• ISBN13: 9780198077374
• Binding: Hardcover
• Subject: English Literature
• Publisher: Oxford UP
• Publisher Imprint: Oxford UP
• Publication Date: August 18, 2011
• Pages: 384
• Original Price: INR 1250.0
• Language: English
• Edition: N/A
• Item Weight: 420 grams
• BISAC Subject(s): Asian / Indic

Set in the turbulent 1920s against the backdrop of India's Freedom Movement, this novel is set in Munganda village-a microcosm of an India through which Gandhi's call for political and social liberation is beginning to resound. The story of one man, one woman, and one village, in a wider sense, it is also the story of India's quest for freedom: from foreign rule as well as from entrenched prejudices, stifling social mores, and caste discrimination. This is a novel set almost one hundred years ago; yet it remains relevant for its insights into human hopes and fears and its portrayal of the continual tussle between tradition and modernity, both in thought and choices. The Introduction by M. Sridhar and Alladi Uma shows how Swarajyam (meaning 'freedom') holds a special significance for the country more than forty years after the publication of the Telugu original, which received the prestigious Andhra Pradesh Sahitya Akademi Award in 1969.

Mahidhara Ramamohanarao was born in 1909 in Munganda Agraharan in Konaseema of East Godavari district. Growing up in an environment of revolutionary fervour, he abandoned his studies and joined the Indian National Congress and later became a staunch advocate of Communism. Without formal schooling, he acquired scholarship in Telugu, Sanskrit, Hindi, Bengali, English, and Russian.