Raag Darbari (novel)

Raag Darbari (novel)

Raag Darbari is an Hindi novel written by Sri Lal Sukla, an author known for his social and political satire. He was awarded the Sahitya Academy Award, the highest Indian literary award, in 1970 for this novel.

The novel highlights the failing values present in post-Independence Indian society. It exposes the helplessness of intellectuals in the face of a strong and corrupt nexus between criminals, businessmen, police and politicians.

The novel is narrated from the point of view of Ranganath, a research student in history, who comes to live with his uncle, Vaidyaji, in a village named Shivpal Ganj for a few months. He learns how his uncle uses all the village institutions — the village school, the village panchayat (a local elected body), the local government offices for his political purpose. The conduct of his uncle and the petty village politicians is in stark contrast to the ideals that Ranganath has learnt to aspire to during his university education.

The villagers take pride in calling themselves 'gunjahe', originating from 'ganj' of 'Shivpal ganj'.