Indo-Anglian: connotations and denotations

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Indo-Anglian: connotations and denotations

Susheel Kumar Sharma

University of Allahabad, India

Abstract

A different name than English literature, `Anglo-Indian Literature', was given to the body of literature in English that emerged on account of the British interaction with India unlike the case with their interaction with America or Australia or New Zealand. Even the Indians' contributions (translations as well as creative pieces in English) were classed under the caption `Anglo-Indian' initially but later a different name, `Indo-Anglian', was conceived for the growing variety and volume of writings in English by the Indians. However, unlike the former the latter has not found a favour with the compilers of English dictionaries. With the passage of time the fine line of demarcation drawn on the basis of subject matter and author's point of view has disappeared and currently even Anglo-Indians' writings are classed as `Indo-Anglian'. Besides contemplating on various connotations of the term `Indo-Anglian' the article discusses the related issues such as: the etymology of the term, fixing the name of its coiner and the date of its first use. In contrast to the opinions of the historians and critics like K R S Iyengar, G P Sarma, M K Naik, Daniela Rogobete, Sachidananda Mohanty, Dilip Chatterjee and Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak it has been brought to light that the term `Indo-Anglian' was first used in 1880 by James Payn to refer to the Indians' writings in English rather pejoratively. However, Iyengar used it in a positive sense though he himself gave it up soon. The reasons for the wide acceptance of the term, sometimes also for the authors of the sub-continent, by the members of academia all over the world, despite its rejection by Sahitya Akademi (the national body of letters in India), have also been contemplated on.

Keywords: Anglo-Indian, Indo-Anglian, Indo-English, literary history.

Àíîòàö³ÿ

Çàâäÿêè âçàºìî䳿 àíãë³éñüêî¿ ë³òåðàòóðè ç ²í䳺þ, íà â³äì³íó â³ä ¿¿ âçàºìî䳿 ç Àìåðèêîþ, Àâñòðà볺þ àáî æ Íîâîþ Çåëàí䳺þ, óòâîðèâñÿ íîâèé øàð àíãë³é ñüêî¿ ë³òåðàòóðè, ÿêèé îòðèìàâ íàçâó: àíãëî-³íä³éñüêà ë³òåðàòóðà. Ñïî÷àòêó íàâ³òü ë³òå ðàòóðí³ äîðîáêè ³íä³éö³â (ïåðåêëàäè, à òàêîæ õóäîæí³ òâîðè àíãë³éñüêîþ ìîâîþ) áóëè êëàñèô³êîâàí³ ï³ä çàãîëîâêîì «àíãëî-³íä³éñüê³», àëå çãîäîì ¿õ áóëî ïåðåéìåíîâàíî íà «³íäî-àíãë³éñüê³», çâàæàþ÷è íà çðîñòàþ÷å ðîçìà¿òòÿ òà îáñÿã íàïèñàíèõ ³íä³éöÿìè òâîð³â àíãë³éñüêîþ ìîâîþ. Ïðîòå íà â³äì³íó â³ä ïîïåðåäíüîãî, îñòàíí³é íå çíàéøîâ ïðèõèëüíîñò³ ñåðåä óêëàäà÷³â àíãë³éñüêèõ ñëîâíèê³â. ²ç ÷àñîì ÷³òêà ë³í³ÿ äåìàðêàö³¿, îêðåñëåíà íà ï³äñòàâ³ ïðåäìåòà òà ïîãëÿäó àâòîðà òâîðó, çíèêëà, ³ ñüîãîäí³ íàâ³òü àíãëî-³íä³éñüê³ òåêñòè êëàñèô³êóþòü ÿê ³íäî-àíãë³éñüê³. Êð³ì îãëÿäó ð³çíèõ êîíîòàö³é òåðì³íà «³íäî-àíãë³éö³», ó ñòàòò³ ïðîàíàë³çîâàíî òàê³ ïðîáëåìè: åòèìîëîã³ÿ òåðì³íà, ô³êñàö³ÿ ³ìåí³ éîãî àâòîðà ³ äàòà ïåðøîãî âèêîðèñòàííÿ. Íà â³äì³íó â³ä äóìîê ³ñòîðèê³â òà êðèòèê³â, òàêèõ ÿê Ê Ð Ñ ²ºí´àð, Ã Ï Ñàðìà, Ì Ê Íà³ê, Äàí³åëà Ðî´îáåòå, Ñà÷³äàíàíäà Ìîãàíò³, ijë³ï ×àòòåðäæ³ òà ¥àéàòð³ ×àêðàâîðòè Ñï³âàê, ñòâåðäæóâàëîñÿ, ùî òåðì³í «³íäî-àíãë³éö³» âïåðøå áóëî âèêîðèñòàíî â 1880 ð. Äæåéìñîì Ïåéíîì äëÿ ïîêëèêàííÿ íà òâîðè ³íä³éö³â àíãë³éñüêîþ ìîâîþ ðàäøå â çíåâàæëèâîìó òîí³. Îäíàê ²ºí´àð âèêîðèñòîâóâàâ öåé òåðì³í â ïîçèòèâíîìó çíà÷åíí³, õî÷à é â³í ñàì íåâäîâç³ â³ä íüîãî â³äìîâèâñÿ. Ó ñòàòò³ òàêîæ ïðîàíàë³çîâàíî ïðè÷èíè øèðîêîãî ïðèéíÿòòÿ öüîãî òåðì³íà, ³íîä³ íàâ³òü àâòîðàìè ñóáêîíòèíåíòó, ÷ëåíàìè íàóêîâèõ ê³ë ó âñüîìó ñâ³ò³, íåçâàæàþ÷è íà òå, ùî «Ñàã³òüÿ Àêàäåì³» (Íàö³îíàëüíà àêàäåì³ÿ ë³òåðàòóðè ²í䳿) â³ä íüîãî â³äìîâèâñÿ.

