Indian English Literature: Semester

PGEG S3 04
Indian English Literature
SEMESTER III
ENGLISH
BLOCK 1
KRISHNA KANTA HANDIQUI STATE OPEN UNIVERSITY

History and Contexts (Block 1) 1
Subject Experts
1. Prof. Pona Mahanta, Former Head, Department of English, Dibrugarh University

2. Prof. Ranjit Kumar Dev Goswami, Former Srimanta Sankardeva Chair, Tezpur University
3. Prof. Bibhash Choudhury, Department of English, Gauhati University
Course Coordinator : Dr. Prasenjit Das, Associate Professor, Department of English,

KKHSOU
SLM Preparation Team
UNITS CONTRIBUTORS
1 Pranjyoti Deka
Department of English, BBK College, Nagaon, Barpeta
2&4 Sanjeeb Kalita
Department of English, Pub Kamrup College
3&5 Dr. Prasenjit Das
Editorial Team
Content : Dr. Manab Medhi
Department of English, Bodoland University
Structure, Format and Graphics : Dr. Prasenjit Das
July, 2018
ISBN :
This Self Learning Material (SLM) of the Krishna Kanta Handiqui State Open University
is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-ShareAlike4.0 License
(International) : http.//creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
Printed and published by Registrar on behalf of the Krishna Kanta Handiqui State Open University.
Head Office : Patgaon, Rani Gate, Guwahati-781017; Web : www.kkhsou.in/web_new

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The University acknowledges with thanks the financial support provided by the
Distance Education Bureau, UGC, New Delhi, for preparation of this study material.
2 History and Contexts (Block 1)

SEMESTER 3
MA IN ENGLISH
COURSE 1: INDIAN ENGLISH LITERATURE
BLOCK 1: HISTORY AND CONTEXTS
CONTENTS
Pages
Unit 1: Historical Background (1857-1920, 1920-1947) 7 - 33
The Social Context, Intellectual Context (The role of English),
Major Literary Forms (Poetry, Drama, Prose) Important
Exponents
Unit 2: Historical Background (Independence and After) 34 - 56

The Social Context, Major Literary Forms (Poetry, Drama,
Prose) and their exponents
Unit 3: Modern Indian English Literature [“Introduction” to 57 - 71

The Vintage Book of Indian Writing 1947-1997]
Modern Indian English Fiction and Nonfiction
Unit 4: Gauri Viswanathan: “Literary Study and British Rule in 72 - 85

India” from Masks of Conquest
Gauri Viswanathan: The Critic, Explanation of the Essay,
Important Issues raised by Viswanathan, Critical Reception
of the Essay
Unit 5: A. K. Ramanujan: “Is there an Indian Way of Thinking?” 86 - 103

A. K. Ramanujan: The Critic, Explanation of the Essay,
Important Issues raised by Ramanujan, Critical Reception of
“Is there an Indian Way of Thinking?”

COURSE INTRODUCTION
This is the last Course of Semester 3. In this Course, the learners will be introduced to Indian
English Literature which has emerged both as a literary genre and as a small literary industry. Various
terms have been used to address English Writings from Indian authors or from authors of Indian origin,
in its 200 years of intellectual history. Some of them are – Indian English Writing, Anglo-Indian Writing,
and Indian Writing in English and so on. At the same time, the answer to the question—if India exists
only in the narratives ‘imagined’ abroad—is also to be explored by critically examining if imagining an
Indian nation becomes a compulsion or a compensation for the ‘loss’, the diasporic Indian English
writers often experience while writing about India.
The use of the term Indian English Literature is thought to be best suited to the purpose of
addressing the different aspects of experimental writings that have emerged in the Post-independence
period. Such a form of writing looks markedly different from the realist and historical form of writing that
emerged during the pre-independence period. Salman Rushdie’s adoption of a kind of writing that
challenged many of the taken-for-granted views in Anglo-Indian Writings, inaugurated a new ‘construction’
of the notion of Indianness and opened up new possibilities for discussing an Indian text. Subsequently,
the use of English by such writers is to be seen as a deviation from a literary language invented mostly
by Raja Rao, Mulk Raj Anand and R. K. Narayan.
This Course shall start with a discussion of the history of Indian English Writing, Indian English
poetry, drama and fiction then it will touch upon individual authors. Divided into three Blocks, this course
seeks to investigate the politics and problems of literary production and cultural practice within the both
pre-colonial and post-colonial Indian context. To have a better idea of Indian English Literature you are
advised to read a few books like M. K. Naik’s A History of Indian English Literature, K. R. Srinivasa
Iyengar’s Indian Writing in English, Gauri Viswanathan’s Masks of Conquest, Meenakshi Mukherjee’s
The Twice Born Fiction and The Perishable Empire: Essays on Indian Writing in English, A. K. Mehrotra’s
An Illustrated History of Indian Literature in English.
BLOCK 1: INTRODUCTION
Block 1 is dedicated to the history of Indian English literature. It contains a total five units, the details of
which are as the following:
Unit 1 This unit shall familiarise you with some of the important aspects of the social and intellectual
contexts of English writing in India and its deep-rooted influence on Indian minds. Though the British
government introduced modern education in India with their particular motives, this move entirely changed
the social and intellectual set up of India. Enlightened by modern education, a few literate Indians of the
period reacted with the characteristic vivacity and adulation. The most important aspects of modern
English education was observed in the novelistic genres. New to the Indian literary scene, novel, along
with other literary genres, gained immediate popularity amongst the educated Indians of the period. This
unit thus helps to form an idea of the history of Indian Writing in English before the Independence.
Unit 2 This unit discusses the history of Indian English Literature in Post Independence India, which
saw the emergence of many Indian writers in English. Moreover, the two decades after the Independence
changed the Indian political and cultural ethos that facilitated the growth of Rushdie generation in 1980s
and 1990s. This unit also deals with how following the inadvertent introduction of English literature in
India through the Charter Act 1813, Indian Writing in English started to develop, and gradually it received
worldwide recognition till the later part of the 20th century.
Unit 3 This unit shall deal exclusively with Indian English literature of the modern times, especially
during the last three decades of the 20th century. In order to discuss the same, we shall try to read the
“Introduction” of Salman Rushdie to The Vintage Book of Indian Writing 1947-1997 edited by Rushdie
and Elizabeth West. This ‘Introduction’ should give you a panoramic picture of the development of Modern
Indian English prose and fiction with reference to its various thematic aspects of Indian English Literature
as seen by Salman Rushdie.
Unit 4 This unit shall deal with Gauri Viswanathan’s essay “The Beginnings of English Literary Study”
from her seminal book Masks of Conquest. This book is about the institution, practice, and ideology of
English studies introduced in India under the British colonial rule. The prescribed essay bears multifarious
significance as it traces the development of English literature in India and its various upshots. It is
assumed that the learners will gain important perspectives on the emergence of English literature in
India from a reading of this unit.
Unit 5 This is the last unit of the Block. In this unit, a discussion shall be provided on the life and works of
the influential Indian poet-critic A. K. Ramanujan as well as his literary essay “Is there an Indian Way of
Thinking? An Informal Essay” This essay will help you to discuss what makes Indian thoughts different
from its Western counterpart, and how one is supposed to form an idea of Indian literature in general.
While going through a unit, you may also notice some text boxes, which have been included to help you
know some of the difficult terms and concepts. You will also read about some relevant ideas and concepts
in “LET US KNOW” along with the text. We have kept “CHECK YOUR PROGRESS” questions in each
unit. These have been designed to self-check your progress of study. The hints for the answers to these
questions are given at the end of the unit. We strongly advise that you answer the questions immediately
after you finish reading the section in which these questions occur. We have also included a few books in
the “FURTHER READING” which will be helpful for your further consultation. The books referred to in the
preparation of the units have been added at the end of the block. As you know the world of literature and
criticism is too big, we strongly advise you not to take a unit to be an end in itself. Despite our attempts to
make a unit self-contained, we advise that you read the original texts of the authors prescribed as well as
other additional materials for a thorough understanding of the contents of a particular unit.

UNIT 1: HISTORICAL BACKGROUND (1857-1920,
1920-1947)
UNIT STRUCTURE
1.1 Learning Objectives

1.2 Introduction
1.3 The Social Context
1.4 Intellectual Context (The Role of English)
1.5 Indian English Prose
1.6 Indian English Drama
1.7 Indian English Poetry
1.8 Indian English Novel
1.9 Let us Sum up
1.10 Further Reading
1.11 Answers to Check Your Progress (Hints Only)
1.12 Possible Questions
1.1 LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After going through this unit, you will be able to

• trace the social and intellectual contexts in which English language
was introduced in India.
• discuss the early development of Indian English prose, poetry, novel
and drama.
• gain some ideas on Indian nationalism against the British
colonialism.
• discuss the impact of Gandhi and India’s struggle for Independence
on the early 20th century Indian English literature.
1.2 INTRODUCTION
This unit, which is also the first unit of the course, will familiarise
you with some of the important aspects of the social and intellectual contexts
of English writing in India and its deep- rooted influence on Indian minds.

Unit 1 Historical Background (1875-1920, 1920-1947)
Though the British government introduced modern education in India with

their particular motives, this move entirely changed the social set up of
India. Enlightened by modern education, the Indians of the period reacted
with the characteristic vivacity and adulation. Poets like Derozio and Toru
Dutt imitated but at the same time showed glimpses of originality. In prose
writing, social and political prose thronged the arena with reformative and
nationalistic agendas. However, the most important aspects of modern English
education was observed in the novelistic genres. New to Indian literary scene,
novel gained immediate popularity amongst the educated Indians of the period.
Various social, political and national themes got expressed through the novels
of the period. In this regard, novelists like M. R. Anand, R. K. Narayan and
Raja Rao took the most emphatic role. As a whole, the advent of English
education in India brought about a new entrant in Indian literature- Indian English
literature, which made its presence felt in the most formidable way possible.
This unit should help you to form an idea of the history of the emergence of
Indian Writing in English before the Independence.
1.3 THE SOCIAL CONTEXT
Modern education was made available to the people of India in the

colonial regime under the British. Some Christian missionaries, British
government and some western educated liberal Indians were responsible
for the spreading of modern education in India. The principal aim of the
institutions established by the Christian missionaries was religions, but they
also played a vital role in spreading modern education in India.
However, the dissemination of modern education in India was made
by British government for the fulfilment of its own political, economic and
administrative needs. Lord Dalhousie took the initial move. At that time,
British were able to conquer most parts of the Indian Territory and they
established ever-growing numbers of industries in the conquered land. To
rule such a vast area of land, they needed strong administrative machinery.
It was almost impossible for the British government to supply such a
mammoth requirement of educated people with the knowledge of English
to work in the administrative offices, industrial establishments, courts and
Historical Background (1875-1920, 1920-1947) Unit 1
other government institutions. Therefore, the British government, established

schools and colleges in India to produce educated Indians catering to the
needs of government and commercial establishments. However, it is
important to note that the educated Indians were primarily given subordinate
posts like clerks, managers and agents.
The British had other motives behind their policy of providing modern
education to the Indian masses. Some British statesmen and prominent
thinkers believed that British education would prove to be most enlightening
in the world and when imported to the native Indians, this would attach
them closely to the British rule. Mountstuart Elphinstone considered English
education a political necessity. On the other hand, the British statesman
like Macaulay, Cecil Rhodes regarded English culture as the most liberal
and considered it the means of Anglicising the empire culturally. They
envisaged a united Anglicised empire connecting its people with English
education and culture under the British leadership.
Some liberal-minded Indians also advocated for modern education
in India. For example, Chiplunkar Agarkar, Maganbhai Karamchand, Karve,
Tilak, Gokhale, Malaviya were some of the prominent Indians who supported
modern education throughout India. Raja Rammohun Roy pioneered the
demand for modern education and he thought that English education would
help in inculcating the scientific and democratic thinking in the minds of the
Indian people. Roy was against the indigenous system of education in Tols
and Madrassas because such education only worked for the perpetuation
of prejudice, superstition and the hierarchy of the society. Every educated
Indian of the period supported modern education because it was anti-
authoritarian and liberal, it put stress on individual liberty, and it rejected
blind faith and superstition and propagated rational thinking. English
education and culture brought about a respite of incomprehensive magnitude
to the Indians. It was the Charter of 1813, according to which, the East India
Company took up the responsibility of education for the Indians. There was
debate on the kind of education, which was to be provided for the Indian
people. Raja Rammohan Roy supported this policy of modern education
through the medium of English language itself.

In 1854, with Wood’s Education Despatch, the modern education

system had its formal beginning. Woods Despatch had three objectives for
the Indian education system
• First, it wanted to spread western culture.

• Second, it wanted trained educated personnels for the public
administration.
• Third, it wanted to prepare the Indians for various duties under the
British government.
The Despatch also stated the responsibility of the government for

imparting education to the Indian masses and to women. In 1904, the British
government passed Indian Universities Act paving the way for affiliation rules
for the colleges. They introduced modern English education in India to
produce a mass of English speaking Indian people for their establishments.
CHECK YOUR PROGRESS
Q 1: Who was responsible for the introduction of

Modern English education in India?
Q 2: What was the need of modern education through English in
India?
Q 3: Why did the educated Indians ask for modern education in India?
1.4 INTELLECTUAL CONTEXT (THE ROLE OF

ENGLISH)
Modern education imparted through the medium of English by the

British Government had a role to play in shaping the minds of the Indian
people. The Government also intended to control the public education so
that it could strengthen their political authority in India. In the colonial India,
English language played a very significant role in creating uniformity of
viewpoint and interest in the minds of the educated Indians. Due to the
English language modern ideas of the western civilization became
accessible to a large number of Indians. It was largely because of modern

English education that they could imbibe a democratic, rational, secular

and nationalistic outlook. Contemporary European movements also created
political awareness in their minds. The western political thinkers like Thomas
Paine, Rousseau, Mill etc. became known to them through this English
education, which, in the long run, enhanced their understanding of the political
situation of India. They were the first to have felt and understood the evil
effects of British rule and the consequent exploitation. An independent,
modern and prosperous India was their dream. In addition, to achieve it,
they wholeheartedly joined India’s struggle for the Independence. Apart
from these, English also acted as the medium of communication and
exchange of ideas among the educated Indians of various language
communities of India.
Creative literature, which was written by the Indians in English,
necessarily belonged to the Indian literature. The Indian people have been
writing and speaking English as medium of expression or they have used
this language to achieve artistic expression in the literature they have
produced. There was initial doubt whether the Indians could produce creative
writing of high value in English. Sri Aurobindo amply nullified that doubt when
he stated that many Indian writers such as Nehru, Toru Dutt, Sarojini Naidu
etc. already produced such literature, which had been termed excellent by
good English critics. There was time when questions arose during India’s
freedom struggle regarding the acceptance of English as a language of the
land. But, there were writers like Rammohun Roy, Ranade, Dadabhai Naoroji,
Phirozeshah, Surendranath, Bepin Pal, Sankaran Nair, S. Srinivasa Iyengar,
Tilak. Gokhale, Malaviya, Motilal Nehru, C.R. Das, Aurobindo, Jawaharlal
Nehru, M.K. Gandhi and many other who effectively used their language for
the benefit of their motherland. Indian literature in English is the creative
self-expression of those Indians who received English education.
K. R. Srinivisa Iyengar termed English language as the Suez Canal,
which connected the intellectual contact between India and England. His
line of argument is emphatic because prominent English educated Indians
like Rammohun Roy, Keshab Chunder Sen, Vivekananda, Tagore, Sri
Aurobindo, Gandhi, Radhakrishnan etc. defied various limitations to achieve

success in this field and contributed profoundly to the world stream of

Knowledge as well as to the construction of modern India. Most importantly,
it is created in the Indian climate by the Indians. So, the literature that they
produced must be regarded as national literature. This particular literary
phenomenon called Indian English literature emerged when an Indian writer
tried to express his emotions in English. In such writings, the most important
aspects are the artistic sensibility and the mode of expression. M.K. Naik
remarked that Henry Derozio, Aubrey Menen and Ruskin Bond etc. were
distinctively Indian. While on the other hand, there were writers like Ananda
K. Coomaraswamy and Ruth Prawer Jhabvala who were not Indians by
birth, but they carried the Indian sensibility and ethos into their writing with
due sincerity.
There are many appellations given to this body of literature—Indo-
Anglian literature, Indo-English literature, Indian writing in English and Indian
English literature. Indo-Anglian and Indo-English—both the terms were
considered inadequate with the passage of time. Indian Writing in English
was used by K.R. Srinivas Iyengar for his book Indian Writing in English
which is a comprehensive study on the subject under discussion. David
McCutchion and M.K. Naik also used the same term in their edited books.
However, it is also true that the term has a sense of circumlocution within
it. Indian English literature is the most suitable term to define this body of
literature. This appellation bears the sense that it is one of the languages in
India, which is capable of expressing the Indian sensibilities and ethos like
the other Indian languages. The Sahitya Akademi also accepted the term.
CHECK YOUR PROGRESS
Q 4: How did the educated Indians feel the

influence of Western political thinkers?
Q 5: Can we regard Indian English literature as an important
component of India’s national literature?
Q 6: Do you think “Indian English literature” as the proper appellation
to represent the literature written in English by Indians?

1.5 INDIAN ENGLISH PROSE
The first Indian English prose was written by C.V. Boriah in 1803.
His “Account of the Jains” was a twenty eight-page essay about the views
of a Jain priest. Though the essay was not so important content wise, it’s
significance rested on its historical value as the first ever essay attempted
by an Indian to write in English. However, Raja Rammohun Roy’s “A Defence
of Hindu Theism” was basically regarded as the first original prose writing
in English by an Indian.
Rammohun Roy edited an English periodical—The Brahummunical
Magazine from 1821 to 1823. He wrote thirty-two original English essays
on diverse subjects. His An Abridgement of the Vedant (1816) and Kena
and Isa Upanishads (1816) were translated work on religion. A Defence of
Hindu Theism was actually a response to the attack on the An Abridgement
of the Vedant. He supported monotheism. He also wrote a second defence
in support of monotheistic system of the Vedas. His vast learning on Christian
theology took the form of a compilation Precepts of Jesus in 1820. He added
three rejoinders to The Precepts in 1820, 1821 and in 1823. He was a
social reformer of great stature. He worked strenuously for the rights of
women and worked vehemently against suttee or widow burning. Some of
his original writings in English about the issue were—”A Conference between
an Advocate for, and an Opponent of, the Practice of burning Widows
alive”(1818), “A Second Conference between an Advocate for, and an
Opponent of, the Practice of burning Widows alive”(1820), “Abstract of the
Arguments regarding the burning of Widows considered as a religious
Rite”(1830), “Address to Lord William Bentick” (1830) and “Anti-Suttee
Petition to the House of Commons”(1832). His attack on polygamy and
dispossessing women from right to inheritance got expression in “Brief
Remarks regarding Modern Encroachments on the Ancient Rights of
Females According to the Hindu Law of Inheritance” (1822). However, his
“Letter On English Education” (1823) could well be regarded as a
masterpiece of its kind which actually set the tone for English education in
India. This was also regarded as the manifesto of the Indian renaissance.

His “Petitions Against the Press Regulations” (1823) was against

Government move to suppress the freedom of the press. This regulation
was popularly known as Adam’s gag. He protested against the exploitation
of the peasantry and the siphoning of India’s wealth through his “Exposition
of the Practical Operation of the Judicial and Revenue System of India”
(1832). Along with these writings, he also wrote a short autobiographical
sketch of himself at the behest of one of his friends. This was important
because such an attempt would be later enriched by the writings of Nehru
and Nirad C. Choudhuri. Some other contemporary writers of Rammohun
Roy in English prose were Krishna Mohan Banerji (1813-85), Ram Gopal
Ghose (1815-68), Hurish Chunder Ghosh etc. Their social awareness
prompted them to write their hearts out in support of India and her people.
Their prose style was highly acclaimed by contemporary periodicals like
The Times and Indian Field.
Bal Shastri Jambhekar (1812-46) was a Sanskrit Pundit and English
writer of repute. He founded The Darpan (1832)- the first English and Marathi
journal published in Maharashtra. The journal aimed to create interest in
the Indians regarding English literature and to offer platform for public
discussion on such issues. Dadoba Pandurang’s A Hindu Gentleman’s
Reflections respecting the works of Emanuel Swedenborg (1878) was an
illuminating study of religious thoughts. Cavelly Venkata Ramaswami (1765-
1840), the elder brother of C.V. Boriah wrote Biographical Sketches of the
Dekkan Poets (1829). This was the first book to be written on this subject
in Indian English literature. The book comprehensively described the lives
of many ancient and modern Sansrit, Tamil, Telegu and Marathi poets.
Though the style of writing was lacking in standard and critical insight, it
was regarded a mammoth task to be accomplished in the early 19th century.
Lutufullah, a tutor to British officers in Persian, Arabic and Hindustani, tried
his hands in writing his autobiography cum travel diary-Autobiogrphy of
Lutufullah: A Mohamedan Gentleman and His transactions with his fellow
creatures: Interspersed with remarks on the habits, customs and character
of the people with whom he had to deal (1857). Lutufullah’s Autobiography
is the first full-length autobiography in Indian English literature.

