Mulk Raj Anand facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Mulk Raj Anand
Born	(1905-12-12)12 December 1905 Peshawar, NWFP, British India (now in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan)
Died	28 September 2004(2004-09-28) (aged 98) Pune, Maharashtra, India
Occupation	Writer
Alma mater	Cambridge University University College London Khalsa College, Amritsar
Period	25th century
Genre	Realistic fiction
Notable work	Coolie; Untouchable
Notable awards	Sahitya Akademi Award (1971) Padma Bhushan (1968) International Peace Prize (1953)
Spouses	Shirin Vajifdar
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Mulk Raj Anand (born December 12, 1905 – died September 28, 2004) was a famous Indian writer. He wrote in English and was known for showing the lives of poorer people in traditional Indian society.

He was one of the first Indian writers to become famous around the world. His novels and short stories are now seen as classic works of modern Indian English literature. They are special because they look closely at the lives of people who were treated unfairly. His books show how poverty, unfair treatment, and bad luck affected people.

Mulk Raj Anand became well-known for his book Untouchable (1935). This book spoke out against social injustice. He also wrote other important books about the poor in India, like Coolie (1936) and Two Leaves and a Bud (1937). He was also one of the first writers to use Indian languages like Punjabi and Hindustani in his English writing. He received the Padma Bhushan, a high civilian award in India.

Early Life and Education

Mulk Raj Anand was born in Peshawar, which is now in Pakistan. He studied at Khalsa College, Amritsar, in India. He graduated with honors in 1924. After that, he moved to England to continue his studies.

To support himself, he worked in a restaurant. He attended University College London and later Cambridge University. In 1929, he earned a Ph.D. in Philosophy. His studies focused on famous thinkers like Bertrand Russell. During this time, he made friends with a group of artists and writers called the Bloomsbury Group. He also spent some time in Geneva, Switzerland. There, he gave talks at the League of Nations, an organization that worked for world peace.

In 1938, Anand married Kathleen Van Gelder, an English actress. They had a daughter named Susheela. They later divorced in 1948.

Writing Career and Famous Books

Mulk Raj Anand started his writing career because of a sad event in his family. This event was linked to India's strict caste system. The caste system was a social structure where people were born into different groups, and these groups had different rules and rights. His first essay was written after his aunt died. She had been cut off from her family because she shared a meal with a Muslim woman.

His first novel, Untouchable, came out in 1935. It bravely showed the difficult lives of India's "untouchable" caste, also known as Dalits. These people were often ignored and treated very badly. The book tells the story of one day in the life of Bakha, a young man who cleans toilets. He accidentally bumps into someone from a higher caste, which leads to many embarrassing and hurtful moments for him.

Bakha tries to find a way to deal with the unfairness of his life. He talks to a Christian missionary and listens to a speech by Mahatma Gandhi about untouchability. By the end of the book, Anand suggests that new technology, like the flush toilet, might help Bakha. This technology could remove the need for people to clean toilets by hand, which might free the "untouchable" caste from this difficult job.

Untouchable was highly praised. It used words and phrases from Punjabi and Hindi in English. This made people call Anand "India's Charles Dickens" because he wrote so well about social issues. His friend E. M. Forster, another famous writer, wrote the introduction to the novel. Forster said the book "went straight to the heart of its subject and purified it."

Fighting for India's Freedom

During the 1930s and 1940s, Anand spent his time between London and India. He was very active in the Indian independence movement. This movement worked to free India from British rule. In London, he wrote articles to support India's cause. He worked alongside V. K. Krishna Menon, who later became India's Defence Minister. At the same time, he worked as a novelist and journalist to earn a living.

He also supported other causes around the world. He went to Spain to help in the Spanish Civil War. His role there was more about reporting than fighting. During World War II, he worked as a scriptwriter for the BBC in London. There, he became friends with the famous writer George Orwell. Orwell reviewed Anand's 1942 novel The Sword and the Sickle. He noted that it was special because it was an English novel written by an Indian author. This showed the rise of Indian literature in English. Anand was also friends with the famous painter Picasso and owned some of his paintings.

Returning to India and Later Works

Anand returned to India in 1947, the year India gained independence. He continued to write many books, poems, and essays. He also wrote autobiographies, which are stories about his own life. Some of his important novels written in England include The Village (1939), Across the Black Waters (1939), and The Sword and the Sickle (1942). In India, he wrote Coolie (1936) and The Private Life of an Indian Prince (1953).

He also started a literary magazine called Marg. He taught at different universities. In the 1970s, he worked with an organization called the International Progress Organization. He helped discuss how different cultures could understand themselves better. His ideas helped start important conversations about "Dialogue among Civilisations." Anand also gave talks about important Indians like Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, and Rabindranath Tagore. He spoke about their achievements and their ideas about humanism, which focuses on human values and well-being.