Êëþ÷îâ³ ñëîâà: àíãëî-³íä³éñüêà, ³íäî-àíãë³éñüêà, ³ñòîð³ÿ ë³òåðàòóðè.

literature interaction connotation

In one of his poems Syed Amanuddin complains: “ they call me indo-anglian/ I don't know what they mean” (Amanuddin 2016:50). In the introduction to his anthology The Vintage Book of Indian Writing Rushdie has used several appellations for the body of literature in English in India viz. Indo-Anglian, Indo- English, Indian writing in English, English-language Indian writing, English- language Literature, Indian novel in English and for the contributors, Indian writers working in English, English-language writer of Indian origin and non-english- languge Indian writers (1997:x-xxii). M K Naik, whose canvas of study is much larger than that of Rushdie, is also conscious of the difficulty in choosing a name for this hybrid literature: “Another problem which the historian of this literature has to face is that of choosing from among the various appellations ... `Indo-Anglian literature', `Indian Writing in English', `Indo-English Literature' and `Indian English Literature'.”(1989:4) P K Rajan too hints at the importance of the issue of naming this literature when he writes: “In the earlier critical scene the nomenclature of this literature itself was a topic of prolonged discussion. Indo-Anglian, or Indo- English, or Indian English, or Indian Literature in English?” (2006:12) In a different vein and tenor Arvind K Mehrotra writes: “Indians have been writing verse in English at least since the 1820s and it goes under many ludicrous names -- Indo- English, India-English, Indian-English, Indo-Anglian, and even Anglo-Indian and Indo-Anglican. `Kill that nonsense term', Adil Jussawalla said of Indo-Anglian, and `kill it quickly.'” (Oxford 2003:1) Although Rajan opines that “... it is pointless to continue the debate any further” (2006:12) from the point of the historiography of a literature which is almost 225 year old it is important to go through the literature and debates to understand the etymological evolution of the terms and names that many scholars consider rather insignificant and therefore tend to use them carelessly. Due to constraints of time and space I propose to ruminate on one only i.e. “Indo - Anglian”.

The term “Indo-Anglian” (sometimes spelt without hyphen), unlike “Anglo - Indian”, does not find an entry in such important dictionaries as The Concise Oxford English Dictionary (1961), The Chamber's Twentieth Century Dictionary (1971), Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary of Current English (1974), Collins Cobuild English Language Dictionary (1989), Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language (1989), Encarta World English Dictionary (1999), Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (2003) and Collins Cobuild Advanced Illustrated Dictionary (2010) that claim to base themselves on a large corpus of English language collected from various sources1. As the data for the above dictionaries is collected largely from native English sources one may conclude that the term has not gained currency in the West though the inclusion of the term in The Oxford English Dictionary (1991) and The New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (1993) proves that it has been accepted in the West. The entry on the term in The Oxford English Dictionary (Vol. VII) reads as: “Indo-Anglian a., of or pertaining to literature in English written by Indian authors; also as sb., a writer of such literature; ... 1883 in K. R. Srinivasa Iyengar Indian Writing in English (1962) i. 3 *Indo-Anglian, 1935 A. R. Chida (title) Anthology of Indo-Anglian Verse. 1943 K. R. Srinivasa Iyengar (title) Indo-Anglian Literature. 1962 Times Lit. Suppl. 10 Aug. 596/3 Authors such as R. K. Narayan, Dom Moraes, Balachandra Rajan (now called `Indo-Anglians') find their public in the West, rather than inside India itself. 1969 Sunday Standard (Bombay) 3 Aug. (Mag. Sect.) p. vii/7 Anita Desai is one of the most competent amongst the small band of Indo-Anglian novelists who have successfully established that a branch of English literature can grow and flourish as well in India as .. [sic] in Australia or Canada.” (1991:882-83) And, the entry on the term in The New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Vol. I) reads as: “Indo-Anglian a. & n. (a) adj. of or pertaining to literature in English written by Indian authors; (b) n. a writer of such literature: L19.” (1993:1353) English in India has emerged as a language of fashion, aspiration and necessity for a certain class of people that Saritha Rai describes as “`English Only' Generation” (nytimes.com). Sajith Pai calls this class “Indo-Anglian” and opines that they owe their existence to the “growing westernisation, demand for English education and ... intercommunity marriages” (scroll.in/magazine/867130). Telling their characteristics he writes: “... [they] predominantly [speak] English and not the tongues they grew up with ... [and] constitute an influential demographic, or rather a psychographic, in India - affluent, urban, highly educated, usually in intercaste [sic] or inter-religious unions. ... Unlike Anglo -Indians, ... Indo-Anglians comprise all religions, though Hindus dominate. ... They fall well within the top 1% of India economically ... .” (scroll.in/magazine/867130) He describes them as “a paradox [as they] are both India's most visible and yet invisible class [having] important implications for society, business and governance.” (scroll.in/magazine/867130) According to Pai they consist of about 400,000 persons (which is not even 0.001 % of Indian populace) and “[their] identity is not entirely fixed or stable” yet their number is swelling rapidly “to become a caste in India”. (scroll.in/magazine/867130)

V K Gokak asserts that the term `Indo-Anglian' “has been coined as a kind of cousin for `Anglo-Indian'.” (n.d.:160) On the analogy of `Anglo-Indian' which can be used both as a noun (compound noun e.g. six-pack, self-esteem, off-campus, Anglo-Norman, Anglo-Saxon, Anglo-French, Anglo-Irish) and an adjective (compound adjective e.g. a well-known writer, a high-quality patent system, a well- developed sense of humour, a twenty-storey building, Anglo-Saxon Literature, Anglo-Indian Literature), the term `Indo-Anglian' can also be used both as a noun and an adjective. While in the former case it means literature produced by or about India in English in the latter case it means related to/by Indians through English. Therefore, the term “ Indo-Anglian Literature” is a compound noun/phrase with the

structure of Mod (Adj) + N (e.g. Black Board, Common Room, Free Trade, Registered Post, Old Boy) or N + N (e.g. Autumn Leaves, Alphabet Worksheets, Christmas Activities, Farm Animals, Animal Pictures). In contrast, in compound words like “Hindi Literature” or “Kannada Literature” or “Sindhi Literature” (with word structure of N + N, for example, water tank, printer cartridge, birth place, college mate, needle work etc), Hindi or Kannada or Sindhi, the first free morpheme, refers to the language in which the literature has been produced unlike the case with ` Indo-Anglian Literature' where-in the compound morpheme ` Indo- Anglian' is not the name of a language. While in the case of `Anglo-Indian' the question of being motivated by European/Indian culture becomes imperative in the latter case of `Indo-Anglian' it is neither indicated nor asked.

