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.

Analysis

In these sections of the book, the focus of the novel extends past just Bakha to include others, including Lakha, Rakha, Bakha’s friends, and the narrator. Through a flashback we learn in part why the binds of oppression don’t chafe at Lakha as much as they do his children. The eleventh-hour kindness of the doctor that purportedly saved Bakha’s life is, to Lakha, an example of the generosity and charity of the higher castes. The rich food the high castes give to the outcastes during weddings and other special events is another testament to their generosity in Lakha’s eyes. That’s why Lakha brushes his son aside when Bakha points out the system of cyclical oppression the sweepers are trapped in (“they think we are mere dirt because we clean their dirt” [Anand 153]). Rather than hating a system that establishes barriers to healthcare for certain classes, Lakha curries favors and panders to the main beneficiaries of that system. This was not always the case. In his anecdote, Lakha says that when he was turned away from the doctor’s clinic, even though he had enough money to buy the medicine Bakha needed, he felt as if a scorpion was stinging him. Clearly, he recognized the injustice of the situation and was tormented by it. Lakha is not blind to the class struggles between the untouchables and the rest of Hindu society. Nowadays, he simply ignores them.

Like father, like son is a platitude that comes to mind when considering the character of Rakha. Like Lakha, Rakha seems complacent with his lot in life. He does not share his brother’s obsession with British culture and does not understand Bakha’s desire to escape the realities of their lives. Furthermore, he doesn’t have his brother’s propensity for cleanliness, something Bakha is derisive of. In this way Rakha is a foil to Bakha. As sons of the head sweeper the brothers lead parallel lives, but because of their personal decisions and preferences these lives are mirror images of each other.

Some depth is added to the characters of Ram Charan and Chota as well. When Ram Charan ignores his mother’s ire and runs off with Bakha and Chota anyways he shows his loyalty to his friends, even though they are beneath him in the class hierarchy. Neither Ram Charan nor Chota think nothing of breaking bread with Bakha, which is why they are nonplussed when Bakha refuses to take the sugar plums directly from Ram Charan’s hands. The boys had all but eradicated the intra-class barriers amongst their small circle, but Bakha’s traumatic experiences earlier in the day had erected those barriers anew. Chota demonstrates his sensitive, attentive side when he wheedles Bakha’s tale of woe out of the recalcitrant sweeper. Despite Bakha’s protestations Chota intuitively knows there is something his friend needs to confess.

As the book progresses so does Bakha’s character development. For example, some light is shed on the origins of his obsession with the British. When he “interned” with his uncle at the British barracks the Tommies treated Bakha like a human being. He was still “the help” and still an “Indian black man”, but they did not treat him as if he was the scum of the earth like orthodox Hindus do. They didn’t view him as untouchable or as a corrupting, polluting presence. This fact helps elucidate why British culture is so important to Bakha. For someone that has been treated as sub-human for his entire life, it is no wonder Bakha began to idolize the British after they treated him as a full human being. Thus Bakha’s fascination with and love of British clothes, social mores, and mannerisms can be interpreted as him seeking out a culture that acknowledges his humanity. He is rejecting his Indian roots because in some ways they deny him his personhood. Though on the surface his obsession may appear to be the superficial whimsies of a vain young man, there is something poignant at work here.

These revelations about Bakha, his family, and his friends are facilitated by the observations and analyses of Untouchable’s third person omniscient narrator. Though he is intelligent, Bakha simply lacks the worldview and critical thinking skills required to critically interpret many of the things happening to him. For a book so deeply imbedded with sociocultural and sociopolitical meaning this is kind of critical analysis is vital. The narrator of Untouchable fills that void. A pivotal example of this is the narrator’s breakdown of Bakha’s “hatred for his own town and [his] love for the world to which he looked out” (Anand 150). The narrator explains Bakha’s feelings as a type of “the grass is always greener on the other side” syndrome. He argues that for people the familiar becomes stale and the unknown becomes fascinating and exotic. In Bakha’s case the familiar isn’t stale inasmuch as it’s unbearable. It’s unbearable for him to continue living as a fourth class citizen.

