This comprehensive anthology of short stories explores Muslim lives and inter-community relationships in the Indian subcontinent. By sensitizing readers to the multicultural reality of Muslim society it effectively dismantles the notion of a homogenized and inalienable Muslim identiry and experience, a notion that does not take into account the complex and lived realities of India's more than 100 million Muslims.

Selected from at least twelve Indian languages, the short stories in this volume cover almost the entire twentieth century, and include writers like Saratchandra Chatterjee, Premchand, Ismat Chughtai, Vaikom M. Basheer, N.S. Madhavan, Anand and Jayanta De, Ashfaq Ahmad Abdul Bismillah, Fakir M. Katpadi and Thoppil M. Meeran.

An authentic social document, this volume will appeal to the general reader as well as historians and those interested in Indian literature.

About the Author:

Mushirul Hasan is Professor of Modern Indian history, at Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi.

M. Asaduddin is Associate Professor in the Department of English at Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi.

Excerpts from Reviews

'The anthology is rich in stylistic variety ranging from the simple, traditional linear narratives, through psychological realism to post-modern self-reflexivity and even magic realism.'

- NBT Newsletter

'The introduction of the book is extremely enriching as it enables the readers to contextualize the stories in their proper historical settings.'

-The Statesman

Introduction
Mushirul Hasan, M. Asaduddin

Mahesh [Bangla]
Sarat Chandra Chatterjee

The Holy Judges [Hindi]
Premchand

The Temple and the Mosque [Hindi]
Premchand

The Tale of a Muslim Woman [Bangla]
Rabindranath Tagore

Magic Strings [Malayalam]
Vaikom Muhammed Basheer

Sacred Duty [Urdu]
Ismat Chughtai

Kafir [Urdu]
Ismat Chughtai

Stony-hearted [Urdu]
Ashfaq Ahmad

Asylum [Urdu]
Joginder Paul

Partition [Hindi]
Swayam Prakash

The City of Death [Hindi]
Amarkant

'Try to Understand Me, Sir!' [Gujarati]
Ramesh R. Dave

Mumbai [Malayalam]
N.S. Madhavan

The Vettamangalam Elephant [Tamil]
Thoppil Mohamed Meeran

Consecrated Brick [Urdu]
Husainul Haq

The Pendulum [Bangla]
Jayanta De

Metamorphosis [Gujarati]
Mohan Parmar

The Infidel Parrot [Hindi]
Punni Singh

Guest is God [Hindi]
Abdul Bismillah

A Home for the Peeroos [Telugu]
Kethu Viswanatha Reddy

Dervish [Urdu]
Qurratulain Hyder

Kabadi [Malayalam]
Anand

In Search of Ismail Sheikh [Assamese]
Homen Borgohain

Father and Son [Tamil]
Ashokamitran

Kombu [Kannada]
Fakir Muhammed Katpadi

Alefa [Bangla]
Shaukat Osman

Deliverance [Telugu]
Nelluri Kesavaswamy

Love Across the Salt Desert [English]
K.N. Daruwalla

The Library Girl [English]
Vishwapriya L. Iyengar

Photographs [English]
Shama Futehally

Does Anyone Have the Strength? [Kashmiri]
Akhtar Mohiuddin

Where Has My Gulla Gone? [Hindi]
Padma Sachdev

Dawat [Telugu]
Mohammed Khadeer Babu

Haram [Telugu]
Khaja

About the Translators

Glossary

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