A Comprehensive History of Indian English Literature

Defining the Scope and Nature of Indian English Literature

Indian English literature began as a byproduct of the encounter in the late eighteenth century between Britain and India. It is defined as literature written originally in English by authors who are Indian by birth, ancestry, or nationality. This definition distinguishes it from Anglo-Indian literature, which comprises the writings of British or Western authors concerning India, such as Kipling, Forster, and Masters. Furthermore, literal translations of works from Indian languages into English do not qualify unless they are creative translations by the authors themselves, such as Rabindranath Tagore’s Gitanjali. The crux of this literature is the distinctive literary phenomenon that emerges when an Indian sensibility tries to express itself originally in an English medium.

The nomenclature for this body of writing has evolved over time. Terms such as ‘Indo-Anglian literature’, ‘Indo-English literature’, and ‘Indian Writing in English’ have been used. The term ‘Indo-Anglian’ was first used as the title of Specimen Compositions from Native Students in 1883 and later popularized by Professor K.R. Srinivasa Iyengar. However, and as noted by critics such as Alphonso-Karkala, it suggests a relation between two countries rather than a language and a country. The Sahitya Akademi has accepted ‘Indian English Literature’ as the most suitable appellation, emphasizing that it is one of the many streams of Indian literature and a product of the nativization of the English language to express an Indian ethos.

The Foundations: From the Beginnings to the Watershed of 1857

The British connection with India was effectively established in the early seventeenth century, with the East India Company granted its charter by Queen Elizabeth I on December 31, 1600. Following the Battle of Plassey in 1757, the British moved from commerce to conquest. This period saw the planting of modernization seeds in the eighteenth-century Indian landscape. The awakening of India was twofold: a look toward the West and a rediscover of India’s own past. Early Company officials like Sir William Jones, who founded the Bengal Asiatic Society in 1784, and James Prinsep, who deciphered Asokan inscriptions, played key roles in this rediscovery.

British policy regarding the education of Indians passed through opposed stages. Initially, there was no official policy. Practical needs led to the establishment of the Calcutta Madarasa in 1781 and the Sanskrit College at Benaras in 1792 to help in the administration of justice. By the nineteenth century, the rise of the Evangelical movement and the need for lower-level officials shifted support toward English education. Raja Rammohun Roy became the ablest Indian champion of this cause, arguing in his 1823 Letter on English Education against the Sanskrit system in favor of a liberal system embracing useful sciences. The issue was clinched by Macaulay’s Minute on Education of February 2, 1835, which advocated making natives good English scholars. This was followed by the Wood’s Despatch of 1854 and the establishment of the first Indian universities in Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras in 1857.

Early Prose and the Morning Star of the Renaissance

The earliest prose writing in English by an Indian is attributed to Cavelly Venkata Boriah, whose ‘Account of the Jains’ appeared in 1809. However, Raja Rammohun Roy is considered the inaugurator of the modern age in India. Born in 1772, he was a pioneer in religious, educational, and political reform. His English works include thirty-two original essays. His first significant English publication was ‘A Defence of Hindu Theism’ in 1817. He also wrote ‘Precepts of Jesus: The Guide to Peace and Happiness’ in 1820, separating the moral teachings of Christ from Christian dogma. This led to his three ‘Appeals to the Christian Public’ between 1820 and 1823.

Rammohun Roy was deeply committed to social reform, specifically the plight of women. His writings against widow-burning include conferences and petitions to the House of Commons between 1818 and 1832. His political writings are highlighted by his ‘Petitions Against the Press Regulations’ in 1823, which argued that a free press was necessary for both governors and the governed. His prose style is reminiscent of Burke's eloquence, marked by clear thinking and logical argumentation. He was followed by other notable prose writers in Bengal such as Krishna Mohan Banerji and Ram Gopal Ghose, known as the ‘Indian Demosthenes’. In Bombay, Bal Shastri Jambhekar founded the English-cum-Marathi journal The Durpan in 1832, while in Madras, Cavelly Venkanta Ramaswami produced Biographical Sketches of the Dekkan Poets in 1840, the first work of literary biography in Indian English literature.

The Birth of Indian English Poetry and the Romantic Influence

Henry Louis Vivian Derozio is recognizeable as the first Indian English poet of note. Born in 1809 to an Indo-Portuguese father and an English mother, he was a teacher at Hindu College, Calcutta, where his radical ideas fired the imagination of his students. He published two volumes of poetry: Poems in 1827 and The Fakeer of Jungheera: A Metrical Tale and Other Poems in 1828. His work shows the influence of British Romantics like Byron and Moore, yet exhibits burning nationalistic zeal in poems like ‘To India—My Native Land’ and ‘The Harp of India’. Derozio was a pioneer in using Indian myth and legend, though he died prematurely of cholera in 1831.

