CHANGING IMAGE OF WOMEN IN SELECTED INDIAN ENGLISH NOVELS

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

CONTENTS

1.1. Introduction

1.2. Significance of the Study

1.3. Statement of the Thesis

1.4. Aims and Objective of the Research

1.5. Scope of the study

1.6. Need of Research Work.

1.7. Limitation of the Study

1.8. Indian English Fiction: Its Origin and Development

1.9 Women Novelists in Indian English

1.10. Conclusion

1.1. INTRODUCTION

There is a myth associated with the creation of woman. As per the myth Brahma

first created man. He thought to give man a companion. But he had exhausted all the material in

the creation of man hence he borrowed several components from the beautiful creation of nature

and made woman. So woman is also called as prakriti. Then Brahma presented woman to his

earlier creation man saying, “She will serve you lifelong and if you cannot live with her, neither

can you live without her”. This primordial myth carries an unmistakable implication of woman’s

image in life and literature for centuries. The primordial myth gave woman her stereotypical

identity which has been reinforced by the archetypes for ages.

The two great epics of the world, the Ramayana by Valmiki and, the Mahabharata by

Mahirishi Vyas, move around two central women characters Sita and Draupadi. These two

women as has been suggested are two poles of feminine experiences. Sita absorbs all inflicted

misery and humiliation and Draupadi challenges male ego. In the Vedic period, women were

given the status of devis. But today, women were not given the status of devis, on a

contradictory state of affairs exists in India. Her status, rights, and roles need to be defined. In

this period we can found the roots of petriarchy. Though the Hindus of the period had a

patriarchal society women in general did not suffer from disparity. Widows have a permitted in

this period. A number of references are found about the remarriage in vedas. The word

Didhishu means a second husband of widow used in Reg-Veda. The widows are remarried with

her husband’s brother. This was comma in those days. The word ‘Devera’ means her second

husband or brother- in- law.

The Medieval period was considered the “Dark Ages” for Indian women. In this period

the status of woman declined. They faced hardship and cruelty due to evil practices. Child

Marriage, Widowhood, Prostitution, custum of Sati and Devdasi are the product of medival

period. When the Mughals and the British invaded India, they brought with them their own

culture. This has in some cases adversely affected the condition of women. As the results of the

Islamic culture, Indian women started using 'Purdah', (a veil), to cover their face and body. They

were not allowed to move freely outside their home. This gave rise to some new evils like Child

Marriage, Sati, Jauhar and restriction on girl education. Women’s are confined in the four walls

home, children and religion. They lost the confidence and ability to think individually.

This continues till long period. Then the condition of women started to change when

the social reformers like Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasager, Mahatma Jyotiba

Phule, Swami Dayanand Saraswati, and Mahatma Gandhi started social reform in the pre-

independent period.

The status of women in modern India is contradictory. On the one hand, she is

considered at the peak of ladder of success; on the other hand, she is mutely suffering the

violence. Women in modern times have achieved a lot but in reality, they have to still travel a

long way. Women have left the secured domain of their home and are now in the battle field of

life, fully armored with their talent. The women have proved their talent and capacity but in the

countries like India, they are yet to get their dues. Woe started to write and it becomes an

instrument of social reforms and social regeneration.

In India traditional male dominating Indian society both men and women writers have

presented woman, primarily as mother, wife, mistress and sex object. The writers had not shown

woman as an achiever and if present it is considered as an exception. There no much importance

is given to woman’s individual self. Despite these, women today have begun to realize that they

are independent. There is growing feeling that woman and men are equal. In the modern time a

woman has also become a breadwinner. Her new empowered image is reflected in the Indian

English novels. Indian woman writers explore the feminine subjectivity.

1.2. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

Women are the victim of the male dominated stagnant society. Issues of women still

remain unaddressed. Some writers try to focus on the image of women through literature. The

literary works by host of women writers have expressed their literary genius. Different

researchers have studied their novels. But there is need to examine and make a comparative study

of these writers with reference to the major issues about women. Therefore, the present research

work is an attempt to illustrate the selected novels of Anita Desai, Shashi Deshpande and Manju

Kapur.

1.3. STATEMENT OF THE THESIS

The research statement is entitled as “CHANGING IMAGE OF WOMEN IN

SELECTED INDIAN ENGLISH NOVELS.” Different critics and research scholars have

studied their novels. But there is a need to examine and makes a comparative study of these

writers with reference to the major issue of image of women presented in their novels. Research

scholars from India and abroad have studied works of Anita Desai, Shashi Deshpande and Manju

Kapur from social, psychological and regional point of view. Image of women presented in these

novels is yet another important issue to be paid more attention.

1.4. AIM AND OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH:

Aim of reserchers study is to present the changing image of women presented in those

novels in the course of time. We see the imbalance in the condition of women in every decade.

Indian women want motivation to come infront with their tallent and present ourself. Present

study definitely brings out the hidden tallent within them. It will also become helpful who are

under the pressure of petriarchal norms. Difinately women will start to fight for their rights.

Today only one few names we take to give examples but in future many more.

Every research has its objectives. “The academic objectives of literary research are to

sharpen the critical approach, insight and literary sensibility. Therefore, literary research helps

in broadening the mind and makes the researcher aware of the whole panorama of human life.”1.

The present research has the following objectives.

The Objectives of this research work are:

1. To find out how the novelists under study present women in their novels.

2. To see how the female writers voice their suffering and protest in those novels.

3. To see whether the literary portrayal of women in literature records the change in the status

of women in the course of time in the selected novels.

4. To make a comparative study of image of women presented in the selected

novels.

1.5. SCOPE OF THE STUDY :

Literature is a mirror of the society. Literature through various genres, tries to focus the

good and bad things in the society. Various issues social as well as moral were presented by

various writers. Women issue is also one of the major issues from the ancient time. Women

have a second place in the society in India. She is supposed as a sex object. Today also we can

see various issues about women, such as humiliation and rape are found.

The novelists understudy has been chosen from the Indian English Literature. These

novelists from Indian English Literature seem to have made daring attempt in the artistic

rendering of the contemporary Indian Women tried to give voice to the women. The issue

chosen by researcher for her study is effective and it has needs to focus for the realization of

women’s status. It will become helpful for the researcher who wishes to do study on women’s

image.

1.6. LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

Research is a continuous process, without end. It is a process of finding and analyzing

new ideas. “Research is a time bound activity, and it is strongly result-oriented. Hence, it

requires meticulous plan and efficient execution.”2. The present study has its own limitation.

The entire study will be confined to those works of

Anita Desai: ‘Cry the Peacock’ (1963)

‘Fire on the Mountain’, (1977)

Shashi Deshpande’s ‘The Dark Holds No Terrors’ (1980)

‘A Matter of Time’ (1996)

Manju Kapur’s ‘Difficult Daughter’ (1998)

‘The Married Woman’ (2oo2)

The image of woman is described. All novels the researcher has chosen for her study are from

post- independent era.

The research methodology of the study is descriptive, interpretative and analytical in nature. The

study is arranged into following parts.

The first chapter, ‘Introduction’ deals with the background of Indian English novel. It

deals with the survey of Indian English fiction with development. It also deals with the scope,

limitation, significance, aims and objectives of the study. It is the face of whole thesis. It shows

the quality of thesis. Instead of that it also deals with the survey of Indian women writers. The

entire chapter is a short summery of whole thesis. In fact it is mirror reflection of thesis.

The second chapter, ‘Review of Literature’ deals with concept of feminism,

contribution of Indian women writers to the Indian Literature and brief review on selected Indian

women writers. Some contemporary review on selected women novelists also include in this

chapter. This chapter shows that so many scholars has done study on these writers, and need of

the study. It also presents how these women writer gives the voice to the women suffering in

those novels.