Dadabhai Naoroji (1825-1917)—a prominent freedom fighter,

member of London Indian Society, and member British House of Commons,
wrote Poverty of India (1873) and Poverty and UnBritish Rule in India. Both
the books were the seminal texts where he exposed the lacks of British
administrative and economic policies. He was a moderate and liberal at the
beginning of his political career but later on he vehemently criticised the
British rule in India. At the twenty-second session of Indian National
Congress held in 1906 in Calcutta, his address was clearly against the
British rule in India.
Mahadev Gobind Ranade (1842-1901), hailed as Rishi Ranade and
Father of Indian Economics was a scholar of encyclopaedic knowledge,
religious and social reformer, ardent patriot and thinker. Rise of Maratha
Power (1900) was his noted historical writing where he unfurled Maratha
chronicle. His delineation of the 15th and 16th century Maharashtra was linked
with the rise of the Marathas and the resultant social and religious
resuscitation. Another book that was published during his lifetime was
Essays in Indian Economics (1898). His speeches and writings were
published posthumously in Religious and Social Reform (1902),
Miscellaneous Writings (1915) and The Wisdom of a Modern Rishi (1942).
Bal Gangadhar Tilak, regarded as the father of the Indian unrest,
was aggressive and rugged in his National Congress activities. His speeches
delivered in English were collected in Writings and Speeches (1922) and in
Towards Independence: Samagra Lokamanya Tilak (1975). He was an
eminent Indologist, which was aptly revealed in such works as The Orion:
Researches into the Antiquity of the Vedas (1893) and The Arctic Home in
the Vedas (1903).
Next to Tilak was Gopal Krishna Gokhale (1866-1915) who was a
fiery leader of Indian National Congress. His sense of dedication and honesty
is reflected in his published works- Speeches (1908) and in Speeches and
Writings (3 Vols, 1962). Along with Tilak and Gokhle, Bankim Chandra
Chatterjee (1838-94) was also famous as a novelist in Bengali and English.
He defended Hinduism in his Letters on Hinduism. He also wrote many
essays in English- “On the origin of Hindu Festivals” (1873), “Bengali

Literature” (1871), “The Study of Hindu Philosophy” (1873), and “Vedic

Literature” (1894).
Romesh Chunder Dutt (1848-1909) was an experienced
administrator who understood the social, economic and political problems
of India. His The Peasantry of Bengal (1875), A History of Civilization in
Ancient India (three Vols. 1889), Famine and Land Assessment in India
(1900) and The Economic History of India (two vols. 1902 and 1904) were
often regarded masterpieces of the class. They were also hailed as the
inside narrative of the colonial regime from the perspective of a colonised
native. It was later termed as the economics of colonisation. His Three
Years in Europe: 1869-187 was regarded as a pioneering literature of travel
distinguished by detailed picturesque description. The Literature of Bengal
(1879) was a literary survey but it also contained his assessment on the
impact of western thought on India and her people.
Surendranath Banerjea (1848-1925) was one of the founding fathers
of Indian National Congress. Apart from that, he was one of the most
formidable orators in English. His speeches were published as Anthologies—
Speeches 1880-1908 (6 vols. 1890-1908), The Trumpet Voice of India:
Speeches of Babu Surendranath Banerjea, delivered in England in 1909
(1919). He also wrote an autobiography— A Nation in Making: Being the
Reminiscences of Fifty Years of Public Life (1925). A Nation in Making is
more of a public document than an autobiography. Here, he gave emphasis
to the rise of nationalism from the nascent stage to its development.
Rabindranath Tagore’s prose in English was basically his speeches
delivered as lectures in different parts of the world. The lectures, which he
delivered at Harvard University, were anthologised in Sadhana (1913). His
speeches encompassed various issues related to life and soul, problem of
evil, realization of love and beauty, and about non-dualistic faith. Two other
collections of speeches came out after he toured U.S.A. in 1916- Personality
(1917), and Nationalism (1917). In Personality, his speeches were related
to various issues concerning man and his relationship with God, Art, Nature
and woman. In these lectures, he also kept intact his non-dualistic position.
Nationalism speeches were delivered on the topics such as imperialistic

nationalism of the west and the resultant threat it created for India and Japan.
His observation was that western civilization stressed on material power
rather than on the moral one. He also envisaged the imminent catastrophe
looming large on Japan due to her dealings with the west. The lectures in
Creative Unity (1922) concerned with the dichotomy between the East-
West relationships. He opined that the West’s too much insistence on the
use of machine made schism more prominent. The Hibbert lectures that
he delivered at Manchester College were collected in The Religion of man
(1930). Successfully reflecting the title of the collection, these lectures mainly
focussed on man’s essential humanity and how such humanity could reach
the stature of godliness. At the same time, these lectures highlighted the
development of Tagore’s religious views, which were regarded as “a poet’s
religion”. Two lectures that Tagore presented at Andhra University were
collectively published in Man (1937). In these lectures, he deliberated on
man’s dual nature, similarity of values in religions, on the doctrine of advaita,
and his hope for a golden future for the mankind. On the basis of his
speeches, it is fairly easy to term him a humanist unrestricted by caste,
creed and national boundary. He preached for a symphony of man, nature
and divine to arrive at universal harmony. Closely tied to Indian tradition,
Tagore nurtured himself from his learning from the Upanishads, The Gita,
Buddhism and Vaishnavism. His prose is characterised by ardent poetic
statement.
Sri Aurobindo was one of the most prolific prose writers of the period.
He wrote on vast range of subject matters such as literary, metaphysical,
religious, cultural, political, social, occult etc. Essays on the Gita (1928),
The Life Divine (1939-40), Heraclitus (1941), and The Synthesis of Yoga
(1948) were his works related to religion and metaphysics. In Essays on
the Gita, Aurobindo discussed the living messages of the Gita, which are
considered essential to understand life better. The Life Divine was a work
of encyclopaedic nature dealing with man’s life, which could be made divine
while living on this mortal world. Men possessed divine-self within and it
becomes intrinsic to manifest the divinity to the outer-self. In
Heraclitus,Aurobindo made a comparative study of the Vedic-Upanishadic
thought and Greek philosophy. The Synthesis of Yoga stressed on “Integral

Yoga” which would help man to acquire the “Supermind” leading to the
salvation of the human race. The Renaissance in India (1920), The
foundations of Indian Culture (1953), The Human Cycle (1949), The Ideal
of Human unity (1919) and War and Self-Determination (1920) were
collections of essays on art, literature, poetry and literary criticism. The
significant aspect of Aurobindo’s literary criticism is his reliance on Indian
literary and aesthetic tradition. As a whole, it can be said that his prose
style is of varied nature and it has the capacity to assume different tones
and effects.
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869-1948) wrote his first major
work Hind Swaraj in 1909, which initially appeared in the columns of The
Indian Opinion (1903-14). Though it was published in Gujrati, later it was
translated into English by Gandhi himself. The book was written in dialogue
form regarding the problem of India’s Independence. His autobiography The
Story of My Experiments with Truth was later translated into English from
original Gujrati by Mahadev Desai in two volumes. Gandhi’s other works
include Satyagraha in South Africa (1928), Discourses on the Gita (1930)
and From Yervada Mandir (1932) which were translated by V.G. Desai.
However, it is a matter to decide whether Gandhi’s works can be included
in Indian English prose because apart from Hind Swaraj, all other works
are translated into English by other writers.
In comparison to M.K. Gandhi, his political heir Jawaharlal Nehru
(1889-1964) was a prolific writer. Soviet Russia (1928) was Nehru’s first
work where he delineated his impression of Russia. Letters from a father
to his Daughter (1930) was an anthology of thirtyone letters, which he wrote
to his daughter about the early history of the world. Glimpses of World
History was also written to his daughter in letterform during 1930-33. Here,
he narrated the world history from the earliest period to the nineteen thirties.
However, his most outstanding work was An Autobiography (1936) where
he offered a vivid description of himself and his social milieu. Of course,
Nehru’s account of his life was selective and tinged with his characteristic
detachment. The Discovery of India (1946) contained the history of India

from the Indus valley civilization to his contemporary period of nineteen

forties. Like Glimpses of World History, this work was also written from the
perspective of Nehru’s lively historical sense interspersed with the currents
of World history.
Another prolific writer of Indian English prose before the
Independence was Sarvepally Radhakrishnan (1888-1975) who later
became the second President of India. His prose was basically concerned
with religion and philosophy. The Ethics of the Vedanta (1908), his M.A.
dissertation, was written as a reply to the western attack on Vedanta. In
The Philosophy of Rabindranath Tagore (1918), Radhakrishnan probed into
the poetry of Tagore to reach out the doctrine of Maya and Hindu ethics.
The Reign of religion in Contemporary Philosophy (1920) was an
examination of Western philosophical thought where he traced the influence
of religion. Radhakrishnan’s magnum opus was Indian Philosophy (Vols. I-
II, 1923 and 1927) where he comprehensively dealt with Indian philosophical
thought. The Hindu View of Life (1932), East and West in Religion (1933)
were some distinguished works of Radhakrishnan.
CHECK YOUR PROGRESS
Q 7: Discuss Raja Rammohun Roy’s contribution

to Indian English prose.
Q 8: In what way, did Nehru express his knowledge of history through
his prose writings?
1.6 INDIAN ENGLISH DRAMA
Indian English drama had its genesis with Krishna Mohan Banerji’s
The Persecuted or Dramatic scenes illustrative of the Present state of
Hindoo Society in Calcutta (1831). Banerji attempted to present the
blackness and inconsistencies of the Hindu community through his dramatic
art. Influenced by the liberal values of Western education, he could easily
perceive the orthodox religious traditions present in the contemporary social
set up. After him, Michael Madhusudan Dutt translated his three Bengali

plays into English—Ratnavali (1859), Sermista (1859) and Is this Called

Civilization? (1871).
Sri Aurobindo began his dramatic writing with The Witch of Ilni: A
dream of the Woodlands. His love for Elizabethan drama is quite evident in
The witch of Ilni. The Viziers of Bassora-A Dramatic Romance was about
two young lovers’ trials and tribulations. The story was taken from The
Arabian Nights. The drama highlighted the conflict between the good and
evil. In conception and structure, The Viziers of Bassora clearly resembled
Shakespearean comedy. Perseus the Deliverer was about the Greek legend
of Perseus and Andromeda. The influence of Elizabethan drama was
persistent throughout the drama. Rodogune was the only tragedy of
Aurobindo. A striking feature of Aurobindo’s play was his emphasis on love
as a benevolent force to destroy evil.
Rabindranath Tagore was a prolific dramatist of Indian English drama.
He translated most of his Bengali plays into English. His plays could be
divided into two groups—thesis plays and psychological plays. Sanyasi,
The Cycle of Spring, Chitra, Malini, Sacrifice, Natir Puja and Red Oleanders
were considered thesis plays whereas The King and the queen, Kacha
and Devayani, Karna and Kunti and The Mother’s Prayer were included in
psychological plays. The subject of matter of the two plays Sanyasi and
The cycle of Spring was the glorification of life. In Chitra, the emphasis was
on the essence of true love. Malini, Sacrifice and Natir Puja were the three
plays written on the theme of religious fanaticism. Tagore’s psychological
plays revealed his capacity to understand feminine mind. In The King and
the Queen, Queen Sumitra took the centre stage in the handling state of
the affair in the kingdom. Kacha and Devayani was about Devayani’s love
for Kacha, which remains unreciprocated. Karna and Kunti, and The
Mother’s Prayer were based on the epic Mahabharata. Kunti and Gandhari
exhibit their affection for their sons in contrasting ways. These dramas,
though translated from original Bengali, had their flavour intact due to
Tagore’s mastery in rendering them a compact and neat structure. The
themes and characters of his dramas authentically carry Indian ethos.
After Sri Aurobindo and Tagore, another major dramatist of the period
was Harindranath Chattopadhyaya. Abu Hassan (1918) was his first play
written in prose and verse. He wrote seven verse dramas on the lives of
seven Indian saints—Pundalik, Jayadeva, Ekanath, Tukaram, Raidas,
Chokha Mela and Saku Bai. These verse dramas were significant for their
poetic qualities. The Five Plays (1920) contain The Widow, The Parrot,
The Coffin, The Evening Lamp and The Sentry’s Lantern. These plays were
marked by the simultaneous use of realism and symbolism.
A.S. Panchapakesa (1899-1963) wrote six plays which prominently
carry his reformist message. In Sita’s Choice, the young widow Sita was
bold enough to go for a remarriage at a period, which was purely
conservative. The Slave of Idea was a melodrama imbued with ethical and
social purpose. In The Clutch of the Devil, he highlighted the witchcraft and
ritualistic malpractices present in the rural south India. The Trial of Science
for the Murder of Humanity contains allegorical significance.
Thyagaraja Paramsiva Kailasam (1885-1946) was a dramatist of
considerable talent. Only four plays were ascribed to be written by him in
his lifetime, but the actual output was bigger than that. Little Lays and Plays
(1933) was a collection of three plays—The Burden, Fulfilment and A
Monologue: Don’t Cry. The Burden and Fulfilment were one-act plays having
subjects from the epics the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. A Monologue
was an allegory on the subject of the condition of woman in India. Karna or
The Brahmin’s Curse (1946) with the subtitle, “An impression of Sophocles
in five acts” was on the tragedy of Karna who suffered from the fatal curse
of Parashuram the warrior sage. Kailasam was attributed with some other
dramas, which were said to be recited by him to his friends.
Bharati Sarabhai’s The well of the People (1943) was a verse drama
based on a true story. The play dramatises the benevolent act of an old
widow who spent her money in digging a well for the untouchables of her
village. The story was at first published in Mahatma Gandhi’s Harijan. Her
use of symbolic characters placed her alongside the dramatic masters of
the period like Maeterlinck, Yeats, and Tagore. Another dramatist of
considerable importance Joseph Mathias Lobo-Prabhu’s two dramas were
published before the Independence—Mother of New India: A Play of the
Indian Village in three Acts (1944) and Death Abdicates (1945). Apes in the

Parlour reflected the sophisticated life of modern man. His language was
fascinating but in character portrayal, he failed distinctly.
CHECK YOUR PROGRESS
Q 9: How was Sri Aurobindo influenced by English

drama?
Q 10: Discuss Rabindranath Tagore’s contribution to Indian English
drama.
1.7 INDIAN ENGLISH POETRY
Henry Louis Vivian Derozio (1809-31) is considered the first Indian

English poet. Poems (1827) and The Fakeer of Jungheera A Metrical Tale
and Other Poems (1828) are his published volumes of poetry. Derozio was
influenced by the British romantic poets in theme, imagery, diction and
sentiment in his shorter poems. At the same time, a little bit of influence of
the neo-classical poets like Alexander Pope was also evident in his poems.
On the other hand, influence of Byron was visible in his satirical verse and
long narrative verse. The Fakeer of Jungheera is a long narrative poem
written on the plight of a young Hindu widow Nuleeni. On the verge of her
jump into the funeral pyre, she was rescued by a young leader of a robber
group. Her rescuer who became her lover soon lost his life in the battle
fought by her relatives to reclaim her. Nuleeni breathed her last in sorrow.
The striking feature of the poem is its use of different metres for various
occasions. Another noteworthy feature of Derozio as a poet is his burning
nationalistic zeal. “To-India-My Native Land”, “The Harp of India”, “To the
Pupils of Hindu College” etc. are some such poems where we can observe
unmistakeable authenticity of patriotic utterances.
Indian English poetry came to the mature phase with Toru Dutt (1856-
1877). Her A Sheaf Gleaned in French Fields (1876) is a translation of 165
French lyrics into English. Even her sister Aru Dutt also translated a few
lyrics. Ancient Ballads and Legends of Hindustan (1882) was published
posthumously. The poems of this volume carry discernible influence of

Keats. Ballads of Sita and Savitri—two most prominent archetypal figure of

Indian woman are included in the collection. Toru Dutt was the first Indian
English poet who extensively used Indian myths and legends in her poetry.
It was remarkable that her poetry was virtually free from imitation.
Rabindranath Tagore’s fame as an Indian English poet certainly lies
on Gitanjali (1912)—a collection of songs which were translated from Bengali
into English and for which he got the Nobel Prize for literature. It is true that
his fame and reputation declined after the initial applause, but he produced
eight more collections of poems—The Gardener (1913), The Crescent
Moon (1913), Fruit Gathering (1916), Stray Birds (1916), Lovers Gift and
Crossing (1918), The Fugitive (1921), Fireflies (1928) and Poems (1942).
The last one was published posthumously. The central theme of the songs
in Gitanjali is devotion. The songs were rooted in the Indian tradition carrying
forward the poet’s search for the divine grace. Different approaches and
moods were adopted to deal with the songs. For Tagore, God was an
“Unbroken perfection” who endowed him with “infinite gifts”. However, at
the same time, he also envisaged the angry aspect of God as the “King of
the fearful night”. Tagore’s conviction is that God is omnipresent and to find
God, one must seek him in the actions of the world.
In all the lyrics, there is evidence of verbal control, precision of
imagery and guarded rhythm. In The Gardener, Tagore is at his best as a
love poet. His close resemblance with Browning in these poems is also
very significant. Tagore showed his mastery in the adoption of subjective
and objective approaches, and also in presenting the male and female points
of view regarding love. In fact, Tagore presented the multifaceted aspects
of love in The Gardener. The Crescent Moon contains poems, which are
basically about childhood. Tagore, in these poems presents both the adult
view of the child and the child’s own view of himself/herself. In evoking the
child’s consciousness, he was overwhelmingly successful. Other poetical
collections such as Fruit Gathering, Lover’s Gift and Crossing, and The
Fugitive were his later works, which lacked diversity, concord of theme,
verbal control and order in rhythm. “The Child” is the only lengthy poem of
Tagore, which he wrote directly in English with effortless symbolism, vibrant

colours and verbosity. So, “The Child” was unable to surpass the pleasant
loveliness of Gitanjali. It is evident that Tagore’s English verse is essentially
lyrical. With his simplicity, passion and sensuousness, he treated his varied
subjects like God, love, nature, life and death and the child.
Sri Aurobindo (Aurobindo Ghosh, 1872-1950) began his poetic career
with Short Poems (1890-1900). The themes of these poems were love,
sorrow, death and liberty. He introduced Greek names in these poems,
which rendered classical touch. In The Short Poems 1895-1908, a note of
mystic awareness is discernible. The Poems in New Metres comprised
some mystical lyrics distinguished by verbal cheerfulness, emotional ecstasy
and technical innovation. “Urvasie”, “Love and Death” and “Baji Probhou”
are three long poems written in blank verse. In “Urvasie”, he abundantly
used epic similes, Miltonic diction and set descriptions. “Love and Death”
contained Miltonic similes, Latinised diction and inversions. Though the
poem was written on Indian theme, it lacked Indian idea, tradition and Hindu
sensibility. “Baji Probhou” is a poem about military heroism. The description
of Deccan landscape was done with rhetorical embellishment. Sri Aurobindo
attempted to compose an epic Ilion in Homeric pattern but could not complete
it. Ahana was a long poem about Divine Dawn who descended to the earth
to bliss the mankind. His magnum opus is Savitri with the sub-title, “A legend
and a symbol”. There are twelve books, 49 nine cantos and 23,813 lines in
the epic. The epic was based on the legend of Satyavan and Savitri of the
Mahabharata. The story was about Savitri’s endeavour to bring back the
life of her husband Satyavan from the clutches of death. Sri Aurobindo divided
the twelve books of his epic into three parts. The epic began in Medias res.
Savitri was an unconventional and philosophical Hindu epic with bold
experimentation. There was very little action in it and most of the action
took place on the inner reality. The epic contained a few characters in
comparison to other epics. Savitri could be regarded as an inner epic which
emphasised on man’s future evolution to a higher position.
Sarojini Naidu (1879-1949) received much encouragement from
Arthur Symons and Edmund Gosse to write poems with Indian sensibility,
when she was in England for study purposes. The Golden Threshold (1905)

was her first volume of poetry. The Birch of Time (1912), The Broken Wing
(1917), The Sceptred Flute (1946), Feather of the Dawn (1961) were her
poetical collections. Her lyric had manifold influencing factors—British
romanticism of ‘fin de siècle’ variety and opulence of Persian and Urdu
poetic modes. Her folk songs were rooted in the Indian setting where Indian
folks engaged themselves in their conventional occupations in poems like
“Indian Weavers”, “Palanquin-Bearers”, “Wandering Singers” etc. Love was
one of her favourite subjects in her poetry, which she handled with variety
of mood, approach and technique. Her penchant for nature was marked by
her joy in beauty which she evoked by portraying the Indian landscape with
its tropical magnificence. Her imagery was drawn from the Indian scene,
which ushered in feeling of apparent freshness. Sarojini Naidu’s significance
as an Indian English poet rested on her portrayal of traditional Indian life
with all the Indian ethos and the resplendent Indian scene.
Armando Menezes (1902-1983) and Manjeri S. Isvaran (1910-1968)
were two other significant Indian poets before the Independence. The Fund
(1923) and The Emigrant (1933) were his mock epics and satire
respectively. Chords and Discords (1936), Chaos and Dancing Star (1946)
and The Ancestral Face (1951) were his lyrical poetry collections. In his
poetry, he maintained unerring rhythm. Manjeri Isvaran had ten collections
of verse to his name. Saffron and Gold and other Poems (1932) and The
Neem is a Lady (1957) are two of his verse collections. According to him,
the inspiration to write poetry was in his blood. However, modern poetry
was intricate for him and he was reluctant to come to terms with it, which
ultimately brought about the closure to his poetic career.
CHECK YOUR PROGRESS
Q 11: How was Derozio influenced by the British

romantic poets?
Q 12: Discuss Tagore’s achievements as an Indian English poet.
Q 13: How did Sri Aurobindo’s success as a poet rest on Savitri?

