M.A. (ENGLISH) PART-II COURSE-XIV SEMESTER-IV INDIAN WRITING IN ENGLISH

LESSON NO. 5.1 AUTHOR : DR. P. DAYAL

A : INDIAN WRITING IN ENGLISH - A BRIEF HISTORY

INTRODUCTION : The study of Indian writing in English raises a number of questions in our mind. Is Indian Writing in English a part of Indian literature or a variation of English literature? Another issue is whether Indian Writing in English be called Indo-Anglian literature or Indo-English literature. Still another doubt crops up whether the English writers like Kipling and Forster, who have written on Indian subjects with enthusiasm and buoyancy, be placed in the literary tradition of Indian literature or English literature. What is the difference between Indo-Anglian literature and Anglo-Indian literature? It will be appropriate if the study of Indian writing should begin with these legitimate queries. Indians have been writing in English for more than a century now, but until 1930 no attempt was made to place such writing in its historical and cultural context. Perhaps until this date Indian writing was not considered worthy of critical examination, primarily due to paucity of material or the absence of critical references. The first critical essay entitled, "A Sketch of Anglo-Indian Literature" written by Edward Farley Oaten appeared in 1908. Edward Oaten uses the term Anglo-Indian Writing in English' for the Englishmen writing on Indian subjects. Even in 1934 Dr. Bhupal Singh used the term anglo- Indian themes. The scholars like Professor R. Seshadri clubbed English writers writing on Indian subjects and Indians writing in English together under the same title Anglo-Indian Literature. The critical surveys by Edward Farley Oaten and Bhupal Singh maintained that this literature was merely a product of Indo-English literary relations. Oaten and Bhupal Singh believed that India and England had accidentally come together and out of their intimacy Anglo-Indian Literature' had emerged. In 1943, K.R. Srinivasa lyengar felt that the phrase 'Anglo-Indian Literature' was not being appropriately used by the critics who hardly made any distinction between Indian writing in English and Englishmen writing on Indian subjects. Iyengar points out that the Englishmen who had lived for a long time in India and produced creative work, i.e., men like Sir William Jones, John Leyden, Sir Edward Arnold, Meadown Taylor, F.W. Bain, who were a class apart, should be described as Anglo-Indian writers. Iyenger adds that the work of Kipling or Forster belongs properly to English literature just as Pearl Buck and Louis Bloomfield, even though they chose to write about India should be regarded as American writers. Now-a-days, the term Anglo-Indian literature /writers is hardly used by 53 M.A. (English) Part-II (Semester-IV)54 Course-XIV critics. This term is now looked upon with snigger. On the other hand, "Indo-Anglian" is also not a happy expression. This expression was first coined by Srinivasa Iyengar in the title of his book Indo-Anglian Literature (1943). Now-a-days many scholars are allergic to the term "Indo-Anglian". They prefer to use "Indo-English" instead of Indo-Anglian. Indo-Anglian literature or Indo-English literature is used to express the creative genius of Indians. Indians are writing in English and producing creative works which have been appreciated in India and abroad. Now-a-days, the term Indian Writing in English is widely used to indicate the literature produced by Indians. How should Indian Writing in English be described ? Indian Writing in English is of course an Indian literature just as the work of Hemingway is considered American literature. But Indian Literature is very vast and comprises several literatures produced in Assamese, Bengali, Gujrati, Hindi, Kashmiri, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Punjabi, Sindhi, Tamil etc. Thus Indian Writing in English is "but one of the voices in which India speaks". C.R. Reddy points out that Indian Writing in English or for that matter Indo-Anglian literature is not essentially different in kind from Indian literature. It is a part of it, "a modern fact of that glory which commencing from the Vedas has continued to spread its mellow light, now with greater and now with lesser brilliance under the inexorable vicissitudes of time and history, ever increasing up to the present time to Tagore, Iqbal and Aurobindo Ghose and bids fare to expand with our humanity's expanding future". K.R. Srinivasa lyengar considers Indo-English literature "a curious native eruption, an expression of the practical no less than creative genius of the Indian people." However, it may be pointed out that certain critics have apprehensions about the growth and development of Indo-Anglian literature as a distinct entity. Indian writers are Indian in thought, feeling, emotion and experience yet they have to follow the discipline of English expression. Their attempt is a "novel experiment in creative mutation". Some of the critics feel that it is difficult to master a language not one's own and that Indian Writing in English Is "rather like one animal imitating the steps of another". Some call this a "parasitic" literature. Failures are more numerous than successes in the literature. K.R. Srinivasa lyengar feels that Indian Writing in English has suffered much due to diffidence, lack of faith, complacency and lack of right training. Englishmen also think that Indo-Anglian literature could never be as good as English literature. This is what they thought about Australian or Canadian or South African literature a few years ago. Iyengar feels that Indian Writing in English is greatly influenced by writings of England, and we have had our own "Romantics, Victorians, Georgians and Modernists." In its own way Indo-Anglian literature is both an Indian literature and variation of English literature. It has an appeal to Indians as well as Englishmen. M.A. (English) Part-II (Semester-IV)55 Course-XIV Writers like Mulk Raj Anand, R.K. Narayan and Raja Rao have been recognised in India and abroad as great Indian novelists who have used English as their medium of expression. Sri Aurobindo believes that the future poetry will acquire Mantric or incantatory quality, i.e., it will develop like a dance of creative life and this kind of poetry will be manifested in English and perhaps in Indian Writing in English. Iyengar also maintains that the best Indo-English poets have given us something which neither English poetry nor regional poetry can offer. It may well be said that Indian-English literature, with all its limitations, is acquiring popularity and recognition. It possesses originality and distinctive character. The Indian-English literature was first produced by writers of Bengal. This literature, in its early phase, found a congenial atmosphere in Bengal and accepted English education with a spirit of enthusiasm. It was Raja Rammohan Roy who first spoke in favour of English language and Western education. The first Indian to write creatively in English was Henry Louis Vivian Derozio (1809-1831). Derozio was of a mixed descent, his father was a Portuguese and mother Indian. He considered himself a true Indian. His poem "To India-My Native Land" shows his immense love for the motherland. Derozio was a poet who primarily wrote poems with a sense of anxiety for the freedom of India. His famous poems include "To India, "My Native Land", "The Harp of India" and "Freedom of Slave". The major thematic concerns in his poetry were the freedom of mind, exploitation of widows and condemnation of slavery. In "Poetic Haunts" Derozio portrays the beauty and healing power of nature. He was primarily influenced by the English Romantics like Byron, Scott, Moore and Keats. The growth of Indian-English literature is connected with the development and spread of Western Education and English language in India. The man who preached in favour of Western Education and English language was Raja Rammohan Roy. Although he was not a literary figure, his contribution to the growth of Indian- English literature cannot be under-estimated. Rammohan Roy was primarily a great social reformer who fought against the social evils then prevalent in India such as idolatory, aristocracy of priests, Sati, suppression of freedom, economic disparity etc. Yet it was he who inculcated the love for the English language in India. Hence some of the intellectuals living in India had started making creative use of English in their writings. Thus the literature produced by Indians in English language in 1830s or onwards was known as Indo-Anglian literature. Indian Writing in English which primarily emerged in the nineteenth century comprises poetry, fiction, drama and prose. It was chiefly the Indian poets and novelists who gave birth to Indian Writing in English. However, there was a little development in the field of drama and prose-writing also. A history of each genre of Indian Writing is given below. M.A. (English) Part-II (Semester-IV)56 Course-XIV B : INDIAN POETRY IN ENGLISH : HISTORY It is generally believed that Indian poetry in English started with the works of Kashi Prasad Ghose in the nineteenth century. Ghose was perhaps the first Indian to bring out a volume of poems in English entitled, The Shair and Other Poems in 1830. But the poetry in this volume is mostly derivative and imitative. He borrowed thoughts and ideas from the English poets of the eighteenth century like Sir Walter Scott and others and even imitated their style. His conventional description of Nature and his moralising tendency amply demonstrate the influence of eighteenth century English poetry on him. Ghose's poem, 'The Shair' is based on