>Gotitbro at 10:21, 9 March 2021

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{{short description|1932 Urdu short story collection}}
{{About|the 1932 volume|the 1954 film|Angarey (1954 film)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2020}}
'''Angarey''' or '''Angaaray''' (translated alternatively as "Embers" or "Burning Coals") is a collection of nine short stories and an one act play in [[Urdu]] by [[Sajjad Zaheer]], [[Rashid Jahan]], Mahmud-uz-Zafar and [[Ahmed Ali (writer)|Ahmed Ali]] first published in 1932 and generally considered to have marked the beginning of the [[Progressive Writers' Movement]] in [[Indian literature]]. The release of the book was marked by protests and it was subsequently banned by the government of the [[United Provinces of British India|United Provinces]] a few months after publication. <ref name=TheHindu>{{Cite news|last=Ravi|first=S.|date=2014-05-23|title=Blaze of two translations|language=en-IN|work=The Hindu|url=https://www.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/blaze-of-two-translations/article6040671.ece|access-date=2020-12-26|issn=0971-751X}}</ref><ref name=DailyPioneer>{{Cite web|last=Pioneer|first=The|title=A cut above the rest|url=https://www.dailypioneer.com/2014/vivacity/2014-06-06-50448.html|access-date=2020-12-26|website=The Pioneer|language=en}}</ref>

==Content==
The volume consists of nine short stories and an one-act play.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The literary forest fire that censors failed to extinguish|url=http://www.sunday-guardian.com/bookbeat/angarey|access-date=2020-12-26|website=www.sunday-guardian.com}}</ref>

* ''Garmiyon ki Ek Raat'' (A Summer Night) - Sajjad Zaheer
* ''Dulari'' - Sajjad Zaheer
* ''Jannat ki Basharat'' (Heaven Assured!) - Sajjad Zahir
* ''Neend Nahin Aati'' (Insomnia) Sajjad Zahir
* ''Phir Yeh Hungama'' (The Same Uproar, Once Again) - Sajjad Zahir
* ''Dilli ki Sair'' (A Trip to Delhi) - Rashid Jahan
* ''Jawanmardi'' (Masculinity) - Mahmud-uz-Zafar <ref group="note"> ''Jawanmardi'' was originally written by Mahmud-us-Zafar in English and was translated by Sajjad Zaheer to Urdu for this book .</ref>
* ''Badal Nahin Aate'' (The Clouds Don’t Come) - Ahmed Ali
* ''Muhavatton ki Ek Raat'' (A Night of Winter Rain) - Ahmed Ali <ref group="note"> ''Muhavatton ki Ek Raat'' was first published in the literary journal ''Humayun'' in January 1932 .</ref>
* ''Parde ke piche'' (Behind the Veil: A One Act Play) - Rashid Jahan

==Themes==
Sajjad Zaheer, Rashid Jahan, Ali Ahmed and Mahmud-uz-Zafar were all educated in [[University of Oxford|Oxford]] and were heavily inspired by the writings of [[James Joyce]], [[Virginia Woolf]] and [[D. H. Lawrence]] and in some cases from [[Marxist schools of thought|Marxist]] writings. They were not only critical of conservative elements within the Muslim community but also of the corrosive effects of [[British Raj|British imperial rule]] in India.<ref name=DailyPioneer /> The stories of Zaheer related enslavement to social and religious practice based on ignorance. They protested against the prevailing social, religious and political institutions and the economic inequality of the society.<ref name=Shabana/> Zaheer's stories also dealt with sexual desire and sexual repression and highlighted the ways that religious and social restrictions unnecessarily damage the human psyche.<ref name=EconomicTimes>{{Cite news|title=Banned Urdu short-story collection now in English|work=The Economic Times|url=https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/banned-urdu-short-story-collection-now-in-english/articleshow/34878395.cms?from=mdr|access-date=2020-12-26}}</ref> The stories of Rashid Jahan dealt with oppressive worlds of Muslim women and the outdated religious and social dogma their societies. <ref>{{Cite web|title=Syed Sajjad Zaheer – Sangat Book Review|url=http://www.sangatreview.org/blog/2014/12/03/syed-sajjad-zaheer/|access-date=2020-12-26|language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=Shabana/> Ali's stories delved primarily on the condition of women like poverty, domestic abuse, sexual desire and longing experienced by widows.<ref name=EconomicTimes/>

