Indian Writing in English: Vineet Pandey

Indian Writing in
English
Writers and Works
Sahitya Classes
VINEET PANDEY
6NET 2JRF 15SET
ADDRESS - 31/A Jia Sarai, Hauz Khas, Dehli. 9672784555, 9672484555

(Source: Compilation from various WEBSITES and Other Resources)
2018
PART 1
SAHITYA THE LITERATURE

AN INSIGHT INTO IMPORTANT INDIAN ENGLISH LITERATURE WORKS
Toru Dutt
Toru Dutt (March 4, 1856 – August 30, 1877) was an Indianpoet who wrote in English and French.[1] She
was born to father Govind Chandra Dutt and mother Kshetramoni of the Rambagan Dutt family. Toru was the
youngest child after sister Aru and brother Abju. Romesh Chunder Dutt, writer and Indian civil servant, was
their cousin. Their family became Christians in 1862.
While living in Cambridge between 1871-3 she attended the Higher Lectures for Women at the University.
Toru Dutt met and befriended Mary Martin, the daughter of Reverend John Martin of Sidney Sussex College.
The friendship that developed between the two girls at this time continued in their correspondence after
Toru’s return to India.
Toru Dutt was a natural linguist and in her short life became proficient in Bengali, English, French and, later
on, Sanskrit. She left behind an impressive collection of prose and poetry. Her two novels, the unfinished
Bianca or The Young Spanish Maiden written in English and Le Journal de Mademoiselle d’Arvers, written in
French, were based outside India with non-Indian protagonists.
Her poetry comprises A Sheaf Gleaned in French Fields consisting of her translations into English of French
poetry, and Ancient Ballads and Legends of Hindustan which compiles her translations and adaptations from
Sanskrit literature.
Her collection of Sanskrit translations Ancient Ballads and Legends of Hindustan was published
posthumously in 1882 Edmund Gosse wrote an introductory memoir for it. In this he wrote of Toru Dutt:
"She brought with her from Europe a store of knowledge that would have sufficed to make an English or
French girl seem learned, but which in her case was simply miraculous."
She wrote poems such as Sîta, Lotus and many more. Her poem, Our Casuarina Tree, has become one of the
more popular poems in modern Indian literature. In this poem, she reminisces about her happy childhood
days through her memories of the tree, which she associates with her prime and with her siblings. It is often
taught in high schools in India as a part of the English curriculum.
Begum Rokeya
In her writings, she advocated that both men and women should be treated equally as rational beings, and
the lack of education is the main reason of women's lagging behind.
Her major works include Abarodhbasini, a spirited attack on the extreme forms of purdah that endangered
women's lives and thoughts; Sultana's Dream, a science fiction novella set in a place called Lady Land, a
world ruled by women; Padmarag ("Essence of the Lotus", 1924), another feminist utopian novel; Motichur,
collection of essays in two volumes.
Works
Pipasha ("Thirst", 1902).
Motichur (essays, 1st vol. 1904, 2nd vol. 1922).
The second volume of Matichur includes stories and fairy tales such as Saurajagat (The Solar System), Delicia
Hatya (translation of the Murder of Delicia, by Mary Corelli), Jnan-phal (The Fruit of Knowledge), Nari-Sristi
(Creation of Women), Nurse Nelly, Mukti-phal (The Fruit of Emancipation), etc.
Sultana's Dream
Padmarag ("Essence of the Lotus", novel, 1924). A feminist utopia.
Abarodhbasini ("The Secluded Women", 1931)
Boligarto (short story).
Narir Adhikar ("The Rights of Women"), an unfinished essay for the Islamic Women's Association
God Gives, Man Robs, 1927, republished in God gives, man robs and other writings, Dhaka, Narigrantha
Prabartana, 2002
Education Ideals for the Modern Indian Girl, 1931, republished in Rokeya Rachanabali, Abdul Quadir (editor),
Dhaka, Bangla Academy, 2006
Begum Rokeya wrote in a number of genres, short stories, poems, essays, novels and satirical writings,
developing a distinctive literary style, characterised by creativity, logic and a wry sense of humour. She
ADDRESS- 31 / A JIA SARAI NEW DELHI 110016. 8587035827, 9672784555, 9267928908,