The third chapter ‘The Image of Women in Anita Desai’s Selected Novels’ presents the

image of women presented by Anita Desai in her novels, Cry, the Peacock and Fire on the

Mountain. Maya a nurotic woman presented are totally different than Nanda self aliented

woman. It contains the life; work and her achivement in this field. It presents the realistic

picture of womens condition with the help of protagonist.

The fourth chapter, ‘The Image of Women in the Selected Novels of Shashi

Deshpande’ deals with the image presented in by Shashi Deshpande in her novels, ‘The Dark

Holds No Terrors’ and ‘A Matter of Time’. It presents how she gives the voice to educated

middle class women. The image presented by the writer in those novels shows realistic change in

the course of time. The women’s in those novels Saru and Sumi are educated independent

women who struggle for self identity.

The fifth chapter, ‘The Image of Women in Selected Novels of Manju Kapur’,

presents the image of women presented by Manju Kapur in her novels, ‘Difficult Daughters’ and

‘A Married Woman’. Virmati in Difficult Daughter and Astha in A Married Woman both are

realistic picture of modern India. Those women who are emancipating in the course of time

become the inspration to other women. The women presented in both novels are different than

one another. The novelist handles the burning issues of modern women in those novels.

The last chapter, ‘Conclusion’ records the different attitudes of writers towards the

women and their suffering. This chapter has a comparative study of those selected novelists

work. It also notices the gradual groth of women’s states in different decades. It shows diversity

in style of writing. The voice given to the women’s suffering by another woman has presented in

this chapter. Finally some findings and some more possibilities of research were given. It also

contains the future scope of the study. How this study will become a path for the suppressed

women. It shows literature not only the instrument of intertainment; it has strength to make a

change in society.

1.7 NEED OF THE RESEARCH

The purpose of this study is to investigate, analyze and explain the condition of women

portrayed in those Indian women novelists. An attempt has been made to study women literary as

well as social perspective. The Indian society espically has witnessed gigantic and extreme

change as far as its women concerned. She may be ideolized and worshipped as a Goddess or be

condemed as a witch. How effectively have, these novelists succeeded in capturing the hopes,

aspiration, trails, and tribution of women froms the basis of this study. The literary works by

Bharati Mukherjee, Shashi Deshpande, Arundhati Roy, Anita Desai, Kiran Desai, Shobha De,

Anita Nair and host of others have expressed their literary genius to present a realistic picture of

women condition in male dominated Indian family. Different researchers have also made a

subject of their study. There is need to express their views and make a comparative study of these

writers with reference to the major issues about women. It will become helpful for developing

women condition in society and raise the height of women power.

1.8. INDIAN ENGLISH FICTION: ITS ORIGIN AND DEVELO PMENT

It is supposed that the study of English was imposed upon Indians by Lord Macaulay in

the pre-independent India. He wanted to make India a cultural colony of England and produce

clerk and peon to serve to the British rule. Indian started taking education of English and started

making contribution in the field of literature in English. Many Indian writers contributed to

make Indian literature in English rich. In recent years it “has attracted widespread interest, both

in India and abroad”3. In the 21st century Indian English literature occupies “a great

significance in the world literature.”4 Indian English literature today is trying to establish itself

as a mainstream literature.

In this introductory chapter is taken a brief survey of the development of Indian English

fiction so to be able to place dissertation in proper perspective. Indians write

prose for social and political purposes from the earliest time with rare force, eloquence and

effectiveness. India English fiction comes on scene in the later part. But despite its late start, the

novel has gone far ahead of poetry both in quality and quantity. Indian English fiction today has

become a powerful literature to be reckoned with. This is obvious from the number of Booker

Prizes that have come in our way. It is a matter of national pride that the many of Indian novels

have been short listed for the prestigious national and international awards.

Many writers since then have written on the Indian poverty, caste and class system in

Indian social life. In fact poverty, ignorance, superstitions, child marriage, women’s

predicaments are some of the recurrent themes in Indian English fictions. It was a silent feature

of Indian writing in English. What was strength of Indian fiction in the 20th century,

unfortunately turned out to be its weakness in the post-colonial globalize world of today.

The novel as a form of literature came into existence lately in India in the second half of

the 19th century. Seeds of Indian Novel in English are said to be found in the fictional efforts of

Kylash Chander Dutt, Bankim Chandra Chatterjee. These fictional efforts were tales rather than

novels. These writers were influenced by the 18th and 19th Century British fictions of Daniel

Defoe, Henry Fielding and Walter Scott. Before the turn of the 19th Century, Toru Dutt,

Krupabai Satthianadhan and Shevantibai and Shevantibai Nikamber surprisingly appeared as

women novelists. In their writing they dealt with the social status of Indian women. More

sensible and substantial output is to be seen in the writing of Sarath Kumar Ghosh, who dealt

with East-West relationship and T. Ramakrishna Pillai who wrote historical romances.

Indian English novels abound in myriad themes. Variety of themes had seen in their

writing. They write practically on any subject under the sun. The early novels were more

ideolized in tone but after the world war becomes realistic. They had presentesd culture,

tradition in India in real sense. In the time of freedom movement the novelist has shown the love

for nation and also presented the Gandhian ideology. Nationalism is most discussed subject

during the freedom movement. Another theme we can found was evil of race and caste system.

Among these writers Bankim Chandra Chatterjee was the most remarkable writer. He

reigned as the literary dictator of renascent Bengal. He was a master of the romantic as well as

historical novel. In both ‘The Poison Tree’ and ‘Krishnakanta’s Will’ a married man falls in

love with a young widow and there are usual consequences. ‘Anandmath’ is Bankim’s well

known novel. In this and other novels Bankim introduced Sanyasi (wandering ascetics) into the

fictional narratives. It was over a decade after he had passed away, that he suddenly leapt into

national fame as the inspired author of the song ‘Bande Mataram’ which is imbedded in

‘Anandmath’

Rabindranath Tagore is for many the author of the ‘Songs of Offerings’ (Gitanjali) the

poet incarnating the spirit of India. But he was also a very considerable novelist. Tagore

achieved his first success as a novelist with ‘Choker Bali’ (1902). It was translated into English

as ‘Binodini’ by Krishna Kripalani. The influence of Bankim can be seen on Tagore. In the

novels like ‘Krishnakanta’s Will’ and ‘The Poison Tree’ Bankim handles the issue of a

married man’s love for a young widow. Tagore also deals with this issue in ‘Binodini’. In

Tagore’s ‘Yogayaog’ there is the unforgettable portrait of kumudini, an angel wedded to a satyr.

First significant group of Indian English novelists is undoubtedly a trio of Mulk Raj

Anand, R.K. Narayan and Raja Rao. According to Dr. M. K. Naik,

The Indian English novel of 1920 to 1947 is deeply influenced by Gandhin a movement.5

Mulk Raj Anand was considered to be a liberal humanist. Mulk Raj Anand, one of

India’s three big novelists, was born in 1905 in Peshawar (now in Pakistan). He had firsthand

knowledge of the rural life of the Punjab and the North-West Frontier provinces. He had seen

villagers living in squalid conditions and utter poverty, exploited by socio-religious hypocrisies.

All these realities had a deep a spell on the mind of Mulk Raj Anand. He decided to write about

those people who were being insulted and humiliated by the orthodox Hindus and the white

sahibs.