==Controversy==
===Reception===
Angaray was first published in December 1932 by the Nizami Press, [[Lucknow]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=Jalil|first=Rakhshanda|date=2017-11-05|title=Remembering writer and Progressive Writers’ Association founder Sajjad Zaheer|url=https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/people/remembering-writer-and-progressive-writers-association-founder-sajjad-zaheer|access-date=2020-12-26|website=National Herald|language=en}}</ref> The book created controversy in the [[Muslims|Muslim]] community of the [[British India]] upon its release and was met with outrage from both the religious and civil authorities. Newspapers and journals wrote angry editorials denouncing the book. Hindustan times carried an article ‘Urdu Pamphlet Denounced: Shias Gravely Upset' quoting an resolution passed by the [[All India Shia Political Conference|All India Shia Conference]] Lucknow condemning the publication of the book.<ref name=Shabana>{{Cite journal|last=Mahmud|first=Shabana|date=May 1996|title=Angāre and the Founding of the Progressive Writers' Association|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/313015?read-now=1&refreqid=excelsior%3A187b8a85ce51b78965c1e5357b177951&seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents|journal=Modern Asian Studies|volume=30. No.2|pages=447-467|via=JSTOR}}</ref> Agitations were held in Lucknow and [[Aligarh]] and the copies of the book were burnt in public.<ref name=KumarGirja>{{Cite book|last=Kumar|first=Girja|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n-KUICFfA00C&newbks=0&printsec=frontcover&pg=PA124&dq=in+defence+of+%22angaray%22+gagging&hl=en|title=The Book on Trial: Fundamentalism and Censorship in India|date=1997|page=124|publisher=Har-Anand Publications|isbn=978-81-241-0525-2|language=en}}</ref>
The book was reviewed by scholars and critics like [[Akhtar Hussain Raipuri]], Munshi Daya Narain Nigam and Muhammad Mujib of [[Jamia Millia Islamia]] who wrote detail critique on the book.<ref name=Shabana/><ref name=KumarGirja />

===Ban===
Four months after publication, on 15 March 1933, the book was banned by the government of the United Provinces under Section 295A of the [[Indian Penal Code]]. All but five copies were destroyed by the police, two of which were sent to British Library’s Oriental and [[India Office Records|India Office Collections]]. <ref name=TheHindu/>

However, even after Angarey was proscribed, the four authors refused to apologize for it. On 5 April 1933, Mahmud-uz-Zafar wrote an article, ‘In Defence of Angarey’ for ''[[The Leader (Allahabad newspaper)|The Leader]]'', a newspaper published from [[Allahabad]]. <ref name=AngarayText>{{Cite book|last=Ẓahīr|first=Sajjād|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=41mPoAEACAAJ&newbks=0&hl=en|title=Angarey: 9 Stories and a Play|date=2014|publisher=Rupa Publications India|isbn=978-81-291-3108-9|language=en}}</ref><ref name=KumarGirja/>The piece was also reproduced in some other papers, including the Hindustan Times. Subtitled ‘Shall We Submit to Gagging?’ it read:

<blockquote>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 happen to the book or to the authors, we hope that others will not be discouraged. Our practical proposal is the formation immediately of a League of Progressive Authors, which should bring forth similar collections from time to time both in English and the various vernaculars of our country. We appeal to all those who are interested in this idea to get in touch with us.<ref name=Shabana/></blockquote>

==Impact==
{{Main|Progressive Writers' Movement}}
The banning of Angaaray directly led to the formation of the All India Progressive Writers’ Association, which later attracted writers like [[Saadat Hasan Manto]], [[Ismat Chughtai]] and [[Faiz Ahmed Faiz]].<ref name=Scroll>{{Cite web|last=KK|first=Satyavrat|title=Why ‘Angaaray’ was banned (and what it could teach an Indian author about writing of women and sex)|url=http://scroll.in/article/818525/why-angaaray-was-banned-and-what-it-could-teach-an-indian-author-about-writing-of-women-and-sex|access-date=2020-12-26|website=Scroll.in|language=en-US}}</ref>

==Republication==
In 1987 the microfilm of the book was found to have been preserved in the [[British Museum]] in London and was brought back to India by Qamar Rais, the head of the Urdu department of [[Delhi University]]. The stories were then edited by [[Khalid Alvi]] and the book was published as Angarey in Urdu by Educational Publishing House, Delhi, in 1995.<ref name=AngarayText />

==Translation==
The book has been translated into English twice. The first translation, "Angarey" printed by [[Rupa Publications|Rupa]], is authored by Vibha S. Chauhan and Khalid Alvi. The second book titled "Angaaray" is translated by Snehal Shingavi, an academic at the University of Texas and printed by [[Penguin Books|Penguin]]. Both books were released in 2014.<ref name=TheHindu />

==References==
=== Notes ===
{{Reflist|group=note}}{{Notelist}}
===Citations===
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:Indian literature]]
[[Category:Urdu-language literature]]
[[Category:1932 books]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian books]]
[[Category:Uttar Pradesh in fiction]]

Angarey - Revision history

>Gotitbro at 10:21, 9 March 2021