(NEAR HAUZ KHAS METRO STATION)
started writing in the Nabanoor from about 1903, under the name of Mrs. R S Hossain. However, there is an
opinion that her first published writing Pipasha appeared in the Nabaprabha in 1902. She wrote regularly for
the Saogat, Mahammadi, Nabaprabha, Mahila, Bharatmahila, Al-Eslam, Nawroz, Mahe-Nao, Bangiya
Mussalman Sahitya Patrika, The Mussalman, Indian Ladies Magazine, etc. Her writings called upon women to
protest against injustices and break the social barriers that discriminated against them.
Raja Rao
Raja Rao (8 November 1908 – 8 July 2006) was an Indian writer of English-language novels and short stories,
whose works are deeply rooted in Metaphysics.
The Serpent and the Rope (1960), a semi-autobiographical novel recounting a search for spiritual truth in
Europe and India, established him as one of the finest Indian prose stylists and won him the Sahitya Akademi
Award in 1964.
Kanthapura
Raja Rao's first and best-known novel, Kanthapura (1938), is the story of a south Indian village named
Kanthapura. The novel is narrated in the form of a purana by an old woman of the village, Achakka. Dominant
castes like Brahmins are privileged to get the best region of the village, while lower casts such as Pariahs are
marginalized. Despite this classist system, the village retains its long-cherished traditions of festivals in
which all castes interact and the villagers are united. The village is believed to be protected by a local deity
named Kenchamma.
The main character of the novel, Moorthy, is a young Brahmin who leaves for the city to study, where he
becomes familiar with Gandhian philosophy. He begins living a Gandhian lifestyle, wearing home-spun
khaddar and discarded foreign clothes and speaking out against the caste system. This causes the village
priest to turn against Moorthy and excommunicate him. Heartbroken to hear this, Moorthy's mother
Narasamma dies. After this, Moorthy starts living with an educated widow, Rangamma, who is active in
India’s independence movement.
Moorthy is then invited by Brahmin clerks at the Skeffington coffee estate to create an awareness of
Gandhian teachings among the pariah coolies. When Moorthy arrives, he is beaten by the policeman Bade
Khan, but the coolies stand up for Moorthy and beat Bade Khan - an action for which they are then thrown
out of the estate. Moorthy continues his fight against injustice and social inequality and becomes a staunch
ally of Gandhi. Although he is depressed over the violence at the estate, he takes responsibility and goes on a
three-day fast and emerges morally elated. A unit of the independence committee is then formed in
Kanthapura, with the office bearers vowing to follow Gandhi’s teachings under Moorthy's leadership.
The British government accuses Moorthy of provoking the townspeople to inflict violence and arrests him.
Though the committee is willing to pay his bail, Moorthy refuses their money. While Moorthy spends the next
three months in prison, the women of Kanthapura take charge, forming a volunteer corps under Rangamma's
leadership. Rangamma instills a sense of patriotism among the women by telling them stories of notable
women from Indian history. They face police brutality, including assault and rape, when the village is
attacked and burned. Upon Moorthy's release from prison, he is greeted by the loyal townspeople, who are
now united regardless of caste. The novel ends with Moorthy and the town looking to the future and planning
to continue their fight for independence.
Ahmed Ali
Ahmed Ali (1 July 1910 in Delhi – 14 January 1994 in Karachi‎) was a Pakistani novelist, poet, critic,
translator, diplomat and scholar. His writings include Twilight in Delhi (1940), his first novel in the English
language.
He taught at the leading Indian universities including in Lucknow and Allahabad from 1932–46 and joined
the Bengal Senior Educational Service as professor and head of the English Department at Presidency
College, Calcutta (1944–47).

