CHAPTER ONE

CRITICAL THEORIES OF SUBALTERN STUDIES

INTRODUCTION

This study attempts to read the early fiction of Mulk Raj Anand from a subaltern

perspective, with an objective of conscientising people and helping build a global network for

the socio-spiritual transformation of society. The first chapter titled, “Critical Theories of

Subaltern Studies” of the thesis provides the background to the research and delves deeper into

various definitions and sources of the term „subaltern.‟ The researcher expounds the concept of

subalternity by scrutinizing how Indian history, caste, culture and women in particular, are

considered subaltern from colonial, hegemonic and cultural points of view. From colonial

viewpoint, Europeans dominated the South Asian Society on account of racism. From the

perspective of hegemony, the active involvement of the subordinate too is acknowledged.

Culture has a retrospective effect and so it is the corollary of historical factors.

The researcher ends this chapter by justifying the early fiction of Mulk Raj Anand:

Untouchable, Coolie; and Two Leaves and a Bud as subaltern. Untouchable is an elucidation of

the social woes which have rendered a large number of brothers and sisters socially and

culturally untouchable. Coolie is a rendition of the plight of the educationally and economically

disadvantaged through the splendid portrayal of Munoo, the protagonist. Two Leaves and a Bud

is a narration of hardship of disadvantaged working in the tea plantation of Assam.

1.1. Background to the Research

Anand was a reputed Indian English novelist. He has adorned the language with twenty two

novels, qualitatively noteworthy deliberations on art, education and culture. Despite enormous

researches on and considerable critiques of his literary works, there is seldom any study that

pertains to the subaltern perspective of his early novels: Untouchable, Coolie and Two Leaves

and a Bud. Hence, this research focuses on a subaltern standpoint.

The term „subaltern‟ means a general attribute for subordination. A global view of this

term, leads readers to understand that during the days of the British Empire, subalternity was

viewed in terms of racial difference. This is evident from Shooting an Elephant by George

Orwell which portrays the reality of how the British colonized many countries and exploited

their resources. They thought that it was their burden to civilize the people whom they called

heathens and savages. Again, Freedom at Midnight, jointly authored by Larry Collins and

Dominique Lapierre, vividly recalls the events in the Indian Independence movement.

Subalternity during the colonial era polarized humans into superior and inferior races. Europeans

were considered superior and Indians inferior. In the postcolonial era, race was no more a

dominant criterion for discrimination in India. Racism was supplanted by casteism in the Indian

psyche. Scheduled castes were considered subaltern in India (Arockiam, “Educational”1). This is

expounded by Mulk Raj Anand, whose early fiction is critically analyzed in this study.

Things have not changed a great extent. The value of Mulk Raj Anand‟s fiction is similar

to the effect American author Harriet Beecher Stowe‟s Uncle Tom’s Cabin had on the collective

conscience of American society, with respect to their inhuman treatment of Afro-Americans.

According to Will Kaufman, the novel also laid the groundwork for the American Civil War.
 In India, despite many laws against the ill-treatment of the scheduled castes,

discrimination and cruelty still exist in all states of India, as is evident from reports in the media.

Moreover, a vast majority of the Indian population is denied education. Without education, there

can be no prosperity. Illiteracy is also a cause for income inequality. From any perspective: caste,

workers and women, the fiction call for strong implementation of human rights issues.

Enormously noteworthy literary works have been brought out in the past to sensitize

readers to alleviate the plight of the poor in terms of social, political and economic conditions,

and thus usher in equality and human dignity. Moreover, in recent years, the contemporary

definition of poverty assumes inclusiveness and acknowledges the fact that the social needs of

people are more vital than their physical needs. Hence, in this regard, the term „poor‟ implies

economical exclusiveness. Therefore, the term „subaltern,‟ which is inclusive and whose domain

encompasses all areas of human subordination, is a more suitable alternative for the term „poor.‟

When Mulk Raj Anand committed himself to writing, unorganized workers, plantation

employees, children, women and the outcasts were treated as subaltern.

The phrase „The Voice of the Poor‟ is the horizontal dimension of the charism of a socio-

spiritual organization, of which the researcher is an active member. Anand, in his old age derived

contentment of heart from the social service he had rendered by adopting a poor village and

bequeathing all his possessions to it. The researcher aims to critically analyse Anand‟s early

fiction, which he thinks, would inspire him to selflessly serve the poorest of the poor, to make

them fully human and fully alive. Thus, the researcher, to some extent, shares the aspirations of

the goal of Anand. Against this background, the present research is carried out with the aim of

finding out the subaltern elements in the novels of Mulk Raj Anand and responding to their

aspiration for transformation.

1.1.1. Statement of the Problem

Men and women are designed to live in peace and harmony. Noble ideals of this sort seem

Utopian. Disparity and discrimination of every kind is an everyday event. When the question of

equality and human dignity comes up, people normally shrug their shoulders and pass the buck

to the government or human rights watchdogs. Nevertheless, wise men and intellectuals of good

will have contributed their literary might towards the noble cause of human dignity and equality.

In this regard, Mulk Raj Anand remains conspicuous with his „art for society‟s sake.‟

His literary contribution is still relevant in sensitizing the conscience of people towards

the subaltern. Nevertheless, his clarion call to social transformation is not fully realized. Creating

a global network of men and women towards disseminating his vision for conscientization and

transformation would be a true tribute to him and at the same time become a positive response to

the aspirations of the subaltern.

1.1.2. Thesis Statement

Mulk Raj Anand‟s literary contribution is still relevant to critically sensitize the conscience of

people towards the subalternand this calls for creation of a global network for conscientization

and socio-spiritual transformation of society.

1.1.3. Objectives

This thesis has three objectives:

1.1.3.1. To define and describe Subalternity from historical elements and contextualizing it in

Indian social conditions.

1.1.3.2. To apply the subaltern theory to the early fiction of Mulk Raj Anand to arrive at Praxis

for a better society where subalterns are treated with dignity, and their rights upheld and

protected.

1.1.3.3. To create a global network to positively respond to their aspirations for transformation.

1.1.4. Significance

This thesis highlights two important significance

1.1.4.1. Mulk Raj Anand is still relevant in critically sensitizing the conscience of the Indian

people.

1.1.4. 2. His writings do not mean „art for art‟s sake,‟ but „art for society‟s sake‟ with a focus on

social conscientization and transformation.

1.1.5. Previous Studies

Although several literary works were undertaken on subaltern studies and on the novels of Mulk

Raj Anand, there has been no specific study on this particular topic so far. Hence, this could be a

pioneering study.

1.1.6. Scope and Limitations

The scope seems to be elaborate and broad but deviation of any kind is eliminated. As the area of

subalternity and poverty is too large, one cannot do justice to all the aspects of this domain. So,

the study is limited to subaltern perspectives of Mulk Raj Anand‟s early novels: Untouchable,

Coolie and Two Leaves and a Bud. This will be done solely from a literary viewpoint.

1.1.7. Why Did the Researcher Choose Fiction?

The novel, according to Mulk Raj Anand is “… One form of recreation of the flow of „Times,‟

the „refreshing river,‟ with its many waves, eddies, on rushes, whirlpools, and multifarious

insinuations, in the curves of the flow…” (Anand, “Reflections” 17). The novels portray the

realities of life through characters and events and stir our emotions for action. The Indian Nobel

laureate for literature Rabindranath Tagore had read Wilkie Collins‟ Women in White and he

advocated love marriages in place of arranged marriages through his novel The Wreck.

The miseries of Indian widows were brought to light by the novels of Sarat Chandra

Chatterjee, who was influenced by Gorky (4). Mulk Raj Anand was influenced by the writings of

James Joyce and E. M. Forster. These novels gave him enough impetus to evolve as an

accomplished writer who became a voice for the voiceless. The researcher finds novels as the

best means to know the predicament of the poor and the downtrodden and comes out with a

viable contribution for ushering in a new era of social justice and universal brotherhood.

1.1.8. Why Mulk Raj Anand?

Mulk Raj Anand, born in 1905 in Peshawar, in then undivided India, is a pioneer among the

novelists of Indian English. Since his soldier father, Lall Chand Anand, had to move from place

to place, he got the experience of many sections of Indian society, both rural and urban. A few

low caste sweeper boys and barbers were his playmates. He was a witness to the inhuman

treatment meted out to outcasts and also to the grueling poverty experienced by poor farmers at

the hands of landlords and moneylenders. Being a true eyewitness to the imbalance and

disparities of the society in which he lived, he could not but use his skills in writing to portray it

for conscientization and reformation.

Anand was honoured with Padma Bhushan and Sahitya Academy for his commendable

social service and praiseworthy literary works. His social standing was deeply influenced by lord

Buddha‟s preaching on Mercy and compassion; Saint Kabir and Guru Nanak‟s denial of caste

hierarchy and acceptance of brotherhood; peaceful co-existence advocated by Nehru and many

others. S. C. Harrax terms the novels of Anand as the Socio-Political Messianic Novels. Dr.

Harish Raizada considers him as a social worker in the guise of a novelist. He was a significant

writer and a prophet of his time. His life of honesty, sincerity, humility and total commitment

enabled him to give a new orientation for his social work. He had the rare honour of being

elected Fellow of all the three academies: Sahitya, Lalitkala and Sangeet Natak. In his later days,

he adopted a village, made a school and a dispensary and donated all his possessions for the

holistic development of the same (Tandon 72-9). Hence, Mulk Raj Anand becomes an apt choice

for this research.

1.1.9. Subaltern Elements in the Writings of Mulk Raj Anand

His novels picture an important aspect of Indian history roughly covering the period from 1930

to 1970. His novels feature a transition period of British rule to Indian freedom. His novels

reflect a mixture of Indian and Western thought. His humanistic outlook, philanthropy and

profession as a novelist were the shaping of his time and age. His novels give us a tangible

picture of the unpleasant realities of Indian society, replete with disgusting conditions. He

presents the realities of Indian problems such as cruelty to the untouchables, greed for money,

the plight of plantation workers, defects in education, oppression of women, and the experience

of pain and suffering arising out of them. Other such realities also did not go unnoticed by him.

