Jallianwala Bagh: Literary Responses in Prose & Poetry

Jallianwala Bagh massacre, the butchering of unarmed innocents, is a historic event that haunts the human mind even after the lapse of a century. 1650 rounds fired in a matter of ten minutes, the blocking of exits, preventing help reaching the injured are all acts of unmitigated bestiality.

Through a selection of prose and poetry – the direct outcome of this horrific event and an introduction that traces the history of events leading to the massacre – Rakhshanda Jalil, a literary historian and translator from Urdu and Hindi, attempts to open a window into the world of possibilities that literature offers to reflect, interpret and analyse events of momentous historical import. The selection offers ways of ‘seeing’ history, of exploring how an incident that stirred the conscience of millions, found its way through pen and paper to reach the nooks and crannies of popular imagination filtered through the mind of the creative writer.

The acknowledged doyens of Indian literature featured in this volume include Saadat Hasan Manto, Mulk Raj Anand, Krishan Chander, Abdullah Hussein, Bhisham Sahni, Ghulam Abbas, Subadhra Kumari Chauhan, Sarojini Naidu, Sohan Singh Misha, Muhammad Iqbal, Josh Malihabadi, Nanak Singh, to name a few. A collection that can pave the way for further research.

Rakhshanda Jalil

Rakhshanda Jalil writes on issues of literature, culture and heritage. She has published over 15 books, which includes two edited collections of short stories, Urdu Stories and a selection by Pakistani women called Neither Night Nor Day; two co-authored books with Mushirul Hasan, Partners in Freedom: Jamia Millia Islamia (Niyogi Books, 2006). She was co-editor of Third Frame, a journal devoted to literature, culture and society brought out by the Cambridge University Press. She has published six works of translations; the latest being Naked Voices & Other Stories by Saadat Hasan Manto; Panchlight and Other Stories by Hindi writer Phanishwarnath Renu. She runs an organization called Hindustani Awaz, devoted to the popularization of Hindi-Urdu literature and culture.