Early Indian English Writing: History, Pioneers, Works & UGC NET Notes

 

Setting the Context: Terminology & Historiography

MR. DOUBT: Miss Clarity, while tracing the origins of Indian writing in English, I immediately ran into a confusing set of labels—'Anglo-Indian', 'Indo-Anglian', and 'Indian English Literature'. Are these terms interchangeable, or do they refer to entirely different literary traditions? Where does Indian English writing officially begin?

MISS CLARITY: That is the foundational question every serious scholar of Indian English Literature must clarify first! Let us break down these terms systematically:

1. Anglo-Indian Literature: Refers to literature written about India by Englishmen or Europeans who lived in or visited India (e.g., Rudyard Kipling, Meadows Taylor, E.M. Forster, Sir William Jones). Their work reflects an imperial or exotic gaze upon Indian life, landscape, and culture.

2. Indo-Anglian Literature: A term coined by Principal E.F. Oaten and later popularized by Professor K.R. Srinivasa Iyengar in his pioneering 1945 study The Indian Contribution to English Literature. It denotes creative and critical writing written originally in English by Indian authors.

3. Indo-English Literature: Often used by critics like V.K. Gokak to refer specifically to Indian literature translated into English from Indian regional languages (Bhasha literatures).

4. Indian English Literature: The currently accepted, non-hyphenated, modern nomenclature preferred by contemporary scholars (such as M.K. Naik, Bruce King, and Arvind Krishna Mehrotra). It highlights that English is now an Indian language expressing authentic Indian sensibilities, ethos, and social realities.

As for its origin, Early Indian English Writing began in the late 18th century, well before the formal establishment of the British Crown's direct rule in 1858, and gained solid socio-literary momentum during the 19th-century Bengal Renaissance.

Term	Primary Authors / Proponents	Core Definition / Focus
Anglo-Indian Literature	Kipling, Forster, Taylor	Writings about India by British/European writers.
Indo-Anglian Literature	K.R. Srinivasa Iyengar	Original English writings by native Indian authors.
Indo-English Literature	V.K. Gokak	Translations of Bhasha literature into English.
Indian English Literature	M.K. Naik, A.K. Mehrotra	Modern canonical term for English literature by Indians

Socio-Historical Catalyst: Education, Printing Press, and Macaulay’s Minute

MR. DOUBT: How did an alien language like English become a medium of creative self-expression for Indian intellectuals during the early colonial era? What socio-political factors made this possible?

MISS CLARITY: The emergence of early Indian English writing was catalyzed by three major historical developments:

1. The Charter Act of 1813: This act included a clause directing the East India Company to set aside a sum of one lakh rupees annually for the revival and improvement of literature and the encouragement of the learned natives of India.

2. The Orientalist vs. Anglicist Controversy:

• Orientalists (led by H.T. Prinsep, Henry Thomas Colebrooke, and Horace Hayman Wilson) argued that education should be imparted in Sanskrit, Arabic, and Persian to preserve indigenous traditions.

• Anglicists (supported by Thomas Babington Macaulay and Indian social reformers like Raja Rammohan Roy) advocated for Western scientific education through the English medium.

3. Macaulay’s Minute on Indian Education (February 2, 1835): Governor-General Lord William Bentinck formally approved Macaulay's recommendation with the English Education Act of 1835. Macaulay notoriously envisioned creating "a class of persons, Indian in blood and colour, but English in taste, in opinions, in morals, and in intellect."

However, Indian intellectuals did not merely succumb to colonial assimilation. Instead, they seized the English language as an instrument of intellectual emancipation, social reform, anti-colonial critique, and nationalist assertion!

The Pioneering Figures: From Sake Dean Mahomed to Rajmohan's Wife

1. Sake Dean Mahomed (1759–1851) — The First Published Indian in English

MR. DOUBT: Who holds the distinction of publishing the very first book in English written by an Indian?

MISS CLARITY: That milestone belongs to Sake Dean Mahomed (also spelled Sheikh Din Muhammad). In 1794, he published The Travels of Dean Mahomet in Cork, Ireland. Written in an epistolary format comprising 38 letters, the book details his travels across India, his service in the East India Company’s Bengal Army, and descriptions of Indian customs, military campaigns, and cities. It predates the introduction of official English policy by several decades and stands as the foundational prose text of the Indian diaspora and Indian English non-fiction.

2. Raja Rammohan Roy (1772–1833) — The Morning Star of the Indian Renaissance

MR. DOUBT: Why is Raja Rammohan Roy described as the "Morning Star of the Indian Renaissance" and the first master of Indian English prose?

MISS CLARITY: Rammohan Roy was a visionary polyglot and social reformer who recognized that English was vital for modernizing Indian society and defending Indian rights against colonial misrepresentation. His key contributions include:

• Letter to Lord Amherst (1823): A landmark petition arguing against the establishment of a traditional Sanskrit school in Calcutta, advocating instead for a modern curriculum focusing on mathematics, natural philosophy, chemistry, and anatomy through English.

