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Pandey Bechan Sharma 'Ugra' (पाण्डेय बेचन शर्मा उग्र, 29 December 1900 – 23 March 1967) was a prolific, popular and controversial writer of Hindi literature. Born in Chunar, he spent his early years acting in and travelling with a Ramlila troupe with his older brother. He began writing nationalist pieces for the Hindi journal Aaj, before moving to Calcutta in 1924, where he wrote much of his most popular and controversial literature, including the epistolary novel Letters of Some Beautiful People and the short story collection Chocolate. He spent eight years in Bombay writing film scripts, before spending the period of 1939-45 travelling around Madhya Pradesh editing a number of small publications. He returned to Calcutta, before finally moving to Delhi in 1953. He published his partial autobiography here in 1960, About Me, and died in 1967.

Early years
Birth in 1900 Parsi theatre troup and brother Schooling Jail (1920) Aaj? (1921-1924)

Calcutta and the Matvala Group
In Calcutta in 1924, Ugra became a member of the group of writers associated with the editor of the Hindi journal Matvālā (मतवाला, 'Intoxicated') Mahavir Prasad Seth, including the well-known Hindi poet Suryakant Tripathi 'Nirala'.

Matvala, Seth, Nirala and the editorial group Major works: Chocolate, Chand Hasinon

Bombay and Madhya Pradesh
1930-38 - film scripts in Bombay 1939-45 editing small papers in MP

Later Years
1950 return to Calcutta 1953 move to Delhi; Apni Khabar in 1960; death in 1967

Controversy
In the mid-1920s, Ugra published what was to be some of his most controversial literature: the epistolary novel Cand Hasīnoṁ ke Khutūt (चन्द हसीनों के ख़ुतूत, Letters of Some Beautiful People), and the short story collection Cākleṭ (चाकलेट, Chocolate).

Letters was an "exceptionally widely read book", particularly by the standards of the time: its first print run appeared in May 1927, and it proved so popular that a second edition appeared in October of the same year, swiftly followed in turn by a third. Formed of seven letters, it tells the story...

The publication of Chocolate in 1927 was the catalyst for what was to be "the first public debate on homosexuality in modern India." Five of the eight short stories in the collection had already been published in the pages of Matvala in 1924, and had already caused significant controversy. The stories were denounced for promoting (or running the risk of encouraging) homosexuality, in particular by Banarasidas Chaturvedi, the prominent editor of the Hindi journal Vishal Bharat (Mighty India). After mounting a sustained campaign against what he termed "ghasleṭī sāhitya" or "inflammatory literature", Chaturvedi sought and received a support for his condemnatory opinion on the stories from Gandhi in 1929. In fact, Gandhi published his condemnation before reading the stories, and once he had read them sent a note to Chaturvedi, explaining, "I finished the book today and it did not have the same effect on my mind as it did on you. I think the aim of the book is pure." Chaturvedi only revealed the truth in 1951.

The controversy was far from one-sided however. Ugra responded to the charges levelled against him with vigour, and with the support of the wider Matvālā group. In a series of articles, columns and cartoons, Ugra and his allies simultaneously defended his stories as serious social commentary and poked fun at the puritanism of Chaturvedi and his ilk.

Finally, Chaturvedi's admission in 1951 - that he had misrepresented Gandhi's opinion on the stories - resulted in a third edition of Chocolate being published. This was to be Ugra's final vindication in the matter:...

Apni Khabar and Autobiography
Ugra's partial autobiography, Apnī Khabar (अपनी खबर, About Me), is "considered to be the first original autobiography in modern Hindi", despite the fact that it covers only the first 20 years of the author's life. Ruth Vanita, who translated it into English, has described it as follows;
 * Apni Khabar is a useful piece of social history, because many of the worlds Ugra depicts have either vanished forever or have been transformed beyond recognition – the intertwined worlds of Hindi literature and North Indian nationalism; the world of itinerant religious theatre; and the world of social reformist education.

Critical Reception
Ugra's contemporary significance and prominence is attested in some measure through his inclusion in Ramchandra Shukla's enduring 1928 Hindī Sāhitya kā Itihās (हिन्दी साहित्य का इतिहास, History of Hindi Literature). In it, Shukla made several references to Ugra's work as exemplifying a particular trend or style of writing: for instance, when discussing modern drama. Singling out Cumban (चुम्बन, The Kiss) and Cār becāre (चार बेचारे, Four Unfortunates), he wrote "Pandey Bechan Sharma Ugra has made good use of short dramas and satires in order to show pungent scenes of the base and hypocritical sections of society" – thus, in Shukla's estimation, fulfilling a worthy goal.