His novels dealt with the neglected, downtrodden, poverty stricken multitude of the

Indian society. Untouchable is Anand’s first novel and his most compact and artistically

satisfying work. Untouchable dealt with the life of Bakha, an untouchable boy, in the town of

Bulashah. He is an 18th year’s son of the Jamadar, Lakha, and Bakha is a steady and efficient

worker. Bakha is a child of the twentieth century, and the impact of new influences causes

stirrings within him. He works as a latrine-cleaner, White doing the work of cleaning and

sweeping one day he attends Mahatma Gandhi’s public address and becomes more hopeful of the

better future. K. R. Srinivasa Iyengar observes:

Life in the town and cantonment- the colour and the smells-the chants and noises

– the filth and the cruelty – the kindness and the humanity- the shifting scenes in

the temple, the mart place, the playground the quiet of the hillside-the stir at

public meeting : all are evoked with an uncanny accuracy so that Untouchable

strikes us as the picture of a place, of a society, and of certain persons not easily

to be forgotten : picture that is also an indictment of the evils of a decadent and

perverted orthodoxy.6.

Anand’s Coolie is another epic of misery. Coolie is supposed to have an epic structure, deals

with the life of an orphan, who travels from place to place in search of better livelihood, but

meets only the worst fortune till his death, which rescues him. It is built on a vaster scale and its

action is not confined to some particular village, but moves form the village to the city, form the

North to the South and then again to the North. Mulk Raj Anand in Coolie tries to present the life

of the poorest of the poor individual of the society. Untouchable reveals inhumanity, which is an

ultimate result of cast, Coolie deals with greed, selfishness and inhumanity in their hundred

different forms. No doubt it has its root in poverty. Munoo realizes that there are only two kinds

of people, the rich and the poor. An orphan child suffers in the hands of uncle and aunt. His

journey of life begins with the transformation to the prison like house of Bapu Nathoo Ram. He

escapes from the house to Daulatpur where he becomes a coolie in the grain market. Further he

meets to an elephant-trainer in a circus. With his help he reaches to Bombay. Working as a

servant in cotton mill, he is involved in the labour trouble and the Hindu-Muslim disturbances.

He runs up Malbar Hill to escape the hectic police action. He is knocked down by a car. Mrs.

Mainwaring, the owner of car, takes Munoo to Simla where he meets to the unfortunate end of

his life. Two Leaves and a Bud (1937), The Lal Singh Trilogy (1939-42), The Big Heart (1945)

The Private Life of an Indian Prince (1953), Seven Summers (1951) and Morning Face (1968)

are some important work of Anand. His other novels are also deal with the exploitation of the

poor and the miserable plight of the untouchables. Anand is called as the powerful champion of

the downtrodden.

Sri Aurobindo’s Savitri is a masterpiece published in 1950 and 1951 in two parts. It is a

best epic poem on the characters in the Mahabharata Satyvana and Savitri as a story of love

conquerig death. Savitri is symbolic of the true wife’s devotion and power – unflinching

devotion and power even to overcome the greatest of evils Death.

R.K. Narayan is one of the most talented writers in English in India. He offers an

interesting contrast to that of Mulk Raj Anand. He is the son of a school master. He has devoted

himself to writing. His little dramas of middle class life are enacted in Malgudi, an imaginary

village in South India. M. K. Naik comments:

Naryan’s fiction consistently creates a credible universe observed with an

unerring but uniformly tolerant sense of human incongruity: but gains in stature

when, at his best, he is able to hitch the wagon of his ironic action to the star of

moral imagination.7

His sense of humor, ironic laughter and teasing references are remembered more clearly

than his stories. He takes up apparently ridiculous topics like superstition, black magic, forgery,

economic malpractices, and faulty educational system and builds the structure of the novels, on

such topics. His first novel ‘Swami and Friend’ appear in 1935. It is a delightful account of a

school boy. The Bachelor of Arts appears in 1937. It is the story of Chandran, a sensitive youth

caught in a conflict between the western ideas of love and marriage. The Dark Room (1938) is a

serious novel about the suffering of the protagonist Savitri. The English teacher is Narayan’s last

novel before independence. It appears in 1946.

R.K. Narayan’s art of writing attained maturity after independence. The Financial Expert

(1952), The Guide (1960) and The Man-eater of Malgudi (1962) are his best novels. The Guide

which own Sahitya Akademi award in 1960 is Narayan’s finest novel. It is based on the blind

belief of the Indian villagers that drags them to the demon in disguise of saint. Raju was a fake

Indian saint released from the jail after three years of imprisonment for forgery. The ignorant

helpless farmers follow him simply because they think he was invested his some divine power

which will bring rains to their hungry fields. His equally famous novel the Financial Expert

deals with the shady financial practices that take roots in the Indian rural economy. Margayya

takes undue advantage of the people’s ignorance about government’s welfare schemes to rob the

villagers. R.K. Narayan believes in the Indian ethical system to show that people have to reap

what they sow. Raju, the guide was sentenced to jail and ultimately dies of hunger. Margayya of

The Financial Expert has to repent his misdeeds when his son goes astray. This shows that R.K.

Narayan is deeply rooted in the Indian Philosophy of karma.

Though Mulk Raj Anand and R.K. Narayan wrote abundantly, they were not essentially

different from the writers in Indian languages. Their themes, narrative techniques, language and

characters were akin to that of Marathi and Hindi literature. Raja Rao is the first versatile writer

in English in India. His three novels are different in themes, techniques and characterization.

Transformation of a small Indian village into the strength fighting against mighty British

government was handled by different writers in different Indian languages. Raja Rao combined

the Indian freedom struggle with the Indian rural way of folk tales. The theme of Kanthapura is

old one but its technique made it fresh. This novel gives a most graphic vivid and realistic

account of the Gandhina freedom struggle in the 1930 and its impact on the masses of India.

Kanthapura is a typical south Indian village on the slopes of the Western Ghats. Moorthy, the

central figure, is a young man educated in the city. The Gandhinan Civil Disobedience

movement comes to this remote secluded village, when Moorthy comes from the city with the

message of the Mahatma. He goes from door to door, even in the Pariah quarter of the village.

He explains to the villagers the significance of Gandhi’s struggle for independence. He also

inspires them to take to Charka-Spinning and weaving their own cloths. The villagers under the

leadership of Moorthy offer Satyagrah. Many people are wounded and hurt seriously in lathi-

charge of police. Moorthy is also arrested and sentenced to a long term of imprisonment. In his

absence Ratna looks after the Congress work in the village. The heroic struggle of the people of

Kanthapura is thus a milestone in India’s march towards independence.

In his The serpent and the Rope, Raja Rao puts forward Indian philosophy face to face

with European philosophy without making it dull philosophy treatise. This is the most notable

feature of Raja Rao’s writing. The Serpent and the Rope is narrated by Ramaswamy the hero

narrator of the novel. He is young educated man belonging to a rich zamindar family of South

India. He is an M. A. in history, and on government scholarship goes to France to carry on his

research work. He earns the doctorate degree of University of Sorbonne. There he comes across

Madeleine, young French leady, and a teacher at one of the university college. He falls in love

with her. They are soon married and leave happily together in Axis near Parsis. A son is born to

them, but unfortunately he dies soon after. A number of other French and European characters

are introduced to build up a realistic picture of the western culture. At deeper level, its basic

them is the quest of self knowledge, which alone can enable a man to distinguish between the

serpent and rope, illusion and reality.

The Cat and Shakespeare which was published in 1965 is another important novel. The

novelist has subtitled it ‘a philosophical comedy’. It is a book of prayer but it is a strange prayer

to a strange god. The novel is a funny story of a cat and two clerks. It is marred by much crudity

and absurdity. It is the tale of two friends Govindan Nair and Rama Krishna Pai. Govindan is

poor clerk in the rationing office, getting only Rs. 45 a month. Krishna Pai is also a clerk. They

leave in adjoining house Trivendrurm. It seems Raja Rao was the first Indian English novelist to

be taken seriously by the western readers. The theme of the novel is true love and marriage and

the quest for self knowledge. Raja Rao’s another important novel ‘Comrade Kirillov’ appears in

1976. It was first published in French. It is long short story rather than a novel.

Apart from the trio Mulk Raj Anand, R.K.Narayan and Raja Rao quite a considerable

amount of fiction was published during the periods. The Muslim novelist also had given their

contribution in the field of novel. These writers wrote about the life in Muslim households.