Bakha doesn’t explicitly articulate these feelings. Rather, his dissatisfaction with his life is related in more subliminal ways. He has hyperbolic ideas such as “he would be unhappy if he heard even one human voice” which show he doesn’t even want the company of his friends. Before he shares the day’s events with Ram Charan and Chota he takes refuge in an anthropomorphized nature that “stretches [it’s hands] out towards him” (Anand 178), a nature composed of silence and solitude. His discontent causes him to seek out isolation and escape from the trappings of his life. His gut instinct is still to escape from reality. Only time will tell if Bakha reaches a point where he can confront his problems head on.

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.

Analysis

The story picks up at the barracks where Charat Singh lives. The story of the solar topee is a testament to the deferential treatment white colonizers received on the Indian subcontinent. It also makes Bakha aware of the ridiculousness of his English clothing obsession. Even he realizes that desiring to wear a solar topee while playing hockey is absurd. Bakha’s ability to be self-critical and self-reflective show how much he’s grown in this long, arduous day.

 

The meeting with Charat Singh is perhaps the high point of that day thus far. From the hockey player, Bakha receives one of the things he’s starved for in his life—humane treatment from his fellow Hindus. When Singh shows no qualms about allowing Bakha to touch his personal items or sharing libations with Bakha, it fills the young sweeper’s soul with “love and adoration and worship” for Singh. He thinks that he would gladly be a sweeper for Singh for the rest of his life. The fact that Singh simply treating Bakha as a person sparked this hard and fast devotion illustrates how harshly being treated as a pollutant has impacted Bakha. He would happily remain swept along by the cyclical tide of a sweeper’s life in exchange for better treatment from the higher castes. This revelation supports the claim that beneath his vanity and superficiality Bakha really just wants to be treated as a human being by other members of his society.

Besides alluding to the themes of "charity,""class struggle," and "cyclical oppression," Bakha’s interaction with Charat Singh also makes use of the "religion" theme and paradox. Through the way Singh treats Bakha, from allowing the sweeper to touch an item he’ll eventually put near his mouth to gifting Bakha a hockey stick for a babu’s son, he shows that though he is Hindu, he does not adhere to every facet of the religion’s beliefs. In this way, Charat Singh opens the door for a debate about how truly necessary untouchability and the entire caste system are to Hinduism. The paradoxical element of Singh’s and Bakha’s exchange occurs when Singh brushes aside Bakha’s sweeping duties, telling him to “blow” his work, when Singh himself shouted at Bakha earlier in the morning for not cleaning the latrines quickly enough. Bakha too is perplexed by his idol’s contradictory behavior but takes it in stride. For the reader this is an example of Anand’s comedic touch.

Unfortunately for Bakha his glee from his meeting with Charat Singh and his happiness while playing hockey do not last long. Even before the game starts, Chota dents Bakha’s felicity by telling him the other boys believe he is a sahib’s bearer, and thus not an untouchable. Bakha understands the necessity of masking his real identity, but nonetheless feels a pang at the news. His class level will always be a factor in everything he does. Still, during the game Bakha is an all-star, scoring the first, and, as it turns out, only goal. When the son of the babu is caught in the crossfire of the hockey fight, Bakha forgets the caste rules, so eager to help the little boy. His reward for his compassion is a sound verbal thrashing from the little boy’s mother, who jumps to conclusions and blames Bakha for her son’s injuries. Even when her other son tells her Ram Charan is the culprit, the woman’s prejudice against untouchables renders her deaf and blind to the truth. This is an example of the untouchable’s burden—they must lead lives above reproach lest people accuse them of crimes. And even then, as we see in Bakha’s (and Sohini’s) case, they may still be condemned as criminals, as menaces to society. The accusations of the babu’s wife completely destroyed Bakha’s high after meeting with Charat Singh. The screaming of his father and holier-than-thou behavior of his brother bring him even lower.

