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Jagdish Batra

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Jagdish Batra is an academic, writer and a critic. Currently, he is a full Professor of English at O.P. Jindal Global University, Sonipat, India, which he joined as the Founding Head of the English Language Centre. Indian English Literature is his area of specialization. He has published eight books and a good number of research articles in leading literary journals. Dr Batra has presented papers at many international conferences in Europe and Asia. He is on the editorial boards of at least three literary journals and on the research boards of many universities. A former Rotary GSE scholar to the US, he is also actively involved in many social and literary organizations.

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University of Leicester

Gwen Robbins Schug

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University of Salamanca

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Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul

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Papers by Jagdish Batra

Reading Sama Veda Samhita

The Indian Journal of English Studies , 2024

The Vedas are India’s most ancient cultural texts. Most of us hear and recite the Veda mantras i... more The Vedas are India’s most ancient cultural texts. Most of us hear and recite the Veda mantras in daily worship and at times of various ceremonies in the family. But this is also a fact that not many people attempt to read the Vedas and understand the meaning, which is mainly because the knowledge of Sanskrit, and of Vedic Sanskrit at that is limited. The elaborate and complex structure and differing translations also make the study a daunting exercise. However, the AESI Conference devoted to ancient knowledge systems inspired the writer to study Sama Veda – the shortest one with its focus on music – which has been admired by Lord Krishna too. Reading it arouses admiration as also wide-eyed wonder for the multifarious knowledge contained in it about the Supreme spirit, cosmos, self and the relationship between the Almighty and being, in addition to the temporal knowledge of the society, administration, lifestyle, etc. of the Vedic times. At times, reading also perplexes one due to the obscurity of meaning or coherence, but the prayers not only for spiritual growth but also for scientific inclination, worldly wealth and success, couched in aesthetically appealing mantras fascinates one.

Reading Sama Veda Samhita...

Decolonising Indian mind...

Boletin de Literatura Oral, 2024

While the ostensible political colonization by the West mostly ended in the world long back, the ... more While the ostensible political colonization by the West mostly ended in the world long back, the subterranean cultural colonization of the ‘third world’ continues unabated, helped by the material success of the West and the inferiority complex present in the native intellectual class. In India, the impetus to shed the colonial baggage through re-writing of history and recovering ancient knowledge, which the postcolonial approach encouraged once, has become a bone of contention between the ruling and the opposing parties, but that is the tip of the iceberg if one considers the various forms of attack on Indian knowledge frameworks and ethos, and on the cultural unity of India. Rajiv Malhotra, a renowned Indologist and public intellectual, in his writings, draws attention to the colonial time plunder and re-branding of Indian knowledge systems according to what he terms as ‘predatory/digested cultures’ paradigm and details the subtle strategies being adopted even now by the West. My paper examines Malhotra’s findings on the basis of ground reality obtaining in India presently, interpolating it to the cultural (read political) theories through which the West intends homogenizing and hegemonizing the rest of the world and which needs to be challenged to thwart the repetition of colonial powerplay.

Working out Feminist Psychology in Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's 'The Palace of Illusions

