A history of Indian literature. Volume 9: 1911-1956, Struggle for freedom, triumph and tragedy

This account of the literary activities in India during the period between 1911 and 1956 in twenty-two languages, follows, with some modification, the methodology adopted in the earlier volume, Western Impact: Indian Response which took 1800-1910 as its period of investigation. The emphasis in the earlier work was more on die growth of new literary genres, most of them being innovations in Indian literary history. Those genres emerged out of the tensions between the indigenous traditions and alien models and canons in a colonial situation. The history of that period was characterized mainly, if not entirely, by a continuous struggle between the native and the foreign models. Only one stream of literature which was confined among the rural population, remained more or less unaffected by the presence of English, the language of power and supremacy. But very little of it has been preserved—part of it being oral—and almost totally ignored by the English-educated reading community who created the new literature. This history of literature, therefore, does not claim to be a complete account of the literary activities of the whole people, but only of a more articulated group, more favourably placed within the contemporary powerstructure. The genres that gave the new Indian literature its distinct character, became slowly naturalized and by the end of the last century they became powerful medium of new thoughts and sensibilities. This volume continues its inquiries into the new developments in the genre, but thematological inquiries, which received relatively less attention in the previous volume, have been prioritized here. Both genological and thematological studies, however, can hardly be kept separate in any literary history. The period covered in this volume is much shorter: only forty-six years. Preface Abbreviations Part One 1 Author-Reader-Intermediaries I MAJOR WRITERS II SOCIAL BACKGROUND OF THE AUTHORS III AUTHORS: PROFESSION IV AUTHORS: CASTE COMPOSITION V WOMEN WRITERS VI WRITERS: LOWER CASTE The Beginnings of Dalit Literature VII INTERMEDIARIES (Modes of Transmission; Literary Magazines; Festival and Other Arts; Publishers; Financial Condition of the Indian Author) VIII THE READER (Stratification of Reader; The Woman Reader; The Child Reader; The Scholar Reader) 2 Literary Interactions I THE LINGUISTIC SITUATION (Last Phase of Persian; Sanskritization; Persianization; The Movement towards Dravidization) II RELATION AMONG INDIAN LANGUAGES (Linguistic Tension; Importance of Bengali; Geographical Proximity; Translations from Bengali; Indian English; Major Languages: Minor Language; Ambivalence towards Indian English) III THE CONTINUITY OF SANSKRIT LITERATURE (Translations from Sanskrit; The Discovery of Bhasa; The Gita; The Ramayana; Meghadutam) IV PERSIAN AGAIN (Iqbal and Persian; Omar Khyyam and Edward Fitzerald) V EUROPEAN-INDIAN LITERARY INTERACTIONS (Coexistence of English and Indian Literatures; Translations from English; European Literature through English; Ibsen, Materlink and Corker, English and Indian Literatures) 3 Political Movements and Indian Writers I POWER OF PATRIOTISM II THE ADVENT OF GANDHI (Gandhi's Challenge to the West; Akbar Allahabadi on Gandhi; Waiting for Gandhi; The Popular Image of Gandhi) III THE GROWTH OF THE POLITICAL NOVEL (The Princely States; The Split between the Historical and the Political Novel; Gharr Baire) IV THE NEW HEROES (Gandhi as Hero; The Gandhian Hero; The Militant Hero; The Revolutionary Hero; Gandhian Protagonists Dominate; Premchand) V FRUSTRATION AND HOPE (Jallianwala Bagh; October Revolution; 'Sarfaroshi Ki Tamana'; The Communist Hero; AIPWA; Quit India; ‘Tod rahc hain zanjiren: The Chains are Breaking'; Tebhaga; Uprising at Vayalor; ‘I smashed the fetters of Telengana’) 4 The Reconstruction of the Past I HISTORICAL FICTION II HISTORIANS AND CREATIVE WRITINGS III NADU’ AND 'DESA' (History in Punjabi Literature; Sindhi and Oriya; History and Malayalam Writers; Reconstructing the Karnataka Past; An Architect of Historical Novel; Treatment of History by Assamese Writers; Tamil Pride in the Past; Widening of Interest: The Telugu Case; The Search for Bengali Heroes) IV POPULAR HEROES AND HEROINES (Ashoka; Chandragupta-Chanakya; Shivaji; Rana Pratap; Durgavati; Hazrat Husain; Rani of Jhansi) V THE DECLINE AND THE RESURGENCE 5 Myths and Modern