B.A. (Hons.

) English – Semester V DSE-2

Modern Indian Writing in English Translation Study Material

Unit-4
Short Stories and Poems

Edited by: Dr. Neeta Gupta

Department of English

SCHOOL OF OPEN LEARNING

University of Delhi
 Discipline Specific Elective (DSE-2)
Modern Indian Writing in English Translation

Unit-4
Short Stories and Poems

Edited by:
Dr. Neeta Gupta
School of Open Learning
University of Delhi
Delhi-110007

SCHOOL OF OPEN LEARNING

UNIVERSITY OF DELHI
5, Cavalry Lane, Delhi-110007
 Discipline Specific Elective (DSE-2)
Modern Indian Writing in English Translation

Unit-4
Short Stories and Poems
Contents
Lesson No. Title Prepared by Pg. No.
Short Stories Dr. Kamayani Kumar 01
(a) Premchand, ‘Kafan’ 01
(b) Perumal Murugan, ‘The Well’ 12
(c) Arupa Patangia Kalita, ‘Doiboki’s Day’ 20
Poetry Dipannita Ghosh 28
(a) Rabindranath Tagore 29
(i) ‘Where the Mind is Without Fear’
(ii) ‘It Hasn’t Rained in My Heart’
(b) G.M. Muktibodh, ‘Brahmarakshas’ 33
(c) Thangjam Ibopishak 37
(i) ‘The Land of the Half-Humans’
(ii) ‘I Want to be Killed by an Indian Bullet’

SCHOOL OF OPEN LEARNING

UNIVERSITY OF DELHI
5, Cavalry Lane, Delhi-110007
 Unit-4 : Short Stories

(a) Premchand : ‘Kafan’

Dr. Kamayani Kumar

1. About the Author

Dhanpat Rai Srivastav better known by his pseudonym Munshi Premchand was born in
Lamhi, near Varanasi in British India. Indisputably regarded as one of the foremost writers of
Hindi Literature he had first started writing under the pen name Nawab Rai. One of his early
works Soz-e-Watan was banned by the British as seditious and hence he started to write under
a new pen name Premchand from 1907 onwards. His early writings were in Urdu but he
eventually wrote in Hindi to reach a wider readership. Right from his earliest writings
Premchand focused on social issues such as corruption among temple priests, exploitation of
poor people, drawbacks of feudalism, caste system, to name a few. A prolific writer he wrote
14 novels and around 300 short stories. A few of his famous works are Godaan, Gaban, Seva
Sadan, Karm Bhoomi. His stories like Idgah, Kafan, Sadgati, Thakur ka Kuan have been
critically applauded for the extremely touching representation of human dilemmas in
relationships. Through his works he tried to articulate the pain of the people who have been
subjected to exploitation and who are beyond the pale be it because of gender, poverty, race,
age, and are incapacitated by the same. His writings then became the mouthpiece for these
people. He was deeply disturbed by India’s enslavement to British and in many of his
writings he condemns the same. In fact, his writings were profoundly influenced by Gandhian
philosophy. He also expressed his indebtedness to several philosophers and writers from the
Western Cannon. For instance, when Godan was published Premchand wrote that he had
been “influenced by Leo Tolstoy, Victor Hugo, Romain Rolland, Maxim Gorky and
Rabindranath Tagore.”i
He was a pioneer when it came to raising concerns about the plight of women in India,
for many of his stories speak of taboos like the dowry system, the painful condition of
widows, early age of marriage for girls, etc. His aim was to bring about a social revolution
although often he had to face a lot of flak because of the moralistic fervour of his writings
and also because the kind of changes he was espousing were radical for a society beset with
taboos.
A firm exponent of using literature for a purpose Premchand was the primary
spokesperson of the Progressive Writer’s Movement when it started in India in 1935. His
speech Sahitya Ka Udyesha became one of the finest pieces of literary criticism establishing
firmly the tenets of socially engaged literature committed to refinement of human minds.
Speaking of Premchand’s contribution to the aesthetics of Hindi literary tradition, Naravne
writes, “Premchand created the tradition of the modern novel and short story in Hindi… the
short story writers before Premchand were, generally speaking, caught up …with the

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mysterious, the strange, the romantic, the sensational,…artificial and unconvincing.”ii It is
these aspects of his craft that have earned him “his place as one of the most important figures
in modern Indian culture. His contribution is unique, substantial and many sided.”iii As
Gajarawala writes, “Premchand’s writings appeared as harbinger of a new era…” and that
when Premchand made the shift from writing in Urdu to Hindi then “realist writing in Hindi
was effectively inaugurated.”iv
While his novels have won a lot of critical acclaim, his large oeuvre of short stories are
not to be underestimated. His stories in fact can be divided into four different phases, while
the earliest phase dealt with stories of historical episodes of chivalry and romance, the second
phase has stories where his commitment towards social issues starts to take a strong hold. His
growth as an artist in terms of craftsmanship is also evident in the second phase. The third
phase shows a deep influence of Gandhian philosophy and his teachings whereas the fourth
has stories that testify to his commitment towards the independence movement as well as his
hate for instruments of social oppression be it caste, gender, feudalism, race, or colonialism.
A literary giant his writing has not faded into irrelevance with the passage of time but rather
has become an invaluable asset to Hindi literary tradition. The stories offer a microcosm of
the debilitating and impoverished lives of people suffering under the yoke of feudalism and
colonialism. And of these ‘Kafan’ offers the most heart-rending account of how humaneness,
(the essential defining quality of human kind) can be completely erased and highlights the
baseness to which humans can fall in face of adversity.

2. Learning Objectives
The primary objective of this Unit is to assist students to learn about Premchand as an author
through a close exegesis of the text and also assess the underlying themes of the short story
‘Kafan’. The story when analysed critically opens to a gamut of engaging ideas and tropes.
This lesson will enable students to:
 Develop a deeper and nuanced understanding of the short story ‘Kafan’.
 Distinguish the main thematic points in the text.
 Understand the significance of Munshi Premchand as a short story writer.
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3. ‘Kafan’ – An Introduction
One of the last stories written by Premchand prior to his demise in 1936, ‘Kafan’ refuses to
be put to rest. It has been cited as one of the blackest short stories and one which has seen a
fair share of literary criticism and controversy. In fact, over the decades the story has been
adapted into radio and theatre performances in various Indian languages. While Premchand
had always been criticised by the Brahmin community for his representation of the lower
castes in his writings even to the point of being labelled anti-brahmin, what is intriguing is
that at the same time he was heavily critiqued by the Dalit writers for representation of the
untouchables in a poor light. To be precise, Premchand was cited as ‘anti-dalit’ a term which
seems difficult to relate to because many of his short stories (such as Sadgati, Thkaur ka
Kuan, Mandir) deal with the oppression and subjugation of the lower castes. ‘Kafan’ has also
been often read, and critically received as a Marxist text primarily because of the theme of
the landless laborers that the story explores and the condemnation of the feudal system and
the social inequalities that define the zamindari system.
In spite of the criticism, it invited the story has been cited by many critics, “as one of
Premchand’s greatest stories because of its ‘realism’”v while some see the characters of
Ghisu and Madhav as ‘aberrations’vi deliberately created by Premchand to communicate the
hollowness of our social structures.
4. Critical Analysis
The story is set in a rural milieu, and is divided into three segments. The first part of the story
opens on a dark, cold winter night and brings to fore several thematic tropes – hunger,
oppressive feudalism, gender inequalities in a patriarchal system, and caste-based
discrimination through the two main characters – Ghisu and Madhav and a liminal character–
Budhiya. Budhiya is the most marginalised of characters in this story suffering from the
double bind of impoverishment, caste, and patriarchy.
4.1 Events of the Night
The story opens with the father and son roasting a few potatoes, (which they have stolen from
a neighbour’s field hence showing them to be unethical) while groans of Budhiya writhing in
pain rend the air. The father and son are indifferent to Budhiya’s agony. What we see instead
is the two men losing patience with her. Her screams make Madhav uneasy but in a different
sense altogether. He is not uneasy because he feels for Budhiya but because her incessant
screams are making him uncomfortable, and when Ghisu tells him to go and check on her, he
says in a peeved voice, “Why doesn't she just die, if she has to? What’s there to see? Madhav
whined piteouslyvii His reluctance stems from his lack of trust for his father for he fears that
Ghisu will eat all the roasted potatoes by himself. So he exercises a moral choice of staying
there instead of being compassionate and humane enough to be with his ailing wife. Instead,
the two selfishly focus on their ‘hunger’. Much of the narrative that follows between the two
focusses on ‘food’ as Ghisu recounts nostalgically the sumptuous meals he has had in the
past. The perception that we draw is that these men are callous, indolent, and inhuman whose
3
only concern is with satiating their own ‘hunger’. Occasionally we hear the two refer to
Budhiya as a fine woman who served them well while alive. This part of the story serves to
develop in the reader’s mind a perception of the selfishness and insensitiveness of Ghisu and
Madhav, the sense of distrust when it comes to food that Madhav harbours and his complete
disregard for his wife – Budhiya.
4.2 The Need for a Shroud
The second part of the story begins with the break of dawn and presents the two with another
dilemma – Budhiya has died in childbirth. Without exhibiting a moment of remorse, the two
engage in the task of asking for money from the Zamindar and the villagers to perform the
last rites of the unfortunate woman. In death as in life she has experienced scant dignity or
love from Madhav through which Premchand is pointing out the almost negated existence of
women in the patriarchal world. The two manage to collect money to buy for Budhiya a
shroud relatively easily, which goes on to show the trust deficit in the villagers regarding
Ghisu and Madhav’s ability to provide for Budhiya’s last rites.
4.3 The Questioning and Rejection of a Custom
It is in the third part of the story that we get a glimpse into the most dehumanizing aspect of
their nature. The two go to the market to buy a shroud and after searching the market for
different materials for a shroud the two decide that it is worthless to spend money on a new
shroud for a dead woman especially when she never had the privilege of wearing a new sari
while she was alive. Instead, the two find it legitimate enough to spend the money by buying
for themselves an abundant meal. Their logic being that Budhiya being dead would hardly
benefit from a shroud while they with their bellies full would bless her and it would help ease
her way unto heaven. While drunk the two express their gratitude for the woman who even in
death as in life did not leave them unprovided for. The grossness of the situation brings home
with great force the misery to which women are subjected, while the crassness with which
Ghisu and Madhav behave demands deliberation. The focus of deliberation being that these
two men are a product of the environment. Ghisu refuses to be exploited like scores of
landless laborers who have exhausted themselves working on empty stomachs in the fields of
landlords and suffer under two yokes – one of feudalism and the other of caste. His decision
of not working in the fields of the feudal masters is a rebellion of sorts against an exploitative
order. However, one cannot help critiquing the manner in which the two treat Budhiya. It is
for the representation of Ghisu and Madhav as heartless characters that Premchand’s story
attracted a lot of flak.
As some critics have pointed out that one motif of the story is of hunger – one that gets
an extended treatment in the last segment of the story when we see Ghisu and Madhav’s
complicity in ending up in a tavern to have a sumptuous feast with lots of liquor using the
money they had collected for Budhiya’s shroud. In his inebriated state Madhav expresses his
gratitude for Budhiya, and it is in this state that for the first time in his life he feels
empowered enough to give away the leftover food to a beggar. As in life, so in death Budhiya
has empowered him.