Will China be given a clean chit

URI, May 15, 2021

Book Review of Saikat Majumdar's 'College: Pathways of Possibility

URI, Apr 22, 2019

Foreword' to Bride Swap

URI, Jun 1, 2019

Need to humanize medical profession

URI, Jul 1, 2019

Let's dispel Corona clouds of gloom through positivity

URI, May 8, 2021

Education of masses must for radical reforms

URI, Nov 3, 2020

Religion and Spirituality in Indian English Fiction

Social Science Research Network, Sep 1, 2020

Towards a crippled population

URI, Jun 1, 2019

Studies in Fiction Feminism Diaspora - India and Beyond

Salman Rushdie’s the golden house: classical worldview for postmodern times

Salman Rushdie's name has been identified with magic realism for so long, but it appears that as ... more Salman Rushdie's name has been identified with magic realism for so long, but it appears that as one gets older, the traditional patterns of life or literature pull one back. In his latest novel The Golden House, Rushdie has dropped his signature magic realism and dished out traditional realism. This is not to condemn conventional notion of realism, rather to uphold it as something that was envisioned as integral to the art of novel, way back in 18 th century England. The novel still has elements of postmodern style in so far as language and some of the narrative techniques like metanarrative reflexivity, ambivalence, obfuscation, multiple registers, high allusiveness, etc. are concerned. But so far as the thematics is concerned, Rushdie takes a firm stand rather than leave it open-ended. The villain of the piece, a Mumbai mafia don with links to terrorists gets poetic justice in the end. The notion of justice has always been upheld as a humanist ideal in Greek culture-the inspiration behind Western philosophy. That, incidentally, is also the gist of Indian poetics and philosophy. The Golden House, thus, marks a watershed in the creative career of Salman Rushdie and upholds the universal and eternal values, which are under attack from the postmodernists.

Will Jhumpa Lahiri overtake Salman Rushdie

The question ‘Will Jhumpa Lahiri overtake Salman Rushdie?’ which was thrown up for discussion by ... more The question ‘Will Jhumpa Lahiri overtake Salman Rushdie?’ which was thrown up for discussion by a recent newspaper article1 – even if not asked with the intent – does impel one to compare the two. And not merely the two, if one is to pass judgement or hazard a guess of this type, one has to be ready to compare Lahiri’s work with that of other leading lights of the day, for as T.S. Eliot said long ago, to a critic, the tools available essentially are comparison and analysis. My paper takes up the works of both these writers and tries to speculate on the issue.

Courts hold the only hope for patients

URI, Oct 1, 2018

Strategies of popular fiction: a study of the "3 Mistake of My Life

Chetan Bhagat&#39;s arrival at the Indian literary scene has been phenomenal, to say the leas... more Chetan Bhagat&#39;s arrival at the Indian literary scene has been phenomenal, to say the least. How he took the sales figures of Indian English novels from a few thousand to millions is a testimony to his popularity as also the impact that he had on the literary scene in India. Following him, hundreds of young writers have taken to writing fiction. To understand the mechanics of Bhagat&#39;s works, therefore, becomes interesting and enlightening. What my paper lays bare is the commonness of approach between his novel taken up here for study and the popular cinema.

White feet in black sandals: a study of magic Realism as the narrative mode in Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's The Mistress of Spices

Politico-literary response to terrorism: a study of Arundhati Roy's the ministry of utmost happiness

The Kashmir issue has been an apple of discord between India and Pakistan since the partition of ... more The Kashmir issue has been an apple of discord between India and Pakistan since the partition of the country in 1947. People have suffered due to politics which should otherwise have been instrumental in solving the conflict, mainly because of the intervention of terrorism. The Booker Prize awardee Arundhati Roy's latest novel The Ministry of Utmost Happiness has appeared after a gap of 20 years and touches upon this problem of the Indian subcontinent. On Booker's longlist again, this novel straddles the twin domains of politics and literature in that it airs the writer's political philosophy in her powerful narrative couched in rich language and a mocking style. My paper deconstructs the strategy adopted in the novel and also administers it a reality check which shows the writer's courage of conviction even as the narrative throws up more questions than it answers.

21st century Indian novel in English : emerging issues and challenges

Prestige eBooks, 2012

Reading Sama Veda Samhita

The Indian Journal of English Studies , 2024

The Vedas are India’s most ancient cultural texts. Most of us hear and recite the Veda mantras i... more The Vedas are India’s most ancient cultural texts. Most of us hear and recite the Veda mantras in daily worship and at times of various ceremonies in the family. But this is also a fact that not many people attempt to read the Vedas and understand the meaning, which is mainly because the knowledge of Sanskrit, and of Vedic Sanskrit at that is limited. The elaborate and complex structure and differing translations also make the study a daunting exercise. However, the AESI Conference devoted to ancient knowledge systems inspired the writer to study Sama Veda – the shortest one with its focus on music – which has been admired by Lord Krishna too. Reading it arouses admiration as also wide-eyed wonder for the multifarious knowledge contained in it about the Supreme spirit, cosmos, self and the relationship between the Almighty and being, in addition to the temporal knowledge of the society, administration, lifestyle, etc. of the Vedic times. At times, reading also perplexes one due to the obscurity of meaning or coherence, but the prayers not only for spiritual growth but also for scientific inclination, worldly wealth and success, couched in aesthetically appealing mantras fascinates one.

