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The
progressive movement brought together Gandhian and Marxist ideas
about society. In 1936,
Mulk Raj Anand and other Indian writers living in London established
the Progressive Writers' Association.
The movement soon spreadthroughout India.
Urdu, Punjabi, Bengali, Telugu, and Malayalam were the main
languages of the progressive movement. The
principal Hindi poet of the progressive group was Nagarjun.
The first Indian novelist of social realism was the Oriya
writer Fakir Mohan Senapati (1893-1918).
The movement also attracted such eminent Urdu poets as Josh
Malihabadi and Fiaz Ahmad Fiaz.
The
search for modernity
In
the period leading up to independence, Indian writers tried to find
a personal expression of their place in history.
Many writers of this time reflect a sense of despair and
helplessness in society. The
most important Bengali poet after Tagore is Jibananda Das
(1899-1954). In
Gujarati, Uma Shankar Joshi initiated a new, experimental poetry.
Poets writing in other languages include Amrita Pritam
(Punjabi), B. S. Mardekhar (Marathi), and Gopal Krishna Adija
(Kannada). All these
poets developed their own personal idioms to reflect the problems of
contemporary life.
Contemporary
Trends
Writers
throughout India have used mythology or folk legend to highlight the
problems of modern society. The
acclaimed Kannada novel Samskara by U. R. Anantha Murthy portrays a
spiritual search against a background of the pressures of day-to-day
living.
A
number of novels look at neglected regions of India and their spoken
dialects. For example,
Jayamohan, writing in Tamil; Debes Ray, in Bengali; and Shivprasad
Singh, in Hindi, provide portraits of contemporary Indian village
life. Such writers also
demonstrate that India is a country of many religions and cultures.
A
central theme in much modern Indian literature is the change from a
rural, traditional life to an urban, modern one.
Some writers examine this theme by portraying a romantic view
of village life. Others
describe the cruel and harsh realities of the impersonal city.
Feminist
literature is represented in all Indian languages.
Writers challenge the values of male-dominated society and
create an alternative mythology in which the perspective of women is
emphasized. Authors
from this movement include Kamala Das, who writes in Malayalam and
English; Krishna Sobti, in Hindi; Ashapurna Devi, in Bengali; and
Rajam Krishnan, in Tamil.
Contemporary
Indian authors who write in English include Amitabh Ghosh, Shashi
Tharur, Vikram Seth, and Upamanyu Chatterjee.
For such authors, English is no longer a colonial language.
They are able to express their heritage while remaining
committed to the modern reality of India.
Indian
Romanticism
The
three major influences on modern Indian literature were Sri
Aurobindo (1872-1950), Rabindranath Tagore, and Mohandas Gandhi (see
GANDHI, MOHANDAS KARAMCHAND). Their
writings marked the movement of Indian romanticism.
Sri Aurobindo wrote mainly in English.
His poetry and the philosophical treatise The Life Divine
express his search for the divine in man.
Tagore's quest for beauty leads him to the conclusion that
service to humanity is the best form of contact with God.
Tagore was a novelist, poet, playwright, composer, and
painter of great renown. His
collection of poetry Gitanjali (Song Offerings) won the Nobel Prize
for literature in 1913.
Tagore
inspired writers of romantic poetry in many Indian languages.
Indian romantic poetry contains a strong element of
mysticism. The greatest
Urdu poet of this era is Muhammad Iqbal (1873-1938).
His best-known collection of poetry is Baan-e-Daraa (Song of
Eternity) (1932). See
IQBAL, SIR MUHAMMAD.
Gandhi's
Influence
The
ideas of Gandhi deeply affected India in the decades leading up to
independence in 1947. Gandhi,
writing in Gujarati, English, and Hindi, used the language of common
people. He used the
weapons of truth and nonviolence and spoke out in favour of
traditional values and against industrialization.
Gandhi
became a symbol of peace and idealism.
Writers of fiction and poetry in almost all the Indian
languages adopted the Gandhian figure as a theme of cultural
nationalism.
The
ideas of Gandhi deeply affected India in the decades leading up to
independence in 1947. Gandhi,
writing in Gujarati, English, and Hindi, used the language of common
people. He used the
weapons of truth and nonviolence and spoke out in favour of
traditional values and against industrialization.
Saratchandra
Chattopadhyay (1876-1938) is one of the most popular Bengali
novelists. A Gandhian
and a socialist, his influence spread throughout India with
translations of his books in various Indian languages.
Premchand (1880-1936) wrote novels in Hindi.
He wrote about the plight of the poor in India.
His greatest achievement, the novel Godan (The Gift of a Cow,
1936), tells the story of a debt-laden peasant and his struggle for
survival.
India
after Independence
The
tragic events that accompanied the partition of the country produced
a sense of disillusionment and mourning.
In literature, a conflict developed between the trend toward
Western modernity and traditional Indian values.Social realism
became a dominant trend in Indian literature.
Representative of this movement are Muktibodh, writing in
Hindi, and Vishnu Dey, in Bengali.
The group of Telugu Digambar (naked) poets wrote political
poetry with themes of pain and struggle.
In Kannada, the Bandaya (rebel) poets were concerned with
violence and social divisions.
In the 1970's, the literary movement called post-modernism
appeared in India
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