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4.4 Premchand’s representation of the Dalit Community
While literary critics uphold Premchand’s sensitive representation of the dehumanization of
Dalit community because of feudal overlords and supremacist Brahmins, the slew of criticism
from Dalit writers has been very rigorous. Writers like Om Prakash Valmiki were critical of
Premchand’s portrayal of Ghisu and Madhav as inhumane, selfish beings. While it cannot be
denied that Ghisu and Madhav are all of these it would be a very reductionist reading of the
text to perceive Ghisu and Madhav as the sole perpetrators of injustice towards Budhiya.
Rather Premchand wants to point out that the three of them are victims of a socially
exploitative order. Also, rather than generalizing, Premchand has only represented these two
characters as lazy and inclined to shirk work, whereas the larger community of outcasts
(including Budhiya) is shown as hard working and morally upright.
4.5 The Shroud as Symbol
‘Kafan’ literally refers to a shroud that is a material necessity for the funeral rites of a
deceased person. It therefore becomes symbolic of the social custom that dictates such a
ritual. Ghisu and Madhav though living a hand-to-mouth existence are expected to follow the
ritual. The events of the story however show how the shroud becomes a means to expose the
hypocrisy of this exploitative system that expects care and reverence for the dead rather than
the living. The Zamindar and the villagers readily contribute to pay for a shroud for Budhiya
but had turned a deaf ear to her cries when she was writhing in pain. They come forward to
help only once she is dead because her corpse signifies trouble. The whole village knows that
left to their means the father and son would never provide for a funeral. The Zamindar’s act
of charity therefore stems not from compassion or contrition but rather out of self interest of
the village community. The shroud thus becomes symbolic of the hypocrisy of the prevailing
social structure.
Ghisu and Madhav cheat Budhiya even of her right to a dignified burial. The denial of a
shroud thus becomes symbolic of the fate of women like Budhiya in a patriarchal society. At
the same time the shamelessness of the father-son duo is laid bare. This coupled with Ghisu
and Madhav’s decision to spend the money for the shroud for their gratification makes one
wonder if the ‘shroud’ here connotes a death of – humaneness, values, and ethics. It also
serves to reiterate the subaltern, liminal position of Budhiya who while alive never had a new
piece of cloth and who is cheated of her right to a ‘shroud’ by her own ‘family’. The sense of
betrayal and dispossession is extremely powerful as it communicates the pathos of her
unsung life and death. The title of the story thus resonates with the many meanings and
innumerable issues that Premchand has tried to address here.
4.6 Self-Check Questions
a) Write in your own words the events of the night.
b) Why is there a need for a shroud?

5
 c) Can we say that Budhiya is a victim of gender and caste based discrimination? Give a
reasoned answer.
d) Discuss the relevance of the title of the story ‘Kafan’.
e) Critically comment on the flak that Premchand had to face because of his
representation of Dalit community in ‘Kafan’.
5. Themes
5.1 Caste Based Discrimination and Subjugation
Of the multiple themes the story addresses the predominant one is caste-based discrimination.
The discourse that emerges most is Ghisu and Madhav’s rejection of a caste based
hierarchical structure - a structure that has been socially sanctioned, is discriminatory to the
core, and legitimizes oppression of one human by another in the name of Brahminical
hegemony. In fact, Ghisu and Madhav’s callous and animalistic behaviour can also be read as
an act of rebellion and defiance against a social system which can provide money to them for
buying the ‘shroud’ for Budhiya but not medicines while she was suffering. In not buying the
shroud the two highlight the futility of the act. They reason that when Budhiya could not
afford a piece of cloth while alive what justification one has in buying a shroud for when she
is no longer alive. Some critics have read Ghisu and Madhav’s rejection as embracing the
Marxist ideological framework and rejecting a feudal and capitalist ideology. It is evident that
Ghisu, Madhav, and Budhiya are victims of caste-based exploitation in their own ways and
that Premchand’s aim is to create a social consciousness.
5.2 Gender Based Discrimination
‘Kafan’ was the last short story that Premchand penned and one which has courted a lot of
controversy. Premchand has been heavily critiqued for what is seen as depreciatory and
derogatory representation of the two Dalit characters – Ghisu and Madhav. However, a
deeper and nuanced reading of the text suggests otherwise. While Ghisu and Madhav are
shown as lazy, indolent, content with going hungry, thieving, or even exploiting Budhiya one
cannot deny that they too are victims.
However, if Ghisu and Madhav are victims of a caste-based hegemony, Budhiya is the
character who suffers the most. She is a victim of caste, feudalism, and patriarchy. She is
subjugated under the yoke of caste-based oppression, an exploitative feudal system, and is
vulnerable to gender-based discrimination even by her own family. Ghisu and Madhav
exploit her while she is alive for, she is the sole bread earner for a family of three, and we
‘hear’ her cries of pain as she suffers the agony of childbirth and dies an unlamented death.
Even in death her exploitation doesn’t end when the money the two men collect for her
cremation is splurged to satiate their hunger. Budhiya is a liminal character of whom we only
hear through Ghishu and Madhav’s reminiscences. She lives and dies the death of a subject
who is victim to gender, caste, and feudal structure. Towards the end of the story, we see
Madhav expressing a bit of shame about his conduct where he failed to be fair in his

6
treatment towards Budhiya and we see his sense of loss, but this too is explained away by
Ghisu in a philosophical manner when he tells his son not to contemplate too much on
Budhiya’s fate, “Don’t cry, my son? Be happy that she's been liberated from web of maya,
from all fetters. She was very lucky she could snap all ties so soon (232).”viii
5.3 Theme of Hunger
One of the sub themes of the story is evidently ‘hunger’. The story opens on the note where
we are told of the ‘hunger’ which has made Ghisu and Madhav so self-focussed that they are
absolutely oblivious to Budhiya’s pain. They have no qualms even to thieve, if need be, to
satisfy their hunger. We witness Madhav’s reluctance to be at her bedside for he is afraid that
his father might eat the roasted potatoes all by himself. The lack of trust between the father
and son when it comes to food and the callousness both display is extremely repulsive and
thought provoking. Even the talk the two are engaged in is regarding food, as Ghisu tells
Madhav of the sumptuous feast he has had in his youth. The story ends on the two splurging
the money on food. The question is whether the physical ‘hunger’ for food is a way of
referring to other forms of hunger that plague the characters – the ‘hunger’ for freedom from
an exploitative class structure, caste structure, poverty, and for Budhiya patriarchal
hegemony, a hunger for equality?
The themes are all focused on pointing out the diseased mind-set that assails our social
structures. Premchand had an agenda of using literature as a vehicle of social reform. As
Navrane writes, “He did not hesitate to the floodlight on the darkest spots in Indian life.”ix
Instead, Premchand made sure that in every line he wrote he was able to address some of the
social injustice and generate a compassionate current for “the helpless widow, the insulted
untouchable, the starving peasant.”x
5.4 Theme of Subaltern Resistance
Subaltern resistance is a dominant theme in the story ‘Kafan’. Ghisu and Madhav are
represented by Premchand as work shirkers and dehumanized beings whose behaviour is
almost animalistic. While this cannot be denied that Ghisu and Madhav are inhumane,
equally valid is the argument that this ‘opinion’ about Ghisu and Madhav comes from the
custodians of the upper caste. As Banik writes, Ghisu’s “value in the society is measured in
terms of his utility to the dominant class,”xi and for them he is useless for Ghisu chooses to
resist the feudal system and his oppressors unlike other outcastes who chose to labour for the
Zamindar in return for two scant meals. Rather Ghisu and Madhav choose to go hungry and
resist ‘efforts’ at “appropriation by the dominant forces of production.”xii Yet it is these two
subalterns who appropriate the rights of Budhiya and become her oppressors in a similar vein
as the feudal lords. While she is alive Budhiya is exploited by Ghisu and Madhav and after
her death the ‘shroud’ becomes the site for further exploitation. The manner in which the two
characters use her death as a means to an end lends the story its haunting power and critical
acclaim. The confidence that Ghisu has that they can always wrest more money from the
custodians of upper caste comes from his experience that social norms can be negotiated. As

7
a subaltern he has learnt how to defy the authority of his oppressors if not wrest himself free
from this hegemonic code. The saddest point being that while Ghisu and Madhav are
themselves subject to oppression they do not feel shame at exploiting Budhiya.
5.5 Self-Check Questions
a) Budhiya as a marginal character represents gender subjugation in a patriarchal
social structure. Critically comment.
b) Discuss the theme of ‘hunger’ in Premchand’s ‘Kafan.’
c) Ghisu and Madhav are victims of a caste ridden hierarchical social structure.
Comment.
6. Characters
6.1 Ghisu
Ghisu, on the first reading of Premchand’s ‘Kafan’ comes across as a landless agricultural
labourer, a ‘chamaar’, a frail old man who is striking because of his laziness, slackness, lack
of ethics, and absolute lack of empathy for Budhiya. A shirker who we are told would rather
choose to go hungry than earn his bread through hard work, and who has no qualms in using
the money collected to buy the shroud for Budhiya for his own gratification. We are
constantly made aware of his laziness, his shamelessness, his scheming nature too, and how
kindness is wasted on him. It is but natural that Ghisu generate’s a sense of repulsion even
bordering on horror. It is for this animalistic representation that Premchand has had to face so
much of criticism from Dalit writers but a more nuanced reading allows one to counter the
anti-Dalit charges levelled against Premchand.
Ghisu is not a ‘flat’ character which the first reading may suggest. On the contrary,
Premchand has given us in Ghisu a complex figure. If one goes beyond the deprecatory
portrayal, one sees not a transgressor but rather a victim of caste and class oppression, whose
choice to shirk work is a reactionary response against an unjustified system. Ghisu is a
strategist who refuses to succumb to the trap of feudal landlord’s relentless exploitation and
instead as observed by Sadanand Shahi, he uses the strategy of being a work shirker as, “a
manoeuvre to escape the trap of exploitation” (Shahi).
For Ghisu, death is immaterial, as he callously recounts how he has fathered nine sons
but only Madhav is with him. For him what matters is his survival, everything pales in
comparison. Materialistic to the core, he comes across as someone who understands the true
connotations of utilitarianism where spending money on a shroud for a woman who never
had a piece of new cloth for herself comes across as a hollow expression, one designed to
pander to rituals of a social structure which never had any empathy for Budhiya while she
was alive and hence Ghisu feels no guilt in spending the money for satiating his hunger.
Though he does express his gratitude for Budhiya whom he praises for the selflessness with
which she served the interests of the father and son and condemns a social structure that
would give money for her shroud and none while she was alive. Indeed, as Sadanand Shahi
8
observes, “Ghisu had diagnosed the ills of his society. He had recognized the system of
exploitation. He had his own way of fighting this system.”xiii
6.2 Madhav
Madhav, son of Ghisu, goes beyond his father in exhibition of laziness, lack of shame, and
guilt. The story opens with representation of Madhav growing impatient as his wife’s cries
rend the chilly and dark night. For him his hunger is more important than grief for his wife.
For him the task of sitting with Budhiya to give her a sense of comfort is arduous. In fact one
can contend that when it comes to lack of ethics he is worse than Ghisu for when his father
remonstrates him for his callousness Madhav responds with irritation hardly able to mask his
lack of interest in sharing Budhiya’s agony. One can sense not only a lack of compassion,
sense of commitment but also surprisingly lack of trust that Madhav has in his father, Ghisu
regarding the potatoes he is roasting in the fire. Madhav does not experience any uneasiness
in using the money he has collected to buy a shroud for ‘Budhiya’ in spending on a feast in a
wine house even while Budhiya’s body lay cold in the hut. It is only in a state of intoxication
induced despair one sees Madhav express his grief, as he laments the fate of Budhiya who
lived a life of deprivation and oppression and died a painful death. This almost inhuman lack
of feeling gives voice to the debate that can Madhav’s lack of humaneness be attributed to his
‘caste’ as some suggest or to the inhumane treatment and oppression, he has been subjected
to by virtue of his birth as an ‘untouchable’.
There is perhaps, only one redeeming aspect of his character – when we see him
pondering about the legitimacy of his decision to spend the money for the shroud on a feast.
He wonders what is he going to respond when Budhiya in after-life questions him that why
did she not get a shroud. The joy of giving his plate of leftover puris to a beggar is immense
for Madhav. For the first time in his life he has experienced the joy of giving, the pathos of
the situation is profound.
6.3 Zamindar
The landlord in the story ‘Kafan’ is shown to be a ‘compassionate’ man. Premchand is at his
ironical best. This compassionate man does not feel shy of either exploiting the ‘voiceless’
‘simpleton’ landless laborers or even beating Ghisu and Madhav for their rejection of the
feudal order which legitimizes class and caste hegemony. The Zamindar however, does help
Ghisu by giving him a princely sum of two rupees to enable them to hold the funeral of
Budhiya. An act which stems neither from compassion nor prudence for he has no sympathy
with the two and moreover he knows that the two would never return the money. Neither is it
out of a sense of grief for the hardworking woman Budhiya nor an act of charity. The
zamindar gives the money because he is sure that Ghisu and Madhav could never arrange for
a funeral for the deceased. Premchand who strongly condemned feudalism for he found the
system oppressive uses the persona of the ‘benevolent’ Zamindar to critique ‘feudalism’.

