Ashok Sir's Reference Book

Indian Literature

Toru Dutt

(4 March 1856 - 30 August 1877)

Toru Dutt was born in Calcutta to a Bengali family that had converted to Christianity.
Her father was Govind Chandra Dutt and her mother was Kshetramoni Dutt.
Like her siblings, Aru and Abju, Toru Dutt died of consumption (tuberculosis) at the age of 21 on 30 August 1877.
She was a Bengali poet who wrote in English and French and is considered one of the founding figures of Indo-Anglian literature.
She is known for her volumes of poetry, A Sheaf Gleaned in French Fields (1875) and Ancient Ballads and Legends of Hindustan (1882), and for a novel in French, Le Journal de Mademoiselle d’Arvers (1879).
Her poems explore themes of loneliness, longing, patriotism, and nostalgia.
A Sheaf Gleaned in French Fields is a translation of 165 poems by 75 French poets. Her sister Aru contributed 8 translations, with the remaining 157 translated by Toru Dutt.
Her second volume of poems, Ancient Ballads and Legends of Hindustan (1882), was published with an introduction by Edmund Gosse. It is a slim volume of 9 ballads and 7 sonnets.
Well-remembered poems from this volume include A Sea of Foliage, The Lotus, Sita, and Our Casuarina Tree.
The Lotus is a famous sonnet by Toru Dutt.
Baugmaree is also a sonnet and is considered one of her excellent poems.
Toru Dutt wrote two novels: Bianca (an incomplete romance in English) and Le Journal de Mademoiselle d’Arvers (in French). Bianca is considered the first novel in English by an Indian woman writer.

Rabindranath Tagore

(7 May 1861 - 7 August 1941)

He was the youngest son of Debendranath Tagore, a leader of the Brahmo Samaj.
Tagore was a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer, and painter.
He was the first non-European and the first lyricist to win the Nobel Prize in Literature (in 1913).
He is referred to by many titles, including “the Bard of Bengal,” Gurudev, Kaviguru, and Biswakabi.
He has been called India’s Poet Laureate.
Tagore is the only person to have written the national anthems for three countries: Jana Gana Mana (India), Amar Sonar Bangla (Bangladesh), and the original Bengali version of Sri Lanka Matha (Sri Lanka).
He was influenced by the Vedas and Upanishads, the folk singers of Bengal, the poetry of Kabir, and the works of Dante.
W.B. Yeats called him “a pure poet” and wrote a detailed introduction for the English translation of Gitanjali.
His well-known poetic works include Mansi, Sonar Tari, Gitanjali, Gitimalya, and Balaka.
The Gardener is considered the richest collection of love lyrics in Indian English literature.
The Child is his sole original work written in English; it was later translated into Bengali.
The original Bengali Gitanjali is a collection of 157 poems, published on August 14, 1910.
The English translation of Gitanjali, published in 1912, contains 53 poems from the original Bengali version and 50 other poems from his other works.
His famous novels include The Home and the World, The Wreck, Gora, and Hungry Stones.
His well-known short stories include “The Kabuliwala” and “The Postmaster.”
His famous plays include Red Oleanders, Malini, and Raja.
Tagore was knighted in 1915 but renounced his knighthood in 1919 in protest of the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre.
My Boyhood Days is his autobiography.

Sarojini Naidu

(13 February 1889 - 2 March 1949)

Sarojini Naidu was a leading Indo-Anglican poet and an Indian political activist.
She was a major figure in India’s struggle for independence, advocating for civil rights and women’s emancipation.
Her poetic work earned her the title “The Nightingale of India” (Bharat Kokila) from Mahatma Gandhi.
Her first play, Maher Muneer, written at age 12, gained her recognition.
In London, she was advised by Nobel Laureates Arthur Symons and Edmund Gosse to focus on Indian themes.
She was appointed the President of the Indian National Congress in 1925 and later became the first woman to be the Governor of a state in India (United Provinces, 1947).
She was known for her vivid sensory imagery and is sometimes considered the “Indian Keats.”
Her first book of poems, The Golden Threshold (1905), was published with an introduction by Arthur Symons. It contains 40 poems.
Her second collection, The Bird of Time (1912), has an introduction by Edmund Gosse. It contains 46 poems.
Her third collection, The Broken Wing (1917), was the last book published in her lifetime and contains 61 lyrics.
The Sceptred Flute: Songs of India (1943) is a collection of poems from her first three volumes.
Her fourth collection, The Feather of the Dawn (1961), was published posthumously by her daughter, Padmaja.
In her poem “The Lotus,” the flower is used as a metaphor for Mahatma Gandhi.
Sunalini: A Passage from Her Life is an unpublished autobiographical fragment.

