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Angaray

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First published in 1932, this slim volume of short stories created a firestorm of public outrage for its bold attack on the hypocrisy of conservative Islam and British colonialism. Inspired by British modernists like Woolf and Joyce as well as the Indian independence movement, the young writers who penned this collection—Sajjad Zaheer, Ahmed Ali, Rashid Jahan and Mahmud-uz-Zafar—were eager to revolutionize Urdu literature. Instead, they invited the wrath of the establishment: the book was burned in protest and then banned by the British authorities. Nevertheless, Angaaray spawned a new generation of Urdu writers and led to the formation of the Progressive Writers’ Association, whose members included, among others, stalwarts like Chughtai, Manto, Premchand and Faiz.
Translated into English for the first time, Angaaray retains the crackling energy and fiery polemic of the original stories. This edition also provides a compelling account of the furore surrounding this explosive collection.

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First published January 1, 1932

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About the author

Sajjad Zaheer

11 books8 followers
Syed Sajjad Zaheer (Urdu: سید سجاد ظہیر‎) (5 November 1899 – 13 September 1973) was an Urdu writer, Marxist ideologue and radical revolutionary who worked in both India and Pakistan. In the pre-independence era, he was a member of the Communist Party of India. Upon independence and partition, he moved to the newly created Pakistan and became a founding member of the Communist Party of Pakistan.

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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
Profile Image for Vishy.
804 reviews286 followers
July 12, 2024
I discovered 'Angaarey' by accident. It is a collection of 10 short stories originally written in Urdu. The writers featured in it are Sajjad Zaheer, Ahmed Ali, Rashid Jahan, and Mahmud-uz-Zafar. It was first published in Urdu in 1932, nearly a hundred years back.

The history of the book is very fascinating. When it was first published, it created a storm. People condemned it in articles and reviews, the government of that time banned it (India was under British rule at that time. So the government was British), and nearly all existing copies of the book were taken off the market by the police and burnt down. Five copies of the book were preserved and two of them were archived at the British government offices in London. This is censorship and book banning at its worst, of course. There were attempts to file a case against the featured writers and get them arrested. There were physical threats against Rashid Jahan, the only woman among the four writers. More than fifty years later, someone tracked one of those existent copies of the book and published the book again. There doesn't seem to have been a furore this second time. Now nearly a hundred years later, we have an English translation.

How can we resist a book which has this kind of backstory? 😊 I couldn't! So I got it and finished reading it in one breath. It is a slim book at around 150 pages, and the pages just fly when you are reading the stories.

Out of the ten stories in the book, five are by Sajjad Zaheer (he seems to have been the person instrumental in getting this book published), two are by Ahmed Ali (he is famous for his novel, 'Twilight in Delhi'), two are by Rashid Jahan, and one is by Mahmud-uz-Zafar. I enjoyed reading the book, though reading it nearly a hundred years later, it is hard to understand why it was so controversial, especially the depth of the opposition towards it. I could spot some controversial stuff in three of the stories, and I can imagine why people were against the book in those days. The introduction to the book by the translator Snehal Shingavi throws light behind the controversies and I could appreciate things better after reading it. What is the exact controversial stuff in the book and why it riled the people of that time so much, I'm not going to tell you about it. If I tell you, it will be like revealing the surprise in an Agatha Christie mystery 😊 You have to read the book and discover it yourself.

My favourite stories in the book were these –

'Dulari' by Sajjad Zaheer – it is about a maid who is almost like a slave in a rich person's household, and what happens to her when she no longer wants to be a slave

'A Night of Winter Rains' by Ahmed Ali – it is about a poor woman who is struggling with her children, and what she reminisces about during a rainy night. It is a heartbreaking story.

'In the Women's Quarters' by Rashid Jahan – it is a play about two women who are having a conversation about their lives in the women's quarters of a traditional Muslim household

'Virility' by Mahmud-uz-Zafar – it is about a man who returns back from abroad to take care of his wife who is ailing, but things don't go as planned.

