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Shrilal Shukla’s Raag Darbari: Patriarchy and The Intentional Evasion of Women
________________________________________________________________________
Siddharth Shankar Upadhyay,M.A. English, Jamia Millia Islamia,(NET Qualified)
______________________________________________________________________
Paper Received on 26-10-2022, Accepted on 10-12-2022, Published on 12-12-
22;DOI:10.36993/RJOE.2022.7.4.35
Abstract: Introduction:
This paper outlines how Shrilal Shukla’s Raag Darbari, a work of popular fiction
representation of women in Raag in Hindi literature, is regarded as one of
Darbari is not a portrayal of his the best satirical works on the
misogyny but that of a patriarchal sociopolitical ecology of rural India. The
society. He has not tried to filter his novel, delivered with black humour and
representation to make it true to what irony, was possibly the first indictment of
rural post-Independence India stands for. the democratic state, its bureaucratic set
The portrayal of women in Raag up, and the democratic institutions of the
Darbaridoes reduces women to objects nation. It is set against the backdrop of an
and tools of sexual pleasure but that imagined village called Shivpalganj in
shows the crude reality of post- Uttar Pradesh in the late 1960s. The novel
Independence India. In the backdrop of is known for its stark realism. Gillian
rural politics, Shukla in Raag Darbari Wright, talking about Shukla in Raag
shows how women are placed in a socio- Darbari, remarks, “His characters are
political scenario which is largely male- recognizable in present-day India and
dominated. He offers a commentary on a likeable for all their faults, but it is in the
society which uses women as a ladder to author's devastating wit,power of
get to positions of power. The intentional observation and economy of style that the
evasion of women, the paper argues, from greatness of the book lies.” (1993 p.112)
the narrative of Raag Darbari actually ShrilalShukla does a remarkable job of
offers a true representation of the Post- adding humor to incidents firmly rooted
Independence Indian society. in the everyday but at the same time offer
a biting satire of the sociopolitical system
in the garb of a realistic portrayal of rural
India. But realism comes with its own
problems. The authorial voice gets
merged with the narratorial voice and it
becomes hard to locate if the ideas
Keywords: Patriarchy, Women, Raag portrayed represent the author or the
Darbari, Post-Independence Indian reality of the situation. In this context,
Literature, Non-representation there have been discussions about Shrilal
Shukla being a misogynist for the

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Impact Factor: 6.67(SJIF) Research Journal Of English (RJOE)Vol-7, Issue-4, 2022
www.rjoe.org.in An International Peer-Reviewed English Journal ISSN: 2456-2696
Indexed in: International Citation Indexing (ICI), Cite factor, International Scientific Indexing
(ISI), Directory of Research Journal Indexing (DRJI) Google Scholar, Cosmos and Internet
Archives.
__________________________________________________________________

negative portrayal of women in Raag independence Indian society. This paper

Darbari. attempts to analyse how the male-
Shrilal Shukla’s novel deals with dominant narrative of Raag Darbari
politics of rural India. He does not write reveals an underlying patriarchal system.
about women. His novel does not focus Shukla has not tried to filter his
on the condition of women in post- representation to make it true to what
Independence India. He does not pick rural post-Independence India stands for.
sides. He is neither a feminist, nor a The portrayal of women in Raag
misogynist. He is just a realist. He Darbaridoes reduces women to objects
portrays what he sees. The novel is like a and tools of sexual pleasure but that
mirror reflecting the reality of India in all shows the crude reality of post-
its rawness. What we see in Raag Independence India. In the backdrop of
Darbariis non-representation which rural politics, Shukla in Raag Darbari
reflects the non-representation of women shows how women are placed in a socio-
in the matters of public importance in political scenario which is largely male-
post-independence India. There were dominated. He offers a commentary on a
demarcated spaces in the society of that society which uses women as a ladder to
time, inside for the women and outside get to positions of power.
for men. This demarcation has been used Representation of Women in Post-
for its symbolic value by many writers of Independence Indian Literature:
the time including Rabindranath Tagore. Indian literature written after
Shukla, in this novel, deals with the independence has given the plight of
public space, the outside. This non- Indian women additional dimensions.
representation that he chooses is the real Many writers centered their works around
representation. women and their place in the society of
This paper outlines how that time. Kamala Markandaya, for
ShrilalShukla’s representation of women example, in her book Nectar in a
is not a portrayal of his misogyny but that Sieve(1954) depicts the true agony of a
of a patriarchal society. Not many papers woman in rural India. Like Shukla, she
written about Raag Darbari talk about the also chooses a rural setting to show how
portrayal of women and the underlying the peasant woman is doubly
patriarchy in the novel. A simple reason marginalized due to her gender and class.
for this is the non-existence of any This book paints a picture of rural Indian
significant women characters in the women who lack access to social,
novel. This intentional evasion, the paper economic, and educational opportunities.
argues, is a conscious decision on the part Contrary to the uneducated
of ShrilalShukla to show how the peasant woman that Markandaya
representation of women in the public represents, R.K. Narayan shows the
sphere was also nonexistent in the post- plight of a talented and educated woman.