Mulk Raj Anand

(12 December 1905 - 28 September 2004)

Anand is known for his realistic and sympathetic portrayal of the poor and lower castes in India. He is considered one of the founders of the English-language Indian novel.
He is often called the “Indian Charles Dickens.”
His major protest novels are Untouchable (1935), Coolie (1936), and Two Leaves and a Bud (1937).
Untouchable depicts a single day in the life of a toilet-cleaner named Bakha and uses the stream of consciousness technique. It has an introduction by E.M. Forster.
Coolie is a prose epic of modern India, with the hero being a young boy named Munoo.
Two Leaves and a Bud deals with the plight of laborers on a tea plantation in Assam. The protagonist is Gangu.
His trilogy—The Village (1939), Across the Black Waters (1939), and The Sword and the Sickle (1942)—traces the life of a Punjabi peasant named Lal Singh.
The Old Woman and the Cow (1960) is his only novel with a female protagonist, Gauri.

R.K. Narayan

(10 October 1906 - 13 May 2001)

He is one of the most distinguished Indian writers of fiction in English, best known for his works set in the fictional South Indian town of Malgudi.
His mentor and friend was the British novelist Graham Greene.
His semi-autobiographical trilogy consists of Swami and Friends (1935), The Bachelor of Arts (1937), and The English Teacher (1945).
Swami and Friends was his first novel and introduced the town of Malgudi. Its main characters are Swami, Rajan, and Mani.
The Bachelor of Arts follows the growth of its protagonist, Chandran.
The Dark Room (1938) features the central character Savitri, a submissive housewife.
The Financial Expert (1952) is considered his masterpiece. Its hero is Margayya.
The Guide (1958) won the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1960. Its main characters are Raju, Rosie, and Marco.
Waiting for the Mahatma (1955) is notable for featuring Mahatma Gandhi as a character.
My Days (1974) is his autobiography.

Nissim Ezekiel

(16 December 1924 - 9 January 2004)

Ezekiel was a foundational figure in post-colonial Indian English poetry. He belonged to Mumbai’s Bene Israel Jewish community.
He is considered the father of post-independence Indian English verse. He was heavily influenced by T.S. Eliot and Ezra Pound.
He is known as a poet of the city, particularly Bombay (Mumbai), exploring the complexities of modern urban life.
His first book, A Time to Change, appeared in 1952.
He won the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1983 for his collection Latter-Day Psalms (1982).
Goodbye Party for Miss Pushpa T.S. is a famous social satire.
Night of Scorpion is one of his most famous poems, describing a mother’s selfless love.
Other important poems include “Enterprise,” “A Morning Walk,” and “Background, Casually.”

Jayanta Mahapatra

(22 October 1928 - 27 August 2023)

A prominent Indian poet who wrote in both English and Oriya, he was a professor of Physics by profession.
He was the first Indian poet to win a Sahitya Akademi award for English poetry for his long poem Relationship (1981).
His poems “Indian Summer” and “Hunger” are considered classics of modern Indian English literature.
Dawn at Puri is one of his best-known poems, from his collection A Rain of Rites (1976).

Arun Kolatkar

(1 November 1932 - 25 September 2004)

An influential post-independence poet who wrote in both Marathi and English.
His first collection, Jejuri (1976), won the Commonwealth Poetry Prize in 1977. It is a sequence of 31 poems about a visit to the temple town of Jejuri in Maharashtra.
His Marathi verse collection Bhijki Vahi won the Sahitya Akademi Award in 2004.
He is the only Indian poet besides Kabir to be featured on the World Classics titles of the New York Review of Books.

Kamala Das (also known as Madhavi Kutty / Kamala Suraiyya)

(31 March 1934 - 31 May 2009)

A prominent feminist voice, she wrote in both Malayalam (as Madhavi Kutty) and English (as Kamala Das).
She converted to Islam in 1999 and became known as Kamala Suraiyya.
She is called “The Mother of Modern Indian English Poetry.”
Her writing is known for its confessional style, drawing comparisons to Sylvia Plath and Marguerite Duras.
Her first and best-known collection of poems is Summer in Calcutta (1965). Well-known poems from it include “The Dance of the Eunuchs” and “An Introduction.”
Other poetry collections include The Descendants (1967) and The Old Playhouse and Other Poems (1973).
She won the Sahitya Akademi Award for her Collected Poems in 1985.
Her famous poems include “My Grandmother’s House,” “The Looking Glass,” and “A Hot Noon in Malabar.”
She wrote an autobiography, My Story (1976), and a novel, Alphabet of Lust (1976).

