Urdu Novel and Post Colonialism

18 Pages·2017·0.21 MB·English

by  Dr Almas Khan

Urdu Novel and Post Colonialism
Dr. Almas Khanum
Government College University Lahore,Pakistan
Abstract
The article explores a brief history of colonialism, its effect on Urdu prose especially on Urdu
novel. Main theme of this article is post-colonial Urdu Novel. Colonialism and Post Colonialism
are the worldwide issues of twentieth century. Especially literary critics, writers and poets drew
global attention on this important subject. In past colonialism was in different form ,today it
changed its form but rules, aims ,agenda and objectives are same as in past. The research topic is
related to British Colonialism in India. Therefore, this paper has reviewed the history of British
Colonialism and its effects. Urdu Literature also affected by British Colonialism. New types
were introduced in Urdu prose. Urdu Novel is a product of the British era in India. We can find
the discussions on post colonialism in the Urdu Novel.
keyword: British rule,Subcontinent,Urdu Novel,Post colonialism

Introduction
In the present era colonialism and post colonialism has not only become a vital term in
dictionaries, encyclopedias and Lexicons but preliminary enquiries have also been started about
it. There are worldwide discussions about it. What is Colonialism? There are various definitions
in dictionaries and encyclopedias. The simple definition has been given in Collin Cobuild
English Dictionary (1995) in these words:
“A colony is a country which is controlled by a more powerful country” (p.310. )
It is the quality of modern colonialism that new types of forces are discovered and by
their use new relations are designed. Hence this type of cultural situation flourished in which
power pervasive in the foundations, administrative structure and natural phenomena of this era.
(Nayer, 2013)
In the ancient era Colonialism was in different form. The strongest countries ruled over
the weakest to get the revenue or tax. But in the present era its new strategies are to indulge the
weak nations in inferiority complex. They have imprisoned them through their moral, religious,
cultural, mental and civilized behavior.
In the preface of “Wretched of the Earth” Jean-Paul Sartre (1961) described the agenda
of Post colonist’s in these words:
“Violence in the colonies does not only have for its aim the keeping of these enslaved
men at arm’s length; it seeks to dehumanize them. Everything will be done to wipe out their
traditions, to substitute our language for theirs and to destroy their culture without giving them
ours.”
It is the agenda of strongest countries to demolish the self-respect of weakest nations.
Their civilization becomes contemptible for them. Their culture should be swept out. All their
hopes and aspirations should come to an end. Hate is nourished in them for their own religion.
Their pride should be ruined. Their knowledge should be confined and identity must be
demolished. There must be an attack on their language. Their literature should be used to
strengthen the Colonialism. Their lives have been designed so miserable to them that they
consider themselves contemptible, humiliated and useless. Not only this generation but also their
successors should live under the thumb of colonizers. New settlers planned strategies and
policies to exploit the weak or frail countries. It is stated in The Concise Oxford Dictionary of
Current English (1990) as “A policy of acquiring or maintaining to this policy regarded as the
ESP. Economic exploitation of weak or backward people by a larger power” (p.222-223)
After fixing the definition of Colonialism, the question is raised about its history.
When did it come in to being in the modern form? What was the purpose and motive behind it?
What were the policies? Who designed the policies? What strategies were adopted to fortify it?
Which countries were changed into colonies by colonizers? How did they infuse their culture and
civilization in weak countries? How it turned into progress and how the tree became fruitful? We
can find some answers of the above mentioned questions in the description of Encyclopedia
Britannica.
According to Webster (2014) “Colonialism, western, a political-economic phenomenon
whereby various European nations explored, conquered, settled, and exploited large areas of the
world. The age of modern colonialism began about 1500, following the European discoveries of
a sea route around Africa’s southern coast (1488) and of America (1492).With these events sea
power shifted from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic and the emerging-nation state of Portugal,
Spain the Dutch Republic, France and England. By discovery, conquest and settlement these
nations expanded and colonized throughout the world, spreading European institution or
culture”. (p. 126237)
Under discussion topic is related to British Colonialism. So it is necessary to take a look about its
beginning in India. The history of British Colonialism is circumscribes more than 300 years.
