Indian Regional Literature ME-1

Syllabus topics (RTMNU)

• Amrita Pritam - I Will Meet You Yet Again
• S. Joseph - Between These Lines
• Devara Dasimayya - I am the one who has a body
• Gulam Mohammed Sheikh - Delhi
• Sitanshu Yashaschandra - Forest

Amrita Pritam - I Will Meet You Yet Again

About the Poet

• Amrita Pritam (1919–2005) was a leading Punjabi poet and novelist, often called the most important woman voice in Punjabi literature.
• She was the first woman to win the Sahitya Akademi Award (1956, for Sunehade). She won the Jnanpith Award (1981) for Kagaz te Canvas.
• Famous works: the poem Ajj Aakhan Waris Shah Nu (a lament on the Partition of 1947), the novel Pinjar, and the autobiography Rasidi Ticket.
• Her poems deal with love, women's pain, freedom and Partition.

Background

The poem (Punjabi: Main Tainu Phir Milangi) was written late in her life for Imroz, the painter who was her life partner for about forty years.

Summary (in our own words)

The speaker tells her beloved that she will meet him again, even after death. She does not know where or how. She may come as a picture in his imagination, as a mysterious line on his canvas, as sunlight mixing with his colours, or as cool drops of water touching his body. She accepts that the body will end. But memory is made of threads that last forever, and she will gather these threads and meet him once more.

Themes

• Eternal love: love goes beyond death and the body.
• Art and love: images of canvas, lines and colours connect her love to Imroz's painting.
• Nature: sunlight and water show that she will become part of nature.
• Memory and the soul: the body dies but memory and spirit continue.

Style

• A short lyric in free verse, written in a direct, personal voice.
• Repeated promise ('I will meet you') gives a song-like rhythm.
• Uses soft, sensuous images (light, colour, water) and a calm, hopeful tone.

S. Joseph - Between These Lines

About the Poet

• S. Joseph is a contemporary Malayalam poet from Kerala.
• He is an important voice of modern Malayalam poetry and of Dalit poetry (writing that expresses the experience of marginalised castes).
• His poetry is known for plain, everyday language, images from ordinary rural life, and quiet social criticism instead of loud protest.

How to Study This Poem

The exact text of this poem should be read from the prescribed book. While studying, look for these points:

• Title: 'between these lines' points to what is not said openly, such as silences, hidden pain or unwritten histories.
• Voice: notice who is speaking and whose experience is being recorded.
• Images: list the everyday objects and scenes used and what they suggest.
• Social meaning: connect the poem to caste, identity and the lives of ordinary people.
• Style: simple diction, free verse, understatement.

Devara Dasimayya - I am the one who has a body

About the Poet

• Devara Dasimayya was a 10th-century Kannada saint-poet. He is considered one of the earliest Vachana poets and came before Basavanna (12th century).
• He was a devotee of Shiva. His poems end with the signature name (ankita) 'Ramanatha'.
• His vachanas became widely known in English through A.K. Ramanujan's Speaking of Siva.

The Vachana Form

• A vachana ('saying') is a short, free-form poem in plain spoken Kannada.
• It belongs to the Bhakti movement (devotional movement) and to Veerashaiva devotion.
• Vachana poets rejected empty ritual, caste pride and temple worship, and preferred direct, personal devotion.

Theme (general guidance)

• Unlike ascetics who hated the body, Dasimayya was a householder who did not reject the world. He saw the body and the world as gifts of God.
• Read this poem with that idea in mind: the body as a means of experiencing and serving the divine, not as an enemy of the soul.
• Note the direct address to God (Ramanatha), the conversational tone and the simple images.

Gulam Mohammed Sheikh - Delhi

About the Poet

• Gulam Mohammed Sheikh (born 1937, Gujarat) is a famous Indian painter, art historian and Gujarati poet, linked with the Baroda art school.
• His Gujarati poetry collection Athwa is well known. He has received the Padma Shri and the Padma Bhushan.
• As a painter-poet, his poems are highly visual and full of images of cities, history and memory.

How to Study This Poem

• Delhi is an old capital, full of monuments, ruins and layers of history. Notice how the poet presents the city.
• Note the visual pictures, like a painter's canvas.
• Look at themes of history, power, change and the gap between the past and the present.
• Note the tone, whether it is admiring, ironic or sad.

