List of authors and their works in chronological order from M. K. Naik's A History of Indian Writing in English: (46 authors)

I. The Pagoda Tree: From the Beginnings to 1857

- Raja Rammohun Roy (1772–1833): Aptly described as the ‘inaugurator of the modern age in India,’ he was a pioneer in religious, educational, social, and political reform, mastering a distinguished English prose style marked by clear thinking, soundness of judgment, forceful and logical argumentation, moderation, and dignity; his notable works include A Defence of Hindu Theism (1817), regarded as the first original publication of significance in Indian English literature and a masterly vindication of monotheism; An Abridgement of the Vedant (1816) and renderings of the Kena and Isa Upanishads (1816); Precepts of Jesus: The Guide to Peace and Happiness (1820), which boldly separated moral precepts from myth, miracle, and dogma; writings opposing Sati such as A Conference between an Advocate for, and an Opponent of, the Practice of burning Widows alive (1818); and the Letter on English Education (1823), considered a ‘manifesto of the Indian renaissance.’

- Cavelly Venkata Boriah (1776–1803): He holds historical importance as the author of what is probably the first published composition in English of some length by an Indian, with his ‘Account of the Jains’ (1809) appearing in Asiatic Researches.

- Henry Louis Vivian Derozio (1809–31): The first Indian English poet of note, he showed strong influences from British romantic poets like Byron, while pioneering the use of Indian myth and legend with an unmistakable authenticity of patriotic utterance; his key collections are Poems (1827) and The Fakeer of Jungheera: A Metrical Tale and Other Poems (1828), including notable pieces like ‘To India—My Native Land’.

- Kashiprasad Ghose (1809–73): He authored the first volume of verse by an author of pure Indian blood, The Shair or Minstrel and other Poems (1830), though his verses were generally correct but lacked authentic emotion or poetic imagination.

- Cavelly Venkata Ramaswami (Brother of Boriah): He wrote the first work of literary biography in Indian English literature, Biographical Sketches of the Dekkan Poets (1840), describing the lives of over a hundred Indian poets in Sanskrit, Telugu, Tamil, and Marathi.

- Lutufullah (b. 1802): Described as enterprising, observant, and broad-minded with a capacity for boldness of judgment, he penned the first extensive Indian English autobiography, Autobiography of Lutufullah (1857).

- Michael Madhusudan Dutt (1824–73): He began his career as an Indian English poet before becoming an epoch-making writer in Bengali, with his notable English work being The Captive Ladie (1849).

- Bankim Chandra Chatterjee (1838-94): A renowned Bengali novelist who also wrote essays in English, he produced his first and only novel in English, Rajmohan's Wife (1864), serialized in The Indian Field.

II. The Winds of Change: 1857 to 1920

- Dadabhai Naoroji (1825–1917): Known as ‘The Grand Old Man of India,’ he focused on exposing the economic exploitation of India under British rule in works like Poverty and UnBritish Rule in India (1901).

- Ramakrishna Gopal Bhandarkar (1837–1925): Hailed as the ‘Nestor of Indologists,’ he was a leading orientalist and pioneer in historical writing by an Indian, authoring the earliest significant works on Indian history such as Early History of the Deccan (1884), A Peep into the Early History of India (1890), and Vaisnavism, Saivism and Minor Religious Systems (1913).

- Mahadev Govind Ranade (1842–1901): Called ‘Rishi Ranade,’ he was a gentle colossus who achieved a synthesis of the East and the West in his worldview and is considered the ‘Father of Indian Economics’; his key texts include Rise of the Maratha Power (1900), a pioneering history linking the Maratha rise to social and religious resurgence, and Essays in Indian Economics (1898).

- Behramji Merwanji Malabari (1853–1912): Known for his delightful travel prose and talent for satirical observation, as seen in Gujarat and the Gujaratis (1882) and The Indian Eye on English Life (1893).

- Toru Dutt (1856–77): She marked the graduation of Indian English poetry from imitation to authenticity, becoming the first poet to make extensive use of Indian myth and legend with an insider’s conviction; her major works are Ancient Ballads and Legends of Hindustan (1882, posthumous), containing narratives of Indian archetypes like Sita and Savitri; A Sheaf Gleaned in French Fields (1876), translations of French poetry; and her best-known single piece, ‘Our Casuarina Tree’.

- Bal Gangadhar Tilak (1856–1920): ‘Lokamanya’ and ‘father of the Indian unrest,’ he employed a rugged, aggressive style relying on unvarnished logic in Indological works like The Orion: Researches into the Antiquity of the Vedas (1893) and The Arctic Home of the Vedas (1903), showcasing erudite scholarship.

- Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941): ‘The Great Sentinel,’ he demonstrated literary bilingualism in Bengali and English, winning the Nobel Prize in 1913, with a prose style characterized by impassioned, semi-poetic utterance; his English works include Gitanjali (1912), a creative self-translation that won the Nobel; plays like Chitra (1913), Sacrifice and Other Plays (1917), and Red Oleanders (translated by the author); and prose such as Sadhana (1913), formulating his philosophical position, Nationalism (1917), denouncing Western imperialism, and The Religion of Man (1930).

- Swami Vivekananda (1863–1902): He propagated Advaita Vedanta as ‘the most scientific religion’ and ‘the fairest flower of philosophy and religion,’ serving as an effective interpreter of Indian thought to the world with an athletic and forceful style, primarily through his spoken word in lectures abroad and in India.

- Sri Aurobindo (Aurobindo Ghose) (1872–1950): He found his roots in Indian culture after returning from England, employing a Protean style capable of irony, forensic skill, and elevation, with his career seen as preparation for his magnum opus; his epic Savitri (1950–51, final form) is a major philosophical poetry work of 23,813 lines cast into a symbolic figure representing Man’s realization of the ‘life divine’; his prose includes The Life Divine (1939-40), the crown of his prose writings as a metaphysical treatise on the manifestation of the divine; literary criticism in The Future Poetry (1953); and early poetry like Baji Prabhou.

- Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy (1877–1947): A distinguished Indo-Sinhalese scholar, he pioneered the appreciation and evaluation of Oriental art and culture in compact and muscular prose, as in The Dance of Shiva (1918) and Essays in National Idealism (1909).

- Sarojini Naidu (1879–1949): The ‘Nightingale of India,’ she blended British romanticism with Persian and Urdu poetic modes in her lyric art, bringing prestige to Indian English writing through early recognition in England and her noted oratory; her collections include The Golden Threshold (1905), The Bird of Time (1912), The Broken Wing (1917), The Sceptred Flute (1946, collected poems), and the remarkable love-lyric sequence The Temple.

- Harindranath Chattopadhyaya (1898—): A prolific poet in the romantic mould, he explored themes of nostalgia, melancholy, and humanitarian compassion (later with Marxian overtones), with works like The Feast of Youth (1918), The Magic Tree (1922), and Poems and Plays (1927), containing seven verse plays on Indian saints.

III. The Gandhian Whirlwind: 1920 to 1947

- K.S. Venkataramani (1891–1951): Chronologically one of the earliest novelists of the period, he produced fiction deeply marked by Gandhian principles that often functioned as tracts, including Murugan, The Tiller (1927), contrasting a materialist with a Gandhian figure who founds an ideal rural colony, and Kandan, the Patriot (1934).

- Sarvepally Radhakrishnan (1888–1975): He rose from philosophy teacher to President of India, gaining recognition for Indian philosophy in the West as a bridge-builder between cultures; his magnum opus is Indian Philosophy (Vols. I-II, 1923, 1927), a comprehensive, systematic, and readable work, alongside The Hindu View of Life (1926), a forceful vindication of Hinduism.

- Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948): The central political and ideological figure of the age, he wrote with profound moral earnestness to propagate ideas, as in Hind Swaraj (1909), defining true Swaraj and hailed as a spiritual classic, and The Story of My Experiments with Truth (Vol. I, 1927; Vol. II, 1928), an autobiography and spiritual manual characterized by unflinching honesty.

- Mulk Raj Anand (1905—): The most prolific of the major trio, he was known for militant humanism and social indignation, importing Punjabi and Hindi vernacular into English; his novels include Untouchable (1935), the first significant novel by the trio with stark realism on the plight of a sweeper, and Coolie (1936), addressing the under-privileged class with epic quality; his short stories appear in The Lost Child and Other Stories (1934).

- R.K. Narayan (1906—): He blended gentle irony and sympathy with quiet realism, establishing the fictional town of Malgudi; his works include Swami and Friends (1935), a delightful account of schoolboy life; The English Teacher (1946); and short stories in Malgudi Days (1943).

- Jawaharlal Nehru (1889–1964): Gandhi’s political heir with a worldview emphasizing secularism, scientific temper, and socialist sympathies, he was an articulate public speaker and prolific writer; his crowning literary achievement is An Autobiography (1936), a vivid picture of the man and his political era; other works are Glimpses of World History (1934), a survey of world history focused on human civilization, and The Discovery of India (1946), a vision of the Indian past.

- Raja Rao (1908—): He held a deeply passionate attachment to the Indian ethos and spiritual values, developing an experimental technique modeled on the Indian purana or Harikatha; his Kanthapura (1938) is the finest fictional evocation of the Gandhian age, while his short stories are in The Cow of the Barricades and Other Stories (1947).

- Ahmed Ali (b. 1910): He wrote evocatively and nostalgically about life in Muslim households and cultural decay in Twilight in Delhi (1940).