Britain used ocean to form its colonies in Africa and Asia region. It entered through
trade, set its colonies and formed a huge army of slaves. It generated the seeds of inferiority
complex. The culture, traditions, customs, civilizations and the language of these regions were
made contemptible for them. As a result anxiety and delirium spread around. And it swept out
the modern colonialism.
Encyclopedia Britannica (1972) described the history of British Colonialism in detail.
According to Britannica “The Colonial period in United States history, from1607, when the first
permanent English colony was established to 1776, when the colonists declared their
independence from Britain, saw rough wilderness settlements grow into prosperous and
sophisticated provinces” (p.280 )
East India Company established in 1602 in India. In1757 Mir Jaffar played treachery with
Tipu Sultan and led the way to English Government to rule over India. English Imperialism took
a keen interest to bring the growing language Urdu in vogue .For its publication Fort William
College was situated in 1800.In 1837 Persian was demolished as official language. In 1857
Mughal Empire met with its doom. In 1858 East India Company was closed after achieving its
goal and Hindustan (India) was under the rule Queen Victoria. After 90 years struggle, in 1947
India succeed to get freedom from Britain domination. But Indian had to pay heavy debt for this
freedom. There was bloodshed of millions of people. Colonizers set off but there was the
devastation and destruction like Tsunami. When the writers and poets of Pakistan and India hold
their flags of freedom, they found themselves in the house of slavery. Poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz who
won the Lenon Piece award said:
Ye dagh dagh ujala,Ye shab-guzeeda Sahar
Vo intezar tha jis ka,Ye wo sahar to nahen
Anxiety, frustration, slavery, backward approach, frightfulness, inferiority complex, uncertainty,
insecure feelings, purposeless life, narrow-mindedness, repentance, greed and worldly gains
were the Ulcers destined to the Indians by British Imperialism.
Apparently the cause of Ulcer had been removed but the ailment is still out of healing. The
discussion on aftereffects of modern colonialism generates from this Ulcer.
Britain were busy to demolish colonies and colonists. They tried their best to silence the locals
but the writers and poets of colonies were engaged to describe the British dominance, philosophy
of Britain, clash of civilizations, problems of locals and Persecution of Britain. The literature in
which the problems, philosophy and opinions after the colonialism brings to discussion is called
The Literature of Post Colonialism. Edward Said has adjudged it Post Imperialism Literature. In
his two books “Orientalism” and “Culture and Imperialism” he has discussed it with logics. By
the reference of colonialism and post colonialism these two compositions are very important. In
the words of Said (1994) “The post-imperial writers of the Third world therefore bear their past
within them-as scars of humiliating wounds, as instigation for different practices, as potentially
revised vision of the past, tending toward a post-colonial feature, as urgently reinterpretable and
redeploy able experiences, in which the formerly silent native speaks and acts on territory
reclaimed as pan of a general movement of resistance, from the colonist” (p. 212)
According to Thieme (2000) Nevertheless ‘post-colonial’ has become the most widely
accepted descriptive Shorthand for referring to this group of literatures which contain much of
the finest writing being produced in the contemporary world. (p.1)
Wikipedia has post-colonialism definition more clearly ’Post-colonialism or postcolonial
studies is an academic discipline featuring methods of intellectual discourse that analyze,
explain, and respond to the cultural legacies of colonialism and imperialism, to the human
consequences of controlling a country and establishing settlers for the economic exploitation of
the native people and their land. … As a genre of contemporary history, post-colonialism
questions and reinvents the modes of cultural perception—the ways of viewing and of being. As
anthropology, post-colonialism records human relations among the colonial nations and
the subaltern peoples exploited by colonial rule. As critical theory, post-colonialism presents,
explains, and illustrates the ideology and the praxis of neocolonialism, with examples drawn
from the humanities—history and political science, philosophy and Marxist theory, sociology,
anthropology, and human geography; the cinema, religion, and theology; feminism, linguistics,
and postcolonial literature, of which the anti-conquest narrative genre presents the stories of
colonial subjugation of the subaltern man and woman’. (wiki)
Dennis Walder is critic of post-colonialism. He is described the theory of post-
colonialism in detailed in his article “Post-Colonial Theory” (Owens, 2009).“Post-colonial
theory is an area of literary criticism and cultural studies that has come into being in response to
(a) the post-war upsurge in literary creativity in countries formerly under colonial rule, (b) the
persistence of colonial, ‘neo-colonial’ or imperialist influence in the modern world and (c) by
analogy, the use of terms such as ‘post-structuralist’ and ‘postmodern’ to generate a challenge to
monolithic or universalist claims. The theoretical writings that fall into the category of ‘post-
colonial’ are engaged in the discovery or rediscovery of neglected texts, while analyzing the
forces which may be said to have marginalized them. They entered the intellectual agenda as part
of the ‘metropolitan’ left-wing response to the ‘Third World’ struggles of the 1950s onwards”.