The highs and lows of Bakha’s day have cracked Untouchable’s protagonist wide open in these two vignettes. The kindness and decency he receives from Charat Singh build him up, but the anger and accusations of the babu’s wife send him tumbling down again. These two polarizing incidents, coupled with his father’s eviction and Rakha’s conceitedness, cause Bakha to flee from his life, both metaphorically and literally. Throughout the book Bakha takes mental flights of fancy, often daydreaming and falling into trance-like musings. He escapes what’s happening all around him by blocking it out with his own thoughts. Oftentimes when he’s preoccupied by his internal self dialogues his body just drifts aimlessly and directionless. In “Bakha Leaves Home” we see Bakha actively, physically running away from his life. Normally he remains calm in the face of his father’s fury and insults. The calamities of the day, however, depleted his quota of patience and placidity. His father screaming at him and “evicting” him is the last straw. Before, the escapism motif appeared only in metaphorical iterations. Now, Bakha is attempting to escape his world by literally running away from it. The question now is where (or what, or who) will he run to?

 

11.Bakha and the Christian Missionary"

Summary

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 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 Yessuh Messih 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 Yessuh Messih 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.

Analysis

The final two movements (discussed in this and the next section) in Bakha’s story are vastly different from the rest of the novel. For most of the novel, it is clear that Bakha is the main character. He plays an instrumental role in many of the book’s events. Apart from a short sojourn with Sohini, the third-person narrator relates Bakha’s trajectory through the day.

During “Bakha and the Christian Missionary,” however, it feels as if Bakha is a mere spectator in his own life. He is mute and inactive during the Colonel’s argument with Mary Hutchinson, even though it appears he is the source of their feud. In Bakha’s defense, he didn’t fully understand what was happening since he does not speak their language. The shift in the storytelling in the last two vignettes reminds us that while Untouchable is a story of someone’s life, it is also a novel of social commentary. It is somewhere between a bildungsroman and the work of a muckraker.

Other elements of “Bakha and the Christian Missionary” remind us that Untouchable is a political, sociocultural piece of writing. For example, the tug of war between Christianity and Hinduism that occurs. First seduced by Colonel Hutchinson’s whiteness, Bakha is eventually convinced to accompany the Salvation Army chief when he says that Yessuh Messih can give him rest from his labors. Though he doesn’t want to convert, Bakha is intrigued and slightly swayed when he hears that Yessuh Messih sees no difference between himself and the Brahmins.

Because the argument between the Colonel and his wife scares Bakha off before the Colonel can explicitly bring up converting, we do not know what the young sweeper would have decided. However, this scene is important because it is an allusion to the real-life conversion of untouchables from Hinduism to other religions in order to escape caste prosecution. This tug of war between Hinduism and Christianity is just another manifestation of the "religion" theme that’s prevalent throughout the whole novel.

Though Bakha remains ignorant of the deeper social and political issues that impact and govern his life, it is obvious he has grown and matured over the course of his long day. He is still enamored with the British and their ways of life, but his obsession is tempered by self-awareness. He now knows that sometimes he takes his predilection for the British too far.

12. "Bakha and Two Great Speakers"

Summary

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.

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.

Analysis

As mentioned in the previous Summary and Analysis, the final two movements in Bakha’s story are vastly different from the rest of the novel. For most of the novel, it is clear that Bakha is the main character. He plays an instrumental role in many of the book’s events. Apart from a short sojourn with Sohini, the third-person narrator relates Bakha’s trajectory through the day.

During “Bakha and the Christian Missionary” and “Bakha and Two Great Speakers,” however, it feels as if Bakha is a mere spectator in his own life. The relegation of Bakha to the sidelines returns during Gandhi’s speech and the debate between Sarshar and Bashir. Although all three men speak Hindustani, their advanced ideas and speech sail above Bakha’s head. He isn’t so much listening to the men speak, as he is a medium through which information is funneled to us, the readers. It feels as if Anand uses Bakha as a means of explicitly telling the reader his opinions about the political issues Untouchable raises, including the fate of the untouchables. The shift in the storytelling in these last two vignettes reminds us that while Untouchable is a story of someone’s life, it is also a novel of social commentary. It is somewhere between a bildungsroman and the work of a muckraker.

