The untouchable question had been dogging the righteous thinkers right from Kabir and Gandhi to all the conscientious intellectuals of the day. Of the several ramifications of untouchability today the all apparent touching aspect is no longer an anathema but the attendant evils persist as before. In recent memory it was Mahatma Gandhi who felt deeply for the untouchables and called them Harijan i.e. children of God by way of giving respect to them. However, the centuries-old Hindu religion had a clear cut demarcated lower position for the lowly castes called untouchables. Manusmriti, the Hindu code assigns them duties and service to the Brahmins and upper castes but no rights of any kind. The caste system then was not just a social structure, it was reinforced by religion. Thus, sage Manu ruled that in case the verses of the Vedas reached the ears of a shudra ie. Untouchable, his ears would be sealed with molten iron. It may not have been in practice but there were strict arrangements to ward off their presence in public not to speak of their touch. But times changed and gradually reason prevailed with the changing world in the twentieth century. The freedom movement in India was both for political freedom and social justice advocating the cause of the poor and the downtrodden. The present paper will analyse Anand's Untouchable in new light, comparing it with the writings of other Dalit writers
Department of English, Magadh University, Bodh-Gaya