Sitanshu Yashaschandra - Forest

About the Poet

• Sitanshu Yashaschandra (born 1941, Kutch, Gujarat) is a major modernist Gujarati poet, playwright and critic.
• Collections: Odysseusnu Halesu and Jatayu. Jatayu won the Sahitya Akademi Award. He has also received the Padma Shri.
• His poetry is known for surrealism (dream-like, unusual images), myth and experimental form.

How to Study This Poem

• The forest is a symbol. It can stand for nature, the unconscious mind, danger, mystery or a world outside civilisation.
• Look for dream-like or unexpected images.
• Ask what the forest means for the speaker and for modern human beings.

Comparison Table

Likely exam questions

1. (Long answer) Discuss 'I Will Meet You Yet Again' by Amrita Pritam as a poem of eternal love. Comment on its imagery and themes.
2. (Long answer) How does Unit 1 show the variety of Indian regional poetry? Discuss with reference to any three prescribed poets.
3. (Short answer / short note) Write a short note on Devara Dasimayya and the Vachana tradition.
4. (Short answer / short note) Write a short note on S. Joseph as a Malayalam Dalit poet.
5. (Short answer / short note) Write a short note on Gulam Mohammed Sheikh as a painter-poet.

Syllabus topics (RTMNU)

• Tamas by Bhisham Sahini

Tamas by Bhisham Sahni

1. About the Author: Bhisham Sahni (1915–2003)

• A major Hindi novelist, short story writer and playwright, born in Rawalpindi (now in Pakistan).
• Younger brother of the famous film actor Balraj Sahni.
• Took part in the freedom movement. During the Partition riots he worked for relief, so he saw communal violence at first hand. This experience shaped Tamas.
• Was associated with the Indian People's Theatre Association (IPTA) and the Progressive Writers' Movement. He taught English literature in Delhi and worked as a translator in Moscow for some years.
• Other well-known works: novels Basanti and Mayyadas ki Madi; plays Hanoosh, Kabira Khada Bazaar Mein and Madhavi; stories such as Cheef ki Daawat and Amritsar Aa Gaya Hai.
• Honours: Sahitya Akademi Award for Tamas and the Padma Bhushan.

2. About the Novel

• Written in Hindi and published in 1974. It won the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1975.
• Sahni himself translated it into English.
• Director Govind Nihalani made it into a well-known television film/serial in the late 1980s.
• It is one of the most important Partition novels in Indian literature.

3. Meaning of the Title

Tamas means darkness. In Indian philosophy it is one of the three gunas (sattva, rajas, tamas) and stands for ignorance, blindness and inertia. The title suggests the moral darkness that covers people's minds when communal hatred spreads. Neighbours who lived together peacefully turn into killers within a few days.

4. Summary (in brief)

1. The pig incident: The novel is set in a small town of Punjab in the months before Partition (1947). Murad Ali pays Nathu, a poor tanner (chamar), to kill a pig. He says a veterinary officer needs it. Nathu does the job unwillingly. The next morning the dead pig is found on the steps of a mosque.
2. The town catches fire: Muslims take revenge by throwing a dead cow near a temple. Fear, rumours and killings spread. Shops are burnt, people collect weapons and the town splits into Hindu, Sikh and Muslim areas.
3. Congress workers and leaders: Local Congress workers such as Bakshiji and the eccentric old Jarnail try to spread unity, but they are weak and divided. Jarnail is killed while speaking for peace.
4. The British administration: The Deputy Commissioner, Richard, could stop the riot by bringing out the army or imposing a curfew, but he delays. He follows the policy of 'divide and rule'. His lonely wife Liza is bored and disturbed by India.
5. Training in hatred: A teenage boy, Ranvir, is trained by Master Devvrat in a militant Hindu youth group. As a test of courage he is made to kill a hen. Later the boys kill an innocent old Muslim perfume seller.
6. Violence in the villages: The riots spread to villages. A Sikh couple, Harnam Singh and Banto, flee their home and are given shelter by a kind Muslim woman, Rajo. Their son Iqbal Singh is forcibly converted. Their daughter Jasbir and other Sikh women jump into a well to escape capture.
7. Ending: The army finally arrives and relief camps open. Officials count the dead and the property lost. A 'peace committee' bus goes round, and Murad Ali, who started the trouble, is seen shouting slogans of unity. This bitter irony closes the novel.