His suggestions are pragmatic.

1.1.10. Mulk Raj Anand’s Limitations

Anand‟s over enthusiasm to project his ideas often end in lack of artistic values. Therefore, he is

accused of being a propagandist. Some scenes of unnecessary elaboration are avoidable. For

instance, the hunt scene and club scenes in Two Leaves and a Bud and the last part in Coolie

seem to be a prolongation because they deviate from the central theme of the respective novels.

1.1.11. Mulk Raj Anand–Champion of the Subaltern

A rose is valued for its beauty and fragrance, though it has thorns. So also, although a few

limitations are seen, Anand‟s novels are seen as diamonds in the diadem of Indian English.

Though the human predicaments remain a constant, conscious, companion, they never hinder his

artistic oeuvre. His novels are a reflection of his philosophy of life for he was a purposeful writer

committed to social transformation. He is very objective and free from sentimentality. In his

novels, the unity of time, place and action are found. Thus, he becomes a champion of the causes

of the subaltern.
1.1.12. Research Design and Methodology

The method used is descriptive. In this process, the research dwells deeper into the early fiction

of the novelist and finds out the causes behind such works from a critical perspective. Thus, the

researcher arrives at a hypothesis that the literary contribution of the novelist Mulk Raj Anand is

not realized towards sensitizing the conscience of the people towards the subaltern. The

researcher adheres to the format of MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, seventh

edition for parenthetical citation and Works Cited.

1.2. The Context

The term „subaltern‟ was originally used by the Italian Marxist thinker Antonio Gramsci to “refer

in particular to the unorganized groups of rural peasants based in Southern Italy, who had no

social or political consciousness as a group, and were therefore, susceptible to the ruling ideas,

culture and leadership of the state”( Morton 48). Gramsci‟s approach to the peasants was not

merely from the point of being an observer, but from the point of personally being engrossed in

the struggle for change in Italy. The struggle was to overcome the oppressive conditions of the

Southern peasants, who were being used as cheap labour by the State. In order to achieve this, he

advocated that one must immerse oneself in peasantry and shed the tag of coming from a class

structure. Thus, Gramsci was interested in substantial change in Italy (“Subaltern”)

The term has further initiated studies in varied disciplines such as history, anthropology

and literature as a consequence of post colonial criticism. Post colonial criticism has challenged

the concept of colonialism and western domination and seeks to have a radical rethinking of the

idea of Euro-centrism which generalizes historiography as the history of the west. Thus, a

colonial critique becomes the starting point for subaltern studies (Guha xx- xxi).
 A similar perspective is reflected in the Indian context. The present Kolkata was a

stronghold of nationalism and of political power in post independent India. Caused by the Great

Depression, its elite economy was gradually subordinated to industrial and agricultural

capitalism of the North and West of India, e.g., the Gangetic plains. After the Great Depression,

the North-East became, gradually, a vast labour reservoir and slum. The exploitation of the

peasants by the landlords caused a class struggle and, simultaneously, paved the way for a

peasant uprising in Bihar. The seasonal migration of the North and West Bihari agricultural

labourers to the green pastures of Punjab and Uttar Pradesh were also a source of communal and

caste divides. Meanwhile, Kolkata gradually produced a „Left‟ of a new kind. This „Left‟ thought

in terms of worker peasant alliances. In the 1960s, this Maoist trend in Kolkata controlled the

reins of local government. Gradually, this movement rendered the defeat of the then ruling

Congress party from the late 1960s onwards.

Another crisis of the Congress was its unconscious elitism of higher caste and upper class

leaders. When there was a conflict between the left and the right, the middle class and middle

castes had the advantage. From the above, one comes to understand that the reformative steps

taken by the „Left‟ were clearly lost in a period of twenty years, 1960 to 1980, and were replaced

by fascist communists with their finance capitalism in the 1970s and 1980s. In order to salvage

the worker-peasant breakdown, there emerged an idea of the subaltern, a folklorist and

anthropologist of the oppressed (“Subaltern”). This historical hindrance for the „Left‟ in Kolkata

forms the basis for the inception of subaltern studies in India.

Subsequently, enormous literary works were written on subaltern studies at the end of the

1970s. Indeed, in the 1970s, the term referred to the colonized people in South Asia. Decades of
research on history from below and on insurgency in colonial India were main issues which were

to be expounded by the founders of subaltern studies (Ludden 6). It provided a new

understanding of the history of the colonized rather than the hegemonic power of the colonizers.

Moreover, it was a time of growing crises in the Indian state. Its stand on capitalist modernity

caused inequalities and conflicts. This spearheaded many powerful movements of various

ideological shades that claimed to represent the common man, but the state resorted to

repression, coercive measures, powers of patronage and money, and also populist slogans to

preserve its dominance. Thus, the key components of the modern nation state: political parties,

the electoral process, parliamentary bodies, the bureaucracy, the law, and the ideology of

development survived, but their claim to represent the culture and politics of the masses suffered

a severe set-back (Gyan 1476).

By 1990, there was a growing interest in this field. Ranajit Guha and eight of his

collaborators had written thirty four essays in six subaltern studies volumes and fifteen related

books in 1986. They mostly wrote as „an assortment of marginalized academics‟ (Guha xiv).

Marxism, communism and socialism had their impact in the failure of the Soviet Union, Eastern

Europe and the Balkans. One cannot easily erase the vital role played by Jawaharlal Nehru to

build a modern India from the annals of Indian history. Yet, he is today criticized for giving a

free hand to the public sectors to occupy a key position in Indian economy while leaving the

private sector wanting resources and motivation to invest in the infrastructure sectors of the

economy (“Management”). This failure pervaded academic writings and new approaches came

into focus, and subaltern studies became a hot topic among academic circles (Guha 1:4-6).

Hence, the readers can well understand that while the peasants in the West were by and large

considered subaltern, the common man in India was considered subaltern.

1.2.1. The Articulation of the TermSubaltern

Over the years, intellectual deliberations have effected changes within subaltern study projects.

Though subaltern studies occupy a subject position in India, their appeal is universal. Looking at

the larger spectrum, in the last forty years, scholars have produced countless studies of societies,

histories, and cultures „from below‟ which have disparate meanings, terms, methods, and

theories. Thus, going by the historical past, in medieval English, it referred to vassals and

peasants. In 1700, it referred to the lower ranks in the military, referring to people with peasant

origins. A few writers published novels and histories with subaltern perspectives from 1800

onwards in India (“Subaltern”). Thus, “Subaltern studies became an original site for a new kind

of history from below, a people‟s history free of national constrains, a post-nationalist

reimagining of the Indian nation on the underside, at the margins, outside nationalism” (Ludden

12).

Ranajit Guha‟s A Rule of Property for Bengal, is an original work on the colonial and

postcolonial history of India (14). Guha, in this work “examines the British establishment of the

Permanent Settlement of Bengalthe first major administrative intervention by the British in the

region and an effort to impose a western notion of private property on the Bengal countryside”

and also expands the dynamics on the lasting effects and end of colonial rule (Guha). His second

book entitled, Elementary Aspects of Peasant Insurgency was on the political consciousness of

subaltern groups in the framework peasants‟ revolt against the colonial rule (Ludden 14). There

were also scholars like David Arnold, Gaudam Bhadra and others who did not engage in

collective research, but all their writings were in tune with Guha‟s. Guha also opened subaltern

studies by declaring a clean break with most Indian historians, announcing the project‟s ambition

„to rectify the elitist biases‟ in a field „dominated by elitism, colonialist elitism and bourgeois-
nationalist elitism” (15). For Subaltern Studies historians, subaltern means “A name for the

general attribute of subordination in South Asian Society, whether this is expressed in terms of

class, caste, age, gender and office or in any other way”(qtd. in Morton 48). Groups belonging to

the subaltern classes may vary from place to place, due to the regional disparity in social and

economic development in the country. Thus, subaltern classes usually refer to those social

classes and groups not included under „elite.‟ The term has become fashionable today amongst

academics (Guha 1: 1; Ludden 16).

Subalternity is an „autonomous domain‟ for it neither depends upon elitist politics nor

dominant groups in society. Moreover, it is historic, for it existed even before the colonial era,

but in disguise. In this regard, the following contributions of Ranajit Guha may be noteworthy.

Guha reiterates that the lacuna in historical writing is that one cannot find the elements of Indian

nationalism, because, it does not record the contributions made by „people on their own.‟ That is,

it does not acknowledge the independent contributions made by them as distinct from the elite.

Hence, the neglect of the contributions from the indigenous masses, including their involvement

in vast numbers in nationalist activities, is telling. This could have happened with the influence

of the elites. Thus, one-sided, partial, historiography cannot help us to have a holistic view of

past events (Guha 1: 3)

One such example is the incident of Chauri Chaura. A group of peasants set fire to a

police station in Chauri Chaura, in the district of Gorakhpur, in North India, on 4 February,

1922, as a mark of mass civil disobedience. This event was conveniently forgotten in the

historiography of the nation. It came to light only when Gandhiji called off his all India

movement of non-cooperation with the British (Amin 179). The following quote substantiates

this point:
 For parallel to the domain of elite politics there existed throughout the colonial

period another domain of Indian politics in which the principle actors were not

the dominant groups of the indigenous society or the colonial authorities but

the subaltern classes and groups constituting the mass of the laboring population

or the intermediate strata in town or country. (Guha 1: 4)

Hence, the contribution made by the common men towards nation building was ignored by the

elites in the historiography of the nation. An attempt to highlight this concept forms the basis of

both Indian and Western perspectives of the subaltern.

1.2.2. Salient Features

One of the salient features of the subaltern is its mentality. Submission to authority and defiance

of domination constitute the mentality of the subaltern. This is a combination of how the poor

and the oppressed made many a sacrifice in favour of the rich and the powerful and rebelled

against them as well. In order to understand the above concept concerning the mentality of

subalternity, a long poem titled Kantanama or Rajdharma is taken as a source of reference.