Scott's Lay of the Last Ministrel. A few other poems written by Ghose on Indian festivals are based on the model of William Jones's poems. Ghose's The Moon in September which gives a description of the clouds wrapping the moon, like "beauty in a shroud" is poor in imagery and diction. In his "The Boatmen's Song to Gana', Ghose says that the moon Will soon grace The hall of the stars with her light-shedding face The wandering planets her place will throng. And Seraphs will waken their music and song. All these poems produced by Ghose show that he was greatly influenced by English rhythm and metre. Another poet Rajnarain Dutt who wrote poetry in 1841 was influenced by an English man Richardson, the then Principal of Hindu College, Calcutta. Dutt's "Osymynan Arabian Tale' reveals the influence of Leigh Hunt and Campbell. Madhusudan Dutt was another Indian poet who wrote his celebrated epic, Meghnad dadha in Bengali. However, he immediately shifted to English poetry. His famous poem in English, 'The Captive Ladie' appeared in 1849. The poem describes the love tale of Prithviraj and Sanyukta. The poem shows that Madhusudan is influenced by Coleridge, Byron and Scott as far as the language and diction of the poem is concerned. Madhusudan also produced another collection of poems entitled Visions of the Past which depict the famous theme of primeval Innocence, the Temptation and the Fall-of Man. In these poems Satan is described as a form of awe and yet it seemed a "Sepulchre of Beauty" and "a giant tree in mighty war". It may be pointed out that the poetry produced by Madhusudan and the earlier poets like Kashiprasad Ghose and Raj Narain Dutt does not show originality or extraordinary quality. A famous volume of about 200 poems entitled The Dutt Family Album was produced together by Govinda Chandra Dutt, Hara Chandra Dutt, Girish Dutt and Omesh Chandra Dutt. This volume is admirable for the mastery and variety of metre, the range of subject matter. It contains the description of history and legend, nature and society. The following lines of Govinda Chandra's 'Farewell to Romance' carry M.A. (English) Part-II (Semester-IV)57 Course-XIV the echoes of Keats's "Ode to Autumn" : Who hath not seen thee in his chamber still At dead of night ? For me, I've seen thee oft When through the lattice came the moonlight chills With incense from the garden borne aloft. Govinda Chandra Dutt, who was the father of the famous poetess Toru Dutt, produced an interesting poem, "A Hindu Convert to his Wife'. This poem is an address to Mrs. Dutt who had turned hostile to him on his having become a Christian. The poet puts a personal note with sincerity and favour : Nay, part not so-one moment stay. Repel me not with scorn, Like others, will thou turn away, And leave me quite forlorn ? Wilt thou too join the scoffing crowd, The cold, the heartless, and the proud, Who curse the hallowed morn When daring idols to disown I knelt before the Saviour's throne ? Girish Chandra excelled in sonnets. He wrote sonnets following Petrarchan model. Nevertheless, he was influenced by Sir Walter Scott in the treatment of subject and the choice of theme in some of his poems. It may be pointed out that the poetry of these mid-nineteenth century writers is lacking in "conception and imagery". The ideas, the diction and versification in most of the poems have been copied from English writers. However, it would not be proper to cry them down absolutely. There are some indications of good poetic achievements. Soshi Chandra Dutt's poem Ganga shows the apt use of imagery : Over crumbled thrones thy waters glide, Through scenes of blood and woe : And crown and kingdom, might and sway, The victor's and the poet's bay Ignobly sleep below Sole remnant of our ancient pride, Thy ways survive the wreck of time, And wanton free as in their prime. As we come to analyse the poetic- excellence of Toru Dutt, we feel proud to say that she has a name in the history of Indian Writing in English. Toru Dutt was the most prominent writer among all the Indian poets. She was born on 5th March, 1856 in Calcutta. She grew into a great poet. Derozio, her predecessor, and Toru are known as the "earliest inheritors of unfulfilled renown' in the field of M.A. (English) Part-II (Semester-IV)58 Course-XIV Indo-Anglian literature. Toru inherited her rich intellectual gifts from her parents. Her father was large-hearted, and free of prejudice and intolerance. Her mother was well-versed in Hindu scriptures, myths and legends. Toru pays a glowing tribute to her mother in her poem 'Sita'. Toru also translated from French into English the speeches of Victor Hugo. Her first work "A Sheaf Gleaned in French Fields' is a collection of poems translated from French into English. She also translated some of the Hindu mythological stories into English, which were later published as 'Ancient Ballads and Legends' of Hindustan. Toru also wrote a novel in French Journal de Mademoiselie D'Arvers. Toru's earliest work, A Sheaf Gleaned in French Fields, was first published in 1875 and contained one hundred and sixty-five translations. Moved by the untimely death of her brother and sister, Toru projects her consciousness of death in her poems. "My Vocation" expresses the poetess's anguish and faith in God. Toru has been mainly a sonneteer. In her poems we find a good material arrangement. The rhyming pattern, the balance between the octave and the sestet and that between the quartets, the great control over the sentiments all show her consummate skill as a sonneteer. Toru Dutt was a great poetess. H.A.L. Fisher says that "When every deduction has been made for unessential blemishes, this child of the green valley of the Ganges (Toru) has by sheer force of native genius earned for herself the right to be enrolled in the great fellowship of English poets". In her life, Toru came into contact with many English men and women and acquired fluency in the English language. Her verse is remarkably "well-knit, vigorous and of a pleasing variety". As a prose and fiction writer, Toru wrote on Hindu legends and mythological lore. Her heroes and heroines were Prahlad and Dhruva, Lakshman and Eklavya and Savitri and Sita. She is the first Indian Writer who interpreted the rich heritage of India in the proper perspective. She creates the real and genuine Indian atmosphere in her writings. Toru's first poetic work, A Sheaf Gleaned in French Fields in which she beautifully translated some of French poems into English won her great admiration. This volume contains "the romantic fervour, the feeling for freedom and melancholy; even the magics are caught and communicated in substantial measure" Commenting on Toru Dutt's renderings of French poems, Edmund Gosse pays her a rich tribute. "If modern French literature were entirely lost, it might not be found impossible to reconstruct a great number of these poems from this Indian version". But Toru Dutt is better known for her original poems in English. Most of the poems in Ancient Ballads and Legends of Hindustan (1882) deal with the themes taken from Indian mythology. In her poems, Toru Dutt depicts the legendary characters like Lakshman, Savitri and Prahlad. In the poems like "Sita', Toru captures the essence of Indian M.A. (English) Part-II (Semester-IV)59 Course-XIV culture. In "Sita' the poetess-creates the Indian setting. In 'Our Casuarina Tree' Toru Dutt recaptures the past, especially her childhood in a striking manner: But not because of its magnificence Dear is the casuarina to my soul ; Beneath it, we have played, though, years may roll, O' sweet companions, loved with love intense, For your sake shall the tree be ever dear. Toru Dutt's cousin Romesh Chander Dutt earned the reputation of an Indian poet by his translations of the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. It is he who revived the people's interest in Indian culture. In his anthology of poems, Lays of Ancient India, he acquaints the reader with the 'glories’ of ancient Indian literature. He mostly translated from Sanskrit into English the legends of Satyakarna, Gargi, Maitreyi, Uma and Balki in the second section of Lays of Ancient India. Like Toru Dutt, Manmohan Ghose (1867-1924) felt inspired and wrote poetry in English. While in England, Manmohan was influenced by Laurence Binyon, Stephen Phillips and Arthur Cripps and he produced a small volume of poems in 1890 under the title Primavera. After reading this volume, Oscar Wilde describes Manmohan as the "Young Indian of brilliant scholarship and high literary attainment who gives some culture to Christ Church". In 1898 Manmohan Ghose produced another collection of poems Love Songs and Elegies. There is an undercurrent of spiritual awareness in Manmohan's poetry. Binyon pays a rich tribute to Manmohan : "No Indian had ever before used our tongue with so poetic a touch". Swami Vivekananda is another great poet of India. He is primarily known as saint, patriot and humanist. About his poetry Swami Premananda remarks that "a saint is sometimes an artist as much belonging (as his thoughts do) to a higher plane, the aesthetic sense of a saint and seer is automatically developed, and that sense may be expressed through various channels. So we find that some of the saints were great musicians, some were great poets and so on. Mirabai, Kabir, Dadu, Tulsidas and Nanak are no less known for the expression of their devout thoughts in exquisite poetry than for their sainthood". Vivekananda became famous for his lectures on Indian metaphysical tradition. Prof. J.H. Wright of Harvard says that Vivekananda wrote poetry both in Bengali and English and his verse depicts his meditative experiences. His poetry carries the strain of Advaita Vedanta. His famous poem "The Song of the Free" is a specimen of the clarion call of Vivekananda : Let eyes grow dim and heart grow faint All nature were one angry frown To crush you out-Still now, my soul, You are Divine, March on and on, M.A. (English) Part-II (Semester-IV)60 Course-XIV Nor right nor left, but to the goal, In the poem, 'The Living God' Vivekananda criticizes people who neglect the living God and His glory that pervades the universe and run after material things. "A Song I Sing to Thee" expresses the poet's desire to commune with God. Vivekananda also shows his poetical skill in his poems, "Kaii", "The Mother and Let Shyama Dance There". Rabindranath Tagore makes a new synthesis of the ancient Indian and modern European thoughts. He wrote primarily in Bengali but many of his works have been translated into English. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913 and is known for establishing Shantiniketan where he tried to develop a world culture through a synthesis of the East and West. Tagore was a poet, dramatist and producer. He was a musician and a painter. He was a reformer, philosopher and a prophet. He was a novelist, a writer of short stories and a critic and his creative power was marvellous. Tagore wrote a poem "The Child" originally in English in single night in July, 1930. In the poem 'Where the Mind is Without Fear' Tagore prays for his motherland. The future India would be a land : Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high, Where knowledge is free, Where the world has not been broken up into fragments. Tagore's greatest work is Gitanjali. The poet believes in the organic unity of the universe. He feels that the same stream of life that runs through my veins night and day runs through the world and dances in rhythmic measures. In Gitanjali, the poet asserts that the same God pervades the whole universe. The English version of Gitanjali which was presented to the Nobel Committee of the Swedish Academy contained three volumes : Gitanjali (Song offerings), Naivedya (Offerings) and Kheya (The Ferry). Gitanjali is purely religious poetry like the psalms of David or the songs of St. Francis. Tagore has also written several poems on children. In these poems, he describes the children's tiny hands, torn clothes, faces smeared with tears which point to the world of innocence. Next to Tagore comes Aurobindo Ghose. Aurobindo was born in Calcutta on 15th August, 1882. He was a man of great ability and learning. He was a lover of humanity with unflinching faith in God. Aurobindo says, "It is my faith that whatever virtue, talent, higher education, knowledge and wealth God has given me, belongs to Him. I have the right to spend only as much as is needed for the maintenance of the family and what is absolutely necessary. Whatever remains, should be returned to the Divine. I have thirty crores of brothers and sisters in this country, many of them die of starvation, most of them are weakened by sufferings and troubles and are somehow dragging on their existence. They must be helped". Aurobindo's poems are collected in Family Magazine and Songs to Myrtilla and Other M.A. (English) Part-II (Semester-IV)61 Course-XIV Poems (1895). His other works are Urvasie, Love and Death, Perseus and Deliverer, Savitri, Vasavapatta, The Viziers of Bassora, Ahna and other Poems, Rose of God and Ilion. He has also written several sonnets on Shakespearean pattern. Savitri is a monumental work of Aurobindo whose contribution to Indo- Anglian Literature is unique and substantial. About Savitri, lyengar says, "In all ages in India, the unknown has exerted a strange and irresistible pull on the poet, and philosophy and poetry have often come together to their mutual enrichment. But it is in the formidable Sri Aurobindo canon-poetry, philosophy, Yoga that Indian-English literature has put forth its manifold ambrosial fruits. Savitri being cast in the form of a spiritual philosophic epic aims at the expression of a total and many sided vision and experience of all the planes of being and their action upon each other". The legend of Savitri taken from Mahabharata represents an essential part of our cultural heritage. The story acquires spiritual dimmensions as the heroine Savitri becomes a symbol of devotion and mysterious power. At the superficial level, Aswapathy is a mortal doing tapasya for getting a child. At the spiritual plane he is a produce of several centuries of evolution and represents matter ascending through life and psyche to the mind. After tapasya, he acquires the stage of receiving the secret knowledge (jananal). He sees the cosmic play-the divine descending and matter aspiring to godhood. Aswapathy does not seek personal salvation but aspires for taking the whole humanity to the heights of life Divine. The Divine descends to the earth as Savitri is born as a daughter to Aswapathy. Savitri is not an ordinary human being but a celestial Beauty endowed with immortal love. She is blessed with the mysterious power of changing Fate through un-changing will, devotion and determination. The book recounts Savitri's marriage with Satyavan and the latter's death and restoration to life. At the same time, it symbolizes the victory of life over death. Satyavan represents truth. Savitri has the Beauty, Love and Power. Savitri has the power to change the earthly life to life Divine. Like Aurobindo, Sarojini Naidu is one of the best poets produced by India. She was a great poet and good orator. She had a multi-faceted personality; she was a politician, a brilliant conversationalist and an activist of the highest order. Although Sarojini Naidu first made her mark as a poet yet her poetic output is meagre. She left poetry for the freedom of her country and emancipation of her countrymen. At the age of thirteen, Sarojini Naidu wrote a long narrative poem of about two thousand lines in English. It was "Lady of the Lake". She wrote a novel and a big volume of poems. Edmund Gosse appreciates the poetic sensibility in Sarojini. "The verses which Sarojini had entrusted to me were skilful in form, correct in grammar and blameless in sentiment but they had the disadvantage of being totally without individuality." It may, however, be said that the poems written by Sarojini between M.A. (English) Part-II (Semester-IV)62 Course-XIV 1905 and 1917 won a great applause. Her poems are written on such subjects as the weavers, palanquin bearers, fishermen, corngrinders, banglesellers, etc. In the poems "The Flute Player of Brindaban" and "To Buddha Seated on a Lotus" she tends to be philosophical. In "The Temple-A Pilgrimage of Love" she deals with love, its early fulfilment, subsequent rejection and revolt, humble prayer for compassion followed by a sense of resignation. The three volumes of Sarojini's poems are : The Golden Threshold, The Bird Time and The Broken Wing. In the second half of the twentieth century, a few prominent Indian poets emerged on the literary firmament. These poets are Nissim Ezekiel, A.K. Ramanujan, Kamala Das, Jayant Mahapatra, Shiv K. Kumar, Som P. Ranchan, Imtiaz Dharker and many others. Nissim Ezekiel has published six collections of poems. He brought out A Time to Change in 1952. Like the metaphysical poets of the seventeenth century and like the modern poets such as W.B. Yeats and T.S. Eliot, Nissim Ezekiel tends to be philosophical. Ezekiel believes that all art is based on the conflict and contrast of opposites and the poet should show how these opposites can be reconciled. 'An African Mask', an important poem of this collection contains the theme of the reconciliation of opposites. "Something to P" is an important poem which depicts the theme of meditation and prayer : Empty of faith in the comeliness of God Empty of faith in the shapliness of man Contemplation turned to pus, incapable of action Sixty Poems, another volume, was brought out in 1953. This volume begins with the poem 'A Poem of Dedication' which is the poet's manifesto : Not to hanker for a wide god-like range Of thought, nor the matador's dexterity. I do not want the Yogi's concentration I do not want the perfect charity Of saints nor the tyrant's endless power I want a human balance humanly Acquired, fruitful in the common hour, The poet does not want the superhuman powers of God. He wishes to be human. In the poem 'Creation', the poet admires the world as the creation of God. Ezekiel brought out another volume of poems, The Third in 1959. His next publication was The Unfinished Man. These collections reveal a fusion of body, mind and heart. In the poem 'Declaration', the poet recommends the gratification of natural instincts. Ezekiel is an Indian poet who describes the agony of Indians during M.A. (English) Part-II (Semester-IV)63 Course-XIV calamities. In one of his poems he depicts the aftermath of floods in Bihar-the hunger and starvation of the people rendered homeless. In some of his poems Ezekiel uses images of hills, rivers, wind, sky, rain "showing a communion with his cosmos". The Unfinished Man published in 1960 brought great fame to Ezekiel. Jussawal says that this was "the most perfect book of poems written by an Indian in English. Ezekiel is at his most honest and lyrical best." The poems in this volume describe the life of Bombay and its loneliness and frustration. The symbols like marsh aptly signify the living hell of Bombay life. Another volume, The Exact Name (1965) shows the widening range of Ezekiel's poetry. Like Wordsworth, Ezekiel takes interest in the most ordinary incidents of life. The poet shows his interest in human relationships. He elevates the commonplace experience to the poetic experience. The poem "Entertainment' describes the common sight of Indian bazaars. "In India" portrays the poverty, squalor and ugliness of Indian cities. Always in the sun's eye Here among the beggars Hawkers, pavement sleepers Hutment dwellers, slums, etc. Dead souls of men and gods, Burnt out mothers, frightened Virgins I ride my elephant of thought A cezanne slung around my neck. Kamala Das is a famous poetess, who has produced several collections of poems such as Summer in Calcutta (1965), The Descendents (1967), The Old Playhouse and other Poems (1973), and Only the Soul Knows How to Sing (1996). The first volume Summer in Calcutta contains the theme of love and failure in love. The title poem "Summer in Calcutta" depicts a mood of sensuous luxury which is reminiscent of the atmosphere of Keats's "Ode on Indolence' . The poem celebrates the defeat of love. "The Dance of the Eunuchs" describes the dance of eunuchs, their whirling movements and inner vacuity. "In Love" depicts the gap between the sensuous completeness of sexual love. This lyric shows the working of feminine consciousness. "The Freaks" is another beautiful lyric in which the persona admits that her lust is a defence mechanism for existence, a cover for her "sense of inadequacy". It's only To save my face, I flaunt at Time a grand, flambouyant lust. 