Step 1 : Understanding the Question:
This question asks us to identify the novel in which Bakha serves as the primary protagonist.
Step 2 : Key Formulas and Approach:
This is a character-identification question. We review the characters and plotlines of the listed social realist novels in Indian English literature to find where Bakha appears.
Step 3 : Detailed Explanation:
• Bakha is the protagonist of Mulk Raj Anand's groundbreaking social realist novel Untouchable, published in 1935.
• The novel depicts a single day in the life of Bakha, an eighteen-year-old toilet cleaner, as he experiences humiliation and marginalization.
• Through Bakha's encounters, Anand exposes the cruelty of the Indian caste system and explores potential solutions like education and modernization.
• In contrast, Anand's novel Coolie centers on a young boy named Munoo, while A Silence of Desire and The Serpent and the Rope feature entirely different characters.
Step 4 : Final Answer:
Bakha is the protagonist of Untouchable.
The correct option is (A) Mulk Raj Anand's Untouchable.