• Prose Tracts on Social Reform: He produced powerful, argumentative English essays fighting social evils such as Sati (widow burning), caste rigidity, polygamy, and female disinheritance. His major texts include:

• Precepts of Jesus: The Guide to Peace and Happiness (1820)

• Brief Remarks Regarding Modern Encroachments on the Ancient Rights of Females According to the Hindu Law of Inheritance (1822)

• Exposition of the Practical Operation of the Judicial and Revenue Systems of India (1832)

• Journalism & Civic Rights: He published Sambad Kaumudi (Bengali) and Mirat-ul-Akbar (Persian), while continuously submitting English petitions defending the freedom of the press in India.

As critic M.K. Naik observes, Rammohan Roy’s English prose was clear, vigorous, logical, and persuasive—establishing prose non-fiction as the first major genre in Indian English literature.

Pioneer Milestone Timeline:

1. Sake Dean Mahomed: Travels of Dean Mahomet (1794) - First Published Book in English.

2. Raja Rammohan Roy: Letter to Amherst (1823) & Social Tracts - Master of Argumentative Prose.

3. Henry L.V. Derozio: Fakeer of Jungheera & Patriotic Sonnets (1827–28) - First Indian English Poet & Derozians.

4. Kashiprasad Ghose: The Shair and Other Poems (1830) - First Volume of Poetry by an Indian.

5. Krishna Mohan Banerjee: The Persecuted (1831) - First Indian English Play.

6. Kylas Chunder Dutt: A Journal of 48 Hours of the Year 1945 (1835) - First Indian Political Speculative Fiction.

7. Michael Madhusudan Dutt: The Captive Ladie (1849) - Early Narrative Epic Verse.

8. Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay: Rajmohan's Wife (1864) - First Indian English Novel.

3. Henry Louis Vivian Derozio (1809–1831) — The First Indian English Poet

MR. DOUBT: Moving from prose to poetry, Henry Louis Vivian Derozio is often cited in UGC NET questions. What makes his poetry and teaching legacy so significant?

MISS CLARITY: Henry Derozio was an Anglo-Indian poet and assistant headmaster at Hindu College, Calcutta, between 1826 and 1831. Despite dying of cholera at the young age of 22, his impact on Indian English literature and thought was monumental:

• The Young Bengal Movement (The Derozians): Derozio founded the Academic Association in 1828, encouraging radical free-thinking, debate, rationalism, and questioning of orthodox religious dogmas among young Bengali students.

• Poetic Works:

1. Poems (1827): His debut collection showing the influence of British Romantic poets like Byron, Shelley, and Scott.

2. The Fakeer of Jungheera: A Metrical Tale and Other Poems (1828): A long narrative poem dealing with Nalin, a young Hindu widow rescued from the pyre of Sati by Nakeel, a robber chief (Fakeer). The poem blends Romantic sentimentality with a fierce critique of religious orthodoxy and social cruelty.

• Patriotic Verse: Derozio wrote the earliest nationalist poetry in Indian English literature:

• "To India - My Native Land": A poignant sonnet lamenting the degraded colonial state of India and yearning to restore her past glory.

• "The Harp of India": An elegiac sonnet comparing the unstrung, silent harp to the neglected poetic heritage of India.

Key Quotation to Remember (UGC NET Favorite):
"My country! in thy day of glory past / A beauteous halo circled round thy brow, / And worshipped as a deity thou wast. / Where is that glory, where that reverence now?"
— Henry Derozio, "To India - My Native Land"

4. Kashiprasad Ghose, Krishna Mohan Banerjee & Kylas Chunder Dutt

MR. DOUBT: What other early writers expanded Indian English literature into poetry, drama, and political fiction before the 1850s?

MISS CLARITY: Several pioneering authors laid the groundwork across different genres:

1. Kasi Prasad Ghose (1809–1873): Published The Shair and Other Poems (1830). He is recognized as the first Hindu writer to publish a volume of English poetry. The term "Shair" is a Persian/Urdu word for poet. His poetry was reviewed in the famous British journal The Athenaeum.

2. Krishna Mohan Banerjee (1813–1885): A prominent Derozian who later converted to Christianity, he wrote The Persecuted or Dramatic Scenes Illustrative of the Present State of Hindoo Society in Calcutta (1831). This is the first play written in English by an Indian author, exposing the hypocrisy of orthodox Hindu society.

3. Kylas Chunder Dutt (1817–1859): Wrote A Journal of 48 Hours of the Year 1945 (published in The Calcutta Literary Gazette in 1835). This remarkable short work is considered the first piece of political speculative fiction in Indian English literature, depicting an imaginary armed revolt by educated Indians against British tyranny in the 20th century.

