Forgotten stories of Shivrani Devi
Shivrani Devi is remembered mostly as a wife of Hindi Literary Giant Munshi Premchand. She was an author herself, her work however, like many women in literature have been side-lined or forgotten.
In 1905, Munshi Premchand chanced upon a matrimonial ad in Kayastha Bal Vidhva Uddharak Pustika (Booklet for the Uplift of Kayasth Child Widows), penned by Shivrani’s. Premchand sent his proposal for marriage. She was his second wife.
Their marriage was ostracized due to Shivrani being widow. However, after her second marriage inspired by Munshi Premchand she developed love for writing.
She had published her own book titled; Premchand Ghar Mein (Premchand at Home) is a veritable feminist narrative.
This however was met with allegations from the literary circle that it was the work of Premchand himself.
The allegations were so strong that Premchand had to issue a contradiction stating that Shivarani Devi was a warrior and that her stories are imbued with her spirit. He further added that a man of his nature, calm and peaceful, could never even imagine such aggressive plots pertaining to the lives of women.
Eventhough, there have been textual proofs such as Shivrani’s characters spoke her mother tounge Awadhi, unlike Premchand’s whose mother tongue was Bhojpuri, which he includes in dialogues though he wrote in Khariboli. Moreover, Premchand’s stories explored the social issues and his characters were passive victims. While Shivrani’s characters would actively fight against social injustice inflicted on them. The allegations remained to eclipse her early career.
Shivrani’s work was similar to that of her contemporaries like Mahadevi Verma and Subhadra Kumari Chauhan. Her famous work includes Kaumudi (Moonlight), Kaptaan (Captain), and Vidhvansa Ki Holi (Holi of Destruction).
Shivarani Devi was a strong woman herself, who led a protest with 56 women during the Swadeshi movement in 1929. She maintained feminist tone in her work and her characters were courageous and confident women, that was reflective of her past as child widow and her own character.
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