I enjoyed reading 'Angaaray'. I'm glad I read it. One of the writers featured in the collection, Mahmud-uz-Zafar, wrote a letter to the newspaper after the book was banned. In that letter, he says –

"The authors of this book do not wish to make any apology for it. They leave it to float or sink of itself. They are not afraid of the consequences of having launched it. They only wish to defend 'the right of launching it and all other vessels like it' – they stand for the right of free criticism and free expression in all matters of the highest importance to the human race in general and the Indian people in particular...Whatever happens to the book or to the authors, we hope that others will not be discouraged."

Reading that passage, it felt like four small guys were going to war against the empire. But inspite of the might ranged against them, they stood their ground, and they refused to step back, and they looked at the empire in the eye, and they refused to blink. It was stirring stuff and it gave me goosebumps.

Have you read 'Angaaray'? What do you think about it?
Profile Image for Osama Siddique.
Author 14 books346 followers
November 7, 2020
One can well imagine why these short stories may have appeared like hot smoldering cinders to many at the time they appeared in 1932. They would be considered fairly combustible and hot to handle even today. They were decimated by many amongst the literati and intelligentsia who found them crude, amateurish and lacking any literary merit. Others, mostly the traditionalists and the pious, found them irreverent, degrading, obscene and even sacrilegious. They were banned under section 295-A by the colonial authorities - the same section that was to be further augmented and made more pernicious by Zia through addition of section 295-C. On the other hand, supporters of the anthology praised it for ushering in a new era of writing in Urdu that was steeped in realism, embraced stark and harsh realities of life as its themes, and directly mocked and questioned various hegemonies in the name of patriarchy, organized religion, class, an exploitative economic order and political system, and the overarching framework of colonialism.

It must have taken tremendous courage on part of the four young, well-educated and leftist/left-leaning intellectuals to write what they did. The stories are arguably polemical and largely lack finesse of craft or persuasive storytelling. Out of the ten stories Sajjad Zaheer contributed the bulk - five. Lives made miserable by poverty and the apathy of fellow-human beings, class divide and discrimination, the misuse of religion and divine retribution and reward to appease and distract those tormented by the dreadful inequities of life, the hypocrisy and lasciviousness of the religious clergy, the selfishness and pettiness that imbues everyday ordinary lives, and base exploitation of women of lower social class are the predominant themes of his stories. The stories often read like sketches and also employ the stream of consciousness method. The tone is often scathing and mocking and particularly bold about castigating colonial rule as well religious dogma and hegemony. If something could be at the very opposite end of the spectrum from the romantic and the picturesque, this is it. And very deliberately so.

Ahmad Ali contributed two stories - the same Ahmad Ali who later became well known for writing 'Twilight in Delhi.' He writes movingly about the inner turmoil of women married off young and thus deprived of realizing any opportunities of self-actualization and education; the perpetual torture of limiting, constraining and stifling marriages; and, total loss of any autonomy, self-reliance and independence on part of such women as well as the further ordeals of debilitating poverty.

Rasheed Jahan - the only female in the quartet - writes powerfully about the vulnerability and insecurity of women in an aggressive and often predatory male-dominated world, especially public spaces. She dwells also on the plight of those married off without any say in the matter and turned into long-suffering child-bearing machines, tormented in multiple physical and psychological ways. The story 'Parday Kai Peechay' (described as a One Act Play) is incredibly powerful and often graphic as it brings forth through two conversing women the multiple modes in which patriarchy and male domination subjugates and exploits women.

Mehmood-ul-Zafar's sole contribution explores women's bodies as the terrain and conduit for men to demonstrate their manliness and live up to prescribed gender and marital roles in society, regardless of sentiments, feelings and consent within relationships.

There is absolutely no doubt that the themes these stories explored were not just bold and ahead of their times but that they remain highly relevant and much more discussed, contested and central in current times. They ushered in the Progressive Writers' Movement which in turn attracted the allegiance and support (at several levels and greater and lesser intensity) from many literary luminaries. Anti-imperialism, left-leaning, radical, provocative, castigatory and questioning extant political, social and cultural attitudes it shook many pillars and triggered conversations and debates that grew and deepened and led to real change. This is an incredibly brave and pioneering text that is seminal and visionary in the literary and socio-political history of South Asia.