In 1948, he moved to Karachi.[5] Later, he was appointed Director of Foreign Publicity, Government of
Pakistan. At the behest of Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan, he joined the Pakistan Foreign Service in 1950.
Works
Novels
Twilight in Delhi (1940)
Ocean of Night (1964)
Rats and Diplomats (1986)
Plays
The Land of Twilight (1931)
Break the Chains (1932)
Short stories
“When the Funeral Was Crossing the Bridge,” in Lucknow University Journal, 1929.
“Mahāvīra Ki Ek Rât,” in Humayûn (Lahore), January 1931.
Angarey (1932). With Rashid Jahan, Mahmuduzzafar and Sajjad Zaheer.
Sholey (1934)
“Our Lane,” in New Writing (London), 1936.
Hamari Gali (1940)
“Morning in Delhi,” in New Writing (London), 1940.
Qaid-khana (1942)
Maut se Pahle (1945)
“Before Death,” in New Directions 15 (New York), 1956.
Prima della Morte (1966). Bilingual Italian-Urdu version of Maut se Pahle.
The Prison-House (1985)
Poetry
Purple Gold Mountain (1960)
First Voices (1965)
Selected Poems (1988)
Literary criticism
“Poetry: A Problem,” in Allahabad University Studies, vol. XI, no. II, 1934.
Art ka Taraqqî-Pasand Nazariya (1936)
“Maxim Gorky as a Short-Story Writer,” in Lucknow Univerity Journal, 1938.
Mr. Eliot’s Penny-World of Dreams (1941)
Failure of an Intellect (1968)
“Illusion and Reality, the Art and Philosophy of Raja Rao,” in Journal of Commonwealth Literature, July 1968.
The Problem of Style and Technique in Ghalib (1969)
Ghalib: Two Essays (1969). With Alessandro Bausani.
The Golden Tradition: An Anthology of Urdu Poetry (1973)
Translation
The Flaming Earth (1949). An anthology of selected Indonesian poems.
The Falcon and the Hunted Bird (1950)
The Bulbul and the Rose: An Anthology of Urdu Poetry (1960)
Ghalib: Selected Poems (1969)
al-Qur’ân: A Contemporary Translation (1984)
The Call of the Trumpet (unpublished). An anthology of modern Chinese poetry.
Twilight in Delhi
Twilight in Delhi is Ahmed Ali's first novel, originally published in English in Britain, 1940. The novel
addresses India's changing social, political, and cultural climate following colonialism
Plot summary
The novel is set around 1911 to 1919 in Delhi. Ahmed Ali has vividly drawn the picture of old Delhi and its
Muslim inhabitants of that era. He depicts the themes of disintegration, degeneration, alienation, gender and

social conflicts, nostalgia, the downfall of the Mughal emperors, and the effects of colonialism and
imperialism on Indian Muslims in Delhi.
The novel is shot through with rich symbolic imagery. The palm tree, the henna plant, dogs, cats and pigeons
refer not only to the behaviors of characters but also the whole Muslim society. The novel starts at dawn,
with "twilight" referring to the rise of the sun as well as the rise of the protagonist Mir Nihal's living
standards. By contrast, descriptions of twilight at evening in the closing sentences portray the overall
downfall and destruction of not only the family of Mir Nihal but also the Mughal Empire altogether.
The novel was not published until after the intervention of the prominent English writer E. M. Forster.
Attia Hosain
Attia Hosain (1913–1998) was a writer and broadcaster who hailed from Undivided India and worked for
many years in the UK. She wrote two acclaimed books, being the semi-autobiographical Sunlight on a broken
column and a collection of short stories named Phoenix fled.
Attia was born in 1913 in Lucknow into a rich, feudal land-owning Sunni Muslim family. Her father, Sheikh
Shahid Husain Kidwai, was the taluqdar of Gadia, a large estate in Barabanki district. Her mother, Nisar
Fatima, daughter of Syed Maqbool Hussain Alvi of Kakori, hailed from a family of educated professionals
rather than land-owners. Attia was the third of five children. She had two elder sisters, Zakia and Razia, and
two younger brothers, Reshad Husain and Fuad Hussain.[1] Reshad, who remained a citizen of India, became
a diplomat and served as India's High Commissioner to Ceylon (Sri Lanka) in the 1960s. His wife, Asif Begum,
was a daughter of Sir Fazl-i-Hussain, a prominent politician of undivided Punjab, belonging to the Unionist
Party. Fuad (1928-68) emigrated to Pakistan at partition, became a fighter pilot in the Pakistan Air Force, and
witnessed active duty during the Indo-Pak war of 1965.[2]
Attia's father died when she was less than eleven years old, and she was raised by her mother. She was
schooled at La Martiniere Girls' College in Lucknow.[3] At the same time, her mother arranged for her to be
tutored at home by Muslim clergymmen in the Quran and other Islamic texts. After completing school at age
15, she attended Isabella Thoburn College and Lucknow University.
List of works
Phoenix Fled, Chatto & Windus, 1953
Sunlight on a Broken Column, Chatto & Windus, 1961
Cooking the Indian Way, 1967
Sunlight on a Broken Column