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6.4 Absent -Presence of Budhiya
Budhiya is an absent present character in this story, it is around her that the story revolves yet
she is the most liminal, marginalized, and exploited character in this story. We hear about her
through the protagonists Ghisu and Madhav – how she has been a good woman, providing
these two work shirkers, shameless men with whatever meals she could by grinding grain,
cutting grass or whatever work she could put herself to. She becomes a victim on both gender
based and caste based inequities. Feudalistic as well as patriarchal structure have rendered her
incapacitated and inarticulate. We hear her ‘articulate’ only through painful moans, writhing,
in cries of pain. She dies with the unborn child dead in her womb, uncelebrated in life as in
death. It is through the accounts of Ghisu and Madhav that we learn of the selflessness of
Budhiya, as Ghisu says “Yes, she’ll go to heaven. She hurt no one, harmed no one. In death
she fulfilled the greatest wish of our life. If she doesn’t go to heaven who will?” (232)
Premchand has been credited to create women characters in his stories who are
remarkable for their courage and the manner in which they resist oppressive social norms –
be it Gangi from ‘Thakur Ka Kuan,’ Dhania from ‘Godan,’ Anandi from ‘Bade Ghar Ki Beti’
to name but a few so it does make one wonder why Budhiya has been created by Premchand
as a vulnerable victim of the social order. It is through her liminality and the pathos of the
situation that Premchand is aiming to highlight the multiple levels of oppression that women
like Budhiya are subjected to in the name of caste, gender, patriarchy and poverty.
6.5 Self Check Questions
a) The Zamindar is a compassionate man. Critically comment.
b) Examine Madhav’s character with special reference to his sense of guilt towards the
end of the story.
c) Ghisu’s refusal to work is a reaction against an exploitative social order. Comment.
7. Suggested Reading

 Banik, Somdev. “Giving the Lie: Ingenuity in Subaltern’s Resistance in Premchand’s

Short Story “The Shroud”. Rupkatha. Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in
Humanities. Volume 1, Number 2, 2009. E-ISSN 0975-2935
 Joshi, Anushree. “The Shroud” of Caste, Class, and Gender – Reading Symbolism in
Premchand’s Kafan.” The Literary e Journal, Muse India Issue 96 Mar-April 2021,
ISSN 0975- 1815.
 Nagar, Richa. “Hungry Translations: Relearning the World Through Radical
Vulnerability”, University of Illinois Press, 2019. ISBN 0252051416, 9780252051418
 Navrane, V. S. “Premchand : His Life and Work” Vikas Publication House Private
Limited
 Schulz, Siegfried A. “Premchand, A Western Appraisal” ICCR 1981.

10
  Shahi, Sadanand. “Kafan: A Multi-Layered Story.” Modern Indian Writing in English
Translation: A Multilingual Anthology, edited by Dhananjay Kapse, Worldview
Critical Edition, 2016, pp. 250-258. Print.
 Upadhyay, Shashi Bhushan. “Premchand and the Moral Economy of Peasantry in
Colonial North India.” Modern Asian Studies, vol. 45, no. 5, Cambridge University
Press, 2011, pp. 1227–59, http://www.jstor.org/stable/25835717.

i
Schulz, Seigfried. “Premchand A Western Appraisal” pp 25 ICCR 1981
ii
Navrane, V. S. “Premchand : His Life and Work” Vikas Publication House Private Limited, ISBN 0-7069-1091-5
iii
Ibid pp 253
iv
Gajarawala Toral, “The Dalit Limit Point Realism, Representation, And Crisis in Premchand” Modern Indian
Writing In English Translation A Multilingual Anthology edited by Dhananjay Kapse. Worldview Critical Edition
2016 ISBN 13:978-93-82267-22-5 pp 274.
v
Navrane, V. S. “Premchand : His Life and Work” Vikas Publication House Private Limited, ISBN 0-7069-1091-5
pp 257
vi
Ibid 256
vii
Kapse, Dhananjay ed. “Modern Indian Writing in English Translation A Multilingual Anthology,” Worldview
Critical Editions, 2016. ISBN 978-93-82267-22-5. pp 225
viii
Ibid 232
ix
Ibid pp 255
x
Ibid pp 255.
xi
Banik, Somdev. “Giving the Lie: Ingenuity in Subaltern Resistance in Premchand’s Short Story ‘The Shroud’.”
Rupkatha Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities (ISSN 0975–2935) Volume I, Number 2, Autumn
2009 pp 182
xii
ibid pp 183
xiii
Shahi, Sadanand. “Kafan: A Multi-layered Story”. Modern Indian Writing In English Translation A Multilingual
Anthology edited by Dhananjay Kapse. Worldview Critical Edition 2016 ISBN 13:978-93-82267-22-5 pp 258.

11
 (b) Perumal Murugan : ‘The Well’
Dr. Kamayani Kumar

3.1 About the Author

Perumal Murugan (b. 1966) is not only one of the renowned contemporary writers, but also
someone whose works have courted a lot of criticism for their themes. A great scholar,
Murugan writes in Tamil and has to his credit ten novels, five collections of short stories, and
several books of non-fiction books on how to teach language and literature. He is also a poet
and over four anthologies of his poetry have been published. Several of his works have been
translated into English. A professor of Tamil at the Government Arts College, Murugan
hailed from an extremely humble rural background. Growing up as a farmer’s son he hardly
had any opportunities – economic as well as academic – and thence it is indeed a remarkable
feat for him going by his stellar literary reputation.
Murugan started showing promise early in his childhood as he started writing lyrics for
children’s songs and eventually started writing short stories in Tamil for the journal
Manavosai. His first novel ‘Rising Heat’ was published in 1991. Post which he kept adding
to his oeuvre and his reputation grew richer. His novel ‘One Part Woman’ Madhorubhagan
published in 2012 and was received by some ideological groups as an extremely
controversial text for it speaks of a ……….. For the next five years Murugan was hounded by
criticism for this work. Disillusioned by the response ‘One Part Woman’ was generating
Murugan even went to the point of withdrawing his work and declaring Murugan the author
as dead. It was after the ruling of Madras High Court upheld his right to creative freedom
that he slowly returned to his life as an author and his first published work after his exile was
Poonachi, Or The Story of A Black Goat, which became an instant success and has been
already translated into eight languages. Caste and identity politics form the essence of
Murugan’s work. He chooses to speak of the ordinary lives of ordinary people. Most of his
works speak of the complex relationship of individual and his place within the larger social
structure and how social norms often determine the course of human lives. He uses his
writings scrupulously document the rural life and its pulse in its microcosm and does it
painstakingly. It is in his work that he finds true release and he says that it was while he was
under self-imposed exile that he realised that, “writing is my outlet and the tool for
expression at the deepest possible level” Murugan undeniably writes in a manner which is
extremely readable and engaging. The stories speak at length of a simple experience in a
contemplative tone. For instance, in the story The Well, the narrative unfolds in a highly
relatable manner the joys, anxieties, challenges, fears that the well has to offer and how the
four characters engage with it.

12
The short story, “The Well” has been taken from the anthology The Goat Thief, published in
2017. Each story in this collection is remarkable and as Murugan says that the reason why he
chose ten out of his larger oeuvre of 80 plus short stories is that each of them is infused with a
strong sense of realism. As Murugan writes in the Preface to this anthology that the “only
criterion for their selection is the successful realization of the form. All these stories are about
exceptions. Therefore, I place them, radiant as they are with the seductive allure and fresh
perspectives characteristic of exceptions, before the reader” (ii).
3.2 Learning Objectives
The primary objective of this Unit is to assist students to learn about Murugan as an author. A
critical reading of the text will help the students to analyse the main themes of the short story
‘The Well’. The story on a close reading allows the reader to understand a gamut of relevant
ideas. This lesson will help students to:
 Develop an in depth understanding of the short story ‘The Well’.
 Develop a better significance of the theme of the text.
 Understand the relevance of Perumal Murugan as a short story writer.
13
3.3. ‘The Well’ – An Introduction
The short story ‘The Well’ lives up to Murugan’s reputation of writing stories that are
extremely simple, yet stimulating, pulsating with life and endearing. While all his stories
have a signature fluidity which makes it appear as if the events are unfolding right in front of
the reader, this story in particular seems to bring alive the character’s experience of the dive
into the ‘well’ as if it was happening in front of our very eyes. His stories, as many critics
have observed, offer the reader an experience which is akin to social realism.
3.3.1 The Lure of The Well
The story “The Well” is a simplistic tale which revolves around the protagonist’s experience
as he dives into a well and how that well becomes for him “a universe that no one could
conquer.” The story opens with the protagonist trying to fend off as the children ‘badger’ him
to come to the ‘well’ with them. He is reluctant initially but then the eagerness and
excitement of the children catches on to him too and he is ready to be persuaded. Murugan’s
description of the manner in which the protagonist’s change of heart happens from initial
disinclination to eagerness is endearing. The protagonist disentangles himself from his ‘moss-
like’ memories (suggestive of some disturbing past from which he wishes to extricate
himself) and becomes increasingly involved with the three children. The children see him as
an easy bait whom they can pester and use as a ‘referee for their games’ (10). The way
children induce him to come and how he tries to dissuade them is in itself no less of a game.
Even though the desire to be inside a well is pleasing enough for him he is a bit diffident. The
children sense this and keep pestering him until he gives in and concedes to go with them.
The children enthusiastically arrange for a towel for him and all of them make their way to
the well. The well seemed to be beckoning him, for as we get a glimpse into the mindscape of
the protagonist, we are informed that it was a “well whose very appearance would make
anyone’s legs itch to jump in’’(11). The well then symbolises a place with which the
protagonist establishes an affinity, where he feels at ease, at home. It is only towards the end
of the story that the ‘familiar’ world of the well becomes uncanny. While at the beginning the
well seems extremely appealing to the protagonist, teeming with unexplored opportunities
and pleasures, helping to dispel his loneliness gradually it metamorphoses in the imagination
of the protagonist into an entity which is no less than a demon. This transition of the
protagonist’s state of mind from happiness to dread has been narrated in a manner which is so
effortless that the reader seems to have been transposed into the very centre of the action
itself.
3.3.2 Experiencing the World of The Well
Murugan, writes in a manner which makes the reader look forward to what unfolds next. The
‘frozen silence’ (11) of the well is shattered when they dive in and it is mesmerising to hear
the ‘splash’ and the ‘slosh’ of the water. It is almost magical to become attuned to ‘how the
once-frozen well began to speak through a variety of sounds’ (11). It cannot be denied that
Murugan’s writing style is powerful for its imagery, the images that he populates this story,

14
describing each moment that the protagonist is engaging with the well are very vivid and
profound allowing us to have almost sensory experience of what is happening in the well.
While the protagonist cannot wait to live the thrill of diving into the well, the children
keep bickering who’s going to go in first. Their engagement with the well is very different
from the way in which the children experience the well. For them the pleasure lies in endless
diving, splashing, and slosh. Whereas for the protagonist the well was a very different
experience. He embraced the gentle, soothing water of the well as a ‘flower-soft baby’ (11).
He apprehended the well as a world full of mysteries, unspoken tales, hoarder of ‘miracles’
and was caught by an intense desire to ‘caress and embrace its very speck’ (11). As he
plunged deeper and deeper, he became attuned to different sensations that the well had to
offer. At times it’s ice-cold water seemed like a poultice against the rays of the sun, at times it
felt like a stranger with a mystique, at times he found it to be too full of ‘compassion’. From
time to time he just watched the frogs and the children jump with abandon, wondering if
there was any difference between the two. He almost felt that the well was alive and watching
them with ‘gentle amusement that was like a smile rising to an old man’s lips(12)’. He took
to the well as he would a beloved and as he dived into its depths an ‘intense ardour for the
well bloomed in his heart(12).’ He is possessed by an overwhelming desire - to caress it, and
so he spends a long time travelling towards its every nook and corner watching the shifts in
water of the well as the frogs and the children alike sloshed and splashed. Murugan has
personified the well and given it a character of its own which is going to change and develop
as the story progresses. All of this is achieved through the way the well is perceived and
experienced by the protagonist.
3.3.3 The Well as an Intimidating Foe
Gradually the protagonist starts to tire. He realizes the depth to which he has travelled and is
now consumed with a desire to move out of the precincts of the well. He realizes that the well
is so deep and has so many secrets that its mysteries are unfathomable and he cannot dare to
unravel them all, that he is but a spectator. So he stands and watches as the children jump,
relishing the way in the carefree manner in which the girl jumps into the well, the tassels of
the red ribbon adorning her hair making her appear no less than an angel. He watches the
boys for a while but gradually the tiredness of his body starts getting more intense as does the
desire to exit the well. As he starts making his way towards the ground, his body starts
getting tremors and chills and he feels as if the well has started doing some ‘trickery’.
3.3.4 The Ascent from the Well
It is while he is ascending the steps inside the well that the girl asks him, “Chittappa, how
many rounds can you go without stopping?’ (13). and thus begins an ordeal for the
unassuming protagonist. Even before he can give an answer to the girl, the boy responds in a
provocative manner saying that Chittappa can’t even complete two. Taking up the challenge
the protagonist does try to prove the boy wrong but suddenly his strength fails him and he
starts faltering. He feels very weak and his breathing becomes more and more strained and no

