Famous Hindi writer and cultural activist Ashok Vajpayee has appealed to writers, especially women writers, to adopt a political perspective by recording their times in their writings.
Shri Vajpayee said this while inaugurating three story collections of Premchand’s wife Shivrani ji at Gandhi Peace Foundation yesterday. Two unavailable story collections from his years, “Nari Hriday” and “Kaumudi” have been republished after seven decades and his new collection of uncollected stories “Pagli” has come out almost 50 years after his death.
In the function organized by Stree Darpan on the 63rd death anniversary of Shivpujan Sahay, the women’s theater issue of “Stree Lekha” magazine was also launched which focuses on the birth centenary of Rekha Jain. The function was graced by renowned scholar Harish Trivedi and renowned critic Rohini Aggarwal from Sahitya Akademi. Respected writer Anamika and story writer Neela Prasad and Shivpujan Sahay’s grandson Vijay Narayan also addressed.
Taking a dig at the current power politics, Shri Vajpayee said that today writers need to tell the truth of their time. Shivrani Devi was a writer ahead of her time and her stories have a personal as well as a political vision. Today’s Woman The vision that Shivrani ji had is not seen among the writers.
He said that Shivrani ji’s story Samjhauta is a unique story of dialogue between two characters. I do not see such stories in Hindi. He also talked about courage.
Rashmi Vajpayee, Nasira Sharma, Rekha Awasthi, Girdhar Rathi, Vibha Singh Chauhan Anil Analhatu, Jayashree Purwar Meena Jha Vazda Khan, Atul Sinha Jitendra Srivastava Jyotish Joshi Ashok Kumar, Vibha Bisht Shyam Sushil Manoj Mohan Rashmi Bhardwaj Ashok Gupta, Prasun Latant Shubha Divedi were present at the function. etc. were present.
Shri Trivedi, who translated Premchand’s biography “Kalam Ka Sipahi” into English, said that he got many opportunities to meet Shivrani, but whenever he met her, she was a woman of very quiet nature and did not even talk to anyone at home. Not even from Shripat Rai and Amrit Rai. I was also surprised to see that in her time, the same Shivrani ji wrote bold stories like “Sahas” in which the girl, while strongly protesting against the mismatched marriage, kicked the groom with his shoe. Beaten in the pavilion.
Shri Trivedi said that there is no need to compare Premchand and Shivrani Devi and to praise Shivrani ji.
Anamika said that Shivrani Devi’s writings or her work of clearing the eyes of women. If you observe someone carefully, it is not possible to hate him. In Premchand’s Budhi Kaki story, the depiction of time and environment has been very beautiful, whereas in Shivrani Devi’s Budhi Kaki story, the writer has gone inwards and the depiction she has shown in a sensitive manner has been very beautiful.
Mrs. Rohini Aggarwal said that today we not only need to remember Shivrani Devi but also become warrior women like her and fight for the rights of women in the society.
Analyzing the story “Sahas”, Mrs. Neela Prasad discussed the courage of the writer and said that in 1924, a woman protesting against mismatched marriage and hitting her groom with a shoe in the pavilion was a big incident because even today no girl can show this courage. Can’t do it.
Shri Vijay Narayan, while mentioning his maternal grandfather Shivpujan Sahay’s close relations with Premchand and Shivrani ji, recalled the period when writers used to gather with Premchand in Banaras.
In the ceremony, the cover of the book written in English on theater by Shri Narayan’s father and freedom fighter theater artist Birendra Narayan was also released.
Divya Joshi read Mahesh Darpan’s review of Kalpana Manorama’s book. Meenakshi Prasad presented a poetic tribute to Shivrani ji and also sang a song in her memory.
It was conducted by Kalpana Manorama and Vishal Pandey.