1.1. The Cotroversies

In her article “How to Read a `Culturally Different' Book” Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak makes three claims: a) “In the late 1950s, the term `Indo- Anglian' was coined by the Writer's Workshop Collective in Calcutta, under the editorship of P. Lal, to describe Indian writing in English”, b) “... [the term] has not gained international currency and c) “[the term] is useful as a self-description” (Spivak 2012:73) but the available facts do not support any of Spivak's contentions. Eulogising the term Iyengar writes: “More recently, especially during the past two decades, `Indo-Anglian' has acquired considerable currency. Further the term can be used both as an adjective and as a noun, whereas to write “Indo-English writer” every time is awkward and to talk of “Indo-Englishman” or “Anglo-Indian” is absurd or misleading.” (Iyengar 1945:ii) though B J Wadia in his foreword to Iyengar's Indian Contribution to English Literatureexpresses his displeasure at this term: “The author calls contributions `Indo-Anglian Literature', but, frankly speaking, that expression is not a very happy one.” (1945:ix) A R Wadia uses the term Indo-Anglian for Indian poets/authors included in V N Bhushan's anthologies of Indo-Anglian poetry and prose (Wadia Future1954: 6) though Bhushan has used the terms “Indo-English poetry” (Bhushan Lute1945: ix) and “Indo-English literature” (Bhushan Finger1945: ix) respectively.

It is claimed that “the first English visitor [to India] was Swithelm or Sigelinus, an envoy, sent by King Alfred to visit the tomb of St. Thomas in A. D. 884” (everyculture.com, Basham 1981:346) yet the British contact with India formally began in a big way when the East India Company was chartered on 31 December 1600 after almost 100 years of the discovery of a new sea route from Europe to India in 1498 by the Portuguese, Vasco da Gama. The words of Indian origin started entering into English “since the end of the reign of Elizabeth and the beginning of the King James” (Yule and Burnell 1903:XV). However, there is no record of the date when this country stirred the English mind and imagination first or of the date when English language was used by Indians for expressing themselves creatively, first. Opinions differ on the starting point of the hybrid literature, a result of an interaction between English/ the English and India. Edward Farley Oaten, the earliest surveyor/ historian of the Anglo-Indian Literature, considers 1783, the year when Sir William Jones arrived in India, to be the point of beginning of the

Anglo-Indian Literature, as few travelogues and letters written before this date had any literary merit (Oaten 1908:16). He holds: “Anglo-Indian literature ... begins with the names of two poets [William] Jones and [John] Heyden” (Oaten 1908:18). He revised his opinion in his later essay included in The Cambridge History of English Literature(Vol XIV) and wrote: “Father Thomas Stephens, who went to Goa in 1579, was the first Englishman to settle in India, and Anglo-Indian literature began with his letters, of no extrinsic value, to his father, which have been preserved by Purchas. Master Ralph Fitch, merchant of London, travelled in India and the east from 1583 to 1591, and his lively description of his adventures, preserved by Haklut and Purchas, was of the utmost value to those who sought to promote an English East India company [sic]” (Oaten 1953:332).

Tracing the antiquity of Indo-Anglian literature in India K R S Iyengar suggests three options: 1818: when Rammohan Roy's tract on `Sati' appeared, 1801: when “Venkata Boriah's [sic] dissertation on Jains appeared” and 1780: when Hickey's Bengal Gazettewas founded (Iyengar 2013:691). M K Naik suggests 1809 as the year “when probably the first composition in English of some length by an Indian - namely C V Boriah's [sic] `Account of the Jains' - appeared” (1989:Preface). Sisir Kumar Das goes with Naik as he also considers “Cavelly Venkata Boriah's [sic] `Accounts of the Jains' published in 1809” to be the first piece of Indian writing in English (1991:29). However, Boria'spiece appeared in 1807 and not in 1801 or 1809 as claimed by Iyengar, Naik and Das respectively; it is not an original essay either but a translated text as is also clear from its full title: “Account of the Jains, collected from a Priest of this sect; at Mudgeri: Translated by Cavelly Boria, Brahmen; for Major C. Mackenzie”. B J Wadia is right when he writes: “... all that is written by Indians in the English language cannot be called `literature'” (1945:ix) and therefore utmost care has to be taken in deciding the starting point of this literature. Prabhu S. Guptara in his review of the book Indian Literature in English, 1827-1979: A Guide to Information Sourcesprovides the following piece of information: “... Raja Rammohan Roy began publishing his work [in English] in 1816, and recent research has shown that Indians were contributing to English-language periodicals in India before the end of the eighteenth century. The first book so far known to have been published in English by an Indian was Sake Deen Mahomed's Travels(1794). Since English-language education started in India as early as 1717, it is possible that Indo-English literature was published even earlier. This needs concerted research which has simply not been done so far” (1986:312). Arvind K Mehrotra endorses the year 1794 as the starting point of this hybrid literature in India (Mehrotra Illustrated2003:2).

2. Method

In order to dispute the claims of Spivak, Iyengar, B J Wadia and others with a wider perspective of exploring the development of meaning of the term a large number of articles and books were taken into consideration and data thus collected was analysed and classified.

