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Social radicalism in Urdu literature Reviewed by Randeep Wadehra
Conversely, Mann points out how progressive writers came together during the British Raj days and stirred up a largely inert literary scene through such nonconformist/unconformable works as Angaarey. A whole gamut of issues – from socio-economic equality to female sexuality – were investigated and expounded. Writers like Manto and Chugtai, and several others, broke social-literary taboos to highlight hypocrisies pock-marking the Indian society. Religious dogmas and the then existing societal as well as familial imperatives were challenged and debunked. Quite a significant section of Urdu writers focussed on emancipation and empowerment of women. Mann has taken great pains to research and systematically present the contribution made by Urdu literature towards introducing progressivism into the Indian society at a time when stagnation was holding up all forms of progress not just in the Indian Muslim society but beyond, too. A must read for all.
Albaruni was the first foreign chronicler to observe that Indians (Hindus) did not have a sense of chronology and did not keep proper records of events. Thereafter, several foreign, especially western, historians and their Indian camp followers have been reinforcing the idea of India’s poverty of ancient historiography. This was accepted as the universal and incontrovertible truth for a pretty long time. However, lately, Indologists – both foreign and Indian – are waking up to the idea of India’s unique way of preserving its history. It is true that most of our ancient history endured thanks to the oral traditions – which tend to amass myths with the passage of time, thus rendering the separation of facts from fiction a rather challenging if not impossible task. Nevertheless, Bhattacharya points out that the ancient Indians had strong historiography and recordkeeping traditions, as epitomised by Kalhana’s Rajatarangini and Chanakya’s Arthashastra; and a robust sense of chronology, too. Otherwise, how could they have divided time into various yugas, kalpas etc? Moreover, the Jyotish Shastra requires sophisticated calculation of time to the last truti. Bhattacharya has cogently countered some of the prevalent myths vis-`E0-vis India’s ancient traditions pertaining to recording of events although he points out that our sense of history focussed more on truth and didacticism than on data and reconstruction of past events. This book should be made a part of every university’s syllabi.
It is interesting how India retains its prominence in the mindscapes of most NRIs — even those who are second or third generation immigrants in the West. Giridharadas is one such. Son of a Tamil father and a Punjabi mother, the author was born and brought up in the USA. He came to India as a consultant but soon changed jobs to become a journalist. That was the time when the Indian economy was getting liberalised and its entrepreneurial genius was taking first tentative steps in the strangely new but conducive politico-economic environment. This book tells us of how
the youth, even in India’s small towns and villages, are keen on
acquiring the New Economy skills to climb the social ladder, despite
various constraints. While presenting a picture of resurgent India,
Giridharadas does not fail in pointing out the pitfalls.
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U
Understanding
Itihasa
India
Calling