Resistance literature and the British Raj

Literature is traditionally considered a means of pleasure and enjoyment that focuses on beauty and spreads happiness in an artistic manner. This thesis is the guiding principle for the school of thought that believes in ‘literature for literature’s sake’.

This school of thought believes in a utopia that is constructed with the help of art, skill, and vocabulary, and is far removed from the real issues and challenges of life. The competing school believes in ‘literature for life’ and expects literature to reflect society and its issues. Yet another school of thought believes in ‘literature for change’. This school of thought derives inspiration from the critical paradigm that claims that literature is not merely a tool of pleasure and enjoyment but an important means to bring change in a society.

According to the critical paradigm, literature is not apolitical but a highly political phenomenon that is linked with power and politics. It is important to note that historically powerful groups used literature as a tool to hegemonise marginalised groups. Literature is also used to construct identities: a glorified identity for powerful groups and a stigmatised one for marginalised/colonised groups.

These identities are constructed in such a subtle way that the marginalised groups internalise them as realities and start believing that everything associated with the powerful groups is superior and everything associated with them (the marginalised) is inferior. This state of mind leads to a defeated outlook which is referred to as ‘spontaneous consent’ by Gramsci.

With this defeated outlook the marginalised groups willingly give the powerful groups the right to conquer the marginalised. How literature has been used to construct unequal identities has been explained by Edward Said in his representative book, ‘Orientalism’, where Said demonstrated that how the Orient (East) is represented by the Occident (West) with intrinsic biases.

The Occident, with its positional superiority, looks down upon the Orient and constructs a stigmatised identity of the Orient. In ‘Orientalism’ Said gives a number of examples of how literature was used by imperial powers to construct identities. This was true in case of India as well where a number of English writers wrote about India with their own biases and constructed an identity of India that was far removed from reality.

Literature, however, is not just used to hegemonise others but also to put up resistance against imperialist powers. This was evident in African literature where writers like Achebe and Ngugi wrote to catalyse the process of decolonisation. There is a rich tradition of post-colonial literature that challenged the hegemonic structures of the empire. In British India we see a long list of writers and poets who used literature to resist the tyrannical British Rule. This article focuses on Urdu poets who used their poetry to resist the tyrannical policies of the British Raj.

The poems written in that period, instead of talking about the mellow emotions of love, contained themes of plundering of cities, bloodshed, exploitations, and call for freedom. Such themes were taboo in the British Raj and talking about them was asking for trouble. But these poets, driven by the passion of freedom, willingly took the risk.

Kamaludin Kamal was a radical poet who severely criticised the tyrannical policies of the British Raj. Muhammad Hussain Azad, a famous critic and poet, wrote a moving poem about the 1857 War of Independence. As mentioned earlier, writing poetry of resistance was full of risks. The radical poets were aware of the consequences they and were ready for them.

Munir Shikohabadi challenged the hegemonic structure of the British Raj through his poetry and was consequently arrested and sent to the Andaman Islands. The shackles of slavery were so stiff that colonised Indians were not allowed to lament even the death of their dear ones. In such a threatening situation, Mufti Sadruddin Azurda took the risk of writing a poem about the death of Imam Baksh Sehbai who fell victim to the savage brutality of the British forces.

Among these poets was also Akbar Alah Abadi who launched scathing criticism on British policies and warned the Indians about the potential consequences of opting for a Western lifestyle. Suroor Jahanabadi, whose real name was Munshi Shri Durga Das Sahai, wrote poems imbued with love for India and critical of the British rule.

Tilok Chand Mehroom, father of Jagan Naath Aazad, a noted scholar, composed poems on the theme of patriotism in British India. Brij Narayan Chakbast wrote some fiery poetry to resist British imperialism. Zafar Ali, Khan, poet and journalist, challenged the British Raj upfront with his hard-hitting poems. Maulana Muhammad Ali Johar and Hasrat Mohani also wrote poems as part of their freedom fighting strategy.

Allama Muhammad Iqbal’s poetry played a vital role in the process of decolonisation. He attacked the hollowness of the Western civilisation and paved the way for freedom of India by reminding Muslims of their glorious past. All these poets tried at a conscious level to decolonise the minds of the people. This was done by reversing the imperialists’ strategy. The two-pronged imperialists’ strategy aimed at glorifying their own identity and stigmatising the identity of ‘others’.

Indian poets made deliberate attempts to glorify their own soil, people, customs, rituals, and heroes and challenge the facade of the British Raj that was built on the socioeconomic exploitation of the people, economy, and culture of India. The local poets fearlessly used poetry as a powerful political tool to put up resistance against the British Raj and reclaim the freedom of India.

The writer is an educationist.

Email: shahidksiddiqui@gmail.com

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