Sunlight on a Broken Column is a novel by Attia Hosain, which was published in 1961. The novel, mainly set
in Lucknow, is an autobiographical account by a fictional character called Laila, who is a fifteen-year-old
orphaned daughter of a rich Muslim family of Taluqdars.
Title
The title comes from a line in the second stanza of T.S Eliot's (1925) poem The Hollow Men:
Eyes I dare not meet in dreams
In death's dream kingdom
These do not appear:
There, the eyes are
Sunlight on a broken column
Plot summary
Laila, a young girl who has lost both her parents, lives in the household of her grandfather, along with her
father’s sisters Abida and Majida and, Majida’s seventeen-year-old daughter Zahra. She is brought up by her
orthodox but principled Aunt Abida. Though Laila, according to the wishes of her father, had the benefit of
western education, she too keeps purdah like her aunts. However death of her grandfather makes Uncle
Hamid, her father’s elder brother, head of the family and her new guardian. Uncle Hamid, a man of “liberal’
ideas, is nevertheless an autocratic guardian, allowing very little freedom to those who live under his rule.

No longer in purdah Laila starts attending college. Her university friends as well as her distant cousin Asad
become involved in anti-government protests. Surrounded by people who are either pro-British or against,
she, however, is unable to take sides. She is enmeshed in the struggle for her own personal freedom. Once
when asked by her uncle to opine about the agitation going on in the university, she refuses to do so. On
being asked whether she had no freedom of thought she answers that she has no freedom of action. Her
rebellion against the hypocrisy visible in the so-called liberal views of her Uncle and his wife remains limited
to her mind until she falls in love with Ameer. Ameer, a poor relative of their family friends, would never be
approved by her family. She goes against their wishes to marry him, and wins her freedom from their
authority. The novel ends with her loneliness after Ameer's death after the bloody partition and so called
independence of both the nations, India and Pakistan. Her slow turn towards nationalist politics of India, the
confused state of the "secular" Muslim in post-independence India is symbolized by her subtle acceptance of
Asad, her cousin. The novel is open ended and we never know what she finally decides, though.
Nirad C. Chaudhuri
Nirad Chandra Chaudhuri (23 November 1897 – 1 August 1999) was an Indian Bengali−English writer and
man of letters. He was born in a Hindu family in 1897 in Kishoreganj, then part of Bengal in British India, now
in Bangladesh.
Chaudhuri was educated in Kishorganj and Kolkata (then, Calcutta). For his FA (school-leaving) course he
attended Ripon College in Calcutta along with the famous Bengali writer Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay.
Following this, he attended Scottish Church College, Calcutta, where he studied history as his undergraduate
major. He graduated with honors in history and topped the University of Calcutta merit list. At Scottish
Church College, Calcutta, he attended the seminars of the noted historian, Professor Kalidas Nag. After
graduation, he enrolled for the M.A. at the University of Calcutta. However, he did not attend all of his final
exams, and consequently was not able to complete his M.A.
After his studies, he took a position as a clerk in the Accounting Department of the Indian Army. At the same
time, he started contributing articles to popular magazines. His first article on Bharat Chandra (a famous
Bengali poet of the 18th century) appeared in the most prestigious English magazine of the time, Modern
Review.
Chaudhuri left his position in the Accounting Department shortly after, and started a new career as a
journalist and editor. During this period he was a boarder in Mirzapur Street near College Square, Kolkata,
living together with the writers Bibhuti Bhushan Banerjee and Dakshinaranjan Mitra Majumder. He was
involved in the editing of the then well-known English and Bengali magazines Modern Review, Prabasi and
Sonibarer Chithi. In addition, he also founded two short-lived but highly esteemed Bengali magazines,
Samasamayik and Notun Patrika.
In 1932, he married Amiya Dhar, a well-known writer herself; the couple had three sons.
In 1938, Chaudhuri obtained a job as secretary to Sarat Chandra Bose, a political leader in the freedom
movement in India. As a result, he was able to interact with political leaders of India: Mahatma Gandhi,
Jawaharlal Nehru, and the brother of Sarat Chandra Bose, Subhas Chandra Bose (also known as Netaji). A
growing familiarity with the workings of the inner circle of Indian politics led him to be skeptical about its
eventual progress, and he became progressively disillusioned about the ability of Indian political leadership.
Apart from his career as a secretary, Chaudhuri continued to contribute articles in Bengali and English to
newspapers and magazines. He was also appointed as a political commentator on the Kolkata branch of the
All India Radio. In 1941, he started working for the Delhi Branch of the All India Radio.
Chaudhuri was a prolific writer even in the very last years of his life, publishing his last work at the age of 99.
His wife Amiya Chaudhuri died in 1994 in Oxford, England. He too died in Oxford, three months short of his
102nd birthday, in 1999. He lived at 20 Lathbury Road[2] from 1982 until his death and a blue plaque was
installed by the Oxfordshire Blue Plaques Board in 2008.
Student historian Dipayan Pal wrote of Nirad C. Chaudhuri in The Statesman in 2016:[