Evidence has it that it was divinely inspired and written by one Dewan Manulla Mandal, who

lived in Fakanda village, which now lies in the Calurghat subdivision of West Bengal in

Nalinikanda Bhattasali. A noted Bengali scholar discovered it in 1913 while he was engaged in a

search for a Bengali manuscript. Manulla‟s Kantanama is replete with events which were

significant in his life and village. He also mentions kazimbazar zamindari and its development.

In this area, a few big zamindaris and families from outside the district settled down. These

zamindaris had control over their extensive establishments.

 As a result, zamindari officials and substantial peasant proprietors mostly benefited on

the one hand, and on the other hand, the peasants also revolted and became disobedient due to

the levy of illegal cess and other extra burden. They also, in most cases, concealed the actual

turnover of the land under cultivation. Besides, they refused to pay any cess if efforts were taken

to measure the lands afresh. Rebellion emerges as a result of conscious self-recognition and faith

in some moral order or Rajdharma. Again, the submission of the peasants is not to a particular

king or lord, but to a universal law such as Rajdharma. Even at any abject submission, the

peasant in his own way conscientizes the role of Rajdharma. This internalization becomes the

ground for defiance or submission (63-95).

Another feature is the exploitation of the subaltern and its affinity to the productive

labour of most of its protagonists: workers, peasants, manual and intellectual labour. This was a

living contradiction which shaped the subaltern historiography in the days that followed. The co-

existence of subaltern politics and the elite politics, which can be understood by intuition or

demonstration proves, „the failure of the Indian bourgeoisie to speak for the nation‟ (5). There

was more on the life and conscience of the people, which was neglected and thus a „structural

dichotomy‟ arose in Indian historiography.

This dichotomy did not put these two domains in isolation, but efforts were taken by the

indigenous elite, especially the bourgeoisie, to integrate the two. Such efforts, when linked to

anti-imperialist objectives, produced some sectarian strife. What is noteworthy is that the

merging of the two elites: the elite politics and the indigenous elite, with the subaltern,

spearheaded by the indigenous elites, to achieve their own ends defected from their control and

emerged as popular politics, the politics of the people. Subaltern is the study of this historic

failure of the nation to come into its own and a failure to lead the people to a decisive victory
over colonialism. So the elitist historiography should be fought by developing an alternative

discourse “… based on the rejection of the spurious and un-historical monism characteristic of its

view of Indian nationalism and on the recognition of the coexistence and interaction of the elite

and subaltern domains of politics” (5). Thus, the concept is the same all over the world.

1.2.3. Critical Development of the TermSubaltern

The great western historian, E.P. Thomson‟s book The Making of the English Working Class,

published in 1963, is considered to be the inspiration for the growing number of „bottom up‟

studies of people whose history had been previously ignored. According to him, the Indian

workers were condemned as „lower classes‟ in the consciousness of the English working class

(Thompson 531-2).

Insurgency and peasant rebellions also attracted special attention. In India, the history of

rebellion also attracted research studies on a large scale. The south Indian rebel, Kattabomman

Naikkar, also inspired many popular media depictions even a cinema. He was an 18th century

chieftain from Panchalamkurichi in Tamil Nadu, India. He was also one of the earliest to rebel

against British rule and waged a war against them six decades before the Indian War of

Independence (“Kattabomman”). Hamza Alvi, A.R. Desai, Kathleen Couch and others asserted

that theories of caste are „ruling class ideology‟ and that high class elites had always needed

coercive power to keep low castes, peasants, workers and tribal in place. A.R. Desai‟s peasant

struggle and agrarian struggles in India after independence promoted the agrarian struggles and

opposed the green revolution. Peasant demonstration at Fursatganj and Munshiganj Bazaars in

Rae Bareli district resulted in police firing in January 1921. Again, in another place called

Awadh, in Uttar Pradesh, the peasant violence of many kinds, such as looting, attacks on
landlords and fights with the police also occurred. This action of the peasants received much

publicity in the nationalist press. This Awadh peasant protest had forced itself on the attention of

the elites in the colonial era because Awadh Rent acts required amendments. Since the

amendments did not take place as expected, the revolt took place (Guha 1:143). By 1983,

scholars were writing two kinds of national history of which the first was of people‟s history

filled with native culture and popular insurgency and the second was official history filled with

elites and political parties.

Subaltern studies joined debates about insurgency and nationality at the breach between

popular unrest and state power. Despite rampant crises, dominant state institutions had managed

to survive. So the breach was widening. A retrospective view of the historical movement brings

the fact of disconnection or disentanglement between official nationalism and popular

movements. During that time, in the majoritarian context of Hinduism, Muslims had acquired a

separate political history. Although regional movements did gain prominence, they, along with

communalism, did not attract subaltern studies (Ludden 9). Sumit Sarkar‟s Modern India

emphasized workers and peasants‟ movements which had more autonomous political space and

Ranajit Guha‟s Elementary Aspects of Peasant Insurgency depicted tribal revolts as completely

separate from nationalism. Thus, subaltern studies entered the academic scene by asserting the

complete autonomy of lower class.

Third generations of nationalists, like Gandhi and Nehru, used philosophy and politics

respectively to exercise political activities. Nehru emphasized that poverty and misery of the

Indian people were caused by the economic structure of society, which the alien manipulated to

their advantage. This pronouncement stimulated many histories from below, which engaged the

past to inform national debates about land reform, planning, local democracy, industrialization
and other topics of hot dispute. Thus the intellectual environment of the history from „below‟

necessarily included history from „above.‟

Gradually the old bonds that existed between academics and politics were torn apart by

the expanding gulf between the histories of the people and the states. Eventually, scholars who

continued to speak for the people were left out of nationalism. They were also left out of those

scholars who continued to fuse popular history with national politics. Ranjit Guha‟s drama of

Naxalite clashes with the mechanism of the state and violence of counter insurgency measures‟

highlights his own account of alienation from nationalism. Hence, popular resistance like

communal, regional, radical aspirations of women, peasants, workers and tribal groups to state

power became a conspicuous literary theme in the 1980s (Ludden 1-35). James C. Scott‟s

Weapons of the Weak: Everyday Forms of Peasant Resistance heralded a substantial movement

from studies of revolution into the analysis of localized, personal resistance to the power of the

elites and the states (Scott).

Thus, everyday resistance became a subject for scholars of subaltern studies.

“Subalternity thus became a novelty invented by subaltern studies. Thus, domination,

subordination, hegemony, resistance, revolt, and other old concepts could now be subalternized”

(Ludden 16). In this regard, two difficulties, call for the attention of readers. First, a new theory

emerged as a result of conflict between the elite and the subaltern. This dichotomy alienated

subalternity from social histories. Second, since the subaltern was concerned with „low,‟ it could

not influence political structure. This, not surprisingly, triggered a rift between subaltern studies

and Indian scholars committed to class analysis, political action, and popular histories of

nationalism. Again, though the Marxist group produced impressive and pioneering literature, the

history of the masses remained refutable, for their main focus was on the plight of the workers.
At the same time, it also differed from the western historians‟ attempt to write history from

below.

The British workers left behind diaries for the British to find their voices in, but the

Indian workers did not leave anything as originally authentic voices. So, to find Indian subaltern

voices, scholars of subaltern studies had to use the available sources. Hence, in the process, they

were concentrating on how subalternity was constituted than finding out their voices. So the shift

was to find out how the knowledge of history was produced and what tainted its history. The

scholars realized that they could write history only from the position of subalternity because

India was subaltern as a British colony. After independence, it was subordinated to the neo-

colonialism of the western world. Thus, the subaltern studies group has produced a fairly large

amount of literature and its impact has been felt in India, Britain, Latin America and the US

(Bahl 358).

The scholars of subaltern studies included the term „differences‟, as a tool for producing

possibilities for action. By the term „differences,‟ it is possible to challenge the universality in

history. Moreover, subaltern studies represented a response to a genuine need for a new

methodology, epistemology and paradigms. The old structures and methodologies were called

into question in the face of progress and at the same time, impoverishment of the third world was

also being questioned. This also resulted in the migration of people from poor countries to the

industrialized world, due to the demand for cheap labour. It created a flow of cultures which

were at once homogenizing and hetrogenizing. This infusion and confusion of cultures created a

vast misunderstanding among people. These new global circumstances needed new

interpretations and new methodologies to understand people‟s lives and experiences (365).
 Moreover, the Indian state‟s capitalist development programmes increased the social and

political inequalities among the masses. This disparity in society led to the powerful social and

political outbreak, which challenged the legitimate government. But most of these movements

were crushed with severe repression. Again, many elements of the old order compromised with

the then Congress ruling party instead of challenging their authoritarian attitudes. Against this

background, the increasing crisis of the Indian state, the emergence of the people‟s movements,

and the bankruptcy and hypocrisy of Indian leftist historians and intellectuals, led to the

emergence of the subaltern studies group.

1.3. Hegemony

The following deliberations on hegemony are taken into account in terms of subordination and

domination. The concept of hegemony originated from Italian and Russian sources and Gramsci

developed this concept and made it a cultural and political leadership. It is a more sensitive and

useful critical term than domination. For the term domination does not acknowledge the active

involvement of the subordinate people in the operation of power (Jones 41).

1.3.1. Inception of Hegemony

Failures come as a moment of introspection. So also the thoughts on politics and culture were

formed during a period of defeat, the defeat of workers‟ revolt in Europe and the failure of the

Italian working class movement in its struggles with the factory owners, the Italian state, and the

fascists of Mussolini. The defeat occurred due to the inability of the working class to align with

other subordinate groups like the peasants and the intellectuals. Therefore, alliances were

important to defeat fascists and transform society. This alliance was not the federation of equal

factions, but the industrial working class led their allies through ideological means and provided
the centre of any progressive movement. This is hegemony according to Gramsci. In fact, this

term was not Gramsci‟s brain child. The term had a long history of the Russian socialist

movement in the time of Lenin. Lenin himself rarely used this term. For Gramsci, hegemony

meant three things:

a. Revolution does not happen as a result of developing contradiction, but it happens as a result

of a cultural struggle.

b. The bourgeois are committed to hegemony through control of ideas and institutional.

c. The revolutionary party must adopt the struggles of all the oppressed groups and not just the

economic struggle of the industrial group. In Russia, it meant the redistribution of land (42-43).

