Thy Hand, Great Anarch!

Thy Hand, Great Anarch!

Author	Nirad C. Chaudhuri
Country	England, India
Language	English
Subject	comparative - historical, cultural and sociological analysis of India and Britain
Genre	autobiographical,non fiction
Publication date	1987
Published in English	1987
Media type	book
Preceded by	Hinduism: A Religion to Live by (1979)
Followed by	Three Horsemen of the New Apocalypse (1997)

Thy Hand, Great Anarch! is a 1987 autobiographical sequel to Indian essayist Nirad C. Chaudhuri's The Autobiography of an Unknown Indian. Its title was inspired from the concluding couplet of Alexander Pope's The Dunciad which runs thus:

Thy hand, great Anarch! lets the curtain fall;
And universal Darkness buries All.

Written when he was in his 80's, this book provides a perspective to the Indian political scene from the 20's to India's independence. The book covers the writer's working life in India first as a clerk in the Military Accounts Department, then as an editor, writer, publicist. While as a clerk, he came across Arnold's Scholar Gypsy which inspired him to leave his secure government job and become a writer, which he thought was his calling. Although always a severe critic of Mahatma Gandhi, Nirad shows a remarkable respect for the Mahatma when the latter led the masses in the Civil Disobedience Movement. And, even, for a little time he participated in the struggle shedding the air of an intellectual man.