Chaudhuri authored numerous works in English and Bengali. His oeuvre provides a magisterial appraisal of
the histories and cultures of India, especially in the context of British colonialism in the 19th and 20th
centuries. Chaudhuri is best known for The Autobiography of an Unknown Indian, published in 1951. Over
the course of his literary career, he received numerous accolades for his writing. In 1966, The Continent of
Circe was awarded the Duff Cooper Memorial Award, making Chaudhuri the first and only Indian to date to
be given the prize. The Sahitya Akademi, India's national Academy of Letters, awarded Chaudhuri the Sahitya
Akademi Award for his biography on Max Müller, Scholar Extraordinary
Books
Chaudhuri wrote the following books in English:
1. The Autobiography of an Unknown Indian (1951)
2. A Passage to England (1959)
3. The Continent of Circe (1965)
4. The Intellectual in India (1967)
5. To Live or Not to Live (1971)
6. Scholar Extraordinary, The Life of Professor the Right Honourable Friedrich Max Muller, P.C.
(1974)
7. Culture in the Vanity Bag (1976)
8. Clive of India (1975)
9. Hinduism: A Religion to Live by (1979)
10. Thy Hand, Great Anarch! (1987)
11. Three Horsemen of the New Apocalypse (1997)
12. The East is East and West is West (collection of pre-published essays)
13. From the Archives of a Centenarian (collection of pre-published essays)
14. Why I Mourn for England (collection of pre-published essays)
15. He also wrote the following books in Bengali:
16. Bangali Jibane Ramani (Role of Woman in Bengali Life)
17. Atmaghati Bangali (Suicidal Bengalee)
18. Atmaghati Rabindranath (Suicidal Rabindranath)
19. Amar Debottar Sampatti (My Bequeathed Property)
20. Nirbachita Prabandha (Selected Essays)
21. Aji Hote Satabarsha Age (Before a Hundred Years) (A Hundred years ago)
The Autobiography of an Unknown Indian

