A new kind of novel appeared in Bengal after the 1920s. The novels depicted the life of peasants and low castes and they were written by writers who belonged to this group of society or community. Titash Ekti Nadir Naam (1956) is one such novel written by Advaita Malla Burman. Theme of the novel is three generations of Mallas, and the tragedies, the ups and downs in their lives are portrayed. The Mallas were a community of fisherfolk who earned their livelihood by fishing in river ‘Titash’. The hero is Ananta, a child whose parents were separated after their wedding night. The novel is about the customs, festivals, relationships, friendship of this community. When the river ‘Titash’ dries up, the community of ‘Mallas’ also breaks up. The new influences from the city had already broken up the community and the final blow comes when the river dries.Writers had written about low castes before Burman, but the writers were from upper class,unlike Burman, who belonged to the fishermen community. Vaikkom Muhammad Basheer (1908–1996) wrote about communities which were never mentioned in the novels before. Basheer himself had led a chequered life. He had hardly had any formal education, and went away from home to join the ‘Salt Satyagraha’ of Gandhiji. He wandered all over India and travelled to Arabia. He had lived with sufis and sanyasis. He wrote the spoken language style — a style that was simple. His themes were his own experiences. He brought to Malyalam writing themes which were unusual — themes of poverty, insanity and life in prisons — themes not yet written about.