In the line of Lenin, Gramsci saw the need of political parties to educate all the allied groups and

cement their leadership among the working class.

Gramsci was a Leninist as much as he saw the role of political parties, conscientising the

working class to come together. Using hegemony as an instrument for historical and political

analysis, Gramsci observed that only the working class can „become leading and dominant‟ (i.e.

hegemonic) class to the extent that it succeeds in creating a system of class alliances which

allows it to mobilize the majority of the working population against capitalism and the bourgeois

state. In order to know this, the working class identified the culturally important groups and

made them their own. Two prominent working groups are the Catholic Church and the Southern

Question which expound the following:

Southern Italians have been affected by distorted versions of a complex reality

similar to the discourse of 'Orientalism.' In situating the devaluation of Southern

Italian culture in relation to the recent emergence of 'anti-mafia' ideology in the

South and the threat posed to national unity by the Lombard League, it also
 illuminates the world's stiff inter-regional competition

for investment capital. (“Current”)

Marx‟s Eighteenth Brumair comes handy to understanding the nuances of class difference. Marx

thinks of the French peasantry as a mass of great magnitude who fail to instill a feeling of

community, create national links or political organization. They too failed to stop the

exploitation of the peasants and provoke a self-conscious political protest. A necessity for

collective consciousness was the need of the time; and so the creation of collective consciousness

was „class interest‟ and the struggle for the same was termed as „political struggle.‟

Thus, the quintessential element of Marx‟s Eighteenth Brumair articulates the hiatus

between „being of class‟ and becoming „class conscious.‟ Again, the Leninist distinction between

„class in itself‟ and „class for itself‟ is often used mechanically but it does not also emphasise the

significance of the existence of the class but the happening of a class. This happens as an

inherited or shared outcome of the experience of other men or women whose interest is different

from theirs. This again can be understood as being and becoming in history. Hence, the class and

the reality of class- consciousness can become inseparable. Thus, the idea of class in and class

for itself can be seen as a historical alternative (Jones 100-105).

In the Indian context, the dominant classes, foreign and indigenous, did not bring about

any social transformation. Social transformation can only happen as the result of the collective

consciousness of people from various strata of life. Therefore, subaltern identity is needed for the

maintenance of a leading group‟s authority, and who form a subordinate part of power. If the

hegemonic project is accommodative, then this subaltern group will feel a strong bond of

identification.
1.4. Culture

To understand the term culture, one must first understand the basis through which it is formed. In

the opinion of Homi Bhabha “Any discussion of cultural rights will have to face the complexity

of the term culture itself, which is one of those words that come to us too easily, despite the

elusiveness of their meanings” (Huddart 123). According to Marxist cultural theorist Raymond

Williams, culture is “One of the two or three most complicated words in the English language”

(124).

Just like colonial culture, contemporary culture is hybrid. An example of this

phenomenon is that an animal or plant has parents of different species or varieties. A mule is a

hybrid of a male donkey and a female horse. The notion of hybridity is associated with colonial

psychic economy, and usually found in contemporary cultures. Cultures have retrospective

effects that they are the consequences of historical process. In this regard, Antonio Gramsci‟s

contribution to culture is noteworthy. Gramsci‟s thoughts were influenced by Croce and Marx. In

the beginning of the 20th century, Marxism had paid little attention to culture; it had nevertheless

paid enormous attention to ideology, and superstructure and advocated, “Life is not determined

by consciousness but consciousness by life” (Jones 28). Germans thought that ideas can have an

independent existence without social conditions. People cannot pass from illusion to reality

unless they think that ideas have independent existence.

In the preface to A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy, Marx contests that

“The sum total of economic relations constitutes the economic structures of society, the real

foundation, on which rises a legal and political superstructure and to which corresponds definite

forms of social consciousness” (qtd. in Jones 29). The economic base is the most important
factor which gives life and character to superstructure. While maintaining the economic base,

superstructures have legalized the economic exploitations: slavery was an example of economic

structures. By legalizing slavery in parts of the America, there was a law about what a slave

should do and should not do. According to Marx, to change the order of the society, the base

must have a change; in other words, the workers must take control of the means of production.

Hence “… cultural forms and practices originating in a particular economic moment can

flourish. Nevertheless, older practices and forms of consciousness continue to circulate and exert

force long after they have ceased to be directly functional to the economic structure, religion

being a prominent example” (29). Civil society is super-structure which comprises of political

organizations, the Church, the school system, sport, teams, media and family. According to

Gramsci, civil society is „the ensemble of organisms commonly called private‟ (32). Civil society

is a matter of everyday life so one can hardly say that civil society has any connection with

power structures.

1.5. Women

As an outcome of the patriarchal order, women were oppressed and treated as inferior to men,

both at home and at work, by the natives and Europeans alike. The following instances

substantiate this point. This was the outcome of the patriarchal order of the extended family.

Ramabai, wife of M. G. Ranade, a famous social reformer of the Bombay presidency of the

nineteenth century, took up reforms to educate women and participate in meetings which were

predominantly attended by men alone. Ramabai faced opposition not only from men but also

from women especially from her household.

 You should not really go to these meetings (they said to Ramabai)… even if the men

want you to do these things, you should ignore them. You need not say no: but after all

you need not do it. They will then give up out of sheer boredom… you are outdoing even

the European women. (Guha 1: 281)

In one life time “A slave girl could experience multiple transfers and occupy the different

positions of concubine, wife, trader, mother and slave holder simultaneously” (Chatterjee 49,

61). When we think of the plight of the native women, they were used as commodities at will by

the British.

This sexual division of labour, as practiced by the British in the past, is another aspect of

patriarchal oppression against women. In this connection, it is worth noting the following from

Marx and Engels:

The existence of slavery side by side with monogamy, the existence of beautiful young

slaves who belong to the man with all they have, from the very beginning stamped on

monogamy its specific character… The rule of the man in the family, the procreation of

children who could only be his, destined to be the heirs of his wealth; these were aims of

monogamy. (qtd. in Chatterjee 51)

The slave concubines were kept outside the legitimate lineage and did not have any legal

claim over the property of the family. This is strengthened by the statement of C. J. Hanes who

said that many women living in British households in India,

… were seen as servants… some were slaves in the legal sense receiving their freedom

on the death of their master. The members of the East India Company not only bought
 men, women and children at cheap rates, they also gifted them as properties to others in

positions. (52).

Again young women and little girls were married at will. The following is the evidence.

“My friend, Bob Pott, now consigned to me from Moorshedabad, a very pretty little native girl,

whom he recommended for my own private use. Her name was Kiraun. After cohabiting with

her a twelve month she produced me a young gentleman… young mahogany was therefore

received and acknowledged as my offspring…”(57-8).

From the above, one can infer that women who were used as concubines became legal wives

only on occasion. But in other cases, they were used only as housekeepers. They were often

referred as, “Unmatrimonial connections between European officers and native women.… The

mistresses are obtained from the Hindu and Musselman races, and they are often sold to their

masters by their needy relatives” (58). In order to have a deeper understanding of how women

are treated as subaltern, Gayatri Spivak‟s literary works are taken for a critical analysis. As

already seen, the meaning of the subaltern is multifarious and elaborative, and differs in terms of

location. As India is projected as a country layered by castes and the class system, the notion of

the subaltern is subverted further by the history of European colonialism and national

independence. In addition, Spivak seeks to articulate a methodology and medium which will

highlight the struggles of society, culturally, economically and politically alienated. Though

Spivak‟s main resources for the elaboration of subaltern come from Gransci‟s account of rural

peasantry in Italy, other sources came from the subaltern studies of historians, such as Shahid

Amin, David Arnold, Partha Chatterjee, David Hardiman, Ranajit Guha and Gnanendra Pandey.

These historians, through their essays entitled subaltern studies, retrieve the history of the

subaltern of the people and not of the state.

 It is the elite social group that has written the histories of rural peasantry and the urban

working class. These were achieved in the British colonial administration. These were then

rerecorded in the historical report of the educated Indians and the middle class elites at the time

of and after national independence (Morton 50). The traditional representation of the subaltern

was written from the ruling and the dominant social class. Thus the historiography of the

subaltern in India was subordinated to the project of imperial governance. Thus, whether in the

archives of the British administration or the national project of independence, political histories

of the subaltern were neglected.

In order to explain the plight of particular individuals and social groups who had been

historically dispossessed and exploited, Spivak looked for a suitable vocabulary. Words like „the

colonized,‟ „women,‟ or „worker‟ give us a political identity. Hence, she uses the word,

“…„subaltern‟ to encompass a range of different subject positions which are not predefined by

dominant political discourses” (Morton 45). The term is used because of its flexibility and its

ability to include social identities and struggles of women and colonized. She justifies the use of

the word in one of her interviews in the New Nation Writers Conference in South Asia (Kock

30).

The economic exploitation and political oppression of the subaltern groups pose an

ethical question. This state of oppression encompasses all sections of society: class, region,

language, ethnicity, religion, gender and citizenship. Therefore, we cannot generalize

suppression or discrimination as this will disregard important differences. Hence, when people

like post-colonial intellectuals speak for the subaltern, it cannot be assumed that they speak for

all the oppressed. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak is remembered in post-colonial criticism for her

rhetorical and political contributions in the sphere of post-colonial literary texts which shakes the
foundations of colonial narratives. For “Literature, or the teaching of literature has been

instrumental in the construction and dissemination of colonialism as a ruling idea” (Morton 111).

In agreement with Edward Said and Homi Bhabha, Spivak says that the nineteenth

century English literature was greatly influenced by the history of colonialism. Again, based on

the arguments in the Three Women’s Texts and a Critique of Imperialism, it is assumed that

English Literature projected a civilized and progressive culture of England which justified the

economic and political projects of imperialism. The three women‟s texts mentioned here are

Charlotte Bronte‟s Jane Eyre, Jean Rhy‟s Wide Sargasso Sea and Mary Shelly‟s novel:

Frankenstein. These novels are seen as a colonial discourse, in tune with the thoughts of Edward

Said and Michel Foucault, and seem to remove the veil between fictional discourse and

institutional and political power (84-90).

