Mannu Bhandari

She was one of the most notable writers in 21st century Hindi literature, with the Indian Express describing her as a "doyenne of the Hindi literary world," after her death.

Mannu Bhandari (3 April 1931 – 15 November 2021) was an Indian author, screenplay writer, teacher, and playwright.

Primarily known for her two Hindi novels, Aap Ka Bunty (Your Bunty) and Mahabhoj (Feast), Bhandari also wrote over 150 short stories, several other novels, screenplays for television and film, and adaptations for theater.

She was a pioneer of the Nayi Kahani movement in Hindi literature, which focused on the aspirations of the emerging Indian middle class, and her own work is notable for its depiction of the inner lives of middle class working and educated women.

Her work tackles themes of family, relationships, gender equality, and caste discrimination in India.

Bhandari's writing has been extensively adapted for film and stage, including productions for Doordarshan (India's public broadcast service), the BBC, and National School of Drama in India.

Her work has been widely translated into other Indian languages from Hindi, as well as French, German and English.

She received numerous awards in India for her work, including the Uttar Pradesh Hindi Sansthan and the Vyas Samman.

Bhandari was born on 3 April 1931, in Bhanpura, Madhya Pradesh and grew up largely in Ajmer, Rajasthan, where her father Sukhsampat Rai Bhandari, was a freedom fighter, social reformer and producer of the first English to Hindi and English to Marathi dictionaries.

While he was engaged in social reform as part of the Arya Samaj, a Hindu reformist institution, according to Bhandari he frequently denigrated her for her dark complexion.

She was the youngest of five children (two brothers, three sisters).

Bhandari was initially educated in Ajmer, and graduated from Calcutta University in West Bengal.

She went on to earn an M.A. degree in Hindi language and literature, at Banaras Hindu University.

As a student she was active politically and in 1946, helped organize a strike after two of her colleagues were dismissed for being involved with Subhash Chandra Bose's Indian National Army.

Bhandari's first publication was a short story titled 'Main Har Gayi' ('I Have Been Defeated') in 1957, in the Hindi Kahaani magazine.

Bhandari initially worked as a lecturer in Hindi in Calcutta, teaching first at Ballygunge Shiksha Sadan, a primary and secondary school, and later at Kolkata’s Rani Birla College 1961-1965.

After moving to Delhi with her husband, she became a lecturer in Hindi literature at Miranda House College, University of Delhi.

This story was later adapted to a highly popular and successful play and was performed all over the nation, including at the (Bharat Rang Mahotsav) (National Theatre Festival), in New Delhi.She followed it with a novel, Ek Inch Muskaan (One Inch Smile) in 1961, co-authored with her husband, Rajendra Yadav.

Ek Inch Muskaan was an experimental novel, narrating the story of a marriage between a man and woman, with Yadav and Bhandari writing for each character in alternate chapters.

The plot was devised by Bhandari, and the title, by Yadav.

Bhandari had continued to write short stories for Hindi magazines during this period, and she followed the success of Ek Inch Muskaan with four collections of short stories, which were published between 1961 and 1970.

Bhandari and Yadav lived in Tollygunge in Kolkata until 1964, when they moved to Delhi.

They lived in Delhi thereafter, and had one child, a daughter named Rachana.

In 1971, Bhandari published her second book, and first solo novel, titled Aap Ka Bunty (Your Bunty).

It portrayed the collapse of a marriage through the eyes of a nine-year old child, the titular Bunty, whose parents ultimately divorce and remarry other people.

Bhandari took up residence temporarily at the Miranda House College in Delhi, to complete the novel.

The book was initially serialised in Dharmayug, a Hindi magazine, and immediately attracted a wide readership, resulting in Bhandari receiving large amounts of fan letters and reader comments with each chapter's publication.

Published to great acclaim, the novel has been described as a 'milestone and a turning point in Hindi literature', and was subsequently translated widely, including into French, Bengali, and English.

The novel was based on the massacre of Dalits in Belchhi, Bihar, in which 11 persons belonging to Dalit and Scheduled Caste communities were captured, bound, murdered, and their corpses burned, by a private militia of 'upper' caste landlords in 1977, who then feasted beside the pyre while it burned.

The incident garnered widespread public attention, including personal attention from India's then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi.

Mahabhoj, meaning 'banquet' presented a fictionalised retelling of this incident, through the eyes of Bisu, a young Dalit man who was traumatized by previous massacres and attacks on marginalized Dalit communities.

Bisu's attempt to investigate and hold accountable the perpetrators of these crimes results in his death, and the intimidation and massacre of his entire village, in the novel.

Taking place amidst an electoral campaign, the novel was praised for its understanding of Dalit marginalization and political vulnerability.

In 1979, Bhandari published her third novel, Mahabhoj.

Bhandari and Yadav separated in the 1980s, but never divorced, remaining friends until Yadav's death in 2013.

Bhandari died on 15 November 2021 at the age of 90 in Gurgaon, India.

The book was initially serialised in a Hindi magazine, Gyanoday, and was republished as a book in 1991.

From 1992-1994 she chaired a honorary directorship at Ujjain’s Premchand Srijanpith, in Vikram University.

Bhandari married Hindi author and editor Rajendra Yadav.

They met in Calcutta (now Kolkata), while Bhandari was studying at Calcutta University.