Previous
Quotes
Bakha
Bakha is an 18-year-old sweeper and the novel’s protagonist. He is Lakha’s son, Sohini and Rakha’s older brother, and a good friend of both Chota and Ram Charan. Bakha is handsome and…
read analysis of Bakha
Lakha
Lakha is the father of Bakha, Sohini, and Rakha, and the Jemadar (head sweeper) of Bulashah. Though Lakha was once a patient and ebullient man, his wife’s death has changed him…
read analysis of Lakha
Sohini
Sohini is Bakha’s younger sister and Lakha’s youngest child. She is very beautiful, lusted after by men across town and even by Bakha himself. Having lost her mother at a young age, Sohini…
read analysis of Sohini
Rakha
Rakha is Bakha’s younger brother and Lakha’s middle child. Though Rakha also works as a sweeper, he is less motivated than Bakha either to complete his tasks or to escape the punishing…
read analysis of Rakha
Mahatma Gandhi/Mohandas K. Gandhi
Mohandas K. Gandhi, also known as the Mahatma (or “great-souled one”), was the historical figure most responsible for India’s successful independence movement and the end of the British Raj. Gandhi was famous for his hunger…
read analysis of Mahatma Gandhi/Mohandas K. Gandhi
Get the entire Untouchable LitChart as a printable PDF.
R. N. Bashir
R. N. Bashir is a British-educated, Muslim Indian man, who enters the narrative when Bakha overhears him loudly critiquing Gandhi’s speech. Bashir, who has been heavily inspired by western theorists of democracy like Rousseau…
read analysis of R. N. Bashir
Iqbal Nath Sarshar
Iqbal Nath Sarshar is a poet, likely serving as an amalgamated representation of the various writers in the leftist South Asian Progressive Writers’ Movement (which Mulk Raj Anand was himself a part of). Sarshar agrees…
read analysis of Iqbal Nath Sarshar
Uka
Uka is the childhood friend that Gandhi cites in his speech about untouchability. Uka was a sweeper in Gandhi’s hometown; because of Uka’s work, Gandhi’s mother prevented him from playing with his young friend…
read analysis of Uka
Charat Singh
Charat Singh is a Havildar, or Indian officer in the British army. He is also a well-respected hockey player, admired around town for his high-caste status and physical dexterity. More than the novel’s…
read analysis of Charat Singh
Chota
Chota, the leather-worker’s son, is Bakha’s best friend and a close friend of Ram Charan’s. Chota shares Bakha’s love of English clothing and outdoor adventures in the bright sun, though Chota lacks…
read analysis of Chota
Ram Charan
Ram Charan, a washer-man, is Gulabo’s son and one of Bakha and Chota’s best friends. Though Ram Charan is an outcaste, he has more access to fine things than his friends do…
read analysis of Ram Charan
Gulabo
Gulabo is Ram Charan’s mother and a washer-woman in Bulashah. Though she was very pretty in her youth, time and physical work have aged her, and now she resents Sohini both for her sweeper…
read analysis of Gulabo
Colonel Hutchinson
Colonel Hutchinson is a middle-aged British settler in India, the leader of the Salvation Army in the Himalayan region. Though Hutchinson prides himself on his selflessness, comparing himself favorably with the local Tommies, Untouchable…
read analysis of Colonel Hutchinson
The Colonel’s Wife
The Colonel’s wife is one of the few white women (“mem-sahibs”) in Bulashah. She is frustrated with Colonel Hutchinson for his willingness to spend so much time with the outcastes, and she…
read analysis of The Colonel’s Wife
Pundit Kali Nath
Pundit Kali Nath is a Brahmin and one of the most prominent priests (hence his title “Pundit”) in Bulashah. Despite his high caste status, he is depicted as ungenerous, lecherous, and consumed with bodily feeling…
read analysis of Pundit Kali Nath
The Touched Man
The touched man is a higher-caste Hindu in Bulashah. When Bakha accidentally runs into him, the touched man flies into a panic, insisting that he has been “polluted” and must wash himself. As the…
read analysis of The Touched Man
The Rickshaw Driver
The rickshaw driver is a Muslim, meaning that he exists outside the hierarchies of Hindu caste. When he ends up driving through Bakha’s confrontation with the touched man, the rickshaw driver is…
read analysis of The Rickshaw Driver
The Local Woman
The local woman is a higher-caste mother in the town of Bulashah. Though she is eager to share her food with the holy man who passes by, she berates Bakha for sitting on her…
read analysis of The Local Woman
The Elder Brother
The elder brother is one of the wealthier boys in town, the son of a babu and the older sibling to the younger brother. Perhaps because of his youth, the elder brother appears to…
read analysis of The Elder Brother
The Younger Brother
The younger brother is one of the wealthier boys in town, the second son of a local babu (and the younger sibling of the elder brother). While the younger brother boasts about going to…
read analysis of The Younger Brother
The Hakim Sahib
A Hakim Sahib is a doctor. In Untouchable, the Hakim Sahib of Bulashah appears when Lakha recounts Bakha’s potentially fatal illness as a young baby. At first, the Hakim Sahib denies Lakha medicine…
read analysis of The Hakim Sahib
Lachman
Lachman is a young Brahmin who lives in the village of Bulashah. He is attracted to Sohini, and the two often engage in a mutual flirtation—but Pundit Kali Nath, wanting Sohini for himself…
read analysis of Lachman
