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Pandey Bechan Sharma 'Ugra'
Pandey Bechan Sharma 'Ugra'
Born	29 December 1900 (Shukla Ashtami, Paush, 1957 VS); Chunar, British India
Died	23 March 1967 (aged 66); Delhi, India
Occupation	Writer
Language	Hindi
Nationality	Indian
Genre	Fiction, Novel, Short story, Autobiography
Notable works	Letters of Some Beautiful People, Chocolate, About Me

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Pandey Bechan Sharma 'Ugra' (Hindi: पाण्डेय बेचन शर्मा उग्र, 29 December 1900 – 23 March 1967) was a prolific, popular and controversial writer of Hindi literature. Born in Chunar, he spent his early years acting in and travelling with a Ramlila troupe with his older brother. He began writing nationalist pieces for the Hindi journal Aaj, before moving to Calcutta in 1924, where he wrote much of his most popular and controversial literature, including the epistolary novel Letters of Some Beautiful People and the short story collection Chocolate. He spent eight years in Bombay writing film scripts, before spending the period of 1939-45 travelling around Madhya Pradesh editing a number of small publications. He returned to Calcutta, before finally moving to Delhi in 1953. He published his partial autobiography here in 1960, About Me, and died in 1967.

Life

Early years

Birth in 1900 Parsi theatre troup and brother Schooling Jail (1920) Aaj? (1921-1924)

Calcutta and the Matvala Group

In Calcutta in 1924, Ugra became a member of the group of writers associated with the editor of the Hindi journal Matvālā (Hindi: मतवाला, 'Intoxicated') Mahavir Prasad Seth, including the well-known Hindi poet Suryakant Tripathi 'Nirala'.^[1]

Matvala, Seth, Nirala and the editorial group Major works: Chocolate, Chand Hasinon

Bombay and Madhya Pradesh

1930-38 - film scripts in Bombay 1939-45 editing small papers in MP

Later Years

1950 return to Calcutta 1953 move to Delhi; Apni Khabar in 1960; death in 1967

Writing

Writing Style

Controversy

In the mid-1920s, Ugra published what was to be some of his most controversial literature: the epistolary novel Cand Hasīnoṁ ke Khutūt (Hindi: चन्द हसीनों के ख़ुतूत, Letters of Some Beautiful People), and the short story collection Cākleṭ (Hindi: चाकलेट, Chocolate).

Letters was an "exceptionally widely read book",^[2] particularly by the standards of the time: its first print run appeared in May 1927, and it proved so popular that a second edition appeared in October of the same year,^[3] swiftly followed in turn by a third.^[4] Formed of seven letters, it tells the story...

'Matvala is preaching?' The admirer of Matvala grew somewhat excited. 'Our society itself is degraded... Every child in this society knows what the practice of chocolate is. In every part of society there are wicked people who are predatory tigers by nature but appear to be mild cows. What is poor Matvala doing but exposing such people?'

– Ugra, Cākleṭ carcā (Discussing Chocolate) tr. Ruth Vanita^[5]

The publication of Chocolate in 1927 was the catalyst for what was to be "the first public debate on homosexuality in modern India."^[6] Five of the eight short stories in the collection had already been published in the pages of Matvala in 1924, and had already caused significant controversy.^[7] The stories were denounced for promoting (or running the risk of encouraging) homosexuality, in particular by Banarasidas Chaturvedi, the prominent editor of the Hindi journal Vishal Bharat (Mighty India). After mounting a sustained campaign against what he termed "ghasleṭī sāhitya" or "inflammatory literature", Chaturvedi sought and received a support for his condemnatory opinion on the stories from Gandhi in 1929. In fact, Gandhi published his condemnation before reading the stories, and once he had read them sent a note to Chaturvedi, explaining, "I finished the book today and it did not have the same effect on my mind as it did on you. I think the aim of the book is pure." Chaturvedi only revealed the truth in 1951.^[8]

The controversy was far from one-sided however. Ugra responded to the charges levelled against him with vigour, and with the support of the wider Matvālā group. In a series of articles, columns and cartoons, Ugra and his allies simultaneously defended his stories as serious social commentary and poked fun at the puritanism of Chaturvedi and his ilk.

