South Asian Literature: The Identity Politics of Iqbal, Manto

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South Asian Literature The Identity Politics of
Iqbal, Manto Lahiri

• Omer Bajwa
• Cornell University
• osb4_at_cornell.edu

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1947 Partition of India Pakistan

• Creation of India Pakistan on August 15, 1947
  from the British Commonwealth
• Struggle between factions in Indian nationalist
  movement, especially Indian National Congress,
  for control of movement
• Muslims felt threatened by Hindu majorities.
  Hindus felt that nationalist leaders were
  coddling the minority Muslims and slighting the
  majority Hindus

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1947 Partition

• 1930 All India Muslim League (AIML) convention
  Muslim poet Muhammad Iqbal said he felt a
  separate nation for Muslims was essential in an
  otherwise Hindu-dominated subcontinent
  Two-Nation Theory
• 1937 Hindu nationalist Veer Savarkar said,
• India cannot be assumed today to be Unitarian
  and homogeneous nation, but on the contrary there
  are two nations in the main - the Hindus and the
  Muslims.
• 1940 AIML convention Muslim politician Muhammad
  Ali Jinnah said,
• "The Hindus and the Muslims belong to two
  different religions, philosophies, social customs
  and literatureTo yoke together two such nations
  under a single state, one as a numerical minority
  and the other as a majority, must lead to growing
  discontent and final destruction of any fabric
  that may be so built up for the government of
  such a state.
• Creation of Pakistan (8/14/47) India (8/15/47)
• Orgy of Violence millions died in riots /
  massacres millions more displaced
• Largest population movement in recorded history
• Major traumatic event in South Asian history

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Muhammad Iqbal

• Greatest Muslim philosopher-poet of 20th century
• Born in Kashmiri family in Punjab in 1877
• Studied philosophy, Arabic English Lit.
  Influenced by Nietzsche, Goethe Rumi
• Wrote religious political philosophy poetry
  in Urdu Persian
• Proponent of political spiritual revival of
  Islamic civilization

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Muhammad Iqbal

• Encourages political rejuvenation and empowerment
  of the Ummah (global Muslim community)
• Colonized by West, the Ummah suffers from
  inferiority complex, slavish mentality learnt
  helplessness
• Teaches spiritual direction and development of
  human society
• Laments Wests loss of spiritual religious
  values because of its selfish materialism
  secular capitalism
• Free Ummah from shackles of sect, caste, race,
  gender to unite
• Wants to restore original dynamism of Islams
  universal message of peace with justice through
  reforming fossilized theological thinking
• Concept of Khudi or Self Strong will healthy
  self-conscious Self-realization self-knowledge
  Independence
• Offers universal message of hope revitalization
  of civilization

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Sadaat Hasan Manto

• Most widely read controversial Urdu short-story
  writer of 20th century
• Born in Muslim Kashmiri family in 1912 in Punjab
• Lived in Bombay as screenwriter but moved to
  Lahore, Pakistan after 1947 Partition
• Published 22 collections of short stories, 7
  collections of radio plays, 3 collections of
  essays 1 novel
• Died in poverty in 1955 of liver cirrhosis
• Wrote about social taboos in South Asian society
  socio-economic injustice, love, sex, incest,
  prostitution, hypocrisy

"If you find my stories dirty, the society you
are living in is dirty. With my stories, I only
expose the truth."
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Mantos writing

• Exposes hollowness of middle-class morality
• Characters usually from fallen rejected lower
  strata of society
• Characters condemned to sordid existence but
  transcend it he doesnt lament their loss of
  innocence
• Unmasks hypocrisies of conservative custodians
  of society (i.e., religious establishment) that
  oppress degrade women with their moral homilies
• Holds mirror of life before reader
• But not preachy or didactic because he takes no
  sides
• Depicts pathos of communal strife from Partition
  women usually victims of rape murder

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Mantos Writing

• His subjects themes marked by originality
  scathing criticism
• Focused on storys structure finely thought out
  details
• Influenced by Guy de Maupassant, so shocking
  surprising endings
• His stories branded pornographic lewd so hes
  charged several times with purveying indecent
  material
• Toba Tek Singh masterpiece about tragic theme
  of horrors of separation (Partition) that uses
  lunatics between India Pakistan

Toba Tek Singh lay in the middle, on a piece of
land that had no name.
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Jhumpa Lahiri

• Contemporary Indian-American writer
• Born in Bengali family in London in 1967, but
  raised in Rhode Island
• BA English Lit. (Barnard College) MAs in
  English, Creative Writing, Comp Lit. PhD
  Renaissance Studies (Boston University)
• 2000 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for Interpreter
  of Maladies
• 2003 Acclaimed bestselling 1st novel The
  Namesake (film release Nov. 2006)

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Interpreter of Maladies

• Collection of 9 short stories about
  Indian-American life
• Themes marital difficulties, class conflict,
  gender roles, disconnect between 1st 2nd
  generation Indian immigrants in US set in
  Northeast
• Essence the dilemma, the difficulty, and often
  the impossibility of communicating emotional pain
  and affliction to others, as well as expressing
  it to ourselves.
• Absence of belonging idea of exile
• Effects of displacement in Diaspora
• Issues of alienation, loneliness identity
• Characters exist simultaneously in two cultures
  the American reality and the sphere of Indian
  tradition
• Study Guide

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Recommended Resources

• Exploring South Asia Physical Cultural
  Geography
• South Asian History Colonial India
• Allama Iqbal Academy
• The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in
  Islam (1930) by Muhammad Iqbal
• Kingdoms End and Other Stories (1987) by
  Sadaat Manto
• The God of Small Things (1988) by Arundhati Roy
• The Kite Runner (2004) by Khaled Hosseini
• Film Earth (1998) by Deepa Mehta
• South Asian Web Guides at UC Berkeley
• South Asian Literature Sources at Columbia
• South Asia Program at Cornell