Usne Kaha Tha Aur Anya Kahaniyaan
In the long march of Hindi literary fiction, 'Usne Kaha Tha' holds a singular position: it is widely regarded as the very first modern Hindi short story. Guleri wrote this grounded, realist work in the 1920s, and its influence was significant enough that Premchand himself is said to have sharpened his craft in its wake. That one story alone would have secured Guleri's place in the canon, but his output stretched well beyond it. He wrote essays, criticism, scholarly discourse, and research at a time when these forms were still finding their footing in Hindi literature. His voice across all of them was distinctive and carried real weight. Among his stories, 'Sukhmai Jeevan' and 'Buddhu Ka Kanta' stand alongside the title piece as works worth reading carefully. His essays 'Kachhua Dharm' and 'Maresi Mohi Muthav' are considered equally important contributions. Most of his stories are short, some quite brief, yet they leave an impression that lingers far longer than their length might suggest. Senior Hindi critic Dr Namvar Singh put it well: Sanskrit scholars were not rare in that era, but the ability to produce something like 'Usne Kaha Tha' or 'Kachhua Dharm' belonged to Guleri alone. Singh compared him, in the same breath, to both Bankimchandra and Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar. That is not a casual compliment. This collection offers a rare chance to read a writer whose small body of work quietly reshaped a whole literary tradition.
- Author: Charndradhar Sharma Guleri
- Publisher: Rajpal & Sons (Rajpal Publishing)
- Genre: Short Stories
- ISBN: 978-8174831538
- Pages: 112 pages