'A Relationship' portrays the failure of love. The poetess writes, "That I shall M.A. (English) Part-II (Semester-IV)64 Course-XIV find my rest, my sleep, my peace and even death nowhere else" but here in "My Betrayer's arm". Similarly the poem like "Someone else's Song", "Forest Fire" and "An Introduction" reveal personal frustrations of the poetess. Kamala Das's poetry is autobiographical in tone. "The Stone Age" is another interesting poem in which the husband does not love his wife. The husband is depicted as an "old fat spider" who weaves the "web of bewilderment around the woman and builds the stony walls of domesticity and smugness." Love is the underlying theme of Kamala Das's poetry and she depicts love in all its facets. “Vrindavan” portrays woman's quest for eternal love. 'The Millionaires at Marine Drive” depicts the dissatisfaction of the poetess with the male psyche. Kamala Das is a feminist poetess, who portrays the exploitation of women in the male dominated society. A.K. Ramanujan is another prominent Indian poet who has also produced several collections of poems. The significant ones include, The Striders (1966) and Relations : Poems (1972). Later both these collections were clubbed together and reproduced under the title Selected Poems. The Striders contains such poems as 'The Striders', 'Snakes', 'Bread and Fish'. K.R. Srinivasa lyengar says that in The Striders, Ramanujan "summons buried moments of suspense, surprise, of agony and turns them into disturblingly vivid poems. The mutilated beggar, the drowned woman, they are caught in their contortions and misery and they are there like the denizens of Dante's hell. The images are unforgettable." "Ramanujan's three famous poems "The Hindoo; he doesn't hurt a Fly or a Spider either", "The Hindoo : he reads his Gita and is calm at all events" and "The Hindoo, : the only Risk" are imbued with Indian philosophy particularly with the destructive role of the river Vaikai. 'Conventions of Despair' shows the depression of the persona. Another important poem, 'Still Another View of Grace' depicts the passion of the poet for his beloved. Ramanujan employs images and symbols to communicate his ideas. In 'Breaded Fish', we have such images as a hood or memory like a coil on a heath/opened in my eyes. Likewise in' Still Another View of Grace' the poet says, "I Shudder to the Bone at Hungers that Roam the street Beyond." Through the use of powerful images, the poet portrays the poverty rampant in India. Jayant Mahapatra is another prominent Indian poet who has contributed a lot to the growth of Indian poetry in English. He explores the intricacies of human relationships, especially the relationships of lovers. He is primarily known as a love poet. 'A Missing Person' depicts the predicament of lonely woman waiting for her husband. There is no answer to the question where he has gone and why he is late. It expresses the agony of woman, her sense of loss, her loneliness and sense of disintegration. "Indian Summer" depicts the behaviour of natural elements as also the behaviour of animals. "The Whore House in Calcutta Street" depicts the situation of a person who has entered a whore house, with the imaginative thinking M.A. (English) Part-II (Semester-IV)65 Course-XIV that there will be beautiful women. The poem portrays the actual love making of the protagonist with the woman he has chosen. The poem hints at the triviality of life. In the poem 'Hunger' Mahapatra presents a moving picture of Indian poverty. 'Lost' depicts the protagonist's interaction with his beloved. There are other minor Indian poets like Narsingh Srivastava and Pritish Nandy. In his poem, "Nachiketas in Neemsae”, Srivastava satirizes the greed and avariciousness and lust for power. What has poisoned the lake of life today ? Lust of power, pelf and flesh, said I. Pritish Nandy too attacks the loss of faith in the modern age, Shiv K. Kumar has written a few significant poems like “Pilgrimage”, "Indian Women" and “Kali”, His poem “Kali” highlights the goddess's power of destruction and creation. Keki N. Daruwalla has written a few poems like "Fire-Hymn', "Death of a Bird" and "The Professor Condoles". O.P. Bhatnagar has written interesting poems like "The New Scales", "Dying a Century, and 'Of Self and True Self". Som P. Ranchan is another prominent Indian Poet. Ranchan's earliest poems collected in The Splintered Mirror reveal a "Conscious striving towards unification of various thoughts and feelings". Loose Ends, another anthology of poems, Ranchan says "is based on emotions, experiences and observations going back to late fifties and early sixties which caught up with my broken lyre in February 95". Most of the poems in Loose Ends “are love verses based on the recollections of the past”. “The Journey”, the first poem of Loose Ends depicts a lover's journey from absorption in passion to the realisation of obstacles in love followed by the present mood of despair. Ranchan considers Time responsible for failure in love. In “Peregrine”, Time is regarded as a villain. In the poem 'So Much Came Between Us' the poet- lover considers the discord between cultures and countries responsible for failure in love. The poet idealises the sensual experience in "Tonight"; To-night The wind wafts memories of the other nights Nights, lost and far off When two bodies rocked Swathed in diaphanous light And souls rose tier upon tier of mounting ecstasy. In the poems "A Song is Born" and "Adieu", the poet emphasizes Platonic love in man-woman relationship, without any urge for sensual gratification. Another anthology of poems entitled, In the Labyrinth of the Self ; Poems and Parables contains a variety of poems. "Bar Edogues' celebrates Dionysian spirit induced by Bacchus, the Roman god of wine. The first part of this poem points to the epicurean way of life, the idea of M.A. (English) Part-II (Semester-IV)66 Course-XIV drinking, forgetting and making merry. Drink old boy, to blackout glory 'Adieu Dear Love' expresses the poet's agony at the beloved's indifference towards him. She is shy and withdrawn and ready to flee like a 'Bird on a Bending Twig', The poet feels the absence of his beloved and cries out an adieu to her. The use of bird imagery is appropriate. As a bird does not stay for long on a twig and seeks new homes and other green pastures, so does the beloved. Ah It is late For the sought revelation Already She has flown Leaving a mere tremor Of the bough she sat upon. "Life : a Quest" expresses the poet's fatherly concern for his grown-up son, for that matter any youngster who is on the verge of entering the world of grave challenge and competitions. The poet is full of doubts whether his son will "survive the battle" of the world. In the later phase of his life, Ranchan's poetry attains an epic mode. Me and Columbia is considered a spiritual epic as it reveals the transcendence of all earthly experiences. The poet projects himself a cosmic man and America Columbia the whole cosmos at the metaphysical level and the poet's beloved at the ritualistic- mystic level. The poet develops mystical relationship with his beloved. The poetic persona identifies himself with various archetypal figures, particularly with Shiva in his rage and Buddha in his blissful repose. The identification of his beloved with goddess Tara is realized through images and symbols. Ranchan has acquired great prominence as a poet, for his contribution to Indian poetry in English is remarkable. To Vivek Then I Came (1984) is an epic poem in which the poet-voyager is face to face with a respected god-man, Swami Vivekananda. This epic has four sections : "Invocation", "Dialogue", "Encounter", and 'Homage'. Unlike the Swami, the poet believes in the creative aspects of eros. The erotic sculptures at Khajuraho and Konarak are representative of the cosmic energy that pervades the whole world. Indian Poetry in English has a significant place in Indian Writing in English as well as in English literature. The poets like Toru Dutt, Sarojini Naidu, Rabindra Nath Tagore, Aurobindo, Nissim Ezekiel, A.K. Ramanujan, Kamala Das, Som P. Ranchan and Imtiaz Dharker have contributed to the growth and richness of Indian Poetry in English and many new Indian poets are emerging on the literary scene making this genre evolve. M.A. (ENGLISH) PART-II COURSE-XIV SEMESTER-IV INDIAN WRITING IN ENGLISH