(p .12)
In literature the crown goes to common wealth which started the discussions over post
colonialism. We can find its root to British Imperialism. Common Wealth was founded in
1949.The number of its members is 53 in which the countries of Africa, America, Asia and
Europe are included. Most of the countries of these continents have been victimized by British
Colonization. Hence all the matters and crisis were discussed in literature which was created by
colonizers. In the decade of 1950, the term of Common Wealth literature came into being which
led to the way to the literature of colonialism. Madson (1999) writes about this kind of literature
in his essay “Beyond the Common Wealth: Post colonialism and American Literature”. He said
that “It is obvious from its geo literary composition that the development of this body of writing
as post colonialism, arose out of earlier models of ‘Common Wealth Literature’ and the ‘New
Literature in English’ paradigms”. (p.1)
The Literature that was written in Middle East, Africa, New Zealand, Australia, America
and Indo Pak, it held the mirror not only against the deprivation, violence, transgressions, hatred
and disgrace but also expressed shrewdness, intrigues, conspiracies of colonizers.
Over the world this type of literature is mostly being written in English Language but we
can also find the loftiest specimen in local dialect. Indo Pak which was dominated by British
Imperialism for a long time, its writers and poets also wrote about post colonialism in Urdu. We
can find its examples especially in Urdu novels and short stories.
Urdu Novel
According to colonizers’ point of view literature has been playing a vital role to nourish
the approach to slavery. The colonizers have always used the language as their weapon. In India,
British used Urdu language as their tool. They took it out of the fort and gave it privilege to
every nook and corner to accomplish their goals. Persian was demolished as an official language.
The proverb ‘One who reads Persian, will not be succeed’ flourished. They discarded the
literature of Persian and fixed it as the creation of backward minds. English genres were not only
introduced but through this, different kind of literature was circulated. Before the arrival of
British in India, Prose was developing in the sense of myths and dictums. ‘In the age of
colonialism, Prose and poetic diction was introduced in Urdu like other local languages. For
instance, novel is the genre, came out of this age. If we take a look of the novel, we will find that
no doubt the body and origin is western but there is still the color and texture of east in it. There
is a compromise between western body and eastern matter. (Naeem, 2012) Its outfit is western
but the body and blood runs through its veins, is native and local. The plant, planted by British
Imperialism turned into a strong tree by absorbing the experiences confined for centuries, the
influence of various civilizations, social behaviors’ and the native culture. British Government
also declared the awards for the circulation of their “required” literature. The first novelist of
Urdu Nazeer Ahmed won many prizes on his initial work and his work was also translated in
English. The prizes and favours were in fact the proof that English Government was near to
accomplish its goals. But the creation of Nazeer Ahmed “Ibnulwaqt” was also the first narrative
on the topic of colonialism or post colonialism. The topic of “Ibnulwaqt” is west and
westernization. The name of the novel is the name of the hero ‘Ibnulwaqt’ who is badly
impressed by English civilization. He adopts the same appearance, living style and dressing. He
tries to prove him equaling the British. But for the British a slave or black skin is unbearable.