3. The Study

3.1. Evolution of the Term

The term `Indo-Anglian' had not gained currency by 1876 as becomes quite clear from the title and contents of Thomson's Anglo-Indian Prize Poems, Native and English Writers, In Commemoration of the Visit of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales to India(1876). This small book contains only aiae poems (selected out of 150 submitted by persons of various castes, ethnic groups and social classes) composed to commemorate the visit (1875-76) of Prince Albert Edward, Queen Victoria's eldest son who landed in Mumbai on 8 November 1875. The book has two poems in English by two Indians (Chutees h Chunder Dutt's “Poem” and Ram Sharma's “Ode”), an “Ode” by an unknown poet (a Member of the Royal Asiatic Society), one poem each in Bengali, Telugu, Sanskrit, Hindustani (along with their translations in English) by Indians (Navin Chandra Sen's “Poem” in Bengali, Kokkonda Venkatarathnumu Puntulu's “Poem” in Telugu, Tara Chand Shastri's “Ode” in Sanskrit, Ali Hyder's “Poem” in Hindustani) and two poems in English by two Englishmen (Lieut. - Col. J. Tickell's “Poem”, Favonius' poem “Under the Crown”). Thus, in 1876 the term `Anglo -Indian' was used very liberally for i) the works dealing with something related to India by Englishmen as well as Indians in English; ii) the translations from Indian languages into English also fell under this category; and iii) even the works of Indians in English that dealt with English subjects came into its ambit. The publication of Indo-Anglian Literature(1883) for “private circulation only” proves that a separate body of literature written by Indians in, perhaps, non-standard English, had come into existence and the editor (“BA”) was using this term at least pejoratively, if not to make fun of such writings. Alfred Comyn Lyall in his “The Anglo -Indian Novelist,” originally published in Edinburgh Review (October 1899), has discussed sixteen “Anglo-Indian novels” published between 1826 and 1899 besides contemplating on the “causes affecting output of good fiction in India”, “[the] conditions [that] favour the novel of action” and “[the] absence of the psychological vein”. All the novels discussed by Lyall are by Britons and deal with Indian themes/conditions/locale.

As Edward Farley Oaten was dealing with only the literature in standard English in his comprehensive survey (1908) he toed the line of Thomson and used the term Anglo-Indian. He included the Indian authors in his bibliography but not in the main discussion. Oaten also opined: “Anglo-Indian literature, ... is not the literature of a young nation, but an offshoot from the literature of an older nation, transplanted to foreign soil" (Oaten 1908:18). Oaten defines Anglo-Indian Literature as “English literature strongly marked by Indian local colour” (Oaten 1953:331) but “Histories of modern English literature [were] singularly destitute of any allusion to Anglo-Indian productions” (Oaten 1908:Preface). The reason advanced by Oaten to exclude Hugh Boyd from the Anglo-Indian group gives an interesting insight into his defining criteria. He writes: “[Boyd was] impregnated with the coffee-house tradition of Steele and Addison, [but] so entirely unaffected in imagination or in thought by the new and strange conditions of Indian life and nature, that his writings cannot truly be classed as Anglo-Indian” (Oaten 1908:18).

In his later essay Oaten broadened the vistas of the Anglo-Indian authors by including “[Educated Indians'] writings in [English], together with those of the domiciled community of European or mixed origin, ... as that part of Anglo -Indian literature which is most potential of development in the future; ...” (Oaten 1953:332) This view of Oaten has also been included in Sampson's The Concise Cambridge History of English Literature: “... English is a medium of literary expression for the educated Indians, and Anglo-Indian literature must therefore include literary works written in English by native Indians.” (Sampson 1959:909, emphasis added) Mary C Sturgeon's inclusion of Sarojini Naidu in her book Studies of Contemporary Poets(1916) along with other poets such as Rupert Brooke, Walter De La Mare and John Masefield (the main stream English poets, none of whom is an Anglo-Indian) is perhaps one exception to what Oaten claims. She is the only Indian poet included in the book while Tagore only finds a casual mention in the chapter. K R Srinivasa Iyengar agrees with Oaten's ear lier approach as is clear from the title and contents of his book Indian Contribution to English Literature. However, Iyengar disagrees with Oaten's later approach and writes in his Indo- Anglian Literature: “The term Anglo -Indian should be used only with reference to the writings of Englishmen in India or on subjects relating to India.” (Iyengar 1943 :viii)

According to Oaten Anglo-Indian Literature is a creation of those Englishmen who wrote about their first-hand encounter with India while on furlough or after retirement and those who were “Englishmen in mind”, “English in thought and aspiration” and who “never lost bias towards [the civilization] of England” and who printed/published in England owing partly to lack of facilities in India (1953:331). He further writes: “Anglo -Indian literature is based in origin, spirit and influences upon two separate countries at one and the same time. ... [An] Anglo -Indian writer must, as a rule, make his appeal mainly to the public in England and only secondarily to the English community in India” (Oaten 1953:332). Oaten tells five characteristics of this literature: i) the ever-present sense of exile; ii) an unflagging interest in Asiatic religious speculation; iii) the humorous sides of Anglo-Indian official life; iv) description of Indian native life and scenery; v) ruminations about the ever-varying phases, comic, tragic, or colourless of Anglo-Indian social life (1908:194-195). In contrast to his past practice (in his Sketch) he devotes about two pages of the book (Oaten 1953:341-342) to the Indian authors. Though Oaten praises Indians' mastery over English yet he has his reservations about the quality of their literary productions in English. The only Indian poet he lavishes praise on is Toru Dutt. He throws two hints about the differences in Anglo-Indian and Indo- Anglian literature: (i) the limitations of English and its unsuitability to an Indian mind: “... our language [English] is essentially unsuited to the riot of imagery and ornament which form part of the natural texture of the orient mind” (Oaten 1953:342) and (ii) the Indian attitude and sensibility: “it remained doubtful whether Indians could so completely become Englishmen in mind and thought” (Oaten 1953:336). In an essay of ten pages, Oaten expresses his doubts about Indians' capabilities to write something of substance thrice within a span of five pages: (i) “whether Indians could ... add, except in the rarest and most exceptional cases, anything of lasting value to the roll of English literature.” (1953:336) (ii) “Indians wrote comparatively little that caa be regarded as permanent additions ts English literature.” (1953:341) and (iii) “... [from] those [Indians] who attempted imaginative literature in English very few succeeded in writing anything sf permanent interest.” (1953:342) Consequently, like a prophet he concludes: “Anglo - Indian literature will continue ts be mainly what it has been, with few exceptions, in the past - literature written by Englishmen and Englishwomen who have devoted their lives to the service of India.” (Oaten 1953:342) Iyengar's pamphlet Indo- Anglian Literature(1943) and later the book Indian Contribution to English Literature(1945) are the befitting replies to Oaten's highbrow attitude.

