Political Thinking in Chaman Nahal’s Novels: A Select Study

Abstract

Indian English literature came into prominence during the later stage of colonization. It took its inception in the hands of R.K. Narayan, Mulk Raj Anand and Raja Rao who contributed to the Indian fiction in the 1930s. Chaman Nahal, a Sahitya Academy winner for his notable novel Azadi in 1977, has taken up the history of Indian struggle for Independence which covers Mahatma Gandhi’s lead in political arena. His The Gandhi Quartet consists of four novels which deal with the four phases: 1915–1922, 1930-1941, 1942 of Quit India Movement and aftermath, Partition till Gandhi’s assassination in 1948. His novels The Crown and the Loincloth (1981), The Salt of the Life (1993), The Triumph of the Tricolour (1993) and Azadi (1975) mainly deal with the political philosophy of Gandhi and his achievements. Azadi which was written first should be treated separately from the other three novels forming one single unit. After an interval of seven years, The Crown and The Loincloth was published and after a gap of nearly eighteen years came to light The Salt of Life and The Triumph of the Tricolour.
This article attempts to study the political consciousness of the time in the above given novels which leads the country to the threshold of freedom and ultimately possess it.