KARACHI, Dec 29: Indian scholar Rakhshanda Jalil on Wednesday delivered a talk on the genesis of the progressive movement in Urdu literature with special reference to a collection of short stories, Angarey, which caused uproar in Indian society after its publication in Dec 1932.

“There was nothing irreligious or subversive about , but it managed to cause such furore in the 1930s that its copies were destroyed,” she said at her talk at the T2F.

Ms Jalil is director of media and culture at Jama Millia Islamia, New Delhi and is pursuing a PhD on the progressive writers movement and its impact on the national freedom struggle.

Dr Asif Farrukhi introduced the scholar to a rather sparse but discerning audience and spoke on the many works of translation and research that she has undertaken.

Talking about the collection of stories, Ms Jalil said four authors contributed to it — five stories by Sajjad Zaheer, two by Ahmed Ali, one by Mahmoodul Zafar and one story and a play by Rashid Jahan. She said at the time there was no facility of Xerox or electronic mail, so the controversy about it spread by word of mouth, suggesting that there were tales in it which would've put Islam in a bad light (Islam khatrey mein hai). She said there was nothing of that sort in it nor was there anything against the state, therefore the government didn't have to intervene. She said a couple of months later (in January or February 1933) a ruckus was created and a fatwa was given against it. Angarey

Ms Jalil mentioned one story in particular, titled Jannat Ki Basharat by Sajjad Zaheer, in which a maulvi falls asleep in sajda and sees a dream. She said it was a tongue-in-cheek story which contained nothing subversive. Then she told the gathering that on one of her visits to the British Library she chanced upon British intelligence reports and discovered that was banned along with 14 other books, which were all of political nature. She said the book was merely a critique of society. People were surprised that all four authors were Muslims and belonged to well-to-do, decent families, so why would they indulge in such an activity.

She said that the stories were in-your-face, but they were not written to create a fuss. Things had gone so awry with the book that no Muslim reader was willing to own it. She argued that the stories compiled wouldn't qualify as 'great literature' and had a raw feel to them. Angarey

Ms Jalil said Maulana Abdul Majid Daryabadi was at the forefront of the movement to ban . When the ban came into effect all but five copies of the book were burnt (three copies were kept in the National Archives and two at the British Library). She said the authors of the book then drafted an unapologetic letter published in April 1933 in The Leader (Allahabad), which led to the progressive writers manifesto and the progressive movement, the beginning of a new era. Angarey

In response to a question, Ms Jalil said all four writers were Muslims and wanted to speak against the social norms that they deemed wrong. She said had two distinctions: it was the first anthology of stories in Urdu and most of them were written using the stream-of-consciousness technique. She said the writers were aware of, and had read, the likes of James Joyce and Virginia Woolf, which was why they knew how to employ 'interior monologues' for their characters.

Ms Jalil said that in 1944 when the progressives brought a resolution against obscenity Hasrat Mohani, supported by Niaz Fatehpuri, vetoed it stating there was a fine line between 'elegant pornography' and 'obscenity'.

Responding to a question, she said the commonality that existed among all four writers was that they were in Lucknow at the time of the writing of the book. It was said during the discussion that perhaps the authors wanted to create literature that could raise the political consciousness of the readers.

The event was ably conducted by Dr Farrukhi.