Untouchable by Mulk Raj Anand a short summary

 

Untouchable is the first great sociological novel of Anand, published in 1935. It gives an account of single day event in the life of the protagonist Bakha, a sweeper boy, the son of Jamadar of the sweeper in the town of Bulashah. He is inspired by the new influences which cause upheaval with him. He somehow manages to get a pair of old breeches from an English soldier and a pair of old boots from a sepoy, and he aspires to emulate the fashions of the foreigner. He is very efficient in his work of cleaning latrines. His sister Sohini is also dexterous after her fashion. One day she goes to the village well to fetch water. Kalinath, a temple priest shows his kind-heartedness to pull out a bucket of water for the assembled outcastes. He then feels attracted to her youthfulness, and driving away the others, pours the water into her pitchers. He then suggests her to come to his house to clean the courtyard and when she does come to do her duty. the priest tries to seduce her, but she starts screaming. Kalinath equally screams "polluted! polluted". Meanwhile, Bakha approaches at the spot and gets furious, but he sends Sohini away home. He himself goes to collect the pieces of bread from the houses of the rich. On returning home, he bitterly relates the happening to his father. "They think we are mere dirt because we clean their dirt."

 

In the afternoon, after attending the marriage of Ramcharan's sister, his friend, he along with Ramcharan goes to play hockey in the evening. Bakha is given a hockey stick by Havildar Charat Singh, a man of higher caste. Bakha, playing hockey against the '31st Punjabis' scores a goal, which starts a free fight. During the game hour a little boy is injured and Bakha tries to lift him up and thus the boy is polluted. His father rebukes him  and he is then driven out of the house.


Bakha goes to the Gole Maidan where he listens Gandhi's speech attentively. He is thrilled by his speech that sweepers are men of God and must keep themselves pure by eating only the right food and refusing the leavings of others. But he is more confused than ever. It seemed him that if he were to refuse the food thrown to him for cleaning latrin-job he should starve. In the crowd, however, he hears a poet Iqbal saying that the problem of untouchability can be solved if modern flush latrines are introduced, then the sweepers can be free from cleaning dirt. Bakha returns to his home in the outcasts' quarters thinking about "this is wonderful machine that can remove dung without anyone having to handle it".

Thus, the novel provides a scathing indictment against the caste system and exposes the cruelty and hypocrisy of the high caste Hindus.

Other significant works by Mulk Raj Anand

Coolie
    - Munoo - 14 years old orphan hill boy

 

Two leaves and a bud.
    - Gangu - a worker in tea plantation

Lal Singh trilogy (lalu trilogy)
    Village
    Across the black water
    The sword and the sickle

Lal Singh a boy like munoo and Bakha

The Big heart
    Stream of consciousness novel
    Features Ananta , a coppersmith


Private life of an Indian Prince
    Sufferings of an individual Prince after independence.
    Victor, the central character


Seven Summers

Seven Summers was published in 1951. It is the first volume of Anand's fictional autobiography in seven volumes.  It deals with the first seven years of the hero's - Krishnan (Mouthpiece of Mulk Raj Anand) childhood. The boy (hero) has many friends. Bakha, the son of a sweeper, and the hero of Untouchable, is one of them. The novel ends with the breaking out of the War in 1914; his mother's comment being, "The end of the Kali-yug has come". The whole series of Seven Summers has been worked out after Shakespeare's analysis of life in its seven ages in his play As You Like It.

The old woman and the cow
    Central character- Gouri