Advocacy for Social Change in Indian English Novels

This paper examines the persistent tradition of advocacy for social change in Indian English novels across historical periods—from pre-independence to the twenty-first century. It argues that the Indian English novel has consistently functioned as a vehicle for social critique, bearing witness to caste oppression, gender discrimination, Partition violence, authoritarianism during the Emergency, and the inequalities of globalization. Texts by Mulk Raj Anand, Raja Rao, R. K. Narayan, Khushwant Singh, Kamala Markandaya, Bhabani Bhattacharya, Salman Rushdie, Nayantara Sahgal, Rohinton Mistry, Anita Desai, Shashi Deshpande, Arundhati Roy, Amitav Ghosh, Aravind Adiga, Kiran Desai, Meena Kandasamy, Jhumpa Lahiri, Vikram Seth, Manu Joseph, and Anuradha Roy, among others, are analyzed for their advocacy potential. Through realism, satire, allegory, polyphony, and ecological narrative, these novels intervene in public discourse, expanding readers' ethical horizons and pressing for reforms in caste, gender, environment, democracy, and economic justice.