Tradition and modernity about freedom struggle in Indian literature.

( In case of Hindi literature)

Dr Rati Saxena


If pain remains for long time, it becomes tranquilizer. The period for slavery was too long for the Indian continent that there was a fear of accepting it as the destiny. In spite of sense of obscurity and helplessness, it took a long time for our people to believe in freedom as their birthright.

If we see in the case of language, Hindi is as old as our passion for freedom. Ironically Hindi (Khari Boli) is a product of the invader’s language with our local dialects. May be this is the reason that historians of this language have taken in literature of other dialects such as avadhi, brijbhaasha, mevati, mevari etc of northern region into Hindi literature. But strangely enough the literature of these dialects have always voiced for our freedom, while on other hand Hindi was the ghost of our slavery.

According to historians of language, Hindi literature is mainly divided as Veer Gatha Kal, Reeti kaal, Bhakti kaal, and Adhunik kaal. Veer Gatha kal or Adi kal is early period in which struggle with early invaders (Mostly mugals) was at its peak. The literature of this time had a strong sense of opposition against invaders (for example Prithiviraj raso of Chandra Bardai). Evidently Nath and siddh literature were little different in their nature. In Bhakti kaal, feeling of the helplessness and pain was so strong that love for nation and identity took a different form. Love for nation presented itself in the form of Social reforms. Kabir Das, Guru Nanak, Dharma Das, Maluk Das, Dadudayal, Sunder Das belong to this genre. In their Sakhis (couplets) and Padas (songs), they have condemned rituals and laid emphasis on the theory of Monotheism (the belief that there is one God). ReetiKal was a time for adaptation with new power, but in its own unique way. This was the time when struggle for freedom was taking their strong roots. Poets like Chintamani, Keshav, Mati Ram, Deva, Kulpati Misra, and Bhikari Das were leaders of this style. These three stages were the time, when modern Hindi or Khari boli was taking a certain shape along with its different forms of dialects, which are, considered as Hindi. So when we think from the point of view of freedom struggle, we mainly concentrate on modern age or Bhartendu age in Hindi. This period goes back to 18th AD long before freedom struggle of 19th century was taking firm shape in thoughts of our leaders and long before of our first war for independence in 19th century. Strangely our early writers were not Hindi speaking. The Vedant sutra of Raja Ram Mohan Rai (1815 AD) and satyarth prakash of Dayanand Saraswati do not come under the category of literature but they provided the signal that this is the time Indians should think for their religion, faith and country. Raja Ram Mohan Rai was Bengali and Dayanand Saraswati was Gujrati, but they chose Hindi for expressing their view even long before Gandhiji had taken steps in this direction.

Let us talk about modern age of Hindi literature, which is called Bhartendu Yug. from the very beginning of this period.
There is no doubt that the inner voice of the Hindi language was always struggle for freedom. In fact from early time this language became the medium of expression for freedom. Instead of going in details about different work in Hindi literature, I will like to present some interesting examples from some early work of this age. Most of the Bhartendu’s dramas express pain of dependency. He was bold enough to express this feeling weaving it with satire such that even after a century, his dramas are still relevant to the contemporary times. Let me talk about his famous drama- Andher –Nagari – choupat Raja, Take Ser Bhaji Take Ser Khaja. We translate it as – a state with no rules and ruled by foolish king where the value of one kilo of sweet is equivalent to a kilo of vegetable. This drama talks of its time, but is still relevant to our modern time. This drama has a simple story line

A seer comes to a city with his pupil. Pupil finds the city very attractive, because this is the place where every thing is sold in same price. So Pupil thought that he is able to take a rich diet at lower price. The seer understand the problem behind this so wanted to leave the city as early as possible but pupil does not want to leave such a place where every thing is attainable in same value. So the guru leaves and shishya remains in the city. The actual irony starts from there. Description of the market, dialogues of venders, every thing has a reflection of tradition of our country, although it has a modern approach. To date every one undergoes through the same experience of marketing policies. Every dialogue or drama related to marketing gives the real picture of product where emphasis is more on advertisement and less on utility. For example, the Kavab seller calls out –“Take Hot kavab, Hot Kavab cooked in 84 spices with 72 level of heats” but end of the sentence is amusing-“whoever eats will smack his lips, whoever does not will bite his tongue, Their call end like this- every one regrets – those who eat and do not. ”.कवाब गरमागरम मसालेदार चौरासी मसाला बहत्तर आँच का कवाब, गरमागरम मसालेदार खाय सो हौंठ काटे, ना खाए तो जीभ काटे। कवाब लो कवाब, ना खाए सो पछताए।

Bhartendu could sense the market tendency of British rulers, which could lead the country to a disastrous stage. Those rulers were turning every thing in to business in order get profit for their country. Production of Neel instead of rice was an example for this tendency. Their purpose for laying railway lines was also for the same. They even converted education into business in order to produce more clerks, which on other hand destroyed the purpose of actual knowledge. In contemporary period, in the name of globalization, a strange market tendency is shaping up, which is typical to the portrayal in Bhartendu’s andher nagari. All products are presented in the market as the best, whether it is toothpaste or soap or car. This generates confusion in the common man- what to use and what to not. Advertisement is the way of marketing, but dangerous thing is this that a number of products are flooding the market confusing common man so badly that people are rushing to fill their house without thinking of the consequences. As a result, diseases like loneliness, suicides and immorality affect our society, while these were never a part of our society.