Ahmed Ali’s Twilight in Delhi published in 1940 is remarkable novel. Ali’s Ocean of Night

published in 1964 is another nostalgic study of Muslim society. Iqbalunnisa Hussain’s Purdhah

and Polygamy: Life of an Indian Muslim Households published in 1944 offers an equality

intimate picture of a traditional Muslim household seen through sensitive feminine eyes. In

Aamir Ali’s Conflict (1947) the entire action concerns a Hindu family. His two later novels Via

Geneva (1967) and Assignment in Kashmir (1973) move on the international plane. K. A. Abbas

is another Muslim writer to be taken a note of. Tomorrow is Our, A Novel of the India of Today

espouses several causes including nationalism, Leftism and denunciation of fascism and

untouchability. Inquilab: A Novel of the Indian Revolution published in 1955 is more ambitious

work offering a panorama of the Indian political scene during the 1920s and 1930s.

Among the remaining novelist special mention must be made of Dhan Gopal Mukherji.

His novels of Jungle and rustic life won great popularity in the West. His Kari, the Elephant

(1922) Hari, the Jungle Lad (1924) Gay-Neck, the story of a Pigeon (1927), The Chief of the

Heard (1929) and Ghond the Hunter (1929) are some important novels. Mukherji’s

autobiographical novel, My Brother’s Face (1926) is a memorable book.

C.S. Rau’s The Confessions of a Bogus Patriot (1923) J. Chinnadurai’s Sugirtha (1929),

Ram Narain’s Tigress of the Harem (1930) H. Kaveribai’s Meenakshi’s Memoirs – A Novel of

Christian Life in South India (1937) and the The Whirlwind (1956) are some notable novels in

the pre- independent India.

After independence Indian English fiction retains the momentum the novel had gained

during the Gandhian age. The tradition of social realism established by Mulk Raj Anand and

other writers is continued by the novelist in the post independent India. By the late 1950’s and

early 1960’s the second-generation of writers came up. Emergence of social realists like Babhani

Bhattacharya, Manoher Malgonkar and Khushwant Singh is a significant development in the

post-independence Indian English fiction. As a social realist Babani Battacharya is compared

with Mulk Raj Anand. He was strongly influenced by Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath

Tagore. He used novel as a vehicle to expose social ills. With ironic vision, he reveals social,

political and economic issues in his novels.

Mulk Raj Anand returned to India in 1945 and didn’t write for some time because of a

nervous breakdown. ‘Seven Summers (1951) was a fictional recreation of his childhood and was

meant to be the first of a series of autobiographical novels with Krishnan Chander as protagonist.

Anand’s ‘Private Life of an Indian Prince’ (1953) was a novel about a milieu with which he did

not have much familiarity. Anand returned to familiar territory with ‘The Old Woman and the

Cow’ (1960). The Old Woman and the Cow is about peasant life and the pressures on the people

that drive them to inhumanity in order to survive. The protagonist is Gauri, who is deserted by

her husband. Anand’s next novel was ‘The Road’ (1963) which travels the same territory as

‘Untouchable’. ‘The Death of Hero’ (1964) which Anand reissued in 1990s is about Kashmir.

His next two novels were part of his autobiographical series. ‘Morning Face’ (1970) which owns

the Sahitya Akademi Award and ‘Confession of a Lover’ (1976) follow the career of Krishnan

Chunder through his schooldays, adolescence, college and an unsuccessful love affair, till he

leaves for England. Among Anand’s other novels The Bubble (1984), Littele Plays of Mahatma

Gandhi (1998) and Nine Moods of Bharata, Novels of a pilgrimage (1998).

The strength of Anand’s fiction lies in its vast range, its wealth of living characters, its

ruthless realism and its strong humanitarian compassion. He realistically presents religious

hypocrisy and in general, man’s inhumanity to man. Atitya Singh opines:

The writer has encompassed the mercantile ethos and deterioration in moral

standards to highlights man’s inhumanity to man.8.

I would like to illustrate my point with the help of two novels of Bhabini Bhattacharya,

So Many Hungers and A Dream in Hawaii. The foreground of So many Hungers is occupied

partly by the Basu family and partly by the peasant, the girl Kajogi, her mother and her brother.

Albeit carefully individualized, these are but algebraic symbols jostled in to an expression of the

plight of humanity in Calcutta in Bengal, in India. It deals with political and economic

exploitation of drought affected Bengalis.

He projects human hunger for political freedom, for empirical expansions, for money, for

food, sex, for human dignity and self respect. An abortive East-West encounter is described in A

Dream in Hawaii. His third important novel, He Who Rides a Tiger deals with the distinction

between the haves and the have-nots and religious hypocrisy. It is a story of Kalo, a poor

blacksmith, who jailed for stealing a bunch of bananas and vows revenge on society.

Malgonkar wrote what could roughly be called historical novel. Distant Drum and The

Princess are the two often quote such novels. The Princess is a projection of the troubled times

of the merger of the princely states into the Indian Union. The novel is demonstration of the

struggle between the old and the new. He also reveals both its strength and its limitations. Arjum

Kumar notes:

Manohar Malgonkar has a special knack for close introspection of the Indian

socio-political complexity in historical perspectives. 9

A Bend in the Ganges raises fundamental issue of the meaning of violence and non-violence. It

explores the inter-related destinies of Gin Talwar, a college student who becomes a follower of

Gandhi, but subsequently realizes that his creed of non-violence is not a practical one in real life.

Debi-dayal and Shafi Usman are terrorists working for the overthrown of the British Raj. The

former courts disillusionment and the latter becomes an ardent communist. The climax of the

novel is the stupefying bloodshed and violence that erupted from the dream of independence and

which consumes Debi-dayal, Shafi Usman and many others. Only Gian Talwar and Sundari are

left with a faint promise of hopeful future. In a Bend in the Ganges, Malgonkar combines glory

and hour of freedom with the shame and the agony of the Indian partition. The novel opens with

the ceremonial burning of foreign cloth and ends with more burning but it is Indian cities that are

charcoaled. Truth and non-violence are changed into deception and violence. Though his novels

are the projection of historical perspectives, he shuns tedious references to days and dates. It is

not dull and ineffective presentation. He is known for his animated, persuasive and competent

style. Manohar Malgonkar himself says:

I do strive deliberately and hard to tell a story well,’ he declares, ‘I revel in

incident….I feel a special allegiance to the particular sub-cast among those

whose cast-mark I have affected, the entertainers, the tellers of stories. 10

Khushwant Singh was a prolific writer in Indian English. As a realist; he opens the inner crux of

reality in his novels. He reveals social hypocrisy and duplicity on which the supposed, civilized

society is based. Dr. S.P. Swain observes:

The train of Muslim refugees passes over to Pakistan softly but Jugga is shot by

his co-religionists. His heroic death is sacrifice, an act of self-immolation that

unveils the hypocrisy and duplicity on which the so-called civilized society

thrives.11.

Khushwant Singh puts an open historical truth in front of readers with subtle ironic touch

in his Train to Pakistan. The novel is delineation of tragic effects of partition on the common

people. Action of the novel takes place in a small village Mano Majara. But is implications reach

beyond the little village. It is situated on the frontier between India and Pakistan. The frontier has

become a scene of rioting and bloodshed. But in Mano Majara, Sikhs and Muslims have been

living peaceful life. Life is regulated by the trains. Then a local money-lender is murdered.

