Subaltern Voices Appear in Mulkraj Anand's Novel

Abstract

The Dalit and subaltern class of Dr. Mulk Raj Anand\'s time in India are portrayed realistically and sympathetically in his novels, which focus on the class\'s struggle to make ends meet and the ways in which the upper class and well-to-do people in society exploit and deny them any opportunities. Anand is a famous English-language critic of the Indian literary scene. Anand is a prolific writer who writes in both English and Hindi. His works include novels, short tales, and articles on the arts. Anand was among those who translated Hindustani idioms into English. His picture of India\'s poor is so spot-on that it\'s hard not to feel compassion for them. Anand is the first Indian novelist to write in English, and his works show the genuine hardships of the oppressed Indian people. Anand became as a leader in advocating for marginalized groups. Many of his most popular characters come from marginalized communities. Anand\'s made-up world is populated mostly by down-and-outers like janitors, coolies, farmers, and factory employees. The current study will use an inquiring, interpreting, evaluating, and analyzing research strategy. Mulk Raj Anand, a novelist who is deeply committed to social justice, has penned several works on the subject. More than a dozen books, seventy short stories, and several essays and articles have been published under his name. Input from both primary and secondary sources has been compiled. Mulk Raj Anand, a social pundit, talks about the shortcomings of capitalism. Mulk Raj Anand, the author we\'ve picked, presents the tale of colonial India from the perspective of the country\'s lowest strata. Mulk Raj Anand is an esteemed writer whose works have greatly influenced the development of Indian literature in English. Simply said, Anand is the only published author who has ever addressed the plight of the homeless and the social pariah. A voice that is forceful and powerful yet muffled by the stifling fabric of tradition and convention runs throughout Anand\'s work like a constant undercurrent.

Introduction

I. SUBALTERNITY

Since its first coinage in 1982, "subaltern" has taken on a new significance. The oppressed increasingly include women, people of color, colonial subjects, refugees, child workers, and the uneducated. Postcolonial authors' goals have always included empowering the world's most vulnerable populations. With this newfound insight, they will be able to step out from the shadows and into the light. Subalternity is a hotly contested topic throughout the Indian subcontinent, but particularly in India, where it is used as a tool to fight oppression of lower-caste and subaltern communities and to advocate for their rights. The problem of untouchability has its roots in Hinduism and has since spread across the cultural genesis of India. The upper-class Brahmins used religion to justify their defense of a rigid social hierarchy that kept the poor at bay. The caste system is a social stratification system where one's occupational status is fixed at birth and defined by one's position in society. Only members of the lowest classes and castes are subjected to the subaltern rank. They are neither politically or economically powerful enough to threaten the upper class. They give up to authority and become typical victims of the contemporary world. They are unable to make their plight known to the world because they lack the means to do so. The term "subalternity" describes not just the untouchables but also the rest of the impoverished and downtrodden population. Because of the upper class's elimination of opportunities for these subalterns, such as equal rights, education, and awareness, they are less inclined to alter their plight in society. The only weapon we have to defend them and expand minds is literature. Those concerns have been effectively marked by Indian authors writing in English.

People from lower social classes and castes are more likely to be given subaltern status. Since they lack the resources to challenge the upper class, they accept their status as victims and submit to their oppression. They are unable to identify themselves or declare their status to the public. The term "subaltern" refers to everyone on the outside of society, not only the "untouchables." In a society controlled by the upper class, these subalterns have limited opportunities to improve their lot in life, including access to information, education, and power. Literature is a weapon that gives the cleverness to defend the rights of the oppressed. Indian English writers, like authors in other global literatures, have given particular attention to subaltern issues.

It just so happens that Mulk Raj Anand's debut book, Untouchable (1935), was heavily influenced by Mahatma Gandhi. This classic tale addresses the biggest social evil in India: the Varna system, as outlined in the Laws of Manu: the practice of untouchability.

The novel focuses on the miserable existence of marginalized people who strive to better their circumstances by moving closer to the center. Anand revealed the inner workings of the Subaltern mind and their actual living conditions. Subaltern status in Indian society is determined by social status (or "caste"), gender, and sexual orientation. Our country's people have been severely damaged by the caste system. Under British authority, there was no change in the situation. In our nation, the caste system has its origins in antiquity. Untouchability is a societal ill that developed as a result of the caste system. The Brahmins, the Kshatriyas, the Vishayas, and the Sudras are the four primary castes in Hindu society. The Brahmins represented the pinnacle of society because of their near-divine status. The Kshatriyas were the country's protectors because of their status as warriors. Since the Vaishayas had a monetary focus, they were relegated to a lesser status and given the moniker of wealth generators. The Sudras were the lowest caste of workers, responsible for tasks like as sweeping and cleaning. Due to the nature of their work, the sweepers and scavengers were looked down upon. It was believed that a touch from a sweeper or scavenger would have the effect of contaminating a Hindu upper caste since they had to remove the human feces with their hands. As a protest book in which Mulk Raj Anand denounces the evils of the caste system, "Untouchable" attracted widespread notice.

