A Journal of Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya

their interest against the downtrodden of
the society. Premchand is in favour of
these downtrodden people. By
characterizing Dhaniya Premchand keeps
his faith in woman power. He also advocates
live-in relation by depicting Mehta-Malti
relationship. Malti is a doctor and Mehta
is a professor. They love each other but
decide not to marry but to have a livein
relation. Here Premchand clearly departs
from Indian tradition and indicates the
futuristic Indian urban society.
Here it is worth mentioning Shekhar
Ek Jeevanee (Biography of Shekhar/
Agyeya/1940), in two volumes and
Tyagpatra (The Resignation/Jainendra/
1937). These two novels take a lead from
Premchand and project changing Indian
society in respect of position of women
in man dominated Indian milieu. In my
opinion Mrinalini of Tyagpatra is an
extension of Dr.Malti of Premchand’s
Godan. These two characters represent
the changing mindset of women in India
where they challenge the traditional
husband-wife relationship. In Shekhar
Ek Jeevanee also the novelist Agyeya
creates a love relationship between Shekhar
and his cousin sister which is no way
acceptable in Indian society and this
depiction has been criticized by many
critics and they look upon it as vulgar.
These two novels jolted the Indian mindset
and became the torchbearer of new ideas
and thoughts emerging in Indian society.
These two novels are departure from
Premchand’s novels in their narration,
structure and style. Tyagpatra is written
in the mode of autobiography. Shekhar
ek jeevanee is a biography of a
revolutionary in which the protagonist is
writing his own story as a third person
by fictionalizing it .So neither it is a
biography nor autobiography of the
protagonist. This novel is a search of a
revolutionary’s mind and tries to depict
how a revolutionary’s mind gets formated.
In a way this novel is also influenced
by India’s war of independence and
particularly of revolutionaries like Bhagat
Singh, Chandrashekhar Azad, RajGuru,
Bismil and others. In fact this is a deep
analytical story of a revolutionary who
was waging war against the colonial rule.
The urge for searching for a nation
continues in Hindi novels even after India
got independence on 15 th August1947.
Maila Aanchal (Dusty terrain/
Phanishwarnath Renu/1948), Aadha Gaon
(The Village divided/Rahi Masoom Raza/
1968), Raag Darbaree (Song of the Night/
Shreelal Shukla/1968) are three prominent
Hindi novels of early phase of India’s post
independence era.
These three novels depict the scenario
in India after independence and problems
faced in the path of making it a sovereign
and secular nation that is envisaged in
Indian constitution. The main problems
faced by India as a Nation after
independence are as follows:
52 :: January-March 2012