Describe the world of Indian Literature in the first half of twentieth century.

 The world of Indian Literature in the first half of twentieth century:

Until about the First World War and the Russian Revolution the general trend of the discussion of freedom and subjection followed, by and large, the pattern that had emerged during the later decades of the 19th century. Freedom was seen as the natural condition to which any people should aspire. India could be no exception to this rule. Instead of specific grievances and specific concessions, an integrated critique of British rule evolved over the years and freedom seemed the only solution. What this freedom would mean in concrete terms, however, did not become the dominant theme of discussion during this long phase. It is not that issues like poverty and exploitation within the Indian society as against the exploitation by the British did not figure in Indian literature before the 1914-1918 war. They often did. Indian literature of this period offers many examples of moving descriptions of the poverty of peasants.

Perhaps the most outstanding of these examples is provided by Chhaman Atha Guntha Six Bighas of Land a novel by Fakirmohan Senapati, one of the makers of modern Oriya literature. These moving descriptions are at times accompanied by radical statements in relation to the existing pattern of social organization. For example, Radhacharan Goswami a leading Hindi writer, was moved by rural poverty to suggest, as early as 1883, that land should not belong to the government or the zamindar but to the peasant who tilled it. Such radicalism, however, remained confined to sentiments.

It was not presented as part of a carefully worked out plan of social reorganization. Nor was it integrated with the question of national freedom. Besides economic inequality and exploitation within the Indian society, the social inequality and oppression based on, caste was also discussed at times. But this, too, remained more a sentimental issue. After the First World War, however the situation changed fairly rapidly. The issue no longer was simply whether India should become free. That had to be ensured, at any cost. The real point of debate now tended to relate to the actual content and meaning of freedom. Freedom for whom? Surely, freedom could not merely mean the replacement of British with Indian masters.

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