 IV. The Asoka Pillar: Independence and After (Post-1947)

- G.V. Desani (1909—): A daringly experimental novelist of Eurasian heritage, he pursued a quest for spiritual understanding by blending Indian and Western narrative forms with linguistic virtuosity and humour marked by verbal pyrotechnics; his All About H. Hatterr (1948; revised 1972) is a highly complex tour-de-force mixing spiritual quest, comedy, and autobiography.

- Bhabani Bhattacharya (1906—): He continued the tradition of social realism, believing art must serve a social purpose; his better efforts include So Many Hungers (1947), focusing on the Bengal famine and political/economic exploitation, and He Who Rides a Tiger (1952), considered his finest novel with an absorbing narrative of ironic reversal.

- Nirad C. Chaudhuri (1897—): The most outstanding prose writer of the post-Independence period, he was known for his iconoclastic outlook, encyclopaedic learning, and rhetorical style, controversially dedicating his autobiography to the British Empire; his most characteristic and best work is The Autobiography of an Unknown Indian (1951), the story of his development as a middle-class Bengali; others include A Passage to England (1959) and The Continent of Circe: An Essay on The Peoples of India (1966), elaborating his historical thesis that environment degenerates immigrants.

- Raja Rao (1908—): Considered the most 'Indian' of Indian English novelists, he continued his philosophical fiction with The Serpent and the Rope (1960), perhaps the greatest Indian English novel using Sankara’s non-dualism through rope vs. serpent symbolism as a spiritual autobiography; and The Cat and Shakespeare (1965), a metaphysical comedy based on the cat-hold theory of salvation.

- Manohar Malgonkar (1913—): A realist prioritizing entertainment and incident with a flat and cliche-ridden style, he wrote Distant Drum (1960), a story of army life, and The Princes (1963), his best novel detailing the merger of princely states.

- Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (1927—): She crafted comedies of urban middle-class Indian life, such as Hindu joint families, and ironic studies of the East-West encounter in novels like To Whom She Will (1955), The Householder (1960), and Heat and Dust (1975); her short stories are in Like Birds, like Fishes (1963) and A Stronger Climate (1968).

- Nissim Ezekiel (1924—): A major figure in the shift to modernism in Indian English poetry, he centered themes on alienation as a Bene-Israel in Bombay, urban life, and the quest for identity; his collections include A Time to Change (1952), the first collection by a ‘new’ poet; The Unfinished Man (1960); and The Exact Name (1965).

- Khushwant Singh (1918—): An earthy realist with an irreverent view of Indian life and a hard, vigorous style, he provided a pitilessly realistic fictional account of the Partition holocaust in Train to Pakistan (1956) and I shall Not Hear the Nightingale (1959).

- Kamala Markandaya (1924—): An expatriate writer focusing on the East-West encounter and the impact of modern culture on traditional life, she authored Nectar in a Sieve (1954); A Silence of Desire (1960), dealing with the clash between Western rationalism and Indian traditional faith; and The Coffer Dams (1969), a comprehensive picture of the Indo-British encounter during dam construction.

- Nayantara Sahgal (1927—): She addressed the political era and the modern Indian woman’s search for sexual freedom and self-realization in A Time To be Happy (1958), This Time of Morning (1968), and A Situation in New Delhi (1970).

- A.K. Ramanujan (1929—): A poet of exile and identity highly influenced by ancestral heritage and memory with a sure poetic technique, he published The Striders (1966) and Relations (1971).

- Asif Currimbhoy (1928—): The most prolific Indian English playwright of any period, he covered themes of history, politics, social problems, and East-West encounter, often relying on sheer reportage and melodrama in plays like The Tourist Mecca (1959), Goa (1964), An Experiment with Truth (1969), and Inquilab (1970).

- Kamala Das (1934—): A bilingual writer in English and Malayalam, she was known for uninhibited confessional poetry obsessively detailing sex, love, and femininity in Summer in Calcutta (1965), The Descendants (1967), and The Old Playhouse and Other Poems (1973).

- Anita Desai (1937—): She focused on the interior landscape of the mind through psychological realism, with protagonists as fragile introverts seeking self-discovery in Cry, the Peacock (1963), Where Shall We Go This Summer (1975), and Fire on the Mountain (1977), which won the Sahitya Akademi Award.

- Arun Joshi (1939—): His recurrent theme is alienation with intensely self-centred heroes grappling for purpose in life, as in The Foreigner (1968) and The Apprentice (1974).

- Shiv K. Kumar (1921—): A senior academic mastering both the confessional mode and ironic comment in poetry, he produced Articulate Silences (1970), Cobwebs in the Sun (1974), and The Bone’s Prayer (1979).

- Keki N. Daruwalla (1937—): A police officer by profession and one of the most substantial modern poets, he reflected themes of violence, disease, and scepticism toward religion in Under Orion (1970), Apparition in April (1971), and Crossing of Rivers (1976).

- Chaman Nahal (1927—): A novelist of ‘painful odysseys,’ he created Azadi (1975), a comprehensive fictional account of the Partition holocaust in 1947 that won the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1977.