The expression “Indo-Anglian” was adopted as a term of praiseworthy description and popularized in the pre-independence days by the doyen of literary history, K. R. Srinivasa Iyengar, under the patronage of Sophia Wadia who brought out a series of pamphlets and books on literatures in Indian languages under the aegis of Indian PEN. His Indo-Anglian Literature(1943) is the first full-length study to discuss Indian's imaginative and contemplative literature in English. The manuscript of this book had been submitted to Ms Wadia in 1939 (Iyengar 1945: Preface). Explaining the choice of the appellation Iyengar writes: “I have used the compound `Indo-Anglian' in preference to `Anglo -Indian' and `Indo-English'. The term `Anglo-Indian' should be used only with reference to the writings of Englishmen in India or on subjects relating to India. `Indo-English' is a suitable alternative to `Indo-Anglian,' but the latter is more widely used in India.” (1943 :viii) He reiterates this even in the Preface to his The Indian Contribution to English Literature(1945): “...I thought it desirable to distinguish between Englishmen who write on Indian themes and Indians who use English as the medium of artistic expression; and I saw no harm in applying the already current terms “Anglo-Indian” and “Indo-Anglian” to these categories of writers.” (Iyengar, 1945:i-ii, emphasis added) Explicating his position further Iyengar writes : “More recently, especially during the past two decades, `Indo-Anglian' has acquired considerable currency. Further the term can be conveniently used both as a noun, whereas to write `Indo-English writer' every time is awkward and to talk of `Indo- Englishmen' or `Anglo -Indian' is absurd or misleading.” (Iyengar, 1945: ii) though in the later part of his life Iyengar was not very happy with his choice and coinage. In his Introduction to K R S Iyengar's Indo-Anglian Literature(1943) C R Reddy toeing the British line of thinking states: “We have two types of literature motivated by Indian culture: (i) the Indo-Anglian ... [and] (ii) the Anglo -Indian, by which is meant literature bearing on Indian topics or inspired by Indian motifs and spirit, and written by Englishmen or other Westerners.” (Indo-Anglianiv) In his Indo-Anglian LiteratureIyengar, therefore, does not discuss any Anglo-Indian writer. He adheres to this very approach in his next book as well which he wrote to justify his thesis that “Indo-Anglian literature, is both an Indian literature and a variation of English Literature.” (Iyengar 2013:6) In fact just after two years (i.e. in 1945) of his first publication he published his another important book The Indian Contribution to

English Literature(1945) though it could have easily been titled `Indian Contribution to Literature in English 'as the latter covers his intentions and definition very well. In this book Iyengar wishes to underline Indians' contribution to English literature, a fact being missed by literary historians in Britain and elsewhere. The book may be described as an extension and fulfilment of Oaten's desire of Indian contribution be accepted as a legitimate part of English Literature. Thus, Iyengar was trying to homogenise English Literature by including all those Indians who were writing in English in pre-independent India. Though Iyengar has enlisted and classified Indians' works in English meticulously and has glorified them to the extent possible yet none of these authors including critics mentioned by him have been accepted in the cannon of English Literature. Hardly does any of them find a mention in the English/British literary histories. Iyengar did not change his stance even in his third book, Indian Writing in English(I ed 1962) though he has reached somewhat correct appellation in it. He has included Nirad C. Chaudhuri (who settled in the UK as a British citizen in 1970) in this book. The fourth edition of the book (rpt. 2013) which has a long “Postscript” (by his equally competent daughter Prema Nandkumar) that includes books published up to late seventies though Rushdie finds a brief mention in it. As the issue has become even more complex after the emergence of Post-Rushdie Indian diasporic writings Nandkumar's take on the issue is much awaited. Amongst the post-independence Indian scholars, M N Pandia perhaps is the first and the only one who has not made any distinction between Indo-Anglian and Anglo-Indian fiction as he has included writers from both these groups in his The Indo-Anglian Novels as a Social Document.In her Ph D thesis entitled “Indian Writers of Fiction in English” Roshan Nadirsha Minocherhomji has included and discussed translations of R C Dutt's and S K Ghoshal's novels in Bengali as well. (Raizada 1978:ii) In his survey Harish Raizada has followed the line of argument advanced by Reddy and Iyengar. He writes “For a considerably long time even Indian writin gs of Indians were included within the purview of Anglo-Indian literature” (Raizada 1978:i) but he has taken “only the Indo-Anglian fiction” (Raizada 1978:iii) in his book.