Reading Sama Veda Samhita...

Decolonising Indian mind...

Boletin de Literatura Oral, 2024

While the ostensible political colonization by the West mostly ended in the world long back, the ... more While the ostensible political colonization by the West mostly ended in the world long back, the subterranean cultural colonization of the ‘third world’ continues unabated, helped by the material success of the West and the inferiority complex present in the native intellectual class. In India, the impetus to shed the colonial baggage through re-writing of history and recovering ancient knowledge, which the postcolonial approach encouraged once, has become a bone of contention between the ruling and the opposing parties, but that is the tip of the iceberg if one considers the various forms of attack on Indian knowledge frameworks and ethos, and on the cultural unity of India. Rajiv Malhotra, a renowned Indologist and public intellectual, in his writings, draws attention to the colonial time plunder and re-branding of Indian knowledge systems according to what he terms as ‘predatory/digested cultures’ paradigm and details the subtle strategies being adopted even now by the West. My paper examines Malhotra’s findings on the basis of ground reality obtaining in India presently, interpolating it to the cultural (read political) theories through which the West intends homogenizing and hegemonizing the rest of the world and which needs to be challenged to thwart the repetition of colonial powerplay.

Working out Feminist Psychology in Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's 'The Palace of Illusions

Will China be given a clean chit

URI, May 15, 2021

Book Review of Saikat Majumdar's 'College: Pathways of Possibility

URI, Apr 22, 2019

Foreword' to Bride Swap

URI, Jun 1, 2019

Need to humanize medical profession

URI, Jul 1, 2019

Let's dispel Corona clouds of gloom through positivity

URI, May 8, 2021

Education of masses must for radical reforms

URI, Nov 3, 2020

Religion and Spirituality in Indian English Fiction

Social Science Research Network, Sep 1, 2020

Towards a crippled population

URI, Jun 1, 2019

Studies in Fiction Feminism Diaspora - India and Beyond

Salman Rushdie’s the golden house: classical worldview for postmodern times

Salman Rushdie's name has been identified with magic realism for so long, but it appears that as ... more Salman Rushdie's name has been identified with magic realism for so long, but it appears that as one gets older, the traditional patterns of life or literature pull one back. In his latest novel The Golden House, Rushdie has dropped his signature magic realism and dished out traditional realism. This is not to condemn conventional notion of realism, rather to uphold it as something that was envisioned as integral to the art of novel, way back in 18 th century England. The novel still has elements of postmodern style in so far as language and some of the narrative techniques like metanarrative reflexivity, ambivalence, obfuscation, multiple registers, high allusiveness, etc. are concerned. But so far as the thematics is concerned, Rushdie takes a firm stand rather than leave it open-ended. The villain of the piece, a Mumbai mafia don with links to terrorists gets poetic justice in the end. The notion of justice has always been upheld as a humanist ideal in Greek culture-the inspiration behind Western philosophy. That, incidentally, is also the gist of Indian poetics and philosophy. The Golden House, thus, marks a watershed in the creative career of Salman Rushdie and upholds the universal and eternal values, which are under attack from the postmodernists.

Will Jhumpa Lahiri overtake Salman Rushdie

The question ‘Will Jhumpa Lahiri overtake Salman Rushdie?’ which was thrown up for discussion by ... more The question ‘Will Jhumpa Lahiri overtake Salman Rushdie?’ which was thrown up for discussion by a recent newspaper article1 – even if not asked with the intent – does impel one to compare the two. And not merely the two, if one is to pass judgement or hazard a guess of this type, one has to be ready to compare Lahiri’s work with that of other leading lights of the day, for as T.S. Eliot said long ago, to a critic, the tools available essentially are comparison and analysis. My paper takes up the works of both these writers and tries to speculate on the issue.

