Sensationalizing Hindi

Dwivedi’s attempt to sway his public through verbal and visual rhetoric is the primary focus of Chapter 1. Resorting to scaremongering and sensationalism, Dwivedi issues a variety of warnings concerning the fate of Hindi via a series of satirical literary cartoons. His concepts for the cartoons convey a literary-visual narrative in which obstacles to Hindi loom large and, unless appropriate measures are taken, foretell its doom. Dwivedi reproaches self-serving editors, dated patrons, foolhardy critics, and pandering authors; he also identifies specific adversaries to Hindi’s advancement both within and outside his field of influence. The cartoons vividly convey Dwivedi’s vision of a disparate Hindi public riddled by threats and his preferred agenda for progress. They represent a pioneering experiment in influencing public literary sentiment via a multimedia rhetorical strategy and signal the beginning of a new era in which Hindi literature moves forward in direct collaboration with visual content.