Saadat Hasan Manto | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Native name | سعادت حسن منٹو |
| Born | (1912-05-11)11 May 1912 |
| Died | 18 January 1955(1955-01-18) (aged 42) |
| Resting place | Miani Sahib Graveyard, Lahore |
| Occupation |
|
| Citizenship | British subject (1912–1948) Pakistani (1948–1955) |
| Period | 1934–1955 |
| Genre |
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| Years active | 1933-1955 |
| Notable works |
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| Notable awards | Nishan-e-Imtiaz Award (Order of Excellence) in 2012 (posthumous) |
| Spouse | Safia Manto |
| Children | Nighat Manto Nusrat Manto Nuzhat Manto |
| Relatives | Saifuddin Kichlu Masood Parvez[1] Abid Hassan Minto Ayesha Jalal |
Saadat Hasan Manto[a]NI (11 May 1912 – 18 January 1955) was a Pakistani writer, playwright and novelist fromPunjab, who is regarded as the greatestshort-story author inUrdu literature. He was active from 1933 duringBritish rule till his death in 1955 afterindependence.[2][3][4]
Writing mainly inUrdu, he produced 22 collections of short stories, a novel, five series of radio plays, three collections of essays, and two collections of personal sketches. His best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics.[5][6] He is best known for his stories about thepartition of India, which heopposed, immediately following independence in 1947.[7][8] Manto's most notable work has been archived byRekhta.[9]
Manto was tried six times for alleged obscenity in his writings; thrice before 1947 inBritish India, and thrice after independence in 1947 inPakistan, but was never convicted.[10] He is acknowledged as one of the finest 20th-centuryUrdu writers and is the subject of two biographical films: the 2015 filmManto, directed bySarmad Khoosat and the 2018 filmManto, directed byNandita Das.[11]
Manto was born in the lateBritish Raj at Paprodi village ofSamrala in theLudhiana district ofBritish Punjab into aPunjabi Muslim family withKashmiri ancestry on 11 May 1912. His trading family had settled inAmritsar in the early-nineteenth century and taken up the legal profession, with most in his family being barristers at the time of his birth. His father, Khwaja Ghulam Hasan, was a session judge of a local court. His mother, Sardar Begum, was ofPashtun ancestry and was the second wife of his father.[12] Identifying as both Punjabi and Kashmiri, he claimed allegiance to his native Punjab and infamously remarked "Behind my Urdu, it's the Punjabi tongue that speaks" and upon his writing being accused of being obscene, he remarked "We Punjabis are madmen, but pure of heart"; and, in a letter toJawaharlal Nehru, suggested that being 'beautiful' was the second meaning of being 'Kashmiri'.[13][14]
He received his early education at a Muslim High School inAmritsar where he twice failed his matriculation examination.[15] In 1931, he took admission at the Hindu Sabha College but dropped out after the first year due to poor results.[16]
The big turning point in his life came in 1933, at age 21, when he met Abdul Bari Alig, a scholar and polemic writer who encouraged him to find his true talents and read Russian and French authors.[17] Bari also encouraged Manto to translateVictor Hugo'sThe Last Day of a Condemned Man into Urdu which was later published by Urdu Book Stall, Lahore asSarguzasht-e-Aseer (A Prisoner's Story).[18] He then translatedOscar Wilde’sVera into Urdu in 1934.[19] He published his first original story in Urdu,Tamasha (Spectacle) under a pseudonym in Abdul Bari Alig's Urdu newspaperKhalq (Creation). It was based on theJallianwala Bagh massacre.[20] During this period he contributed to the daily newspaperMusawat, (Equality) andEhsan (Kindness), both published from Amritsar.[20] He also edited and translated Russian and French stories for the journalsAlamgir andHumayun.[21][22] On Bari's encouragement, these Russian stories were then published in Lahore under the title,Rusi Afsanay (Russian Stories). The collection included stories from Tolstoy, Gorky, and Chekhov and two of Manto's original stories,Tamasha (Spectacle) andMahigir (Fisherman).[22]
