{"id":8499,"date":"2019-01-12T19:54:19","date_gmt":"2019-01-12T19:54:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/hindi\/?p=8499"},"modified":"2019-01-13T22:20:35","modified_gmt":"2019-01-13T22:20:35","slug":"shivrani-devi-premchand-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/hindi\/shivrani-devi-premchand-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Figures from Hindi Literary History: Shivrani Devi Premchand"},"content":{"rendered":"

Although many acquainted with the Hindi literary world (\u0939\u093f\u0902\u0926\u0940 \u0938\u093e\u0939\u093f\u0924\u094d\u092f\u093f\u0915 \u0915\u094d\u0937\u0947\u0924\u094d\u0930\/Hindi saahityik kshetra)<\/strong> are familiar with the name Munshi Premchand\/\u092e\u0941\u0902\u0936\u0940 \u092a\u094d\u0930\u0947\u092e\u091a\u0902\u0926<\/strong> (his real name was Dhanpat Rai Shrivastav), a prolific author (\u0932\u0947\u0916\u0915\/lekhak)<\/strong> who expressed his passion for social justice (\u0938\u093e\u092e\u093e\u091c\u093f\u0915 \u0928\u094d\u092f\u093e\u092f\/saamaajik nyaay)<\/strong> in his fiction, many people may not be familiar with his wife, Shivrani Devi Premchand\/\u0936\u093f\u0935\u0930\u093e\u0928\u0940 \u0926\u0947\u0935\u0940 \u092a\u094d\u0930\u0947\u092e\u091a\u0902\u0926<\/strong> (1894-1976), although her life is no less interesting than that of her husband and her literary and social contributions no less compelling. She, too, made her mark on the literary world with short stories (\u0915\u0939\u093e\u0928\u093f\u092f\u093e\u0901\/kahaaniyaan<\/strong> or \u0932\u0918\u0941 \u0915\u0925\u093e\u090f\u0901\/laghu kathaae<\/strong>) that she published in women\u2019s magazines of the day, but perhaps her crowning achievement is her memoir of her husband, entitled \u092a\u094d\u0930\u0947\u092e\u091a\u0902\u0926 \u0918\u0930 \u092e\u0947\u0902<\/strong> (Premchand at Home<\/em>). Despite its stated purpose as a memoir (\u091c\u0940\u0935\u0928 \u091a\u0930\u093f\u0924\u094d\u0930\/jeevan charitra<\/strong> or \u0938\u0902\u0938\u094d\u092e\u0930\u0923\/sansmaran<\/strong>) of her husband\u2019s life and works, Shivrani Devi reveals a lot about herself and her relationship with her husband, especially concerning their home life, in the memoir, so much so that it may rightly be termed an autobiography. Through examining Shivrani Devi’s memoir, we come to appreciate even more the literary giant that was Premchand but also learn about the contributions of his wife and those of women like her who are not often celebrated in traditional historical records (\u092a\u093e\u0930\u0902\u092a\u0930\u093f\u0915 \u0910\u0924\u093f\u0939\u093e\u0938\u093f\u0915 \u0905\u092d\u093f\u0932\u0947\u0916\/paaramparik aitihaasik abhilekh)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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A 1980 postage stamp honoring Premchand. Image by India Post, Government of India, licensed under the Government Open Data License-India (GODL).<\/p><\/div>\n

In Shivrani Devi\u2019s memoir, she introduces us to herself by stating her father\u2019s name, Munshi Deviprasad (\u092e\u0941\u0902\u0936\u0940<\/strong> is a title given to a learned man or scribe of the time), and the specific location of her natal home in the United Provinces (now Uttar Pradesh\/\u0909\u0924\u094d\u0924\u0930 \u092a\u094d\u0930\u0926\u0947\u0936<\/strong>): Fatehpur (\u092b\u0924\u0947\u0939\u092a\u0941\u0930)<\/strong> district, Salimpur (\u0938\u0932\u0940\u092e\u092a\u0941\u0930)<\/strong> village, Kanvar (\u0915\u0928\u0935\u093e\u0930)<\/strong> post office. Her father, a relatively prosperous zamindar\/\u091c\u092e\u0940\u0902\u0926\u093e\u0930<\/strong> (landlord), married her off at the age of 11. Through her description of this event, it seems less than momentous for the young Shivrani as she does not remember when it occurred or even when she was widowed. In fact, she remembers only that the marriage lasted 3-4 months before her husband passed away. Fortunately, Shivrani seems to have had an especially close and loving relationship (\u0930\u093f\u0936\u094d\u0924\u093e\/rishtaa)<\/strong> with her father. Through this bond and her father\u2019s resultant desire to see her happy (\u201c\u0935\u0947\u2026\u092e\u0941\u091d\u0947 \u0938\u0941\u0916\u0940 \u0926\u0947\u0916\u0928\u093e \u091a\u093e\u0939\u0924\u0947 \u0925\u0947\u201d<\/strong> (PGM<\/em> 29), she was able to escape the misery of perpetual widowhood (\u0935\u093f\u0927\u0935\u093e\u092a\u0928\/vidhvaapan)<\/strong>, which so many other Hindu widows (\u0935\u093f\u0927\u0935\u093e\/vidhvaa)<\/strong> at this time had to endure, as her father set about arranging a second marriage for her.<\/p>\n

