Manu Bhandari
| Mannu Bhandari | |
|---|---|
| Born |
3 April 1931 Bhanpura, Madhya Pradesh |
| Spouse(s) | Rajendra Yadav |
Mannu Bhandari (Hindi: मन्नू भंडारी) (born 3 April 1931) is an Indian author, whose work dates up to late 1950s - early 1960s. She is most known for her two Hindi novels, Aapka Banti (आपका बंटी) and Mahabhoj (महाभोज). She is often credited as one of the pioneers of the Nayi Kahaani Movement, a Hindi literary movement initiated by authors including Nirmal Verma, Rajendra Yadav, Bhisham Sahni, Kamleshwar etc. Starting in the 1950s, a newly independent India was going through societal transformations like urbanization and industrialization . This demanded new debates, new opinions and new points of view, provided by those part of the Nayi Kahaani movement, including Bhandari. Narratives and stories mostly dealt with the relationship between sexes, gender inequality and equality as a new class of working and educated women had emerged then.
Bhandari is one of the post independence writers who portray women under a new light, as independent and intellectual individuals. Through the subject matter of her narratives, Bhandari highlights the struggles and difficulties women have constantly encountered in the past. Sexual, emotional, mental and economic exploitation had placed women in an extremely weak position in our society. Her female characters in her stories are portrayed as strong, independent individuals, breaking old habits and emerging and creating an image of 'new women'.
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 the producer of the first English to Hindi and English to Marathi dictionaries. She was the youngest of five children (two brothers, three sisters). She had her early education in Ajmer, graduated from Calcutta University and then went onto obtaining an M.A degree in Hindi language and literature, at Hindu Vishwavidyalaya, Varanasi. She is the wife of Hindi author Rajendra Yadav.
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