Caste and Class Conflict in Mulk Raj Anand‟s Untouchable and Coolie

Mulk Raj Anand is a stalwart of Indian English literature. He is a novelist par excellence. Translated into many languages in India and abroad, he has been universally acclaimed as a progressive writer. One of the important features of Mulk Raj Anand‟s writing is the truthful portrayal of the Indian society – a society which is sandwiched between and fractured by so many evils and corruptions. Some of these are superstitions, untouchability, political upheavals and merciless persecution of underprivileged and the deserted. His characters are always in constant search for their identity in adverse society. He deals with the burning social problems. He portrays the sufferings of the downtrodden and Dalits at the hand of the so-called high caste or high class people. He brings out the plight of the Dalits in the very adverse situation of caste discrimination, cruelties and atrocities. Although he was not a Dalit by birth, he had very compassionate and humane sympathy for the Dalits. His novels propound a battle against enemies of humanism, equality and justice. They indicate a move suggesting the need to eradicate the social maladies following the footsteps of the great leaders like Gandhi and Ambedkar. The present paper leads a discussion about the acute misery of untouchables and the inhumanity of upper castes on them.