The lacuna in Spivak‟s critical texts is that she fails to understand the violent

manifestation of colonialism on the non-western world and articulates particular experiences of

colonialism in a historical and cultural context. Nevertheless, what is most striking in Spivak‟s

work on post colonial literary texts is that it provides, “An important critical vocabulary and

theoretical framework for reading and valuing texts that articulate the multivalent cultural

histories and practices of different non-western cultures”(113).

She opines that one of the reasons for the success of colonial rule was the sophisticated

use of rhetoric to influence the educated Indian middle class elite that the British government

was a more superior form of government, for its culture was more civilized. This enabled the

British to rule by consent rather than by military rule. The culture of literature and philosophy

enabled the expansion of western colonialism. In developing Paul de Man‟s idea of truth, Spivak
asserts that the suppression of rhetoric in the development of truth can damage the socio-political

scenario.

Spivak‟s postcolonial texts are propelled mainly by a keen interest which calls into

question the all encompassing system of colonialism. This she does by highlighting cases of

subalternity and resistance (123). Thus, she voices the concerns of other anti-colonial thinkers

and writers such as Chinua Achebe, a prominent Nigerian novelist. His novels, permeating with

the themes of clash of cultures, were aimed at an African audience. But their psychological

insights had a universal appeal (Chinua).

Frantz Fanon (1925–61) was a French Algerian Psychiatrist, philosopher and

revolutionary writer who wrote on colonization, decolonization and psychopathology (“Frantz”).

Ngugi WA Thiong‟o is a Kenyan author. His works encouraged a deviation from the general

bourgeois education system to audience participation in the performance (“Profile”). What stands

out as unique is that Spivak critiques the political promises of Third World nationalism and

decolonization from the point of view of subaltern women and the underclass (Morton 124).

Spivak reiterates that postcolonial nationalism is torn apart between ruling governmental

elites and popular struggles of people, who are often suppressed by these political elites.

Although dominant historical writers have ignored popular struggles, and peasant rebellions,

literature can pave ways for subaltern groups to record such suppressed voices and movements.

Antonio Gramsci‟s elaborative work on the subaltern provides a vivid picture of the poor, lower

class and peasantry in India because of the “…parallels he drew between the division of labour in

Mussolini‟s Italy and the colonial division of labour in India” (Morton 47). The suppression of

the rural peasant could be erased by evoking class consciousness among the working class. This
is an echo of Karl Marx‟s words, who said that the change in the political and social future of

Europe lies in the capacity of the industrial working class. But, the stream of difference is that

Gramsci stressed that the rural peasantry were not unified in their uprising against the state. This

is the striking difference between Gramsci‟s notion of subaltern and the traditional Marxist

notion of the industrial working class being united. This idea of Gramsci that there lacked a

united force among the subaltern is also a point of concern for Spivak‟s articulation of subaltern

in post colonialism (47).

In 1967, there was a rural peasant rebellion in the Naxalbari area of West Bengal against

the Indian national government. This was a successful rebellion and this instilled hope among the

subaltern historians to review the narrative histories of the independence from the perspectives of

the subaltern. These various histories of the subaltern were independent from the mainstream

nationalist independent movement. This was a hazardous task because subaltern historians

lacked reliable sources and documents. Their political consent was often mixed with the

mainstream political voice of the elite. In order to win over the lacunae, subaltern historians

began a critique of colonial and elite historiographies. This method of the historians was very

helpful to Spivak‟s early attempt of theoretical discussions of the subaltern. She was of the

opinion that a critical analysis of elite history has a political agenda.

Even if the archives of the British and the elite national histories cannot give us the

subaltern agencies, a critique of the national historiography can. The theoretical approach of the

Marxist notion of history becomes a source for approaching the histories of the subaltern. Along

with other subaltern historians, Spivak also presents a crisis in the presentation of the historical

narrative of Indian national independence from the point of a rural peasant uprising. In fact,

Spivak questions, even the Marxist methodology of theoretical and historical approach to
subaltern studies which is very complex. When Spivak‟s ideas were published, there were

already other thoughts and intellectual deliberations, and according to Robert Young (2001),

Marxism had played a role in the formation of Indian political thought in the early 20th century.

The Naxalbari rebellion was one of them (197).

1.5.1. Subaltern Women

In order to highlight the histories and the struggle of subaltern women Spivak takes the work of

Mahaswetha Devi, a Bengali writer. In A literary representation of the subaltern, Spivak

highlights the idea of how Mahasweta Devi‟s Stanadayini (Breast Giver) questions the claims to

truth of the historical discourse of the elite in India. This is done through a vivid narration of the

story of the independence of the nation from the tragic story of a subaltern woman, Jashoda. She

is forced into nursing the children of a Brahmin family in order to feed her children. This is

construed as a, „parable of decolonization.‟ Devi uses the material body of Jashoda as a metaphor

for the decolonized nation. “Like the protagonist Jashoda, India is a mother by hire. All classes

of people, the post-war rich, the ideologues, the indigenous bureaucracy, the diasporic, the

people who are sworn to protect the new state, abuse and exploit her”(qtd. in Morton 125).

Nineteenth century anti-colonial movements were the root for this metaphor of Mother

India. Hindu mythological feminine figures like Kali, Sita, Draupadi and Savithri also

contributed towards defining an Indian nationhood. Gandhi also employed this metaphor of

Mother India to get the support of women for his non-violent and non-resistance movements

against the British. But this did not make any progress into women‟s political emancipation. On

the contrary, this became subordinate to achieving national independence. Even after
independence, the rights of women were dishonored and, subsequently, their role was confined

to traditional motherhood and domesticity.

According to Spivak, Devi‟s Stanadayini fails to recognize the position of lower class

subaltern women. Hence, it highlights a particular social oppression of subaltern women of post-

colonial nationalism. Again, in the Marxist-feminist context, the reproductive body of Jashoda

becomes a case of economic exploitation (Morton 125-6). Accordingly, it recalls the classic

Marxist theory of labour, where labour division was based on the sexual difference between men

and women: as productive and reproductive labour.

This sexual difference has undermined the maternal value of women‟s domestic chores,

because labour, like childbirth and mothering do not produce any money. However, in

Stanadayini, Jashoda‟s reproductive body is used for money. Here, Spivak makes a point that by

selling the maternal reproductive body, the system of sexual division of labour between men and

women is being relooked. Thus, “Stanadayini calls into question that aspect of western Marxist

feminism, which from the point of view of work, trivializes the theory of value and, from the

point of view of mothering as work, ignores the mother as subject”(126).

Devi‟s Douloti the Bountiful resonates the concept of Stanadayini. The tragedy is that the

story ends with the portrayal of the protagonist Douloti‟s death, caused by venereal disease after

being sold as a prostitute to pay off the debts incurred by her father. It points to the fact that

Douloti‟s death highlights the political independence from British by the continued oppression of

subaltern women. This is to say that Douloti‟s brutalized corpse announces the limit of

decolonization in post-independent India and the inefficiency of the independent nation to rectify

disparities in caste, gender and class.

 Spivak analyses whether women in the stories of Devi have any voice in the independent

India and answers that women‟s bodies are in revolt in independent India. This resistance and

revolt are not just intentional political struggles, but the suppression of women is an

unforeseeable issue that shows how caste and class and gender disparities are still prevalent and

the sky-high rhetoric of political India still fails to promote their rights. Devi‟s Draupadi also

explores the quest of the subaltern women‟s political agency. The story‟s backdrop is set in West

Bengal, where a peasant rebellion arose against the tyranny of the landlords and the government

in the late 1960s. This also narrates the plight of Draupadi, one of the insurgents who is captured

and tortured by the state‟s military forces. The story starts with the army chief, Senanayak,

hunting the leaders of the Naxalite rebellion. In this process, he reads the left-wing paperback

and literature to understand the political motivation for the insurgency.

1.6. The Early Fiction of Mulk Raj Anand

The following is a short description of the early fiction of Mulk Raj Anand.

1.6.1. UNTOUCHABLE

Mulk Raj Anand‟s novel, Untouchable is a lucid narration of a day in the life of Bakha, an

eighteen year old outcaste. His suffering, coupled with humiliation, is remarkably detailed. This

novel is one of the most noteworthy contributions of Mulk Raj Anand to the literary realm and

made him a luminary among the giants of Indian English literature. It is a very powerful novel,

which portrays the maladies of Indian social system, which has termed a large number of our

brothers and sisters as untouchable (Agnihotri 137-8).

 The plot of the novel was inspired by Anand‟s childhood memories of an outcast

sweeper. After an injury, he was carried home by a sweeper boy. But, the sweeper boy was

beaten up by the author‟s mother for his Good Samaritan gesture, instead of being appreciated.

Thus, the novel flowed like hot lava from the volcano of Anand‟s rage (Fisher 24). The novel

was a subject of a lot of controversy for his rendition on the subject of untouchables

(“Untouchable”). Anand proves to be a true champion for the liberation of the untouchables. In

the words of E. M. Forster, the narration touches the heart of the readers because the author had

an in-depth understanding of the plight of untouchables (Anand, Untouchable viii). Let us look at

the summary of the novel. The novel is set in the interior of a Punjabi village called, Bulashah.

The novel unfolds with a description of the outcast colony.

Bakha finds it difficult to live in a filthy place inhabited by scavengers for kith and kin.

Since he works in a British regiment, he fantasizes being an Englishman and emulates their

lifestyle. “He was caught by the glamour of the white man‟s life” (2). Unmindful of the heavy

cold, lashing his body, he sleeps in his day cloth as his idols do. He wakes up to the abuse of his

father to clean the latrine for Havildar Charat Singh. Impressed by his cleanliness, the havildar

promises to present a hockey stick to Bakha. As a sign of gratitude, he genuflects before the

havildar and goes about doing his daily routines in ecstasy, singing and dancing. His sincere hard

work at the latrines turns out to be a blessing in disguise. For the harder he worked, the stronger

he became. Passersby often marveled at his skill saying, “He is a bit superior to his job, not the

kind of man who ought to be doing this [cleaning toilets]” (8).