5. Major Themes

• Communal violence and Partition: It shows how hatred is deliberately planned and spread, not born naturally.
• Manipulation of the poor: Nathu is an innocent tool. The poor suffer the most, and the plotters escape.
• Colonial 'divide and rule': British indifference through Richard.
• Failure of political leadership: Congress, Muslim League and Hindu/Sikh groups all fail the common people.
• Loss of humanity vs. survival of goodness: Rajo's kindness shows that humanity survives even in darkness.
• Suffering of women: Mass suicide, forced conversion and loss of homes.
• Youth and indoctrination: Ranvir shows how children are taught to hate.

6. Important Characters at a Glance

7. Style and Technique

• Realism: Simple, direct, almost documentary narration based on lived experience.
• Short time span: The main action covers only a few days, which creates tension.
• Panoramic structure: There is no single hero. Many groups and classes are shown. Part one is set in the town, part two in the villages.
• Irony and symbolism: The pig and the cow, darkness, and the 'peace' bus.
• Objectivity: No community is shown as fully good or bad. The author blames hatred itself.

8. Critical Estimate

Tamas is valued as an honest and balanced picture of Partition. It moves from personal guilt (Nathu) to public madness (riots) and official coldness (Richard). Its message is still relevant: communal riots are planned by a few, used by politicians and paid for by ordinary people.

Likely exam questions

1. (Long answer) Discuss Tamas by Bhisham Sahni as a Partition novel. How does it show the causes and effects of communal violence?
2. (Long answer) Explain the significance of the title Tamas and discuss the major themes of the novel.
3. (Short answer / short note) Write a character sketch of Nathu.
4. (Short answer / short note) Write a short note on the role of Richard, the Deputy Commissioner, in Tamas.
5. (Short answer / short note) Write a short note on the ironic ending of Tamas.

Syllabus topics (RTMNU)

• U. R. Anantha Murthy - A Horse of The Sun
• Ambai - In A Forest, A Deer
• Cho. Dharuman - Wetness
• Rabindranath Tagore - Kabuliwallah

Introduction to the Unit

A short story is a short prose narrative that can be read in one sitting. It usually focuses on a single incident, a few characters and one main effect or impression. The four stories in this unit come from different Indian languages: Kannada, Tamil and Bengali. Together they show the variety of Indian regional writing. They deal with village life, women's inner lives, social pressures and human love across borders.

U. R. Anantha Murthy - A Horse of The Sun

About the Author

• U. R. Ananthamurthy (1932–2014) was a leading Kannada writer and critic.
• He was a major figure of the Navya (modernist) movement in Kannada literature.
• His best-known novel is Samskara (1965). It criticises rigid Brahmin orthodoxy.
• He received the Jnanpith Award (1994).

Content in Brief

The story is set in a Karnataka village. An educated, ambitious narrator meets Venkata, a simple villager. Society sees Venkata as a failure because he has not achieved money, status or success. Yet Venkata has a rare ability to feel wonder at small things in nature. The title refers to a tiny insect, a kind of grasshopper, that villagers call the 'horse of the sun' (Suryana Kudure). Through Venkata's delight in this creature, the narrator glimpses a deeper, almost spiritual way of seeing life.

Themes

• Ambition vs. contentment: worldly success is set against inner peace.
• Tradition vs. modernity: the educated, modern mind is contrasted with village simplicity.
• Nature and epiphany: a small natural object brings a moment of sudden insight.
• Redefining failure: the story asks who is truly successful.

Style

The story is reflective and told in the first person. It is rich in local detail and symbolism, and it uses irony in the narrator's attitude.

Ambai - In A Forest, A Deer

About the Author

• Ambai is the pen name of C. S. Lakshmi (born 1944). She is a major Tamil feminist writer and researcher.
• She writes about women's bodies, silence, domestic life and identity.
• Her stories have been translated into English by Lakshmi Holmström.

Content in Brief

The story centres on Thangam Athai (aunt). Her body never matured into womanhood, so she cannot bear children. Her husband marries a second wife and has children with her. Thangam continues to live in the house, quietly caring for everyone. One night she tells the children a story about a deer that is lost in a forest, separated from its herd. At first the deer is frightened. Slowly it learns to live in and understand the forest. The child narrator gradually realises that the lonely deer is Thangam Athai herself.