4. Soshee Chunder Dutt (1824–1885): Wrote Republic of Orissa (1845), another early imaginary narrative describing a freedom struggle, and A Vision of Sumeru and Other Poems (1878).

5. Michael Madhusudan Dutt (1824–1873): Before becoming a titan of modern Bengali poetry with Meghnad Badh Kavya, he composed notable English works such as The Captive Ladie (1849) (a long narrative poem in rhymed octosyllabic couplets based on the romance of Prithviraj Chauhan and Samyogita) and Visions of the Past (1849).

5. Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay (1838–1894) — The First Novelist

MR. DOUBT: Where does the Indian English novel fit into this early sequence?

MISS CLARITY: The genre of Indian English fiction officially begins with Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay’s Rajmohan’s Wife, serialized in the newspaper The Indian Field in 1864.

Set in a East Bengali village, the novel centers on Matangini, a courageous woman trapped in a marriage with her abusive husband, Rajmohan. When Matangini discovers a plot by Rajmohan and the local dacoit Madhav to rob Madhav's wealthy cousin, she bravely traverses the dark forest at night to warn the victim. Though Bankim later abandoned English to write his masterworks in Bengali (such as Anandamath and Kapalkundala), Rajmohan's Wife remains the undisputed first novel written in English by an Indian.

Comprehensive Chronological Timeline (1794–1864)

Year	Author	Title of Work	Genre / Literary Significance
1794	Sake Dean Mahomed	The Travels of Dean Mahomet	Epistolary Travelogue; 1st book by an Indian in English.
1820	Raja Rammohan Roy	Precepts of Jesus	Religious & Moral Reformist Prose.
1823	Raja Rammohan Roy	Letter to Lord Amherst	Petition advocating Western science education in English.
1827	Henry Louis Vivian Derozio	Poems	Debut poetic collection; Early Romantic influence.
1828	Henry Louis Vivian Derozio	The Fakeer of Jungheera	Metrical narrative poem against Sati; Contains nationalist sonnets.
1830	Kashiprasad Ghose	The Shair and Other Poems	First volume of poetry published by an Indian Hindu poet.
1831	Krishna Mohan Banerjee	The Persecuted	First drama written in English by an Indian author.
1835	Thomas Babington Macaulay	Minute on Indian Education	Colonial policy establishing English education in India.
1835	Kylas Chunder Dutt	A Journal of 48 Hours of 1945	First political/speculative fiction of anti-colonial resistance.
1849	Michael Madhusudan Dutt	The Captive Ladie	Narrative narrative verse on Prithviraj & Samyogita.
1864	Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay	Rajmohan's Wife	First full-length Indian novel written originally in English.

Critical Perspectives & Literary Debates

In academic examinations like UGC NET, critical quotes and theoretical stances regarding Early Indian English writing are frequently tested:

1. M.K. Naik (A History of Indian English Literature):

"Indian English literature began as a product of the historic encounter between India and Britain... Prose was naturally the first genre to mature, because the early pioneers were primarily social, religious, and political reformers who needed a practical medium of communication."

2. Arvind Krishna Mehrotra (A Concise History of Indian Literature in English):

"The early Indian writers in English were not mere mimics of the West. In authors like Dean Mahomed, Rammohan Roy, and Derozio, we see the first complex negotiations of hybrid identity, colonial resistance, and linguistic adaptation."

3. Meenakshi Mukherjee (The Anxiety of Indianness):

"The choice of writing in English for the nineteenth-century Indian was accompanied by a unique socio-cultural consciousness—an effort to address a dual audience: the colonial masters in England and the educated elite in India."

Exam-Focused Revision & Memory Aids

Mnemonics for Chronological Firsts in Indian English Literature

Remember the mnemonic T-P-S-P-J-C-R to master the "Firsts" in Indian English Writing:

• Travels of Dean Mahomet (1794) — First Travelogue / First Book

• Precepts of Jesus (1820) — First Major Prose Non-Fiction (Rammohan Roy)

• Shair and Other Poems (1830) — First Sole Poetic Volume (Kashiprasad Ghose)

• Persecuted, The (1831) — First Play / Drama (K.M. Banerjee)

• Journal of 48 Hours of 1945 (1835) — First Journalistic / Speculative Fiction (Kylas Chunder Dutt)

• Captive Ladie, The (1849) — First Classical Narrative Epic Poem (M.M. Dutt)

• Rajmohan's Wife (1864) — First Regular Novel (Bankim Chandra)

Common Exam Confusions & Pitfalls

1. Confusion 1: Sake Dean Mahomed vs. Raja Rammohan Roy

• Pitfall: Assuming Raja Rammohan Roy wrote the first book in English by an Indian.

