The ‘Non-Players’ in British India: Subaltern Gaze in Mulk Raj Anand’sUntouchable

Abstract

The projects of Indian modernity and revolution for independence tend to marginalize and erase the experiences, intentions, and sufferings of the local subjects- -sweepers, scavengers, washer men, etc--who do not belong to uppercast Hindu family. Focusing on the so-called untouchable’s inability to resist against caste apartheid prevalent in Hindu society depicted that Mulk Raj Anand depicts in Untouchable, this research examines the disjuncture between Hindu religious practice and the world of untouchables. The radical encounter in this case is culturally mediated, as is the resistance to it. The outcome of Bakha’s resistance points to the possibility that Indian nationalism and mainstream history has gauged the voice of lower strata working class peasants. This research reveals the structural contingencies in Hindu society from a subaltern perspective.