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Impact Factor: 6.67(SJIF) Research Journal Of English (RJOE)Vol-7, Issue-4, 2022
www.rjoe.org.in An International Peer-Reviewed English Journal ISSN: 2456-2696
Indexed in: International Citation Indexing (ICI), Cite factor, International Scientific Indexing
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The female heroine Savitri in R. K. range and originality of his works,

Narayan's 1938 book The Dark Room difficult to replicate would render obtuse
aims to shatter the idea of a content the views circulated by the fashionable
housewife. Narayan portrays the elite publishing industry inclined to judge
hardships of this middle-class housewife a writingby the public school of the
from South India sympathetically. She is author or the college from whichone has
imprisoned to the little space of an graduated.” (2012 p.59) Shukla does not
unhealthy relationship, which places try hard. He does not create a picture; he
strict obligations on her to be dutiful and just captures one. There is no one
submissive. She tries to leave the house, significant woman character in Raag
rebel and also kill herself but nothing Darbari, yet it manages to portray how
comes as a solution to her problem. Thus, the post-independence Indian society is
the novel does not try to offer a utopian patriarchal at its core. Some incidents
ending, it rather realistically portrays how recorded in the novel that portray this are
a woman is conditioned to be so discussed in the next section.
physically and mentally dependent on her Patriarchy in Raag Darbari:
family that being independent and a rebel ShrirlalShukla’s Raag Darbari
becomes impossible. (1968) portrays a largely male dominated
Mulk Raj Anand in his book and patriarchal society. There is a strange
Gauri(1976) does try to offer a resolution absence of women voices and
and a high point. The protagonist Gauri representation in Shukla’s Shivpalganj.
transforms from a hesitant and “Women only appear as passers-by or in
submissive woman to a strong woman bedtime fantasies.” (Translator’s
who is aware of what she is worthy of. Introduction)On being asked about the
Anand successfully challenges yet women representation in Raag Darbari,
another assumption about women Shukla replied, “Society in Raag Darbari
being mute victims by giving the so- is a largely male-dominated society, and
called perfect woman of society a voice politics is still a male-dominated field…”
and an opinion. But this turn in the novel (Ibid) Patriarchy in Raag Darbari
is a turn away from realism and what operates at multiple levels. Women are
actually happens. This speaking for self mainly stock characters in the novel.
could not really be realized in a post- They don’t have a voice and are
independence Indian society. portrayed either as the responsibility of
This list is not exhaustive. Many men or the objects of male sexual gaze.
others portrayed women through different Right at the time Rangnath enters
theoretical and thematic lenses. In this the village, Shukla sarcastically remarks,
tradition, Shukla paves a different path “Sometime later he began to distinguish
for himself. Vanashree in her essay on bundle-like objects in the twilight on both
Shrilal Shukla remarks, “The immense sides of the road. These were women

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Impact Factor: 6.67(SJIF) Research Journal Of English (RJOE)Vol-7, Issue-4, 2022
www.rjoe.org.in An International Peer-Reviewed English Journal ISSN: 2456-2696
Indexed in: International Citation Indexing (ICI), Cite factor, International Scientific Indexing
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__________________________________________________________________

sitting in rows.”(p.7) This is a humorous had begun to look more womanly in the
representation of objectification of last four months, which girl had come
women. All significant and insignificant back, from her in-laws' house’’(p.267)
positions in the public sphere are Bodies of women become objects
occupied by men. Men are the heads of of consumption. Women are referred to
all the spheres of the society whether as things and are offered to superior
social, political or personal. Men are law officials to satisfy their physical needs.
makers; law breakers and law At events like the village Mela groping
protectors.Women are just subordinates and inappropriate touching are considered
managing the household according to to be “real fun of the fair” (p.118). People
men’s commands. visiting the Mela “lovingly laid [their]
There is no mention of girls going hands on the shoulders of several women,
to the college or school in the village. groped them to check the size and shape
The only instance is that of the sub- of their breasts, and all with such
inspector’s daughter going to a convent detachment that you'd think it was a
school which provokes us to see man's bounden duty to do so while
patriarchy through the lens of rural-urban pushing his way through a crowd.”
divide. But education is of little (p.120)Men assume the position of
importance in the society portrayed in masters who can do whatever they wish
Raag Darbari. Shukla writes, “Bela was without a check. This attitude gives rise
healthy, beautiful, proficient in to insensitivity towards women even in
housework, and educated enough to read the case of heinous crimes like rape.
the Ramayana and Maya-Manohar love Badri wrestler, the son of one of the most
stories” but despite all this she was only influential people of Shivapalganj, goes
“fit to be loved for her body and her “to bail out a young man from a
temperament.” (p.96)Ruppanbabu neighboring district who was facing
“concentrated solely on her body, and not charges of rape and assault.”Getting out
on the clothes upon it.” (p.96) Women of charges like rape is just a matter of
are portrayed as objects for male gaze. some money. We only know of women in
The vivid descriptions of women Raag Darbari through their relations with
in Raag Darbari are mostly about their men. They are daughters, wives or lovers
breasts, lips, curves and other physical and if they fail to conform to the
features. Women belonging to the lower standards of any of these categories, then
caste become more vulnerable to the male they are termed as whores. A simple case
gaze. The upper caste male assumes all of robbery becomes a discussion of a
rights over a lower caste woman. woman’s loose character. While giving
VaidyajiMaharaj when passing through his statement in Gayadin’s robbery case
Chamrahi would ‘hand out blessings in Chhote wrestler says about Bela, “that
all directions, and note whose daughters she had immoral relations with Jognath.”