3.2. The Coiner & the Date of Coinage

Iyengar confesses his ignorance regarding the coiner of the term “Indo- Anglian”. He writes very candidly: “I do not know who first coined the term `Indo - Anglian'; at any rate in 1883 a book was published in Calcutta entitled Indo-Anglian Literature containing specimen compositions from native students. ” (Iyengar 1945:ii). Gobinda Prasad Sarma agrees with Iyengar on the issue (Sarma 1990:xx). Neither Iyengar nor Sarma mention the author/editor of the book. It is perhaps on these bases that M K Naik claims that the term was first used in 1883: “[Indo - Anglian literature] was first used as the title of the Specimen Compositions from Native Students, published in Calcutta in 1883.” (Naik 1989:4) Like Iyengar and Sarma, Naik too does not mention any author/editor/compiler of the cited book in his reference.

PDF copies of the two prints (i.e. 1883 and 1887) of “Indo-Anglian Literature” are available on Google Books (books.google.co.in/) and Jstore (jstor.org) respectively. Both the editions have the same title viz. “Indo -Anglian Literature”. In neither case the author of the book finds a mention. In both the editions, in the middle of the first page of the book, at the place where one generally finds the author/ editor's name, one comes across the line “For private circulation only” and the “Preface” of the book has been signed as “B.A.” In case of 1883 edition, just below the note (“For private circulation only”) somebody has inscribed with a pencil: “By Edward Buck” while on the top of the title page the name “Buck, Sir Edward Charles” has been inscribed in cursive handwriting. In keeping with the standard practices the online library (Bodleian) catalogue of Oxford University has separate entries for the two editions (viz. 1883 and 1887) of this book, in neither of which any author finds a mention though the editor “B.A.” does (solo.bodleian. ox.ac.uk). In the Bibliographic information on the site <worldcat.org> “Edward Charles Buck, Sir” has been mentioned as the author of the book. Likewise, “Buck, Edward Charles, b. 1838” has been mentioned as the main author of the book in the Bibliographic information of Hathi Trust Digital Library <hathitrust.org > However, there is an additional note also on the card: “By Sir Edward Buck, secretary to the Government of India.” [sic] -- Halkett & Laing.” Though the book itself does not give any clue about the author yet in the recent edition of the book issued by Palala Press (May 21, 2016) also the authorship has been attributed to Sir Edward Charles Buck (amazon.com).

The only difference in the two editions is that of volume and an extra note appended to the second edition. Both the editions have five sections each. As the first edition of the book is of considerable historical value I reproduce its details: the three sections in it deal with prose, the fourth one with poetry and the fifth one a mixture of two prose pieces and one poem, added perhaps as an afterthought. They are titled: “Petitions for Employment” (11-45), “Extracts from Papers Submitted at Two Recent Examinations in Calcutta” (46-56), “Miscellaneous” (57-87), “Poetry” (88-103) and “Appendix” (99-103). The highlights of this book as indicated by the compiler “B.A.” are: (i) the writers' mistakes in grammar and vocabulary (ii) the writers' oriental manner of composition (iii) a “mixture of self-abasement and vanity” displayed in the pieces and (iv) the writers' tendency to seek “patronage of those above them in rank” for employment, transfers and settling scores with their rivals. By compiling these pieces “B.A.” also seeks to know whether the English education being imparted to Indians is of some worth and value and if it is being imparted in the right direction: “The letters ... taken up at random from a drifting mass ... indicate that the ... education ... [so far] is not altogether clear from impending danger.” (BA 1883:7) “B.A.” quotes a paper in Calcutta Review (April 1883) by “an educational officer of high position” to support his contention: “The education that we give makes the boys a little less clownish in their manners, and more intelligent when spoken to by strangers. On the other hand, it has produced two evils: (a) it has made them more litigious ... (b) it has made them less contended with their own lot in life, and less willing to work with their hands . for ... the only occupation worthy of an educated man is that of a writership in some office, especially in a Government office.” (BA 1883:5) Similar ideas were laterexpressed by Gandhiji also in his Hind Swaraj(1909). Regarding the purpose of this book the editor, BA, notes: “The selections which are brought together in this volume, and published for private circulation, are examples of a class of literature which will not improbably soon become extinct, and may, therefore, possess some slight historical value.” (BA 1883:3) He is a bit sympathetic towards the mistakes of the second language learners:

The mere mistakes in grammar and diction are not in themselves remarkable. It is indeed probable that most Englishmen in India would, in writing, or even dictating, a letter in Hindustani, commit more errors than are to be found in many compositions reproduced in the following pages. It is true that the reflection of the oriental manner of composition in a foreign language is certainly often curious and amusing, especially in those cases in which the writer adopts a poetical style; but the chief interest which these selections possess consists in the indications which they afford of the native character. (BA 1883:3)

Telling the characteristics of the style he writes: “Nothing perhaps is more noticeable than the curious mixture of self-abasement and vanity which many of the writers exhibit, while the habitual dependence of the middle and lower classes upon the patronage of those above them in rank, and the insatiable hunger which exists for official employment, are plentifully illustrated. To obtain a clerkship in a Government office is, at the present time, perhaps the chief object with which a native of India seeks education.” (BA 1883:3 -4) The purpose of the book may be summarized up as i) documenting the poor language and the curious style of the Indians using English, ii) noting the fact that the sole purpose of gaining English education is to join the British Government service and iii) keeping a record of an Indian's “self-abasement” to obtain a job somehow.

