Banned Literature: Angaaray (1932) and the Vision for Independent India

Abstract

In March 1933, on the behest of Muslim fundamentalist organizations in colonial India, the British government banned an Urdu short-story collection (9 short stories and 1 play) called Angaaray (1932; lit. burning coals), by four young writers, Sajjad Zaheer, Ahmed Ali, Rashid Jahan, and Mahmuduzzafar, who were all in their twenties. Angaaray was a radical work of literature in the short history of the Urdu short story that began in 1908 with Premchand’s first collection of short stories Soz-e-Watan (dirge of the nation). Angaaray attempted to radically alter the terrain of Urdu literature by proposing the need to eschew any belief in the hierarchy of representation in literature, that is, it is one of the first attempts in Urdu literature to allow the unfettered representation of any subject of literature, even God, without any need for reverence or respect. Angaaray attempted to point the way to the future of independent India, and dealt with subjects that were considered taboo and blasphemous, including discussions of God and his corruptibility, patriarchy, women’s sexuality and their bodies, poverty, and the like. Angaaray, in many respects, directly led to the formation of the Progressive Writers’ Association in 1936, whose writers in later years dealt with the same themes as Angaaray. This paper attempts to read the stories of Angaaray from a Rancierian lens, to suggest that by demolishing the idea of the hierarchies of representation in literature, of what can and cannot be spoken of in a democracy, Angaaray attempts to partake in the true task of “politics” according to the specific definition of the term by Jacques Ranciere. I will explore how the stories tried to chart the way for the ideals that independent India should aspire for, and set the stage for the formation of the Progressive Writers’ Association.