C ONTENTS

List of Contributors
Acknowledgements

Poetry
DEFG

R A B I N D RA NAT H T AG O RE
Poems
When my play was with thee* 3
Amar khela jokhon chhilo tomar sone 5
Light, oh where is the light?* 6
Kothay alo kothay ore alo 8
Essays
“The Great Fair of Common Human Life”: Re-Reading Gitanjali 10
RADHA CHAKRAVARTY
Tagore’s Gitanjali as a Modernist Text 19
WIMAL DISSANAYAKE
G A J A N A N M A D H AV M U K T I B O D H
Poems
The Void* 35
'kwU; 37
So Very Far* 39
eSa rqe yksxksa ls nwj gw¡ 41
czãjk{kl 43
Brahmarakshas 49
* Prescribed for the syllabus
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Essays
“Sweeping the World Clean”: Short Poems of Muktibodh 57
ANAND PRAKASH AND RICHA BAJAJ
Ideological Content of Muktibodh’s Poetry 70
CHANCHAL CHAUHAN
The Inner Horizon of Words 77
NIKHIL GOVIND
A M R I TA P R I TA M
Poem
I Say unto Waris Shah* 91
Aakhan Waris Shah Nun! 94
Essay
Transcending Religious Identities: Amrita Pritam and Partition 96
NONICA DATTA
THANGJAM IBOPISHAK
Poems
Dali, Hussain, or Odour of Dream, Colour of Wind* 129
The Land of the Half-Humans* 132
Gandhi and Robot 134
I Want to be Killed By an Indian Bullet 135
The Flying Soul 137
Essays
Contemporary Manipuri Poetry: An Overview 140
ROBIN S. NGANGOM
Hard-edged Modernism 144
K. SING NONGKYNRIH
Some Poems of Thangjam Ibopishak 149
NONGTHONGBAM SHRI BIREN
Dystopian Satire as Protest in Thangjam Ibopishak’s Poetry 163
PH. SANAMACHA SHARMA
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Short Stories
DEFG
F A K I R M O H A N S E NA PAT I
Short Story
Rebati* 179
Essays
Samalochana 190
“SHRI”
Fakir Mohan Senapati and the Emergence of
the Modern Odia Short Story 197
VIDYA DAS
Rebati’s Sisters: Search for Identity Through Education 202
SACHIDANANDA MOHANTY
Phakirmohun’s ‘Rebati’: Empowerment, Identity and Feminism 214
SUBHAKANTA BEHERA
PREMCHAND
Short Story
The Shroud* 225
di+Qu 233
Essays
^di+Qu* osQ nfyr ikB dh my>usa 240
dfork uUnu lw;Z
Kafan: A Multi-Layered Story 250
SADANAND SHAHI
Poetic and Social Justice: Some Reflections on the 259
Premchand-Dalit Controversy
ALOK RAI
The Dalit Limit Point: Realism, Representation, 274
and Crisis in Premchand
TORAL JATIN GAJARAWALA
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I S M AT C H U G H TA I
Short Story
The Quilt* 321
fygki+Q 330
Essays
Autobiographical Fragments 339
ISMAT CHUGHTAI
Ismat Chughtai’s “The Quilt”: Is it a Lesbian Text? 353
SUBHASH CHANDRA
The Corporeal Aesthetic in Ismat Chughtai’s “Lihaf” 362
ASHLEY TELLIS
Habitations of Womanhood 368
PRIYAMVADA GOPAL
GURDIAL SINGH
Short Story
A Season of No Return* 377
Essays
The Unchanging Plight of Punjabi Women 387
GURDIAL SINGH
Gurdial Singh: A Storyteller Extraordinaire 392
RANA NAYAR
Background Prose Readings
Excerpts from Annihilation of Caste 419
B. R. AMBEDKAR
Decolonising the Indian Mind 426
NAMVAR SINGH
Introduction to After Amnesia 437
G. N. DEVY
A Link Literature for India 443
SUJIT MUKHERJEE