15
matter how hard he tries the well becomes akin to an invincible foe. It seems to him that the
‘well had defeated him again.’ On hearing the shouts as the children rejoice in his failure to
meet the challenge he feels disheartened until he realizes that to ‘compete with it and lose
was in itself an act of courage’(13) and he almost feels proud of himself and also accepts his
humble position vis a vis the might of the well. As he declares his intention to go up to the
children he notices how their faces become forlorn and dejected for it signals the end of their
pleasure. They cannot not continue to indulge in the pleasure of splashing and sloshing in the
well in the absence of an adult. The well is full of threatening possibilities; venomous snakes
could bite them, they could plummet into the depths of the well, moreover it is situated at a
less frequented place and has the suggestiveness of being a haunted place. So, the girl begins
by pleading in a cajoling voice and while she pleads the protagonist resolutely starts climbing
out of the well when to his surprise the girl clings to his legs to stop him from stepping out.
What ensues is a struggle between the children and the protagonist as they make a game out
of the protagonist’s attempts to come out of the well.
What seems initially a prank gradually emerges into a power struggle where the children
assume an intimidating position as they work in tandem to keep the protagonist from stepping
out of the well and the whole experience becomes for the protagonist extremely tiresome and
scary. He starts being plagued with thoughts of the well being accursed and he being lured
into it with these three children being demons in disguise. For him the well becomes
personified into devil incarnate with the children acting as demons who are attacking him at
the behest of the well.
3.3.5 The Culmination
His body is covered with cuts and bruises as he thrashes in the water into which he plunges
again and again against his will because the children are adamant that he not be able to make
his way out, for them it has become yet another game sinister though it may be for the
protagonist. There is almost a frenzy, a crescendo to which this experience has reached.
There are tremors coursing through his body and his strength has started flailing him yet he
almost vaults to the top when it seemed as if the well echoed with shouts of ‘snake, snake’
and he findsd himself losing grip, he falls headlong into the well, his ‘limbs splayed
wide…like a frog’(16). The story ends on the note where his fear is mounting and he falls
back defeated, with his belief that the well too is part of a larger conspiracy to keep him
inside the well and how it has metamorphosised from a lover into a threatening foe.
3.3.6 Self-Check Questions
a) Write in your own words the events of the protagonist’s dive into the well.
b) Why do the children pester the man to accompany them to the well?
c) Describe in your own words how the narrator experiences the well in different ways.
d) The story, ‘The Well’ relates in a simple, realistic mode the events of a day. Critically
Comment.

16
3.4 Themes
3.4.1 The Essence of an Experience
The short story ‘The Well’ may appear to be deceptively simple, however here is where the
remarkableness of this work lies, for far from being simple it is infused with a plethora of
emotional experiences that the protagonist and the children go through which makes it a very
rich palette. Indeed, the story offers an intense and immersive experience to the reader as he
partakes of the experience of the protagonist’s engagement with the well, and the children.
The myriad aspects of the protagonist’s experience of diving in the well has been represented
with such intricacy that it is indeed commendable. To transmute a relatively ordinary event of
a man’s experience of diving into a well and struggling to come out of it into something so
ethereal, riveting, and elaborate speaks volumes for Murugan’s art as a short story writer. It is
like offering the essence of an experience. Murugan has wonderfully captured and
represented the dilemma, anxieties, joys, fears, struggle, anticipation, mischievousness of the
children, their deviousness, their ingenuity with such stark honesty that one cannot but
appreciate the spectrum and depth of what he has to offer of a day’s repast in a rural area.
3.4.2 Power-play
The story has definitely addressed the theme of powerplay. The power-play between the
children and the guest, the protagonist, when the former are trying to convince him to
accompany them to the well. The way they cajole him, pander him and are at their best selves
with no hint of devious, cruel, or scheming nature evident at this point. They know that they
cannot be at the well by themselves and hence the protagonist becomes crucial for them and
is to be pampered and treated in an entitled manner. The change happens when the
protagonist becomes a deterrent, a hindrance to their game, then it is the children who assume
power and mutually agree to harass the protagonist almost to the point that it seems that it is a
game for them where the challenge lies in frustrating all his efforts to leave the well.
Another aspect of powerplay is evident between the protagonist and the well, for we see
the well changing from a world to be conquered, to a temptress (for the protagonist) someone
whom he wants to embrace with the ardour of a lover to a threat which is almost bent upon
devouring him. While initially his experience of the well is as a gentle nurturer, soothing, and
pleasurable, it soon transmutes into a relation where he is humbled into accepting his modest
strength against the power of the well as ‘hoarder’ of miracles, secrets, and threats to
decimate him.
3.4.3 Self-Check Questions
a) Describe the range of emotions that the story takes the reader through.
b) Do you agree with the view that the story ultimately becomes a struggle for power
between the children and the protagonist on one hand and the protagonist and the well on
the other?

17
3.5 Characters
3.5.1 The Protagonist
The protagonist’s character has been elaborately developed by Murugan. Intricately described
it is not a surprise that the readers get to know the character almost intimately by the end of
the story. We know that he is attracted by the prospect of taking a dive in the well, that he has
just got rid of unpleasant memories, he is kind, indulgent, and accommodating as he readily
agrees to pander to the children’s request.
Through the course of the text, we see him engage with the well in a myriad ways first he
sees it as a temptation, a ‘hoarder of miracles,’ and approaches it as an explorer, an arduous
lover eager to embrace every aspect of the well. A humble man, he is modest and aware of
his strength when pitted against the well and knows when to give up. He knows that the well
is a challenge which he cannot conquer. He does respond to the provocation of the children
but soon accepts that he has little courage in face of the depth of the well.
In his dealings with the children, he is benevolent almost to a fault. He tries to fight their
stubbornness with kind words and does not exert his authority when they not allowing him to
step out of the well. Even when the girl deliberately assaults him, he is calm and gently tries
to convince the girl to release her hold on his leg. It is in his engagement with the Well that
one testifies to a plethora of feelings – veneration, love, passion, fear, and anxiety, taking
hold of his psyche. Bestowed with a rich imagination he associates the well with multiple
connotations – at times he sees it as a friend, even a lover but then as a foe, almost a demon.
3.5.2 The Girl
Of all the three children that are part of the story, the girl is who has more of a presence. The
children excitedly pester the protagonist to come with them to the well for they know they
cannot go there for their games without being monitored by an adult and this relative appears
to be someone they decide to pester until he concedes. The girl appears to the protagonist
almost like an angel when he observes her diving into the well with her red tassels flowing in
the air and sheer joy written large on her face. The same girl however, soon comes across as a
defiant, stubborn, and a devious child. It is the girl whom the protagonist fondly addresses as
‘Kannu’ who first challenges him to take ten rounds of the well, largely as a pretext to
prolong their game. This is highly suggestive that the children are a far cry from the
innocence that is generally ascribed to them.
Instead of abiding to the protagonist’s directive to end the game as he desired to step out
of the well this child abuses him. In a bid to stop him from exiting from the well and hence
putting an end to their game she selfishly and deliberately “swept his legs off the steps and
pushed him inside” (14). Thus, causing the protagonist to fall like a stone into the well and
the water hitting his body like a whip. His attempts to appease her as a benevolent man who
would rather not exert an authoritative tone fall flat as the girl and the boys in tandem
deliberately hurt all his attempts to leave the well unmindful of the hurt, they are causing him
in the process.

18
3.5.3 The Children
The children are an integral part of the story. While much of the story unfolds with little
dialogue and more of a monologue on the part of the protagonist, we do get a lot of glimpses
into the nature of these children. The children are excited upon seeing the relative who has
come visiting and more so because in him they see the possibility of indulgence. The relative
would out of courtesy to the host be more tolerant and as is true they do find in him an easy
referee for their games. They know that by pestering the protagonist they can convince him to
accompany them to the Well, their sole motivation in asking him being that they need an
adult to be around while they have carefree fun in the well. Their childish bickering, endless
game of diving in the well, their laughter, shrieks of joy has been described by Murugan in a
manner which is remarkable. While one associate’s mischievousness with these children,
their nastiness and devilish behaviour takes by surprise. Their disappointment when the
protagonist decides to leave the well is natural but the girl’s impulsive action of a pincer like
grip on the protagonist’s legs to keep him from moving out is shocking to say the least.
Despicable is the manner in which the three children act in unison and strategize to frustrate
all efforts on the part of the protagonist. All attempts to reason and appease them by the
protagonist fall upon deaf ears as they do not hesitate to use brute force to push the
protagonist again and again against his will into the well. There is no sentimentality or
romanticization of the children here. The portrayal is realistic and gives us a glimpse into
their selfish, manipulative and devious side.
3.5.4 Self Check Questions
a) The protagonist is a simple man who easily trusts others. Comment.
b) Critically comment on the view that the children in the story ‘The Well’ are unkind
and devious in their treatment towards the protagonist.
c) Why does the protagonist find the well a difficult world to conquer? Give a reasoned
answer.
3.6 Suggested Readings
Banashankari. Cultural Identity and Identity Crisis in Murugan’s novels One Part Woman
and Pyre. Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research Volume 8, Issue 10.
ISSN 2349 -5162
Murugan, Perumal tr. N. Kalyan Raman. The Goat Thief. New Delhi: Juggernaut Books,
2017
Perumal Murugan: ‘How I descended From A Legacy Of Illiteracy, Become A Writer.’
https://scroll.in/article/985416/perumal-murugan-how-i-descended-from-a-legacy-of-
illiteracy-become-a-writer
‘Perumal Murugan: India’s ‘dead’ writer returns with searing novel’
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-43194547
Thiyagarajan Nandini. ‘Inevitable Lives: Connecting Animals, Caste, Gender, and the
Environment in Perumal Murugan’s The Story of a Goat.’ South Asian
Review, https://doi.org/10.1080/02759527.2021.1905483
19
 (c) Arupa Patangia Kalita: ‘Doiboki’s Day’
Dr. Kamayani Kumar

1.1 About the Author

Arupa Patangia Kalita (b. 1956) is a contemporary Indian novelist whose reputation has built
over the decades on account of her fiction writing in Assamese. Her works have been
translated into English, Bengali, and Hindi and have earned a lot of critical appreciation. Her
writings are deeply receptive to issues pertinent to Assamese history and culture and
especially respond to the plight of women, class struggle, and insurgency that has been
assailing Assam for several decades now. She has been awarded the prestigious literary
awards like Katha Prize, Bhartiya Bhasha Parishad, and the Sahitya Akademi Award in 2014
for her anthology of short stories, “Mariam Austin Othoba Hira Barua”.
Her novel, Phelani is a very powerful text that captures the turbulent history of Assam in
the decades of 1980’s and 90’s and shows how the life of the people of Assam has been held
hostage because of insurgency and secessionist tendencies. Much of the narration is through
the eyes of women for they suffer the most in case of violence with their bodies becoming
sites where much of the violence is enacted. Arunima’s Motherland is another very heart
touching story which relates the predicament of a mother who is mentally challenged and is
called upon to identify the dead body of her son. Growing up witnessing this as an everyday
occurrence for her own students, colleagues, and people of Assam Kalita’s literature testifies
to terrorism that raged in Assam.
1.2 Learning Objectives
The primary objective of this Unit is to assist students
 To learn about the concerns that Arupa Patangia Kalita as an author raises through her
writings.
 Discern the underlying themes of the short story ‘Doiboki’s Day’.
 Understand the motifs which allow students to have a more comprehensive idea about
Kalita’s rich and poignant story.
 Understand the significance of Arupa Kalita as a contemporary writer.
1.3 Introduction: ‘Doiboki’s Day’
Arupa Kalita’s writing is remarkable for its powerful articulation, and imagery. This is
especially true of ‘Doiboki’s Day’ where she uses motifs from the milieu of a fisherwoman’s
poverty entrenched struggle and weaves a visually evocative narrative. Her depictions in the
story are extremely rich, vivid, and detailed. The narrative gives the readers a very authentic
insight into the contentious life that the female protagonist leads while she battles gender,
caste, class conflicts and also deals with the overpowering threat of violence.
20
1.4 Critical Analysis
The story is set in contemporary times and has as its focus the hardships faced by Doiboki, a
widow fisherwoman as she battles against multiple hardships – poverty, caste, and gender to
name but a few of the beautifully interwoven themes in this highly complex yet subtly simple
story.
1.4.1 Winding up the Market-Day
The story opens in a busy market scene with the night setting in. Arupa has very powerfully
evoked the five senses to connote the contextual underpinnings of the feelings that Doiboki
experiences in the course of a few hours. The sounds and chaos of the busy market scene are
underlined along with the anger and vehemence of Doiboki who has to struggle to sell her
catch at a fair price. This has made her stay in the market longer than was safe for her given
that she is a woman and the night was setting in. We get to know through Doiboki’s dialogue
with Joduram who sells vegetables that Gonesh, the spice seller is nowhere to be seen. Much
of the dialogue is in a whisper as Joduram tells of army’s clampdown in Gonesh’s village
because of the villagers’ alleged participation in acts of insurgency – blowing off a bridge
and complicit involvement in killing military men. We can sense the rising trepidation and
unease as Doiboki wonders if it has been wise of her to stay back this late. For her it is a
battle either ways – succumbing to hunger if she sells her catch at a lesser price or the anxiety
of making her way back to her village as a lone woman in insurgency ridden Assam. Much of
the action is conveyed through the psychic mindscape of Doiboki – it is through the thoughts
that assail her we are brought home to her precarious position as a bread winner in what is
essentially a man’s world. The fact that she is a lowly fisherwoman, an outcaste is brought to
the fore powerfully when Doiboki struggles to make a choice later in the story – enter the
naamghar to save her life or honour the centuries old gender and caste barriers.
1.4.2 The Unease of the Lonely Walk Home
Kalita gives us a glimpse into the impoverished existence of Doiboki as we see her taking
long strides in her eagerness to reach home where her aged mother-in-law and the two
children would be waiting for her. It had been a benevolent day so far for she had been able
to buy a few potatoes and also a few kilos of rice. We see Doiboki contemplating how her
mother-in-law liked to eat a bit of boiled potato mashed with some oil in it. The simple fare
that she thought of as an indulgence asserts the pathos of the situation. Thrusting inside her
blouse the earnings of the day Doiboki walks swiftly, her body drenched in her sweat and her
mekhela chador barely covering her body. There is a sense of fear and unease as the sound of
the jackals rends the air and we can sense the rise in panic as Doiboki sees the sky swollen
with dark clouds threatening thunderstorm. A persistent trope in the story apart from a sense
of hunger and fear is darkness and thunder all of which serves to heighten the sense of
impending doom. Yet another is a sense of smell. This begins early in the story when we see
Doiboki becoming conscious of the smell coming from her body and which she later dreads
is defiling the sacredness of the naamghar where she is compelled to take refuge.