The Autobiography of an Unknown Indian is the 1951 autobiography of Nirad C. Chaudhuri, an Indian
writer. Written when he was around 50, it records his life from his birth in 1897 in Kishorganj, a small town
in present-day Bangladesh. The book relates his mental and intellectual development, his life and growth in
Calcutta, his observations of vanishing landmarks, the connotation of this is dual—changing Indian situation
and historical forces that was making exit of British from India an imminent affair.
Nirad, a self-professed Anglophile, is in any situation an explosive proposition and in the book he is at his
best in observing as well as observing-at-a-distance and this dual perspective makes it a wonderful reading.
His treatment of his childhood, his enchantment, disillusionment and gratitude to the colonial capital Calcutta
is highly factual as well as artistic to the extent highly readable.
Arguably, his magnum opus considering his literary output that he could generate as late age as ninety years,
Autobiography is not a single book, it is many. Consciously or unconsciously he has left traces of all his
erudition, his spirit and learning. Declaring himself a cartographer of learning, the book is also a cartographic
evidence of the author's mind and its varied geographies, of the map as well as of the mind.
The dedication of the book runs thus:
“To the memory of the British Empire in India,

Which conferred subjecthood upon us,
But withheld citizenship.
To which yet every one of us threw out the challenge:
"Civis Britannicus sum"
Because all that was good and living within us

Was made, shaped and quickened
By the same British rule.”
Over the years, the Autobiography has acquired many distinguished admirers. Winston Churchill thought it
one of the best books he had ever read. V. S. Naipaul remarked: "No better account of the penetration of the
Indian mind by the West - and by extension, of the penetration of one culture by another - will be or now can
be written." In 1998, it was included, as one of the few Indian contributions, in The New Oxford Book of
English Prose .
The Continent of Circe

The Continent of Circe (1965) is a book of essays written by Indian author Nirad C. Chaudhuri that was
winner of the Duff Cooper Prize for 1966.[1] In this book, Chaudhuri discusses Indian society from a socio-
psychological perspective, commenting on Hindu society from Prehistory to modern times. The author's
thesis is that militarism has been a way of life there from time immemorial.
Chaudhuri gives an account of various anthropological subgroups dominating the Indian subcontinent and
the struggles between classes from the arrival of Aryans to later settlements of Huns in western India.
The book argues against the "pacifist" theory of India as being a peace-loving nation further cemented by the
principles of nonviolence preached by Gandhi. The author holds a different view and points to what he sees
as an inherent love for violence in Hindus stretching from Emperor Ashoka (exemplified with the battle of
Kalinga), through the Imperial Guptas until the time India was invaded by Mughals in the early 15th century.
The focal point of the book is that every major Hindu dynasty has followed the path of war to secure and
capture new domains and that violence is very much a part of life in Indian society. This is further
corroborated by literary evidence, as can be seen in epics like the Mahabharata, Ramayana, the poems of
Samudragupta etc., which give graphic descriptions of wars fought on a colossal scale.
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore also written Ravīndranātha Thākura[2] (7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941),[b] sobriquet
Gurudev,[c] was a Bengali polymath[4][5] who reshaped Bengali literature and music, as well as Indian art
with Contextual Modernism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Author of Gitanjali and its "profoundly
sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse",[6] he became the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in
Literature in 1913.[7] Tagore's poetic songs were viewed as spiritual and mercurial; however, his "elegant
prose and magical poetry" remain largely unknown outside Bengal.[8] He is sometimes referred to as "the
Bard of Bengal".[9]
A Pirali Brahmin from Calcutta with ancestral gentry roots in Jessore, Tagore wrote poetry as an eight-year-
old.[10] At the age of sixteen, he released his first substantial poems under the pseudonym Bhānusiṃha
("Sun Lion"), which were seized upon by literary authorities as long-lost classics.[11][12] By 1877 he
graduated to his first short stories and dramas, published under his real name. As a humanist, universalist
internationalist, and ardent anti-nationalist,[13] he denounced the British Raj and advocated independence
from Britain. As an exponent of the Bengal Renaissance, he advanced a vast canon that comprised paintings,
sketches and doodles, hundreds of texts, and some two thousand songs; his legacy also endures in the
institution he founded, Visva-Bharati University.[14][15][16][17][18]
Tagore modernised Bengali art by spurning rigid classical forms and resisting linguistic strictures. His novels,
stories, songs, dance-dramas, and essays spoke to topics political and personal. Gitanjali (Song Offerings),
Gora (Fair-Faced) and Ghare-Baire (The Home and the World) are his best-known works, and his verse, short
stories, and novels were acclaimed—or panned—for their lyricism, colloquialism, naturalism, and unnatural
contemplation. His compositions were chosen by two nations as national anthems: India's Jana Gana Mana
and Bangladesh's Amar Shonar Bangla. The Sri Lankan national anthem was inspired by his work
 Quotes

