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Urdu Prose: From Dastans to Manto

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For nearly three centuries Urdu's literary energy was concentrated in poetry. Prose emerged as a serious literary medium only in the early 19th century, accelerated by colonial pedagogical projects, and matured into world-class afsana (short story) by the early 20th.

Afsana (افسانہ)

The Urdu literary short story, generally 1,500 to 7,000 words. As a self-conscious genre it dates from Premchand's Sauz-e-Watan (1908). Its golden age is the 1930s–50s, when Manto, Bedi, Chughtai, Krishan Chander, Hasan Askari, Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi and others established it as Urdu's signature modern form.

Dastan: the pre-modern fiction

The dastan (داستان) is a fantastical oral-romance tradition adapted into Urdu prose in the 19th century.

  • Bagh-o-Bahar (باغ و بہار, 1803) by Mir Amman of Delhi — Fort William College commission; translates the Qissa-e-Chahar Darvesh into accessible Urdu prose. The first canonical Urdu prose text.
  • Fasana-e-Ajaib (فسانہ عجائب, 1824) by Rajab Ali Beg Surur of Lucknow — ornate counterpoint to Mir Amman.
  • Dastan-e-Amir Hamza — vast cycle compiled in 46 volumes for Naval Kishore Press (1881–1916).
  • Tilism-e-Hoshruba (طلسمِ ہوش ربا) — the tilism (enchanted realm) section of the Hamza cycle.

Fort William College (1800–1830s)

Established by John Gilchrist in Calcutta in 1800 to train East India Company officers in Indian languages. Its commissioned Urdu prose translations (Mir Amman, Haider Bakhsh Haideri's Ara-ish-e-Mahfil, Sher Ali Afsos's Bagh-e-Urdu) standardised an accessible written Urdu register.

Sir Syed and the Aligarh movement

Sir Syed Ahmed Khan (1817–1898) revolutionised Urdu prose into a vehicle for reformist argument.

  • Sir Syed Ahmed Khan — Asbab-e-Baghawat-e-Hind (اسبابِ بغاوتِ ہند, 1859); Tafsir-ul-Quran; Tahzeebul Akhlaq (تہذیب الاخلاق, journal from 1870).
  • Maulana Shibli Nomani (1857–1914) — Sirat-un-Nabi (six volumes); Al-Faruq; Al-Mamoon; Al-Ghazali; Sher-ul-Ajam (5 vols).
  • Maulvi Nazir Ahmed (1830–1912) — pioneer of Urdu novel: Mirat-ul-Uroos (مرات العروس, 1869), Banat-un-Nash (1872), Taubat-un-Nasuh (1877), Ibn-ul-Waqt.
  • Pundit Ratan Nath Sarshar (1846–1903) — Fasana-e-Azad (1880) — episodic comic novel of Lucknow.
  • Abdul Halim Sharar (1860–1926) — historical romances Firdaus-e-Bareen (1899) and the elegiac essays of Guzashta Lucknow (1914–16, "Lucknow: The Last Phase of an Oriental Culture").
  • Mirza Hadi Ruswa (1857–1931) — Umrao Jan Ada (امراؤ جان ادا, 1899), pioneering psychological novel about a Lucknow courtesan.

Munshi Premchand and the rise of the short story

Dhanpat Rai (Premchand, 1880–1936) — bilingual genius writing in Hindi and Urdu; transformed Urdu fiction from courtly romance to socially engaged realism.

  • Sauz-e-Watan (سوزِ وطن, 1908) — banned by British for sedition.
  • Premgam (1928).
  • Bazaar-e-Husn (1924, also Sevasadan).
  • Godan (1936).
  • His short stories: Kafan, Idgah, Poos ki Raat, Shatranj ke Khilari.

Premchand presided over the 1936 PWA conference in Lucknow, blessing the new generation.

The afsana's golden age

The 1930s–50s saw a constellation of major short-story writers.

Saadat Hasan Manto (سعادت حسن منٹو, 1912–1955)

Pakistan's greatest short-story writer. Wrote ~250 stories, plays, essays, screenplays. Tried six times for obscenity (three each in India and Pakistan); won every case but one (which was reversed on appeal).

Major collections:

  • Atish Parey (1936); Manto ke Afsane (1940); Dhuan; Yazid; Phundne; Sarak ke Kinare.
  • Toba Tek Singh (1955) — the canonical Partition story.
  • Khol Do, Thanda Gosht (banned), Kali Shalwar, Hatak, Boo, Mozail, Bismillah, Saugandh.