1.8 INDIAN ENGLISH NOVEL
In the Indian literary scenario, novel was a new entrant during the
middle part of the 19th century. This literary phenomenon was directly related
to the beginning of English education in India. Before Bankim Chandra
Chattopadhyaya, various writings of pre-novel forms were extant in India. In
this regard, Kylas Chunder Dutt’s imaginary historical tract “A Journal of
Forty-Eight Hours 1945” can be mentioned. The tract was published in 1835
in Calcutta Literary Gazette. Shoshee chunder Dutt’s “The Republic of
Orissa: A Page from the Annals of the 20th Century” was another imaginary
historical tract published in the Saturday Evening Harakuru in the year 1845.
Shoshee Chunder Dutt’s two other novels The Young Zamindar (1883)
and Shunkur (1885) were delineation of difficult relationship between the
ruler and the ruled i.e., the British and the Indians.
K.K. Sinha in his Sanjogita or The Princess of Aryavarta (1930)
delineated the tragic defeat of Prithvi Raj Chauhan at the hands of
Mohammad Ghori. Sarath Kumar Ghosh wrote Prince of destiny: The New
Krishna (1909) where English culture was shown victorious against the
Indian culture. These early novelists of Indian writing in English had a
predilection for showing their familiarity with best of the English writers like
Shakespeare, Cooper, Coleridge, Byron, Scott etc. Whenever occasion
arose, they referred to them or quoted passages from their texts. The
possible reason was to parade their felicity with the best-known western
classics in the eyes of British readers. Along with such direct influences,
indirect influence of English literature was also noticeable in the early Indian
novels written in English.
The earliest novel that was written in India was Bankimchandra
Chattopadhyaya’s Rajmohan’s Wife which was published in 1864 in
serialised mode in a weekly journal named The Indian Field. Then, he shifted
his interest to Bengali and wrote many well known Bengali novels including
Anandamath and Devi Chaudhurani. Rajmohan’s Wife is about the middle
class life of a Bengal village—a tragic story of an unhappy marriage between
Matangini and Rajmohan. Bankimchandra evoked the trauma and passion

of Matangini in lyrical prose, which was not readily comprehensible for the
English readers because domestic life of the Indian village was much a
covert affair at that time. Along with Bankimchandra, other early novelists
who tried their hands in novel writing in English were Raj Lakshmi Devi,
Toru Dutt, Kali Krishna Lahiri, H. Dutt and Khetrapal Chakravarti.
Lal Behari Dey made an ethnographic attempt of documenting 19th
century village life in Bengal in his Govinda Samanta, or The History of a
Bengal Raiyat (1874). The novel encompassed the ups and downs of
Govinda Samanta’s life in between the years of 1820 to 1870. Krupabai
Satthianadhan wrote two novels–Kamala, A story of Hindu Life (1894) and
Saguna, A Story of Native Christian life published posthumously in 1895.
Both these two novels represented the progressive women of the period
through the eponymous protagonists Kamala and Saguna.
The period that followed this earliest attempt of novel writing was a
turbulent one. That was the period of the growth of Indian nationalism, which
encompassed the social fabric of India. Almost all the novelists who tried
their hands in writing novels in English had contributed directly or indirectly
to this aspect. While dealing with Indian nationalism, they also took up some
of the other important issues prevalent in the period such as poverty, caste
and class, industrialisation, problems of the peasants etc. Mulk Raj Anand,
Raja Rao, R.K. Narayan, Ahmed Ali, K. A. Abbas, Bhabani Bhattacharya
were some of the important novelists of this period. Some of these novelists
also had the experience of living abroad which contributed to their broad
cosmopolitan outlook.
LET US KNOW
The nationalistic fervour in Indian novels in English was

mostly expressed through “Gandhi” theme. Gandhi’s
immense contribution to Indian National movement
against the British made him a living legend. Began with the non-co-
operation movement to the Civil disobedience movement leading to
India’s independence in 1947, Gandhi was the pivotal figure around
whom all the activities of India’s nationalistic movement and freedom
movement were moving.

K. S. Venkataramani’s Murugan, The Tiller (1927), and Kandan the

Patriot (1932) were devoted to the themes of Gandhian economics and
politics. Kandan the Patriot, which was published serially in a daily paper
Swarajya, projected a comprehensive picture of a mass movement in
national perspective. K. Nagarajan’s Athawar House (1937) was the
delineation of a family chronicle with Gandhian national movement as its
background. Nagarajan’s second novel Chronicle of Kedaram (1961) had
Gandhi as a character whose arrival was necessary to defuse the feud
between the two sects of Iyengars. Khwaja Ahmed Abbas’ Inquilab was a
comprehensive portrayal of Gandhian revolutionary age starting from Rowlatt
Bill and the massacre of Jallianwalla Bagh. Along with Gandhi, many other
notable leaders of the period were portrayed in the novel. Bhabani
Bhattacharya, another important novelist of the period realistically portrayed
the tragedy and trauma of 1942-43 famine in Bengal as well as the impact
of Quit India movement in So Many Hungers. The novelist poignantly painted
the sufferings of men, women and children due to famine in Bengal.
Raja Rao, one of the triumvirates of the novelists of the period along
with R.K. Narayan and Mulk Raj Anand, is best known for his novel
Kanthapura (1938). The ‘forward’ to this book is generally acknowledged
as the manifesto of Indian writing in English. Here, Raja Rao stressed the
importance of the “systematic indigenisation of English”. It was done by
incorporating epic narrative technique of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata.
In his novel, the activities of Indian national movement under the leadership
of Gandhi became a fascinating subject which could also be termed as
Gandhi Purana. Raja Rao’s other novels The Serpent and the Rope (1960),
The cat and Shakespeare (1965), Comrade Kirillov (1976) and The
Chessmaster and His Moves (1988) were published much later after the
Independence.
R. K. Narayan began his illustrious literary journey with Swami and
Friends-a novel with a child protagonist in the famously fictitious town of
Malgudi. Before Independence, he wrote three other novels Bachelor of
Arts (1963), The Dark Room (1938), and The English Teacher (1945) where
he presented the society of Malgudi from the perspective of a detached

observer. In Waiting for Mahatma published after independence in 1955,

Narayan took Indian freedom movement as the background. Here in this
novel, Narayan occasionally strayed away from the secure setting of Malgudi.
Other novels of Narayan–Mr. Sampath, The Financial Expert, The Guide,
The Man-eater of Malgudi and The Vendor of Sweets were the portrayal of
an exotic world located in Malgudi. Though contemporary to Raja Rao and
Anand, Narayan took a different path and went on portraying the Indian society
with all its idiosyncrasies in the exotic and fabulous Malgudi.
Nearly all the novels by Mulk Raj Anand are testament to his
uncompromising love for the lowest dregs of the society. Anand began his
novel writing with Untouchable (1935). Then, he wrote two novels one after
another about the sufferings of the coolies in Coolie (1936) and in Two Leaves
And a Bud (1937). In The Village (1939), Across the Black Waters (1941)
and The Sword and the Sickle (1942) are the poignant tales of the condition
of the Indian peasants with Lal Singh as the protagonist of all the novels.
Anand’s last novel before the Independence was The Big Heart (1945).
After Independence also, Anand continued writing fiction one after another.
Seven Summers (1951), The Private Life of an Indian Prince (1953), The
Old Woman and the Cow (1960), The Road (1963), The Death of a Hero
(1964), Morning Face (1970), and Confession of a Lover (1976) were the
novels that he wrote after the Independence.
CHECK YOUR PROGRESS
Q 14: How was “Gandhi” an important theme in

Indian English novel before the Independence?
Q 15: Discuss the contribution of Raja Rao to the development of
Indian English novel.
1.9 LET US SUM UP
From this unit, you have learnt that English language was introduced
into the Indian education system by the British Government to create a

bunch of educated Indians who could help them in ruling this country
effectively. You also learnt how the English language created a broad platform
for the educated Indians to share their viewpoints through various modes
communication. Along with this, there was tremendous upheaval in the Indian
literary scene due to the emergence of new modes of prose, poetry, drama
and novel in English. Many leaders of Indian National Congress published
their speeches in English and brought about strong nationalistic fervour
amongst the Indians. In poetry, Rabindranath Tagore glorified the literary
scene of India in front of the world by achieving the Nobel Prize for literature
with his immortal poetry in Gitaljali. Novel, a clear endowment of the modern
education, also gained immense popularity with the writings of Anand, Raja
Rao and Narayan during the 1930s, which was another important aspect of
Indian English literature before the Independence. Thus, this unit must have
acquainted you with the emergence of Indian English literature with all its
major forms-prose, poetry, drama and novel and their practitioners
preceding India’s Independence.
1.10 FURTHER READING
Iyengar, K.R.S. (1962). Indian Writing in English. Bombay: Asia Publishing

House.
Mehrotra,A.K. (2014). An Illustrated History of Indian Literature in English.
Delhi: Permanent Black.
Singh, A. et al. (Eds.).(1980). Indian Literature in English: An Information
Guide. Michigan: Gale Research Co.
1.11 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR

PROGRESS (HINTS ONLY)
Ans to Q 1: Modern education was available to the Indian people… by the

Christian missionaries, British government… …Principal aim of
spreading modern education in India.

Ans to Q 2: British government for the fulfilment… …the initial move was
taken by Lord Dalhousie… …British was able to conquer most parts
of Indian Territory.. …rule such a vast area of land.
Ans to Q 3: Some liberal Indians… …Chiplunkar Agarkar, Maganbhai
Karamchand, Karve… …Raja Rammohun Roy pioneered the demand
for modern education…it was anti-authoritarian and liberal…
…propagated rational thinking.
Ans to Q 4: Western political thinkers… …became known to them through
this English education… …enhanced their understanding of the political
situation… …understood the evil effects of British rule… …joined
India’s struggle for the independence.
Ans to Q 5: Creative literature written by Indians in English… …Indian people
have been writing and speaking English… …achieve artistic
expression in the literature they have produced.
Ans to Q 6: Indian English literature is the most suitable term… …it is one
of the languages in India… …Indian sensibilities and ethos… …Sahitya
Akademi also accepted the term.
Ans to Q 7: Raja Rammohun Roy’s “A Defence of Hindu Theism”… …first
original prose writing in English… …wrote thirty two original English
essays… … A Defence of Hindu Theism… …he supported
monotheism… …learning on Christian theology… …worked
strenuously for the rights of women… …attack on polygamy and
dispossessing women… …wrote a short autobiographical sketch.
Ans to Q 8: Jawaharlal Nehru was a prolific writer… …Letters from a father
to his Daughter… …early history of the world… …Glimpses of World
History… …he narrated the world history… …The Discovery of India
contained the history of India.
Ans to Q 9: Sri Aurobindo began his dramatic writing… …love for Elizabethan
drama… …his emphasis on love as a benevolent force to destroy
evil.
Ans to Q 10: Rabindranath Tagore was a prolific dramatist… …divided into
two groups- thesis dramas and psychological dramas. Sanyasi, The
Cycle of Spring… …were considered thesis dramas… …The
Mother’s Prayer were included in psychological dramas… …though
translated from original Bengali… …themes and characters of his

dramas authentically carry Indian ethos.
Ans to Q 11: Henry Louis Vivian Derozio the first Indian English poet…
…Poems, The Fakeer of Jungheera: A Metrical Tale and Other Poems
(1828) were his published volumes of poetry… …British romantic
poets.
Ans to Q 12: Rabindranath Tagore’s fame… …lies on Gitanjali… …he got
Nobel Prize for literature… …The Gardener (1913), The Crescent
Moon (1913), Fruit Gathering (1916), Stray Birds (1916), Lovers Gift
and Crossing (1918), The Fugitive (1921), Fireflies (1928) and
Poems(1942)… …central theme of the songs in Gitanjali is devotion…
…his simplicity, passion and sensuousness… …profoundly Indian in
spirit.
Ans to Q 13: Sri Aurobindo’s magnum opus is Savitri … …twelve books,
forty nine cantos and 23,813 lines… …based on the legend of
Satyavan and Savitri of the Mahabharata…began with in medias
res…unconventional and philosophical Hindu epic… …man’s future
evolution to a higher position.
Ans to Q 14: The nationalistic fervour in Indian novel in English was mostly
got expressed through “Gandhi” theme… …made him a living legend…
…the pivotal figure around whom all the activities of India’s nationalistic
movement and freedom movement moved.
Ans to Q 15: Raja Rao is best known for his novel Kanthapura… …‘forward’
to this book … …acknowledged as the manifesto of Indian writing in
English… …epic narrative technique of Ramayana and Mahabharata…
…Gandhi became a fascinating subject… … Gandhi Purana.
1.12 POSSIBLE QUESTIONS
Q 1. Discuss the social conditions, which laid the foundation for the advent
of modern education in India.
Q 2. Why did the earliest of the educated Indians stress the imparting of
modern education through the English language?

Q 3. Discuss the contribution of early Indian English prose to the

emergence of nationalistic spirit amongst the Indians.
Q 4. Trace the development of early Indian English poetry with reference
to Derozio and Toru Dutt.
Q 5. How did the growth of Indian nationalism get expressed in the early
Indian English novels?
Q 6. Write a note on the history of the emergence of Indian English literature
before India’s Independence.
*** ***** ***

UNIT 2: HISTORICALBACKGROUND
(INDEPENDENCE AND AFTER)
UNIT STRUCTURE

2.2 Introduction
2.3 The Social and Intellectual Contexts
2.4 Major Literary Forms and Their Exponents
2.4.1 Poetry
2.4.2 Drama
2.4.3 Prose
2.4.4 Fiction
2.5 Let us Sum up
2.6 Further Reading

• discuss the social and intellectual contexts that shaped the Post-
Independence Indian English literature.
• identify the major literary forms that maturated in the Post-
• name the important writers in the field of poetry, drama, prose and
fiction
• locate the important works in the gamut of Post-Independence Indian
English literature.
• explain how important politics is to the proliferation of Post-

Historical Background (Independence and After) Unit 2
2.2 INTRODUCTION
In the previous unit, you have got a glimpse of Indian English literature
before the Independence. This unit shall help you to discuss the course of
Indian English Literature after the Independence. Following the inadvertent
introduction of English literature in India through the Charter Act 1813, Indian
writing in English gradually started to develop and took time to receive
worldwide recognition. The writers started writing in English in the mid 19th
century had to face initial problems, as they had to run from pillar to post for
getting their works published. However, resolute minds never break down
to difficulties and ultimately it was the win of human endeavours. Gradually,
they received publishers thanks to the initial interest and recognition that
foreign writers shower on Indian writers. For example, the playwright Asif
Currimbhoy became famous only when he was extolled by The Asian
Theatre scholar Faubion Bowers who declared him in New York’s “The
Village Voice” that he was emerging “more and more clearly as a playwright
of international stature.” Despite getting plenty of such difficulties, the Indian
writers continued to write in English with two basic reasons: firstly, writers
writing in English received wider attention, they found readers in India and
abroad; and secondly, the luxury of an elitist tendency that flaunted their
western education. However, the second tendency that emboldened many
writers had various convolutions and ramifications as the South Indian poet
R. Parthasarathy was galvanised by the conflict of a foreign language and
his native language as he learned English at a tender age and got the English-
speaking environment. His knowledge of English language and literature
mollified to believe that he belonged more to Britain than to India, and his
belief forced him to take sojourn unsuccessfully in England and returned to
India with an expressive realization that he belonged more to India as his
Indianness cannot be deliberately uprooted, and his Rough Passage portrays
the theme of identity exposed to Indian and Western cultures. As you finish
reading this unit, you will be able to have some ideas on Post Independence
India, which saw the emergence of many Indian writers in English as the
social environment turned out to be more advantageous for writers as it

Unit 2 Historical Background (Independence and After)
provided a liberty of thought. Moreover, the two decades after the

Independence reoriented the Indian political and cultural ethos that facilitated
the growth of Rushdie generation in 1980s and 1990s.
2.3 THE SOCIAL AND INTELLECTUAL CONTEXTS
The Social Context :
In the social sphere, India had to encounter various problems after

the Independence. The incoherent and hasty Independence brought a sea
of problems and the first among them was the communal violence between
Hindus and Muslims. The ethnic violence was the owner of mischief that
caused countless deaths and left many casualties. It was a slur on the
dreams of people like M. K. Gandhi among others, whose deliberate and
desperate attempts fructified a free nation but the eruption of shocking and
unacceptable ethnic violence caused him to think differently. M. K. Gandhi’s
deliberate but innocent ‘ploy’ succeeded that diminished the communal
violence for a while and Jawaharlal Nehru declared India a secular nation.
Besides the communal violence, many princely states denied to be a part
of free India, and the political thinkers of India were sensing trouble as it
created a ruckus and immediately worked for evading the problem, and
stalwarts like Sardar Patel was successful to amalgamate those states to
Indian democracy largely by coercion and if needed by intimidation. Moreover,
India involved in three brief but fierce battles with neighbouring countries in
1962, 1965 and 1971 respectively with China and Pakistan that dismantled
Indian economy and distraught the social setup of India.
In the economic sphere, various economic reforms fructified the
growth of GDP in India and the introduction of the Five Years’ Plan brought
efficacious remedies to the flip side of Indian economy. The establishments
and proliferations of large industrial projects in the public sector accelerated
the growth of Indian economy along with the multi-purpose river schemes
brought changes to India. However, it needs to be mentioned that the
implementations of various schemes did not heal the rift between the rich
and the poor. Moreover, widespread corruption caused riots in the Indian

society and many litterateurs of the time addressed such negative

developments as burning issues in their writings.
Changes in the political and economic spheres brought effective
and notable developments in the social scene. The rise of literacy rate is
one of the indicators of the development in India as education moulds the
conscience of a human being. ‘The Untouchability Offence Act’ was
introduced in India with an eye to dilute dogmatic social inequalities, but in
reality, the act remained in paper than in practice. Various schemes were
introduced for the advancement of the Backward Castes and Scheduled
tribes and the rise of literacy rate was one of the positive changes after
Independence that earmarked the evident changes that such schemes
brought for the people of India after the Independence. However, the most
sensitive issue that disturbed the well-wishers of India was the gradual
dilution of the ideologies of the freedom struggle. The dream of a free India
having equity with amity and solidarity at its driver’s seat was gradually
fading away. In addition, corruption spread every nook and corner of the
society, communal violence went shoulder to shoulder with bureaucratic
inefficiency. In addition, in such a social context Indian English literature
thrived earnestly that explored such social developments either positive or
negative.
Intellectual Context (The Role of English) :
One of the major developments after the Independence that has

multifarious significance was the decision of the Indian government to
become a frugal partner and a member of the British Commonwealth. The
decision was expressively triumphant for those who wanted to continue
the cultural heritage of the English and desired to continue the cultural
bondage with the British despite expressively snapping political bondage.
In fact, the decision to be a part of the British commonwealth, fructified a
more stronger cultural bonding with the British that might paved the way for
creating another cultural domination is matter of debate, but it had efficacious
meanings in the development and proliferation of English studies in India.
The unprecedented interest in the English language and literature actually

paved the way for the Indian writers in English, as they received not only
Indian readers but also foreign readers and it really accelerated the growth
of Indian English literature. Moreover, Sahitya Akademi started recognising
the contributions of the Indian English writers to the rich heritage of Indian
literature by conferring Sahitya Akademi awards to the Indian English writers.
The impact of English education and language on the Indian English
writers can be best summed in the words of K. R. Srinivasa Iyenger,
“Western education was as yet carrying all before it. It was the ‘open sesame’
to knowledge, freedom, power; it cut the old bonds of convention and
tradition; it let in light into the old darks rooms of an obscurantist faith; and
it made a new world and a new life possible for its beneficiaries.” Several
magazines like The Illustrated Weekly of India endeavoured to encourage
the publication of Indian English verse and fiction and the attempt to give
impetus to Indian English writers can be called a new possibility to the
Indian English literature.
LET US KNOW
The Notion of ‘Indianness’ in Indian English Writing:
Indian literature in English moved along with addressing

various fundamental questions like what evidently is Indianness.
Whose Indianness wreathes India globally distinguishable? Such
questions emerged in the Post Colonial India as it tried to create a
new force in the global world. To answer to such questions are difficult
for its multifarious ramifications. Raja Rao believed, “India is not a
country(desa), it is a perspective (darsana): it is not a climate but a
mood (rasa) in the play of the Absolute-it is not the Indian who makes
India but “India” makes the Indian, and this India is in all.”
Similar connotation can be found in the commentary of K. R.
Srinivasa Iyenger, when he states, “What makes Indo-Anglian literature
an Indian literature and not just a ramshackle outhouse of English
literature is the quality of its ‘Indianness’ in the choice of its subjects,

in the texture of thought and play of sentiment, in the organisation of

material and in the creative use of language.”
Various political developments like the dissection of India and
creation of two nations lead to the horrible communal violence that
distraught Indian sensibility, the declaration of secularism in India and
its subsequent circumstances were matters of profound interest for
the post-Independence Indian English writers. Moreover, many writers
rightly assumed that politics can easily penetrate into creative
imagination and mould the narratives of a text. Such an assumption
is enormously evident in the works of postcolonial Indian writers.
CHECK YOUR PROGRESS
Q 1: Discuss the challenges and changes that

India faced after the attainment of
Independence?
Q 2: “Indianness is the cultural part of the mind that apprises and
shapes the interests, activities and anxieties of the day-to-day
life of a sizeable number of Indians.” Explain.
2.4 MAJOR LITERARY FORMS AND THEIR

EXPONENTS
The following is an attempt at exploring the major literary forms in

Indian English literature following the Independence.
2.4.1 Poetry
Although the inheritance of the English language went through

many stages of modifications in India, the most subtle impact of the
British colony in India was the English language. Indian English poets
in the late 1940s started to adopt a post-Romantic legacy that
exchanged a received stylistic collection to local elements. And, it
continued for several decades without any radical breaking of
European tradition. The Indian English poets came from various

backgrounds and they were united through the use of the English
language. Many of them read English as an academic subject, some
worked in journalism or media, but few of them had professional
experience like Keki N. Daruwalla, a police officer by profession,
Gieve Patel was a doctor, and Jayanta Mahapatra was a Physics
teacher. The Indian poets of the period had two motives that wreathed
them together as Indian poets that their self-imposed compulsion
to write in English and the notion that nobody would write in any
language except their own language. The poets inspired by the
second motive strived to make the English language as their own
and gradually elements of Indianness started to make its presence
felt in Indian poetry.
The shift from the romantic tradition to a verse more about
the postcolonial present that expressively addressed the sentiments,
ethos and anxieties of people of India, earmarked the post
Independence Indian English poetry. English and American
modernist poets like T. S. Eliot became standard inspirations for
the Indian English poets. One of the exponents of ‘new’ poetry in the
post- Independence was Nissim Ezekeil, a Bene-Israel original
migrated to India, who was an admirer of T. S. Eliot and W. H. Auden
and who expressively writes about the search for identity and
alienation, which are also the major shaping forces of his poetry.
Moreover, the post Independence Indian English writers felt the need
of sharing their thoughts to one another and that necessitated the
creation of ‘groups’ that facilitates the poets to discuss new trend
and developments in poetry in Europe. The notable contributor to
the group formation was P. Lal whose coherent efforts fructified the
formation of Writers’ Workshop in Calcutta that really ushered the
beginning of ‘new poetry’ in India. The practitioners of the new poetry
unanimously believed that the English language was a boon for the
nation as the nation is fortified intellectually by the English language
that has given a new lease of life to the practitioners of creative
literature. The group of modernist anthology actively worked by P.