21
 Doiboki walks as fast as she could and had almost approached the sacred naamghar,
beyond which lies the bridge which leads to her village. One can sense her mounting unease
as she urges herself forward. Doiboki as a child had often been teased by her friends as the
‘big pond turtle’ because she was named after one of the two turtles ‘Doiboki’ and ‘Jashoda
that lived in the green waters of the two vast ponds inside the namghar compound. As a child
she had been inquisitive as to what lay inside the compound, but now as ‘one of the dark-as-
plum people’(234) carrying the ‘smell of fish on them’ (234) she knew it was forbidden
desire to enter the naamghar. Doiboki had masterfully snubbed the lure to see the turtles and
had replaced it with a sense of her acceptance of her being an untouchable whose very
shadow would defile the sacred naamghar. She had almost reached the naamghar when
lightning strikes and she sees the movement of a body of military troops. Through the pitch
dark and consuming silence she could sense a body being stabbed to death as terror strikes
her dumb.
1.4.3 Entering the Naamghar
Paralysed with fear for her life as she hears the men marching on the road leading to the
naamghar, scared out of her wits, Doiboki enters the naamghar and hides herself in the
hollow of the Banyan tree as she hears the sharp cry of one of the men ‘Kaun Hai’ (231) cut
through the air. From her hiding place Doiboki could hear that the army men had retreated
and she crawls out of the hollow with black ants swarming upon her body. Driven to a frenzy
by the heat, fear, and the ants Doiboki removes the chador and is consumed by the desire to
take a sip of water from the sacred pond. Her throat is parched but the fear of touching the
water with her hands reeking of Kurhi fish is overwhelming. Doiboki who has been
conditioned to see herself as an outcaste finds her urge outrageous. The dilemma that Arupa
has represented as Doiboki tries to stifle her basic instinct to satiate her thirst and the fear of
breaking the caste-imposed restriction is beautifully worked out.
Doiboki gives into temptation as she gulps down fistfuls of water. However, almost
immediately she is consumed by fear for she feels she has sinned and she is assailed by the
horror of the story she has grown up hearing about – the emissary of death. The golden boat
that is seen at midnight guarded by the two turtles, one look at it and the beholder is sure to
die by retching blood. Doiboki, stupefied with fear, refuses to look into the water and steps
back from the pond. It is then that the hailstorm begins and hailstones start hitting Doiboki as
she crouches close to the door of the naamghar seeking refuge. However, unable to bear the
assault she steps in the naamghar and in the very next moment steps out. Her exhausted body
is burning with fear as she finally steps in. Panic strikes her as she thinks of her audacious act
of entering the naamghar which even women from upper caste were not allowed to enter. For
Doiboki her act of entering the naamghar is an act of violation and she is mortally petrified of
the consequences. As the scent of the incense sticks, sprouts, neatly wiped floor mingles with
the reek of raw fish her body is carrying, Doiboki feels wretched with guilt and retches
violently. Aghast she wipes the floor with her chador until she collapses senseless as fear,
exhaustion, sense of doom takes its assault on her.

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1.4.4 The Consequences
Upon opening her eyes she realizes that she has bartered one nightmare for another, for while
she has survived the horror of the night and the legend of having seen the golden boat at
midnight proves false she realizes that it had been fear playing on her mind. Gathering her
chador she wearily steps out of the sancto sanctorum to realize that her breach of caste
strictures has become knowledgeable to all. The hostility it generates is again brought home
to us by Kalita in a very subtle and multidimensional way, for Doiboki’s decision to take
refuge in the naamghar has not only offended the Brahmin supremacist structure but also
caused an affront to upper caste women who find it extremely offensive that while they, with
their ‘unclean body of a woman,’ ( 238 ) restrain themselves by offering their prayers from
the steps of the naamghar this low caste woman has entered and defiled the sacred domain.
They had dare not question the validity of caste and gender strictures imposed by the
patriarchal system, and here they stand witness to a flagrant defiance of the caste and gender
norms. It was for the community a harbinger of evil consequences, as one of them shouted,
“…our country’s sure to burn. A fisherwoman has entered the abode of God” (237).
Doiboki is mercilessly assaulted with allegations of entering the naamghar with the
intention of theft, of being with a lover. Her bag of rice and potatoes, her bundle of hard-
earned money is seen as stolen. Aroused to anger at the illegitimacy of accusations she speaks
in her defence that she entered the naamghar for she was afraid of the storm, the military,
afraid for her life.
1.4.5 In Defiance
On hearing this the custodians of the caste norms flail her body with blows while she cries
out for mercy. It is then that her village men led by her frail and old mother-in-law and her
two children enter the domain of the naamghar to save Doiboki from the assaulters. Defying
an unspoken norm, they tread into the naamghar, these dark skinned, low caste people to save
a woman being molested for no crime other than seeking refuge in the abode of God. The
pathos of the situation is extremely thought provoking for it compels the reader to ruminate
on the validity of the notions of ‘sacred,’ ‘pure,’ ‘impure,’ ‘defilement,’ ‘caste, class, and
gender inequities,’ that mar our social structures.
1.4.6 Motifs and Metaphors
The manner in which Arupa has brought to the fore the difference between the upper caste
and the lower caste through the metaphor of colour, smell, and different kinds of fish is
extremely interesting and intriguing. For every momentous event in the text, for every feeling
Arupa uses the motif of fish that the likes of Doiboki catch. The comparison between a fish
out of water flailing as life passes out of it is not lost on us when we see Doiboki’s
predicament as she enters the naamghar with trepidation. For her the choice lay between
death and defiance of caste and gender norms, plagued with horror she does the unthinkable,
she knows that she has not done a morally wrong act and chooses to. In doing so, Doiboki has

23
unwittingly brought about a wave of resistance as she and the villagers stand up in her
defence .
Arupa Kalita has very masterfully used Doiboki’s experience as a low caste
impoverished woman to point out the evils that assail our culture – patriarchal norms which
mark ‘women’ as impure to enter the sanctum of the ‘naamghar’; caste which makes her even
more imperfect in comparison to the ‘jasmine scented upper caste women,’; her being a
widow where the absence of sindoor and the conch bangles make her a wanton woman; her
voluptuous body which is scantily covered because of her poverty but which is a threat to her
modesty and is perceived as a threat by the skinny upper caste women who see their men
lusting after Doiboki. Arupa has also brought to the fore the threat which is ripping apart the
harmony of Assam – the rise of insurgency and military presence to counter the insurgency
and how the likes of Doiboki are threatened by both.
1.4.7 Check Your Progress
a) The story is called ‘Doiboki’s Day’. Recount in your own words what happens on this
day in the life of the protagonist?
b) Why does Doiboki enter the namghar? What happens in the namghar?
c) ‘Doiboki’s Day’ is a text through which Arupa Kalita critiques patriarchal structures.
Comment.
d) Kalita’s fiction chronicles the tragedy that has befallen Assam in face of insurgency.
Examine Doiboki’s Day and comment on how Kalita showcases the presence of
violence in everyday lives of Assamese.
e) Kalita’s language has been described as ‘visual’. Explain with references to ‘Doiboki’s
Day’.
1.5 Themes
1.5.1 Theme of Gender
Kalita has used her writings to represent the ways in which women have been marginalized.
The women characters that she pens appear vulnerable yet are strong characters who stand up
in defiance of oppressive and unjust dictates of an inequitable society. Doiboki too is no
exception as we see her struggle against patriarchal and caste norms which question the
legitimacy of her presence in the ‘naamghar’. Naamghar which is seen as a place of worship
meant for men, where even women of Brahmin caste are forbidden from entering for they
would defile the ‘scared’ sanctum with their filthy bodies, is a place where Doiboki with her
smell infested body of an outcaste takes refuge. In doing so she has not only challenged the
socially sanctioned dictate of the culture of Assam, but also thrown into question the tenets of
patriarchal structure which forbids women to enter the temple in the name of gender.
Another aspect through which Kalita explores gender-based exploitation is through the
overriding emphasis on corporeality of Doiboki. We are told emphatically about the
voluptuous body of Doiboki barely covered by her torn mekhela chaddar. The anger which
women from upper caste feel against Doiboki’s transgression – for she has taken refuge
24
inside the naamghar stems not only from their angst against a lower caste woman having
defied an age old norm but also from seeing the promise her body holds, for they see men’s
lascivious looks devouring Doiboki’s body. Some of them even see her presence in the
naamghar as an excuse to be with her lover for Doiboki being a widow is not wearing
‘sindoor’ and hence her fidelity is immediately questioned. In raising such issues, Kalita very
subtly and powerfully brings into question the ways in which gender politics and
discrimination is played out.
1.5.2 Theme of Caste
One of the central themes of the story is caste-based discrimination and exploitation. The
narrative begins with the description of the protagonist – Doiboki as a lower caste fisher
woman. As we are led through one day in the life of Doiboki, what strikes is the injustices
that she is subjected to – poverty, gender inequality, and especially how she is targeted on
account of her caste.
1.5.3 Theme of Insurgency
The theme of insurgency is a recurrent motif in Kalita’s writings. She has witnessed how
insurgency and counterinsurgency has taken its toll and completely marred the lives of people
caught in this crossfire. This story is no exception, at the very onset Doiboki engages in a
furtive discussion with Joduram the vegetable seller who tells her about Gonesh the spice
seller’s absence. Doiboki learns that the militants have blown off a bridge which killed many
soldiers and that in retaliation the military is ‘trampling’ the village where Gonesh hails from.
She shudders in fear and wonders if her decision of staying back in the village to sell her fish
was a wise one. Later in the course of the story Doiboki in the dark of the stormy night
witnesses the movement of ‘three loaded military vehicles,’ which makes her shiver in fright
and look for a space to hide herself in – the reason why she transgresses into a space which
caste and gender have forbidden her to enter – the naamghar. It is from her hiding place that
she sees the troop of military men wading through the water and hears the sound of someone
being ‘stabbed, tortured, silenced,’ shivering violently Doiboki wonders what is in store for
her as she dares to open the gate to the naamghar and sat under the Banyan tree. On hearing
the soldiers call out ‘kaun hai’ she crawls into the hollowed trunk of the Banyan tree and the
sound of the stomping boots only enhances her sense of alarm. The story testifies to how the
threat of violence inflicted by the insurgents and the reactionary measures by the military
have made the life of ordinary people subject to fear, bloodshed, and trauma.
1.5.4 Check Your Progress
a) How does Doiboki succeed in challenging and upsetting the patriarchal norms of her
society?
b) Through the story of a single day in the life of a lowly fisherwoman Kalita has been
able to expose the many caste and gender based prejudices that exist in society. Discuss
c) How does Kalita succeed in showing the effects of insurgency in the lives of ordinary
people?

