Contents: Preface. Christopher Shackle : Introduction: Urdu, nation, and community. Vasudha Dalmia : Introduction: Hindi, nation, and community. I. Geography, history, and mythology: 1. Altaf Husain "Hali" (1837-1914) : The flow and ebb of Islam/Christopher Shackle. 2. Shahab al-Din Ahmad "Saqib" (fl. 1857-1863) and Hakim Muhammad "Ahsan" (fl. 1857-1863) : The lament for Delhi/Pasha Mohamad Khan. 3. Shridhar Pathak (1860-1928) : The beauty of Kashmir/Valerie Ritter. 4. Brij Mohan Dattatreya "Kaifi" (1866-1955) : A mirror for India/Christopher Shackle. 5. Prempyari Devi (late nineteenth century) : The story of the globe/Geeta Patel. 6. Shiv (late nineteenth century) : About the nation and Bharat's Young Warriors/Geeta Patel. 7. Muhammad Iqbal (1879-1938) : Himalaya; the anthem of India; and the anthem of the community/Christopher Shackle. 8. Premchand (1880-1936) : The world's most precious object/Allison Busch. 9. Maithilisharan Gupta (1886-1964) : The slaying of Jayadrath/Pamela Lothspeich. 10. Vrindavanlal Varma (1889-1966) : Rani Lakshmi Bai/Harleen Singh. II. Confronting the colonial state: 11. Bharatendu Harishchandra (1850-1885) : The tangles of Panch/Vasudha Dalmia. 12. Shibli Nomani (1857-1914) : You are not oppressors, by any means, but still we are oppressed; religion or politics; and Muslim League/A. Sean Pue. 13. Balmukund Gupta (1865-1907) : Shivshambhu's letters to Lord Curzon/Jason Grunebaum and Ulrike Stark. 14. Brij Narain "Chakbast" (1882-1926) : A spat with Lord Curzon/Mehr Farooqi. 15. Josh Malihabadi (1896-1982) : Address to the sons of the East India Company/Christopher Shackle. 16. Ganga Prasad Shrivastav (1890-1962) : The lawyer's argument/Rahul Bjorn Parson. 17. Sa'adat Hasan Manto (1912-1955) : The progressive graveyard/Pasha Mohamad Khan. III. Confined spaces: 18. "Munir" Shikohabadi (1819-1881) : On his imprisonment/Christopher Shackle. 19. Shivrani Devi (d.1976) : In Premchand's Home/Preetha Mani. 20. Sacchidananda Hirananda Vatsyayan "Ajneya" (1911-1987) : Shekhar: A Life/Vasudha Paramasivan. IV. Political nationalism: 21. "Akbar" Ilahabadi (1846-1921) : Satirical verses and excerpts from "Dialogue between new and old ways"/Mehr Farooqi. 22. Bharatendu Harishchandra (1850-1885) : The sad state of India/Francesca Orsini. 23. Bharatendu Harishchandra (1850-1885) : Levee lacks levity/Rupert Snell. 24. Thakur Jagmohan Singh (1857-1899) : The Play of the Hookah-Smoker: a Farce in Four Acts/Robert van de Walle. 25. Zafar Ali Khan (1873-1956) : India; Tommy Raj; The Christian church; Martial law; Fate's decree; The tale of Aurangzeb's Burning of sacred threads; The lightning of Islam and The threshing floor of Shuddhi; and Urdu/Christopher Shackle. 26. Sahajanand Saraswati (1889-1950) : The peasants of Gaya and our 1933 confrontation with government/Walter Hauser and Kailash Chandra Jha. 27. Chaudhuri Abdul Ghani (1890-1932) : National gatherings: our organizations/Justin Jones. V. Linguistic nationalism: 28. Bharatendu Harishchandra (1850-1885) : A discourse on the progress of Hindi/Vasudha Dalmia. 29. Ganeshbihari Mishra, Shyambihari Mishra, Shukdevbihari Mishra (1879-1951) : An early moment in the development of Hindi literary history/Allison Busch. 30. Mahavir Prasad Dwivedi (1864-1938) : The present state of Hindi/Sujata Mody. 31. Badrinath Bhatt (1891-1934) : Exposed/Avinash Kumar. VI. About women: 32. Sayyid Ahmad Khan (1817-1898) : Lessons from London/Christopher Shackle. 33. Ayodhyasinh Upadhyay "Hariaudh" (1865-1947) : Absence of the beloved/Valerie Ritter. 34. Balaji (late nineteenth century) : Suitable literature for women in Hindi/Shobna Nijhawan. 35. Shiv Sharma (late nineteenth century) : Instructions for women/Charu Gupta. 36. Ramrakh Singh Sahgal (1896-1952) : Women's society and Seva-Dharma/Balraj Persaud. 37. Chaturbhuj Ji Divaniya (late nineteenth century) : Sushila/Sneha Desai. 38. Jainendra Kumar (1905-1988) : Sunita/Sophie Hartman. VII. Untouchability: 39. Ramchandra Shukla (late nineteenth century) : The untouchable's lament/Toral Gajarawala. 40. Achhutanand (1879-1933) : The justice of Ram-Rajya/Sarah Beth. 41. Suryakant Tripathi "Nirala" (1896-1961) : Chaturi, The Shoemaker/Scott Schlossberg. VIII. Nationalism--nightmares and visions: 42. Hasan Nizami (1878-1955) : Hasan Nizami's journey around the world in the year 2050/Zain Shirazi. 43. Premchand (1880-1936) : Godaan--the gift of a cow/Gordon C. Roadarmel. 44. Sa'adat Hasan Manto (1912-1955) : The urinal/Richard Delacy.
"This anthology comprises a selection of formative literary writings in Hindi and Urdu from the second half of the nineteenth century, leading up to Indian independence and the creation of Pakistan. The texts here are mostly hitherto unpublished translations into English. The anthology provides a picture of how nationalism, as a cultural ideology and political movement, was formed in literature.
Unlike other anthologies, this one focuses on writings in two North Indian vernaculars with a contested relationship: Hindi and Urdu. The combination is deliberate: the relationship of Hindi and Urdu was being consolidated and sealed even as these texts were being written. There are two separate introductions to this anthology. Each grounds, respectively, the peculiar paths taken by Hindi and Urdu proponents and practitioners.
The anthology emphasizes the shared ground of Hindi and Urdu. The Hindi and Urdu texts are arranged into eight thematic clusters, each held together by varying nationalist perspectives. Autobiographical essays in Hindi, prison poetry in Urdu, and pieces concerning social reform, gender, caste, class, and Dalits are among the writings included in this fascinating collection." (jacket)