This heightened enthusiasm pushed Manto to pursue graduation atAligarh Muslim University, which he joined in July 1934, and soon got associated with the literary circle who would later become members of theIndian Progressive Writers' Association (IPWA).[23] It was here that he met writerAli Sardar Jafri and found a new spurt in his writing. His second story, "Inqlaab Pasand", was published in Aligarh magazine in March 1935.[24] His education at Aligarh was cut short when, nine months into joining the university, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis. He spent the next three months at a sanatorium atBatote inKashmir to regain his health and then returned home to Amritsar.[25]
After a brief stay in Amritsar, Manto moved to Lahore in search of employment and joined the newspaperParas (Philosopher's Stone). In 1936, at Lahore, he published his first collection of original short storiesAtish Paray (Nuggets of Fire).[26]
In late 1936, he moved toBombay when he received an invitation to edit the weeklyMussawir (Painter).[26]
In Bombay, Manto started his work as an editor ofMussawir along with Nazir Ludhianvi and the magazineSamaj (Society). He also started to write dialogues and scripts for theHindi film industry, working first for the Imperial Film Company and then for Saroj Movietone.[27] His films during this period include the 1940 filmApni Nagariya.[28] He wrote many radio plays includingAo Radio Sunen (Come, Let's Listen to Radio) andQalopatrah ki maut (Cleopatra's Death).[29] In Bombay, he also came in contact with theProgressive Writers' Association and became friendly with progressive writers likeKrishan Chander,Rajinder Singh Bedi andAhmad Nadeem Qasmi.[29]
In 1940 he published his second collection of short storiesManto Ke Afsanay (Stories of Manto) from Lahore.[30]
In August 1940, he was dismissed from the editorship ofMusawwir and started working for another magazine calledKarwan (Caravan) at a lower salary. Dissatisfied with his work, he applied toKrishan Chander for a job withAll India Radio in Delhi. Subsequently, he moved to Delhi in January 1941 and accepted the job of writing for the Urdu Service ofAll India Radio.[31]
Manto joined All India Radio in early 1941 and became acquainted with many writers working there, such asChiragh Hasan Hasrat,Akhtar Hussain Raipuri, Ansar Nasiri, Mahmud Nizami,Meeraji andUpendranath Ashk.[31]
This proved to be his most productive period as in the next eighteen months he published over four collections of radio plays,Aao (Come),Manto ke Drame (Manto's Dramas),Janaze (Funerals) andTeen Auraten (Three women). He continued to write short stories, and his next short story collectionDhuan (Smoke) was soon out, followed by his first collection of topical essays,Manto ke Mazamin. This period culminated with the publication of his mixed collectionAfsane aur Dramey in 1943.[32] Meanwhile, due to growing differences with his colleagues atAll India Radio, he left his job and returned to Bombay in July 1942 and again started working with the film industry.[33]
Manto returned to Bombay in July 1942 and rejoined as the editor ofMusawwir. During this time, he associated with his Aligarh friendShaheed Latif and his wifeIsmat Chughtai. In 1942, on Latif's invitation, he joined theFilmistan studio.[31] Here he also formed friendship withAshok Kumar[34] and entered his best phase in screenwriting giving films likeAatth Din,Chal Chal Re Naujawan andMirza Ghalib, which was finally released in 1954.[28][35] He also wroteShikari. Some of his short stories also came from this phase, including Kaali Shalwar (1941), Dhuan (1941), and Bu (1945), which was published in Qaumi Jang (Bombay) in February 1945. Another highlight of his second phase in Bombay was the publication of a collection of his stories, Chugad, which also included the story 'Babu Gopinath'.[36] Dissatisfied with the people at Filmistan, he joined theBombay Talkies in 1947, after the partition of India.[37]
As a resident of Bombay, Manto had intended to stay in India afterpartition. In 1948, his wife and children went to Lahore to visit their relatives and friends. During this time, as stories of the atrocities ofpartition riots reached him, in the midst of occasional communal riots in Bombay itself, he decided to migrate to Pakistan, and left for it by ship.[37] He stayed a few days in Karachi, finally settling at Lahore with his family.[38] Manto and his family thus found themselves as "muhajirs" (refugees from India) and were among the millions of Muslims who left present-day India for the new Muslim-majority nation of Pakistan.[39]
