The paper deals with the different ways in which 20th century Hindi writers introduced the theme of religion into their work. A selection of authors has been made in order to highlight some important issues connected with religion. As may be expected, basically two points of view are to be found, depending on the ideological stand of the writer – either politically committed or committed to man. Thus, whilst religion is deemed by one author to be a factor which divides communities, it is considered by another to be an important tool for exploring the human soul.
This paper deals with composition technique in the poetry of Dhūmil (Sudāmā Pāṇḍey “Dhūmil”, 1936-1975). While the poet is capable of producing “attractive” images, as may be seen in some unpublished fragments of his earliest work, in the poems in the collection Sansad se saṛak tak (From Parliament to the Street, 1972, 2nd edn. 1975), he uses a “visionary” or hallucinatory method to create provocative images. This provocative vein runs through the entire collection, as one image does not slide seamlessly to the next as it does in Muktibodh’s poetry
Two voices inhabit the inner being of Kr̥ṣṇā Sobtī, both as a fiction writer and as a woman. Creative output stems from that inner being, allowing the artist to project an imaginary world, created through the cognitive process that provides for the building blocks of the mind. In this article I will be discussing Kr̥ṣṇā Sobtī’s creative writings, seeking to establish links between her autobiographical pieces and those in which she purposely steps outside the narrative. The two novels Ai laṛkī [Oh, girl!, 1991] and Samay sargam [The musical scale of time, 2000] are certainly autobiographical; books in which the author purposely steps outside the narrative include Ḍār se bichuṛī [Separated from the flock, 1958], Mitro marjānī [Mischievous Mitro, 1967], Yārõ ke yār [Friends of friends, 1968], Tin Pahāṛ [Tin Pahāṛ, 1968], Sūrajmukhī ãdhere ke [Sunflowers in the dark, 1972], Dilo-dāniś [Heart and reason, 1993], Zindagīnāmā [A book of life, 1979], Uttarārddh [Second half, 2005] and these represent only the novels. The two voices I referred to earlier are, effectively, not just the two sides of a debate or the voices of contrasting experiences; they are also two voices of time that, depending on the context, are either internal or externally projected. The shadow of time, in which past and present often overlap each other, underlies Kr̥ṣṇā Sobtī’s entire oeuvre, her private and her imaginary worlds.
This paper takes into consideration the role of myth and religion in Kr̥ṣṇā Sobtī’s novel Zindagīnāmā [A book of life, 1979]. The introduction highlights the composition of Śāhjī’s household, where people of different faiths live, and explores the fellowship among Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs, which was a distinguishing feature of Sufism in pre-partition Panjab. The introduction is followed by a section which deals with the core theme of myth and religion. Three main myths are dealt with in the narrative: the Islamic myth of Khvājā Khizr; a Hindu myth based on the concept of avtār; and the Hindu myth of the sun and the moon. When compared with the myth, however, it is religion which plays a more important role in the novel. The paper analyzes the subject of religion through three main characters: spirituality, through Śāhjī’s younger brother, Kāśī Śāh; religion in everyday life, through Śāhjī’s wife, Śāhnī; and human love and divine love, through the young Muslim girl, Rābyā̃, with whom Śāhjī falls in love. Her name recalls the greatest woman Sufi mystic poet, Rābi‘a of Basra (c. 717-801), who introduced the concept of Divine Love. As the theme of divine love is closely linked to Sufism, it is the love-romances of the Panjabi Sufi poets, in particular, that are incorporated into the story.