According

PB August 2009
The Spiritual and Cultural Ethos of Modern Hindi Literature 49
perspective on life and the world, on individual
and society, on past and future, on tradition and
development. The progressivist deals with the high
ethical values of workers, the oppressed classes, and
women and analyses the beliefs, dispositions, and
other forces that hampered their individual and social
progress. Practices standing in the way of this
goal were pointed out and superstitions and dogmas
were critically evaluated. This movement presented
the ideal of an equitable society free from discrimination
and exploitation and sang the glories of socialism,
peace, and progress. Literature after the
Second World War came to be dominated by existential
and nihilistic thought. Jargons such as ‘modernism’,
‘spirit of the moment’, ‘concept of the little
man’, ‘alienation’, ‘horror’, and ‘morbidity’ cast their
spell over all literature. ‘Generation gap’, the ‘angry
young man’, and ‘disillusionment’ became hot topics
of discussion. Many poets tried to highlight current
predicaments through reinterpretation of old literary
works. Such works include Ajneya’s Uttar Priyadarshi
(The Later Ashoka), Naresh Mehta’s Samshay
ki Ek Rat (A Night of Doubt) and Mahaprasthan
(Great Departure), and Dharmvir Bharti’s Andha
Yug (Blind Age). Of these, Andha Yug, a ballad based
on the Mahabharata, became very popular.
Gajanan Madhav Muktibodh is seriously concerned
with analysing social problems and finding
solutions. Always hopeful of a wonderful future for
India and the rest of the world, he opposed existentialism
and laid stress upon writers’ responsibilities
towards society. His poetry displays a deep desire
to cut off narrow middle-class self-interests and become
one with the general public; in a similar vein,
his poems reveal a distinct tone of self-criticism and
introspection. Kunwar Narayan based his minor
epic Atmajayi (Conqueror of Self ) on the Katha
Upanishad. However, instead of the yearning for
self-realization, this poem lays emphasis on generational
struggle and the encounter with death.
The prestigious Jnanpith Award for 2005 has been
given to Kunwar Narayan for his important poetic
composition Vajashrava ke Bahane (The Excuses
of Vajashrava). In this work Kunwar Narayan has
made a serious attempt to present the spiritual message
and philosophy of the Katha Upanishad in
poetic language against the background of Nachiketa’s
return from the world of Death.
Present-day literature is mainly secular and concentrates
on socio-political issues. In recent times,
with the rise of communalism, casteism, violence,
terrorism, consumerism, and marketization, voices
are being raised in support of secularism, democracy,
non-violence, peace, swadeshi, national integrity,
and environmental protection. There has been
a rise in literature showing greater human empathy
in contrast to rampant material fetishism. Concern
about dalits, women, children, minority communities,
and the environment are increasingly being
reflected in contemporary writings. This is an auspicious
sign for the broadening and cleansing of the
human heart, more so when women and members
of the oppressed classes are coming forward to express
their pain and struggle, and are asserting their
rights in their own language.
P
(Continued from page 464)
It starts in the mind, because the mind, being
infinite and unbounded, is capable of encompassing
‘That’, nurturing this reality at first as an idea,
moulding it, maturing it—like the pearl oyster is
said to mature a drop of Swati rain into a pearl—and
in the process being transformed and absorbed into
‘That’. This is indeed the state of same-sightedness
where all boundaries fade and only the unlimited
remains. We become the ocean, as indeed we always
were, and as indeed we are, fully, even now. P
References
1. Rig Veda, 1.164.46.
2. Isha Upanishad, 1.
3. Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, 2.4.5.
4. See, for instance, Brihadaranyaka Upanishad,
4.4.19, and Katha Upanishad, 4.11.
5. Chhandogya Upanishad, 3.14.1.
6. Bhagavadgita, 2.48.
7. Katha Upanishad, 2.1.11.
8. Mundaka Upanishad, 3.2.9.
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