Mulk Raj Anand, Short note for PGT English

 

1. Mulk Raj Anand was born on 12 December 1905 in Peshawar, British India (now in Pakistan).
2. He is one of the pioneers of Indian English fiction.
3. Anand is known for his social realism and humanitarian themes.
4. His novels focus on the lives of the poor and the oppressed.
5. He was deeply influenced by Mahatma Gandhi’s ideas.
6. Anand studied at the University of London and Cambridge University.
7. He was associated with the Bloomsbury Group in England.
8. Anand’s writing exposes caste discrimination and social injustice.
9. His first novel is Untouchable.
10. Untouchable depicts a day in the life of Bakha, a sweeper boy.
11. The novel highlights the evils of the caste system.
12. Mahatma Gandhi wrote the preface to Untouchable.
13. His second famous novel is Coolie.
14. Coolie presents the tragic life of Munoo, a child laborer.
15. Anand’s novel Two Leaves and a Bud deals with exploitation of tea plantation workers.
16. His works present the harsh realities of colonial India.
17. Anand uses simple and direct language.
18. He combines realism with sympathy for the downtrodden.
19. Anand is considered a novelist of protest.
20. His novels are influenced by Marxist ideology.
21. He focused on class conflict and social inequality.
22. Anand’s characters are drawn from marginalized communities.
23. He aimed to bring social reform through literature.
24. Anand also wrote short stories, essays, and autobiographies.
25. His autobiographical work is Seven Summers.
26. This work describes his childhood experiences.
27. Anand’s fiction reflects humanism and compassion.
28. He used Indian settings, customs, and speech patterns.
29. Anand tried to Indianize English language in his novels.
30. His works show the influence of Dickens and Tolstoy.
31. Anand received the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1971.
32. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1967.
33. Anand was also an art critic and cultural activist.
34. He founded the magazine Marg for Indian art and culture.
35. Anand’s novels are widely taught in Indian universities.
36. He believed literature should serve society.
37. Anand portrayed both rural and urban poverty.
38. His novels have a strong moral and social message.
39. Anand’s style is realistic, emotional, and descriptive.
40. He criticized both caste system and British colonial rule.
41. Anand’s works mark the beginning of Indian English social novel.
42. He lived a long literary life and remained active in writing.
43. Anand’s contribution to Indian English literature is immense.
44. His themes include poverty, caste, exploitation, and injustice.
45. Anand’s writing reflects his deep concern for humanity.
46. He died on 28 September 2004 in Pune, India.
47. Anand is often grouped with R. K. Narayan and Raja Rao as the “Big Three” of Indian English fiction.
48. His novels are important for understanding social history of India.
49. He is remembered as a champion of the oppressed in Indian English literature. (1905–2004)
50. Birth -12th December 1905 (in a Hindu Kshatriya family in Peshawar)
51. Death 28th September 2004 (died of pneumonia)
52. Father Lal Chand (a coppersmith and also worked as a regimental Head Clerk in the British Indian Army)
53. Mother Ishawar Kaur
54.  In 1921, Mulk Raj Anand joined Khalsa college, Amritsar.
55.  In 1921, he was imprisoned for his participation in the Civil Disobedience Movement.
56.  In 1924, he obtained the degree of B. A. (Honours) from the Panjab University.
57.  He wrote reviews for Bombay Chronicle.
58.  He loved Yasmin, the sister-in-law of his friend Nur Muhammad. He wished to elope with her but could not. One day, his beloved was found dead. This event shocked him much.
59. In 1925, he moved to England for higher studies.
60.  Under the guidance of Prof. Dawes Hicks, he joined Ph. D in Philosophy.
61.  Hir Ranjha was his favourite story.
62.  In 1936, he married Kathleen Van Gelder
63.  In 1952, he was awarded the International Peace Prize for World Peace.
64.  In 1967, he was awarded Padam Bhushan.
65.  In 1971, he got Sahitya Academy Award for Morning Face.