Finally, Chaturvedi's admission in 1951 - that he had misrepresented Gandhi's opinion on the stories - resulted in a third edition of Chocolate being published. This was to be Ugra's final vindication in the matter:...

Apni Khabar and Autobiography

Ugra's partial autobiography, Apnī Khabar (Hindi: अपनी खबर, About Me), is "considered to be the first original autobiography in modern Hindi",^[9] despite the fact that it covers only the first 20 years of the author's life. Ruth Vanita, who translated it into English, has described it as follows;

Apni Khabar is a useful piece of social history, because many of the worlds Ugra depicts have either vanished forever or have been transformed beyond recognition – the intertwined worlds of Hindi literature and North Indian nationalism; the world of itinerant religious theatre; and the world of social reformist education.^[10]

Cinematic Works

Critical Reception

Ugra's contemporary significance and prominence is attested in some measure through his inclusion in Ramchandra Shukla's enduring 1928 Hindī Sāhitya kā Itihās (Hindi: हिन्दी साहित्य का इतिहास, History of Hindi Literature). In it, Shukla made several references to Ugra's work as exemplifying a particular trend or style of writing: for instance, when discussing modern drama. Singling out Cumban (Hindi: चुम्बन, The Kiss) and Cār becāre (Hindi: चार बेचारे, Four Unfortunates), he wrote "Pandey Bechan Sharma Ugra has made good use of short dramas and satires in order to show pungent scenes of the base and hypocritical sections of society" – thus, in Shukla's estimation, fulfilling a worthy goal.^[11]

Later commentators are divided on his position in the canon of Hindi literature: his translator Ruth Vanita has remarked that, apart from the importance of his autobiography as an early instance of the form in Hindi, and the controversy surrounding Chocolate, Ugra was "an otherwise minor writer".^[12] Francesca Orsini, however, has noted the problematic status of popular fiction in Indian critical traditions, commenting that "[i]n Hindi is has been consigned to oblivion altogether",^[13] which may explain the relative lack of critical attention paid to Ugra's works. Ugra himself commented ironically on his works receiving formal literary study in his autobiography: "These days [1950/60s], research on 'Ugra' is being conducted at Sagar University. On that same fellow who stole the Hanuman Chalisa."^[14] Regardless of his canonical status, his works have remained in print consistently.

List of Works

Novels/Novellas

Cand hasīnoṁ ke khutūt (चंद हसीनों के ख़ुतूत) (Letters of Some Beautiful People) 1924
Raṅg Mahal (रंग महल) (Colour Palace) 1925
Dillī kā dalāl (दिल्ली का दलाल) (The Pimp of Delhi) 1927
Budhuā kī beṭī (बुधुआ की बेटी) 1928
Sharābī (शराबी) (Drunkard) 1930
Sarkār tumhārī āṁkhoṁ meṁ (सरकार तुम्हारी आँखों में) 1937
Ghaṇṭā (घंटा) 1937
Gaṅgājal (गंगाजल) (Water of the Ganges) 1949
Kaḍhī meṁ koylā (कढ़ी में कोयला) 1955
Jī jī jī (जी जी जी) 1955
Phāgun ke din cār (फागुन के दिन चार) 1960
Juhū (जुहू) 1963
Gaṅgā mātā (गंगा माता) (Mother Ganges) 1972
Sabzbāgh (सब्ज़बाग़) 1979

Short Story Collections

Sosāiṭī āf ḍevils (सोसाइटी ऑफ़ डेविल्स) (Society of Devils) 1924
Cingāriyāṁ (चिनगारियाँ) (Sparks) 1925
Balātkār (बलात्कार) 1927
Cākleṭ (चाकलेट) (Chocolate) 1927
Nirlajjā (निर्लज्जा) 1927
Dozakh kī āg (दोज़ख़ की आग) (The Fires of Hell) 1928
Krāntikārī kahāniyāṁ (क्रान्तिकारी कहानियाँ) (Revolutionary Stories) 1939
Galpāñjali (गल्पांजलि) 1940
Reśmī (रेशमी) 1942
Pañjāb kī rānī (पंजाब की रानी) (Queen of Punjab) 1943
Sankī amīr (सनकी अमीर) 1952
Kalā kā puraskār (कला का पुरस्कार) (Art's Prize) 1954
Jab sārā ālam sotā hai (जब सारा आलम सोता है) (When the Whole World Sleeps) 1955