Bhartendu was very well aware of weakness of Indian mentality of fighting among them selves. In fact invaders defeated India because of disunity and not because of non-bravery or cowrdice. That is why Andher nagari’s vegetable vender (Mallakkarikari) calls-- जैसा काजी वैसा पाजी , टके सेर मेवा टके सेर भाजीAll adjudicators are cheaters . Public is ready to take them, (like a kilo vegetable in one paisa) Take the fruit of India – severance, and enmity. In this way, Bhartendu was giving the message to people that until we are united, we cannot get rid of foreign rule. The pain of foreign rule comes out so many times in this drama- Even when “Churan vala” (the man who sells tasty digester powder) talks about most of mischievous behaviors.

चूरन अमले सब जो खाते! दूनी रुशवत तुरन्त पचाते।।
चूरन नाटक वाले खाते। इनकी नकल पचा कर लाते।।
चूरन सभी महाजन खाते। जिससे जमा हजम कर जाते।।
चूरन खाते लाला लोग। जिनकी अकिल अजीरण रोग।।
चूरन खावे एडिटर जात। जिनके पेट पचे ना बात।।
चूरन साहब लोग जो खाते। सारा हिन्द हज कर जाते।।



If a officer eats this tasty powder, he can digest double the amount of bribery, If Drama people eats, he can digest any number of replicate, If businessmen eats, he can digest tax and if a editor eats he can not digest any talk. Look at these white men; they have digested whole India by eating this.

The massage of seer is most relevant –

बसिए ऐसे देश नहि, कनक वृष्टि जो होय।
रहिए तो दुख पाएये, प्रान दीजिए रोए!!

Do not live in a strange country where even if it rains gold. If you live in a place like this, you may get some sorrow or you even have to give your life. In modern time we are getting the result of love for foreign country in our youth.

Bhartendu’s dramas are best example of national awareness. His love for nation was not over-romantic. He knew the weak point of our people, so he wanted to bring out those weakness in notice. But there is no doubt that when he was talking about “andher nagari” and choupat raja-his target was British kingdom.

There is no doubt that most of the writing of that age was influenced by idea of attaining freedom. We can remember Balkrishn Bhatt, Pratap Narayan Mishra, Badreenath chowdhari, Kishorilal Goswami etc. Even Devaki nandan Khatri who was popular writer of that time and has written novels on mysterious subject was aware of national feeling. Nationality in Khatrees writing could be a good subject for research scholars, because central point of these mysterious novels was always kingdom.

In Dvivedi yug, Hindi literature flourished in all directions for example poetry, drama, story writing, novels and essays etc. But there is no doubt that main interest was towards serious essays. Mahaveer Prasad dvivedi, Bal mukund Gupt, Shyam sundar das, Chandradhar Sharma Guleri are few important names. But in Ramchandra shukla Yug, Hindi literature was quite high in field of stories. Most of the great writers belong to this age. If we go through the writing of this age, we will find that national feeling was very high at this stage. This is the time when hindi literature got great writers like Jayshakankar Prasad and Premchand. Both of these writers were main pillar of Hindi literature. Most of the stories of Premchand revolve around thought of freedom. Directly or indirectly he brought the idea of freedom in most of the stories. Actually thoughts of freedom include welfare of country people. When Prem Chandra is talking about social problem like marriage problem, dowry and greediness etc., all these are directly related to love for nation. All the social problems are directly or indirectly related to love for nation. There are a number of poems, which were written for nation in direct way. Maithili sharan gupt, Harioudh, Dinakar and some poems of Jayshankar prasaad come in this category. But some poems, which were not written directly for praise for nation, also show the feeling for nation. For example Niralas Ram ki shakti pooja. This poem is telling the story of Ram and his win over samudra. This story line is taken from Ramayana’ Lanka kand. But the way poet has portrait Rama is very wonderful. Ram is polite as well strong as if poet wants to give impression that even though we people appear very humble, we are most powerful.

I will like to mention Ramcharit manas of Tulasidas in this context. Ramcharit manas cannot be called a poetry written for freedom. It is a very religious book. In modern time, the meaning of Ram has changed completely. But there was time when Ramcharit manas became the symbol for self-consciousness. When the poor native of Bihar and UP were taken to unknown Islands as bonded labourers and tortured badly, reading of Ramcharit manas had given them mental strength. A common man learned that if God had to suffer a lot then man could also get sufferings. But at the end, goodness becomes winner. Reading of Ramcharitmanas gave them mental strength and result is that a beautiful country like Mauritius took place in map of world. Same way when Dinkar was writing Kurukshetra, country and its people were in his mind. At other place, Dinkar has written some very good national poems.


So we can say that literature written for freedom of nation does not mean only national poems or stories, but any thing written or created in favour of country and people can come in this category. In this case Hindi is literature is quite rich.