 

ANAND’S WORKS

 

Curries and Other Indian Dishes (1932)

Untouchable (1935)

The Coolie (1936)

Two Leaves and A Bud (1937)

The Village (1939)

Across the Back Waters (1940)

The Sword and the Sickle (1942)

 

The Barber’s Trade Union and Other Stories (1944)

The Tractor and the Corn, Goddess and Other Stories (1944)

The Big Heart (1945)

Indian Fairy Tales Retold (1946)

Apology for Heroism: an Essay in Search of Faith (1946) non-fiction

Seven Summers (1951)

The Private Life of An Indian Prince (1953)

Reflection on the Golden Bed and Other Stories (1955)

Powers of Darkness and Other stories (1959)

The Old Woman and the Cow or Gauri (1960)

The Road (1961)

Death of a Hero: Epitaph for Maqbool Sherwani (1963–64)

Lajwanti and Other Stories (1966)

A Lament on the Death of Master of Arts (1967)

Morning Face (1968)

Roots and Flowers (1972) Non-fiction

Conversations Bloomsbury (1981) non-fiction

Nine Moods of Bharata (1998)

Power and Pity (2001)

 

Biographical Facts

1. Mulk Raj Anand was born on December 12, 1905, in Peshawar (now in Pakistan).
2. He was born into a Hindu Kshatriya family.
3. His father’s name was Lal Chand, who was a copper-smith (Thathera) by trade.
4. Lal Chand later became a Head Clerk in the Dogra Regiment of the British Indian Army.
5. His mother’s name was Ishwar Kaur.
6. Anand died on September 28, 2004, at the age of 98.
7. He died of pneumonia in Pune.
8. He completed his graduation from Khalsa College, Amritsar (1920–1924).
9. He received his PhD in Philosophy from Cambridge University in 1929.
10. His PhD was completed under the guidance of Professor Dawes Hicks.
11. The topic of his PhD thesis was "Bertrand Russell and the English Empiricists".
12. While studying in Amritsar, he fell in love with a girl named Yasmin.
13. Her death (suicide) deeply affected him and was a primary reason for his first prose work.
14. He returned to India in 1932 and was deeply influenced by Mahatma Gandhi.
15. He stayed at Sabarmati Ashram while working on his famous novel, Untouchable.
16. His first wife was Kathleen Van Gelder, an English actress and Communist.
17. He married Kathleen in 1938 and they divorced in 1948.
18. He had a daughter named Sushila from his first marriage.
19. His second wife was Shirin Vajifdar, a Parsi classical dancer from Bombay.
20. He married Shirin in 1950.
21. Anand was a lifelong Socialist and was influenced by Marxism.
22. He was a founding member of the Progressive Writers' Association (PWA).
23. He drafted the Manifesto for the Progressive Writers' Association.
24. During World War II, he worked as a scriptwriter for the BBC in London.
25. While at the BBC, he met and became friends with George Orwell.

Literary Titles and Style

1. He is known as the "Father of Indian English Social Realism".
2. He is often referred to as the "Charles Dickens of India" because of his focus on the poor and marginalized.
3. Along with R.K. Narayan and Raja Rao, he is part of the "Big Three" (or the Trio/Trimurti) of Indian English fiction.
4. He is considered the pioneer of Anglo-Indian fiction.
5. His writing style is characterized by a humanistic approach and realistic portrayal of Indian life.
6. He frequently used Indian (Hindi and Punjabi) idioms and expressions directly translated into English in his works.
7. His novels often employ the Stream of Consciousness technique.
8. He used literature as a weapon to address social issues like caste, poverty, and oppression.
9. His first prose essay was a response to the suicide of his aunt, who was ostracized for sharing a meal with a Muslim woman.
10. He founded and edited the famous art and literary magazine "MARG" in 1946.

Major Novel: Untouchable (1935)

1. Untouchable (1935) is Mulk Raj Anand's first novel.
2. It depicts a single day in the life of its protagonist.
3. The protagonist is Bakha, an 18-year-old sweeper.
4. Bakha is described as a "sensitive" and "intelligent" young man trapped in a dehumanizing job.
5. The novel's Preface (Introduction) was written by the famous British author E.M. Forster.
6. It highlights the harsh realities of the caste system and untouchability in India.
7. The novel was written while Anand was staying at Gandhi's Sabarmati Ashram.
8. It established Anand as a major voice in social realism.
9. The novel concludes with three possible solutions to untouchability: Christanity, Gandhism, and the Flush System (Modernity) [Non-source info for context; sources mention the focus on reform].
10. It is noted for using Stream of Consciousness to depict Bakha's internal struggles.

