Famed novelist and critic Mulk Raj Anand dead

Mulk Raj Anand, one of India's best-known writers of English-language novels and short stories, died yesterday of pneumonia in a western Indian hospital.

Anand would have turned 100 on December 12, said his nephew, Baldev Raj Anand.

He shot to fame in the 1930s with his novels Coolie and Untouchable, which portrayed the struggles of a child labourer and a lower-caste sweeper.

Three other novels Two Leaves and a Bud, The Village and Across the Black Waters criticised social injustices in rural and urban India.

Anand was the fiery voice of those exploited and his analysis of the socio-political situation in his works reflects that spirited fight against social injustice. His later works, however, saw the focus move to personal dilemmas, struggles and the human psyche.

As a professional, he worked as a scriptwriter and broadcaster in the film division of BBC in London during World War II, founded the magazine Marg and became the director of Kutub publishers, besides teaching in India from 1948 to 1966.

Anand won several national awards for his contribution to English literature, and his novels are part of school and college curricula in India.

Born in Peshawar, then part of India and now the capital of Pakistan's Northwest Frontier Province, he graduated from Punjab University and later got a doctorate from the University of London.

He lived in Britain in the 1930s, writing books on art and history and working as a scriptwriter and book critic. He later settled in western India, where his literary career flourished.

"Apart from his achievements as a writer, an art critic and an educationalist, Anand dedicated many years of his life to the universal cause of freedom, including participation in the Spanish Civil War" in the 1930s, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said in a condolence message.

He described Anand as one of the founding fathers of the English novel in India, Press Trust of India news agency reported.

Anand was hospitalised for septicemia, a blood infection, 10 days before his death, said Dr Mahendra Kaveria, who treated him at Pune's Jehangir Hospital. He died of pneumonia, the doctor added.

The writer was to be cremated tomorrow near his home in Khandala, 100 kms south of Bombay, his nephew said.

He is survived by his wife, Shirin Vajibdar, and a daughter, Sushila Anand.