His 1953 novel The Private Life of an Indian Prince was based on his own life. In 1950, Anand started a big project to write a seven-part autobiography called Seven Ages of Man. He finished four parts: Seven Summers (1951), Morning Face (1968), Confession of a Lover (1976), and The Bubble (1984). These books show his journey to understand himself better. His 1964 novel Death of a Hero was based on the life of Maqbool Sherwani. It was even made into a TV show called Maqbool Ki Vaapsi.

In the 1940s, Anand worked for the BBC's Eastern Service radio station. He hosted literary shows, reviewed books, and interviewed authors. He often talked about the need for stories about working-class people in fiction.

Political Beliefs

Mulk Raj Anand was a socialist his whole life. Socialism is a political idea that believes in fairness and equality for all people. His novels often criticized parts of India's social system and the effects of British rule. His books are seen as important social statements as well as great literature. Anand strongly believed that politics and literature were connected. He helped start the Progressive Writers' Association and helped write its main ideas.

Later Life

In 1950, Anand married Shirin Vajifdar, a classical dancer from Bombay. He passed away from pneumonia in Pune, India, on September 28, 2004. He was 98 years old.

Works of Mulk Raj Anand

Novels

• Untouchable (1935)
• Coolie (1936)
• Two Leaves and a Bud (1937)
• The Village (1939)
• Lament on the Death of a Master of Arts (1939)
• Across the Black Waters (1939)
• The Sword and the Sickle (1942)
• The Big Heart (1945)
• Seven Summers: the Story of an Indian Childhood (1951)
• The Private Life of an Indian Prince (1953)
• The Old Woman and the Cow (1960)
• The Road (1961)
• Death of a Hero: Epitaph for Maqbool Sherwani (1964)
• Morning Face (1968)
• Confession of a Lover (1976)
• Gauri (1976)
• The Bubble (1984)
• Nine Moods of Bharata: Novel of a Pilgrimage (1998)
• Reflections on a White Elephant (2002)

Short Story Collections

• The Lost Child and Other Stories (1934)
• The Barber's Trade Union and Other Stories (1944)
• The Tractor and the Corn Goddess and Other Stories (1947)
• Reflections on the Golden Bed and Other Stories (1953)
• The Power of Darkness and Other Stories (1959)
• Lajwanti and Other Stories (1966)
• Between Tears and Laughter (1973)
• Selected Stories of Mulk Raj Anand (1977)
• Things Have a Way of Working Out and Other Stories (1998)

Children's Literature

• Indian Fairy Tales (1946)
• The Story of India (1948)
• The Story of Man (1952)
• More Indian Fairy Tales (1961)
• The Story of Chacha Nehru (1965)
• Mora (1972)
• Folk Tales of Punjab (1974)
• A Day in the Life of Maya of Mohenjo-daro (1978)
• The King Emperor's English or the Role of the English Language in the Free India (1948)
• Some Street Games of India (1983)
• Chitralakshana: Story of Indian Paintings (1989)

Books on Arts

• Persian Painting (1930)
• The Hindu View of Art (1933)
• How to Test a Picture: Lectures on Seeing Versus Looking (1935)
• Introduction to Indian Art (1956) (editor)
• The Dancing Foot (1957)
• India in Colour (1959)
• Homage to Khajuraaho (1960) (co-authored)
• The Third Eye: A Lecture on the Appreciation of Art (1963)
• The Volcano: Some Comments on the Development of Rabindranath Tagore's Aesthetic Theories (1968)
• Indian Paintings (1973)
• Seven Little Known Birds of the Inner Eye (1978)
• Poet-Painter: Paintings by Rabindranath Tagore (1985)

Letters

• Letters on India (1942)
• Author to Critic: The Letters of Mulk Raj Anand (1973)
• The Letters of Mulk Raj Anand (1974)
• Caliban and Gandhi: Letters to "Bapu" from Bombay (1991)
• Old Myth and New Myth: Letters from Mulk Raj Anand to K. V. S. Murti (1991)
• Anand to Alma: Letters of Mulk Raj Anand (1994)

Other Works

• Curries and Other Indian Dishes (1932)
• The Golden Breath: Studies in five poets of the new India (1933)
• Marx and Engels on India (1937) (editor)
• Apology for Heroism: An Essay in Search of Faith (1946)
• Homage to Tagore (1946)
• On Education (1947)
• Lines Written to an Indian Air: Essays (1949)
• The Indian Theatre (1950)
• The Humanism of M. K. Gandhi: Three Lectures (1967)
• Critical Essays on Indian Writing in English (1972)
• Roots and Flowers: Two Lectures on the Metamorphosis of Technique and Content in the Indian English Novel (1972)
• The Humanism of Jawaharlal Nehru (1978)
• The Humanism of Rabindranath Tagore: Three Lectures (1978)
• Is There a Contemporary Indian Civilisation? (1963)
• Conversations in Bloomsbury (1981)
• Pilpali Sahab: Story of a Childhood under the Raj (1985)

Notable Awards

• International Peace Prize - 1953
• Padma Bhushan - 1967
• Sahitya Akademi Award - 1971 (for Morning Face)