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Impact Factor: 6.67(SJIF) Research Journal Of English (RJOE)Vol-7, Issue-4, 2022
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__________________________________________________________________

(p.227) Through this Shukla explains, her on to that. She'll get a car, and a
“the old familiar pattern whereby it's chaprassi to accompany her.” (p.303)
already been proved a thousand times that There is no place for women in
no one in this world is a thief, but that, in the politics of Shivpalganj. The narrative
fact, the man who is thought to be a thief strategy employed by Shukla
is the lover of the wife or sister or emphatically represents this reality. There
daughter of the master of the house, who is an uncanny absence of any spoken
was summoned to bed them in the dialogues by women in the novel. This
loneliness of night.” (p.227)In this male representation stands parallel to the
dominated society even the crimes reality where woman do not have a voice
committed by men are the doings of so especially in public matters. Shukla also
called characterless women. Even in the uses local dialect for that rural Indian
case of Bela and Badri, “people began flavor. Language used by the characters
remarking that Badri Wrestler had been in Raag Darbari is also a marker of a
trapped by Gayadin'sgirl” (p.296) and male dominated society. Idioms and
that “Bela was a girl of low morals.” curses in the local dialect also demean
(p.165) Similarly, in the case of Pandit women. Abusing the opponents’ mothers
Radhelal, “whatever [his] status was, that and sisters and telling them “which part
of his beloved was absolutely clear. She of a woman's body [they] had been born
had run away from her husband, therefore from” (p.186) are the most used cuss
she was a bitch.” (p.67) words.
Raag Darbari portrays the crude Shukla portrays the patriarchy
reality of post-independence Indian through multiple ways and numerous
society where women are a burden for narrative strategies. Raag Darbari stands
men who have to save up for their true in its representation of the reality of
marriage and dowry. Shukla writes, “If post-independence India. In an essay
one man takes a bribe, another says, published by SahityaAkademi, Shrawan
"What can he do, poor fellow? He's got a Kumar writes, “ShrilalShukla is more
big family, he's got to pay for dowries." revealing since he knows the rural life
(p.34) The principal also talks about inside out and can deal with situations
having to resort to wrong means because quite relentlessly.” (Kumar 58) Shukla,
he has to “marry off four sisters.” by showing patriarchy in rural setting,
(p.193)Even if women have to get into also raises important questions about
the public sphere, they have to do so at intersections of gender and class. Rural
the will and mercy of men. -Talking to women are more subjugated owing to
Gayadin about Bela, Vaidyaji says, “I'll factors such as illiteracy. The nonchalant
also get the girl involved in some social way in which patriarchy is represented in
work. There's the Women's Board; I'll get the novel is exactly how it was in post-

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Impact Factor: 6.67(SJIF) Research Journal Of English (RJOE)Vol-7, Issue-4, 2022
www.rjoe.org.in An International Peer-Reviewed English Journal ISSN: 2456-2696
Indexed in: International Citation Indexing (ICI), Cite factor, International Scientific Indexing
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__________________________________________________________________

independence society, prevalent yet Shukla, with his powerful writing,

unnoticed. inspires us to unlearn and rethink the
Conclusion: conception of the romantic rural.
Raag Darbarihas been called References
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Impact Factor: 6.67(SJIF) Research Journal Of English (RJOE)Vol-7, Issue-4, 2022
www.rjoe.org.in An International Peer-Reviewed English Journal ISSN: 2456-2696
Indexed in: International Citation Indexing (ICI), Cite factor, International Scientific Indexing
(ISI), Directory of Research Journal Indexing (DRJI) Google Scholar, Cosmos and Internet
Archives.
__________________________________________________________________

1993, pp. 111–26. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/2300397

How to cite this article?

Siddharth Shankar Upadhyay “ Shrilal Shukla’s Raag Darbari: Patriarchy
and The Intentional Evasion of Women” Research Journal Of
English(RJOE)7(4),PP:292-298,2022, DOI:10.36993/RJOE.2022.7.4.35

Research Journal Of English (RJOE) Copyright Oray’s Publication Page 298