Kashiprasad Ghose was the first author of pure Indian blood to publish verse in English, releasing The Shair or Minstrel and other Poems in 1830. While his work was technically correct, it was often undistinguished derivative verse. Michael Madhusudan Dutt also began his career in English, writing The Captive Ladie in 1849 and Visions of the Past in 1849, the latter in Miltonic blank verse. Dutt eventually turned to Bengali for his primary artistic expression. This early period of poetry is characterized by a tendency toward ‘psittacism’ or imitation of British models, though it laid the groundwork for the more authentic voices that would emerge later in the century.

Period of Resurgence and the Winds of Change: 1857 to 1920

The Great Revolt of 1857 marked a radical change in the Indo-British relationship, leading to increased alienation between the races. For British officials, India became a ‘land of regrets’ rather than a home. Conversely, the birth of a new integrated Indian class from the middle stratum of society infused the country with a sense of unity and hope. Movement of religious and social reform flourished, including the Brahmo Samaj, the Arya Samaj (founded by Swami Dayanand Saraswati in 1875), and the Theosophical Society. The appearance of Swami Ramakrishna and the subsequent dynamic leadership of Swami Vivekananda restored Indian self-confidence after the initial shock of Western impact.

Political awakening followed, led by organizations like the British India Association and eventually the Indian National Congress in 1885. Initially a body of moderates, Congress became more militant due to government indifference and the partition of Bengal in 1905. Events such as Japan’s victory over Russia in 1905 and the revolutionary movements in China and Turkey pricked the bubble of Western superiority. During this period, Indian English literature moved from imitation to creation as India’s rediscovery of her identity became a vigorous quest. Prominent figures like Toru Dutt, Tagore, and Sri Aurobindo emerged as major literary voices.

Toru Dutt and the Achievement of Authenticity

Toru Dutt is the poet with whom Indian English poetry truly graduated from imitation to authenticity. Born in 1856 and dying at twenty-one, she produced a body of work including A Sheaf Gleaned in French Fields (1876) and the posthumous Ancient Ballads and Legends of Hindustan (1882). She was the first to make extensive use of Indian myth and legend with an instinctive understanding of the spirit underlying them. Her poetic technique was varied, showing skill in narration, drama, and description. Her sonnet ‘Baugmaree’ and the poem ‘Our Casuarina Tree’ are noted for their nostalgia and local color. Her best work possesses quiet strength and deep emotion held under artistic restraint.

In the same period, Romesh Chunder Dutt produced workmanlike verse-translations of the Mahabharata and Ramayana, though his choice of the ‘Locksley Hall’ metre is often criticized for losing the epic sweep and simplicity of the Sanskrit originals. Manmohan Ghose, educated in England and a classical scholar, struggled with an ‘exile’s heart’ and alienation, leading to a poetic career of arrested development. His work, while displaying a fine sensitivity to words and rhythm, remained largely within the aestheticism of the 1890s, failing to strike roots in the land of his birth.

The Epic Vision of Sri Aurobindo and Rabindranath Tagore

Sri Aurobindo’s career progressed from patriot and poet to yogi and seer. His massive poetic output spans sixty years, culminating in his magnum opus, Savitri: A Legend and a Symbol. Savitri is an epic of 23,813 lines that retells the Mahabharata legend of Satyavan and Savitri, transforming it into a vehicle for his philosophy of Integral Yoga. It explores the ascent of consciousness and the descent of the Divine to save the soul from death. Sri Aurobindo’s style is varied, using blank verse without enjambment to capture Upanishadic and Kalidasian movement. He also experimented with quantitative hexameters in works like Ilion and Ahana.

Rabindranath Tagore remains the only Indian English writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature (in 1913). His career in English began with the creative translation of his Bengali poems in Gitanjali (1912). His poetry explores the relation between the finite and the infinite, characterized by a simplicity and passion steeped in the Indian ethos. Gitanjali expresses devotion through a variety of approaches, seeing God in the tiller and the pathmaker rather than just the temple. Subsequent collections like The Gardener and The Crescent Moon moved into themes of love and childhood. Despite a later decline in his international reputation, Tagore’s work remains a landmark in Indian English literature for its delicate sensibility and Indian spirit.

The Lyric Art of Sarojini Naidu and Harindranath Chattopadhyaya

Sarojini Naidu, known as ‘the Nightingale of India’, won early recognition in England. Her volumes include The Golden Threshold (1905), The Bird of Time (1912), and The Broken Wing (1917). Her lyrics were influenced by British romanticism and Persian and Urdu poetic modes. Her work is grouped under themes like ‘Folk Songs’, ‘Songs of Love and Death’, and ‘Songs of the Springtime’. She celebrated traditional Indian mythology and secular outlook, singing of both Krishna and Allah. While her later work became sporadic as she moved into politics, her best poetry is noted for its structure, mastery of word-music, and evocative use of imagery drawn from the Indian scene.