Lal voiced for the need of a private voice in postcolonial present as,
“we live in an age that tends so easily to demonstrations of mass-
approval and hysteria.”
The chief motive that inspired the Indian English poets to
embrace the foreign language was the scope and ranges that the
language facilitated them. The new language enabled them to get
wider audiences that in reality brought modernity to India. In due
course of time, the Indian English poets intended to clothe new
intensions in poetry. Moreover, they also endeavoured to discover
themselves in that process. One of the early Indian poets to receive
universal recognition was Dom Moares. He was the winner of
Hawthornden Prize in 1958 and was the first Indian poet to receive
such a global recognition. He represented the ‘new’ Indian English
poets who lived in England for many years and candidly proclaimed
himself to be more a British poet than an Indian poet, but The Penguin
Companion to Literature expressively named him to be an Indian
poet because of his considerable and indicative contribution to Indian
poetry. His sensuous imagery like “the curds/of sea” is a testimony
of his poetic roots in India despite his repeated protestations. Some
of his well-known works are “A Beginning” (1957), Poems (1960)
and “John Nobody”.
The Post Independence period saw the rise of many Indian
poets in English with international repute and among them are
Nissim Ezekeil, A. K. Ramanujan, R. Parthasarathy, Jayanta
Mahapatra, Kamala Das are prominent but they are different from
each other from their outlook and experience. Nissim Ezekeil’s
deliberate and desperate attempts to become a part of Indian culture
did not provide him efficacious remedies to his incongruous identity
formations that tried to address through his poems but his success
lies in his minor poems leaving behind traumas of alienation. His
“Night of the Scorpion” is one of the finest poems in Indian writing in
English that poignantly explored the cultural ethos of the Indian
society behind the sting and tried to learn the Indian views of evil,

superstition and suffering. His poetry is a testimony of his mastery

skills and he is technically sound that he wrote his poetry in
comprehensibly tight structure.
A. K. Ramanujan was one of the doyens of post
Independence Indian poetry and a versatile scholar, decided against
returning to India and continued teaching in the University of Chicago
although he was born and brought up in India. His thirty years of
stay in India and his assimilation with Indian culture moulded his
Indianness. His analytical study of the Indian cultural ethos forms
the structure of the poetry, and his prolonged stay in England caused
a note of assimilation of traditional Indian Culture with the modern
social outlook of Europe. “An outsider’s” portrayal of Hindu culture
interspersed with critical dissection of sensitive religious issues
make him truly a contemporary postcolonial Indian poet. Such an
approach is all-pervasive in some of his major poems like “The
Hindoo: The Only Risk”, “The Hindoo: he doesn’t Hurt a Fly or spider
either”, “Some Indian uses of History on a Rainy Day”. His
Contribution to Indian English literature was recognised by Sahitya
Akademi and was awarded the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Award
after his death in 1999 for his poetic collection The Selected Poems.
Jayanta Mahapatra was the recipient of Sahitya Akademi
Award, he started his poetic career with the publication of “Close
the Sky, Ten by Ten” and continued publishing various poetic volumes
in English like “A Rain of rites”, “Waiting”, “Relationship” etc. His
colloquial style with striking images won the hearts of many readers.
He frequently portrayed the Jagannathan Temple with vivid imagery
and extended his poetic forte to reflect psychological conflicts in
love and sensuality.
The rise of Indian Women English poets becomes
synonymous with the Indian Independence as the Post-
Independence Indian English poetry saw the emergence of many
female poets and Kamala Das became the doyen among them.
Sexual frankness, expressive sensual longing are some of the

important traits of her poetry that made her truly a post Independence
Indian English poet. Her longing for physically intimate relationship
is expressively evident in her poetic line like “the musk of sweat
between my breasts.” A deeper study of her poems reveals that
she did not attempt cheap popularity but it portrays that she is
‘beloved and betrayed’. Her traumatic frustration in love and marriage
is evident in her autobiography “My Story”. She wrote three poetic
volumes, “Summer in Calcutta”, “The Descendants” and “The Old
Playhouse and Other Poems”.
R. Parthasarathy was also an important Post Independence
poet who initially believed the superiority of western culture and
believed that he belonged more to England than to India, but such a
belief received a setback when he realised that his Indianness could
not be willingly diluted. His Rough Passage portrays the theme of
identity formation based to Indian and western cultures.
CHECK YOUR PROGRESS
Q 3: What are the changes do you perceive in the

Post Independence Indian Poetry?
Q 4: Discuss the shifts in Post Independence Indian poetry from the
Romantic tradition to a verse more about the postcolonial present.
2.4.2 Drama
Indian drama has a rich tradition and its origin can be traced
back to the Vedic Period. Indian plays were very simple in the Vedic
Period and Sanskrit drama continued to flourish till the 15th century,
but its progress was hammered by the various nasty invasions.
However, a new lease of creative ingenuity was grown up after the
British arrived in India as K. R. Srinivasa Iyengar observes that the
English education was the ‘open sesame’ to knowledge that
encouraged freedom and power. It effectively dilutes the old bonds
of traditions and conventions. Thus, it shed a new light into the dark

rooms of bizarre faith, and transformed it to a new world with new

possibilities. However, Indian drama saw the comprehensive
development after the Independence as the dramatists before
Independence did not give enough density to reliability and ‘stage-
worthiness’ of their plays. Indian drama received a fresh start when
Kendriya Natak Sangeet Akademi got under way in January 1953.
The setting up of Sangeet Natak Akademi in 1959 was another
stimulus to the Indian drama. By 1960s, Indian English drama saw
the concoction of various fitting styles and techniques from Sanskrit
and western theatre. By the 1970s, Indian English drama fully
flourished in the hands of Badal Sincar, Vijay Tendulkar, Girish Karnad
and Mahesh Dattani. They were instrumental to the modernisation
of Indian theatre. Bold metamorphosis and efficacious experiments
in terms of thematic concerns and technical virtuosity accelerated
the modernization of Indian theatre. Moreover, their use of legends,
myths, folklores, history fructified imposing results. They do,
however, exhibited Indian drama at national level as they dramatically
intellectualised human life in India coupled with its particulars and
ingredients.
Modern secular plays were introduced in India by the British
in the 19th Century. Since then modern Indian theatre underwent
several stages of changes with many convolutions. Basically, in the
19th Century, two streams of drama were presented–one was
Shakespearean plays and classical Sanskrit plays. Shakespearean
plays were translated into various regional languages to cater to the
needs of the Indian audiences, as they preferred more to enjoy plays
in their native language. The British’s arrival in India and the
consolidation of imperial power in India brought many contradictions
and conflicts that the first Indian playwright in English. Krishna Mohan
Banerjea addressed these convolutions in his plays. His “The
Persecuted or Dramatic Scenes Illustrative of the Present State of
Hindoo Society in Calcutta” (1831) is a testimony of his eagerness
to represent the contradictions and conflicts of Indians with the British

cultural ethos. The most unique playwright of the mid 19th century
was Tyagaraja Paramasive Kailasam (1885-1946) who wrote in
English and Kanada and his English plays were different from
Kanada plays. He believed that, “delineation of ideal characters
requires a language which should not be very near to us.” His English
plays are based on myths of the Mahabharata with a Shakespearean
historical method, but his plays were severely scrutinised by the
drama pundits for his use of extravagant and bombastic Victorian
language.
Most of the playwrights of the mid 19th Century to mid 20th
Century, followed classical Indian myths and Shakespearean
dramaturgy and Sri Arobindo, H. Chatopadhyay and T.P. Kailasam
were some of the major exponents in that period. In addition, the
playwrights of post Independence followed the similar trend and wrote
on ethical and moral issues. Dilip Kumar Roy wrote “Rama Rajya”
(1952) in collaboration with Indira Devi and the play used the epic
story of the Mahabharata with an attempt to put a modern touch in
it. Swami Avyaktananda was another post Independence Indian
playwright chiefly known for his play “All Prophets Day”. The play
addressed convolutions related to national integration and
secularism. However, the plays written by Asif Currimbhoy (1928-
94) made a new beginning in Post Independence Indian drama.
His plays are rich in theatrical devices. He dexterously used
dramatic devices like monologues, choruses, songs, sound
effects that accelerated theatrical impacts. His notable plays are
Inquilab (1970) and Sonar Bangla (1972) that have substantial
impact on Indian politics in postcolonial India. His Hungry Ones
(1965) is known for his comment on human predicament that all
human beings are in chains and none is free that captivity comes
from external forces or it could be family, religion, country and
society.
With the treatment of epic stories to Shakespearean
adoption, Indian English plays moved along with Asis Currimbhiy’s

theatrical experimentations. Indian English plays of 1970s

started addressing contemporary political and social situations
through unique dramatic presentation by Gurucharan Das. His
“Larins Sahib” (1970) is a clear indication of his application of
historical past the play is straightforward attempt to entertain
audiences instead of a supposed assumption to relate past with
the present.
The most enduring impact on post Independence Indian
English drama was Ebrahim Alkazi. He was first director of National
School of Drama, and he was trained in London at the Royal
Academy of Dramatic Art. He dexterously wreathed costume, music,
light design with acting and speech accelerated the beginning of a
language that was unique to the city audience. His fourteen years of
stay in Bombay not only resulted in presentation of notable English
playwrights but also influenced many Indians to follow his footsteps.
Such an encouragement was capitalised by Nissim Ezekiel and
Gieve Patel. Nissim Ezekiel’s “Nalini” is considered to be the most
successful play. His other notable works are “Sleepwalkers” and
“Marriage-Poem”. Gieve Patel was one of the followers of Ebrahim
Alkazi who believed that language has a special role to play in theatre.
In addition, his dexterous use of the English language is expressive
in all his plays and each play is so minutely constructed that he
achieved the desired specific end.
Therefore, Indian English drama developed gradually along
with playful experimentation of the English language in the hands of
Gieve Patel. He intentionally modified the English syntax and
grammar that fructified a unique rhythm of speech. As he says, “I
attempt to create a speech that perhaps does not exist in real life,
but which never the less appears perfectly natural on the stage when
spoken with understanding by actors.”

LET US KNOW
Theatre Groups until 1968 endeavoured to introduce the

Indians to the rich European and Western dramatic
skills. However, in 1970s, a strong impetus of back-to-village
movement was grown up that represented the Indian cultural scenarios
as well as restructured Indian dreams. Moreover, the announcement
of Sultan Padmasee Award for Indian plays in English provided the
much-needed fire to Indian plays that had set the healthy atmosphere
of competition among the Indian playwrights.
The plays of Asif Curimbhoy, Nissim Ezekeil and Gieve Patel

among others emboldened the later Indian English playwrights to
consolidate its position in the world. Vijay Tendulkar, Mahesh Dattani,
Badal Sircar are some of the most famous Post Independence
playwrights who became popular in the latter half of 20th century.
Vijay Tendulkar is primarily a social analyst and his social
commentary on the Indian social set up from a journalist point of
view is all-pervasive in his works. He never claimed to be a champion
liberator of women, but he raised voice against the negligible position
accorded to women. His preoccupation that women are the victims
of the institutional body of power constituted his major plays like—
Kamala (1981) and Fifth Woman. He was awarded Saraswati
Samman for his play Kanyadan (1983), and the play exhibits male
chauvinism and hypocrisy.
Mahesh Dattani is one of the renowned Indian English
playwrights whose penetrating insight into Indian urban society is
widely extolled. His “Bravely Fought the Queen”, “Dance Like a Man”,
“On a Muggy Night in Mumbai” are esoteric to some extent, but the
vogue for socio-economic plays is well explored with subtle effects.
These plays testify his predilection for exploring a perverse
relationship between postmodern urban society and individuals.
Pseudo work ethics, facades of honesty and an antipathy towards

the society and the world at large have precipitated the ethical
standards of the Indian urban society. Home has become an eyesore
where people fight and clash to create their own space and time. A
perverse refusal to follow family bonding coupled with lack of
adaptability and preposterously narcissist attitude, have precluded
from strengthening family relationship.
Badal Sircar’s forte as a dramatist lies in delineating middle-
class society, his projection of modern life from the existential
standpoint designed him as a truly postmodern Indian dramatist.
He is commonly known as the “barefoot playwright” who stands in
the vanguard of new theatrical movement in India. His Procession
(1972) is a quest for a real home in a so-called equal society. His
other important plays like Bhoma (1974) and State News (1979) are
situated on his concept of the Third Theatre.
CHECK YOUR PROGRESS
Q 5: Do you think that Indian drama was

comprehensibly developed after
Independence?
Q 6: Try to draw the contribution of Ebrahim Alkezi in the development
of Post- Independence Indian drama.
Q 7: Would you agree that bold metamorphosis and efficacious
experiments in terms of thematic concerns and technical
virtuosity brought the modernisation of Indian theatre?
2.4.3 Prose
To wield the English language for the explication of Indian

views fructified new gateways of the elucidation of Indian scenario.
As you have read in the previous unit, Raja Rammohan Roy was an
ardent advocate of English education in India and he happened to
be the first Indian to write prose. In addition, Indian English prose
never showed signs of enervation. From the simple, pointed style

of M. K. Gandhi’s prose to Jawaharlal Nehru’s panoramic display of

world history and then to the agile prose with political sensitive issues
constitute the major prose works following the Independence. Apart
from political prose, autobiography, travelogue, religious writing,
historical writings as well as social criticism continue to thrive in the
context of postcolonial Indian prose.
One of the exponents of non-fictional prose in the postcolonial
India was Nirad C. Choudhuri who ventures to explore political and
religious development in India. His first attempt at literary prose was
a meticulous commentary on the quintessence of the colonial Indian
army. He highlights the unjust recruitment policy of the colonial Indian
army and its pernicious impact on society. Another remarkable
contribution of N. Choudhuri to Indian prose is “A Passage to India”;
it was a result of his short visit to England in 1955. He admired the
British ethos and eulogised its rich cultural heritage, but critics often
say that his adulation was a result of observing British culture with a
rose-tinted spectacle. He redeemed his reputation with his more
balanced work “The Intellectual in India” (1967). He surveyed various
intellectual traditions in India and underlines the reformist zeal of
the modern Hindu intellectuals and dogmatism of the Muslim
counterparts that diluted social reforms.
Apart from the non-fictional prose, Indian English literature
saw the phenomenal development of literary criticism. Various factors
are accountable for the remarkable development, the opening of
many different universities with Post graduate courses have
accelerated the proliferation of critical activities. Krishna Chaitanya
is first among the notable postcolonial Indian prose writer whose “A
New History of Sanskrit Literature” ventures to draw a balanced
literary evaluation of the Sanskrit studies in India. Other notable
contributor was S. C. Sen Gupta who wrote Shakespearean Comedy
and Shakespeare’s Historical Plays. K. R. Srinivasa Iyengar is also
a notable contributor to post Independence literary criticism and his
Shakespeare: His World and His Art exhibits his proficiency as a
literary critic.
CHECK YOUR PROGRESS
Q 8: Try to find out the political convolutions of the

Post Independence Indian Prose.
2.4.4 Fiction
In the previous unit, you have read about Indian English fiction
preceding India’s Independence. The two decades just before the
Independence were momentous for the rise of nationalism and the
Indian novels in English. The prominent fiction writers of 1930s and
1940s are Bhabani Bhattacharya, Raja Rao, Aubery Menen and G.V.
Desani, and some others continued writing even after the
Independence. Their nationalism was coloured and sometimes
tempered by expressive cosmopolitanism of outlook as most of
these writers spent a considerable period of their lives in Europe.
Their writings are often accentuated by a sense of cultural
derangement that has also become the characteristic feature of
the postcolonial Indian fiction. Two major developments are
expressive in the fiction of this period. Firstly, the socio-political
upheavals of the ‘Gandhian whirlwind’, and secondly, the era of late
modernism in European countries had considerable impact on the
development of fiction of this period. The Gandhian philosophy and
ideologies were so popular and dominant that the fiction writers of
this period capitalised his philosophy and ideologies to produce
popular fiction with a message in it. Moreover, the fiction writers
considered it a moral obligation to spread nationalism in India and
they successfully attained their end through their fiction.
Indian fiction in English did not produce substantially
important novels immediately after the Independence because “many
writers felt there was something unpatriotic about writing in the
language of recently departed”. Many Pre-Independence Indian
writers continued writing fiction but the recognition of R. K. Narayan’s

creative prowess by Sahitya Akademi provided the much-needed

fillip to Indian fiction. He was awarded Sahitya Akademi Award in
1960 for his “The Guide”. The Post Independent Indian fiction saw
the rise of character development and psychological depth, depth
wise developments of narrative than lengthwise development
became the hallmark of Post Independence Indian fiction. The
writers were also haunted by a sense of alienation and were largely
discontented from modern lives. Moreover, the advantageous social
condition was capitalised by the women writers and the theme of
alienation came to “a special edge in the numerous novels published
by women in the period.” The most prominent post-Independence
women writers are—Anita Desai, Kamala Markandaya, Nayantara
Sahgal and Ruth Prawer Jhabvala.
Perhaps the most prominent novelist to immerse in the
upshots of Indian Independence was Khuswant Singh. Various
political developments after the ethnic violence caused by the
partition found its apt expression in his Train to Pakistan that was
published in United States under the title Mano Majra. The novel is
an expressive representation of the ramifications of partition. Simple
villagers were living peacefully before the Partition irrespective caste,
creed and religion, but the situation was altered after Independence
when a mob became ferment to kill Muslims travelling through the
village on a train to Pakistan. Many innocent lives were saved at the
cost of a generous and ‘impulsive Sikh peasant’ who died when
attempting to stop the attack. The novel become a critique of corrupt
officials, policy makers and politicians who fermented the whole
situation in the name of liberty. His other notable works are—I Shall
not Hear the Nightingale (1959) and Delhi: A Novel (1989).
The emergence of psychological novelist provided a different
colour to postcolonial India fiction. Anita Desai was one of the post
Independence novelist who has a pertaining insight into the
characters’ psyche that is praiseworthy. She fabulously made her
characters face success and agony through aesthetic experiences

in their lives, and she added a feather more to her cap by dexterously
blending nature, experience, myth, and cultural formation of an artist.
Her notable fictional works are Cry, the Peackock; Fasting, Feasting;
The Artist of Disappearance; and In Custody. Another women novelist
of considerable repute is Nayantara Sahgal, the niece of Jawaharlal
Nehru. Her novels are critique of hypocrisy and shallow values of
the upper class people of the society. Her important works are—A
time to Be Happy (1958), Storm in Chandigarh (1969).
LET US KNOW
The first two decades immediately after the

Independence witnessed that many writers refrained
from writing in English, as they believed it unpatriotic to write in a
language of a race that subjugated Indian for many years. Nevertheless,
the doyens of the Post Independence Indian fiction like Mulk Raj Anand,
Raja Rao, R. K. Narayan continued writing in English. Moreover, leaders
of Indian national congress were also puzzled at the status of English
in the Post-Independent India although C. Rajagopalachari proclaimed
that English is the gift of Saraswati to India. The issue was resolved
when Gandhi responded to queries of Mulk Raj Anand. He said, “The
purpose of writing is to communicate, isn’t it? If so, say your say in
any language that comes to hand.”
M. Anantanarayana was the only fiction writer in the Post
Independent India who wrote in English but did not follow the western
narrative forms in his novels. His The Silver Pilgrimage is a testimony
of his renunciation of western narrative and adaptation of Indian
narratives. The novel portraits the adventure of Jayasurya, a prince of
16 th century Sri Lanka and his subsequent hardships. M.
Anantanarayana’s whole purpose of his rejection of western narrative
in evident in the epigraph as he warned Indians to refrain from selling
own cleverness, as it will fetch on convolutions, “Sell your cleverness
and buy Bewilderment.”

Most of the Post Independent Indian fiction writers were

dissatisfied with the metropolis and modernity. Arun Joshi and M.
Anantanarayana were expressive in their dissatisfaction with the
metropolitan Indian culture. In his “The Apprentice” (1974), Arun Joshi
portrays the adaptation of a corrupt means by the government official
to survive in the post-Independent corrupt society and provided low
quality materials in the Sino-Indian war 1962, and the victim was
one of his childhood friends. His other major works are The Strange
case of Billy Biswas, The Foreigner, The Last Labyrinth and The
City and the River.
Check Your Progress
Q 9: Discuss the impact of Gandhian philosophy

on the Post Independence Indian fiction.
2.5 LET US SUM UP
This unit made an attempt to give you an overview of social and

intellectual developments and its diverse upshots in the post Independence
India. It has also familiarised you with the intellectual advancements like
the assertion of western scientific education as an ‘open sesame’ to
knowledge and liberty. In addition, an unprecedented interest in the English
language and literature by the Indian writers in English ushered a new
beginning as they received not only Indian readers but also foreign readers
that accelerated the growth of Indian literature in English. Moreover, the unit
attempted to show the growth and proliferations of major literary forms in
Indian Writing in English and its major exponents. The primary concern in
this unit has been to acquaint you with the miscellaneous developments
and shaping forces on the Post-Independence Indian English literature. You
must have by now been well acquainted about the formative influences on
the Post-Independence Indian English literature. By now, you should be
able to understand the ‘Indianness’ of Indian English literature and the role
of the English language with the help of which a great number of Indian

writers, moved by the earnest desire to exhibit before the western readers,
strived for authentic depiction of India through their writings.
2.6 FURTHER READING
Karkala, J. B. (1971). Indo-English Literature in the Nineteenth Century.