Juggut Singh, the village gangster is suspected, who has a clandestine affair with a Muslim girl?

Western educated communist agent, lqubal is also arrested. A train comes over the bridge at an

unusual time with full of dead Sikhs. The Village people become suspicious about one another.

Muslims are sent to refugee camp. Eventually, Juggut Singh is redeemed to save life of Muslim

people. He saved life of Muslims of Mano-Majara at the cost of his own life.

Sinister and venomous impact of Partition made the novelist Khushwant Singh indignant.

He tries to collect the scattered values of humanity to which man-made religion, casts and class

are responsible factors. The shaken belief of humanity is projected in the novel. He harshly

criticizes religious blind faith that makes people enemies of one another. In the novel Jagga,

known as badmash number ten, cites an example of humanity in front of those people who

supposed themselves religious. He also presents an ironic picture of Sikh joint family in I shall

not hear the Nightingale. The novel deals with hypocrisy, double-dealing and treachery. Buta

Singh the senior Magistrate is anxious to be on the right side of the government. His son, Sere is

involved in the activities of a terrorist group of students. Sere’s young wife. Champak, leads

sensual life. The novel deals with her exercises in sensuality at some length. The only character

that wins our respect is the old mother, Sabhrai. With adequate knowledge of Indian society,

Khushwant Singh puts Indian social panorama before his readers. It always emotionally and

intellectually exists.

As Khushwant Singh is rooted in the soil of Punjab S. Menon Marath is popular in

Kerala. His ‘Wounds of Spring’ (1960) describe the disintegration of a traditional matriarchal

Nayar family in Kerala during the second decade of the twentieth century. Balachandra Rajan’s

first novel The Dark Dancer published in 1959 is a psychological novel. Rajan’s second novel

Too Long in the West (1961) is a comic extravaganza. The novels of Sudhinra Nath Ghose are an

exciting experiment in the expression of the Indian ethos. His four novels And Gazelles Leaping

(1949) Cradle of the Clouds (1951), The Vermilion Boat (1953) and The Flame of the Forest

(1955) are remarkable novel. Ghose has undoubtedly registered remarkable success in his

experiment.

In the late sixties and seventies Arun Joshi and Chaman Nahal same won the scene.

Chaman Nahal dealt with historical perspectives while Arun Joshi uncovered different aspects of

alienation. M. K. Naik mentions:

Arun Joshi’s recurrent theme is alienation in its different aspects and his heroes

are intensely self centered persons prone to self pity and escapism. In spite of

their weaknesses, They are, however, genuine seekers who strive to grope towards

a purpose in life and self-fulfillment In his three novels, Joshi attempts to deal

with tree facts of the theme of alienation, in relation to self, the society around

and humanity at large, respectively. 12

Arun Joshi strongly comes as a skillful narrator in his The Apprentice. The novel is the

story of Ratan Rathod, a government official whose soul is corroded by prevailing atmosphere of

corruption in post-independence Indian. With an artistic control, be made his novel a long

monologue without losing his hold over the reader’s attention. In the novel he projects a different

aspect of alienation. Rathor the son of a middle class freedom fighter becomes an acute victim of

self alienation. As a clerk, he is victimized in the atmosphere of corruption. The evil of

mammonism in the post Independence period eats his soul. Being a part of faulty system he

becomes a cause of the death of his brigadier friend. Eventually, to some extent he tries to regain

the lost innocence by the way of penance.

A man alienated from all humanity is presented in the form of Sindi Oberoi in the novel

The Foreigner. The novel is a story of Sindi Oberoi, who is detached, almost alienated. M.K.

Naik observes:

Sindi Oberoi in the Foreigner (1968) is a born ‘foreigner’- a man alienated from

all humanit. The only son of an Indian father and an English mother, and born in

Kenya, he is orphaned at an early age and grows in to a young without family ties

and without a country. ‘My foreignness lay within me’. He confesses. Educated in

England and U.S.A. he sums up his life as twenty-five years largely wasted in

search of wrong things in wrong places’. He developed a philosophy of

detachment, which is really a mask for his fear of committing himself, of getting

involved too deeply with other. 13

As a Kenyan born baby of an Indian father and an English mother Oberoi is detached

from his family and his own country in an early phase of life. His foreigners lay within himself.

Sindi develops a philosophy of detachment which is a mark of his fear. Being afraid of marriage

and demands of married life, he tragically ends his love for an American girl G.A. Ghanshyam

and Usha Iyenger righty hold the view:

He is isolated from the very web of relationship that constitutes society…… He is

afraid of possessing and being possessed by anybody and marriage means both.

14.

Arun Joshi doesn’t end the journey of his hero at the point of detachment. It is a journey

from detachment to self-realization. His heroes seem weak, but apart from their initial weakness,

they are genuinely strong. Eventually they arrive at self-realization. M. K. Naik rightly observes:

…and his heroes are intensely self-centered persons prone to self-pity and

escapism. In spite of their weaknesses, they are, however, genuine seeker who

strives to grope towards a purpose in life and self-fulfillment. 15

At the end of the novel Surinder arrives at the truth that action is better than inaction. He realizes

a chance to redeem the past. He becomes ready to accept responsibility to remove his past. Sudhi

takes up the responsibility of the factory and labourers, which makes him more balanced mature.

Chaman Nahal is a brilliant Indian English novelist of the second generation. He enriched

the field of political fiction. He realistically presents tragic panorama of partition and East West

encounter in his writing. His first novel My True Faces published in 1973 is broken marriage.

His second novel Azadi appear in 1975. He won Sahitya Akademi Award for Azadi. It

deals with the migration of millions of people from both the sides of border and the tragic effects

of partition on human being. M. K. Nail rightly says:

Chaman Nahal is a novelist of painful Odysseys presented in different contexts. 16.

Nahal realistically presents the suffering of women in Azadi. He projects the subjects of

East-west encounter in Into Another Dawn. His recent novel The English Queens published in

1979. Nahal appears to be trying to do many things. In this novel Nahal tale the love story of

Rekha, an army officer’s daughter and a poor musician.

Rohinton Mistry is a Parsi writer lives in and writes from Canada, Mistry is a writer of

the Indian Diaspora. Rohinton Mistry is one of the post-colonial Parsi writers such as Bapsi

Sidhwa, Boman Desai, Farrukh Dhondy, Dina Mehta and Firdaus Kanga. Rohinton Mistry’s first

collection of eleven short stories Tales from Firozsha Baag was published in 1987. It launched

him on the international literary scene as an expatriate Indian wirter, a well-known immigrant

Canadian Writer and as a minority writer.

Mistry’s first novel Such A Long Journey (1991 )was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and

won the commonwealth writers Prize for Best Book, the Governor General’s Award, and the

W.H. Smith Books in Canada First Novel Award. In this novel, Rohinton Mistry is a master

story-teller of contemporary India. Such a Long Journey is set in Mumbai against the backdrop

of war in the Indian sub-continent and the birth of Bangladesh. It tells the story of the peculiar

way in which the conflict impinges on the lives of Gustad Noble, an ordinary man and his

family. This is a brilliant first novel by one of the most remarkable writers to have emerged from

the Indian literary tradition in many years.

Rohinton Mistry’s new novel, A Fine Balance (1996), was shortlisted for the Booker

Prize and won the Common Wealth Writers Prize for the Best Book. In this novel, set in the mid-

1970s, he weaves together a subtle and compelling narrative about four unlikely characters that

come together soon after the government declares a ‘state of Internal Emergency.’ "Family

Matters" which was published in 2002, again has Mumbai as its background. The novel narrates

the story of an elderly Parsi widower who lives in Mumbai with his step-children. . Mistry’s

diasporic novel ‘The Scream’ was published in 2008.

