Ranganath, a history postgraduate, comes from the city to recover his health in Shivpalganj, a village in Uttar Pradesh where his uncle Vaidyaji lives. Vaidyaji is an Ayurvedic physician in name, but his real practice is power: he controls the village college, the cooperative society and, through allies, the panchayat. Ranganath's idealism wilts as he watches how things actually get done.
The novel follows a parade of characters: Vaidyaji's sons, the strongman Badri and the swaggering student leader Ruppan, the hanger-on Sanichar who is installed as a puppet village head, the harried principal and squabbling teachers, the police, the clerks and the litigants who spend their lives in court. Every institution of the new republic is shown being bent to faction and self-interest.
Published in 1968 and awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1970, the book is wickedly funny line by line, with an irony that never lets up. It has been read as the definitive portrait of rural India's political culture, and much of it still feels current. Gillian Wright translated it into English, and a television serial was made in the 1980s.
Book details
| Author | Shrilal Shukla |
|---|---|
| First published | 1968 |
| Original language | Hindi |
| Translated by | Gillian Wright |
| Genre | Literary fiction |
| Type | Fiction |
| Pages (approx.) | 340 |
| Setting | Shivpalganj, a village in Uttar Pradesh, 1960s |
| Awards | Sahitya Akademi Award 1970 |
Themes
- Corruption
- Rural politics
- Decay of institutions
- Education system
- Disillusionment
Who should read it
Anyone who wants to understand, and laugh bitterly at, how power works in small-town India.