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.