The Laghukatha: A Historical and Literary Analysis of a Modern Hindi Prose Genre [Reprint 2012 ed.] 9783110896527, 9783110175936

Table of contents :
1 Introduction
2 Historical development
2.1 State of research: contemporary approaches
2.2 Beginnings (before 1900)
2.3 Transition into a modern genre (1900 – 1970)
2.4 Modern laghukathās
3 The laghukathā writers
3.1 The authors’ intentions
3.2 Means of publication
4 Literary analysis
4.1 State of research: approaches in Hindi laghukathā criticism
4.2 Methodology
4.3 Content
4.4 Form
4.5 Style
5 Conclusion
6 Bibliography
7 Appendix: Laghukathās of the sample
8 Index

Citation preview

Ira Valeria Sarma The Laghukathä

Indian Philology and South Asian Studies Edited by

Albrecht Wezler and Michael Witzel

Volume 4

w DE

G Walter de Gruyter · Berlin · New York 2003

Ira Valeria Sarma

The Laghukathä A Historical and Literary Analysis of a Modern Hindi Prose Genre

w DE

G Walter de Gruyter · Berlin · New York 2003

© Printed on acid-free paper which falls within the guidelines of the ANSI to ensure permanence and durability.

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Sarma, Ira Valeria, 1967The Laghukatha : a historical and literary analysis of a modern Hindi prose genre / Ira Valeria Sarma. p. cm. — (Indian philology and South Asian studies ; v. 4.) Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 3 11 017593 2 (alk. paper) 1. Short stories, Hindi - History and criticism. I. Title. II. Series. PK2042 .S2535 2002 891.4'330109-dc21 2002031295

ISSN 0948-1923 ISBN 3-11-017593-2 Bibliographic information published by Die Deutsche

Bibliothek

Die Deutsche Bibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data is available in the Internet at .

© Copyright 2003 by Walter de Gruyter G m b H & Co. KG, D-10785 Berlin All rights reserved, including those of translation into foreign languages. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Printed in Germany Printing: W. Hildebrand, Berlin Binding: Lüderitz & Bauer-GmbH, Berlin Cover design: Rudolf Hübler, Berlin

To my parents

Preface I wish to thank all the people who helped me make this project come true. First of all my supervisor Rupert Snell for his encouragement, his subtle but persistent criticism and his help through all the stages of research and writing. The help of my parents was also invaluable. I am grateful for their love and unconditional support. I thank my mother in particular for always being there in times of crisis. Very special thanks go to Angela Atkins for reading and re-reading different drafts; her suggestions and her friendship are very important to me. Heartfelt thanks also to my flatmate Sutharin Koonphol for sharing with me the PhD-related adventures (hers as well as mine), coundess botdes of wine and Cassis, and her internetconnection. I am further grateful to all my friends in Germany, London and India who remained my friends in spite of the long periods of my absence or silence; thanks are due to Ludwig Rast and particularly Sabine Herder. Petra Wehmeyer kindly read the final draft and was a patient listener during the last weeks of finishing the manuscript. It would have been impossible to conduct this research without the laghukathä authors whose stories kept me good company. Balräm's anthology Bharatiya laghukathä kos caught my attention years ago and inspired me to find out what was behind this tide. The suggestions he made and the material he gave me when I met him in Delhi in 1995 motivated me to do further research on the laghukathä. Many thanks to him and to all the authors and critics I had the

Vili

Preface

chance to meet personally during my fieldwork in 1999 which took me to Bareilly, Bokaro, Delhi, Ghaziabad, Gurgaon, Indore, Meerut, Poona, Sirsa and Ujjain: Balrâm Agravâl, Amarnâth Caudharï 'Abz', Kamal Coprâ, Rüp Devgun, Satis Dube, Rames Candra Goyal, Kamal Kisor Goyankâ, Mukes Jain 'Paras', Sadäsiv Kautuk, Jagdïs Kasyap, Dämodar Kharse, Narendra Kumâr, Madhudip, Süryakant Nàgar, Râj Kumär Nijât, Satisräj Puçkaranâ, Viçnu Prabhâkar, Satis Râthï, Sukes Sâhnï, Mukes Sarmâ, Sures Sarmà, Râm Nârâyan Upâdhyây, Asok Vamiä, and Surendra Varmâ. I am truly grateful for their help, generosity and hospitality, for lunches, dinners, mithai and cay, for taking time to talk to me, and arrange ever more meetings; they dug up material that has long been out of print and provided answers to many questions. I am also thankful to Sures Jängir 'Uday', Rämesvar Kämboj 'Himämsu', Pûran Mudgal and Râm Nivâs 'Mânav' who sent me interesting texts of various kinds. In Calcutta I owe thanks to my aunt, uncle and cousins for providing a warm and welcoming home whenever I needed a place of rest during my fieldwork. Last but not least I want to thank my partner Dorian Korupp for putting up with almost five years of commuting between Cologne and London and for going through several ups and downs with me without ever complaining.

Orthography The transliteration of Devanagari words follows R.S. McGregor's Outline of Hindi Grammar (Oxford 1995). Place names, works of literature and terms for which a common English spelling exists (e.g. 'Delhi', 'Pancatantra' or 'Khari boli') are written without diacritics. Indian proper names and tides of Hindi works have been transliterated with diacritics except when quoting from English publications where the respective transliterations have been retained; likewise all quotes give the original spelling as found in the source text. Omissions in quotes from secondary literature have been noted with three dots '...'; in primary texts (laghukathäs) the three dots signifying omission are given in square brackets '[...]' to indicate that they are not part of the original text.

Contents 1 2 2.1 2.2 2.2.1 2.2.2 2.2.3 2.3 2.3.1 2.3.2 2.3.3 2.4 2.4.1 2.4.2 3 3.1 3.2 4 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.3.1 4.3.2 4.3.3 4.4 4.4.1

Introduction 1 Historical development 5 State of research: contemporary approaches 5 Beginnings (before 1900) 11 The question of ancient and medieval antecedents 11 Early stages: Bhäratendu Hariscandra 17 The role of journalism 19 Transition into a modern genre (1900 - 1970) 23 'First'laghukathäs (1900-Independence) 25 Non-Hindi influences: Manto and Gibran 30 The 1950s and 60s: first collections and the emergence of the term 'laghukathä' 35 Modern laghukathäs 38 The 1970s: the evolution of a new genre 39 Establishment of the laghukathä as an independent genre ....43 The laghukathä writers 49 The authors' intentions 51 Means of publication 57 Literary analysis 61 State of research: approaches in Hindi laghukathä criticism...61 Methodology 65 Content 77 Themes 78 Protagonists 116 Space 137 Form 146 Outer form: shape and size 147

XII

4.4.2 4.4.3 4.4.4 4.5 4.5.1 4.5.2 4.5.3 5 6 7 8

Contents

Inner form: the plot Title Points of view Style Diction and syntax Stylistic modes and tones Rhetorical figures and tropes Conclusion Bibliography Appendix: Laghukathäs of the sample Index

156 190 197 200 202 232 251 289 296 308 323

Diagrams and illustrations Diagram 1: Distribution of themes Diagram 2: Distribution of number of words Laghukathä folder

115 154 between 60 & 61

Abbreviations and signs * ~
í¿4¿ l i t f ^ ï ï ^ Π Τ I M