Major Novel: Coolie (1936)

1. Coolie was published in 1936, one year after Untouchable.
2. The central character is Munoo, an orphan boy from the hills of Kangra.
3. The novel explores themes of poverty, child labor, and exploitation.
4. Munoo travels from his village to Sham Nagar, Daulatpur, Bombay, and finally Simla [Non-source info; source mentions travel to cities/villages].
5. It exposes the evils of industrialization and colonialism.
6. Munoo eventually dies of tuberculosis (TB) in Simla [Non-source info].
7. Like Untouchable, it focuses on the marginalized and down-trodden classes.

Major Novel: Two Leaves and a Bud (1937)

1. Published in 1937, its title refers to the picking of tea leaves.
2. The setting of the novel is a tea plantation in Assam.
3. The protagonist is Gangu, a Punjabi peasant who moves to Assam for a better life.
4. It depicts the inhumane treatment of Indian laborers by British tea plantation owners.
5. Gangu is eventually shot dead by a British officer while trying to protect his daughter's honor [Non-source info; source mentions British colonial exploitation].
6. The novel is a powerful social protest against colonial exploitation.

The Lalu Trilogy

1. Anand wrote a trilogy of novels featuring the protagonist Lal Singh (Lalu).
2. The first novel in the trilogy is The Village (1939).
3. The Village depicts Lalu’s life in a rural Punjabi village named Nandpur.
4. Lalu’s father in the novel is Nihal Singh.
5. The second novel is Across the Black Waters (1940).
6. This novel follows Lalu as a soldier in the British Indian Army in France during World War I.
7. It is the only major Indian English novel set on the battlefields of WWI [Non-source info].
8. The third novel is The Sword and the Sicle (1942).
9. The title The Sword and the Sicle was suggested by George Orwell.
10. It deals with Lalu's return to India and his involvement in the peasant movement and freedom struggle.
11. In this final part, Lalu marries Maya, the daughter of the village landlord.

Other Important Novels

1. The Big Heart (1945) deals with the conflict between traditional artisans (copper-smiths) and industrialization (factories).
2. The protagonist of The Big Heart is Ananta, a man with a "big heart" who believes in modernity.
3. The novel is set in Amritsar and uses the Stream of Consciousness technique.
4. The Old Woman and the Cow (1960) features a protagonist named Gauri.
5. Gauri is often compared to the goddess Sita due to her suffering and eventual independence.
6. The novel was later published under the title Gauri.
7. The Private Life of an Indian Prince (1953) focuses on the integration of princely states into independent India.
8. Lament on the Death of a Master of Arts is a short novel about Nur, a man dying of TB who feels his education was useless.

Autobiographical Works

1. Anand planned a seven-part autobiographical novel series titled Seven Ages of Man.
2. He only completed five of these parts before his death.
3. Part 1: Seven Summers (1951) deals with his early childhood.
4. Part 2: Morning Face (1968) covers his adolescence.
5. Morning Face won the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1971.
6. The protagonist of Morning Face is Krishan Chander.
7. Part 3: Confessions of a Lover (1976) deals with his college days.
8. Part 4: The Bubble (1984) is his last published novel.
9. Part 5: Little Williams and Big Williams [Non-source info; sources list parts 1-4].

Short Stories and Essays

1. His most famous short story is The Lost Child, which is widely taught in Indian schools.
2. The Barber's Trade Union is a satirical story about caste discrimination.
3. His first published book was actually on Persian Painting [Non-source info].
4. He wrote several books on Indian art and cuisine during his time in London [Non-source info].

Awards and Honors

1. International Peace Prize: Awarded in 1953 by the World Peace Council.
2. Padma Bhushan: Awarded in 1967 (India’s third-highest civilian honor).
3. Sahitya Akademi Award: Awarded in 1971 for Morning Face.
4. He was the first Indian to be awarded the Leverhulme Fellowship for research [Non-source info].

Key Exam Facts Summary

1. Bakha (Untouchable), Munoo (Coolie), and Gangu (Two Leaves and a Bud) are his most iconic characters.
2. He is a writer of the "proletariat" (working class).
3. He often used the "Lament" theme to show the futility of the colonial education system.
4. He was deeply influenced by the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre, which is mentioned in Morning Face.
5. He died in 2004, leaving a legacy as the patriarch of Indian English fiction.
6. Chronology: Untouchable (1935), Coolie (1936), Two Leaves and a Bud (1937), The Village (1939).