Arvind Adiga came into international limelight with the publication and winning the

prestigious Booker Prize for his first novel ‘The White Tiger’ in 2008. The novel deals with the

age-old issue of downtrodden. Adiga handled this issue in totally different way.

The novel is the most dominant genre of Indo-Anglian literature which gives artistic form

to the relationship of man and society. V.S. Naipaul calls Indo-Anglian novel as “mimicry of the

west”, Meenakshi Mukherjee calls it “twice born fiction”. After Rushdie, the Indian novels have

gone transnational with many writers living in the west and writing from a perspective beyond

nationality. Meenakshi Mukherjee brought out a new aspect in Indian literature. She states that

Indian novelist presents tradition bound society. They can’t relate about their own life but they

write out of family, out of personal problem.

R.K Narayan choose English to wtire becaues it came to him very spontaniously. Raja

Rao was well in different language included Kannada, french and his native language. However

he found English suitable to write. He was attached emotionally to this language.

1.9 WOMEN NOVELISTS IN INDIA:

In the post Independence fiction, the substantial contribution of women novelists is a

remarkable development. Ruth Prawer Jhabvala had given remarkable contribution. Her eight

novels fall into two distinct part. Comedies of urban middle class Indian life especially in

undivided Hindu families and ironic study of the East-West encounter. The first group comprises

To Whom She Will (1955), The Nature of Passion (1956), The Householder (1960) and Get

Ready for Battle (1962). Esmond in India (1958), A Backward Place (1965), A New Domination

(1973) and Hear and Dust (1975) belong to the second part.

Kamala Markandaya occupied a crucial place in this fictional development. She projects

the suffering and agony of rural Indian society. Disintegration of rural ways of life under the

impact of large scale industrialization is described in her major novels. She brings out different

perspectives of East-West cultural encounter. Presentation of rural sensibility, feminist ethics,

social chronicling and character, portrayal made her an artist in real sense. Projection of above

all features is seen in her Nectar in a Sieve. It deals with the life story of a Rukmani and

Nathan. Suffering and agony of rural Indian people are projected in the story. The poverty and

hunger of the Indian villagers and the disintegration of Indian rural life caused by the onslaughts

of modern industry have been inextricably woven with the life and suffering of Rukmani and

Nathan. M. K. Naik says:

Markandaya’s first novel, Nectar in a Sieve (1954) illustrates all these

preoccupations. The narrator, who is also the central figure, is Rukmani, a rustic

woman. The story of her hard peasant life illustrates the truth of Coleridge’s line,

‘work without hops draws nectar in a sieve.’ The vagaries of nature and the

depredations of modern industrialism ( in the shape of a tannery ) force Rukmini

and her husband to migrate to a city where they are fleeced British Doctor and

social worker represents the better side of the west.” 17.

Nectar in a Sieve is a depiction of poverty, hunger and agony of thousands of people in

rural Indian life. Disintegration of Indian rural life caused by the invention of modern industry

has been woven with the troublesome life of Rukmani and Nathan. Her strength as novelist lies

in depictions of human relationships. Some Inner Fury is really Mira’s extended recollection of

recent past. Mira is sophisticated and westernized girl. The central theme of the novel is

patriotism. The story begins with the return of Mira’s brother Kiti with his Oxford friend

Richard. Govind, her adopted brother, Premala who marries Kiti, and Roshon, the rich leady are

the principal characters. The novel is illustration of East-West relationship. She gives a fresh

perspective to the theme. A Handful of Rice, the hero of the novel is the son of a poor peasant.

He is tired of hunger. In order to escape from the poverty and hunger he joins the general exodus

to the city and journeys to Madras. He joins the group of local petty of the criminals. Damodar

initiates him in the mysteries of urban existence. He becomes a part of the underworld of

smugglers. The novel deals with the life of urban poor people. The novelist illustrates the agony

of urban life.

Nayantara Sahgal is pre-occupied with political concerns. Different political theories and

practices are estimated in her different novels. Storm in Chandigarh has a political background

of the divisions of the Punjab into the two states, Punjab and Haryana. Sehgal takes up the issue

of gender politics in this novel. She depicts the plight of modern Indian woman. The modern

Indian woman’s search for sexual freedom and self realization are her major concerns. Ramesh

Kumar Gupta, in his article The Existential Predicament: A Linch-Pin in Nayantara Sahgal’s The

Day in Shadow writers:

The novel is no doubt an epic of women’s struggle against patriarchal

domination, against social construction and against identity crisis. 18

According to her, orthodox social and culture forces are responsible for the unending sufferings

of women in Indian society. In Indian society inflects marginalization on Indian women. It

results into the failure of Indian women to acquire human dignity as free and independent beings.

Nayantara Sahgal, in her novel The Day in Shadow, delineates emotional and intellectual gamut

of Smriti. As a sufferer, being unsatisfied with her first husband (Som), she marries with Raj. In

spite of her second marriage, she is not freed from male dominance. She is an acute victim of

male-dominated Indian society. Therefore she cannot get a place as a human being in society R.

K. Gupta observes:

The relationship between sexes, women have been forced to occupy a secondary

place, not imposed by their inherent deficient characteristic but rather by strong

cultural forces and social tradition. This has resulted in the failure of women to

occupy a place of human dignity as free and independent beings. 19.

This is the correct assessment of an artificial discrimination between sexes. This reveals

the suppression of women on cultural, political, educational economic and social levels in India.

Anita Desai gave a new dimension to the women writing in Indian writing in English.

She delineates women characters differently from those of Kamala Markhadaya, Ruth Prawer

Jhabvala and Natyantara Sehgal, K. R. Srinivas Iyengar says:

In Prawer Jhabvala’s work the social background is rather more important than

the characters who enact the various comedies tragic-comedies and farces, in

Kamala Markhadaya the accents as much on the principal characters as on the

diverse backgrounds, economic, political, cultural, social, but in Anita Desai’s

two novels, the inner climate, the climate of sensibility that lour or clear of

rumbles like thunder or suddenly blazes forth like lighting, is more compelling

than the outer weather, the physical geography or the visible action. Her fort, in

other words, is the exploration of sensibility- the particular kind of modern Indian

sensibility that is ill at ease among the barbarians and the philistines, the

anarchists and the moralists. Since her preoccupation is with the inner world of

sensibility rather than outer world of action, she tried to forge a style supple and

suggestive enough to convey the fever and fretfulness of the stream of

consciousness of her principal characters. 20.

Anita Desai reveals interior psychos cape rather than political or social realities. Cry, the

Peacock is the story of Maya. In Cry, the Peacock Anita Desai transports one into the realm of

old romance, ballads and idylls dealing with the passion of love, though it results in the husband-

wife alienation. The passionate intensity of feelings , the romantic aroma of love, the aspiration

for amour as something extraordinary, the atmosphere of flowers, gardens, the moon, the night,

the stars are recollected. Maya, presented by Anita Desai is most sensitive woman suffering

from neurotic fears and after her marriage she finds Gautama a poor substitute to her. According

to Maya, freedom is not possible unless she removes her impression of Gautama in her inner

consciousness. She strikes at his reflection in the mirror and tries to kill him. The plot of the

novel, Cry the Peacock is woven of broad strands which cause psychological condition of Maya;

Maya’s obsession with astrological prediction ruined her married life. She cannot establish

effective communication with her husband either through direct physical contact or through

unspoken feelings. Eventually, she murders her husband in a fit of insane fury and her isolation

completes.