• Correction: Sake Dean Mahomed wrote the first book (The Travels of Dean Mahomet, 1794). Rammohan Roy was the first to write extensive social, philosophical, and political prose tracts in English.

2. Confusion 2: Derozio's Heritage & Identity

• Pitfall: Classifying Derozio as a British colonial poet.

• Correction: Derozio was an Anglo-Indian born in Calcutta who explicitly identified India as his "Native Land" in his poems.

3. Confusion 3: Author of Rajmohan's Wife

• Pitfall: Attributing Rajmohan's Wife to Michael Madhusudan Dutt or Rabindranath Tagore.

• Correction: It was written by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay in 1864 before he switched exclusively to writing novels in Bengali.

UGC NET High-Yield Practice Questions

Q1. Which among the following is recognized as the first published book in English written by an Indian author?
(A) The Fakeer of Jungheera by Henry Derozio
(B) The Travels of Dean Mahomet by Sake Dean Mahomed
(C) The Shair and Other Poems by Kashiprasad Ghose
(D) Rajmohan's Wife by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay

• Answer: (B)

• Explanation: Published in Cork, Ireland in 1794, The Travels of Dean Mahomet is the earliest book written and published in English by an Indian author.

Q2. Match the early Indian English text with its appropriate genre:

• List I:
  a) The Persecuted
  b) A Journal of 48 Hours of the Year 1945
  c) The Fakeer of Jungheera
  d) Rajmohan's Wife

• List II:

1. Metrical Narrative Poem

2. Drama

3. First Novel

4. Speculative Political Fiction

• Options:
  (A) a-2, b-4, c-1, d-3
  (B) a-4, b-2, c-3, d-1
  (C) a-2, b-1, c-4, d-3
  (D) a-3, b-4, c-1, d-2

• Answer: (A)

• Explanation: The Persecuted (1831) is a drama; A Journal of 48 Hours (1835) is speculative fiction; The Fakeer of Jungheera (1828) is a metrical poem; and Rajmohan's Wife (1864) is the first novel.

Q3. Derozio's poem "To India - My Native Land" is written in which poetic form?
(A) Spenserian Stanza
(B) Petrarchan/Shakespearian Sonnet
(C) Ballad Stanza
(D) Heroic Couplet

• Answer: (B)

• Explanation: "To India - My Native Land" is a 14-line sonnet expressing elegiac grief over India's lost grandeur under British subjugation.

Q4. Who among the following called Macaulay’s Minute on Education "a penal sentence passed upon the indigenous languages of India"?
(A) K.R. Srinivasa Iyengar
(B) E.M. Forster
(C) H.T. Prinsep
(D) Rabindranath Tagore

• Answer: (C)

• Explanation: H.T. Prinsep, leader of the Orientalist faction, fiercely opposed Macaulay's complete dismissal of native vernaculars and classical languages.

Quick 10-Point Revision Digest

1. First Indian Book in English: The Travels of Dean Mahomet (1794) by Sake Dean Mahomed.

2. First Master of English Prose: Raja Rammohan Roy (Letter to Lord Amherst, 1823; Precepts of Jesus, 1820).

3. First Indian English Poet: Henry Louis Vivian Derozio (Poems, 1827; The Fakeer of Jungheera, 1828).

4. First Indian Nationalist Sonnets: "To India - My Native Land" and "The Harp of India" by Derozio.

5. Young Bengal Movement Founder: Henry Derozio at Hindu College (Academic Association established 1828).

6. First Volume of Verse by a Hindu Poet: The Shair and Other Poems (1830) by Kashiprasad Ghose.

7. First Indian English Drama: The Persecuted (1831) by Krishna Mohan Banerjee.

8. First Speculative Political Fiction: A Journal of 48 Hours of the Year 1945 (1835) by Kylas Chunder Dutt.

9. First Narrative Epic Poem: The Captive Ladie (1849) by Michael Madhusudan Dutt.

10. First Indian English Novel: Rajmohan's Wife (1864) by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Q1: Why is Raja Rammohan Roy considered central to Early Indian English Writing?
Ans: Although he wrote primarily non-fiction tracts, petitions, and essays, Rammohan Roy demonstrated that English could be used by Indians with logical power and eloquence to fight social oppression (Sati, gender injustice) and campaign for modern education.

Q2: What is the theme of Derozio's The Fakeer of Jungheera?
Ans: It tells the tragic tale of Nalin, a young Hindu widow rescued from the Sati pyre by her former lover Nakeel (a robber chief). It combines Romantic adventure with a sharp critique of religious fanaticism and social cruelty.

Q3: What was the significance of the year 1835 in Indian English literary history?
Ans: In 1835, Macaulay’s Minute on Education was accepted by Lord William Bentinck, officially making English the medium of higher education in India. In the same year, Kylas Chunder Dutt published the first work of anti-colonial speculative fiction, A Journal of 48 Hours of the Year 1945.