According to scholar Jyoti Atwal, Shivrani\u2019s father arranged her second marriage by writing and publishing a book in 1905 called Kayasth Bal Vidhva Uddharak Pustika or\u00a0\u0915\u093e\u092f\u0938\u094d\u0925<\/u> \u092c\u093e\u0932<\/u> \u0935\u093f\u0927\u0935\u093e<\/u> \u0909\u0926\u094d\u0927\u093e\u0930\u0915<\/u> <\/strong>\u092a\u0941\u0938\u094d\u0924\u093f\u0915\u093e <\/strong>(<\/u><\/em>A Book for the Deliverance of Kayasth Child Widows<\/em>) in which he included an advertisement (\u0935\u093f\u091c\u094d\u091e\u093e\u092a\u0928\/vigyaapan)<\/strong> for the remarriage of his daughter (Atwal 1632). Shivrani\u2019s caste\/\u091c\u093e\u0924\u093f<\/strong> (she was a kayasth, which is a scribe caste generally regarded as Kshatriyas, or one of the three twice-born castes) is referred to in the title of her father’s book. Fortunately, Premchand saw this advertisement and wrote to Shivrani\u2019s father, stating his desire to marry as well as his educational qualifications (\u0936\u093f\u0915\u094d\u0937\u093e\u0924\u094d\u092e\u0915 \u092f\u094b\u0917\u094d\u092f\u0924\u093e\u090f\u0901\/shikshaatmak yogyataae)\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>and salary (\u0935\u0947\u0924\u0928\/vetan)<\/strong>. The two men arranged to meet in Fatehpur and, as Shivrani\u2019s account goes, Premchand made a favorable impression on her father and he agreed to sanction the marriage.<\/p>\n

Shivrani speaks of Premchand\u2019s decision (\u092b\u0948\u0938\u0932\u093e\/faislaa)<\/strong> to marry her, a child widow (\u092c\u093e\u0932 \u0935\u093f\u0927\u0935\u093e\/baal vidhvaa)<\/strong>, with evident pride when she states that, \u201cyour aunt\u2019s [actually Premchand\u2019s stepmother] opinion, etc., was not consulted in our marriage. But this was your daring. You wanted to break off your ties to society to the point that you didn\u2019t give the news even to your relatives\u201d (\u201c\u092e\u0947\u0930\u0940 \u0936\u093e\u0926\u0940 \u092e\u0947\u0902 \u0906\u092a\u0915\u0940 \u091a\u093e\u091a\u0940 \u0935\u0917\u093c\u0948\u0930\u0939 \u0915\u093f\u0938\u0940 \u0915\u0940 \u0930\u093e\u092f \u0928\u0939\u0940\u0902 \u0925\u0940 \u0964 \u092e\u0917\u0930 \u092f\u0939 \u0906\u092a\u0915\u0940 \u0926\u093f\u0932\u0947\u0930\u0940 \u0925\u0940 \u0964 \u0906\u092a \u0938\u092e\u093e\u091c \u0915\u093e \u092c\u0902\u0927\u0928 \u0924\u094b\u0921\u093c\u0928\u093e \u091a\u093e\u0939\u0924\u0947 \u0925\u0947 \u0964 \u092f\u0939\u093e\u0901 \u0924\u0915 \u0915\u093f \u0906\u092a\u0928\u0947 \u0905\u092a\u0928\u0947 \u0918\u0930\u0935\u093e\u0932\u094b\u0902 \u0915\u094b \u092d\u0940 \u0916\u093c\u092c\u0930 \u0928\u0939\u0940\u0902 \u0926\u0940,”<\/strong>\u00a0PGM<\/em> 29). This was indeed a bold and unusual move on Premchand\u2019s part, most likely influenced by Premchand\u2019s reformist social beliefs and the fact that his father had married him off previously when he was only a teenager, which remained a bad memory to him; in fact, he was still married at the time of his marriage to Shivrani, which she did not discover until later (Lal 15).<\/p>\n

