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Divya

Divya

Yashpal
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‘His ideas and his contribution to Indian literature were . . . revolutionary’ -The Hindu

Divya leads a blissful life within the secure walls of the palace even as the world outside rages with caste politics and religious strife, until one night of pleasure changes her entire world. She gets pregnant only to be spurned by her lover. To preserve her high born family’s name she leaves her sheltered existence and trudges through life on her own, first as a slave and then as a court dancer. Adversity finally opens her eyes to the truth-a woman of a high family is not free. Only a prostitute is free. Divya decides that, by enslaving her body, she will preserve the freedom of her mind.

Set in the first century BC against a background of the conflict for supremacy between Hindu and Buddhist ideologies, Divya is a poignant tale that combines vivid imagination with rich historical details.

‘Reminiscent of George Orwell . . . Here too is the biting satire of society as seen through the savage eye of an uncompromising non-conformist’-Dawn

Imprint: India Penguin Modern Classics

Published: Feb/2009

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Length : Pages

MRP : ₹9.99

Divya

Yashpal

‘His ideas and his contribution to Indian literature were . . . revolutionary’ -The Hindu

Divya leads a blissful life within the secure walls of the palace even as the world outside rages with caste politics and religious strife, until one night of pleasure changes her entire world. She gets pregnant only to be spurned by her lover. To preserve her high born family’s name she leaves her sheltered existence and trudges through life on her own, first as a slave and then as a court dancer. Adversity finally opens her eyes to the truth-a woman of a high family is not free. Only a prostitute is free. Divya decides that, by enslaving her body, she will preserve the freedom of her mind.

Set in the first century BC against a background of the conflict for supremacy between Hindu and Buddhist ideologies, Divya is a poignant tale that combines vivid imagination with rich historical details.

‘Reminiscent of George Orwell . . . Here too is the biting satire of society as seen through the savage eye of an uncompromising non-conformist’-Dawn

Buying Options
Paperback / Hardback
Ebooks

Yashpal

Yashpal (1903-1976) was one of the most prolific and unusual Hindi writers of the post-Premchand generation. Yashpal studied at the National College, Lahore, where he joined the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA). He began to write while serving a life sentence for his participation, as a comrade of Bhagat Singh and Chandrashekhar Azad, in the armed struggle for India's independence. What he wrote formed his first collection of short stories, Pinjare ki Udan, published in 1938. After his release Yashpal dazzled Hindi readers with the political journal, Viplava, which he founded and published with the help of Prakashvati, a revolutionary, whom he later married in prison. He wrote more than fifty books including collections of short stories, novels, essays, a play and memoirs of his revolutionary days.

His two-volume magnum opus, Jhootha Sach (1958 and 1960), translated into English as This Is Not That Dawn, is widely considered to be one of the most penetrating narratives on the partition of India. His novel Meri, Teri, Uski Baat won the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1976, and he was also a recipient of the Padma Bhushan.

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