LESSON NO. 5.2 AUTHOR : DR. P. DAYAL

INDIAN NOVEL IN ENGLISH

The Indian Novel in English took birth in the nineteenth century. The tradition of story-telling had been quite common in India even earlier than the nineteenth century. To begin with, Indian writers like Toru Dutt and Bankim Chander Chatterjee produced novels in vernacular languages. Toru produced Bianca (1878) in Bangla and Bankim Chander wrote Rajmohan's Wife (1864) in English. Rajmohan's Wife was the first novel in English. K.S. Vankataramu produced two novels Murugan the Tiller (1927) and Kundan the Patriot (1932) in English. The first one presents the vivid picture of rural life in India and fever and fret of the life in cities. Kundan the Patriot deals with the Gandhian movement. Shankar Ram's Love of Dust (1938) portrays an Indian farmer's attachment with his land. Still no significant work appeared till the first three decades of twentieth century. Indian English novel grew with the appearance of Mulk Raj Anand, R.K. Narayan and Raja Rao in the fourth decade of the twentieth century. Mulk Raj Anand is a committed writer about the underdogs; Munoo, the waif, Bakha, the sweeper, and Gangu, the poor neglected labourer. Anand's first work was a short story "The Lost Child" and the second was his novel Untouchable. His famous novels included Untouchable (1935), Coolie (1936), Two Leaves and a Bud (1937), The Village (1939), Across the Black Water (1940) and The Sword and the Sickle (1942). In these novels Anand points to man's cruelties on his fellowmen. Mulk Raj Anand is the first Indian-English writer who has consciously adopted English language as the medium of creativity. He is considered the Banyan in the field of Indian-English fiction. Like Anand, R.K. Narayan has established his reputation as a great Indian-English novelist. Narayan is not a conscious artist. He dislikes the writing that is deliberate. The action of Narayan's novels takes place in Malgudi and for this reason he has been regarded as a regional novelist. His first novel Swami and Friends (1935) narrates the amusing episodes that happen in the childhood of the school going hero, Swami. His second novel, The Bachelor of Art (1937) describes the frustrated love of Chandran. It expresses the theme of man's reconciliations with life. Narayan's other novels include The Dark Room (1939), The English Teacher (1945), Mr Sampath (1948), The Financial Expert (1952), Waiting for the Mahatma (1955), The Guide (1958), The Man Eater of Malgudi (1961), The Vendor of Sweets (1969), The Painter of Signs (1976), The World of Nagaraja etc. Narayan has a comic vision and in his works tears and smiles are woven together. Another Indian who has been recognised as a great novelist is Raja Rao. He 67 M.A. (English) Part-II (Semester-IV)68 Course-XIV is a philosophical novelist who believes that man's august mission in this world is to find the Absolute. He has written several novels like Kanthapura (1938), The Serpent and the Rope (1960), The Cat and Shakespeare (1965), Comrade Kirillov (1979) and The Chess Master and His Moves (1988). He has also produced short stories entitled The Cow of the Barricades (1948), The Policeman and the Rose (1978) and On the Ganga Ghat (1999). Kanthapura deals with the freedom movement launched by Mahatma Gandhi for the independence of India. The Serpent and the Rope projects the spiritual dilemma of Ramaswamy who wavers between the Vedantic and Tantric modes of liberation. The Cat and Shakespeare is a metaphysical comedy imbued with Tantric thought. The Chess Master and His Moves contains such philosophical strands as Vedanta, Tantra and Buddhism. For a detailed analysis of Raja Rao's novels, the students may consult the concerned lessons on this text (Lessons 4-8). Sudhin N. Ghose is another important novelist who has contributed to the growth of Indian Novel in English. He has published four novels, And Gazeless Leaping (1949), Cradle of the Clouds (1951), The Vermillion Boat (1953) and The Flame of the Forest (1955). The Flame of the Forest is a great work of rendering of the idyllic yearning of Radha for Krishna. Sudhin Ghose in this novel says, "Every woman in love is Radha and her lover is Krishna. At the metaphorical plane, the novel projects the human soul's longing for the reunion with the Divine as symbolized by Krishna. The four novels of Ghose deal with childhood, adolescence and youth of the central character who is the first person narrator. First two volumes were set in the Penhari Parganas between Bihar and West Bengal but the background of the first novel is Calcutta. The hero is looking for a job after completing university education in Calcutta. There is a curious blend of reality and fantasy and of the comic and the serious in Ghose's tetralogy, i.e., Cradle of the Clouds, The Vermillion Boat, and The Flame of the Forest. In this tetralogy Sudhin appears to be a traditionalist. In the great Mahabharat War, Balram, the elder brother of Krishna, remains neutral. In Sudhin Ghose's tetralogy also, the protagonist Balram does not want to get involved in the conflict between the old and the new. The Kauravas are perished in the War of Mahabharat but how many of Pandavas survived ? Sudhin Ghose gives no judgements. The hero Balram in Sudhin's novels remains indifferent to such questions as science, superstition, politics and religion, material success and morality. Khushwant Singh is a prominent novelist and Journalist. He has done most of his work in the field of Sikh History and biography. He has also produced four novels : Train to Pakistan (1956), I Shall not Hear the Nightingale (1959), Delhi (1990) and The Company of Women (2000) and two collections of short stories : The Mark M.A. (English) Part-II (Semester-IV)69 Course-XIV of Vishnu (1950) and A Bridle for the Sahib (1967). Train to Pakistan projects the horrors and cruelties perpetrated on the masses on the Indo-Pakistan border during the partition days. Khushwant Singh describes the partition tragedy in the novel. The language of the novel is distinctly Indian and we see the use of such words as Sahib, huzur, Junabe-ali, King of pearls etc. I Shall not Hear the Nightingale is also located in the pre-partition period. It describes the inner tensions of a Sikh family of Punjab from 1942 to 1943. While Buta Singh, the senior Megistrate, supports the government, his son, Sher, is engaged in the terrorist activities. The novelist describes the complexity of relationships within the same family with a sense of humour and genuine concern. Manohar Malgonkar's first novel, Distant Dream (1960) depicts the life of the army and political bosses. Kiran, an army officer, loves Bina who is the daughter of a senior civil servant. The father objects to the marriage but ultimately gives in. Kiran marries Bina. While describing the love story of Kiran and Bina, Malgonkar gives us the glimpses of the life of army officers and their code, the civil servants with a different code, and the party bosses with no code. The political bosses play a dual role and are loyal to no one. Malgonkar's Combat of Shadows (1962) has a very complicated plot as it depicts the complexity of several love relationships. Henry Winton, the manager of a tea estate, loves Ruby Miranda who is the headmistress of the estate school. But after sometime he marries Jean Walters and wants to be free of Ruby. Ruby is actually loved by Eddie Trevor who has no scruples in making love to Jean Walters. This love triangle is melodramatic. Winton gets proof of his wife's infidelity and cunningly plans to kill Eddie but is himself burnt to death. In this novel, Malgonkar shows how love fades into lust, hatred develops into vengeance and how sports provide a mask for murder. Winton is a cold and calculative being while Eddie is generous, free and symbolic of sport. The novelist shows his prejudices against the leaders of post independent India by projecting weaknesses of Jugal Kishore, a selfcentred politician. In The Princes Malgonkar describes the story of an Indian prince, Abhayraj, the son of the Maharaja of Bagdad. While Abhay is still young, he undergoes a traumatic experience. He suddenly discovers that his respected mother has fallen in the lustful arms of Abdulla Jan, the Police Officer. In the beginning, he dismisses this relationship as mere hallucination but later he accepts the reality with a sense of shock, as his mother openly blames her husband and joins hands with her lover, Abdulla. Abhayraj makes a more satisfactory marriage than his father. He is devoted to his wife Kamala but at the same time maintains his dubious relationship with Minnie, the Anglo-Indian girl and later with Zerina. Under the new law of Accession proposed by Sardar Patel, Abhayraj M.A. (English) Part-II (Semester-IV)70 Course-XIV surrenders his State as well as his privileges to the Government of India. The Maharani embraces Islam and marries Abdulla Jan and goes to Pakistan. The treasure of the State kept hidden in a cave gets dissolved in a water dam. The message in the novel is : 'The past was not all bad ; the present is not all good." These rulers were happy in British regime. A Bend in the Ganges is another ambitious novel of Malgonkar. It portrays the conflict between Indian nationalism and British colonialism. But the Hindu- Muslim riots sidetrack the main objective of fight for freedom against the British rule. However, the double conflict continues and the result is both freedom and division of the country. The opening chapter describes the ceremonial burning of foreign cloth. Gandhi appears on the stage and the people raise slogans "Mahatma Gandhi Ki Jai! Bharat-Mata Ki Jai". The action of the novel spreads over to several cities-Lahore, Andamans, Calcutta, Bombay and back to Lahore. The characters are varied-Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Japanese, and Gurkhas. The plot is complex. Debidayal is an ardent terrorist. He fights against the hegemony of the British, blows up a British aeroplane and is sent to the jail in the Andamans. The novel contains another subplot of Gian Talwar. Gian swears by non-violence and fights against the British colonialism. Gian's brother Harish is murdered by Vishnudutt. Gian forgets his non-violent creed and takes revenge by killing Vishnudutt. He is sentenced to transportation for life. In the Andamans, Gian becomes a Govt. spy and helps the authorities to catch Debidayal when he tries to run away. India becomes independent, Hindu- Muslim riots begin. A large number of people die. Thousands of women are adducted and raped. Over twelve millions are rendered homeless. In his novels Malgonkar primarily describes that section of Indian society which was affected by the British hegemony. Though he avoids sentimentalism in his works, his description remains superficial. The image of the freedom movement presented