Bookmarked Musings: Revisiting Raja Rao, Mulkraj Anand, and R. K. Narayan – “Big Three” of Indo-English Literature by Dr. Ramlal Agarwal

In this essay, Dr. Ramlal Agarwal revisits the big three of Indo-English Literature and analyses how their work has shaped our definition of Indian literature.

The recognition and discussion of Indo-English novels start with Raja Rao (1908–2006), Mulk Raj Anand (1905–2004), and R.K. Narayan (1906–2000). William Walsh, the famous English critic, called them the Big Three of Indo-English literature. They burst onto the Indian literary scene in the thirties with hardly a difference of a few years. Raja Rao’s Kanthapura was published in 1938; Mulk Raj Anand’s Untouchable was published five years earlier, in 1933; and R.K. Narayan’s Swami and Friends was published in 1935.

Their literary careers were launched when Mahatma Gandhi was fighting tooth and nail for Indian independence and eliminating the atrocious practice of untouchability. Gandhi was a charismatic man, and such was his charisma that he could rouse Indians from their inertness and take to the streets to drive away the British from India and rid society of its age-old, atrocious practice of untouchability.