Caste Consciousness in Shekhar: Ek Jeevani

Abstract

This paper attempts to understand the Hindi literary sphere during the later phase of the
Independence struggle. The nationalist struggle and the simultaneous reformist movements had
made a large number of writers of the time conscious of the social disparities. Subsequently, they
attempted to portray it in their works. I intend to read into the politics of this portrayal. How caste
issues are negotiated within the literary landscape of the novels of the time, or even the politics of
its inclusion and exclusion are vital questions that need to be understood in order to theorise the
corpus of Modern Hindi literature, which was predominantly upper caste. In this regard, my paper
would attempt to understand the purportedly progressive space of Modern Hindi Literature by
closely reading Sachchidanand Hiranand Vatsyayan’s Shekhar: Ek Jeevani.