Rahul Sankrityayan’s Mehrarun ke Durdasa

A stalwart of Indian philosophy and culture, Rahul Sankrityayan (1893–1963) viewed modernisation and equality as being complementary. Sankrityayan’s life experiences enabled him to question the biases prevalent in the then newly independent India. A revolutionary in thought and action, his writings reflect a keen understanding of the subtle ways in which a national ethos underplays tendencies that encourage prejudices, corruption, and violence. Researching the growth of feminism in India led us to the magazine Abhinav Kadam, a volume which was dedicated to Sankrityayan. Our effort is to turn the spotlight on an author much ahead of his times, a thinker who was genuinely concerned with the emancipation of women in an era when they mostly existed on the periphery and were deliberately neglected. His feministic ideas stem from an understanding of the varied experiences of women in the hinterland, doubly marginalised and suffering the indifference of our conservative patriarchal society.

Sankrityayan’s Bhojpuri play Mehrarun ke Durdasa (The Plight of Women, 1942) highlights the unequal status of women and calls for the elimination of ingrained biases that favoured subjugation of one by another. Well-versed in several languages, his deliberate choice to write this play in Bhojpuri stems from his activism and vision to uproot the evils of conservative ideals from the very conscience of the leaders of such orthodox societies. He shed light on women’s issues through bold feminist voices in the language of the people. Unique in approach, the play is a gem hidden in the annals of history, giving deep insights and authentic commentaries on the everyday lives of rural Indians.