The Englishmen often ridiculed the way Indians relieved themselves on the streets “„Kala

admi zamin par hagne wala‟ (black man, you who relieve yourself on the ground)” (10).

However, in a way, this made things easy for Bakha since if all of them came to the toilets, it
would become very difficult for him to keep them clean. His life, however, is a contrast, though

he cleans latrines, he dresses with cloths usually begged from his heroes. Now, as he enters his

house for satiating his hunger with a cup of tea, Sohini, his sister, goes to fetch water from the

well. Drawing water from the well could be a frustrating experience, for outcasts are forbidden to

draw water from the well.

They were at the mercy of the caste people. In a lighter vein, Gulabo is introduced to pick

up a quarrel with Sohini for she is jealous of her charm and the innocence writ on her face. The

author says “She was beautiful” (14). Along with other waiting women, she pleads with a sepoy

to fetch some water for them, but it falls on deaf ears. Pundit Kali Nath, the priest of the temple,

however comes to their aid with an ulterior intention. He has an eye on the beautiful Sohini. He

shows his preference by filling her pitcher before that of the others and asks her to clean the

temple with her father‟s permission.

Having finished his tea, Bakha now leaves to do the cleaning normally done by his father.

For his father, Lakha feels a little uneasy in his back. Bakha‟s liking for nature is pictured as the

Sun shines bright and clear, he soaks in the sunlight, unable to see the world for a moment, he

falls on the ground in ecstasy (25). Noticed by his friends, he feels shy. Refusing to play with

them, he then hurries to do the cleaning. While seeing children going to school, he also

ruminates studying and becoming literate. He cannot. He remembers the reason why his father

does not send him to school, because, no school accepted children of the low caste and also

because „caste parents‟ would not allow their wards to be contaminated by sitting along with

untouchables. Bakha does not accept this idea because many caste children touched him at

hockey games.
 Propelled by an inner desire to learn, he buys an English primer for self-learning. But,

he‟s unable to proceed beyond the letter of the alphabet. He then enters into a contract with the

children of a „Babu‟ to pay an anna for a lesson (32). Glancing through the things displayed in

the market, he wants to smoke. A pack of scissors‟ cigarettes was thrown to him for the price of

a nickel. Again, the mouth watering sight of sweets arranged in a kaleidoscope triggers his taste

buds to buy Bengali Jalebis for four annas. He is ashamed of the fact that it is thrown to him like

a cricket ball.

With his basket under one arm and the broom in another, Bakha walks among the crowd

like others. But, like a thunderbolt, filthy abuse is rained on him for touching passers-by. His

failure to shout „posh, keeps away, posh, sweeper coming‟ earns him a slap (38). Picking up his

turban, basket and broom, he walks towards the temple court. His feelings rise like spurts of

smoke from a half-smoldering fire. He asks himself: “why did all this happen? Shouldn‟t I have

announced my coming, as I am an untouchable?” To his consolation, he gets an answer like a ray

of light flashing through the darkness that all such things happened to him because he was an

untouchable. As he proceeds, he comes across a busy street with European instruments of music,

which are in great demand at marriage parties. He is also delighted to see shops of modern flour

mills and oil mills. Moreover, the sight of brass instruments and uniforms enables him to ease his

miseries. But a greatly horrifying incident is in the offing. Upon seeing a crowd of orthodox

Hindus passing through, Bakha shouts, „posh, posh.‟ He hears one of them singing, Ram, Ram,

Sri Krishna while other chants, Hari Narayana yet someone else repeats Om Om Shanti.

A rush of curiosity impels him to glimpse the deity they are marching to pay their

obeisance to and, unconsciously, he mounts a few steps. But, the pumping of his adrenal

effortlessly brought him back to square one where he was to collect the leaves in the temple
courtyard. Strengthened by his will, he once again makes an attempt to see the temple deity and

succeeds in having a glimpse of the same but loses himself in the chanting of the temple arti.

Devotees line up to worship as the priest begins the morning service. All of a sudden, there is a

shout, „polluted, polluted!‟ “Get off the steps you scavenger! Off with you! You have defiled our

whole service!” (53).

Bakha feels as if he is dead for a moment. As he rushes to the ground, he sees a priest

shouting, „polluted, polluted‟ with Sohini standing behind him. When Bakha inquires about what

had happened, she says that when she bent down to work, the man came from behind and held

her breasts. When she protested, the man shouted „polluted, polluted‟. A rage of fury envelopes

him and dragging his sister behind him, he looks for the priest to kill him. As he stands staring at

the temple, a sense of fear comes upon him because he feels the gods were staring at him (54).

It is difficult for Bakha to even imagine how such a shameful thing could befall his sister.

Why was she born? How could she show her face in public? His soul refuses to be consoled. He

sends her home with his basket and broom. He passes through the iron mongers street as if half-

dead and reaches the house of a rich lady whose filth his sister was supposed to clean. Exhausted

by hunger, he shouts, „food for the sweeper‟, but there is no one to feed him. So he sits on a

wooden platform and leans against a hard wood knowing it is a drainage carrying the filth of the

house. In his half-sleep, he sees that he is driven by a bullock cart through the streets, and then

carried by four men dressed in the uniform of the English army (60).

Here the author introduces a true scavenger in the name of Rakha, his brother. With his

bare, clean shaven head, Rakha sports the true spirit of the untouchable. Everyone at home eats

from the basket he carries on his head. But, reminded of the way the crumbs of bread were
thrown at Rakha, Bakha dislikes the meal. Observing this, Lakha, with his natural love of a

father, asks Bakha to eat more since he had said he was hungry (70). But, Bakha lies that he has

to attend the wedding of Ram Charan‟s sister, though he has not been invited (77). All that he

wants is to get away from his household: father, brother and sister. For, he is agonized by the

incident of his sister being molested by the priest.

As he walks, memories flash in his mind. He remembers he was eight years old when he

first saw the daughter of Gulabo. His obsession for her persists as he grows older. He walks

towards her house, giving vent to his infatuation for her, but he also feels ashamed of what he

feels (79). At the ghats, he finds the washer men happily washing their customers‟ clothes. Then,

along with Chota, he looks for Ramcharan, whose sister‟s wedding is to take place. As the three

friends eat the sugar plums brought by Ramcharan, they tease each other. Amongst them,

Ramcharan was from a higher caste; Chota came next in the hierarchy and at bottom of the

hierarchy came Bakha, the untouchable (87). But, there existed no barriers amongst them. The

company of the two friends gives Bakha courage. When pressed, Bakha narrates the incidents of

the morning. Chota reacts vehemently to the incident Bakha narrates. The two friends console

him and take him for a game of hockey. After that, all three depart for their respective houses

silently. Chota finally mocks Bakha by calling Ramcharan his brother-in-law.

A Ramcharan‟s mother warns not to mingle with others, especially the dirty sweeper and

leather worker. Unmindful of his mother‟s warning, Ramcharan walks to meet his friends, even

on the day of his sister‟s wedding (83). Passing through the outcaste‟s colony, they go to the

Bulashah hill to play. Bakha feels detached from the company of his friends for a moment and

journeys to dreamland and recalls his memory of winning a hockey match against the boys of
28th Sikhs. His sense of imagination is so extra-ordinary that he is able to travel anywhere in the

world. He comes to his senses when Chota tickles his nose.

The insults and tensions of the morning are released when Bakha sees his two friends.

They plan their preparation for the hockey match. At this juncture, Chota wants to pay a visit to

his family. Bakha too says that he wants to meet Havildar Charat Singh to get the hockey stick

that was promised in the morning. Finally, all of them plan to meet before the match. Although

Bakha passes through the colony of the outcasts, he does not want to go home because he does

not wish to clean the latrines.

As he proceeds, he sees a solar topee hanging on the wall and he becomes very active and

alive. There are many stories knit around the hat. Many said it was a symbol of authority of the

sahibs who ruled over the regiment. Others said that it was forgotten by a sahib in the regimental

office. Since the man was rich, he did not reclaim his lost property. Yet, some others said that, it

belonged to an officer, who had gone for a long walk and would get it when he returned from the

walk. Rumours had it that it belonged to ghosts and ghouls. Even the sepoys wanted to wear it

because it aroused a sense of wonder and awe among the on-lookers. Every child had a desire to

wear something European. But since it was expensive, they were willing to lay their hands on

anything European for possession of something of a European is a matter of pride. It is in this

regard, the hat had a rare distinction of honour and seemed an invaluable European treasure.

Bakha has longed for the topee for years. The best way to get the topee was, of course, to

befriend someone in the barracks. But his efforts so far were in vain. He also imagines playing

hockey with such a topee. If he were to steal it, he could never wear it, for everyone knew about

it. Finally, he thinks of Havildar Charat Singh and goes to his house with the hope of getting the
topee. Seeing the Havildar, Bakha makes a gesture of namaskar. The Havildar asks why he did

not participate in the regimental hockey matches. Bakha answers that he did not participate due

to the heavy work of cleaning.

The kindness of the Havildar does not hold on to any discrimination on account of caste.

He asks Bakha to go to his kitchen and bring a couple of pieces of charcoal and a cup of tea from

the cook. Bakha makes every step so as not to embarrass anyone as he tiptoes towards the

kitchen. The Havildar then gives a drink of tea to Bakha using the pan meant to feed the

sparrows in his house, and then hands him a brand new hockey stick. As expected, Bakha goes

about displaying the brand new stick all along the way, insisting boys to play a game of hockey

(101). Now, as he marches towards the ground, he meets Chota, who says a word of caution that

Bakha must introduce himself as the sahib‟s bearer and not a sweeper (103).

At the match against the 31st Punjabi‟s boys, Bakha makes an attempt to shoot a goal. But

the 31st Punjabi‟s boys call out foul and an argument ensues, which results in a fight. In the

course of the fight, a little boy who was guarding their clothes is injured on his head. As blood

pours from the back of his head, Bakha picks up the boy and rushes into the boy‟s house. But

fate has it otherwise, for the mother of the child abuses him for daring to touch her child (106).

Overwhelmed by fear, Bakha withdraws from the scene.