Mysore: Literary Half-Yearly, University of Mysore.
Melwani, M. D. (1971). Critical Essays on Indo-Anglican Themes. Calcutta:
A Writers Workshop publication.
Memmi, A. (2016). The Colonizer and the Colonized. London: Souvenir
Press.
Mill, J., & Wilson, H. H. (1968). The History of British India. New York:
Chelsea House.
Mukherjee, M. (2010). The Perishable Empire: Essays on Indian Writing in
English. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Nandy, A. (2015). The Intimate Enemy: Loss and Recovery of Self Under
Colonialism. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Parry, B. (2004). Postcolonial Studies: A Materialist Critique. London:
Routledge.
Riemenschneider, D. (2016). Essays on Indian Writing in English: Twice-
born or Cosmopolitan Literature? Jaipur: Rawat Publications.
Viswanathan, G. (2015). Masks of Conquest: Literary Study and British Rule
in India. West Sussex, England: Columbia University Press.

Ans to Q 1: The immediate change in India brought by the ill-prepared

Independence was the ethnic violence between Hindus and Muslims…
…Partition rocked the nation and political thinkers took the challenge
to find out efficacious remedies to the intricate problem…
…Subsequent declaration of India as a secular country had far-
reaching repercussions… …abolition of societal ills, effective

economic schemes and amalgamation of princely states to Grater

India.
Ans to Q 2: Indianness is reflected in the choice of its subjects… …also
presents the texture of thought and play of sentiment inherited in India…
…sometimes, the cultures of particular caste, class and family can
expressively alter the civilization heritage but the intrinsic awareness
of an Indian identity keeps going on.
Ans to Q 3: The western scientific education brought significant changes
in the Indian society… …it attempted to abolish social ills… …it was
a storehouse of knowledge that emanated freedom and power.
Ans to Q 4: The Post Independence Indian Poetry turned away from the
romantic tradition… …engrossed in addressing the sentiments, ethos
and anxieties of contemporary India.
Ans to Q 5: The Post Independence drama gave enough density to reliability
and ‘stage-worthiness’ of their plays… …post-Independence drama
profited by the enduring demand abroad in Indian English drama.
Ans to Q 6: He was first director of National School of Drama, and he was
trained in London at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He dexterously
wreathed costume, music, light design with acting and speech
accelerated the beginning of a language that was unique to the city
audience.
Ans to Q 7: The establishment of National School of Drama in the first Five
Year Plan was an encouraging development in Indian drama… …that
facilitated many experiments… …Girish Karnad’s Hayavandana is a
testimony of the daring experiment in the wield of folk motifs… …The
use of ghost by Mahesh Dattani in Where there’s a Will is an indication
of effectual experiment that correlates thematic concerns and
technical virtuosity that implicates the modernization of Indian theatre.
Ans to Q 8: In his “A History of Indian English Literature”, M. K. Naik indicated
that ‘fresh political thinking’ remained dominant in post Independence
prose… …Nirad C. Chaudhuri addressed different political and
religious intricacies of the post-Independence India… …M. N. Roy,

Jayaprakash Narayan and R. M. Lohia were notable contributors to

subtle political debates in the post-Independence India.
Ans to Q No 9: Gandhian philosophy and ideologies were so popular and
dominant that the fiction writers of this period capitalised his philosophy
and ideologies to produce popular fiction with a message in it. Moreover,
fiction writers considered it a moral obligation to spread nationalism
in India and they successfully attained their end through their fiction.
Q 1: How did the continuity and growth of Indian literature in English remain
assured after Independence? Give an illustrative answer.
Q 2: How did the recognition of national identity help the Indian English
writers?
Q 3: In the fifties arose a school of poets who tried to turn their backs on
the romantic tradition and write a verse more in tune with the age, its
general temper and its literary ethos. Discuss.
Q 4: Do you think Post-Independence Drama was profited by the growing
interest abroad in Indian English literature? Give a reasoned answer.
Q 5: Elucidate the factors responsible for the growth of literary criticism in
the Post Independence India.
Q 6: Trace the shift from Pre-Independent ‘Gandhian whirlwind’ to
psychological depth in the Post Independence Indian English fiction.
*** ***** ***

UNIT 3: MODERN INDIAN ENGLISH LITERATURE

[“INTRODUCTION” TO THE VINTAGE BOOK
OF INDIAN WRITING 1947-1997]
UNIT STRUCTURE

3.2 Introduction
3.3 Excerpts from “Introduction” to The Vintage Book of Indian Writing
1947-1997
3.4 Important Issues raised in the Essay
3.5 Let us Sum up
3.6 Further Reading

• identify the major aspects modern English Indian literature
• discuss the contributions of the major Indian English writers who
shaped Indian Writing in English (IWE)
• trace the major social and intellectual concerns in IWE especially in
the field of fiction and non-fictional prose
• explain the major developments in modern Indian English fiction
3.2 INTRODUCTION
This unit is an integral part of your reading of the history of Indian

English literature. As the title suggests, this unit shall deal exclusively with
Indian English literature of the modern times, especially during the last three
decades of the 20th century. In order to discuss the same, we shall try to
read the “Introduction” of Salman Rushdie to The Vintage Book of Indian
Writing 1947-1997 edited by Rushdie and Elizabeth West. This ‘Introduction’
shall give you a panoramic picture of the development of Modern Indian
English fiction with reference to its various thematic aspects as seen by
Unit 3 Modern Indian English Literature...
Salman Rushdie who through his fictional and nonfictional works informed
the entire world about the beauty of Indian English Writings. Therefore, you
are supposed to carefully go through the text of the essay, as we believe
that this will help you to discuss many important aspects of modern Indian
English Literature one of which is the representation of India in an alien
language.
3.3 EXCERPTS FROM “INTRODUCTION” TO THE

VINTAGE BOOK OF INDIAN WRITING 1947-1997
I once gave a reading to a gathering of university students in Delhi

and when I’d finished a young woman put up her hand. ‘Mr. Rushdie, I read
through your novel, Midnight’s Children,’ she said. ‘It is a very long book, but
never mind, I read it through. And the question I want to ask you is this:
fundamentally what’s your point?’
Before I could attempt your answer, she spoke again. ‘Oh, I know
what you’re going to say. You’re going to say that the whole effort—from
cover to cover—that is the point of the exercise. Isn’t that what you were
going to say?’
‘Something like that, perhaps…’I got out.
She snorted. ‘I won’t do.’
‘Please,’ I begged, ‘do I have to have just one point?’
‘Fundamentally,’ she said, with impressive firmness ‘yes.’
So, here, once again, is a very long book; and though it is not a
novel, but an anthology selected from the best Indian writing of the half
century since the country’s independence, still one could easily say of the
work contained in these pages that the whole collective effort, from cover
to cover, is the point of the exercise. Fifty years of work, by four generations
of writers, is impossible to summarise, especially when it hails from that
huge crowd of a country (close to a bill on people at the last count), that
vast, metamorphic, continent culture that feels, to Indians and visitors alike,
like a nonstop assault on the scenes, the emotions, the imagination and
the spirit. Put India and Atlantic Ocean and it would reach from Europe to
America; put India and China together and you have got almost half the
Modern Indian English Literature... Unit 3
population of the world. It’s high time Indian literature got itself noticed, and
it’s started happening. New writers seem to emerge every few weeks. Their
work is as multiform as the place, and the readers who care about the
vitality of literature will find at least some of these voices saying something
they want to hear. However, my Delhi interrogator may be pleased to hear
that this large and various survey turns out to be making fundamentally, just
one—perhaps rather surprising – point.
This is it: the prose writing—both fiction and nonfiction—created in
this period by Indian writers working in English, is proving to be a stronger
and more important body of work than most of what has been produced in
the 16 ‘official languages’ of India, the so-called vernacular languages’ during
the same time; and indeed, this new, and still burgeoning, ‘Indo-Anglian’
literature represents perhaps the most valuable contribution Indian has yet
made to the world of books.
It is a large claim, and while it may be easy for Western readers to
accept it (after all, few non-English language Indian writers, other than the
Novel laureate Tagore, have ever made such an impact on world literature);
it runs counter to much of the received critical wisdom within India itself. …
Two qualifications should be made (in the selection of the pieces in
this anthology) at once. First: there has long been a genuine problem of
translation in India—not only into English but between the vernacular
languages—and it is possible that good writers have been excluded by
reason of their translator’s inadequacies rather than their own. Nowadays,
however, such bodies as the Indian Sahitya Akademi and UNESCO- as
well as Indian publishers themselves –have been putting their resources
into the creation of better translations, and the problem, while not eradicated,
is certainly much diminished. And second: while it was impossible, for
reasons of space, to include a representative selection of modern Indian
poetry, it was evident to us that the rich poetic traditions of India continued
to flourish in many of the sub continent’s languages, whereas the English
language poets, with a few distinguished exceptions (Arun Kolatkar, A. K.
Ramanujan, Jayanta Mahapatra, to name just three), did not match the
counterparts in prose…

The lack of first-rate writing in translation can only be a matter of

regret. However, to speak more positively, it is a delight to be able to
showcase the quality of a growing collective oeuvre whose status has long
been argued over, but which has, in the last twenty years or so, begun to
merit a place alongside the most flourishing literature of the world.
For some, English language Indian writing will never be more than a
postcolonial anomaly, the bustard child of Empire, sired on India by the
departing British; its continued use of the old colonial tongue is seen as a
fatal flaw that renders it forever in-authentic. ‘Indo-Anglian’ literature evokes,
in these critics, the kind of prejudiced reaction shown by some Indians
towards the country’s community of ‘Anglo Indians’—that is, Eurasians.
In the half century since Jawaharlal Nehru spoke, in English, the
great ‘freedom at midnight’ speech that marked the moment of
Independence, the role of English itself has often been disputed in India.
Attempts in India’s continental shelf of languages to coin medical, scientific,
technological and everyday neologisms to replace the commonly used
English words sometimes succeeded, but more often comically failed….
Like the Greek god Dionysos, who was dismembered and afterwards
reassembled—and who, according to the myths, was one of India’s earliest
conquerors—Indian Writing in English has been called ‘twice born’ (by the
critic Meenakshi Mukherjee) to suggest its double parentage. While, I am, I
must admit, attracted to the Dionysiac resonances of this supposedly double
birth, it seems to me to rest on the false premise that English, having arrived
from outside India, is and must necessarily remain an alien there. But my
own mother tongue, Urdu, the camp argot of the country’s earlier Muslim
conquerors, became a natutralised sub-continental language long ago; and
by now that has happened to English, too. English has become an Indian
language. Its colonial origin means that, like Urdu and unlike all other Indian
languages, it has no regional base; but in all other ways, it has emphatically
come to stay…
Indian English, sometimes unattractively called ‘Hinglish’, is not
‘English’ English, to be sure, any more than Irish or American or Caribbean
English is. And it is a part of the achievement of the writers in this volume to

have found literary voices as distinctively Indian, and also as suitable for
any and all purposes of art, as those other Englishes forged in Ireland,
Africa, the West Indies and the Unites States.
However, the Indian critical assaults on this new literature continue.
Its practitioners are denigrated for being too upper middle class; for lacking
diversity in their choice of themes and techniques; for being less popular in
India than outside India; for possessing inflated reputations on account of
the international power of English language, and of the ability of Western
critics and publishers to impose their cultural standards on the East; for
living, in many cases, outside India; for being deracinated to the point that
their work lacks the spiritual dimension essential for a ‘true’ understanding
of the soul of India; for being insufficiently grounded in the ancient literary
tradition of India; for being the literary equivalent of MTV culture, of globalising
Coca-colonisation; even, I’m sorry to report, for suffering from a condition
that one sprightly recent commentator, Pankaj Mishra, calls ‘Rushdie-it
is…(a) condition that has claimed Rushdie himself in his later works’.
It is interesting that so few of these criticisms are literary in the pure
sense of the word. For the most part, they do not deal with language, voice,
psychological or social in sight, imagination or talent. Rather, they are about
class, power and belief. There is a whiff of political correctness about
them: the ironical proposition that India’s best writing since Independence
may have been done in the language of the departed imperialists is simply
too much for some folks to bear. It ought not to be true, so must not be
permitted to be true. (That many of the attacks on English language Indian
writing are made in English by writers who are themselves members of the
college-educated, English speaking elite is a further irony)
Let us quickly concede what must be conceded. It is true that most
of these writers come from the educated classes of India; but in a country
still bedevilled by high illiteracy levels, how could it be otherwise? It does
not follow, however—unless one holds to a rigid, class war view of the
world—that writers with the privilege of a good education will automatically
write novels that seek only to portray the lives of the bourgeoisie. It is true
that there tends to be a bias towards metropolitan and cosmopolitan fiction,

but, as this volume will demonstrate, there has been, during this half century,
a genuine attempt to encompass as many Indian realties as possible, rural
as well as urban, sacred as well as profane. This is also, let us remember,
a young literature. It is still pushing out the frontiers of the possible.
The point about the power of the English language, and of the
Western publishing and critical fraternities, also contains some truth.
Perhaps it does seem, to some ‘home’ commentators, that a canon is
being foisted on them from outside. The perspective from the West is rather
different. Here, what seems to be the case is that Western publishers and
critics have been growing gradually more and more excited by the voices
emerging from India; in England at least, British writers are often chastised
by reviewers by their lack of Indian-style ambition and verve. It feels as if
the East is imposing itself on the West, rather than the other way around.
And, yes, English is the most powerful medium of communication in the
world; should we not then rejoice at these artists’ mastery of it, and at their
growing influence? To criticise writers for their success at ‘breaking out’ is
no more than parochialism (and parochialism is perhaps the main vice of
the vernacular literatures). One important dimension of literature is that it is
a means of holding a conversation with the world. These writers are ensuring
that India, or rather, Indian voices (for they are too good to fall into writing
nationalistically), will henceforth be confident, indispensible participants in
that literary conversation. …
The question of religious faith, both as a subject and an approach to
a subject, is clearly important when we speak of a country as bursting with
devotion as India; but it is surely excessive to use it, as does one leading
academic, the redoubtable professor C. D. Narasimhaiah, as a touchstone,
so that Mulk Raj Anand is praised for his ‘daring’ merely because, as a
leftist writer, he allows a character to be moved by deep faith, while Arun
Kolatkar’s poetry is denigrated for ‘throwing away tradition and creating a
vacuum’ and so ‘losing relevance’, because in Jejuri, a cycle of poem about
the visit to a temple town, he sceptically likens the stone gods in the temples
to the stones on the hillsides nearby (‘and ever other stone/is god or his
cousin’). I hope readers of this anthology will agree that many of the writers

gathered here have profound knowledge of the ‘soul of India’; many have
deeply spiritual concerns , while others are radically secular, but the need
to engage with, to make a reckoning with, India’s religious self is everywhere
to be found….
In my own case, and I suspect in the case of every writer in this
volume as well, knowing and loving the Indian languages in which I was
raised has remained of vital importance. As an individual, Hindi-Urdu, the
‘Hindustani’ of North India, remains an essential aspect of my sense of the
self; as a writer, I have been partly formed by the presence, in my head, of
that other music, the rhythms, patterns and habits of thought and metaphor
of my Indian tongues. What I am saying is that there is not, need not be,
should not be, an adversarial relationship between English language
literature and the other literatures of India. We drink from the same well.
India, that inexhaustible horn of plenty, nourishes us all….
The first Indian novel in English was a dud. Rajmohan’s Wife (1864)
is a poor melodramatic thing. The writer, Bankim, reverted to Bengali and
immediately achieved great renown. For seventy years or so, there was no
English language fiction of any quality. It was a generation of independence,
‘midnight’s parents ’, one might call them, who were the true architects of
this new tradition (Jawaharlal himself was a fine writer). Of these, Mulk Raj
Anand was influenced by both Joyce and Marx but most of all, perhaps by
the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi. Raja Rao, a scholarly Sanskritist, wrote
determinedly of the need to make an Indian English for himself, but even
his much praised portrait of village life, Kanthapura, seems dated, its
approach at once grandiloquent and archaic. The autobiographer Nirad C.
Choudhuri has been, throughout his long life, an erudite, contrary and
mischievous presence. His view, if I may paraphrase and summarise it, is
that India has so culture of its own, and that whatever we now call Indian
culture was brought in from outside by the successive waves of conquerors.
This view, polemically and brilliantly expressed, has not endeared him to
many of his fellow Indians. That he was always swum so strongly against
the current has not, however, prevented The Autobiography of An Unknown
Indian from being recognised as the masterpiece it is.

The most significant writers of the first generation, R. K. Narayan

and G.V. Desani, have had opposite careers. Narayan’s books fill a good
sized shelf; Desani is the author of a single work of fiction, All About H.
Hatterr, and that singleton volume is already 50 years old. Desani is almost
unknown, while R. K. Narayan is of course, a figure of world stature, for his
creation of the imaginary town of Malgudi, so lovingly made that it has
become more vividly real to us than most real places….Narayan shows
us, over and over again, the quarrel between traditional, static India on the
one hand, modernity and progress on the other; represented, in many of
his stories and novels, by a confrontation between a ‘wimp’ and a ‘bully’—
The Painter of Signs and his aggressive beloved with her birth control
campaign; The Vendor of Sweets and the emancipated American daughter
in law with the absurd novel writing machine’; the mild mannered printer
and the extrovert taxidermist in The Man Eater of Malgudi. …
The beauty of Nayantara Sahgal’s memoir Prison and Chocolate
Cake (extracted here) is paralleled by the liveliness and grace of her fiction;
while Kamala Markandaya’s Nectar in a Sieve is a just renowned study of
village life.
Ved Mehta is represented here by a part of Vedi, his memoir of a
blind boyhood that describes cruelties and kindness with equal dispassion
and great affect…
Ruth Prawer Jhabvala has written so many fine short stories that it
has been hard to choose just one. As a writer, she is sometimes underrated
in India because, I think, the voice of the rootless intellectual (so
quintessentially her voice) is such an unfamiliar one in that country where
people’s self-definitions are so rooted in their regional identities.…Satyajit
Ray, was also an accomplished author of short stories….
Anita Desai is one of India’s major living authors. Her novel In
Custody, perhaps her best to date, finely uses English to depict the decay
of another language, Urdu, and the high literary culture that lived in it…The
dying past, the old world, Desai tells us, can be as much of a burden as the
awkward, sometimes wrong-headed present….

One of the most important voices in the story of modern literature,

V S Naipaul, is regrettably absent from this book, not by our choice, but by
his own. His three non-fiction books on India, An Area of Darkness, A
Wounded Civilisation and India: A Million Mutinies Now are key texts, and
not only because of the hackles they have raised. Many Indian critics have
taken issue with harshness of his responses. Some have fair-mindedly
conceded that he does attack things worth attacking. ‘I’m anti Naipaul when
I visit the West,’ one leading South Indian novelist told me, ‘but I’m often
pro-Naipaul back home.’...India, his migrant ancestors’ lost paradise, cannot
stop disappointing him. By the third volume of the series, however, he seems
more cheerful about the country’s condition. He speaks approvingly of the
emergence of ‘a central will, a central intellect, a national idea’, and
disarmingly, even movingly, confesses to the atavistic edginess of mood in
which he had made his first strip almost 30 years earlier: ‘The India of my
fantasy and heart was something lost and irrecoverable…On that first
journey, I was a fearful traveller.’
In An Area of Darkness, Naipaul’s comments on Indian writers elicit
in this reader a characteristic mixture of agreement and dissent. When he
writes: …the feeling is widespread that, whatever English might have done
to Tolstoy, it can never do justice to the Indian language writers. This is
possible; when I read of them in translation did not encourage me to read
more. Premchand…turned out to be a minor fabulist…other writers quickly
fatigued me with their assertion that poverty was sad…many of the ‘modern’
short stories were only refurbished folk tales…
In the 1980s and 1990s, the flow of that good writing has become a
flood. Bapsi Sidhwa is technically Pakistani, but this anthology has no need
of Partitions, particularly as Sidhwa’s novel Ice Candy Man (retiled Cracking
India in the US), extracted here, is one of the finest responses to the horror
of the division of the subcontinent. Gita Mehta’s A River Sutra is an important
attempt by a thoroughly modern Indian to make her reckoning with the Hindu
culture from which she emerged. Padma Perera, Anjana Appachana, Githa
Hariharan, less known than Sidhwa and Mehta, confirm the quality of
contemporary writing by Indian women.

