A Critical Analysis of Radical Feminism in Jaishankar Prasad's Play Dhruvsvamini

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to examine how Radical Feminism was discussed in Hindi plays in early 1930s, when it was not even introduced as a concept to literature. Jaishankar Prasad is an Indian writer who wrote the play Dhruvsvamini to introduce Radical Feminism to the Indian orthodox society. He started a rational discussion on radical issues such as; domestic oppression, polygamy, sexuality, right for the divorce, remarriage through this play. This paper reiterates that, though the concept of Radical Feminism came into the western literature around 1960s, the nucleus of radical thoughts can be identified in Prasad's plays of early twentieth century. This paper emphasizes that he has been inuenced by Buddhism and the thoughts of Indian feminist activists of that time. Literature review has been con- ducted to analyze the play Dhruvsvamini. The outcome of this paper would be an exploration of the Radical Feminism discussed in Hindi drama.