Tag: novels, society and history

• 'Anandmath' is a Bengali novel written by Bnakim Chandhra Chattergy and was published in the year 1882. It gained a great importance in the history of Indian literature because it was synonymous with Indian independence struggle.
  
• The national song of India 'Vande Mataram' was published in this book.  It was translated by Julius Lipner and was published by Oxford Press.
  
• A plot is about a couple during Bengal famine who decides to leave the village and go to the nearby city. All the events that take place during and after their travel are depicted in the novel.
  

• The 'Jungle Book' was written by Rudyard Kipling. Rudyard Kipling was born in India and raised till he was six. After about ten years in England, he came back to India and stayed for six years before writing the story.
  
• Stories were first published in the magazine from 1893-94. It is a story of man-cub raised by a wolf pack in Indian jungles. These stories were believed to be written for Kipling’s daughter who died at the age of six by pneumonia.
  

Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay's Ananda Math is famous for introducing the song Vande Mataram, which became a powerful symbol of Indian nationalism and patriotism during the freedom struggle.

Neel Darpan is a Bengali play written by Dinabandhu Mitra in 1858–1859. It was a drama depicting the pitiable condition of Bengal under the tyranny of Indigo planters. It was published from Dhaka in 1860.

The book 'At the Feet of Mahatma Gandhi' was written by Rajendra Prasad, who was a close associate of Gandhi and the first President of India. JB Kripalani, Jayaprakash Narayan, and Vinoba Bhave were prominent figures but did not author this specific work.

Charles John Huffman Dickens was an English writer and social critic. He created some best fictional characters.

• Hard Times: - He writes about the times during the industrial revolution in this novel.  It focuses on the fictional town of Coke town, England and the people who live there and their struggles.
  
• Oliver Twist was the second novel by Charles Dickens.  It portrays the life of an orphan who is sold into an apprenticeship with an undertaker. From there he escapes and joins criminal gangs. This shows the life of the criminals.
  
• Great Expectations is the thirteenth novel by Charles Dickens which depicts the personal growth and personal development of an orphan nicknamed Pip.
  

• 'Politics of Charkha' was written by Jivatram Bhagwandas Kriplani also known as Acharya Kriplani. He was an Indian politician famously known for holding the presidency of Indian National Congress. He worked with Vinobha Bhave.
  
• His other works include “Non Violent Revolution”, “The Gandhian Way”, “The Indian National Congress”, “The Fateful Years”, “The Father of the Congress”, and “The Gandhian Critique”.  He married Sucheta Kriplani who became first female Chief Minister.
  

 The earliest novel in Marathi was Baba Padmanji’s Yamuna Paryatan (1857), which used a simple style of storytelling to speak about the plight of widows. 

Robinson Crusoe is a novel by Daniel Defoe, first published on 25 April 1719. The first edition credited the work's character Robinson Crusoe as its author, leading many readers to believe he was a real person and the book to be a collection of true incidents.

It was published under the full title The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, Of York, Mariner: Who lived Eight and Twenty Years, all alone in an un-inhabited Island on the Coast of America, near the Mouth of the Great River of Oroonoque having been cast on Shore by Shipwreck, wherein all the Men perished but himself. He will be delivered ashore by a group of pirates unexpectedly

 Bhudeb Mukhopadhyay’s (1827-94) Anguriya Binimoy (1857) was the first historical novel written in Bengal. Its hero Shivaji engages in many battles against a clever and treacherous Aurangzeb. Man Singh persuades Shivaji  to make peace with Aurangzeb. Realising that Aurangzeb intended to confine him as a house prisoner, Shivaji escapes and returns to battle. What gives him courage and tenacity is his belief that he is a nationalist fighting for the freedom of Hindus.