Revision as of 18:34, 4 January 2014

Yashpal

Dawn April 9, 2006

REVIEWS: Revolution calling

Reviewed by Rabab Naqvi

Dawn

IF you like reading literary fiction, you will probably enjoy The Second Nose & Other Stories, the latest translation of short stories by Hindi writer Yashpal (1903-1976) rendered into English by his son, Anand. As a well-respected Hindi literary critic, Virendra Yadav, who has written extensively on Yashpal, said on the occasion of the release of this book in Lucknow: “It is remarkable how well the translation has retained the spirit and flow of the original stories in Hindi.”

Many of Yashpal’s short stories have been translated into English before. Some stories appear here for the first time. As the publisher claims, this particular anthology is meant to give a larger view of Yashpal as a short story writer as well as provide a taste of his forthright approach to the questions of his time.

In Hindi fiction, Yashpal and Premchand are two outstanding writers. Prof Gopi Chand Narang, the eminent Urdu critic, has compared Yashpal’s novel Jhoota Sach to Tolstoy’s War and Peace. As a short story writer, Yashpal can be compared to Anton Chekhov. An unflinching realist like Chekhov, Yashpal wrote in the preface of his first collection of short stories, Pinjare ki Uran, that the basis of our imagination lies in the necessities and facts of life. For Yashpal, the only reason for creation of art was the rejection of the ugly.

A prolific writer, the range of his subject is overwhelming. On one hand, he wrote about the social, cultural, and political issues of the day. On the other, he dealt with such esoteric subjects as sea pirates plundering Greek sea-going vessels on the eastern coast of India in the first century AD (das dharm). For him real art was possible only through reasoning and analysis and as such, his approach was always rational. In Yashpal’s writing the message runs deep; forthright and clear, his style is straightforward, and the plot is uncomplicated. There is none of the mind-twisting abstractionism of modern writers such as Naiyer Masud.

Initially, a militant revolutionary with Bhagat Singh and Chander Shekhar Azad, Yashpal arrived late on the literary scene. From the very outset, he began one of his life-long missions: repudiation of what he considered to be backward and unrealistic in Indian society. In his own words, he decided to “fight with bulletins instead of bullets.” And did he ever fight. He fearlessly criticised the British, relentlessly questioned the social customs, cultural traditions, religious practices and political duplicity of his time. In return for his outspokenness, he earned not only the wrath of the British government, but also Congres Party leaders and orthodox Hindus anxious to maintain the status quo.

Yashpal, as Anand says in his introduction, was able to examine the dark corner of the Indian psyche as few of his contemporaries could — the complicity of the Indians with the British. Three stories in the anthology — “Kala admi”, “The testimonial of loyalty” and “The national anthem” — are about such duplicitous characters. Saag depicts how a handful of British succeeded in ruling over millions of Indians. The fear of the white sahib made them suspicious of each other.

The northwestern frontier of India and its rampant tribal rivalry, the locale of several of his works, fascinated Yashpal. He also wrote about the customs and polyandrous family structure of Himalayan communities some of which exist even today. In “The witch”, Surju is forced to sleep with her husband’s brother. Unable to accept the multi-husband custom of her husband’s community, she kills herself for which she is condemned as an outsider and branded a witch. It was pointed out that had she not been a witch, she would not have been afraid to jump into the stream.

Yashpal wrote extensively about the treatment of women as a mere commodity. Surju suffers the centuries-old fate of a doomed woman. In “The second nose”, Shabbu’s husband cuts off her nose to save the family honour. That such mutilation, rape, and murder of women make headlines even in the 21st century is a testimonial both to Yashpal’s foresightedness and his stories, which remain relevant even today. His female characters are the most forceful projection of his desire for social reform. Damanti pays dearly for smoking a cigarette her husband gave her. (“One cigarette”). Kokla in “The robber woman” represents numerous other women living under the threat of starvation. And Phulia of “Honest bread” may sell her body, but returns a large sum of money she found because she says, “I earn my daily bread honestly.”

Unlike the other women characters in the anthology, Urmila in “Borrowed happiness” and Indu in “Ostracised” are educated, modern women. Yet, they are unable to break away from the invisible bond of tradition and choose their own destiny. Whether educated or uneducated, Yashpal’s female characters are strong, intelligent and courageous beings who are caught in a web of unfortunate circumstances not of their own making. In the “Right to grief”, a penniless woman cannot afford the luxury to mourn her dead son because she must sit in the bazar and sell fruits to buy food for the family. For some, even expressing grief was a privilege.

For Yashpal the first condition for social progress was the progress and independence of women. He questioned the hypocrisy of the patriarchal Indian society and its arbitrary dos and don’ts, which were created for the subjugation of women and have become acceptable social norms. In “Ostracised” a professionally successful woman is made to feel that, “Only a man could ... preserve the continuity of life ... Without a male her life cannot be fulfilled.”

“It’s a little-appreciated fact that no other Hindi writer’s work has as many Muslim and Christian characters as Yashpal’s novels and short stories... The other Hindi writer that comes to mind is Premchand, but Yashpal leaves even Premchand far behind in mirroring this aspect of Indian society,” says Anand. The protagonists of three stories in this anthology, “The second nose”, “Kala admi”, and “Honest bread” are Muslims. Yashpal’s best short story on Muslims, “Parda”, has not been translated into English. The last story in the anthology, “The mire of sin”, is about a devout Christian to whom a Jesuit priest gives a set of startling and unconventional instructions.

In the same vein, Yashpal questions the religious myths and superstitions and the need of the people for supplication to a deity or a faith in a combination of subtle humour and tongue-in-cheek approach, in “The devi’s blessing” and “The priest who saw God”. This anthology, a collection of 15 short stories, is representative of the spectrum of Yashpal’s writings.