A Realistic Depiction of Indian Society: Mulk Raj Anand’s Untouchable

Mulk Raj Anand is undoubtedly a significant and immense figure in Indian English literature, recognized primarily for his realistic depictions of characters, drawn from his personal experiences of the settings and situations portrayed in his novels. Untouchable is a novel that has gained immense applaud worldwide, as it vividly presents an authentic and transparent depiction of pre-Independence Indian society, where the untouchables and other marginalized groups endured extreme hardship due to their oppressed status. Anand is widely regarded as a novelist of the downtrodden and dispossessed, and in this novel, he portrays the pain and struggles of Bakha, a low-caste protagonist subjected to constant torture and humiliation by the so-called protectors of Indian society. The novel compels the objective reader to confront the dreadful social maladies that plagued colonial India and persisted in the following decades, weaving a touching narrative of the social injustices suffered by the marginalized. Keywords: pre-Independence Indian society, downtrodden, social injustices, marginalized