25
1.6 Characters
1.6.1 Doiboki
The main protagonist of the story is Doiboki – a low caste fisherwoman, fond of eating leaves
of Tamul, whose blouse was almost threadbare as also the mekhle chador. A widow who was
struggling to bring food to her two children, a girl and a boy and her aged mother-in-law
whose eyes were flailing her because of cataract. Doiboki is a fighter, someone who does not
sell her luscious fish to the traders who were trying to fleece her by paying less than fair
amount. Walking her way to her village in the dark night we become privy to her sense of
fear, as her anxiety mounts as she hastens to be back with her family. She shows extreme
courage whether it is while handling the male dominated market or the threat she feels when
she sees the movement of the military troop. A hard-working woman who is not scared of
labour, and is resilient when it comes to battling caste, gender, and class prejudices.
1.6.2 Joduram
Joduram, the vegetable hawker is a marginal character in the story. He becomes the mouth
piece through whom we get to know about the act of insurgency – the blowing up of a bridge
which has led to the death of many military men and how the military has put the village of
Gonesh under siege not allowing the villagers to move out as it is on the lookout for the
insurgents and exploring the possibility of the villagers being complicit in the terror attack.
1.6.3 Mother-in-law
Doiboki’s mother-in-law is also a marginal character much about whom we get to know from
Doiboki. Doiboki is saving money to get the frail old woman’s eyesight restored, plagued as
she is with cataract, it is for her that she buys half a kilo of potatoes as the old woman likes to
eat a bit of boiled potatoes mashed into her rice. Doiboki knows that her mother-in-law would
be waiting for her, afraid for the day has advanced into night. Towards the conclusion of the
story, it is this blind maa who listening to Doiboki’s scream breaks through the crowd to
come to her rescue, saying, “Doiboki, oi, let’s see who dares do anything to you. You are my
child, my blood…The old lady is not dead yet.” (240) This act of love and loyalty is
extremely poignant for it tells us of the beauty of the relationship that the two women share.
1.6.4 Self Check Questions
a) Critically analyze Doiboki’s character bringing out her resilience and her ability to
survive in a man’s world.
b) What is Joduram’s role in the story?
c) ‘Doiboki’s Day’ is a multi-layered story which deals with themes of caste, class, and
gender prejudices. Comment.
d) ‘Doiboki’s Day’ is a narrative which calls for a more equitable social order. Critically
analyse.
e) Doiboki’s anxiety and sense of guilt upon taking refuge in the naamghar brings the
discriminatory caste practices to the fore. Comment.

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1.7 Suggested Reading
1. Das, Deepti. “The Representation Of Gender Violence In Arupa Patangia Kalita’s
Novel ‘Felanee’: An Analytical Study”. Aegaeum Journal. Volume 8, Issue 12, 2020.
ISSN Number 0776 -3808.
2. Handique, Dipshikha. “Women’s Social Position Reflected in Arupa Patangia Kalita’s
Short Stories”. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science Invention
(IJHSSI) Volume 9 Issue 10, October 2020 pp 43-45.ISSN (Online): 2319 – 7722,
ISSN (Print): 2319 – 7714.
3. https://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ians/haunted-by-relentless-turmoil-
but-strive-to-tell-our-tales-assamese-author-117101600309_1.html
4. https://www.theweek.in/webworld/features/society/assam-strives-to-tell-its-
tales.html

27
 Poetry
Dipannita Ghosh

1. Introduction
Poetry is amongst the earliest forms of creative expression within human civilization. It’s
origins can be found in the oral culture of ancient civilizations. The form of poetry through
verse, lyrics, songs and poems has continued to develop differently in various countries and
cultures throughout the ages. In India too, the poetry in the modern Indian languages has had
a rich and varied history with its roots in ancient languages, folk cultures and traditions.
Moreover, translation has played an important role in the movement of writings from one
language to another amongst the many different languages and literatures in the country. The
far reach of many Indian literary texts is primarily due to their translation into the English
language. This is because English has a wider literary reach across various regions of India as
compared to any other Indian language. Further, translations of Indian Writings into English
also makes them accessible to a global audience.
Modern Indian literatures developed under the movement for freedom and independence
from the British colonial regimes. The interactions of many Indian authors with Western
literature in the wake of the spread of colonial education in pre-independence India also had a
major impact on the writings in different modern Indian languages. Here we shall understand
the trajectory of the development of Modern Indian Poetry through the pre-independence era
down to the present day by studying the translated works of three major Indian poets namely
Rabindranath Tagore, G. M. Muktibodh and Thangjam Ibopishak.
2. Learning Objectives

 To understand the history and development of Modern Indian Poetry

 To examine the style and tone of different Indian poets
 To assess the political, societal, cultural and spiritual roles of poetry

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3. Rabindranath Tagore

3.1 About the Poet– Born on 7th May, 1861, Tagore was one of the most prolific writers of
his time, along with being a thinker, social reformer, painter and music composer. He was
also a prominent political thinker and essayist who was invited the world over for his work.
Tagore had been awarded the knighthood in 1915, an honour which he later rejected in 1919
as a protest against the heinous Jallianwala Bagh Massacre.
He is credited with making major transformations in the domain of Bengali literature. He
introduced newer forms and modernized the usage of the Bengali language as it was
predominantly used in literature by freeing it from the traditional Sanskritic mode. He also
conceptualized a different mode of education and set up the experimental institute,
Shantiniketan in West Bengal. In Shantiniketan, as indeed in a lot of his work, Tagore sought
to bring together the best of the two disparate worlds of the East and the West. Tagore
initially made his mark on the international map for being the first non-European to receive a
Nobel Prize in Literature. He received this award for his collection of poetry titled Gitanjali.
The famous Irish poet W. B. Yeats wrote the Introduction for the first translation of Gitanjali
into English (by Tagore himself, 1912). Yeats aptly commented on the deeply spiritual nature
of Tagore’s poetry, which however never loses sight of the earthly concerns of day-to-day
life.
3.2 Analytical Summary– We shall look at two poems by Tagore, namely- “Where the Mind
is Without Fear” and “It hasn’t Rained in My Heart”.
3.2.1 “Where the Mind is Without Fear”
(Translated from Bengali by William Radice)
This oft cited poem by Tagore is the thirty fifth poem in Gitanjali (Song Offerings). The
reason for its widespread popularity is that the poet says a prayer for the betterment of his
29
country. It is often recited as a pledge or prayer at gatherings or cited as a mission for the
bright future of a progressive country.
Writing at a time when India was under British rule, we see Tagore talk about freedom as
the goal for his country. But the most significant aspect of this poem, is that it is not bound
my measly political definitions. It does not understand freedom as fighting battles with the
British, but rather aims to understand what being human and being free means. Tagore does
not confine the idea of freedom to certain lines and borders that can be drawn on the political
map of the country:
“…a land uncrippled,
Whole, uncramped by any confining wall…”
To him an ideal world would be where these borders do not exist, as these borders would
only confine people within narrow walls and hence such a world would not be free. Freedom
for the country here also imagines a land where all people can live with dignity and be
respected:
“A fearless place where everyone walks tall,
Free to share knowledge…”
Tagore was acutely aware of the inequalities in Indian society. The widespread illiteracy and
lack of education could be seen to lead to further evils. Knowledge being held ransom in the
hands of the few, the rich and powerful people is also being criticized by the poet. The poet
wishes that knowledge would be free for all. Moreover, the deception of the masses by the
powerful ruling classes throughout the ages is criticized. The lower classes of society, the
poor, the workers, the peasants are routinely oppressed by newer regimes of power. Through
the victory of truth and knowledge Tagore wishes for a freedom of these oppressed classes.
In the image of the ideal world and ideal country that Tagore creates, he criticizes blind
faith in tradition and conservatism. He envisages–
“A place where reason’s flow is not soaked up
By barren desert-sands of bigotry,
Where niggling rules and dogmas do not sap
It’s vigour…”
Reason, rationality and logical thought must triumph in his free country. As opposed to this,
the poet saw in his countrymen the rejection of reason merely to go on doing what they have
always done. This is labelled as dead habit and desert sands. The stupor in the minds of
people who no longer question their practices and beliefs, and go on acting in ways that can
harm themselves as well as society is deplored. For example, there persisted widespread
superstition and practices like Sati, ban on widow remarriage, etc. where dead habit had been
winning over clear reason. Hence, he uses the image of reason being a river that could bring

30
to life the dead and barren desert that the country has become relying on customs and
traditionalism.
Tagore uses the metaphor of sleep to describe his country which is riddled with social
evils, inequalities and oppression. Trapped in this sleep, the country would be free when it
awakens:
“…where rippled
By millions of varied aspirations a great
River of action surges through…
…
Bring India to that heaven; wake this land.”
This awakening moreover, would only be attained when the aforementioned ideas of
Freedom are not merely being talked about but are converted into concrete action. The poet
prays for an ongoing strife from his people, towards reaching this ideal.
3.2.2 “It Hasn’t Rained in My Heart”
(Translated from Bengali by Fakrul Alam)
This is the fortieth poem from Gitanjali. This poem too addresses the higher power, the Lord
but in a more active conversational mode as compared to the supplication in the previous
poem. The poet begins by telling god the state of his mind:
“It hasn’t rained in my heart for a while now,
Lord I am parched. The horizon is barren,
There isn’t the faintest sign of moisture…”
It is a common practice for Tagore to personify elements of nature to convey human
emotions, longings and desire. Here too, we see the emptiness inside the speaker being
expressed through the image of a desert which is awaiting rain. Just as a parched desert,
burning up in heat longs for rain, so too the poet is waiting to feel it rain inside his soul. Rain
here would denote feeling alive in one’s soul, and embracing life.
In the second stanza we see that the poet is not making a simplistic prayer for happiness.
Not only is rain welcomed, even bolts of lightening and thunderstorms in all their terrifying
glory are also welcomed:
“In flash after flash, let lightning strike me,
Startle me out of my stupor, electrify me…”
The poet stands ready to face the adversities of life, to feel sorrow and grief as it is
personified in the flashes of lightening which may electrify him. According to the poet, grief
is not to be shunned. What is to be shunned is the lifelessness that plagues a stagnant

31
existence, that is all too protected from ups and downs. To feel pain, to suffer is also to feel
alive and is to be valued as an experience which reminds us of our human frailties.
In his life, Tagore had suffered the grief of many a death in his family, including of his
own children and yet he did not relinquish his faith in god’s nobility. A snippet of this
attitude can be glimpsed in this poem:
“Make me writhe in unbearable despair. And then,
Like a mother looking with glistening eyes
At her son being chastened by the father, pity me!”
The poet espouses courage in the face of adversity, ready to face ‘unbearable despair’. Yet,
the faith in god’s eternal kindness is reaffirmed at the end when Tagore asks god to have pity
on him. He does not create a single vision of a god as either cruel or kind. He believes in a
multitude of facets in his lord who is capable of both punishment and pity. The poet’s god is
both the father who scolds and the mother who consoles the child. This poem emerges as a
reaffirmation of life, wherein the poet chooses to go through the trials of life, to face his
challenges head on and places his faith in god’s kindness to see him through.
3.2.3 Self-Check Questions
 Why does Tagore describe India as a sleeping country?
 What does the imagery of storms and rain denote?
 How would you describe Tagore’s idea of divinity?
3.3 Further Reading
Radice, William translated “Where the Mind is Without Fear” from Tagore, Rabindranath.
Gitanjali: Song Offerings. Penguin India, 2011.
Alam, Fakrul translated “It Hasn’t Rained in My Heart” from Chakravarty, Radha and Alam,
Fakrul ed. The Essential Tagore. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2011.
Goldberg, Ellen. “The Romanticism of Rabindranath Tagore: Poetry as Sadhana.” Indian
Literature, vol. 45, no. 4 (204), Sahitya Akademi, 2001, pp. 173–96,
http://www.jstor.org/stable/23344261
“Rabindranath Tagore” Encyclopaedia Britannica, Encyclopaedia Britannica Inc.,
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Rabindranath-Tagore
Hogan, Patrick Colm and Pandit, Lalita ed. Rabindranath Tagore: Universality and
Tradition. Rosemont Printing & Publishing Corp. 2003.