Plays/Satires

Mahātmā Īsā (महात्मा ईसा) (Great Soul Jesus) 1922
Lāl krānti ke pañje meṁ (लाल क्रान्ति के पंजे में) (In the Hands of the Red Revolution) 1924
Cār becāre (चार बेचारे) (Four Unfortunates) 1927
Ujbak (उजबक) (Uzbek?) 1928
Cumban (चुम्बन) (Kissing) 1937
Ḍikṭeṭar (डिक्टेटर) (Dictator) 1937
Gaṅgā kā beṭā (गंगा का बेटा) (Son of the Ganges) 1940
Āvārā (आवारा) (Vagabond) 1942
Anndātā Mādhav Mahārāj Mahān (अन्नदाता माधव महाराज महान) 1943
Naī pīṛhī (नई पीढ़ी) (New Generation) 1949

Miscellaneous Works

Dhruv carit (ध्रुव चरित) 1921
Ugra kā hāsya (उग्र का हास्य) 1939
Pārijātoṁ kā balidān (पारिजातों का बलिदान) 1942
Vyaktigat (व्यक्तिगत) 1954
Kañcan ghaṭ (कंचन घट) 1955
Apnī Khabar (अपनी खबर) (About Me) [autobiography] 1960
Fāil profāil (फ़ाइल प्रोफ़ाइल) (File Profile) [correspondence] 1966
Ghālib-Ugra (ग़ालिब-उग्र) (Ghalib-Ugra) [commentary] 1966

References

Notes

Citations

^ Ugra/Vanita 2007 p.140
^ Gaeffke p.43
^ Ugra 1927
^ Orsini p.186
^ Ugra/Vanita 2006 p.70
^ Ugra/Vanita 2006 p.1
^ Ugra/Vanita 2006 p.6
^ Ugra/Vanita 2006 p.10
^ Ugra/Vanita 2007 p. ix
^ Ugra/Vanita 2007 pp.xiv, xix
^ Shukla p. 556
^ Ugra/Vanita 2007 p.xi
^ Orsini p.185
^ Ugra/Vanita 2007 p.144

Cited works

Gaeffke, Peter (1978). Hindi Literature in the Twentieth Century. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz. ISBN 3447016140.
Orsini, Francesca (2002), "Reading a Social Romance: Cand Hasīnoṁ ke khutūt", in Dalmia, Vasudha; Damsteegt, Theo (eds.), Narrative Strategies: Essays on South Asian Literature and Film, New York/London: Routledge, pp. 127–148, ISBN 0415929504
Pandey, Bhavdeo (2001). Pandey Bechan Sharma 'Ugra'. New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi. ISBN 812601024X.
Shukla, Ramchandra. Hindī Sāhitya kā Itihās (The History of Hindi Literature).
Ugra, Pandey Bechan Sharma. Cand Hasīnoṁ ke Khutūt.
Ugra, Pandey Bechan Sharma (1984 [1960]). Apnī Khabar. Delhi: Rajkamal Prakashan. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
Ugra, Pandey Bechan Sharma; Vanita, Ruth (2007). About Me (Apni Khabar). Delhi: Penguin Books. ISBN 0143101803.
Ugra, Pandey Bechan Sharma; Vanita, Ruth (2006). Chocolate and Other Writings on Male-Male Desire. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195674863.
Vanita, Ruth (2007), "Homophobic Fiction/Homoerotic Advertising: The Pleasures and Perils of Twentieth Century Indianness", in Vanita, Ruth (ed.), Queering India: Same-Sex Love and Eroticism in Indian Culture and Society, New York/London: Routledge, pp. 127–148, ISBN 0415929504