Published almost a century ago Angaray remains a seminal, visionary, bold and scathing text that questioned the hegemonies of colonialism, organized & clergy-driven religion, patriarchy, class and gender, and ruffled many feathers. Deliberately crude in style, basic, polemical, and unromantic, and often bitter and caustic, these stories ushered in the Progressive Writer's Movement and therefore have a pivotal importance in South Asian literary, political, intellectual and socio-cultural history. Yet even today the book is hard to find - both because we are not much into the history of ideas and also because for many - almost a hundred years later - the book may still be too hot to handle. Mercifully, it has been recently reprinted and should be regarded as an essential text for students, writers, historians and readers of some seriousness.
Profile Image for Keval.
166 reviews4 followers
December 22, 2014
This slim volume of short stories was thought to be bold for its time. I wouldn't be surprised if the bits that were deemed controversial or outrageous back in the 1930s would still ruffle feathers today. I'm glad I chanced upon this little gem. :)
Profile Image for Imaduddin Ahmed.
Author 1 book39 followers
June 8, 2014
A nice insight into the progressive writers' movement. At times amusing.
Profile Image for Raman.
22 reviews1 follower
March 5, 2021
The book is collection of short stories translated from Urdu. It was banned before independence, as it questions the society and attacks religious beliefs. The book was bold and ahead of its time which justifies its name "Angaaray".
But even after so many decades nothing much have changed, still religion is a sensitive topic, still we fight over religion, still its a male dominating society and we have to talk about women empowerment. Book made me wonder and question the progressiveness of the society.
Profile Image for Omer Farooq.
4 reviews1 follower
June 29, 2020
One would have thought that almost a century later things would have improved as far as state censorship and freedom of expression is concerned but in our ill-fated land of the pure one can not even think of creating another ‘Angaaray’ let alone publish it and bear the storm.
It is more a work of resistance than it is a work of art and it needs to be celebrated now more than ever, because the torch bearers of state and religious censorship have grown new teeth and resistance is the only answer.
Profile Image for Surbhi Gupta.
14 reviews1 follower
May 5, 2019
I tried. I really did. But, the translation was lost on me. 😐 Yet I went on to finish this book in hopes of getting to at least one story that would make reading this book a worthy effort. Barring one or two stories, none appealed to me.
Profile Image for Aritra  Dasgupta.
527 reviews12 followers
December 26, 2021
Ranking the Stories:
1. This Uproar, Too
This feels like the definitive story here, blitzing from one perspective to another, almost tying up all the themes we see here.
2. A Vision of Heaven
A lot of stories here suffer from way too contrived writing, but this in its simplistic style, is the most masterful, wonderfully showing the hypocrisy and delusion of the average zealously religious Muslim man.
3. A Night of Winter Rains
This is perhaps the most masterful attempt at a story. As the rains pour down during a harsh winter, through the broken roof of this poor family, the matriarch curses her fate and God. The father is absent and the little children are freezing to death, having to share one single wet quilt. Terrifically ambitious, would love to have seen this been executed better.
4. Dulari
A short and biting story of the hypocrisy of the Progressive Musalman, seducing the servant behind closed doors, then making her tend to his fiance and then shaming his parents for abusing her loss of reputation when she runs away in pain, never once caring for the actual heart of the slave girl.
5. Virility
A man, flamed by young passion, leaves his job and comes home to his ill bride, only to realise that they're strangers to each other. "Like two travellers on opposite sides of the same river." Though disgusted by the old traditions of the world he had left behind, he too partakes in the alcohol and debauchery. He takes on a mistress but refuses to get another wife. When questioned on his virility, he says that the wife is faking illness and makes her pregnant. Even when he realises his wife hates him as she lies dying in childbirth, like all men, he ignores his misdeeds and blames society and fate.
6. The Clouds aren't Coming
I was surprised to realise halfway through this story, that it was from a female viewpoint. She dreams of Heaven and all that is promised, even though no rain is in the horizon. It's a stream of consciousness narrative like a few others here and while the ideas are nice(thoughts about misogyny or the hypocrisy of faith I had as an angsty teenager), the execution is decidedly amateurish.
7. In the Women's Quarters
Two women discuss their lives and through it, we witness the rotten misogyny pervading Islam. It is mainly about one of the woman, whose husband impregnates her every year as she and the children turn sicker and sicker and the miscarriages increase. When the woman can't part her legs, he spends weeks at the brothel or lusting over another 20 year old cousin. He begs his wife to not only accept a second wife, but to find one for him. Like the sexism we see in real life, the woman blames the 20 year old for seducing her husband, even though she came to her first to sort this out. Yeah, men are disgusting, especially with all the entitlement they get and how much they get away with, especially especially when we have entire religions propping up their misdeeds as their right of way.
8. A Summer's Evening
One of the tamer stories, mainly about poverty and I guess the only one to have some Hindus as characters here, though the men here are just as awful, as they, like the Muslim men here through out, excitedly frequent brothels and keep mistresses.
9. Seeing the Sights in Delhi
I didn't really get the point of this story being here, except padding out the book. It contributes nothing of note thematically which hasn't been expressed before. The story is as boring as the life of the women in it.
10. Can't Sleep
Honestly, Angaraay begins with the worst story of them all, written by their most proficient writer. It rambles on about religion and oh the woe of man, he has to bear so much of the family brunt, women are so horrible(oh but no this is angsty barely veiled irony) as a poet mopes about his dead mother and his wife getting insulted and then he strangles someone to death or imagines it(? not sure) and then the story ends. Awful.