That is why he is humiliated and when he tries to come back to his people, he doesn’t find any
place. They disowned him. In this perception Nazeer Ahmed has mocked at the native man to
rush blindly to the footsteps of British and lost their own identity.
The characters of Nobel and Sharp symbolize the tendency of British Government
towards positive and negative. Hujjatul Islam is such type of character who is not against the
British but the British civilization. This conflict is in fact the conflict of two civilizations.
Fsana-e-Azad by Ratan Nath Sarshar was published a few years before the publication of
“Ibnulwaqt”. The first part of “Fasana-e-Azad” was published with the topic of ‘First class
gentleman’. The character of ‘gentleman’ is also impressed by British civilization likewise
‘Ibnulwaqt’. He is Thakur by caste. The journey from Thakur to Gentleman shows his passion to
join the race of first class gentleman when he thinks, will be the apple of British eye. But this
step snatches his identity from him. This was the tragedy which indulged the natives in an
emotional perplexity that they never came out of it. They are still facing the dilemma.”London ki
ak Raat” is a novel by Sajjad Zaheer (1936). In this novel there are a few Indian characters that
have a gathering in London. They bring different topics under their discussions as, the problems
and crisis of farmers and labourers and the perplexity of fuddle and capitalist are on the top of
the list.
Most of the topics are related to modern colonial system. The two characters Azam and
Rao have gone to London for the higher education. But they still feel themselves imprisoned.
They are not only aware of the present situation of their country but also feel bitterness in their
behavior due to this humiliation.
“Did you read today’s newspaper? There is again gunfire in India”. Azam didn’t read the
newspaper but he takes a look at advertisement. “It’s a routine now. We black men are like
insects. It certainly would be our folly. We Indian deserve it. We are mean, humiliated and
coward. We receive abuse but never abstain from British flattery. I will be the Barrister and you
the Engineer but in India, we both will remain natives. We will be kicked by the British but in
return always salute them as Master”. (Zaheer, 2001)
In 1947 Indian got the freedom from British. As a result of riots, millions of people were
killed. Who were survivors, they tried to take a sigh of relief in the atmosphere of freedom but
they found themselves in suffocation. This atmosphere of suffocation propagated many queries
that would be the topic of post colonialism. After partition, there were many novels in which
tried to solve the queries created by colonialism. British had gone but they created many
problems and crisis that are still chasing India and Pakistan like ghost. For this freedom Indians
had to move through the fire stream. These circumstances were the main topic of the novel.
Quratul Ain Haider had given the name “Aag Ka Darya” to her novel. Its beginning is from the
poem of T.S Eliot whose central idea is that; time is permanent and destructive like a river which
is taking corpse and carcasses with it. People change but pain remains still. In this novel
Quratuul Ain Hiader has presented the history based on 2500 years in front of us as a river of
fire. This is taking the corpse and carcasses with its flow and the hero Gotam Neelumbur is also
going through this journey to find out his roots. During this journey he passes by the era of
colonialism. Quratul Ain Haider has drawn various sketches of this age in different words and
situations.
“Suddenly two wheel open carriage stopped and coachman came out. There was a British
who was whipping and abusing a trespasser. This was the Mandy wan Cantonment. There were
British residencies, army mess, and church and army hospital. After beating the man bitterly,
British went off at his horse in the darkness” “They bite the hands, feed them.” Coachman Ganga
Deen said in anger.” (Haider, 2010)
“Scoundrels, bite the hands, feed them”. In a sentence novelist has expressed the bitter realities
of the century. We cannot deny the fact that the most important policy of British Imperialism
was to collect the wealth from the colonies and preserve it to Britain. And use it against Indians
by making them slave of British. British Colonialism nourished the colonization which was cross
breed. Its example was like a tree whose seeds came out at the native land but brought up by the
western manure. That is why the food was western by appearance but the taste was native. The
generation nourished by this fruit was bilingual, hypocrite and double faced .Quratul Ain writes
about this civilization: