Mulk Raj Anand has contributed a timeless and poignant account of the plight of the untouchable of India. Although this is a novelization of untouchable life, it reads like real life. For those beginning their education about the untouchable outcasts of India, this book will give them an immediate, up-close and personal look into the hellish world that was untouchability. The lead character Bakha (a street sweeper) experiences the furious oppression and scorn of being a polluted untouchable, and at the end of the book witnesses the arrival of Mohandas Gandhi, who preached the abolition of untouchability, and wanted to uplift the "harijan", as he called them. Inspired by Gandhi, he hopes to lead a better life, and to escape a life of torment and squalor. This short book is a quick and engaging read for those who wish to have an inside look at what life was like for the untouchables.

Documents the life of the untouchables in a way that would shock any reader who had no prior knowledge of how these people live.