A Journal of Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya

forces of liberty and patriotism triumphing
over the negative forces. The theme of
“Samman Kise kehte Hain” ripens into
maturity in Premchand’s “Soze Vatan.”
“Ek Tokri Bhar Mitti” is the last of
Sapreji’s stories. Besides structural brevity,
it also has intensity of effect. Although
it deals with social injustice, it expresses
faith in the inherent goodness of human
nature. The effect is a transmutation of
mind and heart. It reflects Premchand’s
initial stories. Madhav Rao’s contribution
to the art of story writing is no doubt
noteworthy but, much more important
than that is the fact that he gave a definite
shape to the art of literary criticism in
Hindi. According to him, Literary Criticism
plays a crucial role in the development
of Literature. Therefore, he was always
eager to develop the art of Literary
Criticism. He worked diligently to achieve
this end. He wanted to establish a “Nagri
Pracharini Sabha” and a “Samalochana
Society” for the development of Literary
Criticism. He also desired the publication
of a magazine “Nagri Samalochana.”
Although his dreams remained unfulfilled,
yet in “Chhattisgarh Mitra”, he tried hard
to give a definite shape to the art of Literary
Criticism.
Within a short period of two years
in1900-1901, around 20 critical reviews
by Sapreji were published—ranging from
poetry and novel to astrology, grammar,
education of women etc. He also wrote
a critical review of a magazine “Bhasha
Chandrika.”In the March, 1916 of “Maryada”
Sapreji’s brilliant review on “Oxford Survey
of British Empire” was published. It was
humorously satirical, light-hearted in tone
and full of wit. Glancing through the widely
variegated range of his works, we come
to the conclusion that his art of criticism
was not limited to literature alone. These
reviews establish the fact that he was a
great linguist being well versed in Hindi,
Marathi, Sanskrit and English. He has
brilliantly analyzed several literary
translation. Examining “Bharat Gaurav”,
Sapreji has expressed his views on Literary
Criticism in the following manner—“Though
the word critic has a positive meaning,
it is generally associated with having
negative implications. It is generally held
that critical appraisal is akin to finding
loopholes. Whatever be the quality of work,
the duty of a critic is to set right and
smoothen out the rough edges. This does
not imply that a critic’s work is flawless.
After all, he is human and liable to error.”
In ‘Bharat Mitra’ he writes : “Just as
an appraiser of precious stones carefully
examines his gems and evaluates their
worth, similarly brilliant critics examine
literary creation and evaluate its merits
and demerits. This is literary
criticism.”Sapreji has reviewed a number
of poems especially those of Sridhar Pathak,
who gained immense popularity as an
experimental poet. His poems were both
in ‘Khariboli’ and ‘Brajbhasha’. ‘Dhanvijay’
January-March 2012 :: 23