However, in the reference list of her article “Global versus Glocal Dimensions of the Post-1981 Indian English Novel” Daniela Rogobete treats “Specimen Compositions from Native Students” as an independent book and attributes its editorship to J H Cousins: “Cousins, J. H. (ed.) 1883, Specimen Compositions from Native Students. N. p., Calcutta.” (epress.lib.uts.edu.au) Thus, she modifies the earlier view of Iyengar and others and claims that Cousins coined t he term “Indo - Anglian” in 1883. This view has also been dittoed by Kunjo Singh (Singh 2002:8). The claim is problematic as the title of the book suggested by Iyengar was Indo- Anglian Literature(and not Specimen Compositions from Native Students) which contained some specimen compositions from native students. Rogobete's and Kunjo's claim to consider “Specimen Compositions from Native Students ”as an independent book by Cousins is untenable on two counts: (i) Cousins (22 July 1873 - 20 February 1956) was just ten years old in 1883; a boy of ten years is neither expected to be familiar with compositions by native students nor is he supposed to edit a book of their compositions and (ii) as “[Cousins] came to India in 1915” (Chatterjee 114) he could not have published a book about the native compositions is 1883. Sachidananda Mohanty makes a claim for the first use of the term in 1917 though a bit reluctantly. Interestingly enough Mohanty also attributes it to J H Cousins but to a different book of his: “ Cousins introduced the term Indo-Anglian,perhaps for the first time, in the critical idiom sf the subject in his bosk, New Ways in English Literature. [sic] 1917” (thehindu.com). J H Cousins' New Ways in English Literatureis largely a collection sf the articles published earlier in the journals like The Modern Review, New Indiaand The Herald of the Star. The following are the contents along with page numbers of J H Cousins' New Ways in English Literature(1919); the term “Indo-Anglian” does not appear anywhere in the book, neither in the chapter-titles nor in the chapters per se:

CONTENTS

1. Preface xi

2. New Ways in English Literature 1

3. First Impression of Tagore in Europe 16

4. Aumb^o Ghose, The Philosopher as Poet 27

5. The Realistic Idealists .... William Butler Yeats, Poet and Occultist 43

6. A.E, The Poet of the Spirit 53

7. Some Poets of the Irish Renaissance -- The Idealistic Realists 70

8. James Stephens 86

9. The Poet as Prophet 95

10. The Poetry of Robert Bridges 107

11. Edward Carpenter, A Prophet of Democracy 116

12. A Poet's Passing --Stephen Phillips 138

13. John M. Synge, The Realist on the Stage 148

14. Some Characteristics of George Meredith's Poetry 156

15. In Defence of a Laureate: Alfred Austin 168

16. Ralph Waldo Emerson, the Poet as Philosopher 178

17. Notes 191 (Cousins 1919:ix)

Dilip Chatterjee wrongly puts the date to 1921, though obliquely, when he

writes, “It may be mentioned that [Cousins] introduced the word `Indo-Anglian' into the critical vocabulary in his book Modern English Poetry.” (Chatterjee 1989:121) Cousins' Modern English Poetry: Its Characteristics and Tendencies(n. d.) is a collection of his Public Lectures in literature delivered in The Keiogyuku University, Tokyo, during Autumn, 1919. The book has the following seven chapters:

I. The F ield of Modern English Poetry 1

II. Living Links with the Past 24

III. The New English Poetry 54

IV. Poets of the Irish Literary Revival 85

V. The Indo-Anglian Poets 117

VI. The New American Poetry 149

VII. The Future of English Poetry 180 (Cousins 1921 :xiii)

Cousins has used the term in the title of the fifth chapter where he discusses

poets like Rabindranath Tagore, Aurobindo, Sarojini Naidu and Harindranath Chattopadhyaya. It may be pointed out that the term was not used pejoratively by Cousins, unlike Payn, as he praised both the content and language of the Indian poets. Referring to the subject matter he writes “it will be seen that for the invasion of India by the English language, the East has taken a spiritual revenge by invading English poetry.” (Cousins1921:10-11) He praises Toru Dutt's handling of the English language. He acknowledged Sarojini Naidu 's wide acceptance in the UK and the USA:“who with a somewhat stronger touch has found an audience in England and America and planted the beauty and mystery of India in many hearts and imaginations beyond its coasts.” (Cousins1921:13,) He not only praised the work of Tagore and Aurobindo but also introduced a new comer like Harindranath Chattopadhayay. He considered Indo-Anglian poetry to be the product of a school/movement.In his Modern English Poetry (1921) he attempted to generalise the impact of the whole school on English poetry. “He hoped that English poetry would be free from its narrow rigid and insular vision if it could assimilate spiritual thought and experience embodied in Celtic Revival and the new poetry of the Indo-Anglian School.” (Chattopadhyay 1988:158) He could not have hoped for anything but assimilation as during his age Indian independence was nowhere in sight. However, Cousins does not define the term “Indo-Anglian” anywhere in the book. The Preface to the book, written in Madanapalle, India, in April 1921 does not explain the term either. This suggests that the term had already been in use for some time when he delivered these lectures in Tokyo in 1919.

3.3. Indo-Anglian: Seense & Sensibility

Cousins not only uses the terms “Anglo -Indian Poetry” and “Indo-Anglian” but also explicates them in an earlier book of his, The Renaissance in India (1918). Cousins was popularly addressed as Kulapati by his Indian friends as he was a Theosophist and an Indianist. He, therefore, denounces the efforts of the Indian authors writing in English to be a part of English literature in very strong words:

But if ... some young Indians are impelled to express themselves in poetry in the English language, I would beg of them to avoid the thing called Anglo-Indian poetry. It is no more theirs than pure English poetry, and it is far more dangerous. They may try their sitar with English poetry -- and fail, and in the failing may learn a valuable lesson; but they may try it with Anglo-English poetry -- and succeed, and in succeeding, achieve a useless mediocrity. (Cousins 1918:176-77)

The denouncing comes on two counts viz. sensibility and language. “Transference of technical beauties of verse or prose from one language to another can only be about as successful as an attempt to convey the music of the vina through the pianoforte - not to mention the vulgar European baby harmonium which is ruining Indian voices and coarsening ... .” (Cousins 1918:152) Since the literature written in someone else's tongue does not reflect originality he cautions the younger writers lest they should become mere imitators: “. You will never sing your own song if you are content to echo another's: four lines struck from the vina of your own heart experience or mental illumination will be worth infinitely more to you and the world than reams of mimicry.” (Cousins 1918:156)

Cousins considers literature to be a purposive art that involves the art of communication, subject matter and sensibility:

The link between the literature of one race and that of another is, therefore, mainly formed of the stuff that may be communicated through the mental organism, and may be appreciated for its significance, scarcely at all for its own expression. That stuff will be compounded of two main substances, the ideal and the philosophy out of which the literary expression has grown; and any true appreciation of the work of the writers of the Renaissance in India (who, like their great predecessors, and their great living Master, Rabindranath, write in their own languages), must be based on a sympathetic understanding of such ideal and philosophy. In the case of the Western reader there is also required a considerable revision of current notions as to the nature of ideals in creative literature, and as to the relationship of philosophy and literature. (Cousins 1918:153)

It is in this background that he considers literature to be a matter of sensibility and wishes the Indians to express theirs by maintaining their unique identity in their writings as well:

That is the first and probably also the last thought should be impressed upon those young Indians who have felt or will feel the urge to expression in poetry that comes through the new birth of the renascent spirit. `Be yourselves first: do not fall under the illusory notion that you are fulfilling your ideal in desiring to write as good blank verse as Tennyson, or as fine lyrics as Swinburne.' (Cousins 1918:155-56)

He further explains his position:

If they must write in English, let it be in the English language only: let them keep themselves unspotted of its point of view, temperament, its mannerisms; for their repetitions of these will fail of conviction, which is one of the absolute essentials of art, since they can never disguise the fact that they are imitations, and Nature abhors imitation more that she does a vacuum: there is a chance of filling a vacuum, but no ne of turning an imitation into an original.” (Cousins 1918:177)

He differentiates between the terms `Anglo -Indian' and `Indo-Anglian' and explicates them in the following words:

... I trust, some illumination for the claim I would make upon those who will be the poets of India's future, that, if they are compelled to an alternative to writing in their mother-tongue, let it be, not Anglo-Indian, but Indo-Anglian, Indian in spirit, Indian in thought, Indian in emotion, Indian in imagery, and English only in words. ... Let their ideal be the expression of themselves, but they must be quite sure that it is their self, not merely faint echoes and shadows from others or from the transient phases of desire. (Cousins 1918:179)

He has different expectations from an Indian author and he wants them not to lose their identity by imitating others:

The more intensely themselves Indian writers are, the more intensely Indian they will be; and the more intensely Indian they are the most certainly they will fill their place as a string on the vina of the Divine Player at whose finger-tips tremble the raga and the ragini of the wandering forth and the home-coming of the worlds. Let them not be led away by talk of modernity and cosmopolitanism: poetry has nothing to do with ancient or modern, but only with now, and the true cosmopolitanism will not be achieved through the ignoring of nationality but through fulfilment. (Cousins 1918:180)

He has a strong belief that Indians think and write in a different way than the people of Europe. He, therefore, writes:

... the realm called “supernatural” that would have made the critic's hair stand on end, I was influenced by the repetition of the idea that art has nothing to do with such things, into a vague fear that the critic might be right. India, however, gave me the complete confidence that is necessary to literary creation. She showed me the examples of Mirabai and Tukaram and Rabindranath Tagore, in whom life, religion and philosophy are one, and sing themselves in the poetry of spiritual joy. (Cousins 1918:164)

He writes further:

It is this quality of spiritual vision that seems to me to be the supreme characteristic of Indian poetry. ... I am convinced that, if Indian poetry is to be a living influence in the English-speaking world - and I sincerely hope it will, for God knows it is needed--the way toward such influence must be by the living thing in the poetry. It is this living thing in the poetry. (Cousins 1918:171-172)

It is in this sense that Cyril Modak uses the term `Indo -Anglian' and justifies the inclusion and teaching of familiar (i. e. Indian) poetry to the young students who can relate themselves to the thought, images, allusions, metaphors, similes, epithets and music of its language. Gwendoline Goodwin also uses the criteria suggested by Cousins to select poems and poets in her anthology though she does not use the term Indo-Anglian. V K Gokak also makes a distinction between `Anglo-Indian' and `Indo-Anglian' on the basis of the `point of view' of the author. (Gokak n.d.:160) He writes:

Indo-Anglian journalism is an `Anglo -Indian' enterprise which was gradually `indo-anglianised'. Indeed, both the Anglo -Indian and `Indo-Anglian' categories continued to exist side by side for a long time, the one representing the imperial and the other the national point of view. The demarcation in substance has disappeared with Independence and such distinctions as prevail now represent the ideologies that are active in the country. (Gokak n.d.:167).

According to Gokak “The Indo-Anglian writers come from microscopic minority group, ... write with an eye on an outlandish reading public and [pick] up themes and situations that might appeal to the West” (n.d.:164). Gokak classifies Indo-Anglian authors into two groups. In the first group fall those Indo-Anglian writers who very nearly [approximate] to English writing in [their] accent, tone vocabulary, syntax and style, by reason of the writer's interest or domicile, [and tend] to lose, ... Indianness of thought and vision. [Such] Indo-Anglians, ... [being] fond of cosmopolitan living, have plenty of the flavour of conversational English in their writings. The latest fashions in language, which they assimilate and employ in their writing, make them more `Anglian' than Indian. They tend to write abo ut India from the outside rather than inside. (Gokak n.d.:162)

In other words this group represents what Macaulay had conceived as: “Indian[s] in blood and colour, but English in tastes, in opinions, in morals and in intellect.” (Macaulay: Minute) Another group of Indo-Anglian authors, according to Gokak, consists of those who are true to Indian thought and vision cannot escape the Indian favour even when they write in English. Their style is, in a great measure, conditioned by the learned vocabulary of the subject on which they write, - philosophy, sociology, criticism and the like. Even when they write fiction, they depend, for their effect, on picturesque Indian phrases and their equivalents in English. When it comes to writing poetry, they are invariably reminiscential in their style and phrasing. We know, as we read that the writer is conforming, consciously or unconsciously, to the Romantic, Victorian, Georgian or Modernist tradition. (Gokak n.d.:162-163)