A number of different styles of work are evolving: the Stendhalian

realism of a writer like Rohinton Mistry, the equally naturalistic but lighter,
more readily charming prose of Vikram Seth (….), and the elegant social
observation of Upamanyu Chatterjee can be set against the more flamboyant
manner of Vikram Chandra, the linguistic play of I. Allan Sealy and Shashi
Tharoor and the touches of fabulism of Mukul Kesavan. Amitav Ghosh’s
most impressive achievement to date is non-fiction study of India and Egypt,
In An Antique Land. It may be (or it may not) that his greatest strength will
turn out to be so as an essayist of this sort. Sara Suleri, whose memoir
Meatless Days is, like Bapsi Sidhwa’s Ice Candy Man, a visitor from across
the Pakistani frontier, is a nonfiction writer of immense originality and grace.
And Amit Chaudhuri’s languorous, elliptic, beautiful prose is impressively
impossible to place in any category at all.
Most encouragingly, yet another talented generation has begun to
emerge. The Keralan writer Arundhati Roy has arrived to the accompaniment
of a loud fanfare. Her novel, The God of Small Things, is full of ambition and
sparkle, and written in a highly wrought and utterly personal style. Equally
impressive, are the debuts of two other first novelists. Ardashir Vakil’s Beach
Boy and Kiran Deasai’s Strange Happenings in the Guava Orchard are, in
their very unalike ways, highly original books…Kiran Desai is the daughter
of Anita: her arrival establishes the first dynasty of modern Indian fiction.
But she is very much her own writer, the newest of all these voices, and
welcome proof that India’s encounter with the English language, far from
proving abortive, continues to give birth to new children, endowed with lavish
gifts.
The map of the world, in the standard Mercator Projection, is not
kind to India, making it look substantially smaller than, say, Greenland. On
the map of world literature, too, India has been undersized for too long. This
anthology celebrates the writers who are ensuring that, fifty years after India’s
independence, that age of obscurity is coming to an end.
Salman Rushdie
March 1997

LET US KNOW
This essay is divided into two parts. In the first part

Rushdie deliberates on the issues and problems often
faced by the Indo-Anglian writers (Rushdie himself being
one of them), while also reiterating the fact that this literature has
successfully made its presence felt in the field of World literature in
the last 50 years or so.
In the second part, Rushdie refers to some of the Indian English
authors who in a sense shaped what we often recognise as Indian
Writing in English and who have been in this Anthology. You may read
the whole book to have a firsthand experience of the authors mentioned
and then identify the major concerns of IWE in the last 50 years of the
20th century.
3.4 IMPORTANT ISSUES RAISED IN THE ESSAY
From your reading of the excerpts from Salman Rushdie’s essay in

the previous section, you must have gained important insights on the main
issues and debates concerning Indian English Literature (IEL) in the 20th
century. IEL usually refers to the body of work by writers in India who write
in the English language and whose native or co-native language could be
one of the numerous languages of India. Rushdie here traces the history of
IEL actually began with the works of R. K. Narayan, Mulk Raj Anand and Raja
Rao as they rendered remarkable contribution to Indian English fiction in
the 1930s. However, IEL in the post independence period also came to be
associated with the works of members of writers belonging to the Indian
diaspora, such as V. S. Naipaul, Kiran Desai, Jhumpa Lahiri, Rohinton Mistry,
Rushdie himself and many others who are of Indian descent. Such type of
literature is frequently referred to as Indo-Anglian literature; Indo-
Anglian being a specific term in the sole context of writing that should not
be confused with Anglo-Indian. However, as a category, it comes the broad
area of postcolonial literature from previously colonised countries such as
India.
Salman Rushdie in this essay not only provides a history of modern

IEL, but also very poignantly refers to the important debates regarding its
status as a genre of modern literature. One of the key issues has always
been the superiority/inferiority of IWE (Indian Writing in English) as opposed
to the literary production in the various languages (bhashas) of India. Key
binaries used in this context are superficial/authentic, imitative/creative,
shallow/deep, critical/uncritical, elitist/parochial and so on. The views of
Salman Rushdie and Amit Chaudhuri expressed in their introductory essays
in their books—The Vintage Book of Indian Writing and The Picador Book
of Modern Indian Literature respectively essentialise this battle. However,
Salman Rushdie’s statement in his book, “the ironic proposition that India’s
best writing since independence may have been done in the language of
the departed imperialists is simply too much for some folks to bear”–created
a lot of resentment among many writers, including writers in English.
Similarly, in his book Amit Chaudhuri questions, “Can it be true that Indian
writing, that endlessly rich, complex and problematic entity, is to be
represented by a handful of writers who write in English, who live in England
or America and whom one might have met at a party?” The answers to
such questions have always provided an enriching experience to the
students and the scholars alike.
Amit Chaudhuri feels that after Rushdie, IWE started employing
magical realism, bagginess, non-linear narrative and hybrid language to
sustain themes seen as microcosms of India and supposedly reflecting
Indian circumstances and conditions. He contrasts this with the works of
earlier writers such as R. K. Narayan where the use of English is pure, but
the deciphering of meaning needs cultural familiarity. He also feels that
‘Indianness’ is a theme constructed only in IWE and does not articulate
itself in the vernacular literatures. He further adds, “The post-colonial novel
becomes a trope for an ideal hybridity by which the West celebrates not so
much Indianness, whatever that infinitely complex thing is, but its own
historical quest, its reinterpretation of itself.”
These arguments form an integral part of what is known as
postcolonial theory. The very categorisation of IWE, as IWE or post-colonial

literature, is seen by some as too limiting. Even an erudite writer like Amitav
Ghosh made his views on this very clear by refusing to accept the
Eurasian Commonwealth Writers Prize for his book The Glass Palace in
2001. The renowned writer V. S. Naipaul, a third generation Indian
from Trinidad and a Nobel Laureate, is a person who belongs to the world
and usually not classified under IWE. Naipaul evokes ideas of homeland,
rootlessness and his own personal feelings towards India in many of his
books based on India. Therefore, there are certain serious issues that one
is supposed to remain aware of while studying the history of modern Indian
English literature.
3.5 LET US SUM UP
As you have finished reading this unit, you must have gained some
ideas on the Modern Indian English Literature through a reading of the essay
“Introduction” to The Vintage Book of Indian Writing 1947-1997 by Salman
Rushdie. As discussed already, Rushdie here makes a subtle reference to
the important debates and issues relating to the significance of IWE in the
context of world literature. Rushdie almost assertively states that ‘Indo-
Anglian’ literature represents perhaps the most valuable contribution Indian
has yet made to the world of books. Regarding the use of the English
language to tell ‘Indian’ experiences, Rushdie states that it is a part of the
achievement of the writers who have found literary voices as distinctively
Indian, and also as suitable for any and all purposes of art, as those other
Englishes forged in Ireland, Africa, the West Indies and the Unites States.
One important dimension of literature, Rushdie opines, is that it is a means
of holding a conversation with the world. Thus, the writers he mentions and
whose works he includes in his Anthology, are ensuring that India, or rather,
Indian voices (for they are too good to fall into writing nationalistically), will
henceforth be confident, indispensible participants in that literary
conversation. It is against this background and also against the need for
post colonial representation of India, that one is supposed to reflect on the
Modern history of Indian English Literature. You will certainly do well if you
can manage to read the books mentioned below.
3.6 FURTHER READING
Rushdie, Salman, and Elizabeth West. (Eds.). (1997). Mirrorwork: 50 years

of Indian Writing 1947-1997. New York: Henry Holt and Company.
Chaudhuri, Amit. (2001). (Ed.). The Picador Book of Modern Indian Literature.
London: Picador.
Mehrotra, A.K. (2003). An Illustrated History of Indian Literature in English.
Website and Electronic Resources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_English_literature
Q 1: Read the essay carefully, and jot down the important points Salman
Rushdie makes about the nature of Indo-Anglian literature.
Q 2: According to Rushdie, most of the Indian English writers have profound
knowledge of the ‘soul of India’. Discuss.
Q 3: Do you think that language shall always remain a problem in Indo-
Anglian literature? Give you response in terms of Salma Rushdie’s
observations.
Q 4: Would you agree that while discussing the status of Indian English
writers whom Rushdie refers to in this essay, Rushdie also defines
his own ‘Indian’ self? Give a reasoned answer.
Q 5: Name the writers who find themselves mentioned in Rushdie’s
‘Introduction’? What does Rushdie state about their respective qualities
as Indian English writers?
Q 6: Indian Writing in English has been called ‘twice born’ by the critic
Meenakshi Mukherjee to suggest its double parentage. Discuss.
*** ***** ***

UNIT 4: GAURI VISWANATHAN: “THE BEGINNINGS OF
ENGLISH LITERARY STUDY” FROM MASKS OF
CONQUEST
UNIT STRUCTURE

4.2 Introduction
4.3 Gauri Viswanathan : The Critic
4.4 Explanation of the Essay
4.5 Issues raised in the Essay
4.6 Issues raised in Masks of Conquest
4.7 Let us Sum up
4.8 Further Reading

• acquaint yourself with the different grounds for the introduction of
Charter Act1813.
• trace the upshots of the introduction of English literature in India
• identify vicious British policies to cripple the natives
• locate the introduction of English literature as an efficacious remedy
for the British from their conflict with ‘religious neutrality’ and
desperate attempts to consolidate their territorial authority in India.
4.2 INTRODUCTION
This unit shall deal with Gauri Viswanathan’s essay “The Beginnings
of English Literary Study” from her seminal book Masks of Conquest which
is about the institution, practice, and ideology of English studies introduced
in India under British colonial rule. The prescribed essay bears multifarious
significance as it traces the development of English literature in India and

Unit 4 Gauri Viswanathan: “The Beginnings of English Lierary Study”
its various upshots. Moreover, the essay also presented objections of a

section of the Englishmen in Britain for introducing reforms in Indian society
without reforming their people in India. In such a crucial conflict between
religious neutrality and the attempt to find mechanisms to consolidate power
in India that English literature became the efficacious remedy for the British.
Viswanathan rightly mentions in the beginning of the first chapter of the
book that “ENGLISH LITERATURE made its appearance in India, albeit
indirectly, with a crucial act in Indian educational history: the passing of the
Charter Act in 1813.” As you finish reading the unit, I hope that you will gain
important perspectives on the emergence of English literature in India.
4.3 GAURI VISWANATHAN: THE CRITIC
Gauri Viswanathan is Professor in the Humanities at Columbia

University. She has published widely on education, religion, and culture;
19th century British and colonial cultural studies; and the history of modern
disciplines. The author of Masks of Conquest: Literary Study and British
Rule in India (Columbia, 1989; Oxford, 1998) and Outside the Fold:
Conversion, Modernity, and Belief (Princeton, 1998), Viswanathan won the
Harry Levin Prize awarded by the American Comparative Literature
Association, the James Russell Lowell Prize awarded by the Modern
Language Association of America, and the Ananda K. Coomaraswamy Prize
awarded by the Association for Asian Studies. As a critic, Viswanathan
dissects various convolutions and ramifications of the key matters of society
and her special interest on education, culture and religion led her to
investigate pernicious policies of the British rule in India. Her encounter
with Edward Said has an enduring impact upon her who also taught at
Columbia University.
She also edited Power, Politics, and Culture: Interviews with Edward
W. Said (Vintage, 2001). Prof. Viswanathan is coeditor of the book
series South Asia Across the Disciplines, published jointly by the university
presses of Columbia, Chicago, and California under a Mellon grant. She
has held numerous visiting chairs, among them the Beckman Professorship
at Berkeley, and Affiliated Fellowship at the American Academy in Rome
Gauri Viswanathan: “The Beginnings of English Lierary Study” Unit 4
and a Visiting Mellon Scholarship at the University of Cape Town. She has
also been a fellow at various international research institutes. Prof.
Viswanathan’s current work is on genealogies of secularism and the writing
of alternative religious histories. She has published extensively on the cultural
influence of Theosophy, with two recent articles appearing in PMLA. She
has been a network partner in the international research project “Enchanted
Modernities: Theosophy, Modernism, and the Arts,” funded by the Leverhulme
Trust in the U.K.
Her award-winning book Outside the Fold: Conversion, Modernity,
and Belief (1998) presents ‘famous conversions’ as political arbitrations
and cultural criticism. However, she became famous with her first book
Masks of Conquest: Literary Study and British Rule in India (1989) which
scrutinises the institution, practice, and ideology of English studies initiated
in India by the British. She argues in the book that the introduction of English
studies in India relinquished the Indian values and cultures as the colonizers
did not insert any ‘Indian literary text’ for study in Indian schools and colleges.
They considered the Indian literary texts as dumps of greatest immodesty,
impurity and immorality. She further criticises the pernicious
experimentations of the British, as they introduced such educations that
had been relinquished in England or fallen a victim of various dichotomies
in England. Moreover, the British experimented with such fallen education
in India so that the Indians would remain at the level of innocent children
and unmindful of the meaning and intent of their instructions. She therefore
criticises the British attempt to establish “one power, one mind” in India
initially propagated by Charles Grant.
LET US KNOW
Charles Grant was one of the first Englishmen to motivate

the introduction and proliferation of English literature and
Christianity in India. In his ‘Observation on the State of Society among
the Asiatic Subjects of Great Britain’, Grant presents a heroic self
assumption of the colonial power in comparison with the colonised

society and propagated one single moral code “One Power, One Mind”
to achieve desired positive social change in India in place of polytheism
and sacrificial rites in India.
The well-known Macaulay’s Minute is a continuation of the propagations
of Charles Grant as Macaulay minute presented a supercilious nature
of the British, stressed the importance of only English literature, and
diluted values of native literature. Here, Viswanathan argues that the
British considered themselves to be governed by “superior lights and
juster principles and possessed of higher lights.” Viswanathan indicated
that Grant’s idea of “One Power, One Mind” summarised equitable British
ideas of cultural hegemony, monotheism, centralised authority. Thus,
Viswanathan immersed into the backdrop of the introduction of English
literature in India.
4.4 EXPLANATION OF THE ESSAY
At the outset of the essay, the author has pointed out that English
literature made its beginning in India inadvertently with the introduction of
the all-important Charter Act 1813. He Act was very significant in the history
of Indian education because it was the first such educational bill that
reminded the British to work for the “interests and happiness” of the natives
of India. Moreover, the Act suggested to adopt advantageous measures for
the accomplishing “useful knowledge and of religious and moral
improvement”. The Act was important for two crucial reasons as it
diplomatically depicted the obligations of the British towards the natives as
they were feathering their nests from the natives. In addition, such an assumed
responsibility towards the people of India was never officially declared and
the British self-righteously declared themselves the most potent race to uplift
the natives both morally and intellectually. Secondly, the Act relaxed its authority
on the missionary activities in India, but the British Parliament curtailed the
monopoly of the East India Company in India.
Gauri Viswanathan, in this essay, not only explained the importance
of the Act in this essay but also divulged the various ramifications of it and

its reaction in England. The self–righteousness of the British as the most

potent race to civilize the natives was exposed by the British Parliamentary
member Henry Montgomery, and he termed the official declaration to uplift
the moral and religious conditions of natives as unacceptable, “If we wished
to convert the natives of India we ought to reform our own people there,
who at present only gave them an example of lying, swearing, drunkenness,
and other vices.” However, Viswanathan mentions that the so assumed
commitment was a result of British’s ‘own depredations in India’. Their
intent was to plunder the natives and the writer quotes a few lines of the
influential British politician Charles Grant who championed the causes of
social reform in India:
“The primary object of Great Britain, let it be acknowledged, was
rather to discover what could be obtained from her Asiatic subjects, than
how they could be benefited. In process of time it was found expedient to
examine how they might be benefited in order that we might continue to
hold the advantages, which we at first derived from them… [Their] happiness
is committed to our care.”
Moreover, Viswanathan discloses that the ways to uplift the natives
was means to fortify their territorial power in India. Moreover, the monopoly
of the ‘pampered’ trading company was broken by the Act, and the British
Parliament found the Act to be an efficacious remedy to tacitly subdue the
natives as well as to generate authority upon the trading company. The
writer has dissected the whole issue in the following words:
‘‘…the question of how England can serve the people of India blends
indistinguishably with the question of how power can best be consolidated.
The shift has far-reaching consequences. Duty toward the people is seen
less as a motive for involving the government than as the endpoint of a
process of consolidation of territorial control. To the question, “What are
the best means of perpetuating our empire there?” only acquired illicit
fortunes but showed a shameful dereliction of responsibility by delegating
authority loosely to sycophantic local leaders.”
The Charter Act of 1813 allowed the British to intervene with the
Indian education system and it emboldened the missionaries to proliferate

their activities in India. However, the British Parliament warned the

missionaries not to involve more candidly in their purpose because of an
apprehension that, “the inhabitants would feel threatened and eventually
cause trouble for England’s commercial ventures.” However, they could
not resist the missionaries because they feared that “many immoral and
disgusting habits” might degenerate the Englishmen. Then, she dissects
various designs of the accidental act and mentioned that the British were
trapped between their goal to fortify territorial power in India and to fabricate
a design to enter into the natives, and made them believe that they were
working for “their interests and happiness”. But, it became impossible for
them to enter into the masses through secular and western scientific
education in India. Furthermore, they considered that too much involvement
with the natives might relinquish their identity and their original goal.
The British administrators were virtually paralysed from moving in
either direction. Since, it was believed that knowledge could not be separated
from religion in the Indian tradition, there was widespread fear among the
Council of Education members that western scientific propositions opposed
to the tenets of Hinduism would not merely be denounced as false, but
would also be interpreted by overly suspicious Indians as deliberately hostile
to the foundations of that religion. And, such a conflict was resolved by the
introduction of the English literature in India as Viswanathan mentioned,
“The tension between increasing involvement and enforced noninterference
in religion was productively resolved through the introduction of English
literature.”
Although the 43rd section of the Act categorically emboldened the
governor-general-in-council to utilize “a sum of not less than one lakh rupees
shall be annually applied to the revival and improvement of literature, and
the encouragement of the learned natives of India”, it was not expressive
whether ‘improvement of literature’ meant native literature or English
literature. However, the issue was settled and English literature officially
made its inception in India. Thus, the essay is very significant as it traced
the various causes of the official beginning of English literary studies in
India.

In addition to that, the essay has also traced the role of Bengali
Hindus in promoting and acknowledging the importance of English language,
literature and western scientific education in India. As she mentions that Sir
Edward Hyde, the then chief justice of the Supreme Court, was ‘not
unappreciative’ of the request of a group of Calcutta citizens to offer
‘European education’ and impart ‘an English system of morals’ in India. In
the one hand, the Calcutta Hindus wanted western education for self-
advancement and elevation, on the other; the British were governed by
shrewd and perspicacious intent to plunder the Indians. Thus, Viswanathan,
in the essay prescribed, has comprehensively studied various factors
responsible for the inception of English literary studies in India.
LET US KNOW
Indian cultural pride in the early 19th century dithered the

British from introducing modern and scientific knowledge
to the Indians. Initially, the British attempted to maintain religious neutrality
so that they could refrain from getting entangle with undesired problems
in India. They feared that the introduction of modern and enlightened
education could encourage discontentment among the natives and they
had no intention to enamour such a situation and the Indians missed
the enlightened and modern knowledge in the early 19th Century. British
indifference to real Indian issues and Indian cultural pride were partly
responsible for the non-introduction of secular education in India.
The British wanted to consolidate their imperial power in India and they
thought it right to create an English speaking group to facilitate their
clandestine perverse purpose. However, the natives had no respect for
the English scholar and they found it difficult to proliferate English literary
studies in India as many maulavis and Sanskrit pundits assessed the
new language and literature as a threat to them. The British were trapped
between their notion of religious neutrality and the aim of disseminating
English education in India. And, they found it convenient to introduce
English literature as an efficacious remedy to such a problem. Moreover,

the Bengali Hindus also helped them to achieve their goals as they
advocated ardently to introduce western enlightened education in India.
And, they did not consider the foreign language and literature as threat
to their cultural pride.
CHECK YOUR PROGRESS
Q 1: Why do you think the British introduced

English literature in India?
Q 2: Trace the upshots of the Charter Act1813.
4.5 ISSUES RAISED IN THE ESSAY
The crucial Charter Act 1813 ‘indirectly’ started English literary studies
in India but several implications of the act were not clear that invited many
conflicts of interest. The act did not explain the term ‘literature’ but the 43rd
section of the Act categorically sanctioned “a sum of not less than one lakh
of rupees shall be annually applied to the revival and improvement of
literature, and the encouragement of the learned natives of India”. The
problem of not defining the term ‘literature’ invited various conflicts of interest
and it was later resolved in 1835 with a definition that the term meaning not
Sanskrit and Arabic literature but English literature. Thus, the repercussions
of the act were far reaching as English was not just a language spoken by
a handful of Englishman but it transmuted to the courts and offices of India.
The most important issue raised in the essay was the growing rift
between the natives and the British, and the rift was never healed. Charles
Cornwallis, the Governor-General and commander in chief 1786-1792, was
fundamentally responsible for the created gulf. He considered that the natives
were responsible for moral degeneration and ‘contact’ with natives was the
root cause of declining European morals. He determined to ‘run a
government that would remain free of corrupting influences from the native
society’ and he excluded Indians from appointment to important and
influencing posts. He believed that the exclusion of the Indians from sensible
posts would revive the Englishmen. His exclusion of Indians from responsible
posts had multifarious repercussions as it created the most ‘durable legends’

among the British that Indians were incapable of responsible and sensible
works, “Denied all opportunities for expression as a result of the harsh
measure, public ability declined steadily. But curiously, when this occurred it
was taken to mean that civic responsibility had never existed in India, thus
giving rise to one of the most durable legends of British rule: that the Indian
mind was best suited to minor pursuits of trade, but not to government or
administration.”
Thus, the Indians were crippled by the British and the influential
British politician Charles Grant, who was motivated by evangelic Christianity,
candidly mentioned that renovation and elevation of the Indian society were
expressively needed because of the wrong doings of early British Conquest
in India. J. S. Mill, the undoubted spokesperson for British imperialism was
skeptical of the British’s assumed role of giving western education to the
Indians for speedy and effective reforms in India. Mill voiced his concern
about the future of Indian education and Viswanathan skillfully entangled
Mill’s cynicism to show the ‘masks’ behind British’s assumptions to work
for the ‘interests and happiness’ of Indians.
Gauri Viswanathan did not only depict the upshots of the Charter
Act 1813 in this essay but also described the reactions between both the
colonial and the colonised people. She mentioned that a mere English scholar
was not respected by the Indians, and the British believed that Sanskrit
pundits and Arabic maulavis were fundamentally responsible for that. The
British were convinced that the introduction of secular and scientific
education could only dissatisfy the natives. Therefore, they refrained from
assimilating native religion with modern western education and the Indians
missed the modern western education due to so-called cultural pride in the
early 19th century.
CHECK YOUR PROGRESS
Q 3: What led the British to introduce the Charter

Act 1813?
Q 4: What do you implicate by “interests and happiness of the
natives”?

Q 5: Why did Bengali Hindus meet Sir Edward Hyde?