"Untouchable was in its sources a ballad born of the freedom I had tried to win for truth against the age-old lies of the Hindus by which they upheld discrimination," he says of the book's inspiration. The ancient Indian upper classes had some lofty ideas regarding caste. At some point throughout the epic Mahabharata, a voice could be heard proclaiming, "Caste, caste - There is no caste!" Because I was moved by compassion, I wanted to share this truth with the "dead souls" in the many Hindu hells in the hopes that it would inspire me to make amends for my own sins (George 19).

The low caste Hindus, known as "untouchables," battle for survival and identity in Mulk Raj Anand's debut book, published in 1935 under the title "Untouchable." They are consistently poor and the targets of social injustice. Their fight to stay alive is unending. The upper caste Hindus will abuse them both mentally and physically, and they must endure it. Being born into that caste is a curse that they will carry with them throughout their lives. The novel's protagonist, "Bakha," the son of Lakha, the Jemadar of all the sweepers in the town of Bulashah, is only a symbol of this kind, and the tale takes place in a single day in his life. It's just another day of hunger, hope, minor joys, insult, and disappointment in his life.

The story opens with a detailed description of life in the outcasts' colony. A barrage of insults from Bakha's father greets him as he starts his day of work: "Get up, ohe, you Bakhya, ohe son of a pig!" ".....Have you woken up? Rise up, ye illegitimate offspring (Anand 5-6). Bakha, a symbol of the exploitation and tyranny that has been the destiny of the untouchables like him, faces such attacks on a daily basis. This caste is responsible for maintaining clean public facilities and streets for those in higher social classes. They have no choice but to live in mud-walled, one-room shacks that emit a continual stench due to the lack of a working drainage system. From morning till night, he must endure prejudice.

Disdain, hypocrisy, and mistreatment of the privileged. What he goes through at the hands of humans is far worse than what they do to animals. Chapattis are tossed down to him from the third level when he's hungry. In a same vein, jalebis are tossed to him like a bone to a dog. He is pelted with smokes by a Hindu merchant. This morning has been nothing but a sequence of embarrassments for him. When the high-caste Hindu Lallaji slaps him and accuses him of "polluting" him with his contact, he is shocked beyond belief. Anand describes the emotional and physical pain that Bakha endured in his writing. Although he is physically capable of doing so, he says nothing, leaving his humiliation to chance. Bakha's touching and polluting (!) of a Hindu from a higher caste merely serves to highlight the sorrowful predicament of the caste's outcast members. Protest in Bakha emerged from such tragic events and distressing experiences. However, he suffers in silence since he is abandoned by his friends and family.

II. SUBALTERN STUDIES AND UNTOUCHABLE

The original goal of the field of study known as "Subaltern Studies," which didn't emerge until the early 1980s, was to provide a voice to the historically marginalized and oppressed. The "Other" in subaltern theory is someone who has been silenced due of their social status, ethnicity, or gender. This idea stems from Derrida's deconstructionist framework. The dominant group creates and imposes its values on the subordinate group, or "Other." Scholars of the subaltern studies tended to concentrate on subaltern in terms of class, caste, gender, race, and culture as opposed to focusing on histories of the elites and the Eurocentric slant of contemporary imperial history. They argued that political supremacy did exist, but that it was not hegemonic. Leading advocates included Ranajit Guha and Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, who sought to rewrite history in a way that gave oppressed groups a stronger say. The 1935 novel Untouchable by Mulk Raj Anand has been seen as a subaltern study with double meaning. In the first place, the story is the authentic record of the colonized and the subaltern/other. Secondly, the novel is centered on the lives of the outcastes, the lowest-caste members of Indian society, and is thus a critical examination of their plight.

The protagonist of Untouchable, Bakha, is a prototypical untouchable who embodies the pain, grief, despair, misfortune, inequity, insecurity, dilemma, situation, trial, and tribulation endured by millions of untouchabThe main character of Untouchable is a humble sweeper named Bakha who works in pre-independence India. It fuels the resentment and hatred that the lower classes have towards the middle and higher classes. Invading British and Christian Christians, upper-caste Hindus, lower-caste Hindus, and Muslim communities all use the same graveyard, and their interactions with one another are tense. This book explores a marginalized space that might be profitable for Indian English writers. It raises the issue of the problems caused by India's caste system and the optimism it brings to India's untouchable Hindus. The tale follows the main character from the perspective of an objective bystander.

Conclusion

Anand exemplifies the burden and anguish of being a person of a lower caste in modern society. Meanwhile, Anand shows how the lowest castes in Hindu culture are affected by things like religion, imperialism, and poverty. In several of his obscenities, the phrase \"untouchability\" arises. The protagonist of an English Indian novel is a lonely little boy called Bakha. He speaks at length and plays a pivotal role in the story. The Brahmins and the temple priest humiliate and belittle the lowly villager lad as he tries to enter the city. It has been found that Bakha is tortured in both mind and body. Anand exemplifies the burden and anguish of being a person of a lower caste in modern society. Meanwhile, Anand shows how the lowest castes in Hindu culture are affected by things like religion, imperialism, and poverty. In several of his obscenities, the phrase \"untouchability\" arises. The protagonist of an English Indian novel is a lonely little boy called Bakha. He speaks at length and plays a pivotal role in the story. The Brahmins and the temple priest humiliate and belittle the lowly villager lad as he tries to enter the city. It has been found that Bakha is tortured in both mind and body.

References

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Copyright

Copyright © 2024 Dr. Damodhar G. Ramteke. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.