For the first time, he feels alone. He does not want to go home with the hockey stick for

his father Lakha would grow wild with anger. He finds a place to hide the same. Nevertheless,

the very sight of Bakha at that late hour triggers rage in him and he begins to rain abuse on him

for shirking his responsibilities. The fact that his brother, a true son of his untouchable father,

does not allow him to do the job is salt in the wound. He felt as if he is homeless and forlorn. He
asks himself what he had done to beget these insults and abuses. He recalls that on the night of

his mother‟s demise, his s father had put him out of the house for the whole night for disobeying

his orders. That incident was a learning experience to work very hard at the latrines which, in

turn, helped him to build up his torso (111).

Colonel Hutchinson is presented as someone who is entrusted with the noble job of

saving humanity by proselytizing. He has the Bible in Hindustani under an arm and, in the

pockets of his jacket and overcoat, the Gospel of St. Luke, thrusting it into the hands of any

passer-by, whether they wanted it or not (113). Colonel Hutchinson wants to put Bakha at ease,

though he embarrasses Bakha with his approach. By way of self-introduction, the colonel says he

is a padre with the Salvation Army and had come to save souls for Christ, especially outcasts.

When the Padre says that, Bakha is sad and the answer to his problem lies in the life of Yessuh

Messih. Bakha is surprised to know that the colonel is aware of his own problems. Was it a

coincidence that he met the Padre?

The more the colonel explains about Jesus, the more confused Bakha becomes. His

curiosity grows about Jesus. Was he like the Lord Rama, the god of Hindus? Did he have power

to heal sinners and, if so, what was his power? Thus, Bakha is slow to understand the colonel

(119). After much preaching, Bakha understands that Jesus came for all and died for all. Hence

there is no difference between Brahmins and untouchables. However, Bakha does not like the

idea of sin. For Hindus believed that sins get remitted with rebirth. He also finds it difficult to

believe in the day of punishment by judgment. At last, when the colonel takes Bakha to his

house, his wife scolds him for bringing a dirty man into the house.
 Bakha hears about Mahatma Gandhi‟s talk. He rushes there to listen to the talk, but

becomes aware of his position as a sweeper because his dirty khaki uniform is different from the

clothes of others. He stands at a distance from the others to listen to his speech. Some among the

crowd say that Gandhi is a saint and had the power to change the world (129). He alone could

bring the Brahmins and the outcasts on an equal footing and he wanted to eradicate the world of

untouchables. Hence, Gandhi calls them Harijans, the children of God. He also insisted upon the

importance of self-governance that one should not go to the Sarkari Adalat (court) instead; one

must go to the Panchayat. Castes and class consciousness govern society now.

Finally, three proposals are placed in the hands of Bhaka. The first choice is to embrace

Christianity. For, Christ can put a Bhangi on par with a Brahmin. This idea is rejected because it

is only a partial solution. Moreover, Europeans were also guided by personal interest and lacked

a centrality of vision (113-120). Secondly, the Gandhian idea of equality impresses Bakha.

Gandhi alone had the power to change the world with his vision (127-134). Thirdly, Bakha

comes to believe only the flush system could solve the problem of scavenging. If scavengers

changed their profession, their caste would end naturally. If machines are used to do the

scavenging, then men need not work at toilets. Thus, the author believes, there would be a

flowering of an egalitarian society. Reading the novel gives one a tangible picture of how

untouchables are treated in our country. Their life is very hard and miserable. People take lots of

things for granted. Along with the author, we are also impelled to contribute our might to

alleviate the pains of the socially and economically marginalized. Though the novel is set in a

village in Punjab, echoing the words of G. N. Agnihotri, it is truly Pan-Indian.

1.6.2. COOLIE
Mulk Raj Anand‟s Coolie portrays a spine-chilling experience of a poor, orphaned, boy who is a

replica of boys and girls destined for exploitation. The tragic hero of the novel, Munoo‟s

departure, from his village to work as a servant in a Babu‟s house, as a factory worker, as a

labourer in a mill, as a rickshaw puller and, finally, his death, are narrated in a deeply moving

manner such that the reader cannot but empathize with this suffering servant (Anand, “Coolie”).

Moreover, the novel is spun with social, economic and humanistic themes. (Fisher 39). The

greatness of the master craftsman Anand is that he enkindles the fire in us so that we are moved

to envisage a society where just pay and dignity of labour are held as basic values of human

rights. The following is a synopsis of the novel: Coolie. Munoo is a carefree, orphaned, boy

brought up by his aunt Gujri in a mud hut in the Gangara hills of Gopipur village. He is to be

taken to Sham Nagar town by his uncle Daya Ram but he dislikes the idea of going to the towns

because he enjoys the fun and frolic and the company of his friends in the village.

To get to the town, Munoo has to walk a ten-mile distance bare foot. But the sight of the

temples and mosques are a feast for his eyes. The multitudes of people, shops, coal engines and

almost everything else excites him. “The narrow streets, congested with rows of shops,… he felt

as if he were walking in a dream, in a land of romance where everything was gilded and grand,

so different was this world from the world of the mountain” (Anand, Coolie 8). His uncle Daya

Ram, on the other hand, salutes any Englishman on the road. Munoo, however, does not look at

any Englishman for fear of their complexion and figure. On his maiden assignment, Munoo

meets the virago Bibiji, wife of Babuji, a bank employee. Since he is the one who is ordered to

bring vegetables, Munoo wonders why he is not even asked to eat, as that is his idea of courtesy,

where guests are served first. He observes that his aunt, though angry, doesn‟t utter a word or

abuse anyone. Daya Ram, on the other hand, asks Munoo to do everything he is ordered to do.
 Munoo‟s ordeal begins as he has to do every odd job in the fireplace and kitchen. Though

given very little to eat, Munoo has to get up in the wee hours of the morning to begin his job. As

in his village, he relieves himself near the wall of the house and is insulted; he is allowed to enter

the house only after his bath. He is strictly forbidden from playing with the children of the house.

When Munoo complains about the ill-treatment meted out, his Uncle Daya Ram beats him up

and reminds him of his position as a servant. Munoo then continues his work as if it were his

fate. He too wishes to become like the Chota Babu, the doctor brother of Babu Nathoo Ram, who

is rich. He remembers the words of his uncle that money is everything and caste does not matter.

(Fisher 41). As it seems unreasonable and impractical, he recognizes his identity as a servant.

The history of humanity belongs to two classes: ruled and ruled over. However, the people who

are ruled over remain as subjects due to the lack of the power of money and position. Realizing

the impossibility of a life as rulers, Munoo vows to become a perfect servant (Anand, Coolie 36).

On being invited, W. P. England, an Englishman, who is the chief cashier at the Imperial

Bank of India, comes to Nathoo Ram‟s home for tea. Nathoo Ram wants a promotion and an

increment of salary. The tea party turns out to be a fiasco and the Englishman goes away

unhappy. Munoo, once again, is held responsible for the fiasco. Hence, “He wanted to drown in

some pit of oblivion where he could forget, forget the humiliating memory of the beating he had

suffered” (59). Munoo wants to put an end to this work of cruelty. But his Uncle Daya Ram

reiterates the dignity of labour.

As he walks back, he thinks of running away, but lacks the courage and money. He,

therefore, quietly goes back to work. It also now dawns on him that money is everything. The

whole world is polarized by two things: rich and poor, and there was no division based on castes.

In his over enthusiasm one day, Munoo performs a monkey dance and, all of a sudden, snarls and
plants his teeth on Shiela. Her ivory face turns blue with the bite. He is mercilessly thrashed for

this act. Finally, in order to escape this ordeal, Munoo runs away and boards a train not knowing

where to go.

In the train, Munoo meets Prabha, now a proprietor of a pickles and essence-brewing

factory but from humble beginnings. He is willing to take Munoo along with him, to raise him as

his own child, for Prabha is childless. Munoo heads for Daulatpur, hoping for the unfolding of a

new world. He gets to work in the factory of Prabha, guided by the others in the factory. His job

is to deliver goods to various shops and to be an accountant for Prabha, which is opposed by

Ganpat, “„Don‟t puff the boy up from the very start,‟ he remarks, with bitter malice” (64).

In an instance, a verbal duel breaks out, leading to Ganpat manhandling the owner of the

house, in which Prabha and Ganpat ran the pickle factory. Prabha‟s timely apology saves the

situation. Munoo learns the work of the factory, but is overwhelmed by the delivery of goods to

customers. He sees this instead as a time to mingle with a sea of men, women and children, and

escapes from the sight of Ganpat. Ganpat keeps a strict eye on workers and he is a taskmaster,

knowing how to extract work from the servants of the factory. Munoo is beaten up for even

minor mischief, such as stealing mangoes from the factory. One day, while collecting dues,

Ganpat misappropriates the money and Prabha, thereafter, is forced to run the factory from

borrowings. When he is unable to repay the loans, the innocent Prabha is put in prison. His entire

household is agonized by his imprisonment. After much ordeal, he is released from jail.

Munoo is forced to look for a job in the market as a source of income for himself and, his

master and mistress. Finding a suitable job becomes difficult for Munoo because the job of a

coolie required, strong muscles, which he did not have. Finally, he settles for the job of carrying
vegetables in the bazaar. In the meanwhile, Prabha is forced to depart to a hilly area to

recuperate. While pondering over his next career option, he hears of Bombay, a city where rich

southerners and Parsis lived. Coolies earned anything from fifteen to thirty a day. By the help of

an elephant driver, he is smuggled to Bombay. The man is kind and tells Munoo that when he

was young many helped him reach this present position. So he too is happy to help Munoo.

Munoo then, wonders why some people are kind like Prabha and why some turn out to be cruel

like Ganpat (147). In Bombay, an old man comes to Munoo‟s aid, helping him find a job at the

mill. As he marches to the mill along with his new friend, he finds people moving towards their

respective destinations. His thoughts on Bombay being a rich place, where money is to be found

strewn on the path is only a myth and comes to realize that poor people are to be found

everywhere, and their plight is always the same.