Her sahitya academi winner novel ‘Fire on the mountain’ published in 1977 is different

from her other novels. It is lyrical novel. In this novel she explores the problems of

disintigration of family life. The problem of husband and wife alienation once again forms the

central nucleus in this novel. Desai deals with the problem of loniliness and the resultant anguish

in the marital life of Nanda Kaul. Nanda leads a life of deprivation, unfulfillment in the houes of

Vice Chancellor Kaul, teeming with planty except true love. She leads a life without love from

her husband. She lacks a marital harnony which every marital woma ecpects from her spouse.

Desai’s another novel Fasting Feasting is different than her other novels. In this novel

she has treated Indian mythology as Goddess. She writes about our culture. She has also gives

the description of the modesty of Indian culture. She describes the condition of women in India.

She is the statue of sacrifice. She tries to creat awareness among women for their identity. The

women I India plays a role of obedient daughter, dutiful wife and lovable mother.

A Voices in the City is another tale of an alienated individual. The novel is divided into

four parts; each named after the character whose mental state it projects. Nirode is the prominent

figure around whom the tapestry of the novel is women. He is described as a rootless nihilist.

The novel deals with the effects of city life upon an Indian family. He becomes absorbed in to its

bohemian life. While his elder sister Monisha lives out a servile existence within the rigid

confines of a traditional Hindu family there younger sister arrives from the country and becomes

involved with an artist, but the outcome of this and dreadful decision Monisha eventually takes

make it double haunting and a consummate work of art. Gajendra Kumar rightly says:

Desai’s characters too suffer from the oppressive and depressive walls of sounds

and smell from which there is no release. 21

Monisha’s life is presented in the novel. She is like other women existence is like birds trapped

in the cages. Monisha is fearful of her involvement and has led her life without love. Gajendra

Kumar says:

The novelist, moreover, presents the growth and maturity of individual

consciousness from a cynical sense of loss of identity to the mystical realization of

the meaning of existence as well as of his own destiny. 22

Shashi Deshpande through her writing occupies important place in contemporary Indian

English Fiction. She highlights exploitation of women in Indian patriarchic society. By and large

her novels deal with the crisis in the heroin’s life. It is delineation of different aspects of

women’s life. Deshpande unmasks the Indian modern life. It is hypocratic male dominated

society which doesn’t allow women to realize their social existence. Women are treated as a

wooden creature in the society. However, her protagonists are not rebels. They learn their lessons

in the course of their encounter with the harsh realities of life. They generate in themselves the

power to cope with the male orientation. Deshpande underlines the conflict between man women

in different contexts such as marriage, family, sex etc. In this conflict is estimated at the

emotional, intellectual and sexual levels. N. B. Masal says:

Deshpande highlights the household conflict between wife and husband and this

conflict operates at the emotional, intellectual and sexual levels. 23.

Most of the novels of Deshpande are about women struggle for identity. Each novel

gives the new dimention to the reader. Shashi Deshpande’s first novel, ‘The Dark Holds No

Terror’ was published in 1980. It is an extension of her short story ‘A Liberated Woman’. It is

a master piece of Shashi Deshpande based on gender- discrimination prevalent in Indian society,

as the background of the novel. It is a reflective novel dealing with the feminist urge and

aspirations. It is about an educated woman caught within the tradition bound society facing its

discord, dilemma and disillusionment. Her upbringing in a patriarchal family places restrictions

on her every move making her submissive and even setting down to the secondary position at

home and the society. Shashi Deshpande brings out the struggle of a woman in a family where a

male child has a superior position than a female child. The novel presents a life of Sarita the

central character, caught in the flux of tradition and the social order. The patriarchal society into

which she is born places a number of hurdles and obstacles in the path of her smooth progress.

However, she fights all odds and with great courage and determination paves a way for herself.

The novel is a heart rendering account of her long journey and her search for identity.

Deshpande’s novel A matter of Time deal with the theme of the protagonists’ quest for a

female identity. Published in 1996, explores the suffering of women in three generations of a

family. This also focuses on husband- wife relationship. Deserted relationship between

Kalyani-Shripati and Sumi- Gopal is the core of the novel. She focuses on how this relationship

affects on third generation. The story weaves around three generation. Sumi has three daughters

Aru, Charu and Seema. That Long Silence the title only indicates the theme of the novel. Jaya

being a writer she is a devoted wife and mother.

The complexities of man-woman relationship in different contexts give the novel a

feminist bent. Her Small Remedies deals with a theme of motherhood. Shashi Deshphande

underpins the marginal social status of woman, but she doesn’t expect confrontation between

man and woman. The novelist convincingly depicts women and their plight. She depicts the

exploited women in three generations and one of them is Sumi. The novelist has depicted her as

a modern intellectual woman. She doesn’t exceed the limits of Indian socio-cultural reality N. B.

Masall rightly says:

Deshphande is fully aware, and she does not plead for my kind of confrontation

or Militancy between man and woman between husband and wife. Though That

Long silence is cost in the feminist framework, Deshpande does not transfer the

limits of Indian socio-cultural reality. 24

.

Arundhati Roy is champion of downtrodden like Mulk Raj Anand. She tears an artificial

veil of conservative Indian society in The God of Small Things, Amar Nath Prasad in is article’

Arundhati Roy: A Novelist of the Dalit and the Deserted holds:

Arundhati Roy, a great champion of the cause of the dalit and the deserted points

out those unnoticed shades of a social problem which generally escape the eyes of

social scientists. 25.

Arundhati Roy reveals the agony of discrimination between man and man. It a social

hypocrisy to declare some people as untouchable on the basis of caste.Their capabilities,

intelligence and liberty are suffocated in the atmosphere of social discrimination. Amar Nath

Prasad says:

Yes, even dalit or untouchable can become an engineer or a doctor or a lawyer or

a professor if he is given proper education and proper facilities. God never makes

any difference between a touchable and untouchable, between the poor and the

rich, between the rough and the sublime The mind of all men are almost equal. 26

Arundhati Roy delineates such social hypocrisy in her seminal work.The God of Small Things.

She reveals the pathetic situation of suppressed class of society, including the situation of

women. Amar Nath Prasad rightly states:

A Woman is also generally termed as one who loves case and pleasure, Wants

attention and slavish devotion. She is empty headed, narrow- minded, obstinate

and vain. 27

In The God of Small Things life of Ammu is presented. It reveals the marginal state of woman in

Indian culture, education and even in family. It is a poignant story of discrimination of women

in society.

The God of Small Things deal with many aspects of new Indian life. It brings forth the

brutal face and savage power of capitalism. Velutha suffers at the hands of capitalist as well as

new communist who are tinged by capitalist ideology of Indian democracy. The second

important novel would be Kiran Desai’s The Inheritance of Loss which delineates the incessant

struggle between Indians desire to go to Amreica and also be a part Indian social life. The boy

lives inhuman life in American capitalist of the novel kills a capitalist Ashok Sharma to be able

to become a capitalist .All these novels stand out in Indian writing with their new theme and

style.

In the last decade of twentieth century Mrinal Pande (1946) came on the scene. She

published her first novel Daughter’s Daughter in 1993. It focuses on gender bias. The novel is

graphic picture of discrimination against the girl child. The novel is realistic and is based on fact.

Mrinal Pande’s second novel is My Own Witness. It is published in 2000. The novel reveals that

how women journalist even today is expected to deal with the issues related to women. Mrinal

Pande style of writing is lucid and straightforward.

Anita Nair has made news with two novels, ‘A Better Man’ (2000) and ‘Ladies Coupe’ (2001)

Her Ladies coupe is a best example of women emacipation.