in his novels is not accurate. Bhabani Bhattacharya is another great Indian-English novelist who has contributed to the development of Indian novel in English. Like Mulk Raj Anand, he portrays man's inhumanities towards his fellow men. His five novels-So Many Hungers (1947), Music for Mohini (1952), He Who Rides a Tiger (1954), A Goddess Named Gold (1960) and Shadow from Ladakh (1966) show his considerable achievement as a novelist. He won Sahitya Akadmi award for his attainment in the field of Indian fiction in English. So Many Hungers (1947) describes the Indian society of the period marked by agonies, cruelties and frustrations. It narrates the story of the Bengal famine, of 1942-43. The famine was man-made. The scarcity of essential commodities was artificially created by black marketers and hoarders. The British Government was M.A. (English) Part-II (Semester-IV)71 Course-XIV miserably failing to maintain law and order due to the non-co-operation of Indians. The Indian leaders were in jail. The profiteers were minting money. About two million men, women and children died due to the famine in Bengal. A huge army was deployed in Bengal to stop the Japanese who were preparing to enter India. The important means 'of communication were deliberately destroyed by the British to stop the entry of the Japanese into India. Most of the food was procured by the Government to feed the army in Bengal. The masses were thus starving. The peasants were the worst sufferers. The characters liked Samrendra Basu and Lakshminath, the owner of the Bengali Rice Limited, were making money day and night. Samrendra's son is, however, engaged in the relief work. Iyengar says that they were "not touched by compassion". Music for Mohini portrays the life of a Brahmin girl, Mohini, a popular radio artist who is married to Jayadev, a scholar and a writer with his roots in the village. Bhattacharaya depicts the problems of people who are city-bred but village wed. Jayadev's sister, Rooplekha, tells Mohini "You are city-bred, village-wed. We share one common lot; we've been pulled up by the roots". As Rooplekha, the village girl, goes to live with her husband in the city; she has to adjust herself with the sophistication of the city life. She had to eat fish and meat against her will. Likewise, Mohini, the city girl, had to attune herself to the traditional ways of her husband's village. There is always a clash between the old and the new, and an opposition between the country and the city. Bhattacharaya's message is that a synthesis is to be developed between the old and the new values of society. Fulfilment lies in the harmony of opposites. While Mohini happily adjusts herself with her village- bred husband, she finds it difficult to abide by the superstitious faith of her mother- in-law, who wants her to offer a little of her heart's blood to the virgin goddess to get rid of the curse of barrenness. Mohini is really upset and furious but she soon realizes that her mother-in-law is misguided. She decides to abide by the advice of her mother-in-law. But before the actual event, Jayadev reaches the temple of the goddess to stop the ceremonial offering of the blood. The confrontation between the mother and the son marks the climax of the novel. Jayadev wins. The frustrated mother plans another scheme, but soon she gets satisfied to discover that Mohini is already with a child. The novelist thus highlights the generation gap between awakened children and the superstitions parents. He who Rides a-Tiger (1951) again depicts the intricacies of Bengal famine. It deals with the life of Kalo, a blacksmith, who driven by hunger, comes to earn his living in Calcutta. But he finds it difficult to make both ends meet. He soon discovers that his only daughter has been brought to a brothel. He saves her in time but resolves to seek revenge upon those who have caused the famine and corrupted the society. He changes himself into a Brahmin and contrives a miracle M.A. (English) Part-II (Semester-IV)72 Course-XIV to rob the rich people. A stone Shiva rises to the ground and thousands of men and women come to see the deity. They make large offerings, touch the feet of Kalo and Lekha. Lekha is considered the Mother of Seven Fold Bliss. The black musketeers, profiteers and senior government officers visit the god and offer huge sums of money. Kalo and Lekha feel pleasure in robbing the people. But they soon realize that they can play fraud no longer, for each day begins with new complications. There arises a question : Is there no escape for a man who rides a tiger? They, therefore, confess the truth openly before the audience but nothing serious happens. Bhattacharya condemns those who thrive on people's hunger. A Goddess Named Gold (1960) is built on the theme of greed and avariciousness. Meera and Seth Samsunder try to procure wealth with the help of a charm while the whole country is fighting for independence. Later on Meera realizes that freedom is the charm. Bhattacharya does not make any judgements. He leaves it to the readers to judge what freedom has meant to them. Bhabani Bhattacharya's novel Shadow from Ladakh (1966) depicts Sino- Indian conflict. India and China are fighting with each other for a few thousand square miles of mountainous territory. The novel also raises a question-whether India should adopt communism or it should continue with democracy. The novel also raises the question: what should be India's economic policy if it continues with democracy? Should India follow the Gandhian policy and promote small- scale industry and self-sufficient village community or should it follow the Nehru ideology of developing large scale industry run by the Government? The former path will keep the country poor while the latter would make India economically independent and militarily strong. The large scale industrialization will, however, create class conflict, insatiable desire for material possessions and other evils. In the novel Satyajit is a follower of Gandhi and believes in the implementation of Gandhian ideology of small scale cottage industry. Bhasker, the manager of steel town is a staunch supporter of Nehru's principle of large scale industrialisation. Discussions and debates take place, questions follow questions and shadows chase shadows. The real answer will be provided only by history. Another Indian-English novelist is G.V. Desani who has created a stir in the field of Indian writing in English. His All about H. Hatterr (1950) is the story of adventures of H. Hatterr who is half-European and half-Malayan. He gets married, commits forgery, faces imprisonment and later becomes a Sadhu. T.S. Eliot remarks that this novel is the first major step in stylistic development after Joyce. P. Lal says that All About H. Hatterr is "an outrageous, scrupmptious, infectious and gloriously brilliant a book as has ever been written by any one including Joyce". lyengar feels that "to the Joycean freedom of linguistic experimentation and endless appetite for experience, there is added a Rabelaisian exuberance, and a quirkiness M.A. (English) Part-II (Semester-IV)73 Course-XIV that is peculiarly Desani's own". Raji Narasimha says that "Here is a work of Indo- English in which the usual bonds of brown-white sensibilities and perceptions have been transcended cohering into a fresh unified statement." B. Rajan is also famous as an Indian-English novelist. His novel The Dark Dancer is very popular. Krishnan, the hero of The Dark Dancer, has spent about ten years in England. As he returns to India he faces problems of adjustments. His problem is urgent as well as unique. He represents all the Europeanized Indians who develop disliking for their own culture. The novel depicts the degradation of a westernized Indian. At first, as he returns to India, he finds the atmosphere of partition oppressive. The arrival of Cynthia, his Cambridge friend, changes his life. He is already married to Kamala but is attracted by Cynthia. Kamala goes to her parents to attend upon her ailing mother. In her absence, Krishnan and Cynthia become lovers. Krishnan earns defamation of Indian society that accuses him of indifference to the ignominy suffered by him and his family. He suffers from the inner conflict but he is confident of facing the innerstorm. Soon the outer storm blows. Krishnan and Cynthia develop ideological differences for criticizing each other's race and culture. Krishnan realizes his mistake of having neglected Kamala. But Kamala dies in a scuffle while saving a Muslim girl from the assault of ruffians. The symbolism of The Dark Dancer suggests that the dance of death is also the dance of life, for resurrection follows destruction. "Kamala's ending hints at the joining of the two ends of the meaning." Krishnan refuses to marry. Kamala emerges as a heroine and martyr. She had acquired compassion and understanding. Rajan's Too Long in the West is also an interesting novel. Columbia educated Nalini has to choose her husband from a group of applicants who applied in response to her father's matrimonial advertisement in the newspaper. But we are not expected to take this "Swayamvara" seriously. The novelist caricatures the modern method of selecting a match through the newspapers. In this novel, Rajan laughs at idealism, saintliness, love, marriage, education etc. D.F. Karaka, a journalist of India also wrote two novels; Just Flesh (1940) and There Lay the City (1941). Just Flesh depicts the ideological clash between two generations, though the clash is blurred. There Lay the City portrays the life of Bombay and the after-effects of Hitler's war. Arun Joshi is another genius who has won the reputation of a great Indian novelist writing in English. His famous novel The Foreigner is perhaps inspired by Albert Camus's The Outsider. Like Camus's hero in The Outsider-Sindi Oberoi in The Foreigner finds himself a foreigner wherever he lives-Kenya, Uganda, England, America and India. The people tell him, "You are still a stranger, you don't belong here." The novel depicts the theme of alienation. After his friend Babu Rao Khemka's death, Sindi Oberoi tries to save old M.A. (English) Part-II (Semester-IV)74 Course-XIV Khemka's firm from liquidation. It is a consolation to the old Khemka who has lost his son. The novel, therefore, shows Sindi's "detachment and involvement; indifference and commitment". In The Strange Case of Billy Biswas (1971), Arun Joshi deals with the theme of alienation and portrays the consciousness of rootless people. Ved Mehta has written a few novels like Face to Face (1967), Walking the Indian Streets (1969), Fly and Fly Bottle (1963) and Delinquent Chacha (1967). Of these, the most brilliant novel is Delinquent Chacha, which is full of humour, fun and frolic. The uncle in this novel is considered a good for nothing fellow. Though he is known to be a father of