Rereading Motherhood in Hindi Novels: A Feminist Literary Analysis

Motherhood is one of the most persistently recurring human experiences in literary history. In Hindi novel literature, motherhood has traditionally been portrayed as a symbol of sacrifice, tenderness, and selfless devotion. However, modern and contemporary Hindi novels have offered a critical rereading of this concept — one in which the mother is not merely a nurturer but also an autonomous, struggling, and questioning human being. From Premchand's Godan (1936) to Mridula Garg's Chittakobra (1979), Maitreyi Pushpa's Idannamam (1994), and Alka Saravagi's Kalikatha: Via Bypass (1998), the image of motherhood in Hindi novels has evolved continuously. Drawing on feminist literary criticism, this paper analyses the diverse dimensions of motherhood — traditional, rebellious, absent, and reconstructed — across three broad periods of Hindi fiction.