Author: Jhaverchand Meghani
Publisher: Sahitya Akademi
Year: 2002
Language: English
Pages: 250
ISBN/UPC (if available): 8126011742
Description
The Promised Hand (Vevishaal), an immensely popular Gujarati novel to this day, first appeared in weekly installments in the newspaper Phoolchhab and was published in book form in 1938.
Two small town merchant families pledge to marry their children Sukhlal and Sushila to each other when the two come of age. Before that happens, Sushila's family moves to Mumbai and strikes it rich. Champak Sheth, the patriarch of the rich family wants to get out of the promised alliance at any cost. Without taking sides, Vevishaal tells the story of the ensuing struggle between a wealthy, ruthless man and his presumed meek adversities. The showdown at the end of the narrative reveals all the principle characters at the heights of their build-up.
Vevishaal's presentation of a well developed and diverse set of characters is supplemented by vivid portrayals of the 1930s' lifestyles of Gujaratis in Mumbai and the small villages of Saurashtra.