Manto's themes: Partition's atrocities, prostitution, the underbelly of Bombay/Lahore, Muslim communalism, hypocrisy.

Krishan Chander (1914–1977)

  • Romantic-progressive; Annadata (Bengal famine), Ham Wahshi Hain.

Rajinder Singh Bedi (1915–1984)

  • Lajwanti; Apne Dukh Mujhe De Do. Spare, deeply Punjabi prose.

Ismat Chughtai (عصمت چغتائی, 1915–1991)

Audacious feminist voice; tried for obscenity in 1944 over "Lihaaf" (the Quilt), one of Urdu's earliest stories on female sexuality and homoeroticism.

  • Lihaaf (1942); Choti Aapa; Ghoonghat (1943); Tedhi Lakeer (novel, 1944); Masooma (1962).

Hasan Askari and Bedi

  • Muhammad Hasan Askari (1919–1978) — critic-essayist; Insaan aur Aadmi.

Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi (1916–2006)

  • Chopal, Bazaar-e-Hayat; Lahore-based progressive.
Key Points
  • Bagh-o-Bahar (1803) by Mir Amman is the first canonical Urdu prose text.
  • Maulvi Nazir Ahmed pioneered the Urdu novel (1869).
  • Mirza Hadi Ruswa's Umrao Jan Ada (1899) is a pioneering psychological novel.
  • Premchand's Sauz-e-Watan (1908) was banned for sedition.
  • Manto's Toba Tek Singh is the definitive Partition story.
  • Chughtai's Lihaaf (1942) opened Urdu fiction to female sexuality and was tried for obscenity in 1944.

منٹو: kafan-dafan zameen apne paas rakhiye, aap jo Bhaarat ya Pakistan ke chand sau gaz zameen choriye, mujhe khud kafn-dafan ki zameen mil jaayegi.

("Keep your burial earth — let me have only the few hundred yards of India or Pakistan; I will find my own grave.") (Toba Tek Singh.)

Pakistani Urdu prose after 1947

  • Qudratullah Shahab (1917–1986) — Shahab Nama (شہاب نامہ, posthumous 1987) — controversial autobiography; Yaa Khuda.
  • Mumtaz Mufti (1905–1995) — Ali Pur Ka Aili, Alakh Nagri — biographical/sufistic prose.
  • Ashfaq Ahmed (1925–2004) — Gadariya, Zaviya.
  • Bano Qudsia (1928–2017) — Raja Gidh (1981, novel).
  • Intizar Hussain (1925–2016) — Basti (بستی, 1979) — Booker International shortlist 2013; Aage Samandar Hai; Naya Ghar.
  • Abdullah Hussain (1931–2015) — Udas Naslein (اداس نسلیں, 1963).
  • Shaukat Siddiqui (1923–2006) — Khuda ki Basti (1957).
  • Khadija Mastoor (1927–1982) — Aangan (1962).
  • Bapsi Sidhwa, Mohsin Hamid, Kamila Shamsie (in English; Pakistani-origin).

Major non-fiction prose

  • Patras Bukhari (1898–1958) — Patras ke Mazameen (1927), humorous essays.
  • Mushtaq Ahmed Yousufi (1923–2018) — Aab-e-Gum, Khakam Badahan, Zarguzasht, Charagh Tale — supreme post-1947 humorist.
  • Ibn-e-Insha — travelogues and humour.

For Urdu prose questions, anchor with Bagh-o-Bahar (Mir Amman, 1803) as the founding text; Mirat-ul-Uroos (Nazir Ahmed, 1869) as the first proper novel; Umrao Jan Ada (Ruswa, 1899); Sauz-e-Watan (Premchand, 1908); Toba Tek Singh (Manto, 1955); and Udas Naslein (Abdullah Hussain, 1963). Recognise that the afsana is Urdu's signature modern form.

Letter-writing and autobiography

  • Ghalib's letters (Ood-e-Hindi, Urdu-i-Muʿalla) — revolutionised colloquial prose.
  • Sir Syed's Khutoot-e-Sir Syed.
  • Mir's Zikr-e-Mir.
  • Iqbal's letters.
  • Ahmad Hussain Ammu's Sair-e-Toba.
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