Harindranath Chattopadhyaya, Naidu’s younger brother, was a prolific poet in the romantic mould. His first collection, The Feast of Youth, appeared in 1918. While he had a sure command of rhythm and rhyme, his work is often uneven due to its great volume. His themes include nostalgia, melancholy, and humanitarian compassion, the latter taking on Marxian overtones in his later verse. His style eventually shed its early lushness for abstract thought, though he struggled to organize these insights into a major poetic statement.

Prose of Thought and the Nationalist Struggle: 1920 to 1947

The Gandhian age brought an unprecedented mass awakening to Indian nationalism. Mahatma Gandhi transformed the movement from a middle-class effort to a mass emotion through campaigns like the Non-Cooperation movement (1920), the Salt Satyagraha (1930), and the Quit India campaign (1942). Gandhi's prose, exemplified in Hind Swaraj and his autobiography The Story of My Experiments with Truth, was spare, simple, and direct. He rejected modern Western machine civilization, advocating for Swaraj, non-violence, and the upliftment of the ‘untouchables’ (Harijans). His writing was essentially functional, intended to propagate his ideas rather than achieve literary fame, yet it achieved a unique power through its moral earnestness.

Jawaharlal Nehru, Gandhi’s political heir, was a prolific writer whose work includes Glimpses of World History, An Autobiography (1936), and The Discovery of India (1946). An Autobiography is a crowning achievement, offering a sincere and idealistic self-portrait against the backdrop of the freedom struggle. Nehru’s prose is cultured and vigorous, characterized by a feeling for beauty and a sharp historic sense. Other significant prose from this period includes the religious and philosophical works of Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, such as Indian Philosophy and The Hindu View of Life, which served as a major bridge between Eastern and Western thought.

The Sudden Flowering of the Indian English Novel

During the 1930s, the Indian English novel experienced a sudden flowering, largely because the nationalist upsurge stirred society and made it conscious of its own complexities. The major trio of fiction emerged during this decade: Mulk Raj Anand, R.K. Narayan, and Raja Rao. Mulk Raj Anand focused on the plight of the underprivileged in works like Untouchable (1935) and Coolie (1936). His fiction is marked by social realism and a humanitarian compassion for the underdog. He used an earthy style, incorporating words and phrases from Punjabi and Hindi into English.

R.K. Narayan created the imaginary small town of Malgudi, depicting the comedy and irony of middle-class life. His novels, such as Swami and Friends (1935), The Financial Expert (1952), and The Guide (1958), blend quiet realism with fantasy. Narayan is a master of irony and situational humor, generally avoiding direct social preaching. In contrast, Raja Rao’s Kanthapura (1938) is perhaps the finest evocation of the Gandhian age in fiction, showing how the nationalistic urge penetrated remote villages. His subsequent work, The Serpent and the Rope (1960), is a philosophical novel exploring the encounter between East and West through the perspective of a learned Hindu intellectual.

Developments in Post-Independence Poetry and Fiction

Following Independence in 1947, Indian English literature gained self-confidence as it moved away from the romantic tradition toward modernism. In poetry, the 1950s saw the rise of a new school led by P. Lal and the Writers Workshop in Calcutta. This movement advocated for concrete terms, concrete experience, and the private voice. Nissim Ezekiel is the most notable of the early ‘new’ poets, exploring themes of alienation and identity in an urban setting. Other significant modern poets include A.K. Ramanujan, who drew on his Hindu heritage and memory, and Kamala Das, whose confessional poetry addressed female sexuality and domestic frustration with ruthless honesty.

In fiction, the tradition of social realism continued with authors like Bhabani Bhattacharya and Manohar Malgonkar, while experimental forms was explored by G.V. Desani in All About H. Hatterr (1948). The novel began to address contemporary political and social dilemmas, including the Partition and the erosion of post-independence idealism. Women novelists such as Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Kamala Markandaya, and Anita Desai emerged as major figures. Anita Desai’s work, such as Fire on the Mountain and Clear Light of Day, specifically focused on the interior landscape of the mind and the isolation of individuals.

The Contemporary Scene: Drama and Non-Fictional Prose

Drama has remained the least developed of the major forms due to the lack of a living English theatre in India. However, writers like Asif Currimbhoy and Girish Karnad have made significant contributions. Karnad’s Tughlaq and Hayavadana utilize historical and folk motifs to explore modern identity crises. In prose, Nirad C. Chaudhuri emerged as a highly individualistic and often controversial voice. His The Autobiography of an Unknown Indian (1951) and The Continent of Circe (1966) offer an unorthodox and iconoclastic view of Indian history and culture, arguing that the Hindu is a degenerate European distorted by the Indian environment.

The history of Indian English literature is a record of a steady march from imitation to authentic literary expression. Despite ongoing debates about the use of a ‘foreign’ tongue, the literature has proven its ability to express the unique Indian experience and the synthesis of East and West. With a growing interest in the West and an increasing readership in India, the future of this stream of Indian literature appears secure as it continues to find fame in the ‘mirror of futurity.’