Courts hold the only hope for patients

URI, Oct 1, 2018

Strategies of popular fiction: a study of the "3 Mistake of My Life

Chetan Bhagat&#39;s arrival at the Indian literary scene has been phenomenal, to say the leas... more Chetan Bhagat&#39;s arrival at the Indian literary scene has been phenomenal, to say the least. How he took the sales figures of Indian English novels from a few thousand to millions is a testimony to his popularity as also the impact that he had on the literary scene in India. Following him, hundreds of young writers have taken to writing fiction. To understand the mechanics of Bhagat&#39;s works, therefore, becomes interesting and enlightening. What my paper lays bare is the commonness of approach between his novel taken up here for study and the popular cinema.

White feet in black sandals: a study of magic Realism as the narrative mode in Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's The Mistress of Spices

Politico-literary response to terrorism: a study of Arundhati Roy's the ministry of utmost happiness

The Kashmir issue has been an apple of discord between India and Pakistan since the partition of ... more The Kashmir issue has been an apple of discord between India and Pakistan since the partition of the country in 1947. People have suffered due to politics which should otherwise have been instrumental in solving the conflict, mainly because of the intervention of terrorism. The Booker Prize awardee Arundhati Roy's latest novel The Ministry of Utmost Happiness has appeared after a gap of 20 years and touches upon this problem of the Indian subcontinent. On Booker's longlist again, this novel straddles the twin domains of politics and literature in that it airs the writer's political philosophy in her powerful narrative couched in rich language and a mocking style. My paper deconstructs the strategy adopted in the novel and also administers it a reality check which shows the writer's courage of conviction even as the narrative throws up more questions than it answers.

21st century Indian novel in English : emerging issues and challenges

Prestige eBooks, 2012

Examining Sex-Culture Dynamics: A Plea for Realism

Hermeneutics of the Body, 2021

The rising graph of crimes against women in society demands serious re-think about our social mor... more The rising graph of crimes against women in society demands serious re-think about our social mores and practices. The matter has acquired urgency in this age of free media and global cultural exchanges. An investigation into our own cultural baggage will reveal that Indian society was never in favour of repressed sexuality. History brought about changes in societal outlook which have become sacrosanct with the passage of time. We need to put things in proper perspective and legitimize spaces which give an outlet to repressed sexuality. That will not only help cure the problem of rising crime but also help a section of society that is more sinned against than sinning.

Indian Contribution to Contemporary English Literature

International Journal of English: Literature, Language & Skills, 2019

As we know, England is not the only place in the world where literature in English language is pr... more As we know, England is not the only place in the world where literature in English language is produced. India happens to be the third largest producer of books in English. Indians' contribution to English literature is significant considering the fact that post-1980 Salman Rushdie phenomenon; hundreds of writers have written novels in English. Quite a few of them have won awards at the international level. My paper classifies the themes of 327 novels written after 2000AD by Indian authors, residing in or out of India, and apart from underlining the issues taken up by these writers' deals in detail with three works by different authors, covering three important dimensions of Indian society, viz., youth, family and Diaspora.

THE ROLE OF ACADEMY, MEDIA AND POLITICS IN RESOLVING CULTURAL DIFFERENCES: A STUDY OF MULTICULTURAL SOCIETIES

Proceedings of the 46th IISES International Academic Conference, Rome, 2019

The tsunami of globalization in our times has brought about the interface of various cultures in ... more The tsunami of globalization in our times has brought about the interface of various cultures in the world. While the social and political actions taken in some countries in the interest of creation of a homogeneous multicultural society are appreciable, education in schools and colleges needs to be attuned to that end. Drawing primarily on the findings of sociologist Bhikhu Parekh and philosopher Martha Nussbaum, my paper discusses related issues and stresses the fact that the goal of a truly multicultural society may not be achievable on the basis of commonality of economic interests, but the appreciation and interiorization of the sentiment of vasudhaiv kutumbukam, i.e., all the world is one family, can certainly help mankind.

Indian English Fiction (2001-2020): History and Reflections

Atlantic Publishers and Distributors, 2021

This is my latest book on the subject of Indian English fiction. It presents the history of India... more This is my latest book on the subject of Indian English fiction. It presents the history of Indian English Fiction which has expanded exponentially during the preceding two decades of 21st century. Besides documenting more than 1400 novels published during this period, it comments on and categorizes around 400 of them.

What this Booker means for Indian Literature

The Literature Times, 2022

The excitement in India over the award of Booker prize to the Hindi writer Geetanjali Shree's nov... more