Anjali khitolia

Dr. Anju Gurawa

MA English

25 November 2025

Education and Intellectual Helplessness in Raag Darbari

Introduction

Shivani’s Raag Darbari (1968), written by the eminent satirist Shrilal Shukla, stands as one

of the most compelling literary examinations of post-independence India. Through its sharp

humour, vivid characterisation, and unrelenting critique of rural power structures, the novel

maps the troubling distance between the ideals of democracy and the lived reality of ordinary

citizens. Set in the fictional village of Shivpalganj, the text reveals how institutions that were

expected to become pillars of nation-building—such as education, law, and local

administration—have instead become entangled in webs of corruption, power politics, and

social manipulation. Among the novel’s many themes, the collapse of the educational system

occupies a central and unsettling place, reflecting the deep anxieties of a newly independent

nation struggling to transform its citizens into informed, self-reliant participants in

democracy.In Raag Darbari, education does not function as a liberating or enlightening

force; rather, it becomes a site where exploitation is normalised and intellectual stagnation is

produced. Schools and colleges—which were supposed to cultivate critical thinking, civic

responsibility, and modern consciousness—are depicted as extensions of local power

networks, where knowledge is secondary to political allegiance and institutional survival.

Through this portrayal, Shukla exposes a crucial irony of post-independence India: although
the nation invested heavily in expanding educational institutions, the spirit of education—

questioning, reasoning, imagining alternatives—rarely took root. Instead, education becomes

ritualistic, superficial, and strategically hollow.

The Failure of Educational Institutions in Shivpalganj

In Raag Darbari, the College of Shivpalganj is the symbolic centre of academic decline.

Institutions like this college are expected to cultivate reasoning, literacy, and social

responsibility. However, the novel dismantles this idea by depicting the college as a

bureaucratic battlefield controlled by local powerbrokers. The principal, Masterji, and other

staff are shown to be at the mercy of the village strongman, Vaidyaji, whose political

influence ultimately shapes the college’s priorities. Rather than functioning as a space for

learning, the college becomes a stage for petty politics, student hooliganism, and

manufactured conflicts.

The student union, instead of nurturing leadership qualities, becomes an extension of criminal

networks. Students are mobilised not through ideological persuasion but through

intimidation, favour-seeking, and manipulation.

Shivpalganj’s dysfunctional college reflects the post-independence disillusionment

surrounding India’s educational reforms. Although the constitution envisaged an educated

citizenry, Raag Darbari shows how political interference corrodes institutional integrity.

Teachers are powerless, students lack direction, and the curriculum has little meaning outside

classroom walls. By portraying education as a “mockery of enlightenment,” Shrilal Shukla

critiques not just one village college but the broader national failure to implement educational

ideals.
The most symbolic aspect of this failure is the absence of intellectual agency among students.

Education, instead of empowering them, becomes a ritualistic process devoid of purpose. The

novel suggests that when education loses its ethical and intellectual grounding, it no longer

serves society; rather, it reproduces the very ignorance it is meant to eliminate

Intellectual Helplessness as a Social Condition

One of the novel’s most significant contributions lies in its portrayal of intellectual

helplessness—a condition in which individuals become incapable of independent thought or

meaningful action. This is not merely a psychological state; it is a structural outcome of the

socio-political environment. Intellectual helplessness emerges because institutions that should

nurture critical awareness—schools, colleges, media, and local administration—are

themselves compromised.

Shukla uses characters like Ranganath, the educated outsider, to highlight the stark contrast

between academic knowledge and lived social realities. Ranganath’s frustration in

Shivpalganj illustrates how theoretical knowledge is rendered useless when institutions are

captured by corruption and group politics. His inability to intervene or reform anything

exposes a central irony of the novel: the educated individual is powerless precisely because

the system does not value knowledge. Instead, it rewards cunning, alliances, and

manipulation.

This helplessness is reinforced by the villagers’ internalisation of exploitation. The people of

Shivpalganj do not merely suffer under corrupt leaders; they accept their power as inevitable.

The novel’s satire shows how ordinary citizens are caught in a web of resignation,

normalising inefficiency, bribery, and injustice. Intellectual helplessness therefore becomes

collective, not individual.

progress beyond superficial blame-games. People lack both the information and the

motivation to challenge dysfunctional systems. The novel suggests that the absence of critical

thinking is not accidental but cultivated, enabling local elites to maintain control.

Power, Knowledge, and the Politics of Language

A crucial but often overlooked aspect of the novel is how language becomes a tool of power.

The political figures of Shivpalganj—particularly Vaidyaji—use rhetorical language to

maintain dominance. Their speeches are filled with meaningless slogans, exaggerated

promises, or moral posturing. This type of political language replaces meaningful discourse

and contributes significantly to intellectual helplessness.

Educational institutions mirror this trend. Teachers rely on rote instruction, and students

mimic slogans without understanding. Even debates in the college union meetings revolve

around pre-memorised phrases that have little connection to real issues. Shukla uses humour

to reveal how language, when stripped of substance, becomes an ornament rather than a

medium of thought.

The degradation of language symbolizes a deeper crisis: knowledge becomes performative

rather than transformative. Instead of fostering inquiry, language is used to obscure, confuse,

or manipulate. This directly links to the novel’s critique of power structures: those who

control language also control perception, and therefore, truth. Intellectual helplessness

becomes inevitable in an environment where clarity is intentionally replaced with noise.

Raag Darbari remains one of the most powerful literary commentaries on the failure of

education and the paralysis of intellectual life in post-independence India. Through the

depiction of Shivpalganj and its compromised educational institutions, the novel reveals how

systematic corruption erodes the very foundations of learning. Intellectual helplessness

emerges as both a cause and consequence of this decay, trapping individuals in cycles of

dependency and resignation.

The characters of the novel, especially Ranganath, demonstrate that academic knowledge

alone is insufficient in the face of deeply entrenched socio-political power structures.

Education loses its transformative potential when institutions become extensions of political

interests, and language becomes a vehicle for manipulation rather than enlightenment.

Ultimately, Shukla’s satire forces readers to confront uncomfortable truths: a society cannot

progress if its educational structures produce obedient subjects rather than critical thinkers.

The novel continues to resonate because the issues it exposes—corrupt institutions, hollow

rhetoric, and intellectual inertia—remain relevant even today. By illuminating the

consequences of failed education, Raag Darbari serves as both a warning and a call for

renewal, urging society to reclaim the ethical and intellectual foundations necessary for true

democratic functioning.
Work Cited

Shukla, Shrilal. Raag Darbari. Translated by Gillian Wright, Penguin Books, 2014.

Shukla, Shrilal. Raag Darbari. Rajkamal Prakashan, 1968.

JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/26284398. Accessed 25 Nov. 2025.

Nandy, Ashis. “The Political Culture of the Indian State.” Daedalus, vol. 118, no. 4, 1989,

pp. 1–26. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/20025205.