Other elements of “Bakha and Two Great Speakers,” as in the last section, remind us that Untouchable is a political, sociocultural piece of writing. It is no coincidence that when Bakha runs away from the Christian missionary (in the last section), he stumbles upon the speech of Mahatma Gandhi. A symbol of revolution and reform, the Mahatma represents a new interpretation of Hinduism, an interpretation that does not include the subjugation and untouchability of sweepers. Gandhi recognizes that unless Hinduism wishes to continue losing its believers to Christianity, it must change its relationship with the lowest of those followers. This tug of war between Hinduism and Christianity is just another manifestation of the "religion" theme that’s prevalent throughout the whole novel.

The debate between the lawyer Bashir and the poet Sarshar is another element that demonstrates Untouchable’s roots as a political work. Over the course of the debate, the two men reference everything from colonization to modernity to the corruption of religion. Sarshar in particular is passionate as he describes India’s current place in the world and speculates about the heights to which it can climb. As Sarshar pontificates, the reader gets the sense that Mulk Raj Anand himself is talking directly to the reader about his fears and hopes for India and the untouchables. This sense is aided by the distinct lack of mental interjections from Bakha as the two intellectuals volley back and forth. We are told nothing about Bakha’s reactions to or feelings about the men’s words. All of this evidence supports the claim that this final scene is an exposition mostly for the reader’s benefit. The only thing Bakha gleans from the men’s lively discussion is that there is a machine on the horizon that can clear away dung without human contact. He doesn’t understand when Sarshar says the arrival of this machine in India hinges on the country’s acceptance of industrialization. The deeper nuances of the men’s talk, including Britain’s role in all of this, is lost on Bakha.

Though Bakha remains ignorant of the deeper social and political issues that impact and govern his life, it is obvious he has grown and matured over the course of his long day. Though he continues to reject his Indian roots, it is possible that Gandhi’s speech instilled in him a sense of pride and belonging. Judging from his reactions whenever he receives a modicum of kindness from high-caste Hindus, part of the reason Bakha rejects his Indian heritage is because he feels like India rejects him, his family, and other untouchables. Gandhi calling for the abolition of untouchability and Sarshar’s news of the flush toilet raises the question of whether Indians will be able to accept untouchables as one of their own after all. The uplifting image at the book’s denouement, of Bakha silhouetted in the Indian twilight going home to share with his father stories of a machine that will unequivocally change their lives, gives a glimmer of hope.

 

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.

Untouchable Overview of the Hindu Caste System

One of the last remaining formal systems of social stratification in the world, the Hindu caste system is the central topic of Untouchable. It dates back to 2,000 BC and consists of two core concepts, varna and jāti, which roughly mean “class” and “birth” respectively (“Philosophy 312”). The caste system follows a basic tenet: all men are created unequal; men are different, and fit well into different aspects of society. Ancient Hindu literature and texts have typified these aspects into four varnas (the Brahmins, the Kshatriyas, the Vaishyas, and the Shudras). Each of these varnas have traditional duties or roles to play within society. The Dalits, more commonly known as the untouchables, exist outside the caste system (O’Neill, paragraph 3).

According to the Rig Veda, an ancient Hindu text, the world was formed from Purusa (the originator of all life) as follows:

The brahmin was his mouth, his two arms became the rajanya (kshatriyas), his thighs are what the vaisya are, and from his feet the shudra was made.

The placement of each varna on the body of Purusa symbolizes their function or job within Hindu society. From his mouth came the Brahmins who serve as the middlemen between the gods and mankind. They are the priests, teachers, and preachers. Purusa’s arms became the Kshatriyas, also known as the warrior class. They are the protectors of society and today those that compose the ruling class (i.e., politicians, the military, lawmakers). The Vaishyas were made from his thighs because like the thighs on the human body they help support the entire system. They are the producers, the farmers, the artisans, and the merchants. Finally, at the bottom are the Shudras, who came from Purusa’s feet. Similar to how the feet serve the rest of the body, the Shudras serve the other three varnas as unskilled laborers (“Philosophy 312”).