When Manto arrived in Lahore from Bombay, he associated with several intellectuals at Lahore'sPak Tea House. According to one commentator: "There was absolutely no external influence and people would share their opinions on any subject without fear even during the military dictators' regimes."[40] In Lahore, Manto lived with his wife and family in an apartment inLakshmi Building located in Lahore's famous Lakshmi Chowk (where many Film Distributors had offices) at the juncture of McLeod Road and Abbott Road.[41] Lakshmi Building no longer exists as such but only its front or facade has been renovated and still faces McLeod Road. Lakshmi Building was abandoned during thepartition riots of 1947-48 in Lahore. The mansion is currently dilapidated and uninhabited, though its façade still exists, renovated and painted.[42][43] Later on, when Manto's financial situation went from bad to worse, he and his family moved in with his wife, Mrs. Safia Manto's extended family. This was Manto's extended family as well, including his relatives, Film Director Masud Pervaiz, and Cricket Commentator Hamid Jalal. Manto, Safia Manto and their three daughters all lived with their extended family in a large apartment in the posh LAKSHMI MANSION, an Apartment Complex situated between Hall Road and Beadon Road[44] which had a circular enclosed green space with a Peepal Tree where the other Apartment residents included Mani Shankar Ayyar and the renowned Lahore jeweller Girdhari Lal. The three-story building was built byLala Lajpat Rai's Lakshmi insurance company in 1938, inaugurated bySarojini Naidu, and was at one time the residence of K.Santhanam, an eminent lawyer.[45] Lakshmi Mansion still exists in Lahore and was never abandoned. Later residents have included a former Speaker ofPakistan's National Assembly and Pakistan Peoples Party stalwart Malik Meraj Khalid.
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Manto had suffered public trials mainly on the charge of writing obscene literature in the newly created and increasingly Islamized Pakistan. Sessions Judge Munir presided over Manto's last trial in Lahore, and he is the infamous judge who later becameJustice Munir, Chief Justice of Pakistan Supreme Court, and who invented the Doctrine of Necessity alias Nazria-e-Zaroorat in later years to buttress martial law in Pakistan. In this trial in Lahore against Manto,Faiz Ahmad Faiz,M.D. Taseer and many literary celebrities testified in favor of Manto. Manto's trial ended with a warning from Sessions Judge Munir that he was being let off easy with just a fine but would be sent to jail for many years if he did not stop writing his provocative short stories. So, Manto could not write his novel and cutting-edge short stories.[46] Manto sank into depression. He tried to alleviate his depression with alcohol, and this started affecting his liver and led to cirrhosis of the liver, with him vomiting blood. His wife and relatives tried admitting him into Lahore Mental Asylum on Jail Road, Lahore, which was the rehab clinic for alcoholics at that time. This treatment did not work. Manto returned to Lakshami Mansions, Beadon Road, near Mall Road. Soon he had become increasingly alcoholic, which eventually led tocirrhosis of the liver. He died on 18 January 1955, at Lakshami Mansions, Lahore. His death was attributed to the effects ofalcoholism.[47]
Manto is buried in the Miani Saheb graveyard in Lahore. In 1954, he composed his own epitaph:[48]
Here lies Saadat Hasan Manto. With him lie buried all the arts and mysteries of short story writing . . . Under tons of earth he lies, wondering who of the two is the greater short story writer: God or he.
However, on the insistence of his family it was replaced by an alternative epitaph on his grave, which was also authored by him, inspired by a couplet fromGhalib:[48]
This is the grave of the grave of Saadat Hasan Manto, who still thinks his name was not the repeated word on the tablet of time.