Later commentators are divided on his position in the canon of Hindi literature: his translator Ruth Vanita has remarked that, apart from the importance of his autobiography as an early instance of the form in Hindi, and the controversy surrounding Chocolate, Ugra was "an otherwise minor writer". Francesca Orsini, however, has noted the problematic status of popular fiction in Indian critical traditions, commenting that "[i]n Hindi is has been consigned to oblivion altogether", which may explain the relative lack of critical attention paid to Ugra's works. Ugra himself commented ironically on his works receiving formal literary study in his autobiography: "These days [1950/60s], research on 'Ugra' is being conducted at Sagar University. On that same fellow who stole the Hanuman Chalisa." Regardless of his canonical status, his works have remained in print consistently.

Novels/Novellas

 * Cand hasīnoṁ ke khutūt (चंद हसीनों के ख़ुतूत) (Letters of Some Beautiful People) 1924
 * Raṅg Mahal (रंग महल) (Colour Palace) 1925
 * Dillī kā dalāl (दिल्ली का दलाल) (The Pimp of Delhi) 1927
 * Budhuā kī beṭī (बुधुआ की बेटी) 1928
 * Sharābī (शराबी) (Drunkard) 1930
 * Sarkār tumhārī āṁkhoṁ meṁ (सरकार तुम्हारी आँखों में) 1937
 * Ghaṇṭā (घंटा) 1937
 * Gaṅgājal (गंगाजल) (Water of the Ganges) 1949
 * Kaḍhī meṁ koylā (कढ़ी में कोयला) 1955
 * Jī jī jī (जी जी जी) 1955
 * Phāgun ke din cār (फागुन के दिन चार) 1960
 * Juhū (जुहू) 1963
 * Gaṅgā mātā (गंगा माता) (Mother Ganges) 1972
 * Sabzbāgh (सब्ज़बाग़) 1979

Short Story Collections

 * Sosāiṭī āf ḍevils (सोसाइटी ऑफ़ डेविल्स) (Society of Devils) 1924
 * Cingāriyāṁ (चिनगारियाँ) (Sparks) 1925
 * Balātkār (बलात्कार) 1927
 * Cākleṭ (चाकलेट) (Chocolate) 1927
 * Nirlajjā (निर्लज्जा) 1927
 * Dozakh kī āg (दोज़ख़ की आग) (The Fires of Hell) 1928
 * Krāntikārī kahāniyāṁ (क्रान्तिकारी कहानियाँ) (Revolutionary Stories) 1939
 * Galpāñjali (गल्पांजलि) 1940
 * Reśmī (रेशमी) 1942
 * Pañjāb kī rānī (पंजाब की रानी) (Queen of Punjab) 1943
 * Sankī amīr (सनकी अमीर) 1952
 * Kalā kā puraskār (कला का पुरस्कार) (Art's Prize) 1954
 * Jab sārā ālam sotā hai (जब सारा आलम सोता है) (When the Whole World Sleeps) 1955

Plays/Satires

 * Mahātmā Īsā (महात्मा ईसा) (Great Soul Jesus) 1922
 * Lāl krānti ke pañje meṁ (लाल क्रान्ति के पंजे में) (In the Hands of the Red Revolution) 1924
 * Cār becāre (चार बेचारे) (Four Unfortunates) 1927
 * Ujbak (उजबक) (Uzbek?) 1928
 * Cumban (चुम्बन) (Kissing) 1937
 * Ḍikṭeṭar (डिक्टेटर) (Dictator) 1937
 * Gaṅgā kā beṭā (गंगा का बेटा) (Son of the Ganges) 1940
 * Āvārā (आवारा) (Vagabond) 1942
 * Anndātā Mādhav Mahārāj Mahān (अन्नदाता माधव महाराज महान) 1943
 * Naī pīṛhī (नई पीढ़ी) (New Generation) 1949

Miscellaneous Works

 * Dhruv carit (ध्रुव चरित) 1921
 * Ugra kā hāsya (उग्र का हास्य) 1939
 * Pārijātoṁ kā balidān (पारिजातों का बलिदान) 1942
 * Vyaktigat (व्यक्तिगत) 1954
 * Kañcan ghaṭ (कंचन घट) 1955
 * Apnī Khabar (अपनी खबर) (About Me) [autobiography] 1960
 * Fāil profāil (फ़ाइल प्रोफ़ाइल) (File Profile) [correspondence] 1966
 * Ghālib-Ugra (ग़ालिब-उग्र) (Ghalib-Ugra) [commentary] 1966