This primordial being supposedly does not claim the Dalits because they are considered “too impure, too polluted to rank as worthy beings.” As such, they exist outside of the caste system at the very bottom. Their work options are usually restricted to cleaning toilets, sweeping, or scavenging.

Jātis are complex social groups defined by a myriad of factors, including birth, tribe, job function, food habits, dress, and language. While there are only four varnas, there are thousands of jātis, which are roughly divided amongst the four varnas (Smith, “Varna and Jāti”).

Historically the caste system was enforced by four major factors: heredity, caste rules, marriage, and preferential treatment.

Heredity: As we see in Untouchable, the varnas are passed from generation to generation. Children inherit their caste from their parents and pass it on to their children. In this hereditary system, individuals are not allowed to change their caste.

Caste Rules: These rules ensured that the different varnas performed their respective duties. For example, the Brahmins were expected to read and interpret the holy texts while the Kshatriyas had to dispense justice. Each varna had different rules and regulations, though the higher ones enjoyed privileges that the lower ones did not.

Marriage: Wedlock between people of different varnas was prohibited in order to prevent miscegenation, or inter-mixing of the castes.

Preferential Treatment: The three upper classes were given privileges far above those given to the Shudras. In addition, the laws of the time were discriminatory in terms of rewards and punishments. Shudras received harsher punishments than the other three classes for the same crimes. The punishment for a Shudra might be physical torture or death whilst for a Brahmin or a Kshatriya might only have to pay a fine or perform a purification ceremony (Jayaram V).

While most of these methods of enforcing the borders carved out by the caste system have been outlawed, they have left their mark on modern Indian society. The exploitation of the lower castes by the upper castes (a process established by the unbalanced caste rules and enforced by the preferential treatment of the upper classes in the law) is the root of the many social injustices and inter-caste violence plaguing India today. Though the concept of untouchability is forbidden and there are government initiatives in place to help improve the lives of the lower castes (especially the Dalits), the stereotypes, stigmas, and hatreds created by the caste system still prevail. Many still refuse to touch Dalits, allow them to draw water from public wells, or use the same eating utensils. And, as in Untouchable, the Dalits continue to be the targets of violent hate crimes like rapes, lynching, and gun-assisted murders (O’Neill para. 4). As a result, there are several Dalit-led grassroots organizations that advocate for the rights and the protection of untouchables like Bakha and his family.

 

Untouchable Literary Elements

Genre

Realist Fiction, Historical Fiction, Social Commentary, Investigative Journalism

Setting and Context

The mythical yet realistic town of Bulashah in early 20th-century India prior to India’s independence from Britain. At this time in the novel, Mahatma Gandhi is actively campaigning for India’s independence and for an end to untouchability.

Narrator and Point of View

The book is written in the third-person omniscient point of view. The narrator knows the thoughts and feelings of all the characters in the book. Also, the narrator’s thinking and commentary is far more insightful and nuanced than the novel’s characters. The differences between the characters and narrator results in a novel that is part “day in the life” story and part critical, anthropological analysis of the Hindu caste system, an analysis most untouchables are ill equipped to provide.

Tone and Mood

The tone and mood are comedic yet depressing, and tragic yet hopeful. Many times in the novel, Anand handles the unsavory job of the sweepers with a comedic touch. The “chronic piles” of Charat Singh is one example of this humor. The man yells at Bakha to hurry and prepare a latrine for him because he has chronic diarrhea and can’t “hold it in.” This instance of bathroom humor illustrates Anand’s at times comedic tone towards the untouchable’s life (Srivastava 184). However, the mood of the novel at this point is tragic as the reader feels Bakha’s caution and resentment in the face of Singh’s ire and demands. The tone of the novel slips into depressing when Bakha contemplates his lot in life. However, the mood ends on a hopeful note after Sarshar and Bashir speculate about the fall of untouchability with the advent of the flush toilet. Life for the untouchables may not improve within Bakha’s lifetime, but there is hope on the horizon.