In addition, P.V. Narasimhaiah’s ‘The Insider (1988), Manoj Das’ Cyclones, Raj Gills’ ‘ Jo

Bole’(1983), Gautam Bhatia’s ‘Short History of Everything’(1998), Raj Kamal Jha’s ‘he Blue

Bed Spread’ (1999) , Vikram A. Chandra’s ‘The Shrinagar Conspiracy’ (2000) ,Pankaj Mishra’s

‘The Romantics’, R. K. Laxman’s ‘The Messenger’(1993), R.W. Dasai’s ‘Frailty Thy Name Is

Women’ (1993) are some notable novels.

A modern novelist Manju Kapur presents a new woman in her work. Manju Kapur, a

creative writer gives birth to such an outstanding and most memorable female characters like

Virmati, Astha and Nisha, who changed the terminology of women’s life. Her women characters

gives such a jolt to the male dominated society, the so called male dominated society gives up the

thought of suppressing and victimizing and ignoring their existence. The women protagonist

revolts against age old traditions. They also revolt against male dominant society and remove the

fleeter of slavery which prevent them from being the part of social world which is ruled by men.

With the help of protagonist Manju Kapur wants to show how women’s are adopting change of

modernity by refusing the shadow of the age old traditions. Their new thinking and new attitude

gives them new recognition and social worth as an individual in male dominated society. Their

new attitude makes them free to live their life according to their own strategy.

Her first novel ‘Difficult Daughters’ is a real story of Kapur’s mother. The novel sees the

gradual growth of Virmati from simple, obdient girl to a matured woman by suffering and

humiliation. She travelled through the releams of various experiences. Her quest for love,

freedom and self identity makes her uncomfortable and did unexpected things in her life. Through

the character of Virmati, Manju Kapur has dealt with the theme of travails in self-identity and

realization at the same time socio-cultural identity. It is the story of three generations women at

the same family named- Kasturi, Virmati and Ida. Kasturi is the representative of old generation.

Virmati and Ida stands as new emerging women. Virmati is the prominent figure in the novel.

Manju Kapurs protagonists fight for basic rights like identity and right of survival.

Manju Kapur’s second novel ‘A Married Woman’ is a master piece published in 2002. ‘A

Married Woman’ is a story of woman named Astha an educated upper middle class working

family. She completes her education. Her parents marry her to a foreign return person, Hemant.

Both are happy in their married life. After some days Hemant becomes busy in his business. In

the course of time dullness came in her life. She become bore at home. Astha takes a job of

teaching in one of the school. After some days she realizes that she is no other but an unpaid

servant. She has no value in the life of her husband. Home another novel which deals with the

story of ordinary middle class family living in Delhi. In each novel Kapur presents the new issue

of womenand her strerngth to struggle against that. Nisha is in search of home her own where she

can lead life happily.

During the workshop in the school she meets Aijaz a drama teacher. He realizes her qualities

within her, as a painter and writer. She wrote a script for their drama under the guidance of

Aijaz. She is impressed by Aijaz. His terrible death during the performing play on Babri

Masjid-Ram Janambhoomi controversy show her the way towards social work.

Indian fiction in English undoubtedly has taken roots in the literary soil of the world. The

enormous quantum of novel being published over the year has attracted the attention of many

literary giants in the world. Book publishing companies like MacMillan and Oxford University

Press hove shown their interest in bringing out Indian novels to the public. The quantitative

growth of Indian English novel is matter of pride for the Indian.

Along with the novel being published every year, Indian universities have special courses

in Indian English Literature. The priority choice of the majority of research scholars in India is

Indian fiction in English. This also has given an impetus to the spread of Indian English novels.

Thousands of students taking university education in Indian prefer to read Indian English fiction

during their leisure hours.

Even though the expansion of the Indian English fiction has been matter of pride for

Indians, it must be and said without any arrogance or ill-feeling towards literary tradition that it

did not maintained the quantitative changes with the other national literary traditions. That is

perhaps one of the reasons of our failure to gain a Nobel Prize in literature.

Most of the Indian English fiction deals with the ordinary themes like caste system, poor-

rich divisions, child marriage, sufferings of the women, drought etc. Prima facie nothing is

wrong in these terms. But then they become stereotype predictable works of art. Some American

libraries have dared to push R. K. Narayan’s novel into cupboards reserved for sociology.

It is true that for a long time Indian writers wrote keeping in view either English readers

or Anglo-Phil Indian. The long descriptions of Indian customs and traditions, social and religious

systems were not meant for Indians. Its basic purpose was to explain and illustrate Indian social

life to the outsiders and the inside outsiders.

The language that these novelists used, the narrative technique they followed also had

one tone. They lacked experimentation in different aspects of novels writing. That is why we

could not produce novels like The Outsider, The Animal Farm or Things Fall Apart.

1.10. CONCLUSION:

The Indian novel made such a late start. It has to face number of peculiar problems. One

of the most difficult problems which had to be faced was the problem of language. Another

peculiar problem that faces the Indian novelist in English is that of creating an Indian

consciousness. The novelist from different state have made their contribution in the filed of

novel. One more problem the novelist face is to give Indian English novel national character and

even read beyond national borders. The Indian English novelists had faced these problems with

courage and made this genre of literature popular and readable not only in India but also outside

India.

The themes handled by Indo-Anglian novels are portrayal of poverty, hunger and disease;

portrayal of widespread social evils and tensions; examination of the survivals of the past,

exploration of the hybrid culture of the dislocation and conflicts in a tradition ridden society

under the impact of an incipient, half hearted industrialization. Some other theme of Indian

novels in English are inter racial relations, the Indian national movement and the struggle for the

freedom, partition of India and the death, destruction and suffering caused by it. Depiction of

hunger and poverty of Indians and Indian rural life, conflict between tradition and modernity

continue to engage the attention of the novelist. The theme of the confrontation of the East and

the West has been successfully dealt with by Raja Rao, Balachandran Rajan, Kamala

Markandaya and many others. The younger novelist display increasing inwardness in their

themes. The themes of loneliness, of rootlessness, the exploration of the psyche and the inner

man have been dealt with by Anita Desai and by Arun Joshi.

In the post Independence fiction, the substantial contribution of women novelists is a

remarkable development. The novelist like Kamala Markandaya, Anita Desai, Shashi

Deshphande, Manju Kapur, Nayantara Sahgal, Arundhati Roy and so many others had given

great contribution to the Indian English novel. Arundhati Roy fetched Booker prize for her novel

‘The God of Small Things’ Anita Desai’s novels were also shortlisted for the booker prize. With

Arundhati Roy, Kiran Desai and many other female novelist Indian feminism reached to the

world. The identity crisis, gender discrimination, man woman relationship, loneliness are some

of the important issue handled by the Indian women novelists.

India novel in English is criticized for the language used by the novelist and for their

narrative technique. Themes are typical and no innovation in it. Critics think that Indian novelist

lacked experimentation in different aspects of novels writing. That is why we could not produce

novels like The Outsider, The Animal Farm or Things Fall Apart.

This is not to pass derogatory remarks against Indian Literature. It is true that novels like

Train to Pakistan, The Serpent and Rope, Kanthapura, The Princess, and The Calcutta

Chromosome walked a different path. They experimented in style and theme. But that was not

enough to heighten Indian English literary tradition. Most of these writers visited European

countries frequently, yet they could not provide international aroma to Indian English fiction.

This continued till the end of the 20th century. But the three successive Booker Prizes for

Arunadhti Roy’s The Gold of Small Things (1997), Kiran Desai’s The Inheritance of Loss (2006)

and Arvinda Adega’s The White Tigers (2008) have boosted the moral of Indian writing in

English. There is ample scope for optimism. It won’t be out of place here to mention diasporic

writers like Jhumpa Lahiri, Rohinton Mistry and Bharati Mukherjee in this context.