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Image by Ankur8563 on Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.<\/p><\/div>\n

Shivrani learned to read, write and cultivate an appreciation for literature (\u0938\u093e\u0939\u093f\u0924\u094d\u092f\/saahitya)<\/strong> through her husband\u2019s tutorials and his recitations of his own work, criticism of his work and newspapers (\u0905\u0916\u093c\u092c\u093e\u0930\/akhbaar)<\/strong> in multiple languages (including English, which he extemporaneously translated into Hindi for her benefit). Inspired by her husband and her own desire to challenge herself in the arenas of reading and composition, Shivrani\u2019s literary work was published for the first time in 1924 in the form of a story, \u201cSahas\/\u0938\u093e\u0939\u0938<\/strong>\u201d (\u201cCourage\u201d); this story appeared in a well-known women\u2019s journal of the time, called \u201cChand\/\u091a\u093e\u0901\u0926<\/strong>\u201d (\u201cMoon\u201d) (Atwal 1632).<\/p>\n

Later, Shivrani would go on to write a full-length memoir of her husband, which would be published in 1944 in the midst of the Progressive Writer\u2019s Movement, which began in Lucknow in 1936. During this movement, \u201cliterary intellectuals revisited and reworked their political associations and ideological commitments,\u201d often bringing controversial social issues to the fore of their writing (Atwal 1635). This movement and the ideologies it espoused may have influenced Shivrani to state boldly her progressive stance on certain social issues (\u0938\u093e\u092e\u093e\u091c\u093f\u0915 \u092e\u0941\u0926\u094d\u0926\u0947\/saamaajik mudde)<\/strong> primarily affecting women and craft a memoir about her literary husband with such a strong imprint of her own personality (\u0935\u094d\u092f\u0915\u094d\u0924\u093f\u0924\u094d\u0935\/vyaktitva)\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>and experiences (\u0905\u0928\u0941\u092d\u0935\/anubhav)<\/strong> (Atwal 1635).<\/p>\n

In the memoir\u2019s many vignettes, Shivrani relates her adventures and travails as the leader of a woman\u2019s ashram (\u092e\u0939\u093f\u0932\u093e \u0906\u0936\u094d\u0930\u092e)<\/strong> during the Independence Movement (\u0938\u094d\u0935\u0924\u0902\u0924\u094d\u0930\u0924\u093e \u0906\u0902\u0926\u094b\u0932\u0928\/svatantrataa aandolan)<\/strong> and her subsequent sojourns in jail in the service of this movement. She tells the reader that she assumed the responsibility (\u091c\u093c\u093f\u092e\u094d\u092e\u0947\u0926\u093e\u0930\u0940\/zimmedaari)<\/strong> of going to jail, despite Premchand\u2019s concurrent involvement in the movement, as she was healthier while Premchand often suffered from ill health and would have fared poorly in prison. Thus, Shivrani’s activism was decidedly \u201cparticipatory,\u201d as opposed to Premchand\u2019s \u201cliterary activism\u201d (Atwal 1631). Although Shivrani Devi’s memoir was often overlooked in scholarship on Premchand, it is now being recognized by more and more scholars of the great literary figure and those who wish to study Shivrani Devi as a fascinating historical figure in her own right.<\/p>\n

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A bust of Premchand at the Premchand Memorial in Lamhi, Varanasi. Image by Rosehub, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

Although many acquainted with the Hindi literary world (\u0939\u093f\u0902\u0926\u0940 \u0938\u093e\u0939\u093f\u0924\u094d\u092f\u093f\u0915 \u0915\u094d\u0937\u0947\u0924\u094d\u0930\/Hindi saahityik kshetra) are familiar with the name Munshi Premchand\/\u092e\u0941\u0902\u0936\u0940 \u092a\u094d\u0930\u0947\u092e\u091a\u0902\u0926 (his real name was Dhanpat Rai Shrivastav), a prolific author (\u0932\u0947\u0916\u0915\/lekhak) who expressed his passion for social justice (\u0938\u093e\u092e\u093e\u091c\u093f\u0915 \u0928\u094d\u092f\u093e\u092f\/saamaajik nyaay) in his fiction, many people may not be familiar with his wife, Shivrani…<\/p>\n

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