 

Protagonist and Antagonist

The protagonist of the novel is Bakha, a young male sweeper. While there are several antagonistic characters in the novel, including Gulabo and Pundit Kali Nath, the major antagonist of the novel is the Hindu caste system that allows for the unjust treatment levelled at untouchables.

Major Conflict

The major conflict of the novel is the daily struggle of the untouchables and other outcastes within the oppressive and unjust society the Hindu caste system created and maintains.

Climax

The climax is the moment when the high-caste man strikes Bakha for brushing against him in the Bulashah town square. Though we are given glimpses of the inequality and suffering of outcaste life, this event is the crowning moment of injustice. The rest of Bakha’s day (and hence the rest of novel) is spent coping with and analyzing this moment of senseless violence.

Foreshadowing

After the Mahatma’s speech, Iqbal Nath Sarshar and R.N. Bashir have a heated debate about the topics the Mahatma mentions. During their discussion, Sarshar speculates about a time when the untouchables can leave behind their unsavory professions and lives of drudgery. He mentions the flush toilet and foreshadows that it will be a revolutionary machine for untouchables as it negates the need for human contact with waste. Furthermore, the arrival of the flush toilet would mean the arrival of industrialization and machines in other aspects of Indian life. Thus, Sarshar alluding to the flush toilet foreshadows the sweeping economic, political, and social changes about to overtake India.

Understatement

After Gulabo verbally abuses Sohini, Bakha’s sister thinks to herself, “but I haven’t done anything to annoy her” (Anand 47). This reflection is a gross understatement, as all Sohini did was sit down with the other outcastes by the well before Gulabo began her attack.

Allusions

As a work of realist, historical fiction Untouchable is saturated with historical, social, and literary allusions. The novel is about the actual Hindu caste system and the life of drudgery and oppression it creates for outcastes and untouchables. Allusions abound to aspects of Hinduism, including Rama, the God of Hindus (Anand 244). Bakha refers to famous Hindi and Punjab novels when thinking about his desire to learn how to read (Anand 74). And finally, several real figures make appearances in the novel, including Mahatma Gandhi, one of the leaders of the Indian independence movement and a staunch supporter of ending untouchability.

Paradox

It is paradoxical that Lakha defends the Brahmins and Kshatriyas when Bakha tells him about the Brahmin man that slapped him in the street. As a father, Lakha should have taken his son’s side, and yet Lakha tells his son to relax and that the Brahmins are their superiors and masters (Anand 154). Clearly the caste system has indoctrinated Lakha into believing it is the natural ordering of the world.

Parallelism

The two sons of Lakha lead parallel, mirror-image lives from one another. They both entered life as untouchables and will most likely leave it as untouchables. And yet, the paths they take in their untouchable lives are diametrically opposed. Bakha is obsessed with mimicking British aesthetics and ways of life. He is preoccupied with his appearance, particularly cleanliness. These quirks illustrate Bakha’s attempts to escape the harsh realities of his outcaste life. Rakha is the polar opposite of his older brother. He is “a true child of the outcaste colony, where there are no drains, no light, no water… where people live among the latrines of the townspeople and in the stink of their own dung scattered about here, there, and everywhere” (Anand 162). From this excerpt, it’s clear that Rakha does not give special attention to staying clean or adhering to British ways of life. Unlike his brother he is an inhabitant of the outcaste colony through and through.

Personification

Chance, luck, and fate are treated as living entities and given the pronoun “he” when Sohini and the other outcastes are waiting for someone to draw water from the well. Because outcastes are forbidden from using the public well they must wait “for chance to bring some caste Hindu to the well, for luck to decide that he was kind, for Fate to ordain that he had time—to get their pitchers filled with water” (Anand 43).