Nectar in a Sieve was her first published work, and its depiction of rural India and the suffering of farmers made it popular in the West. Kamala Markandaya belonged to that pioneering group of Indian women writers who made their mark not just through their subject matter, but also through their fluid, polished literary style. Other novels include Some Inner Fury (1955), A Silence of Desire (1960), Possession (1963), A Handful of Rice (1966), The Nowhere Man (1972), Two Virgins (1973), The Golden Honeycomb (1977), and Pleasure City (1982/1983). Known for writing about culture clash between Indian urban and rural societies, Markandaya's first published novel, Nectar in a Sieve, was a bestseller and cited as an American Library Association Notable Book in 1955. After India declared its independence, Markandaya moved to Britain, though she still labeled herself an Indian expatriate long afterward. A native of Mysore, India, Markandaya was a graduate of Madras University, and afterward published several short stories in Indian newspapers. In order to avoid conflict between Hindus and Muslims in British India, the Muslim nation of Pakistan was created at the same time however, the Partition of India displaced millions of people and lead to significant sectarian violence that still inform relations between India and Pakistan today.Pseudonym used by Kamala Purnaiya Taylor, an Indian novelist and journalist. After decades of agitation for self-rule, organized in part by the famous resistance leader Mahatma Gandhi, India became an independent state in 1947. After the 1858 Indian Rebellion, during which substantial portions of the population unsuccessfully rebelled against British rule, the government began to administer colonial affairs directly. Before this period, the British East India Company, a private joint-stock company, ruled India on behalf of the British government. However, according to writer Thrity Umrigar, the novel probably takes place “during the waning years of the British Raj,” the period from 1858 to 1947 when Britain possessed India as a colony and governed it directly.
Markandaya never specifies exactly where and when her protagonist, Rukmani, lives this historical vagueness highlights the universality of the problems she depicts.
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