Q 6: What are the ramifications of British policy of plundering the India
natives from government and administrative jobs?
4.6 ISSUES RAISED IN MASKS OF CONQUEST
In this section, we shall try to have a look at the other important

issues in Gauri Viswanathan’s book Masks of Conquest. The author
mentioned in the ‘Introduction’ that the book is simple in concentration and
design. The book opens with “The Beginnings of English Literary Study”,
the chapter comprehensively delineates the ‘indirect’ beginning of English
literary studies in India under the British rule with the introduction of Charter
Act 1813 that diluted the monopoly of the ‘pampered’ trading company in
India, and allowed the missionaries to spread prosestylising activities in
India. Moreover, the act emboldened the British Parliament to directly
intervene in Indian education system.
The second Chapter “Praeparatio Evangelica” discusses Alexander
Duff’s role in transmuting English curriculum for religious ends. The Chapter
3 “One Power, One Mind” evaluates the British acceptance to allow the
missionaries for religious use of literature. The 4th Chapter “Rewriting
English” portrays the stirring rejection of the nexus between English literature
and Christianity, moving away from religion English literature fortified its
cultural base in India to give a fresh political authority in India. The 5th chapter
of the book “Lessons of History” evaluates the subtle emphasis given on
English literary studies as a part of historical analysis that attempted to
fortify British cultural hegemony in India. Chapter 6 “The Failure of English”
surveyed the gradual degeneration of English literary education in India and
the disenchantment of the natives with the British rule. The Indians exposed
the façade of British honesty termed the so-called ‘moral and intellectual’
improvement of the natives as fictitious interspersed with an intent to fortify
British imperial power in India.
In her review of Masks of Conquest, Sandhya Shetty of University
of New Hampshire says that Gauri Viswanathan “takes her theoretical model
from Antonio Gramsci. Her scholarly examination of the archives of colonial
governance illuminates the Gramscian notion of hegemony and the crucial

role of cultural and moral leadership in the legitimisation and consolidation
of power. In the records of British India’s educational history, she finds a
perfect exemplification of Gramsci’s idea that cultural hegemony can be
established and sustained most effectively through the consent of the
dominated. In colonial India, the consent of the dominated was created
primarily by a system of education that turned deliberately on English literary
instruction. Masks of Conquest puts this collusion between power and
knowledge, between political domination and the development of English
literature on display, highlighting the “progressive refinement of the
rapacious, exploitative, and ruthless actor of history into the reflective subject
of literature.” In meticulously documenting the precise mode and process
by which English literature ensured cultural and political hegemony, the
book undergirds current pedagogical approaches and auricular practices
based on the insight that the distance between educational discourse and
politics is ideologically constituted.
Masks of Conquest beautifully substantiates this logic that the
strategic rupture between cultural and material practices serves the interests
of dominant groups by making “culture” desirable while keeping power
invisible. The six central chapters track the operations of English literary
culture as hegemonic activity, providing a highly specific chart of the
subtleties, self-contradictions, and vicissitudes of the discipline as a method
of political management and social control in colonial India. Through intense
scrutiny of particular decisions, moves, and endorsements and close
readings of administrative debates and disagreements, the middle chapters
also reveal how English, because of its ambiguous stance toward a
number of thorny issues (“knowledge and belief, empiricism and intuition,
reason and faith”) served as a consummate resolution to most of the
political dilemmas and ideological impasses that colonial administrators
and educationists faced in the task of consolidating and maintaining
authority.”

LET US KNOW
It is not necessary that every new beginning is to have a

positive intent, the formal commencement of the English
literary studies started in India, indeed, inadvertently as the genuine
purpose of the introduction of English literary studies in India was under
wraps. And Gauri Viswanathan has traced various causes of the
introduction of English Literature in India in her book called Masks of
Conquest. The British found the introduction of the English literature as
an efficacious remedy to various conflicts in India. Moreover, they
deemed it right to take the ‘white men’s burden’ of civilising the natives.
While explaining the ‘white men’s burden, Gauri Viswanathan has taken
resort to various modern theories like Antonio Gramsci’s ‘cultural
hegemony’ and Edward Said’s postcolonial theories.
CHECK YOUR PROGRESS
Q 7: How did Gauri Viswanathan construct the

whole book Masks of Conquest highlighting
the intricacies of the introduction of English
literature as a British policy in India?
4.7 LET US SUM UP
The attempt in this unit has been to discuss the various grounds of
the introduction of English literary studies in India by the British and its
multifarious ramifications. This unit must have familiarised you with the
diverse methods adopted by the British to fortify their imperial power in
India especially through English literature as a modus operandi to consolidate
their territorial authority in India. After reading the unit, you are supposed to
know the various pretences of the British to consolidate their territorial control
in India and the introduction of the English literature in India by the British
was one of the schemes of the British to exhibit their facade of care and

concern to Indian natives. You must have also come to know about the
various convolutions of the introduction of English literature in India and its
various upshots. An understanding of the issues raised in this essay shall
help you to critically explore the rise of Indian English literature.
4.8 FURTHER READING
Bureau of Education. (1920). Selections from Educational Records. Part I:

1781–1839. Henry Sharp, ed. Calcutta: Superintendent of Government
Printing,
—(1922). Selections from Educational Records. Part II: 1840–1859. J. A.
Richie, ed. Calcutta: Superintendent of Government Printing.
Duff, Alexander. (1839). India and India Missions. Edinburgh: John
Johnstone,
Naik, J. V. (1975–1976). “An Early Appraisal of British Colonial Policy.” Journal
of the University of Bombay, 44–45 (80–81):243–270.
Nandy, Ashis. (1983). The Intimate Enemy: Loss and Recovery of Self
under Colonialism. Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Said, Edward W. (1978). Orientalism. New York: Pantheon Books.
—(1983). The World, the Text, and the Critic. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard
University Press.
Viswanathan, Gauri. (1893). Masks of Conquest: Literary Study and British
Rule in India. New York: Columbia University Press.

https://english.columbia.edu/people/profile/412

Ans to Q 1: The British introduced English literature in India to reinforce

their territorial power in India… ...at the same time, English literature

was used as an advantageous solution to various convolutions in

early 19th century India.
Ans to Q 2: The Charter Act brought a vicissitude of change in British colonial
India… …minimised restrictions hitherto imposed on Christian
missionaries and it ascertained direct British involvement in Indian
education… …it curtained the monopoly of the trading company in
India… …term like ‘literature’ in the Act created hue and cry in India as
it did not define the term… …British Parliament asserted that they
would spend one lakh rupees for English literature but not on Indian
literature like Sanskrit and Arabic literature.
Ans to Q 3: The British Parliament was alarmed by the proliferation of the
trading company in India… …The British were convulsed by its attempt
to fortify its authority in India and to appease the natives and the
introduction of the Charter Act 1813 worked as a double-edged sword
for them.
Ans to Q 4: The British asserted to work for “interests and happiness of the
natives” and the British Parliament entrusted the duty on the British
living in India… …but it can only implicate as the facade of honesty to
appease the natives.
Ans to Q 5: The visit to the Chief Justice of Supreme Court (British colonial
India) by the Bengali Hindus bears extensive meanings… …Bengali
Hindus requested him to introduce English language and literature in
India… …they belied that introduction of the European education could
subtly develop India… …moreover, they asserted him that the English
language was not emasculating the Indian society… …the visit
suggests that some Indians in early 19th Century were disenchanted
by the superstitious Indian society enfeebled by religious dogmatism.
Ans to Q 6: Charles Cornwallis, the Governor-General and commander in
chief 1786-1792, believed that the contact of the natives was the chief
cause of British degeneration and he decided to restrict appointment
of the natives in administrative and government jobs. The biased policy
of plundering the natives… …created the advantageous myth for the
British that Indians were emasculated to carry on responsible duties…

…the policy did not only enfeebled the natives but also created a huge
rift between the ruler and the ruled that never healed.
Ans to Q 7: Gauri Viswanathan highlighted various pretences of the British
to reinforce authority in India and the Introduction of English literature
in India was one of the masks of the British… …she discussed
convolutions of introduction of the English literature in India to the
religious use of literature… …evaluates the subtle emphasis given
by the British on English literary studies as a part of historical analysis
that attempted to fortify British cultural hegemony in India… …
surveyed the gradual degeneration of English literary education in India
and the disenchantment of the natives with the British rule.
Q 1: “English Literature made its appearance in India, albeit indirectly, with

a crucial act in Indian educational history: the passing of the Charter
Act in 1813.” Explain.
Q 2: Who is Henry Montgomery? Why did he say, “If we wished to convert
the natives of India, we ought first to reform our own people…”?
Q 3: Explain the important issues raised by Gauri Viswanathan in the essay
“The Beginnings of English Literary Study”.
Q 4: How did English literature work as an efficacious remedy for the
British? Explain the convolutions that led the British to introduce English
literature in India?
Q 5: Discuss the repercussions of restricting the Indians from government
and administrative jobs in colonial British India.
Q 6: How did the Indians especially the Sanskrit pundits and Arabic maulavis
respond to the introduction of English language and literature in India?
Q 7: Discuss critics’ views on Gauri Viswanathan’s book Masks of
Conquest.
*** ***** ***

UNIT 5: A. K. RAMANUJAN: “IS THERE AN INDIAN
WAY OF THINKING? AN INFORMAL
ESSAY”
UNIT STRUCTURE

5.2 Introduction
5.3 A. K. Ramanujan: The Critic
5.4 Excerpts from the Essay
5.5 Reading the Essay
5.6 Let us Sum up
5.7 Further Reading

• discuss the life and works of A. K. Ramanujan, the famous Indian
English poet and an erudite scholar of Indian Literature
• explain how the essay “Is there an Indian Way of Thinking? An
Informal Essay” helps to understand the very ethos of Indian literature
• discuss the important issues raised by Ramanujan in the Essay
• gain insights into the very ethos of Indian literature from your reading
of the essay
5.2 INTRODUCTION
This is the last unit of the Block 1 of the course on Indian English
literature. In this unit, we shall try to briefly discuss the life and works of the
influential Indian poet-critic A. K. Ramanujan as well as his literary essay
“Is there an Indian Way of Thinking? An Informal Essay.” Ramanujan was a
bi-lingual writer. Besides being a poet, he was a translator and essayist. In
this essay, “Is There an Indian Way of Thinking?” (1990), Ramanujan
explains cultural ideologies and behavioural manifestations thereof in terms
A.K. Ramanujan: “Is there an Indian way of thingking? An Informal Essay” Unit 5
of an Indian psychology he calls “context-sensitive” thinking. This essay

should help you to discuss what makes Indian thoughts different from its
Western counterpart, and how one is supposed to form an idea of Indian
literature in general. In total six Parts, Ramanujan very lucidly develops his
idea of India and Indianness in the essay, which shall further help you to
gain important insights into the uniqueness of the Indian thought and
intellectual contexts. As you finish reading this unit, you will feel enlightened
to approach any of the Indian literary texts-be it in English or in native
languages besides being able to address what makes an ‘Indian’ literary
text exclusively ‘Indian’.
5.3 A. K. RAMANUJAN: THE CRITIC
Attipate Krishnaswami Ramanujan (1929–1993), popularly known

as A. K. Ramanujan was an Indian poet-critic who wrote in
both English and Kannada. However, his academic research ranged across
five languages: English, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, and Sanskrit. Though, he
wrote widely and in a number of genres, Ramanujan’s poems are
remembered as enigmatic works of startling originality, sophistication and
moving artistry.
Ramanujan was born in Mysore on 16 th March 1929. His
father, Attipat Asuri Krishnaswami, an astronomer and professor of
mathematics at Mysore University, was known for his interest in English,
Kannada and Sanskrit languages. Ramanujan’s brother, A. K. Srinivasan
was also a writer and mathematician. He started his education at
Marimallappa’s High School and then at the Maharaja College of Mysore.
Though he was interested in science his father thought that he did not have
a ‘mathematical mind’, and instead persuaded him to change his major
from science to English. Later, Ramanujan became a Fellow of Deccan
College, Pune in 1958–59 and a Fulbright Scholar at Indiana University in
1959–62. Later, he got his education in English at the University of
Mysore and received his PhD in Linguistics from Indiana University.

Unit 5 A.K. Ramanujan: “Is There an Indian Way of Thingking? An Informal Essay”
Ramanujan taught at various colleges in South India but mainly in

Belgaum in 1950s. He taught English at The Maharaja Sayajirao
University in Baroda for about eight years. In 1962, he joined the University
of Chicago as an assistant professor. He was affiliated with the university
throughout his career, teaching in several departments. He also taught in
prestigious universities like Harvard University, University of
Wisconsin, University of Michigan, University of California at Berkeley,
and Carleton College. At the University of Chicago, Ramanujan was
instrumental in shaping the South Asian Studies programme. He worked in
the departments of South Asian Languages and Civilizations, Linguistics,
and with the Committee on Social Thought.
In 1976, the Government of India awarded him the Padma Shri, and
in 1983, he was given the MacArthur Prize Fellowship (Shulman, 1994). In
1983, he was appointed the William E. Colvin Professor in the Departments
of South Asian Languages and Civilizations, of Linguistics, and in
the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago, and the same
year, he received a MacArthur Fellowship. As an Indo-American writer,
Ramanujan had the experience of the native as well as of the foreign milieu.
His poems such as the “Conventions of Despair” reflected his views on the
cultures and conventions of the East and the West.
A. K. Ramanujan died in Chicago, on 13th July 1993, at the age of
sixty-four under anaesthesia during a surgery. His theoretical and aesthetic
contributions span several disciplinary areas. In his work in folklore studies,
Ramanujan highlights the inter-textuality of the Indian oral and written literary
tradition. His essay “Where Mirrors Are Windows: Toward an Anthology of
Reflections” (1989), and his commentaries in The Interior Landscape: Love
Poems from a Classical Tamil Anthology (1967) and Folktales from
India, Oral Tales from Twenty Indian Languages (1991) are good examples
of his work in Indian folklore studies.
Ramanujan has been awarded with the prestigious Padma Shri in
1976 and MacArthur Prize Fellowship in 1983. He was awarded the Sahitya
Akademi Award posthumously in 1999 for his collection of poems, The
Selected Poems.

A.K. Ramanujan: “Is There an Indian Way of Thingking? An Informal Essay” Unit 5
5.4 EXCERPTS FROM THE ESSAY
I
Stanislavsky had an exercise for his actors. He would give them an
everyday sentence like, ‘Bring me a cup of tea’, and ask them to say it forty
different ways, using it to beg, question, mock, wheedle, be imperious, etc.
My question, ‘Is there an Indian way of thinking?’, is a good one for such an
exercise. Depending on where the stress falls placed, it contains many
questions—all of which are real questions—asked again and again when
people talk about India. Here are a few possible versions:
Is there an Indian way of thinking ?
The answers are just as various. Here are a few: There was an
Indian way of thinking; there isn’t any more. If you want to learn about the
Indian way of thinking, do not ask your modern-day citified Indians; go to the
pundits, the vaidyas, the old texts. On the contrary: India never changes;
under the veneer of the modern, Indians still think like the vedas.
The second question might elicit answers like these: There is no
single Indian way of thinking; there are Great and Little Traditions, ancient
and modern, rural and urban, classical and folk. Each language, caste and
region has its special world view. So, under the apparent diversity, there is
really a unity of viewpoint, a single super system. Vedists see a vedic model
in all Indian thought. Nehru made the phrase ‘unity in diversity’ an Indian
slogan. The Sahitya Akademi’s line has been, ‘Indian literature is One, though
written in many languages’
The third question might be answered: What we see in India is
nothing special to India; it is nothing but pre-industrial, pre-printing press,
face-to-face, agricultural, feudal, Marxists, Freudians, McLuhanites, all have
their labels for the stage India is in, according to their schemes of social
evolution; India is only an example. Others, of course, would argue the
uniqueness of the Indian Way and how it turns all things, especially rivals

and enemies, into itself; look at what has happened to Indo-Europeans in

India, they would say: their language gets shot with retroflexes, their syntax
with nominal compounds, they lose their nerve the British are only the most
recent example (according to Nirad Chaudhuri). Look what happens to
Buddhism, Islam, the Parsis. There is an Indian way, and it imprints and
patterns all things that enter the continent; it is inescapable, and it is Bigger
Than All of Us.
The forth question may question whether Indians think at all: It is the
West that is materialistic, rational; Indians have no philosophy, only religion,
no positive sciences, not even a psychology; in India, matter is subordinated
to spirit, rational thought to feeling, intuition. And even when people agree
that this is the case, we can have arguments for and against it. Some
lament, others celebrate India’s un-thinking ways. One can go on forever.
We-I, certainly-have stood in one, or another of these stances at
different times. We have not heard the end of these questions—or these
answers.
II
The problem was posed for me personally at the age of 20 in the-
image of my father. I had never taken a good look at him till then. Didn’t
Mark Twain say, ‘At 17, I thought my father was ignorant; at 20, I wondered
how he learned so much in three years’? Indeed, this essay was inspired
by contemplation of him over the years, and is dedicated to him.
…He (Ramanujan’s father) was a mathematician, an astronomer.
But he was also a Sanskrit scholar, an expert astrologer. He had two kinds
of exotic visitors: American and English mathematicians who called on him
when they were on a visit to India, and local astrologers, orthodox pundits
who wore splendid gold-embroidered shawls dowered by the Maharajah. I
had just been converted by Russell to the ‘scientific attitude’. I (and my
generation) was troubled by his holding together in one brain both astronomy
and astrology; I looked for consistency in him, a consistency he didn’t seem
to care about, or even think about. When I asked him what the discovery of
Pluto and Neptune did to his archaic nine-planet astrology, he said, ‘You
make the necessary corrections, that’s all.’ Or, in answer to how he could

read the Gita religiously having bathed and painted on his forehead the red
and white feet of Visnu, and later talk appreciatively about Bertrand Russell
and even Ingersoll, he said, ‘The Gita is part of one’s hygiene. Besides,
don’t you know, the brain has two lobes?’ ….
III
Both Englishmen and ‘modern’ Indians have been dismayed and
angered by this kind of inconsistency. About twenty years ago, The Illustrated
Weekly of India asked a number of modern Indian intellectuals to describe
the Indian character-they did not seem to be daunted by the assignment
and wrote terse, some quite sharp, columns. They all seemed to agree on
one thing: the Indian trait of hypocrisy. Indians do not mean what they say,
and say different things at different times. By ‘Indians’ they did not mean
only servants. In Max Muller’s lectures (1883) on India, the second chapter
was called ‘Truthful character of the Hindus’, in answer to many complaints.
Recently I attended a conference on karma, a notion that is almost
synonymous in some circles with whatever is Indian or Hindu. Brahminical
texts had it, the Buddhists had it, the Jainas had it. But when I looked at
hundreds of Kannada tales, I couldn’t find a single tale that used karma as
a motif or motive. Yet when their children made a mess, their repertoire of
abuse included, ‘You are my karma!’ When Harper (1959) and others after
him reported that many Indian villagers didn’t know much about
reincarnation, such a discrepancy was attributed to caste, education, etc.
But the 2,000 Kannada tales, collected by me and others over the past
twenty years, were told by Brahmins, Jainas (both of whom use karma in
their explanations elsewhere quite readily), and by other communities as
well. What is worse, Sheryl Daniel (1983) independently found that her Tamil
village alternately used karma and talaividi (‘headwriting’) as explanations
for the events around them. The two notions are inconsistent with each
other. Karma implies the self’s past determining the present, an iron chain
of cause and consequence, an ethic of responsibility. Talaividi is one’s fate
inscribed arbitrarily at one’s birth on one’s forehead; the inscription has no
relation to one’s prior actions; usually in such explanations (and folktales
about them) past lives are not even part of the scheme (see also Wadley, in
this volume).
Another related characteristic seems to preoccupy observers. We

have already said that ‘inconsistency’ (like my father’s, or the Brahminllaina
use of karma) is not a matter of inadequate education or lack of logical
rigor. They may be using a different ‘logic’ altogether. Some thinkers believe
that such logic is an earlier-stage of ‘cultural evolution’ and that Indians
have not developed a notion of ‘data’, of ‘objective facts’. Edward Said’s
Orientalism cites many such European stereotypes about the ‘Third World’.
Here is Henry Kissinger’s explanation:
Cultures which escaped the early impact of Newtonian thinking have
retained the essentially pre-Newtonian view that the world is almost
completely internal to the observer ... [Consequently] empirical reality has
a much different significance for many of the new [old?] countries.
Such a view cannot be dismissed as peculiar to Kissinger’s version
of Newtonian optics. One meets with it again and again in travelogues,
psychological writings, novels. Naipaul quotes Sudhir Kakar, a sophisticated
psychoanalyst, deeply knowledgeable in matters Indian as well as Western,
an insider/outsider:
Generally among Indians there seems to be a different relationship
to outside reality, compared to the one met with in the West. In India it is
closer to a certain stage in childhood when outer objects did not have a
separate, independent existence but were intimately related to the self and
its a:ffective states...The Indian ‘ego’ is underdeveloped; ‘the world of magic
and animistic thinking lie close to the surface; so the grasp of reality is
‘relatively tenuous’ (1977: 107).
In a memorable and oft-quoted section of Foster’s A passage to
India, Mrs. Moore muses vividly on the relations between inside and outside
in India; the confounding of the two is not special to humans in India:
Going to hang up her cloak, she found the tip of the peg was occupied
by a small wasp. She had known this wasp or his relatives by song; they
were not as English wasps, but had long yellow legs which hung down
behind when they flew. Perhaps he mistook the peg for a branch-no Indian
animal has any sense of an interior. Bats; rats, birds, insects will as soon
nest inside the house as out, it is to them a normal growth of the eternal

jungle, which alternately produces houses, trees, houses, trees. There he

clung, asleep, while jackals bayed their desires and mingled with the
percussion of drums (1952: 35).
And sympaticos, like Zimmer, praise the Indians for not being hung
up on an objectivity that distinguishes self from non-self, interior from exterior;
what for Naipaul is a ‘defect of vision’, is for Zimmer vision itself:
India thinks of time and herself in biological terms, terms of the
species, not of the ephemeral ego...We of the west regard world history as
a biography of mankind, and in particular of Occidental Man...Our will is not
to culminate in our human institutions the universal play of nature, but to
evaluate, to set ourselves against the play, with ill egocentric tenacity (1946:
21).
…Is there any system to this particularism? Indian philosophers do
not seem to make synoptic ‘systems’ like Hegel’s or Kant’s. Sheryl Daniel
(1983) speaks of a ‘tool-box’ of ideas that Indians carry about, and from
which they use one or another without much show of logic; anything goes
into their ‘bricolage’ (Levi-Strauss 1962: 16-36). Max Weber, in various
writings, distinguished ‘traditional’ and ‘rational’ religions…
IV
It is time to step back and try a formulation. The grammarian sees
grammar in all things; I shall be true to my bias and borrow a notion from
linguistics and try it for size…..
Or take Indian literary texts. No Indian text comes without a context,
a frame, till the 19th century. Works are framed by phalasruti verses—
these verses tell the reader, reciter or listener all the good that will result
from his act of reading, reciting or listening. They relate the text, of whatever
antiquity, to the present reader-that is, they contextualise it. An extreme
case is that of the Nadisastra, which offers you your personal history. A
friend of mine consulted the Experts about himself and his past and future.
After enough rupees had been exchanged, the Experts brought out an old
palm-leaf manuscript which, in archaic verses, mentioned his full name,
age, birthplace, etc., and said suddenly, ‘At this point, the listener is crossing
his legs-he should uncross them.’