thirteen children, he possesses his boyish immaturity and irresponsibility. He is three-parts fool and one part knave. He amuses people by offering the tit bits of his pseudo knowledge. He had a philosophy "not irrelevant to the pace of life and the rat-race in the modern world." He neither likes independence nor partition but he is more English than Englishmen. He follows his nephew to England and becomes a porter at the All India Taj Mahal Curry, Chutney and Soup Restaurant. When he is invited to be a guest speaker at a function organised by the Model United Nations at Oxford, he purchases new expensive clothes and decorates himself as a flambuoyant personality. Though the Chacha is expected to speak on a different subject, he waxes eloquent about the Mahal at Agra. His observations on the Taj create a controversy. The novel is a satire on Indians, who, enamoured of foreign culture, are fond of going abroad without any specific purpose. Dilip Kumar Roy's The Upward Spiral (1949) depicts philosophical profundity. Based on Aurobindian philosophy, it shows man's quest for spirituality. K.M. Munshi's Bhagwan Parashuram (1966) describes the mythological story of Parashuram and Vashishta and Vishwamitra. Some of the Indian Women have also written wonderful novels. Kamala Markandaya is one of the prominent novelists. Her Nectar in a Sieve (1954) shows the moral courage and fortitude of Indian farmers in the face of calamities and sufferings. The heroine, Rukmini, loses her son due to hunger and starvation. Her daughter has to become a prostitute to feed the family. They lose their land and are expelled from their home. Rukmini and her husband are rendered shelterless; they discover to their shock that their one son has disappeared. The two become labourers and after sometime Rukmini's husband dies to add to the loneliness and sufferings of his wife. Rukmini faces the calamities boldly and begins her life anew. The novel portrays the unfailing courage of Indian peasants. Markandaya's Some Inner Fury (1957) depicts the love of Meer and Richard, Govind and Premala, Hickey and Roshan. The novel ends in a tragedy as Kit, Premala and Richard die in the violence perpetrated during the Quit India M.A. (English) Part-II (Semester-IV)75 Course-XIV Movement. A Silence of Desire (1961) shows a conflict between faith and science. Sorojini represents faith. Fortified by her faith, she undergoes surgical operation for tumour and recovers from the disease. Her husband, however, suffers from doubts and fears. Markandaya's Possession (1963) portrays the idea that man has an inordinate desire to possess wealth, power and fame. Man has also the desire to possess other man. But the sense of possession always ruins our happiness. Renunciation and non-attachment alone grant happiness to man. The other novels of Kamala Markandaya are : A Handful of Rice, The Nowhere Man, Two Virgins, The Coffer Dams and Pleasure City. The Coffer Dams portrays the bad consequences of modern technology. The Nowhere Man describes the life of an emigrant Indian family living in England and Two Virgins narrates the story of two sisters who represent different thinking and different values. Ruth Prawer Jhabvala is another Indian novelist who has considerably contributed to the growth of Indian novel. She won the Booker Prize for fiction in 1975. She has spent a large part of her life in foreign countries. Her understanding of India may not be very deep, but about certain Indian events, she seems to have minute observations. Mrs. Jhabvala has published many novels such as : To Whom She will (1955), The Nature of Passion (1956), Esmond in India (1958), The Householder (1960), Get Ready for Battle and Backward Place. To Whom She Will portrays the life of thousands of ill-fated Hindu and Sikh refugees who were uprooted during the partition days. "They had lost almost everything, their business, many of their valuables, all had to be left behind. It was complete disaster, absolute ruin." Her second novel, The Nature of Passion is said to be a document on social reality. Esmond in India (1958) projects the theme of East West encounter. Gulab marriers Esmond against the wishes of her mother. Soon they develop differences and start disliking each other primarily due to difference in habits and customs. Gulab is lazy and likes spicy food ; Esmond does not like these oddities. He hates her for depending too much on her mother and for showing indifference to her son. Esmond develops relationship with other women-Betty and Shakuntala. Gulab feels neglected and forsaken. The novel emphasizes the marital tension between husband and wife due to differences in their respective cultures. The Nature of Passion (1956) also projects the same theme of East-West conflict. Nimmi, who follows the Western habits and manners of living, becomes the object of criticism. Viddi, another rebel in his family, initiates the western modes of life. The novel emphasizes the idea that the Indians who imitate European life do not feel happy and ultimately find solace in the acceptance of Indian culture. Anita Desai has added a new dimension to the development of Indian novel. Her Cry, the Peacock (1963) describes the marital conflict between Gautama and M.A. (English) Part-II (Semester-IV)76 Course-XIV Maya. Maya is emotional and unpractical while Gautama is rational and practical. The two try to sort out their differences through serious conversations, but "a nameless barrier prevents effective communication." Voices in the City describes the life of Calcutta which is a city of noises and muffled voices. Teeming with meaningless rut of life, "it is a city of death". The identification of Nirode's mother with Kali in this novel has symbolic connotations. Anita Desai can be called a psychological novelist. She attempts to explore the inner nuances of her characters. Nayantara Sahgal has written a few novels. Her A Time to be Happy (1957) describes the life of Sanad, who drinks, makes love and enjoys life. The novel presents a picture of society of the Independence era. In This Time of Morning (1956) Nayantara Sahgal describes the political life of important people and the lobbies in Parliament. In her novel, Storm in Chandigarh (1969), Sahgal predicts the trouble in Punjab in the near future. Recently a few post-modern novelists like Amitav Ghosh, Salman Rushdie, Bharati Mukherjee, Arundhati Roy, Shashi Deshpande, Shobha De, Shashi Tharoor and Githa Hariharan have appeared on the literary firmament. Amitav Ghosh (b- 1956) has produced a few novels; The Circle of Reason, The Shadow Lines and The Calcutta Chromosome, The Glass Palace, The Hungry Tide and The Sea of Poppes, The Shadow Lines portrays the tale of a boy of Calcutta. The novel starts with the appearance of the boy's perceptive and eccentric cousin, Tridib who sends the boy to travel different countries of the world long before he leaves Calcutta. His beautiful cousin, Ila, who would always break his heart, has always been all around the world. The boy in imagination touches the Great Pyramid. His old grandmother is stuck in an age old family feud. Tribid along with his parents goes to London in 1939. Tridib's love for Maya ends in a tragedy. The private turmoil is mirrored by public turmoil-the Blitz in War time London, civil strife in post partition Dhaka and a riot in Calcutta. Out of a miraculously intricate web of memories, relationships and images, Amitav Ghosh builds an intensely vivid, funny and moving story. The focus of the novel is the meaning of political freedom in the modern world and the force of nationalism-the shadow line we draw between people and nations which is both an absurd illusion and a source of terrifying violence, one of the great theme of our time. Amitav Ghosh's In an Antique Land is a profoundly exciting work. It depicts the coming together of scholarship, history and anthropology with literature. The Calcutta Chromosome is an interesting novel. Antar, a computer bound Egyptian clerk in-New York, accidentally discovers the abandoned ID card of an old colleague, L. Murugan. Antar remembers him as the man who once described himself as the world authority on Ronald Ross, the Nobel prize winning scientist who solved the malaria puzzle in Calcutta in 1989. He finds that L. Murugan M.A. (English) Part-II (Semester-IV)77 Course-XIV disappeared in 1995 on an obscure mission to Calcutta to prove a malaria theory of his own. As Antar begins to unravel the puzzle before him, the novel traces the adventures of the enigmatic L. Murugan and the strange truth of what took place years before in the tropical laboratory of Ronald Ross. There are events which haunt and twist the fate of characters from the past, present and future and come to reveal the true nature of the Calcutta Chromosome. Bharati Mukherjee has produced a few interesting novels : The Tiger's Daughter, Wife, Jasmine, Desirable Daughters and two collections of short stories : Darkness and The Middleman and Other Stories. Jasmine portrays the life of expatriates, the people who leave the country of their origins to settle in the United states of America. Jasmine, the heroine of the novel, is from Punjab and she smuggles herself into America in the face of grave risks. In following the metamorphosis of a young Punjab widow immigrant, Bharati Mukherjee has written a novel of striking irony and gentle humour. The novel mirrors the images of the changing faces of American society reflected through the eyes of the new immigrants. Shobha De (b-1948) is a post-modern novelist. She wrote her first novel, Socialite Evenings in 1988 and published Starry Nights in 1990. In most of her novels, Shobha Del projects herself as a feminist, championing the cause of women's liberation. Salman Rushdie is a prominent post-modern novelist who has produced several novels like Satanic Verses, Shame, Midnight's Children and The Moor's Last Sigh. As a post-modern novelist, Rushdle uses facts and fantasy and the past - history to form his world view. In Shame, he satirizes the contemporary political and cultural life in Pakistan. In Midnight's Children he projects the history of India, pertaining to the pre-independence as well as post-independence era. The author satirizes the taboos and fundamentalism, prevailing in India. We may conclude with the remark that Indian Novel in English is quite rich. The novelists like Mulk Raj Anand, R.K. Narayan, Raja Rao, Anita Desai, Khushwant Singh, Salman Rushdie, Kamala Markandaya, Nayantara Sahgal, Arundhati Roy, Manju Kapur, Amitav Ghosh, Shashi Tharoor, and many others have contributed a lot to the growth and development of Indian Novel in English. Many new creative voices from India in the field of fiction writing in English are emerging dealing with contemporary social issues. M.A. (ENGLISH) PART-II COURSE-XIV SEMESTER-IV INDIAN WRITING IN ENGLISH