They reach the gate of „Sir George White Cotton Mills‟ after a long travel. The foreman

Jimmie Thomas gives them employment in the factory for a meagre salary. In the factory,

Munoo befriends Ratan, a wrestler and feels comfortable in his company. Ratan is very humane,

helping anybody in trouble. On holidays, Ratan and Munoo go on leisure trips, visiting toddy

shops and brothels. Monday mornings were difficult for most coolies, since they were unable to

resume their jobs after the rest day which had allowed them to rejuvenate and regain their lost

joy. Eventually, Ratan is dismissed from the factory, as expected, because of his nature of being

a voice for the voiceless.

Even a joint protest and strike cannot do much to reinstate Ratan. The protest on the other

hand makes the manager and owners of the mill all the more infuriated and the owners decide to

shut down the mill for overhauling on the fourth week of the month without payment. This is a

big blow to the workers. The strike of the employees leads to chaos amongst them. There are
also rumours of a Hindu boy having been kidnapped by a Muslim (235). This further aggravates

the situation leading to murder and arson. Police forces are deployed to rein in the rioters.

While looking for a new job, Munoo is knocked down unconscious by an Anglo-Indian

lady, Mainwaring, and before anybody notices, she takes him with her to the hills, Shimla (249).

Mainwaring is a kind-hearted, beautiful, young lady. But has an air of inferiority about her, due

to her dusky complexion and Indian origin. The powder she uses on her body does not have the

desired effect. She had wanted her household to send her to England for higher education,

whereby, she could get a chance to visit the beauty parlors there to whiten her skin.

However, since they were unable to afford her a good education abroad, Mainwaring

marries a German who provided her with enough money. In order to get an English job, she

stoops to any level. Hence acquaintances with and separations from anybody did not matter to

her anymore. She is kind to Munoo and, briefly, he is infatuated by her presence. When she is

diagnosed as having a kidney stone, she is strictly ordered to eat plenty of fruits. Thus, she feigns

sick to draw the attention of everybody. Munoo acts as Mainwaring‟s personal assistant and a

rickshaw puller. He once again considers himself a favored servant among all, and works all the

harder and encourages other coolies to work likewise.

Ultimately, the perfect coolie becomes sick and weak. When his health deteriorates, he,

for the first time, becomes afraid of death. But his will power to live prevails. He shrugs off

thoughts of death and goes ahead with his work despite his friends‟ advice to relinquish the job.

While medicine earns him a brief respite, hemorrhage results in his death a quiet night. In this

way, Anand ends Coolie, “…focusing on the parentless adolescent who is a victim of other

people‟s greed, arrogance, and cruelty–a victim, as it were, of „civilization”(Fisher 44).

1.6.3. TWO LEAVES AND A BUD

Two Leaves and a Bud is a heart-rendering saga narrating the plight of a poor farmer who is

oppressed by society and exploited in the tea plantations of Assam. The novel is an exploration

of cruelties and hardships inherent in the caste system, and the sufferings endured due to poverty.

The hero of the novel, Gangu, is very pessimistic about his fate. He undergoes daily insults at the

hands of his plantation masters. This poor Punjabi farmer is finally killed by a British official,

who tries to rape his daughter Leila.

Gangu who comes from the district of Hoshiarpur of Punjab, is offered a little brick hut

with corrugated iron roof. Buta, the Sardar coolie catcher enticed Gangu and his household into

the trap of false promise in the Macpherson tea estate in Assam. The tea plantation is like an

unbreakable jail although it has no bars. Hence anybody who enters plantation will not be able to

go back. Most coolies stayed on in the estate because, if they go back to their village, there

would not be anything to eat as they have witnessed their kin and kith die before their eyes.

Reggie rode on a mare, while supervising the work of coolies, imagining himself as

Napoleon Bonaparte in order to evoke awe and respect from the poor coolies. While being very

stern with the coolies, he very much favoured the coolie women in order to establish a strong

relationship with one of them. His hut is surrounded by poor hygiene and is dirty. Though

staggered in poverty, he lives a morally good life with his household. His wife dies at his arms

crying for medicine and he dies at the hands of Reggie Hunt defending his daughter‟s purity.

Gangu becomes a scapegoat sacrificed at the altar of the narrow racial prejudices. He learns from

Narain, a sensible, but frustrated coolie that escape from the plantation is almost impossible for
an entry in the tea estate is a passport to life long confinement. Years of poverty and

wretchedness made him abject pessimist. Nevertheless he was hopeful of a new life.

Being a Hindu wife, Sajani becomes a victim of exploitation. Sajani faces economic

crises for she, as a representation of a morally good wife refuses to yield to the wishes of the

moneyed and powerful. She becomes helpless with the ill-treatment meted out to her husband.

Economic dependence here becomes her biggest cause of victimization. Due to utter poverty and

helplessness coupled with poor sanitation, she dies of Malaria. Gangu reeled under poverty, so

much so, that he did not even have money for his wife‟s burial.

The only daughter of Gangu goes along with him to the tea gardens in Assam. Even

peaceful demonstration of the workers is dealt with iron hand. The women and the daughters of

the workers are not safe because the Europeans molest and rape them. She poignantly reflects the

poverty of Gangu. Like any ordinary girl, she also wishes to buy paraphernalia like pretty

trinkets. When she thinks of her father‟s poverty, her desire turns sour and she forsakes the idea

of buying anything at all. Thus, she shows her concerns for her father and the entire family. Her

encounter with the python is preceded by Reggie Hunt, the Englishman who attempted to seduce

her. The author‟s creation of an atmosphere of the rustle breeze, the sweep of the grasses and the

dump turbid smell of the sunless groves makes way for the python to appear and catch her

unawares. Leila bruises the deadly python after a hard struggle of writhing and wriggling. This is

a testimony of Leila‟s character in time of turbulence and tenderness.

At the end, Leila attracts the attention of Reggie Hunt, a European drunkard and

womanizer. Possessed by madness to get her, Reggie Hunt follows her to her hut. There unable

to appease his lust, he in a moment of rage, finding Gangu, the father of Leila, shoots him dead.
The imperial court comprising, mostly of the Europeans, declares him „innocent.‟ He shot in

self-defense.

The Englishman De La Havre was a replica of humanism, socialism, progressivism and

idealism. He goes about giving the coolies right and idealistic thoughts. He espouses the causes

of the coolies and makes a private report on them which reads like a revolutionary pamphlet. He

also feels that imperialism was an extraneously evil form of capitalist exploitation. He supports

the coolies and even protects them. He shoulders the responsibility to fight against the injustices

and indignities suffered from the hands of the British and the Indian exploiters. Thus, De La

Havre becomes a symbol of hope for the Indians.

She comes across as a social commentator along with John de la Havre and Narain, the

coolie. Barbara delves deep into the life of the poor and comes to the conclusion that it was the

outcome of the hypocrisy and shallowness of the British in India. She also strongly feels for a

need to revolutionize the country to emancipate the poor. Europe imposed labour system in the

plantations which was a monstrous crime against the humanity. She was also disgusted with the

life of the other English men and women who frequented the clubs although it sounds unnatural.

Perhaps it was the author‟s displeasure with the Europeans shown through the displeasure of

Barbara.

The two leaves and the bud of a tea plant in every nook and corner of the garden are mute

spectators of the oppression and agony of the poor Punjabi. Anand‟s exposition of the brutalities

of English planters is far from being an exaggeration (Fisher 46). What follows is a very short

summary of the novel, highlighting its content. The protagonist of the novel, Gangu travels to a

tea estate in Assam along with his wife Sajani, daughter Leila and son Buddha. As the journey
proceeds, he inquires about the employer from Buta, the Sardar of the Macpherson tea estate. He

does not get a satisfactory answer. He travels in search of a new job because he had to forfeit his

four acres of land on account his younger brother‟s debts.

The masters of the estate squeeze blood out their hard labour and only a paltry salary,

with no health care, is offered. John La Harve is a compassionate debtor, who tries to help the

coolies live a hygienic life free from mosquitoes. Without his efforts many could have died from

malaria and cholera. In the midst of the colonies of the plantation workers, Reggie Hunt has a

sprawling bungalow. The characters Mrs. and Mr. Charles Croft-Cooke made the usual

comments about the Indians being lazy, born liars and robbers. But the comments of La Harve

about Indians make for an air of positivity. Whenever they hear of a riot in Calcutta, the coolies

panic and fear for their lives.

Gangu befriends his neighbours, Narain and Ram. They give him a real picture of the

situation by asserting that the place is like a prison from where no one can escape and no

daughter or mother is safe. On his supervisory trips, Reggie Hunt insults and beats up coolies.

For, he is a vicious man and content with wine and women. The innocent women became

overwhelmed with joy to look at the White men amongst them, including Leila.

With the type of work that Gangu does, he is unable to meet both the ends but vows to

settle his daughter in marriage and see his son grow. Fate has otherwise, with Sajani succumbing

to cholera. He has no money to even bury his wife. Suffering much humiliation, he borrows

money from others. Reggie is a hardworking man who believes that victories are stepping stones

to achieve other great things in life. Nevertheless, he is an immodest man, making prey of the

poor women in the colonies to satiate his sexual urge.

 If anyone resented the orders of the manager, or switch over from one estate to another,

he was imprisoned on charges of being a Congress man. The estate owners and managers did not

permit any trade unions. The coolies in the novel are presented as naïve and ignorant, people

who even assumed that helicopters were really evil spirits hovering over to destroy them. The

novel ends with the tragic death of the hero of the novel who defends his daughter from a British

official, who tries to rape his daughter, Leila. The murderer, Reggie, goes scot free according to

the judgment delivered by Justice Moberly. Thus, this novel becomes Anand‟s one of the few

creations where he is over-powered by the angry man who is pained by his world (Fisher 51).

CONCLUSION

The researcher thus ends the first chapter with the historical inception of the term

„subaltern,‟ and echoes Guha‟s definition of the term „subaltern‟ as a general attribute for

subordination. As seen above, the early fiction of Anand: Untouchable, Coolie and Two Leaves

and a Bud can, therefore, be considered subaltern for they are a description of the life of the poor

and the down-trodden. The researcher now proceeds to argue how illiterates are termed as

subaltern in the second chapter and how they can be empowered through education.