Texts may be historically dateless, anonymous; but their contexts,

uses, efficacies, are explicit. The Ramayana and Mahabharata open with
episodes that tell you why and under what circumstances they were
composed. Every such story is encased in a metastory. And within the text,
one tale is the context for another within it; not only does the outer frame-
story motivate the inner sub-story; the inner story illuminates the outer as
well. It often acts as a microcosmic replica for the whole text. In the forest
when the Pandava brothers are in exile, the eldest, Yudhisthira, is in the
very slough of despondency: he has gambled away a kingdom, and is in
exile. In the depth of his despair, a sage visits him and tells him the story of
Nala. As the story unfolds, we see Nala too gamble away a kingdom, lose
his wife, wander in the forest, and finally, win his wager, defeat his brother,
reunite with his wife and return to his kingdom. Yudhisthira, following the full
curve of Nala’s adventures, sees that he is only halfway through his own,
and sees his present in perspective, himself as a story yet to be finished.
Very often the Nala story is excerpted and read by itself, but its poignancy is
partly in its frame, its meaning for the hearer within the fiction and for the
listener of the whole epic. The tale within is contextsensitive-getting its
meaning from the tale without, and giving it further meanings.
Scholars have often discussed Indian texts (like the Mahabharata)
as if they were loose-leaf files, rag-bag encyclopaedias. Taking the Indian
word for text, grantha (derived from the knot that holds the palm leaves
together), literally, scholars often posit only an accidental and physical unity.
We need to attend to the context-sensitive designs that embed a seeming
variety of modes (tale, discourse, poem, etc.) and materials. This manner
of constructing the text is in consonance with other designs in the culture.
Not unity (in the Aristotelian sense) but coherence, seems to be the end.
...Like the Nala story in the Mahabharata, what is contained mirrors
the container; the microcosm is both within and like the macrocosm, and
paradoxically also contains it. Indian conceptions tend to be such concentric
nests…
…Where Kissinger and others are wrong is in not seeing that this
view has nothing to do with Newtonian revolution, education, or (in)capacity

for abstract thought. Cognitive anthropologists like Richard Shweder (1972)

have studied descriptive phrases used by highly intelligent Oriya and
American adults and shown that they describe persons very differently:
Americans characterised them with genetic words like ‘good’, ‘nice’, Oriyas
with concrete contextual descriptions like ‘he brings sweets’. The
psychoanalyst Alan Roland (1979) suggests that Indians carry their family
context wherever they go, feel continuous with their family. He posits a
familial self, a ‘self-we regard’, sees no phase ‘of separation/individuation
from the parental family as in modern America; hence there seems to be
no clear-cut adolescent phase through which one rebels, and thereby
separates and individuates oneself in opposition to one’s family (the
exceptions are in ‘modern’ urban-centred families). Roland remarks that
Indians develop a ‘radar’ conscience that orients them to others, makes
them say things that are appropriate to person and context. (No wonder
Max Muller had to insist that Indians were truthful!) Roland also found that
when directions to places are given, Indians always make reference to other
places, landmarks.
Such a pervasive emphasis on context is, I think, related to the Hindu
concern with jati-the logic of classes, of genera and species, of which
human jatis are only an instance. Various taxonomies of season, landscape,
times, gunas or qualities (and their material bases), tastes, characters,
emotions, essences (rasa), etc., are basic to the thought-work of Hindu
medicine and poetry, cooking and religion, erotics and magic. Each jati or
class defines a context, a structure of relevance, a rule of permissible
combinations, a frame of reference, a meta-communication of what is and
can be done.
It is not surprising that systems of Indian philosophy, Hindu, Buddhist,
or Jaina, confine themselves to the consideration of class-essences (jati)
called genera and species in Western philosophy. They never raise the
question of whether there are universals of other types, namely identical
qualities and relations. The assumption seems to be that qualities and
relations are particulars, though they may be instances of universals (Dravid
1972: 347).

The most important and accessible model of a context-sensitive

system with intersecting taxonomies is, of course, the grammar of a
language. And grammar is the central model for thinking in many Hindu
texts. As Frits Staal has said, what Euclid is to European thought, the
grammarian Panini is to the Indian. Even the Kamasutra is literally a
grammar of love-which declines and conjugates men and women as one
would nouns and verbs in different genders, voices, moods and aspects.
Genders are genres. Different body-types and character-types obey different
rules, respond to different scents and beckonings.
V
All societies have context-sensitive behaviour and rules-but the
dominant ideal may not be the ‘context-sensitive’ but the ‘context-free’.
Egalitarian democratic ideals, Protestant Christianity, espouse both the
universal and the unique, insist that any member is equal to and like any
other in the group. Whatever his context-birth, class, gender, age, place,
rank, etc.-a man is a man for all that. Technology with its modules and
interchangeable parts, and the post-Renaissance sciences with their quest
for universal laws (and ‘facts’) across contexts intensify the bias towards
the context-free. Yet societies have underbellies. In predominantly
‘contextfree’ societies, the counter-movements tend to be towards the
context sensitive: situation ethics, Wittgensteinian notions of meaning and
colour (against class-logic), the various relativisms including our own search
for ‘native categories’ in anthropology, holistic movements in medicine
(naturopaths who prescribe individually tailored regimens) are good
examples. In ‘traditional’ cultures like India, where context-sensitivity rules
and binds, the dream is to be free of context. So rasa in aesthetics, moksa
in the ‘aims of life’, sannyasa in the life stages, sphota in semantics, and
bhakti in religion define themselves against a background of inexorable
contextuality.
Where kama, artha and dharma are all relational in their values, tied
to place, time, personal character and social role, moksa is the release
from all relations. If brahmacarya (celibate studentship) is preparation for a
fully relational life, grhasthacrama (householder stage) is a full realisation

of it. Manu prefers the latter over all other states. Vanaprastha (the retiring
forest-dweller stage) loosens the bonds, and sannyasa (renunciation)
cremates all one’s past and present relations. In the realm of feeling, bhavas
are private, contingent, context-roused sentiments, vibhiivas are determinant
causes, anubhavas the consequent expressions. But rasa is generalised,
it is an essence. In the field of meaning, the temporal sequence of letters
and phonemes, the syntactic chain of words, yields finally a sphota, an
explosion, a meaning which is beyond sequence and time.
In each of these the pattern is the same: a necessary sequence in
time with strict rules of phase and context ending in a free state.
The last of the great Hindu anti-contextual notions, bhakti, is different
from the above; it denies the very need for context. Bhakti defies all contextual
structures: every pigeonhole of caste, ritual, gender, appropriate clothing
and custom, stage of life, the whole system of homo hierarchicus (‘everything
in its place’) is the target of its irony….
VI
In conclusion, I would like to make a couple of observations about
‘modernisation’. One might see ‘modernisation’ in India as a movement
from the context-sensitive to the context-free in all realms: an erosion of
contexts, at least in principle. Gandhi’s watch (with its uniform autonomous
time, governing his punctuality) replaced the almanac. Yet Gandhi quoted
Emerson, that consistency was the hobgoblin of foolish minds. Print replaced
palm-leaf manuscripts, making possible an open and egalitarian access to
knowledge irrespective of caste. The Indian Constitution made the contexts
of birth, region, sex and creed irrelevant, overthrowing Manu, though the
battle is joined again and again. The new preferred names give no clue to
birth-place, father’s name, caste, sub-caste and sect, as all the traditional
names did…
In music, the ragas can now be heard at all hours and seasons.
Once the Venkatesasuprabhatam, the wake-up chant for the Lord of Tirupati,
could be heard only in Tirupati at a certain hour in the morning. Since M. S.
Subbulakshmi in her devotion cut a record of the chants, it wakes up not
only the Lord, but anyone who tunes in to All India Radio in faraway places.

Cultural borrowings from India to the West, or vice versa, also show
interesting accommodations to the prevailing system. The highly
contextualised Hindu systems are generalised into ‘a Hindu view of life’ by
apologues like Radhakrishnan for the benefit of both the Western and
modern Indian readers. The individual esoteric skills of meditation are freed
from their contexts into a streamlined widely accessible technique. And
when T.S. Eliot borrows the DA DA DA passage (quoted earlier) to end ‘The
wasteland’ (1930), it becomes highly individual, introspective, as well as
universal: Then spoke the thunder DA datta: what have we given?...
In reverse, Indian borrowings of Western cultural items have been
converted and realigned to fit pre-existing context-sensitive needs. English
is borrowed into (or imposed on) Indian contexts, it fits into the Sanskrit
slot; it acquires many of the characteristics of Sanskrit, the older native
Father-tongue, its pan-Indian elite character-as a medium of laws, science
and administration, and its formulaic patterns; it becomes part of Indian
multiple diglossia (a characteristic of context-sensitive societies). When
Indians learn, quite expertly, modern science, business, or technology, they
‘compartmentalize’ these interests (Singer 1972: 320ff.); the new ways of
thought and behaviour do not replace, but live along with older ‘religious’
ways. Computers and typewriters receive ayudhapuja (worship of weapons)
as weapons of war did once. The ‘modern’, the context-free, becomes one
more context, though it is not easy to contain…..
My purpose here is not to evaluate but to grope toward a description
of the two kinds of emphases. Yet in each of these kinds of cultures, despite
all the complexity and oscillation, there is a definite bias. The Buddha (who
said ‘When we see a man shot with a poisoned arrow, we cannot afford to
ask what caste he or his enemy is’) also told the following parable of the
Raft: Once a man was drowning in a sudden flood. Just as he was about to
drown, he found a raft. He clung to it, and it carried him safely to dry land.
And, he was so grateful to the raft that he carried it on his back for the rest
of his life. Such was the Buddha’s ironic comment on context-free systems.

5.5 READING THE ESSAY
Ramanujan in Part I of the essay asks four very pertinent questions

and then tries to answer them by emphasising specific aspects of the
question.
First he asks Is there an Indian way of thinking? The answer is:
there was an Indian way of thinking, which can be traced in the upper-caste;
Brahmanical section of the society through a perusal of the Vedas and
other religious texts; but it does not exist now. However, since our thinking
is still shaped by the religious texts like the Vedas, it is still pertinent to state
that there is an Indian way of thinking that exists. The second question
Ramanujan asks is: Is there an Indian way of thinking? In reply to this, he
mentions that there has always been the existence of Great and Little
Traditions. Therefore, as we do celebrate the multiplicities and diversities
in India, no single Indian way of thinking exists or can exist. The third question
is: Is there an Indian way of thinking? Ramanujan’s reply is that India is
nothing but a product of the influences of alien cultures, languages, religions
and social evolutions. Therefore, some might tend to state that there is
nothing unique about India. However, India has also shown her capability to
adapt to the changes and accommodate these external influences into its
culture. The last question Ramanujan asks is: Is there an Indian way
of thinking? He states that it is the West that is capable of thought. The
West is projected as materialistic and rational. In India, logic is rationalised
with religion and superstitions. In India, actions are projected, not the
thoughts behind those actions. Thus, in the last part of Part I of the essay,
Ramanujan states how India is perceived differently at different stages by
different people and from different perspectives.
In Part II of the essay, Ramanujan refers to the inconsistency
between tradition and modernity. In order to discuss that he refers to his
experience of his own father to show how India can be ancient yet modern
at the same time. Ramanujan’s father was a South Indian Brahman, but at
the same time, he showed his scientific mindset as can be seen in terms
of the following: While wearing dhotis in traditional Brahmanic style, he also

wore English jackets over his dhotis; he wore tartan-patterned socks and
leather shoes when he went to the university but removed them before
entering the inner quarters of the house; he was together a mathematician,
an astronomer, a Sanskrit scholar and an expert astrologer; American and
English mathematicians as well as the local pundits and astrologers used
to visit him; while he read the Bhagvad Gita religiously every morning after
taking a bath, he would talk about Russell and Ingersoll also with the same
amount of passion. Ramanujan could not actually figure out such an
‘inconsistency’ in his father, because for him, ‘consistency’ refers to strict
adhearence to any one– either religion or science.
In Part III, Ramanujan explores the concept of ‘inconsistency’ in a
wider perspective. He discusses the concept of ‘karma’—implying the self’s
past as determining the present and future, and Talaividi or ‘head writing’–
focusing on destiny. The Western world often seek to construct the Orient
(India) based on the notion of ‘objective facts.’ Ramanujan refers to Sudhir
Kakar, who stated that in the oriental world, there is no clear difference
between self and non-self that further problematises the causes of
inconsistency. In India, there is no concept of the universal. The Indian way
of thinking lacks universality; because it is a traditional society constituting
of inconsistency and hypocrisy and because in India there are subjective
positions. Therefore, in India, the understanding of reality is always ‘context-
sensitive’ and not ‘context-free’.
In Part IV, Ramanujan examines how context-sensitivity is an
important part of Indian thought and culture. In India, all additions are often
the subtraction from a universal law. Stories get their context with reference
to the frame in which they have been placed. Indian texts are historically
dateless, but their contexts, uses and efficacies are explicit. Even when we
look at the epics Ramayana and Mahabharata, we find that there are several
episodes—each story is within another story, these producing a meta-story.
In addition, within the text, one story is the context for another within it.
Thus, the outer-frame story as well as the inner sub-story provides relevant
contexts for the other’s existence. Aristotle’s theory of unity of time, place
and action therefore cannot be applied to the Indian narratives.

Besides the way we divide time in India is also very different from
the way it is done in the West. The Indians have times that are auspicious,
inauspicious (rahu kala), and the past and present seem to merge together.
Even our houses have moods (vaastu shastra). The Indians are prone to
blame their wrong doings on fate, vaastu and it is not possible for them to
remove this context-sensitivity. With modernity, they are widening their
context in the way they want to rather than doing away with all the traditional
practises. It is because of this that the original context seems to be
lost. Ramanujan says that all societies have ‘context-sensitive’ behaviour
and rules but the dominant idea is always ‘context-free’.
In Part V, Ramanujan observes that societies that are ‘context-free’
have movements, which are context-specific in nature whereas in societies
like India, which are context-sensitive, there is a dream to be free of context.
This gives rise to the concept of ‘rasa’ in aesthetics, ‘moksha’ in the aims of
life and ‘sanyasa’ in the end of life-stages.
In the last part of the essay—Part VI, Ramanujan states how the
Indians have gradually moved towards context-free situations in India. He
says that with modernity and modernisation, there has been a movement
from context-sensitive to context-free at least in principle. Today, the Indian
people can listen to any raga at any time rather than strictly sticking to the
time prescribed. But the new thoughts and behaviours borrowed from the
West has not necessarily replaced the old religious ideas. They get
incorporated with the existing tradition. For example, In ‘Ayudhapuja’, even
computers and typewriters are worshiped instead of weapons. Therefore,
no matter how hard the Indians try to move to a context-free society, the
result is that the context-free nature ends up becoming yet another context
i.e. the ‘modern’ context.
5.6 LET US SUM UP
From your reading of this unit, you have learnt how A. K. Ramanujan
in his essay very beautifully answers to the question “Is There an Indian

Way of Thinking? with the help of four additional questions, which he answers
one by one with various examples drawn even from his own life. With
various examples drawn from different contexts Ramanujan asserts that
there Is an Indian way of thinking which can be traced in the perusal of the
Vedas and other religious texts; there is an Indian way of thinking as Indians
do celebrate the differences and diversities in India, for which no single
Indian way of thinking exists or can exist, there an Indian way of thinking
because India has also shown her capability to adapt to the changes brought
by external influences into its culture; and lastly, there is an Indian way
of thinking because unlike in the West, in India, logic is rationalised with
religion and superstitions. Thus, the main thrust of the essay has been to
explore what the notion of ‘Indianness’ in Indian literature indicates and how
‘context-sensitivity’ still remains an important issue in Indian Literature even
in the ‘modern times. You will need to know that such a background has
also affected the birth and development of Indian English literature since
the beginning
5.7 FURTHER READING
A. K. Ramanujan. “Is there an Indian Way of Thinking? An Informal Essay.”

Available at: http://cis.sagepub.com

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._K._Ramanujan
http://www.indiaonline.in/about/personalities/writersandpoets/a-k-ramanujan
Q 1: Discuss the important issues raised by Ramanujan in the essay “Is

There an Indian Way of Thinking?”

Q 2: In what way, do you think, does Ramanujan explain the cultural

ideologies and behavioural manifestations of the Indians in terms of
an ‘Indian’ psychology he calls “context-sensitive” thinking.
Q 3: What are the four questions that Ramanujan poses to answer if there
is an Indian way of thinking?
Q 4: “The Ramayana and Mahabharata open with episodes that tell you
why and under what circumstances they were composed. Every such
story is encased in a metastory.” How does this statement help to
understand the storytelling processes in Indian Writing in general.
Q 5: In what way, do you think, Ramanujan’s essay “ Is There an Indian
Way of Thinking’ informs our reading of Indian Literature. Illustrate
with a few examples.
*** ***** ***

REFERENCES (FOR ALL UNITS)
A. K. Ramanujan. “Is there an Indian Way of Thinking? An Informal Essay.”

Available at: http://cis.sagepub.com
Chaudhuri, Amit. (Ed.). (2001). The Picador Book of Modern Indian Literature.
London: Picador.
Iyengar, K.R.S. (1962). Indian Writing in English. Bombay: Asia Publishing
House.
Mehrotra, A. K. (2014). An Illustrated History of Indian Literature in English.
Mukherjee, M. (2010). The Perishable Empire: Essays on Indian Writing in
English. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Nandy, A. (2015). The Intimate Enemy: Loss and Recovery of Self Under
Colonialism. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Parry, B. (2004). Postcolonial Studies: A Materialist Critique. London:
Routledge.
Riemenschneider, D. (2016). Essays on Indian Writing in English: Twice-
born or Cosmopolitan Literature? Jaipur: Rawat Publications.
Rushdie, Salman, and Elizabeth West. (Eds.). (1997). Mirrorwork: 50 years
of Indian Writing 1947-1997. New York: Henry Holt and Company.
Singh, A. et al. (Eds.) (1980). Indian Literature in English: An Information
Guide. Michigan: Gale Research Co.
Viswanathan, G. (2015). Masks of Conquest: Literary Study and British
Rule in India. West Sussex, England: Columbia University Press.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_English_literature
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._K._Ramanujan
http://www.indiaonline.in/about/personalities/writersandpoets/a-k-
ramanujan

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PGEG S3 04

Indian English Literature

KRISHNA KANTA HANDIQUI STATE OPEN UNIVERSITY

1. Prof. Pona Mahanta, Former Head, Department of English, Dibrugarh University

Course Coordinator : Dr. Prasenjit Das, Associate Professor, Department of English,

Head Office : Patgaon, Rani Gate, Guwahati-781017; Web : www.kkhsou.in/web_new

2 History and Contexts (Block 1)

Unit 2: Historical Background (Independence and After) 34 - 56

Unit 3: Modern Indian English Literature [“Introduction” to 57 - 71

Unit 4: Gauri Viswanathan: “Literary Study and British Rule in 72 - 85

Unit 5: A. K. Ramanujan: “Is there an Indian Way of Thinking?” 86 - 103

History and Contexts (Block 1) 3

6 History and Contexts (Block 1)

1.1 Learning Objectives

1.1 LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After going through this unit, you will be able to

History and Contexts (Block 1) 7

Though the British government introduced modern education in India with

1.3 THE SOCIAL CONTEXT

Modern education was made available to the people of India in the

other government institutions. Therefore, the British government, established

History and Contexts (Block 1) 9

In 1854, with Wood’s Education Despatch, the modern education

• First, it wanted to spread western culture.

The Despatch also stated the responsibility of the government for

CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

Q 1: Who was responsible for the introduction of

1.4 INTELLECTUAL CONTEXT (THE ROLE OF

Modern education imparted through the medium of English by the

10 History and Contexts (Block 1)

English education that they could imbibe a democratic, rational, secular

History and Contexts (Block 1) 11

success in this field and contributed profoundly to the world stream of

CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

Q 4: How did the educated Indians feel the

12 History and Contexts (Block 1)

1.5 INDIAN ENGLISH PROSE

History and Contexts (Block 1) 13

His “Petitions Against the Press Regulations” (1823) was against

14 History and Contexts (Block 1)

Dadabhai Naoroji (1825-1917)—a prominent freedom fighter,

History and Contexts (Block 1) 15

Literature” (1871), “The Study of Hindu Philosophy” (1873), and “Vedic

16 History and Contexts (Block 1)

thought and Greek philosophy. The Synthesis of Yoga stressed on “Integral

18 History and Contexts (Block 1)

from the Indus valley civilization to his contemporary period of nineteen

CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

Q 7: Discuss Raja Rammohun Roy’s contribution

1.6 INDIAN ENGLISH DRAMA

History and Contexts (Block 1) 19

plays into English—Ratnavali (1859), Sermista (1859) and Is this Called

History and Contexts (Block 1) 21

CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

Q 9: How was Sri Aurobindo influenced by English

1.7 INDIAN ENGLISH POETRY

Henry Louis Vivian Derozio (1809-31) is considered the first Indian

22 History and Contexts (Block 1)

* * *