LESSON NO. 5.3 AUTHOR : DR. P. DAYAL ARORA

INDIAN DRAMA AND PROSE IN ENGLISH

Indian Drama in English

A study of Indian Drama reveals that drama in various Indian languages has shown a good development but it has not progressed much in English. Indian drama written in English has a very poor growth. The reason for its poor growth is the want of good living theatres in India. A playwright needs a living theatre to demonstrate his play on the stage in order to test its usefulness, to evaluate its effects on the audience and thereby to improve upon his performance. However, English plays are occasionally staged only in big cities like Mumbai , Delhi, Chandigarh and Kolkata. The visits of foreign troupes are arranged from time to time by the British Council and American Research Centre. During the last few years, several plays originally written in regional languages have been translated into English. The English translations of classics in Indian languages are also considered as part of Indian Writing in English. The translations have forged a link between the east and the west and have contributed to the growth of Indian drama. In the realm of Indian Drama in English, male playwriter writers like Vijay Tendulkar, Badal Sircar, Mahesh Dattani, Girish Karnad and women playwrights have made many innovations and fruitful experiments. Vijay Tendulkar is a Marathi playwright but he has also written a few plays in English such as Vultures, Silence! The Court is in Session, Sakharam Binder and Kamala. In these plays Tendulkar primarily portrays women who act and behave like modernized women, the women who are conscious of their rights and prerogatives and who love life and vivacity. In Vultures, the heroine Rama isolates herself from her impotent husband Ramakanth and develops relationship with Rajaninath, an illegitimate son, for comforts and enjoyment. Rama says "This womb is healthy and sound, I swear it, I was born to become a mother. This soil is rich, it is hungry but the seed won't take root. If the seed is soaked in the poison, if it's weak, feeble, lifeless, devoid of virtue, then why blame the soil ?" In the character of Rama, Tendulkar has portrayed a woman who does not believe in her fate and who would do anything to change her life. Rama becomes pregnant not through her husband but through Rajaninath. She is bold enough to accept this fact. Silence! The Court is in Session is considered to be the best play of Tendulkar. In this play, the playwright depicts the theme of women's exploitation by men. All the male characters in this play are superficial., unkind and cruel. A mock charge 78 M.A. (English) Part-II (Semester-IV)79 Course-XIV of infanticide is levelled against Miss Benare and it is proved later that she did kill her illegitimate child by Prof. Damle. Miss Benare is thrown into dock where she is trapped murderously by the vulture males around her. The men who have accused Benare are themselves the frustrated flops of the society who are lashing out their failure in an assault on a young woman. When Benare appeals to them to father her child, they are not ready to own the responsibility; rather they are cruel towards her. The so-called intellectual Prof. Damle, after seducing and using her, does not come forward to protect her. A young woman is denied the privilege of living a decent life. Benare is the victim of a male dominated society. Tendulkar's play Kamala has succeeded as a film and has created a great influence on Indian society. Kamala is bought by a journalist Jaideva Singh who also treats his wife as a slave. Kamala depicts the state of woman-how she asserts in male-dominated society. In his plays Shantata Court Chalu Aahe, and Sakharam Binder, Tendulkar raises several questions about love, sex, marriage and moral values prevalent in the society. Girish Karnad is one of the foremost playwrights of India who primarily writes in Kannada. He has written several plays in Kannada such as Hayavadana, Yayati and Tughlaq. These plays have been translated into English. Tughlaq explores the paradox of the idealistic Sultan Muhammad Tughlaq whose reign is one of the spectacular regimes of Indian history. In Yayati he uses the original myth of Yayati and Devayani. Karnad's Yayati retells the ancient story of the mythological king who in his longing for eternal youth seeks to borrow the vitality of his own son. Karnad has borrowed the myth from the Mahabharta and other Puranas. The Mahabharta story runs like this : Yayati was one of the six sons of king, Nahusha. Devayani, whose love for Kacha remains unrequired, marries Yayati. But Sharmistha is already deeply in love with Yayati and she undergoes a lot of mental torture for love. A son is born to Sharmistha out of her immoral liasion with Yayati. Yayati, blinded by his insatiable thirst for sensual pleasures, dreads old age. Puru, Sharmistha's son offers to exchange his youth for the age of his father. After some time Yayati is enlightened and he now gives up the throne and retires to a forest to lead a life of renunciation with Devayani and Sharmistha. Girish Karnad has given a new meaning and significance to the above traditional tale. In Mahabharta, Yayati recognises the nature of desire itself and knows that it cannot be finished. But in Karnad's play, he recognises the horror of his own sensual life and assumes his moral responsibility after a few symbolic encounters. Tughlaq may be seen as a play which projects the theme of alienation. The protagonist Tughlaq is estranged from society, primarily because he is an old person. He is not understood by the society around him because his ideas and M.A. (English) Part-II (Semester-IV)80 Course-XIV ideals are far above the comprehension of his contemporaries. In an age of religious fanaticism and hostility between Hindus and Muslims, his broadminded religious tolerance seems foolish to the Muslims and cunning to the Hindus who suspect his motives. The change or reforms meet with opposition from all classes of people. He wants to build an ideal empire but fails to carry the people with him. So Tughlaq feels alienated from the society in which he lives. Tughlaq sees people through an alienated vision. He is a schemer who manipulates Sheikh Imam-u-din to act exactly according to his own prearranged plans. Tughlaq treats his colleagues as pawns in a political game of chess, i.e, objects to be used and discarded. Tughlaq's existential alienation is made conspicious by juxtaposing it with his earlier idealism. Karnad uses the flashback techniques to give us glimpses of Tughlaq's idealism. Karnad's Hayavadana depicts the theme of man's tragically futile aspiration for perfection. The play opens with Ganesh puja. The choice of elephant headed- god is significant because Lord Ganesha with human body and animal head suggests the theme of incompleteness of being. The perfect combination of the spirit and the flesh in human life is impossible. Badal Sircar is a Bengali and writes in Bengali language. His plays have been translated into English. Sicrar's Kabi Kahini is a comedy written on the contemporary theme-an election campaign. It enumerates the problems of Manibhushan who sets out on the task of winning a seat to the Assembly. He is extremely worried as his opponents accuse him of atheism on the basis of a poem published in a college magazine in his youthful days. He is also accused of being unpatriotic on the basis of the thirty year old photograph taken during his college days and showing him garlanding an Englishman, the Chief Guest at the college function. All these things worry him greatly. Sircar points to the foibles and social aberrations. He also laughs at the academic society where an Honours degree in literature can be had by memorizing a few text books. Another popular voice in the field of drama and theatre is that of Mahesh Dattani, whose play Tara has been prescribed in your syllabus. You will know more about his plays in the unit on Mahesh Dattani's Tara. Indian Drama has not grown much owing to the lack of living theatres but now this genre is flourishing. Indian Prose in English

Indian Prose written in English begins with the writings of Raja Rammohan Roy who was a great social reformer of India. Rammohan was born on 22 May, 1772 in a respectable Brahmin family of West Bengal. He was a versatile scholar. He found no difference between the monotheism of Islam and the concept of Brahman in Vedanta. He wrote a large number of articles published in newspapers M.A. (English) Part-II (Semester-IV)81 Course-XIV with the purpose of emancipating the Indians from superstitions and ignorance. He was a democrat and lover of freedom. He raised his voice against the custom of Sati and deadly opposed the burning of living women, on the funeral pyres of their respective husbands. Rammohan wrote a book Remarks on Settlement in India by Europeans in 1932. He visualized India as a country where a large number of Indians would be speaking English language. Indian Prose in English acquired strength with the writing of Mohandas Karam Chand Gandhi (1869-1948). Gandhi was primarily a statesman devoted to the cause of the Freedom of India. As a political and social reformer he preached truth, non-violence, chastity and vegetarianism. He was influenced by certain Western writers like Tolstoy and Thoreau, and the teachings of Hinduism. He wrote his autobiography : The Story of My Experiments with Truth. His prose is lucid and his style of narration is simple, straightforward and effective. Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964) has also contributed to the growth of Indian prose in English. He mainly produced the three works Autobiography (1936), Glimpses of World History (1939) and Discovery of India (1946). Autobiography gives us some insight into the development of Nehru's ideas and idealism. Glimpses of World History gives us a peep into the life of Asia. Discovery of India depicts Nehru's sympathy with the customs and traditions of India. This work also alludes to the rich heritage of India. Nehru's prose is simple and effective. Dr. Radhakrishnan, who was primarily a statesman and a philosopher, has also enriched Indian prose in English. He has produced several works such as East and West, Some Reflections, Indian Philosophy, Vol. 1, Indian Philosophy, Vol. II, Eleven Upanishads. It may, however, be pointed out that Radhakrishnan's works are basically philosophical and describe Indian metaphysical tradition. His prose, therefore, is difficult and strenuous. Nirad Chaudhuri, a learned prose-writer, has produced a few works in prose. He has a great awareness of the English character and the English. In his A Passage to England (1969) he tells us certain things about the British that have been unknown to us. He explains certain "things that have hitherto been inexplicable". Chaudhuri has published five books : The Autobiography of an Unknown Indian, A Passage to England, The Continent of Circe, The Intellectual in India and To Live Or Not to Live! Of all these works his Autobiography has won him great fame. In Autobiography, Chaudhuri refers to his Indian background and European sensibility acquired through English education and Western influences. In the The Intellectual in India, Chaudhuri describes the emotional relationship that has existed between him and England since his childhood. In this book, Chaudhuri also discusses the crucial problems pertaining to India. He considers Indian novelists in English the writers of entertainment and excludes them from the group of Indian intellectuals. Many more Indian M.A. (English) Part-II (Semester-IV)82 Course-XIV writers are lso writing in the genre of prose dwelling on multiple socio-cultural concerns. Conclusion : Indian writing in English in different genres is fast growing and many Indian writers by their writings in English, which have won international awards, have placed Indian writing on the world literary map.

SUGGESTED READINGS

1. K.R. Srinivasa Iyengar, Indian Writing in English, fifth edition (Sterling Publishers, Private Limited, 1985). 2. M.K. Naik, Aspects of Indian Writing in English (Delhi : The Macmillan Company of India Limited, 1979). 3. H.M. Williams, Indo-Anglian Literature 1800-1970 : A Survey (Calcutta: Orient Longmans, 1975). 4. M.K. Naik, A History of Indian English Literature (Delhi : Sahitya Akademi, 1982) 5. R.S. Singh & Charu Sheel Singh, eds. Spectrum History of Indian Literature in English (New Delhi : Atlantic Publishers & Distributors, 1977).

Suggested Questions (Long)

1. Analyse the major thematic concerns of the post-Independence Indian poetry in English. 2. Discuss the major trends in the post-Independence Indian novel in English. 3. Write a detailed note on Indian prose writings in English. 4. Discuss the major Indian dramatists writing in English.

Suggested Questions (Short)

1. Discuss briefly the achievement of Toru Dutt. 2. Analyse the theme of Aurobindo's Savitri. 3. Highlight the achievement of Mahatama Gandhi as a prose writer. 4. Enumerate the major trends in Indian English drama. 5. Discuss the contribution of Rabindra Nath Tagore to Indian English poetry 6. Enlist a few prominent Indian English prose writers and their prose works. M.A. (ENGLISH) PART–II COURSE-XIV

SEMESTER-IV INDIAN WRITING IN ENGLISH

UNIT NO. 3, 4 and 5

MANJULA PADAMNABHAN : LIGHTS OUT Lesson Nos. : 3.1 : Manjula Padamnabhan as an English Playwright 3.2 : Lights Out : An Introduction and Detailed Summary 3.3 : Art of Characterization and Major Characters in Lights Out 3.4 : Some Important Aspects of Lights Out

AMITAV GHOSH : SEA OF POPPIES 4.1 : Amitav Ghosh : Introduction 4.2 : Sea of Poppies : A Critical Analysis of the Novel 4.3 : Major Critical Aspects of the Novel

HISTORY OF INDIAN WRITING IN ENGLISH 5.1 : A : Indian Writing in English - A Brief History B : Indian Poetry in English - A Brief History 5.2 : Indian Novel in English 5.3 : Indian Drama and Prose in English

Note:- The students can download syllabus from departmental website www.dccpbi.com