Ruskin Bond

(19 May 1934 - Present)

An Indian author of British descent, known for his hundreds of short stories, essays, and novels, especially for children.
He won the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1992 for his short story collection Our Trees Still Grow in Dehra. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1999 and the Padma Bhushan in 2014.
His first novel, The Room on the Roof, was written at age 17 and published when he was 21. Its sequel is Vagrants in the Valley.
His character Rusty is largely autobiographical.
The short story The Blue Umbrella was adapted into a National Award-winning children’s film.
The novella A Flight of Pigeons (about the 1857 Indian Rebellion) was adapted into the 1978 Bollywood film Junoon.
The short story Susanna’s Seven Husbands was adapted into the movie 7 Khoon Maaf.
The “Rusty” stories were adapted into the Doordarshan TV series Ek Tha Rusty.
His memoirs include Scenes from a Writer’s Life, The Lamp is Lit, and the series starting with Looking for the Rainbow (2017).

Anita Desai

(24 June 1937 - Present)

A novelist noted for her sensitive portrayal of the alienation of middle-class women in India.
Her debut novel was Cry, the Peacock (1963), about a neurotic heroine named Maya.
Voices in the City (1965) tells the story of Monisha.
Fire on the Mountain (1977) won the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1978. It centers on three women: Nanda Kaul, Rekha, and Ila Das.
Clear Light of Day (1980) focuses on family relationships and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize.
In Custody (1984) was also shortlisted for the Booker Prize.
The Village by the Sea (1982) won the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize.

Shashi Deshpande

(1938 - Present)

A novelist known for creating sensitive and realistic female protagonists who revolt against tradition in search of self-identity.
Her first novel, The Dark Holds No Terrors (1980), is about Saru (Sarita), an educated doctor.
That Long Silence (1988) won the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1990. It is the story of Jaya and her husband Mohan.
Roots and Shadows (1983) is the story of Indu.
Small Remedies (2000) is the story of Madhu.

Manju Kapur

(1948 - Present)

An Indian novelist whose works explore themes of family, tradition, and the struggles of women in modern India.
Her first novel, Difficult Daughters (1998), won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Book (Eurasia). It tells the story of Virmati, a woman torn between family duty and her love for a married professor, Harish.
A Married Woman deals with the inner turmoil of its protagonist, Astha.
The Immigrant (2008) is a compelling portrait of an arranged marriage.
Her novel Custody was adapted into the popular Hindi TV series Yeh Hai Mohabbatein.
The Immigrant was adapted into the TV series Pardes Mein Hai Mera Dil.
A Married Woman was adapted into a web series.

Amitav Ghosh

(11 July 1956 - Present)

A writer best known for his English-language historical fiction that often explores colonialism, climate change, and migration.
He won the 54th Jnanpith Award in 2018, India’s highest literary honor.
His debut novel was The Circle of Reason (1986).
The Shadow Lines (1988) won the Sahitya Akademi Award.
The Calcutta Chromosome (1995) is a medical thriller based on the life of Nobel-winning scientist Sir Ronald Ross.
The Glass Palace (2000) is a historical novel about an orphaned Indian boy, Rajkumar, and the Burmese royal family.
His Ibis Trilogy, set during the Opium Wars, consists of:
1. Sea of Poppies (2008)
2. River of Smoke (2011)
3. Flood of Fire (2015)
The Hungry Tide is set in the Sundarbans.
Gun Island (2019) deals with climate change and human migration.
Jungle Nama (2021) is a graphic verse novel.
His first book in verse, Smoke and Ashes (2023), explores the history of opium and is an allegory for human-caused climate change.

Arundhati Roy

(24 November 1961 - Present)

An author and political activist known for her advocacy on human rights and environmental causes.
Her debut novel, The God of Small Things (1997), won the Man Booker Prize for Fiction in 1997. It is a semi-autobiographical work capturing her childhood experiences in Aymanam, Kerala. Its famous characters include Rahel, Estha, and Baby Kochamma.
In 1994, she gained attention for her critique of the film Bandit Queen in an essay titled “The Great Indian Rape Trick.”
Her second novel, The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, was published in 2017. It explores themes of transsexualism, the Kashmir conflict, and nationalism.
Her non-fiction work includes collections of essays like The Algebra of Infinite Justice (2002), for which she was awarded (but declined) the Sahitya Akademi Award.
She wrote the screenplay for the film In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones (1989).