On 26 April 1939, Manto married Safia Begum.[49] Their first child, Arif, died at a young age in April 1941 in Delhi.[49] Later, they had three daughters: Nighat Manto, Nuzhat Manto, and Nusrat Manto. His daughter Nighat Bashir still lives at Lakshami Mansions, Beadon Road, where Manto died.[50]
Manto chronicled the chaos that prevailed during and after the Partition of India in 1947.[51][52] Manto stronglyopposed the partition of India, which he saw as an "overwhelming tragedy" and "maddeningly senseless".[7][53] He started his literary career translating the works ofVictor Hugo,Oscar Wilde and Russian writers such asChekhov andGorky. His first story was "Tamasha", based on theJallianwala Bagh massacre atAmritsar.[36] Though his earlier works, influenced by the progressive writers of his times, showed a marked leftist and socialist leanings, his later work progressively became stark in portraying the darkness of the human psyche, as humanist values progressively declined around the Partition.[52][54]
"A writer picks up his pen only when his sensibility is hurt."[51]
--Manto to a court judge
His final works, which grew from the social climate and his own financial struggles, reflected an innate sense of human impotency towards darkness and contained satire that verged on dark comedy, as seen in his final work,Toba Tek Singh.[55] It not only showed the influence of his own demons, but also that of the collective madness that he saw in the ensuing decade of his life. To add to it, his numerous court cases and societal rebukes deepened his cynical view of society, from which he felt isolated.[56]No part of human existence remained untouched or taboo for him; he sincerely brought out stories of prostitutes and pimps alike, just as he highlighted the subversive sexual slavery of the women of his times.[57] To many contemporary women writers, his language portrayed reality and provided them with the dignity they long deserved.[58] He is still known for his scathing insight into human behaviour as well as revelation of the macabre animalistic nature of the enraged people, that stands out amidst the brevity of his prose.[51]
"We’ve been hearing this for some time now — Save India from this, save it from that. The fact is that India needs to be saved from the people who say it should be saved.[59]
--Manto
At least one commentator compares Saadat Hasan Manto toD. H. Lawrence, partly because he wrote about taboos of Indo-Pakistani Society.[60] His concerns on the socio-political issues, from local to global are revealed in his series, Letters to Uncle Sam, and those to Pandit Nehru.[51] On his writing he often commented, "If you find my stories dirty, the society you are living in is dirty. With my stories, I only expose the truth".[61]
Manto faced trial for obscenity in his writings, three times in British India before 1947 (‘Dhuan’, ‘Bu’ and ‘Kali Shalwar’) and three times in Pakistan after 1947 (‘Khol Do’, ‘Thanda Gosht’ and ‘Upar Neeche Darmiyaan’) under section 292 of theIndian Penal Code (by the British Government) and thePakistan Penal Codein Pakistan's early years.[62] He was fined only in one case. Regarding the charges of obscenity he opined, "I am not a pornographer but a story writer".[63]
While the conservative or right-wing section of the society criticised him on moral grounds, theprogressives or Marxists and leftists criticised him for ideological reasons, namely for his migration to Pakistan and embrace ofPakistani nationalism, Manto then being championed by traditional minded literary critics such asHasan Askari and Mumtaz Shirin.[64]
On 14 August 2012 which isPakistan's Independence Day, Saadat Hasan Manto was posthumously awarded theNishan-e-Imtiaz award (Distinguished Service to Pakistan Award) by theGovernment of Pakistan.[65]
Manto was a writer whose life story became a subject of intense discussion and introspection.[66] During the last two decades, many stage productions were done to present his character in conflict with the harsh socio-economic realities of the post-partition era. Danish Iqbal's stage PlayEk Kutte Ki Kahani presented Manto in a new perspective on the occasion of his birth centenary.
In 2015, Pakistani actor and directorSarmad Khoosat made and released a movie,Manto, based on the life of Manto.[67] In 2018, the British Broadcasting Corporation named the workToba Tek Singh among the 100 stories that shaped the world, alongside works by authors likeHomer andVirginia Woolf.[68]
The 2018 filmManto, made byNandita Das and starringNawazuddin Siddiqui, is aBollywood film based on the life of Manto.[69]
On 18 January 2005, the fiftieth anniversary of his death, Manto was commemorated on a Pakistani postage stamp.[17]
On 11 May 2020,Google celebrated his 108th birthday with aGoogle Doodle.[70]
The partition was brutal and bloody, and to Saadat Hasan Manto, a Muslim journalist, short-story author and Indian film screenwriter living in Bombay, it appeared maddeningly senseless. Manto was already an established writer before August 1947, but the stories he would go on to write about partition would come to cement his reputation. ... Manto had been implacably opposed to partition and had refused to go to the newly formed Pakistan.
He claimed allegiance not only to his native Punjab but also to his ancestors' home in Kashmir. While raised speaking Punjabi, he was also proud of the remnants of Kashmiri culture that his family maintained-food customs, as well as intermarriage with families of Kashmiri origin-and throughout his life, he assigned special importance to others who had Kashmiri roots. In a tongue-in-cheek letter addressed to Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru, he went so far as to suggest that being beautiful was the second meaning of being Kashmiri
By virtue of his disposition, temperament, features and his spirit, Manto remains a Kashmiri Pandit.
One can, however, assert that the finest short/ stories about the period were written by Saadat Hasan Manto. For him the partition was an overwhelming tragedy.
