Manto at 100

Now that we celebrate Manto’s 100th birthday, acknowledging his contributions to Urdu literature and his gifts to humanity, we also need to acknowledge the harsh judgments he endured

Saadat Hasan Manto (May 11, 1912-Jan 18, 1955) was a care-free youth who as a teenager idolized legendary freedom fighter Bhagat Singh. Born in a village in the Punjab of a Kashmiri Muslim family, he was engaged at school more often in day dreaming as a rebel than in paying attention to his studies. He had little interest in academic achievements; no wonder he failed twice in his matriculation examination.

But after his father’s death in 1932, when Manto was 20, he had to take life seriously as he had to be the family financial support. However, he did not want to work at a ‘regular’ job. Like many creative youth, he knew what he did not want but was unsure about what he wanted.

At this time he was fortunate to meet Abdul Bari Alig, a Marxist scholar and writer, who took Manto under his wing, and encouraged him to translate world-famous writers into Urdu. Manto took his advice and began translating Russian writers like Anton Chekhov and Maxim Gorky, and Western ones like Oscar Wilde and Guy de Maupaussant. His translation of Oscar Wilde’s Vera caught the attention of literary circles. His translation of Chekhov’s Rusi Afsane (Russian Stories) established him as a serious translator.

Translating world literature in Urdu encouraged Manto to pen his own stories. His first, “Tamasha” (“The Show”), was inspired by the April 1919 tragedy of Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar. English colonial authorities fired upon a gathering of about 20,000 Indians who were agitating for Indian independence. Thirteen hundred, mostly Sikh, were killed and hundreds more injured.

He continued to write stories and by the age of 24 published his first collection of stories, Atish Pare [Sparks]. Manto then moved to Bombay and wrote for film magazines and films, including “Kishan Kanhaya” [Krishan’s Girl] and “Apni Nagariy” [Our own land].

In 1941 he moved to Delhi and began working for the Urdu Service of All India Radio. Over the next 18 months he published four collections of his plays while continuing to write short stories. This was to be the most productive period in his short life.

The following year he returned to Bombay and screenwriting. During this period he wrote the film script “Mirza Ghalib.” He began writing the stories--“Dhuan” (“Smoke”) “Bu” (“Smell”) and “Kali Shalwar” (“The Black Shalwar”)--that brought him fame but also charges of vulgarity. He was forced to face a court trial.

After partition he sent his family to Lahore and joined them a year later, living there until his death in 1955. Many of his friends in Bombay advised him not to leave as the film industry in Pakistan was severely affected by the partition of India. In truth he was not as happy in Lahore as he had been in Bombay.

As a writer Manto was not interested in the bright and happy side of life. His writing reflected the dark side of life and humanity. When people reacted to his disturbing and distressing writings, he stated, “If you find my stories dirty, the society you are living in is dirty. With my stories, I only expose the truth” (Ref 1).

After his stories, particularly “Khol Do” (“Open it”) and “Thanda Gosht” (“Cold Meat”), were published, traditionalists and conservatives denounced him and his writings. In fact many magazine editors refused to publish his stories. Those who supported him, and published his stories, include Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi, Arif Abdul Mateen, Hajira Masroor and Ismat Chughtai.

At the same time Manto was also criticized by Communist writers like Sajjad Zaheer and Ali Sardar Jafri. Zaheer wrote about “Bu”: “I once said to Manto myself that his story ‘Bu’ was a very painful and stupid story, because the portrayal of the sexual perversions of a satisfied member of the middle class, no matter how much reality it is based on, is a waste of the writer’s and reader’s time, and, in fact, it is as much an expression of escape from the most important demands of life as old fashioned reactionism” (Ref 2, p 28).

Similarly Ali Sardar Jafri, in Taraqqi Pasand Adab characterizes “…Krishan Chander’s stories and Asrar ul Haq Majaz’s and Faiz’s poetry as lovely and chaste literature, while Manto’s ‘Bu’ and N. M. Rashid’s ‘Intiqam’ [‘Revenge’] in his view are sick, wounded and reactionary pieces” (Ibid).

He concludes by comparing Manto’s and Chander’s stories: “Manto’s heroes are mutilated men; therefore they cannot be representative, because they cannot represent the evolution of life. Krishan’s heroes are courageous and conscious builders of life. They express evolution; therefore they are representative” (Ref 2, p 29).

Manto was taken to court six times on the charge of obscene writing, but never convicted. He defended his writings, stating that he wrote to expose injustice and dehumanization. His writings were more of a documentary protest than vulgarity. He insisted that he was not perverted, and felt that those who found sexual pleasure in his writings were mentally sick.

Manto faced all those criticisms and judgments boldly but eventually he became depressed and disillusioned and started drinking heavily. His drinking affected not only his mood but also his mental faculties. His drinking was so severe he began vomiting blood. He felt he was losing his mind, and repeatedly tried to commit suicide. At one stage he was admitted to the mental asylum, where he wrote his masterpiece “Toba Tek Singh.” Unfortunately he died at the young age of 42 from cirrhosis of the liver, caused by his drinking. He left behind a wife and three daughters.

Now that we celebrate Manto’s 100th birthday, acknowledging his contributions to Urdu literature and his gifts to humanity, we also need to acknowledge the harsh judgments he endured. Manto’s critics were committed ideologues of both the right and the left while he was committed to humanity.

REFERENCES

1.   Wikipedia Saadat Hasan Minto, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saadat_Hasan_Mant.

2.   The Life and Works of Saadat Hasan Manto. Introduction by Leslie Flemming; translation by Tahira Naqvi. Lahore, Pakistan: Vanguard Books Ltd., 1985.