Abstract

The aim of this paper is to explore the thoughts and actions of Bakha, the protagonist in Mulk Raj Anand’s Untouchable, to understand how the novelist has conceived his identity. The novelist imagines the sufferings of the untouchables and the members of the lowest strata of the caste bound Hindu Society. The caste based exploitation made the life of the outcastes’ unbearable. The novelist presents the happenings of a single day in the life of the Bakha. Bakha’s character has been interpreted in many ways. Mostly he is seen as Anand’s idealised hero. This paper will attempt to understand to what extent Anand has idealised Bakha. This paper will try to respond to the question of authentic articulation of dalit experiences and dalit consciousness by non-Dalit writers and whether there is any trace of Dalit consciousnees in Anand’s Bakha. The paper will critically study Bakha’s imitation of the Englishmen and his eventual rejection of Colonel Hutchinson’s effort of religious conversion. Bakha’s attempt to catch a glimpse of the gods in the Hindu temple will also be analysed to understand how Anand has tried to project him.