 “Every person is worthy of an infinite wealth of love - the beauty of his soul knows no limit.” -
Rabindranath Tagore, Glimpses of Bengal
 “Who are you, reader, reading my poems a hundred years hence? I cannot send you one single flower
from this wealth of the spring, one single streak of gold from yonder clouds. Open your doors and
look abroad. From your blossoming garden gather fragrant memories of the vanished flowers of an
hundred years before. In the joy of your heart may you feel the living joy that sang one spring
morning, sending its glad voice across an hundred years.”
 “Trust love even if it brings sorrow. Do not close up your heart.” ― Rabindranath Tagore, The
Gardener [152]
 “The roots below the earth claim no rewards for making the branches fruitful.”
 “We read the world wrong and say that it deceives us.”
 “Once we dreamt that we were strangers. We wake up to find that we were dear to each other.”
 ~ Rabindranath Tagore, Stray Birds [153]
Works
1. Chitra 1914 Creative Unity 1922
2. The Crescent Moon 1913
3. The Cycle of Spring 1919
4. Fireflies 1928
5. Fruit-Gathering 1916
6. The Fugitive 1921
7. The Gardener 1913
8. Gitanjali: Song Offerings 1912
9. Glimpses of Bengal 1991
10. The Home and the World 1985
11. The Hungry Stones 1916
12. I Won't Let you Go: Selected Poems
1991
13. The King of the Dark Chamber 1914
14. Letters from an Expatriate in Europe
2012
15. The Lover of God 2003
16. Mashi 1918
17. My Boyhood Days 1943
18. My Reminiscences 1991
19. Nationalism 1991
20. The Post Office 1914
21. Sadhana: The Realisation of Life
1913
22. Selected Letters 1997
23. Selected Poems 1994
24. Selected Short Stories 1991
25. Songs of Kabir 1915
26. The Spirit of Japan 1916
27. Stories from Tagore 1918
28. Stray Birds 1916
29. Vocation 1913
30. The Wreck 1921

