Hear Me Sanjaya #sashi_deshpande #summry #patna_university #hear_me_sanjaya #summary #hindi_easy
‘Hear Me Sanjaya’ by Shashi Deshpande
Shashi Deshpande was born in 1938 in Dharwad, Kranataka . She was an Indian novelist and short
story writer. She was the daughter of a Kannada dramatist and writer Adya Rangacharya and Sharda
Adya. She studied Economics and Law in Mumbai. She also studied journalism and worked as a
journalist for the magazine Onlooker. She got Padma Shri in 2009 and Sahitya Akademy Award in 1990
for her novel That Long Silence. She is regarded as one of the prominent Feminists in Indian English
Literature.
‘Hear Me Sanjaya’ is a short story based on the Indian Mythology Mahabharata. She raises the voice
of Kunti (Pritha) through the story. Her silence throughout the Mythology, has given a voice. She talks
to Sanjaya while walking. Kunti was the wife of Pandu and the mother of the three of , Pandava
Brothers, Yudhishthira, Bhima and Arjuna. Other twin brothers , Nakul and Sahdeva were from the
second wife of Pandu, Madri. Sanjaya was the charioteer of the blind king Dhritrashtra. The
conversation took place after the war is over. The kingdom is assigned to the Pandavas after their
victory in war. Dhritrashtra and Gandhari decide to live a peaceful life in the forest. Kunti also decides
to follow them.
Prepared by Amit Sir, KZfaq ; English_with_Motivation.Com
The monologue takes place just after the death of Kunti. The author presents her as a silent bearer of
sufferings. She faces a number of disasters in her life. Her actions are as important as the war but no
importance has been given to her actions. She has always been put in the background throughout the
plot of the epic. The monologue presents her story from her young days. How she was adopted by the
king, Kunti-Bhoja. In this incident, she lost her real name Pritha and named after the Kingdom of the
King. She says “My father gave me away - how easily he did so, as if I was a piece of property. I don’t
remember exactly whether I was angry or not.” Her fright was avoided by all.
She also talks about her another episode of life when she was young and unmarried. Her prayer to
God sun resulted the borth of Karna. But she could not keep him along with her. She had to float him
away into the river. Her fear of the river and its sound could not change her mind just because she
was afraid of society. We can’t even imagine how difficult it would have been for her to give up her
first child.
After the marriage, she has the same kind of feeling. She was always put aside as she was not
beautiful like the second wife of the king, Madri. Her responsibilities kept increasing with time. Later,
she had to marry Draupadi to all her sons. She did so in order to maintain unity between them. It
concludes that women are always left on margin. Not only Kunti but also Gandhari, Draupadi, Uttara
and many more sacrificed their lives just for the sake of society.
Therefore, through Kunti’s character, the author has tried to show the hypocritical side of the society.
Men just use women for their purposes.