The Untouchable is an honest dictation of the pathetic plight and dilemma of untouchables who are subjected to inestimable social ignominies. As K.N. Sinha comments, “The novel has a tragic beauty of its own.” 

Published in 1935, The Untouchable is one of the finest and most controversial works produced by Mulk Raj Anand depicting with the nerve-chilling experiences of untouchables. The display of compassion by M.R.Anand is capable of bringing tears in the eyes of an average reader, whether victim, victimizer or a mere spectator of untouchability in any form. One of the pioneers in Indo-Anglian fiction, Mulk Raj had earned name and fame for sketching the black and white lives of poorer castes in traditional Indian society with perfection. The author’s friend E.M. Forster gives an impressive introduction to the novel. In his words,” Avoiding rhetoric and circumlocution, it has gone straight to the heart of its subject and purified it"

The book revolves around the need to eradicate caste based discrimination in Indian Society. 

Mulk Raj paints a real and painfully true picture of an average low caste Hindu who is subject to ordeals due to status ascribed to him by birth. The protagonist of this novel is the figure of suffering because of his caste. Anand's hero exemplifies humanity caught in archaic social order. 

Mulk Raj has portrayed the picture of an untouchable who is a sweeper boy, Bakha. Symbolic of the millions who live and die almost anonymously, this character represents the exploited society in pre-independence India. 

Bakha’s life brings out the mistreatment and subjugation which has been the common fate of others like him. His anger and humiliation are not of his alone, but of the entire community. Besides Bakha, there are other characters who are the victims of caste based repression.

The character of Sohini exemplifies the image of Indian sweeper caste including the lower caste females. Anand articulates in strong words the plight of millions who creep and crawl, though the book is much beyond that. The author adroitly exposes the hypocrisy and double standards of the upper caste people like Pt. Kali Nath who enjoy the touch of the Harijan girls. 

While describing the pathetic conditions of the untouchables Mulkraj seems to be empathetic to their hardships. Meticulously, Mulk Raj brings out the material and psychological torture inflicted upon the Gandhi Ji’s Harijans!

Here the struggle is not a fight against an individual but a battle against the social norm which violates the human rights of the low caste.

“Cleaning three rows of latrines in a single day and starting his routine work with his father's cascade of abuses and unconcealed threats are the rituals he had to undergo umpteen times…”

These words display the ill-treatment which Bakha and his fellow men were subject to from dawn to dusk. Throughout, the author frames a plot where readers of contemporary India could visualize the shameful and painful conditions of the untouchables in the trance of their minds. The action and reaction of the high caste polluted by the touch of an untouchable Bakha, is a deliberate one.  

“They think we are mere dirt, because we clean their dirt.”

The dominance of high caste Hindus and inhumane treatment with the low caste goes at parallels to exhibit the in-built flaws and contrasts in Hindu Society. By the use of dramatic irony, Anand succeeds in taking his fellow Indians back in time, when such heinous and brutal deeds were socially acceptable.  The book is a must read for all, young and old as it gives a true picture of India in past and thus gives us an idea of how present-day India has evolved over decades, rising above necessary evils like Untouchability, which do exist in the modern India but not in it’s original form.

Mulk Raj Anand in his book leaves a deep message for his own people.