Themes

• Patriarchy and the female body: a woman's worth is judged by fertility.
• Loneliness and silent suffering within the joint family.
• Inner strength and dignity: Thangam adjusts to her fate without bitterness.
• Story within a story: the deer is a symbol of the woman.

Character Sketch: Thangam Athai

She is gentle, generous and affectionate towards children. She suffers deeply, yet she hides her pain behind quiet dignity. She stands for countless women whom society pushes to the margins.

Cho. Dharuman - Wetness

About the Author

• Cho. Dharuman (also spelled Cho. Dharman) is a contemporary Tamil writer from the Kovilpatti region of southern Tamil Nadu.
• He is known for realistic writing about rural life, farmers, labourers and the dry black-soil land of his region.
• His novel Sool won the Sahitya Akademi Award (2019).

How to Study This Story

Read 'Wetness' directly from the prescribed textbook. Prepare these points:

• Note the setting (village or land), the main characters and the central conflict.
• Think about the title. 'Wetness' may relate to water, rain, tears or emotion. Check which meanings the story itself supports.
• Look for the author's usual concerns: the struggles of rural people, nature and land, and social inequality.
• Note the use of local speech, realism and the ending.

Rabindranath Tagore - Kabuliwallah

About the Author

• Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941) was a Bengali poet, story writer, dramatist and composer.
• He was the first Asian to win the Nobel Prize for Literature (1913), for Gitanjali.
• He is regarded as a pioneer of the modern Bengali short story. 'Kabuliwallah' was written in the 1890s.

Summary

• The narrator is a writer in Calcutta. His five-year-old daughter Mini is lively and talkative.
• She becomes friends with Rahmat, a tall Afghan dry-fruit seller from Kabul. Mini's mother distrusts him.
• Rahmat and Mini share jokes, including one about going to the 'father-in-law's house'.
• Rahmat stabs a customer who refuses to pay his debt. He is sent to prison for many years.
• He is released on Mini's wedding day and comes to see her. Mini is now a grown-up bride and does not recognise him.
• Rahmat shows the narrator a paper with the handprint of his own daughter, whom he left behind in Afghanistan.
• Moved, the narrator gives him money from the wedding expenses so that he can return home to his daughter. He cuts back on the wedding lights and band to do so.

Themes

• Universal fatherly love crosses barriers of nation, religion and class.
• Prejudice vs. humanity: the mother's suspicion is set against the narrator's sympathy.
• Time and change: childhood innocence is lost as Mini grows up.

Characters

• Rahmat: rough in appearance but tender at heart. He is a loving father far from home.
• Mini: an innocent, curious child.
• Narrator: sensitive, imaginative and generous.

Comparison Table

Likely exam questions

1. (Long answer) Discuss 'Kabuliwallah' by Rabindranath Tagore as a story of universal fatherly love. Write a character sketch of Rahmat.
2. (Long answer) How does Ambai present the suffering and strength of women in 'In A Forest, A Deer'? Explain the symbolism of the deer.
3. (Short answer / short note) Write a short note on the contrast between ambition and contentment in 'A Horse of The Sun'.
4. (Short answer / short note) Write a short note on Cho. Dharuman as a regional writer and the significance of the title 'Wetness'.
5. (Short answer / short note) Write a character sketch of Thangam Athai.

Syllabus topics (RTMNU)

• Sakharam Binder by Vijay Tendulkar

Sakharam Binder by Vijay Tendulkar

1. About the Author: Vijay Tendulkar (1928–2008)

• Who he was: One of the most important modern Indian playwrights. He wrote mainly in Marathi. He was also a journalist, screenwriter and essayist.
• Major plays: Shantata! Court Chalu Aahe (Silence! The Court is in Session), Ghashiram Kotwal, Gidhade (The Vultures), Sakharam Binder, Kamala, Kanyadaan.
• Film scripts: He wrote screenplays for Hindi art films such as Nishant, Aakrosh and Ardh Satya.
• Honours: He received the Padma Bhushan, the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award and the Saraswati Samman, among others.
• Main concerns: Violence, sex, power, hypocrisy of the middle class, and the exploitation of women.

2. About the Play

• Written and first staged in 1972 in Marathi.
• It was very controversial. It faced censorship trouble and was even banned for a time for its open treatment of sex and violence.
• It is a naturalistic drama (realistic, frank and harsh) in two acts. Almost all the action takes place inside Sakharam's house.

