Communilisation and Disintegration of Urdu in Anita Desai Incustody by Amina Yaqin
The Communalization and Disintegration of Urdu in Anita Desai’s In Custody 1
Introduction
T of Urdu in India is an extremely layered one which needs to be examined historically, politically and ideologically in order to grasp the various forces which have shaped its current perception as a sectarian language adopted by Indian Muslims, marking their separation from the national collectivity. In this article I wish to explore these themes through the lens of literature, specifically an Indian English novel about Urdu entitled In Custody by Anita Desai. Writing in the early s, Aijaz Ahmad was of the opinion that the teaching of English literature has created a body of English-speaking Indians who represent “the only” overarching national community with a common language, able to imagine themselves across the disparate nation as a “national literary intelligentsia” with “a shared body of knowledge, shared presumptions and a shared knowledge of mutual exchange” (, ).2 Arguably both Desai and Ahmad belong to this “intelligentsia” through the postcolonial secular English connection, but equally they are implicated in the discursive structures of cultural hegemony in civil society (Viswanathan , –; Rajan , –). However, it is not my intention to re-inscribe an authentic myth of origin about Indianness through linguistic associations,
An earlier version of this essay was first presented as a paper at the Minorities, Education and Language in st Century Indian Democracy—The Case of Urdu with Special Reference to Dr. Zakir Husain, Late President of India Conference held in Delhi, February . 2 See also chapter “‘Indian Literature’: Notes Toward the Definition of a Category,” in the same work, –.
1
A Y • but to critically assess the value of Anita Desai’s intervention in a communally charged Hindi-Urdu debate. The key questions I raise in this essay are about the kind of cultural
The Communalization and Disintegration of Urdu in Anita Desai’s In Custody 1
Introduction
T of Urdu in India is an extremely layered one which needs to be examined historically, politically and ideologically in order to grasp the various forces which have shaped its current perception as a sectarian language adopted by Indian Muslims, marking their separation from the national collectivity. In this article I wish to explore these themes through the lens of literature, specifically an Indian English novel about Urdu entitled In Custody by Anita Desai. Writing in the early s, Aijaz Ahmad was of the opinion that the teaching of English literature has created a body of English-speaking Indians who represent “the only” overarching national community with a common language, able to imagine themselves across the disparate nation as a “national literary intelligentsia” with “a shared body of knowledge, shared presumptions and a shared knowledge of mutual exchange” (, ).2 Arguably both Desai and Ahmad belong to this “intelligentsia” through the postcolonial secular English connection, but equally they are implicated in the discursive structures of cultural hegemony in civil society (Viswanathan , –; Rajan , –). However, it is not my intention to re-inscribe an authentic myth of origin about Indianness through linguistic associations,
An earlier version of this essay was first presented as a paper at the Minorities, Education and Language in st Century Indian Democracy—The Case of Urdu with Special Reference to Dr. Zakir Husain, Late President of India Conference held in Delhi, February . 2 See also chapter “‘Indian Literature’: Notes Toward the Definition of a Category,” in the same work, –.
1
A Y • but to critically assess the value of Anita Desai’s intervention in a communally charged Hindi-Urdu debate. The key questions I raise in this essay are about the kind of cultural
Cited: Ahmad, A. . Theory: Classes, Nations, Literatures. London and New York: Verso. ——. . Lineages of the Present: Political Essays. New Delhi: Tulika. Ali, Agha Shahid, ed. . Ravishing Disunities: Real Ghazals in English. Middleton, Conn.: Wesleyan University Press. Anderson, B. . Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. Rev. ed. London: Verso. Benjamin, W. . “On Some Motifs in Baudelaire.” In his Illuminations, edited and with an introduction by Hannah Arendt, translated by Harry Zohn. New York: Schocken. See Certeau (), where, in chapter , he discusses the dominance of a centralized culture which imposes itself as a singularity and expects celebration of “culture in the singular” in the twentieth century. 14 • T A U S Bhabha, H.K., ed. . Nation and Narration. London: Routledge. Bose, S., and A. Jalal. . Modern South Asia: History, Culture, Political Economy. London: Routledge. Brass, P. . Language, Religion and Politics in North India. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Certeau, M. de. . In Culture in the Plural, edited and with an introduction by Luce Giard; translated and with an afterword by Tom Conley. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Coppola, C. . Urdu Poetry: The Progressive Episode. Ph.D. diss., University of Chicago. Costa, M. . “Interview With Anita Desai.” . Desai, A. . Clear Light of Day. London: Penguin Books. ——. . In Custody. London: Penguin Books. Dryland, E. . Faiz Ahmad Faiz –: Urdu Poet of Social Realism. Lahore: Vanguard Books. Eagleton, T. .The Idea of Culture. Oxford: Blackwell. Fai¤, Fai¤ A√mad. . Pakist≥nµ Kal±ar aur Qaumµ TashakhkhuΩ kµ Tal≥sh (Pakistani Culture and the Search for National Character). Lahore: Ferozsons. Farouqui, Athar. . “Urdu Education in India: Four Representative States.” Economic and Political Weekly ( April): –. Gupta, J.D. . Language Conflict and National Development: Group Politics and National Language Policy in India . Berkeley and London: University of California Press. Hasan, K., ed. . The Unicorn and the Dancing Girl: Poems of Faiz Ahmad Faiz. Translated by Daud Kamal. London: Independent. Hasan, Z. . Quest for Power: Oppositional Movements and Post-Congress Politics in Uttar Pradesh. Delhi: Oxford University Press. Husain, I. . “Urd∑ k≥ Tehÿµbµ Miz≥j” (The Cultural Disposition of Urdu). The Annual of Urdu Studies :pt.: –. Jaffrelot, C. . “The Sangh Parivar Between Sanskritization and Social Engineering.” In The BJP and the Compulsions of Politics in India. Edited by Thomas Blom Hansen & Christophe Jaffrelot. Delhi: Oxford University Press. Kiernan, V., ed. and trans. . Poems by Faiz. Lahore: Vanguard Books. Khilnani, S. . The Idea of India. London: Penguin Books. King, C. . One Language, Two Scripts: The Hindi Movement in Nineteenth Century North India. Delhi: Oxford University Press. Latifi, D. . “Urdu in UP.” Nation and the World ( August): –. Lee, C. . “‘Hit It With a Stick and It Won’t Die’: Urdu Language and Muslim Identity and Poetry in Varanasi, India.” The Annual Of Urdu Studies :pt.: –. A Y • Lelyveld, D. . “The Fate of Hindustani: Colonial Knowledge and the Project of a National Language.” In Orientalism and the Postcolonial Predicament: Perspectives on South Asia. Edited by Carole Breckenridge and Peter van der Veer. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. Narang, G.C. . Urdu Language and Literature: Critical Perspectives. New Delhi: Sterling. Rai, Amrit. . A House Divided: The Origin and Development of Hindi-Urdu. Delhi: Oxford University Press. Rajan, R.S. . The Lie of the Land: English Literary Studies in India. New Delhi: Oxford University Press. Robinson, F. . Separatism Among Indian Muslims: The Politics of the United Provinces’ Muslims –. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Said, E.W. . Culture and Imperialism. London: Chatto & Windus. Shackle C. and R. Snell. , Hindi and Urdu Since : A Common Reader. London: University of London, School of Oriental and African Studies. Viswanathan, G. . Masks of Conquest: Literary Study and British Rule in India. London: Faber & Faber.