fहndi - Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya

It is a great paradox that in an ageof revolution in media there is utmost lackof dialogue (discussion). Today nobodygives logic, no long discussions take place.There is no dialogue between one writerwith another writer, between a critic andanother critic or between poet and storywriter. Everywhere we find monologues.We cannot imagine any democratic culturewithout any critical discussions (dialogues).Criticism is the life of democratic culture.Today the 'Critical Vision' of people is ingreat danger. The main sign of anyintellectual person is 'Critical Vision'.Vibhishan living in Ravan's Lanka andVidur living with Kauravs still remainedcritical. Gautam Buddha, Kabeer andBhartendu were critical. The thousandyears' long tradition of criticism is indanger. Now everywhere there is worshipof dogmatism, thrilling statements andmaking blind triumphal cheers for power.In spite of the drama of democracy, therehas been an atmosphere of anti-criticism,and fear is looming large everywhere.In Ram Vilas Sharma criticism hasdeveloped from long discussions, it isstanding on logic. Primarily, he evaluatedthat literature which was written inreligious patriarchal society. It is animportant question as to what should beour attitude towards the hundreds of years'literature written in such society. Shouldit be prohibitive or sensational? Suchevaluations are founded on half-truths, onesided and destructive ideas. It is possiblein Ram Vilas Sharma's expansive criticalvision and insight, untouchable and womenissue were not as much pronounced as wasconsidered necessary in modern times. Stillwhy do we see again and again what isnot there, why not see what is valuablethere. If we want to look for Kabeer's visionof woman or Meera's vision of downtrodden people what would we get? Wecan disagree with Ram Vilas Sharma onsome points but we should understand hishistorical role. He was regularly blamedfor many things. If we agreed with all hisviews then why should we go in criticism,rather we would have been singing psalmstogether. It is against the literary ethics to'Sing Songs' or "rain stones'. The mostimportant thing is the development ofcritical vision and freedom from stagnationand blind following.There are many writers today whodon't want to see the achievements ofothers and also their own inner conflicts.Those who are aware of their own innerconflicts they fight with them whether theycome out of it or not, and those who arenot aware of their own inner conflicts theydrown in them and are left behind.Ram Vilas Sharma, in spite of livingin a city did not like cosmopolitan culture,because it ultimately makes them rootless.He was a great admirer of Pant but hesaid, "Amongst romantic poets Pantji wasleast aware of the racial development ofthe Hindi literature." (Marxism andProgressive Literature). Pant had cruelly50 :: April-June 2013fgndi •