3. Summary of the Play (in brief)

Act One – Laxmi: Sakharam is a bookbinder. He was born a Brahmin but rejects all social rules. He does not believe in marriage. Instead he gives shelter to women abandoned by their husbands, on his own 'terms'. He gives them food, clothes and a roof. In return, they must do the housework and serve him as a wife. He can send them away whenever he likes. At the start, he brings home Laxmi, a meek, religious and childless woman thrown out by her husband. He coldly explains his rules to her. Laxmi is gentle and talks to ants and a crow. Sakharam's Muslim friend Dawood visits often. Sakharam is rough with Laxmi and beats her. She is too pious and too sad to give him the pleasure he wants. Tension also grows when Laxmi objects to Dawood joining the Ganapati worship. Finally, Sakharam sends her away, and she goes to live with her nephew.

Act Two – Champa: The next woman is Champa. She is young, bold and sensual. She has run away from her cruel husband Fouzdar Shinde, a dismissed policeman who abused her. Champa drinks heavily and does not fear Sakharam. She even controls him through her body. Shinde comes begging for her, but she treats him with contempt. Later, Laxmi returns because her nephew has thrown her out. Champa allows her to stay, and Laxmi takes over the housework. Laxmi then discovers that Champa is having a secret affair with Dawood. She tells Sakharam. In a jealous rage, Sakharam strangles Champa. At the end, Sakharam is shaken and helpless. The 'weak' Laxmi calmly takes charge and begins digging a grave to hide the body.

4. Major Themes

• Exploitation of women: All the women are used by men: by their husbands, by Sakharam and by Shinde. Women have no safe place in society.
• Hypocrisy of the 'free' man: Sakharam claims to be honest and free from social rules. Yet he is as possessive, violent and jealous as the husbands he mocks.
• Violence and sexuality: The play shows violence as part of human nature. Desire, power and cruelty are closely linked.
• Marriage versus 'contract': Sakharam's arrangement is a parody of marriage. It shows that marriage itself can be a contract of control.
• Religion and morality: Laxmi's piety does not stop her from betraying Champa or helping to hide a murder. Moral labels are questioned.
• Power reversal: The man who boasted of control ends up helpless. The woman takes control at the end.

5. Character Sketches

• Sakharam: The bookbinder and protagonist. He is crude, loud, frank and self-proud. He claims to have no hypocrisy, but he exploits women, gets jealous, and finally becomes a murderer. He is a tragic, contradictory figure.
• Laxmi: She is quiet, religious, submissive and childless. She seems weak, but she has inner stubbornness. Her jealousy leads to Champa's death, and she shows cold practicality at the end.
• Champa: She is bold, sensual, outspoken and wounded by her husband's cruelty. She drinks to bear her life. She is the opposite of Laxmi and the only one who dominates Sakharam.
• Dawood: Sakharam's Muslim friend. He is easy-going and enjoys the household's company. He becomes the cause of the final tragedy.
• Fouzdar Shinde: Champa's husband. He was once cruel and powerful, but is now pitiful. He shows how abusers can also be broken men.

6. Laxmi vs Champa (Comparison)

7. Style and Technique

• Naturalism: Frank language, everyday speech and harsh realism.
• Limited setting: A single house creates a closed, tense atmosphere.
• Contrast: The two acts are built on two opposite women.
• Irony: The 'free' man becomes a slave of jealousy, and the 'weak' woman becomes strong.
• Symbols: Ganapati worship stands for hollow religiosity, and the grave stands for buried truth and guilt.

8. Critical Points

• It is a landmark of modern Indian theatre for breaking taboos about sex and violence.
• Some critics call it a proto-feminist play because it exposes male power. Others note that the women also act cruelly, so it is not a simple 'good versus bad' story.
• As regional literature, it shows lower-middle-class urban Maharashtra and reaches a pan-Indian audience through translation.

Likely exam questions

1. (Long answer) Discuss Sakharam Binder as a play about the exploitation of women in Indian society.
2. (Long answer) Write a character sketch of Sakharam and show how his claim to be 'free from hypocrisy' is exposed in the play.
3. (Short answer / short note) Compare and contrast the characters of Laxmi and Champa.
4. (Short answer / short note) Write a short note on the ending of Sakharam Binder.
5. (Short answer / short note) Write a short note on Vijay Tendulkar as a playwright.