The Home and the World

The Home and the World' (in the original Bengali, ঘরেবাইরে Ghôre Baire or Ghare Baire, lit. "At home and
outside") is a 1916 novel by Rabindranath Tagore. The book illustrates the battle Tagore had with himself,
between the ideas of Western culture and revolution against the Western culture. These two ideas are
portrayed in two of the main characters, Nikhil, who is rational and opposes violence, and Sandip, who will
let nothing stand in his way from reaching his goals. These two opposing ideals are very important in
understanding the history of the Bengal region and its contemporary problems.
There is much controversy over whether or not Tagore was attempting to represent Gandhi with Sandip.
Many argue that Tagore would not even venture to personify Gandhi in his characters because Tagore was
a large admirer of Gandhi. Also, Gandhi was against violence, while Sandip would utilize violence to get
what he wanted. The book shows "the clash between new and old, realism and idealism, the means and the
end, good and evil" (p xxiv) within India and southern Asia.
The novel was translated into English by the author's nephew, Surendranath Tagore, with input from the
author, in 1919.
The novel is set in early 20th century India. The story line coincides with the National Independence
Movement taking place in the country at the time, which was sparked by the Indian National Congress.
Characters
Nikhil
Nikhil is seen and described as an educated and gentle man. He is from kulin aristocratic family of
landlords, and his family prides themselves in beautiful women. However, Nikhil is different in that he
married not only a poor woman, but also one who was not particularly attractive. He is also unpopular in
the town because he has not joined them stating, "I am not running amuck crying Bande Mataram."(42) In
light of this, the police also suspect him of harbouring some "hidden protest." In reality, Nikhil considers
himself to be more aware of his country's role in a broader sense, and refuses to take part in Swadeshi.
Bimala
Bimala is the wife of Nikhil. She is describd as not very pretty and from a much more humble background
than Nikhil. She loves her husband dearly, and enjoys being completely devoted to him. At the beginning of
the novel, she seems to be confined to the traditional female role, and has no thoughts of entering the real
world, even with persuasion from her husband. Her feelings make a rapid change with the occurrence of
the Swadeshi movement, due to Sandip's radical influence.
Sandip
Sandip is the third major character in the novel, completing the love triangle. He is a guest in the home of
Nikhil and Bimala and his revolutionary ideas and speeches have a significant impact on Bimala. He is very
vocal in his anti-imperialistic views and is a skilled orator. Sandip represents characteristics that are
directly opposite to those Nikhil possesses, thus drawing Bimala to Sandip. Bimala gets caught up in the
ideas that Sandip presents as well as the man himself. Her seemingly increasing patriotism causes her to
spend more and more time with Sandip, thereby solidifying the love triangle conflict.Sandip's first name is
translated to "with dipa (light fire flame)".
Bara Rani
Bara Rani is Bimala's sister in law. Her relationship with Bimala is strained at best. She causes a lot of
tension in the household. She also uses Nikhil to get the material items that she desires. Bimala constantly
complains about her to Nikhil. Bara Rani taunts Bimala for her mingling with Sandip Babu.
Amulya
Bimala considers Amulya to be her adoptive son, whom she met from the Swadeshi Movement. When first
they meet, Bimala asks him to acquire money for their cause. He lists wild schemes and plans, to which

Bimala replies "you must not be childish" (138). After pondering their situation, Amulya resolves to
murder the cashier for the money. Tagore uses him to symbolise the raw emotion and passion, yet lack of
sympathy for others often encompassed by group or riot mentality. Amulya struggles, as any youth,
between completing the goals of the movement and developing strong relationships on an individual level,
such as with Bimala; this is made extremely difficult by Sandip's powerful influence.


Indian Writing in English: Vineet Pandey

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Indian Writing in English: Vineet Pandey

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Indian Writing in English: Vineet Pandey

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Indian Writing in

ADDRESS - 31/A Jia Sarai, Hauz Khas, Dehli. 9672784555, 9672484555

SAHITYA THE LITERATURE

ADDRESS- 31 / A JIA SARAI NEW DELHI 110016. 8587035827, 9672784555, 9267928908,

ADDRESS- 31 / A JIA SARAI NEW DELHI 110016. 8587035827, 9672784555, 9267928908,

ADDRESS- 31 / A JIA SARAI NEW DELHI 110016. 8587035827, 9672784555, 9267928908,

Sunlight on a Broken Column

ADDRESS- 31 / A JIA SARAI NEW DELHI 110016. 8587035827, 9672784555, 9267928908,

ADDRESS- 31 / A JIA SARAI NEW DELHI 110016. 8587035827, 9672784555, 9267928908,

The Autobiography of an Unknown Indian

“To the memory of the British Empire in India,

ADDRESS- 31 / A JIA SARAI NEW DELHI 110016. 8587035827, 9672784555, 9267928908,

The Continent of Circe

ADDRESS- 31 / A JIA SARAI NEW DELHI 110016. 8587035827, 9672784555, 9267928908,

ADDRESS- 31 / A JIA SARAI NEW DELHI 110016. 8587035827, 9672784555, 9267928908,

The Home and the World

ADDRESS- 31 / A JIA SARAI NEW DELHI 110016. 8587035827, 9672784555, 9267928908,

ADDRESS- 31 / A JIA SARAI NEW DELHI 110016. 8587035827, 9672784555, 9267928908,

You might also like