Contents: Preface. 1. Rise of novel in India: an introduction. 2. Re-reading of caste in Untouchable. 3. Representation of the Indian 'Nari' in Nectar in a Sieve. 4. Marhi ka Diva: lived experience of the marginalized. 5. Portrayal of social reality: a comparison. Bibliography. Index.

"The Indian literature has had a history of realism especially after 1920s. Indian writers tried to depict one or the other aspect of social reality and the three novels, namely Untouchable by Mulk Raj Anand, Nectar in a Sieve by Kamala Markandaya and Marhi ka Diva by Gurdial Singh, studied in the present book, are no exception to this. These works provide windows to the socio-cultural conditions obtaining in different parts of the country. This small book is a modest attempt to peep through these windows and see how social reality was perceived and portrayed." (jacket)