Angaaray is more important thematically than what it actually is. It's not perfect but it was probably the first time Muslim thinkers tried to pave an alternative way of writing, more experimental and varied in its themes, touching on society, the poor, the misogyny, the maulvis and so on. It was banned and one of the best sentences about all of this is in the letter the collective wrote in response, "Shall we submit to such gagging?" It was a cry of revolt, of the thinkers saying no more, of the start of a new dawn (of thought, at the very least) of equality. It may not have materialised as well as the writers had dreamed, but god this was important. This is History right here.
Profile Image for Hifza.
114 reviews
July 2, 2020
Urdu literature always felt like it wasn't for me. But this book feels like one of a kind.

The writing style was a huge "yes!" From me. Never have I read a Kafkaesque story in Urdu. All the little jabs at religion were thoroughly enjoyed. Reading men write stories from a female's perspective was also new.

None the less this book doesn't mention some new problems that we aren't aware of. But it does make you feel how little we as a society have achieved during the duration of its publication and today.
35 reviews2 followers
October 9, 2022
For all the introduction about the scandal that was angaaray during its time, the literary significance of each story was mixed. While Rashid Jahan's 'in the women's quarters' and Ahmed Ali's 'a night of winter rains' truly stood out for me, Sajjad Zaheer's pieces were very confusing or perhaps the meaning was just lost in translation.
Profile Image for Sookie.
1,320 reviews90 followers
April 3, 2021
after all these years, if a book like this were to publish, i believe we will have almost similar reaction.

to have it written and published in 1932 is pretty progressive and the heat the men and the woman received was incredibly problematic.
Profile Image for Abhijeeth Reddy.
193 reviews
September 5, 2021
Didn't meet up to my expectations. The material was explosive enough for the period - 1930's and some are still relevant and might start heated discussions, but overall it felt like it was missing in parts.
Profile Image for Saher.
69 reviews2 followers
September 2, 2022
Remarkable. I got a chance to read 'stream of consciousness' style in Urdu for the first time and it was a great experience. Every story in this collection was bold and provocative. The Drama Parday k Pichay is a master piece.
بہت عمدہ
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