Dalits have been the extremely backward and deprived sections of the Indian society suppressed since a long time only on account of their lowly birth. They have been exploited socially, physically, economically, mentally, and above all, emotionally by the upper-caste people. They have been forced to lead an alienated life of utter neglect and humiliation. Even when they are talented, hardworking, punctual, dutiful and able in all respects they are earmarked as ‘untouchables’, ‘down-castes’, ‘outcastes’, ‘paravan’ or ‘harijans’, and seen by all with contempt and hatred. It is an irony of civilization that these ‘working class’ people who always work hard are looked down upon and treated shabbily by the powerful. Mulk Raj Anand and Arundhati Roy both have delineated the pathetic lots of these downtrodden and oppressed sections of Indian society in their novels and in this respect both can be entitled as true champions of the cause of the poor and the exploited. Their writings are suffused with a note of protest and resentment against the exploiting societal set-up of India. Both have led crusades against these dehumanising and barbaric distinctions. Their characters, both the exploited and the exploiters, are drawn from men and women they saw around. The glaring disparities between the rich and the poor, the haves and the have-nots, powerful and powerless, compelled both to think about the amelioration of the downtrodden. The present paper purports to present a brief thematic study of the novels of Mulk Raj Anand and Arundhati Roy. Both the novelists have portrayed the agony of those people who have encountered lifelong oppression, subjugation, insults, inequality, discriminations and brutality in their own country.
Research Scholar, Dept. of English Magadh University, Bodh-Gaya