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4. G.M. Muktibodh

4.1 About the Poet– Gajanan Madhav Muktibodh (1917- 1964) is credited with pioneering a
new phase in Hindi literature in the twentieth century. Apart from being a poet and writing
fiction, he was also a revered critic and essayist. Besides dabbling in literature, he was also a
critic and wrote on contemporary political matters.
Muktibodh began writing at a time when the Chhayavaad movement was prominent in
Hindi literature. The Chhayavaad movement, which would literally translate as a strain of
shadow and mystery consisted of stalwarts of Hindi literature. They used elements of
Romanticism, including very personalized expressions and images from nature, and
combined it with a revival of myths and legends from the Sanskritic tradition. Muktibodh was
instrumental in the transition from Chhayavaad to a more modernist take in Hindi literature.
An early publication of his work was in the first edition of the famous Tar Saptak (Upper
Octave) anthology.
While Muktibodh did not endorse a rejection of the previous Chhayavaad model of
literature in its entirety, he did feel that contemporary issues of society could not be aptly
adapted into poetry without transforming the usage of mythic elements from the Sanskritic
tradition. He is credited with being one of the pioneering authors to bring about
Experimentalism (Prayogvaad) and New Poetry (Nai Kavita), New Short Story (Nai Kahani)
movements in Hindi literature. One of his most lasting and influential works is the poem
Brahmarakshas.
4.2 Analytical Summary-
4.2.1 “Brahmarakshas”
(Translated from Hindi by Nikhil Govind)
In his long poem Brahmarakshas, Muktibodh revisits the age-old tale of this mythic creature.
A terrifying and yet pitiable creature, the Brahma-rakshas brings together two seemingly

33
opposite forces. The Brahma is the scholar, the repository of knowledge and light whereas
the Rakshas denotes a demon of darkness and evil.
According to the myth, it is considered the duty of the Brahmin, the scholar to impart the
knowledge that has been acquired throughout his life. If the scholar fails to do so, he would
face the consequences after death by being turned into Brahmarakshas. The Brahmarakshas
is then a demonic creature, a spirit that can never achieve salvation. This curse is laid on the
demonic figure because when alive it had committed evil deeds and refused to share
knowledge. In this poem the Brahmarakshas has a tortured and decaying body which inhabits
a shadowy, dark world.
Unlike many of his contemporary poets and writers, Muktibodh did not abandon his
Marxist ideals to switch to a more romanticized style in his work later in his career. He
continued to stand by the need for establishing equality in society amongst all classes of
people. This ideological belief had also been one of the cornerstones of the Progressive
Writers’ Association of India, which saw the affiliation of great authors like Munshi
Premchand, Ismat Chughtai, Saadat Hasan Manto, Sahir Ludhianvi and Amrita Pritam
amongst many others. In his own work, Muktibodh can be seen criticizing the intellectuals
who live in their ivory tower, losing touch with the day-to-day realities of their times. This is
a comment against the intellectual, who amasses knowledge without making anything of it,
without utilizing it for the greater good of the people and society. The criticism extends to a
certain blind-sightedness of the middle-class as well as the elites of Indian society. In this
poem, the figure of this intellectual is turned into an archetype, through the use of the mythic
figure of the Brahmarakshas.
Identifying this political comment in the poem is important to better understand the rich
imagery and symbolism that Muktibodh uses. We can see that he aims to reconfigure the
ancient figure of the Brahmarakshas into the twentieth century modern world which is
shrouded in dank darkness. The reader is introduced to the despicable creature, the
Brahmarakshas, only after a good look at the space which this creature inhabits:
“On that side of the city near the ruins
an abandoned, empty well…
…
amid deep-sunken stairs
in the old stale puddle…”
This space we are told exists at the margins of the city. It is removed from the hustle and
bustle of human socio-cultural life. The creature dwells in a well, amidst abandoned ruins.
While man-made objects are in a state of destruction, such as the ruins and the empty well,
the surrounding nature is depicted as thriving. The poet creates bold images of various
colours which shine amidst this darkness. These are the colours that emerge from the flowers
of the surrounding trees:
“… elbows resting
leans the white flowered tagar tree

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 and nearby,
a flashing red flowered cluster…”
These trees stand witness to the cursed existence of this Brahmarakshas. Through these
initial stanzas the poet adopts the perspective of a disembodied voice that gradually enters
into this space and proceeds to observe how the Brahmarakshas behaves.
However, even as the poet edges closer to the well, there is a clear sense of danger. The
feeling of danger and its hypnotic allure is embodied in the redness of the kanher tree’s
flowers. The distance from the pulse and energy of thriving human life is heightened as we
reach the well:
“… the black mouth of the well
Glances upward toward the sky’s emptiness
in the emptiness of the well’s thick darkness
sits the gatekeeper Brahmarakshas…”
We find the Brahmarakshas feverishly ravaging his own body while chanting mantras in a bid
to undo his curse and free himself from this deadened existence. But the evils of his past life
have followed him here. The passage of night and day brings the rays of the sun and moon
into his dark dwelling place in the well. But the Brahmarakshas consumed by his demonic
pride believes himself to be the architect of these natural phenomenon:
“… when a moonbeam forgets its way
and its rays stagger off the walls
he thinks it worships him as the
venerable knower…”
He feels that the sky, the sun and the moon are all bowing to him, because they accept his
supremacy.
In turn the creature is doubly energized and goes back to his mainstays of endlessly
repeating the knowledge that he has acquired. Muktibodh here lists out an array of famous
thinkers, philosophers and texts, both from the East and the West, stretching from ancient
times till the modern day:
“… of Marx Engels Russel Toynbee Heidegger Spengler Sartre even Gandhi…
…
obscure words revolving anew
each word dividing its resonance
each form battling its reflection
maimed
becoming…”

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The creature repeats obscure, difficult words till they become mere sounds and utterances.
The hollowness of human language systems and how easily they may lose their meaning
emerges here. In the absence of another human soul to listen to the Brahmarakshas’ babbling,
it is only the tagar tree, fig tree and the fruits and flowers of the trees around which listen to
these words. The poet finds himself listening in along with these trees.
In the second half of the poem, the lines and stanzas become more erratic:
“… an exorbitant fullness’
Anguish is dear…
geometry’s eye constructs
a moral investiture…”
The tone of the poem has shifted. Lines and words run scattered with greater pauses almost
as if the poet is no longer a mere listener to the Brahmarakshas but has himself adopted that
idiom of speaking in a maddened voice. This passing of the torch from the creature to its
witness is revealed to us at a later stage in the poem. Here in these last lines, we may see an
instance of the scattered words and the speaker following in the creature’s footsteps-
“Brahmarakshas’ breast-fed student
I so wished to be
whose incomplete works
whose pain’s source
collected, extracted, risen
I could bring.”
In the second half the poet describes the Brahmarakshas’ spiral into utter madness and death.
The feeble attempts to make a way out of the well fail repeatedly. Muktibodh uses the
metaphor of the well to express the constricted and dark space of the minds of intellectuals
from which they remain unable to free themselves. The lineage of the upper strata of society
recreates this well of ignorance, just as the speaker in the poem laments that he could not
meet the Brahmarakshas before his demise. Moreover, the frenzied manner in which the
creature goes on practicing arithmetic and symbols becomes a marker of the self-destructive
nature of the intellectual’s preoccupation with his own thoughts which leads to their
prolonged death in ignominy.
4.2.2 Self- Check Questions
 What imagery does Muktibodh use to create a sense of doom in the poem?
 How would you describe the Brahmarakshas? What does he symbolize?
 What is the role of nature in the poem?

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4.3 Further Reading-
Govind, Nikhil translated “Brahmarakshas” from Kapse, Dhananjay ed. Modern Indian
Writing in English Translation: A Multilinguial Anthology. Worldview Publications, 2016.
Chauhan, Rohan. “Muktibodh and the Hour of Modernity in Hindi Poetry”. Language in
India, Vol. 18:12, December 2018, pp. 287-296,
http://www.languageinindia.com/dec2018/rohanmodernityhindipoetrymuktibodh.pdf
LAL, CHAMAN. “Trends in Contemporary Hindi Poetry : An Overview.” Indian Literature,
vol. 36, no. 1 (153), Sahitya Akademi, 1993, pp. 141–45,
http://www.jstor.org/stable/23336845
SINGH, KEDAR NATH, and Anamika. “Modernity in Hindi Poetry.” Indian Literature, vol.
34, no. 4 (144), Sahitya Akademi, 1991, pp. 124–31, http://www.jstor.org/stable/23332924

5. Thangjam Ibopishak

5.1 About the Poet– Thangjam Ibopishak (born 1948) is one of the most famous poets from
Manipur. He was one of the foremost poets to usher in a bold new era in Manipuri literature.
This was accomplished by the publication of a collection of works titled Challenge in 1974,
where Ibopishak along with Y. Ibomcha and Ranjit W. named themselves ‘angry young
poets’. There were many criticisms against this new style of poetry such as its so-called
excesses and vulgarity. Ibopishak’s poetry has continued to deal with topical issues which
plague the state of Manipur and its people. The issues of social unrest, State corruption and
exploitation is expressed in his poetry in a hard-hitting manner. He won a Sahitya Akademi
Award for his collection of poetry titled Bhut Amasung Maikhum (1997), he also won the
Manipur State Kala Akademi Award (1986) amongst other major awards. Even though he

37
began writing poetry from a very early age (his first collection Apaiba Thawai (1969) was
published when he was just 21), Ibopishak’s style has changed and developed over the course
of his life. The three collections of poetry that he has published (apart from the collaboration
on Challenge) are – The Wandering Spirit (Apaiba Thawai, 1969); Hell, Netherworld, Earth
(Norok, Patal, Prithvi- 1985) and The Ghost and the Mask (Bhoot Amasung Maikhum, 1994).
5.2 Analytical Summary– We shall now critically summarize two poems by Ibopishak,
namely “The Land of the Half-Humans” and “I Want to be Killed by an Indian Bullet”.
5.2.1 “The Land of the Half-Humans”
(Translated from Manipuri by Robin S. Ngangom)
The poem begins by giving us an image of a seemingly mythical creature. A creature that has
only half an existence:
“For six months just head without body, six months
only body without head…”.
The poet goes on to ask if the reader knows of these creatures and their place of residence.
Ibopishak strikes a note of direct addressal to the audience by throwing up this question. He
himself answers the question in lieu of the reader, further establishing a conversational tone.
He asserts that he has been witness to these strange creatures, in the same sentence he also
asserts that what he is narrating is not a folk-tale.
This initial assertion is very significant. It shows Ibopishak’s awareness of the
expectations people may have from Manipuri writing, that a Manipuri text may be expected
to talk about folk narratives. He disassociates his poem from being linked with folk-culture
and thus makes us see these half-human creatures as symbolic. He also distances himself
from one of the mainstays in the work of many Manipuri poets and their tradition, which is
the element of folk and tribal culture. Ibopishak sets out to talk of people inhabiting Manipur
as being half-humans. Thus a political commentary is made evident by the poet and sets the
tone for the rest of the poem.
The next stanza is taken up in describing these half-human creatures. Ibopishak tells us
what these creatures do for each half of the year by making use of similes. In the six months
when only the head exists, the head is seen as doing the tasks we associate with it, that is
talking and eating. This head is likened to a millstone grinding, an image that gives us an idea
of a repetitive action which is harsh. Following this Ibopishak makes a reference to two epic
characters. These are Bhima and Shakuni from the Mahabharata, where the former is shown
as indulging in excess consumption while the latter is suffering. The function of the half-
human creature in the next six months is explained with an emphasis on defecation. The
head-less body suffers, it works and is tired out. The unpleasantness of the body is
intentional. It disassociates the half-human creature from any romanticized mythic ideals.

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 This primal existence is further described when Ibopishak answers his own question
about the women of this strange species. He refers to the oppression of women by the State
and the gaze of male eyes,
“… As for clothes they hang them
below the waist. A body, hidden by clothes is
not permitted by the law of the land…”.
He describes the six months of the body without the head as their springtime, wherein the
bodies copulate indiscriminately. Significantly, he changes the anatomy of women. Women
here, give birth through their mouths and have no teeth. After these descriptions, Ibopishak
shows more contrasts between the unequal half of the bodies where the head is always better
off. The head is enabled to fly, it eats up whatever the body has worked hard to accumulate:
“….And the earnings of the
body’s
sweat of six months, the six month old head eats up with a vengeance.”
Moreover, the body is voiceless whereas the head only talks and talks. The body emits an
odour, this takes us back to the unpleasantness associated with the body that excretes and
copulates without thinking, as seen in the previous stanzas. Through these images the poet
comments about the state of society where the elites have a position of power and authority
and in turn oppress the lower half of society. In the images of the head eating up what the
body earns it almost seems as if the elites are sucking away the life blood of the masses.
The last two stanzas of the poem move away from the body itself to the state of the land
that these creatures are living in. This description becomes an obvious parody of reality and
the biting satire reaches its ultimate pinnacle. Ibopishak says how in this half-human land
everybody is exceedingly rich, the government runs well and protects peoples’ rights. It is a
land being given widespread attention by the media. The hyperbole and excess employed to
describe the state of utopia in this land is a clear criticism by the poet. By stating exactly the
opposite of how things actually are, Ibopishak launches a political critique through his poem.
In the bizarre landscape that he creates, the final disturbing element is the complete loss of
identity of the people.
“But for the people in this land there are no
names. So for the nameless citizens the nameless
deputies govern the land of the half humans. Because
whether to give human names either to the
head or the body- they cannot decide.”
While the half-humans are ‘citizens’, they are not given human status due to their half-dead
existence. Ibopishak’s critique comes full circle as he describes the flawed relation between
the people and their government.
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5.2.2 “I Want to be Killed by an Indian Bullet”
(Translated from Manipuri by Robin S. Ngangom)
Just like the title, the poem too begins with the poet asserting his own persona within the
poem. The “I”, the first person speaker here is being hunted. The poem begins with the
feeling of being trapped. The poet’s persona is shown to be a man with a wife and children,
creating the image of a generic family. This lends an identifiability to the speaker, which in
turn makes the reader also share the fear of pursuit by an unspecific “they”. In the next stanza
we see the poet’s home being invaded by the forces. Ibopishak again resorts to allegory in
this poem to put across a political comment:
“… they entered my drawing room, the five
of them. Fire water air earth sky- are the names of these
five. They can create men; also destroy men at whim.”
The five entities rather than being police, militia or authority figures are here presented as the
elements. This gives them an all-encompassing power. This magnitude of power with the
elements in turn becomes a comment on the complete invasion of the State into the lives of
the people. The arbitrariness and complete lack of answerability of the people in positions of
power is also being critiqued here.
The purpose of the invaders is already understood because we see the speaker himself
ask the question as to when he would be killed. It seems to be normal to expect a sentence of
death at the hands of these authorities. They inform him that he is to be killed immediately,
they further ask him if he has bathed and eaten. They ask him to say his prayers before they
can kill him. All of these are rituals that are customarily allowed to a prisoner who has been
given a death sentence. This highlights the violation of the common citizen. The citizen is
being attacked right inside his home and is to be killed without the benefit of a trial in a court
of law and the due process, that the inmate of a prison would be expected to have.
The poet then demands that on what grounds is he to be thus killed. The leader of the
five invaders offers him three possible reasons. The poet has to himself pick whichever he
feels suits his case. The list shows that they are on the lookout for anything that they consider
as a threat to the established order:
“Are you a poet who pens gobbledygook and drivel?
Or do you consider yourself a seer with oracular powers?
Or are you a madman? asked the leader…”
The power of prophesy by an oracle is placed alongside what the poet would write. However,
the leader believes that poets are only capable of writing gibberish. The speaker interestingly
leaves it for the reader to decide whether the poet is a seer or whether the poet’s job is
meaningless and inconsequential like drivel. This is done when the speaker asserts that he is
“not one of the first two things”, without clarifying which one he believes he is not. It is a

40
brilliant ploy by Ibopishak at self-reflection and also pushing the reader to consider for
himself the role of poetry and the poet in a society fraught with conflict.
To the third crime on the list, the poet logically argues that if he were indeed a madman,
he would not be able to identify this madness himself. This poses a conundrum which the
leader is not interested in.
In the very next lines, the façade of explanations is dropped. The leader reveals that the
actual reason for this killing does not interest them. It is as if they feel they owe this person
no explanation for taking away his life. This dialogue becomes a comment on how the ruler
considers the lives of the ruled as being dispensable. Their lives seem to belong to the State,
not themselves and can be done away with at the whims and fancies of the ruler.
The conversation that follows now between the speaker and the leader becomes bizarre
as well as coldly logical. There is no pleading for life by the poet, no protestations as to the
reasons for this murder. There are only questions regarding the mode of the murder:
“…In what manner will you kill me? Will you cut me with a knife?
Will you
Shoot me? Will you club me to death?”
An impasse is reached when it becomes clear that a foreign made gun is to be used to kill the
speaker whereas he would only agree to die by an Indian bullet. Herein again we see the use
of Ibopishak’s signature satire when the reason for such a last wish is explained as being a
great love for India. The hollowness of the power of the Indian state is criticized that it cannot
even produce its own guns, it cannot even have the stomach to do its own dirty job. It is an
outsourcing of these arbitrary killings through the usage of foreign made guns. The bullet and
the gun through their national identity also require an acknowledgement of the atrocity being
committed, something which the poet criticizes that the state refuses to do. The failure of the
Indian State is also ridiculed in the mention of its incapacity to manufacture even plastic
flowers.
The speaker takes umbrage at this, as he feels plastic flowers without any fragrance are
lifeless and useless. The symbolic significance of these statements is not to be minimized as it
further critiques the Indian State. What the poet here criticizes is that the Indian State has
only held up a pretense of wanting the welfare of the North-east and the Manipuri people
specifically. The solutions being offered by the Indian state seem to be like the façade of fake
flowers to the poet. These flowers would not be objects of nature, they emerge as a mockery
(we are told that the India-manufactured flowers look like toothbrushes), a symbol of
interference into the natural order of things.
In keeping with the vein of satire, the ending is anti-climactic as the speaker is not finally
killed. In a biting sarcasm employed by Ibopishak, the speaker is made to assert that the
loyalty in death to Indian bullets is because of his great love for the country. The leader refers
to the country as Bharat, the non-English name for the country, a name which he does not

41
want to even hear about. This heightened distaste for the country brings into question the
invaders’ own affiliations and loyalty. This leaves their identity dubious at the end of the
poem, thereby widening its scope as a poetic political critique rather than being a very banal
diatribe. The poem had begun in a space devoid of these five entities and even at the end they
are no longer present in the space. However, the space that the poet is now left in is
unquestionably destabilized. The forces who claimed their mission was to kill men are now
seen leaving, their intended target left physically unharmed but mentally scarred.
The poet registers how they leave as if they had not done anything at all. They do not
acknowledge their own lawlessness, in their pretense of nothing having occurred (merely
because they did not kill the speaker), we are shown a complete lack of accountability from
these invaders. The poem represents in a mode of a satire an incident which is seen to be a
common occurrence amongst the people. Thus, the poem launches a scathing political
critique.
5.2.3 Self-Check Questions
 How does the poet symbolize the loss of identity of his people in “The Land of the
Half-Humans”?
 What are some instances of Ibopishak’s sarcastic style which amounts to a political
critique?
 Why does the poet emphasize the “I” in “I want to be Killed by an Indian Bullet” as
opposed to a more distanced tone of “The Land of the Half-Humans”?
5.3 Further Reading-
Ngangom, Robin S. translated “The Land of the Half-Humans”, “I Want to be Killed by an
Indian Bullet” from Kapse, Dhananjay ed. Modern Indian Writing in English Translation: A
Multilinguial Anthology. Worldview Publications, 2016.
Sharma, Ph. Sanamacha “Dystopian Satire as Protest in Thangjam Ibopishak’s Poetry”.
International Journal of English Language, Literature and Translation Studies, Vol 2. Issue
3. 2015 (July- Sept), pp 40-48. http://www.ijelr.in/2.3.15/40-
48%20PH.%20SANAMACHA%20SHARMA.pdf
Nongkynrih, Kynpham Sing and Ngangom, Robin S. ed, Anthology of Contemporary Poetry
from the North- East. North-Eastern Hill University, India, 2003.
Nongkynrih, Kynpham Sing. “Hard-Edged Modernism: Contemporary Poetry in North-East
India.” India International Centre Quarterly, vol. 32, no. 2/3, India International Centre,
2005, pp. 39–44, http://www.jstor.org/stable/23006006
6. Summing Up
We have seen how poetry has been variously utilized by the poets studied above depending
on their place and time in history. This is also reflected in the use of different poetic forms by

42
the poets in keeping with the different issues they deal with. In Gitanjali, we find Tagore
structuring his poems like short lyric songs as these formed a supplication to god and could
be recited like hymns. Being a music composer himself who set the tune to many of his work,
this hardly comes as a surprise. Shorter works like “Where the Mind is Without Fear” could
hold the potential of becoming anthems unlike longer, non-lyrical poems. Variously, we find
Muktibodh tackling an ancient epic character and reworking the form of epic poetry. While
an epic tale would ideally valourize the great achievements of a heroic character, the
Brahmarakshas’ great fall has been documented within the poem and it has also been
incorporated into the structure of the poem as well. As the epic poem progresses, we see lines
are halved, almost like fragments of lines are being presented to us instead of the complete
unit of words. This brings about a disintegration of the poem itself in its structure just as the
Brahmarakshas has been decimated bit by bit within the poem. Lastly, we see the use of the
satire form in poetry by Ibopishak to make a political comment and critique. Ibopishak’s
works use the satiric form to highlight the plight of the people, through caricatures, irony and
parodic utilization of traditional mythic/folk elements by turning them into symbolic
representations of the oppression by the authorities.
The poems reflect the issues which are relevant in their contemporary society. Poetry,
literature and art have never existed in a vacuum, they are a product of their times and catch
the pulse of their society. These poems too are not meant for a simplistic leisurely read.
Moreover, across the twentieth century we can see how modern Indian poetry was developing
and changing. The spirituality of the earlier days of Tagore is replaced by a brazenness in the
works of later poets like Ibopishak. Poets have tackled issues which are topical as well as
universal. The greatness of the poet lies in making the poem meaningful and relatable for
readers in other times and places, freeing the poem from its confines in a particular language
and socio-political context. Thus, when Thangjam Ibopishak talks of the loss of identity of
the Manipuri people or Muktibodh exposes the elitism of a post-indepence Indian intellectual,
we find resonances of the issues they take up as being prevalent in every age and time. This is
also the case for the cry for freedom that Rabindranath Tagore’s poems contain. These
resonances arise because art and poetry attain their rightful place in society because they
crystallize the shared understanding of what it is to be human.
7. Essay Questions

 Is it possible to trace some commonalities within Modern Indian Poetry being written
in different languages? Justify your stance with references to poets writing in different
modern Indian languages.
 How different are the concerns of poets in post-independence India from that of the
poets writing under British rule? Substantiate with instances of the poetry from
modern Indian writing in English translations.
 What is the role of satire in Ibopishak’s poetry?

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  Muktibodh is credited with using Sanskritic elements in a modernized manner in his
poetry. Do you agree? Justify your answer.
 Tagore’s spiritualism is multi-faceted. Comment on this statement with references
from his poetry.
8. Works Cited
Joshi, Umashankar. “Modernism and Indian Literature.” Indian Literature, vol. 1, no. 2,
Sahitya Akademi, 1958, pp. 19–30, http://www.jstor.org/stable/23329287
Chakravarty, Radha and Alam, Fakrul ed. The Essential Tagore. Belknap Press of Harvard
University Press, 2011.
Soni, Rahul and Giriraj, Kiradoo, ed. Home from a Distance: Hindi Poets in English
Translation. Pratilipi, Jaipur 2011.
Singh, Khushwant. “Modern Indian Literature.” India International Centre Quarterly, vol. 3,
no. 2, India International Centre, 1976, pp. 123–42, http://www.jstor.org/stable/23001946
Dharwadker, Vinay. “Some Contexts of Modern Indian Poetry.” Chicago Review, vol. 38, no.
1/2, Chicago Review, 1992, pp. 218–31, https://doi.org/10.2307/25305599
Kapse, Dhananjay ed. Modern Indian Writing in English Translation: A Multilinguial
Anthology. Worldview Publications, 2016.

Image Courtesy
Figure 1: Rabindranath Tagore, Britannica.com
Source: https://cdn.britannica.com/49/134949-050-242B08C7/Rabindranath-Tagore.jpg
Figure 2: Gajanan Madhav Muktibodh, Wikipedia
Source:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gajanan_Madhav_Muktibodh#/media/File:Gajanan_Ma
dhav_Muktibodh_(1917-1964).jpg
Figure 3: Thangjam Ibopishak; Lake Bard, wordpress.com
Source: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/36063671880_98d276e77e_b.jpg

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