Indian Literature I THE POPULARITY OF THE PAURANIKA Il THE PAN-INDIAN CHARACTER OF THE MYTHS III EPIC HEROINES (Sita; Savitri; Chitrangada and other Romantic Heroines; Draupadi; Ahalya) IV HEROES (Rama and Ravana; Young Heroes; Kama, Krishna, Duryodhana, Bhisma; Epic Characters and the Ethical System Ashvatthama; Yayati; Manu: The Creation of a New Myth) V PERSOARABIC MYTHS VI MYTHS FROM GRECO-ROMAN SOURCE VII THE BUDDHIST AND BIBLICAL THEMES (Buddha; Christ) 6 Indian Theatre and the Drama I THE THEATRE IN METAPHANIC AREAS II THE GROWTH OF DRAMATIC MOVEMENTS (Tamil Situation; Oriya Stage; Telugu Situation; The Gujarati Scene; Assamese Situation; Malayalam Drama; The Hindi Situation; The Decline of the Marathi Stage; A New Phase of Bengali Theatre; 'Challenge to the Professional Theatre'?) III THEMES AND IDEOLOGY (Mythology and History’; The Freedom Movement; Innovations in the Stage; The Winds of Change; New Experiments; Popularity of One-Act Plays; IPTA; Radio Plays) IV THE SUMMING UP (‘Spectacle' and Realism; The Audience; The Spoken Word; The Openness of the Indian Theatre) 7 Phases of Indian Poetry I PHASE LAG: A PROBLEM OF HISTORIOGRAPHY II THE PHASES OF TRANSITION (Modernity': English and Sanskrit; Successive Phases of Modernity; Western Impact and Transition; Nepali Situation; Changes in Maithili; Rajasthani and Sindhi; Manipuri; Punjabi) III TAGORE (The English Tagore; The Image of Tagore; Tagore and Bengali Poetry’; Bengali Contemporaries of Tagore; Kazi Nazrul Islam) IV NEW POETRY: TWO STRANDS (Assamese Poetry; Oriya Poetry; Modern Poetry’ in Hindi; Navodaya Movement; Kalpanikodayamam; Romantic Poetry in Malayalam; Changes in Marathi; Changes in Gujarati; Bharati and After; Identities: National and Islamic; Iqbal) V THE RISE OF THE AVANTE-GARDE (Tagore Challenged; Free Verse and Modern Poetry’; Attitude to language and Life) VI A SEARCH FOR MODERNITY (Pragati and Pruyog; Modem Bengali Poetry; Modem Poetry: Manifesto; Progressive Poetry; The Debate on Modernity; Obscurity) 8 The Other Harmony I PROSE AND POETRY: A NEW RELATIONSHIP II SPOKEN PROSE: WRITTEN PROSE III DIFFERENT FORMS OF THE ESSAY IV BIOGRAPHIES AND AUTOBIOGRAPHIES V CRITICISM VI TRAVELOGUES 9 Indian Fiction I TWO STREAMS: THE PARALLEL LITERATURE II THE SHORT STORY (The Beginnings; Malayalam; Phases of Marathi Short Story; Accent on Social Reality: Oriya, Assamese, Gujarati; Manikkodi Group; Experiments in Telugu; Kannada Short Story: From Navodaya to Nauya; Premchand and His Short Stories; Bengali Short Story: Second Phase; Sindhi and Punjabi: Contrasting Situations; Short Story in Indian English; Progressive Movement: Urdu Short Story; The Last Phase) III THE NOVEL (Metaphanic situation; Transition in Punjabi; Tamil Novel: Growth of a Popular Form; Telugu Novel; Malayalam Novel: The Finest Hour; Kannada: A Remarkable Phase; Premchand and His Contemporaries; Urdu Novel; Legacy of Fakir Mohan; Gujarati Scene: A New Phase; Assamese Novel: Slow but Steady; Indian English Novel; Marathi: After and Beyond Apte; Bengali Novel: The Golden Phase; 'Regional Novels’) 10 The Narratives of Suffering: Caste and the Underpriviledged I CASTE AS A THEME II IMPACT OF AMBEDKAR III KUMARAN ASAN IV LOVE AND MARRIAGE V MALAPALLI VI IDEALISM AND EXPERIENCE VII THE STORY OF A POET VIII THE PROTESTING HERO (A Ray of Hope) IX PATHOS ANGER IRONY X PROTESTS FROM BELOW 11 Women I COMPONENTS OF THE WOMAN THEME II THE GIRL CHILD III THE MARRIED WOMEN (The Unequal Marriage; The Dowry System) IV ROLES OF WOMEN (Wife; Mother, Widow; Prostitute; Love and Social Authority; The Voices of Protest) 12 Religion: Harmony and Discord I COMMUNALISM AND LITERATURE II THE VISION OF INDIA III COMMUNALISM CONDEMNED IV RELIGION AND LITERATURE V VOICES OF SEPARATISM 13 Triumph and Tragedy I INDIA DIVIDED II THE NARRATIVE OF VIOLENCE: PUNJAB III THE AGONY OF SINDH IV THE TRAUMA OF BENGAL V MEMORY AND INSANITY VI VIOLENCE AND SENSE OF SIN (Communalism and the Writer's Dilemma; The Assasination of Dandhi) VII LITERATURE DIVIDED? VIII ‘REGIONALISM' IX A BRAVE NEW WORLD 14 Epilogue I INDIAN MODERNITY AND THE WEST II SEX AND MORALITY III THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE IV THE CITY AND THE VILLAGE V THE COMMUNITY: SAMAjA VI THE HERO, THE HEROINE AND THE VILLAIN VII WHERE IS BHARATVARSHA? Notes Bibliography Part Two. A Chronology of Literary Events INTRODUCTION CHRONOLOGY Indexes NAME INDEX TITLE INDEX SUBJECT INDEX INDEX OF ORGANIZATION