The Gandhian Whirlwind and Its Role in the Making of the Nation: A Study of Mulk Raj Anand’s Untouchable and Raja Rao’s Kanthapura

Abstract

The Revolt of 1857—a watershed moment in Indian history—expedited the process of transformation in India’s social and political sphere. The 1930s saw a social transformation as novelists such as Mulk Raj Anand, R. K. Narayan, and Raja Rao attempted to grasp the social scene with distinct themes, issues, and representations of the real Indian world. This unprecedented awakening dawned a change among the people—to liberate themselves from the clutches of British rule. The force that made it possible was the Gandhian ideology that brought the people under the shade of one umbrella to fight the colonisers. The Independence movement in India provided an impetus to writers who were committed to writing about the changing socio-political scenario during the 1930s. The situation was such that the writers of the time could not avoid talking about the issues which mattered to them, and this helped them form a consensus about the political turmoil that India was going through. Gandhi has occupied a special place in the hearts of people worldwide. It would be interesting to study how Mulk Raj Anand and Raja Rao have used the Gandhian ideology by providing a frame of reference to link them to the soil and take them to the roots of Indian culture, thereby creating in them the social awareness to look at man as a social animal, an individual with his responses and reactions, and also to foster the very idea of national identity in the inhabitants.