Saadat Hasan Manto’s Obscenity Trial: Zehmat-i-Mehr-i-Darakhshan

Posted on January 18, 2011
Filed Under >Mast Qalandar, Art & Literature, Books, History, People
21 Comments
Total Views: 114345

Aziz Akhmad

(Editor’s Note: Today, January 18this the death anniversary of Saadat Hasan Manto. Two day’s ago (January 16) was the anniversary of the ‘judgement day’ in his  famous ‘obscenity trial.’ To mark these anniversaries, we are re-posting this, the last of a three part series on ‘Manto ka Muqaddama,’ by Aziz Akhmad (first two parts here and here). Manto’s literary genius is always relevant, but the story of this trial is all the more relevant in these times when questions of morality, of speech and of laws are so prominent once again. We also encourage the reader to re-read this tribute to Manto, our other posts on him, and of course Manto’s own works in his own words!)

Saadat Hasan Manto walked out of the courtroom of Sessions judge Inayatullah Khan a free man (here and here). The story Thanda Gosht was declared not obscene, and Manto’s conviction by the lower court was quashed – his sentence declared void and his fine, which Manto had already paid, ordered reimbursed.

Manto was a happy man once again. He wrote this delightful story, Zehmat-i-Mehr-i-Darakhshan, about the saga of his trial, in August 1950, which was published as foreword to the collection of stories called Thanda Gosht. Publishers, who wouldn’t publish Thanda Gosht before, started approaching Manto for the story.

Manto’s happiness, however, was short-lived. The Punjab government, not happy with the Sessions court’s judgment, went into an appeal.

The case landed with Justice Mohammad Munir of Lahore High Court (who later rose to become the chief justice of Pakistan). Justice Munir had a reputation of being a fearless, unbiased and an independent judge. However, he ruled the story obscene, re-imposed the fine on Manto, but, mercifully, waved the imprisonment sentence. He wrote an ambivalent judgment, which said, among other things, (and I am quoting from an article by Zia Mohiyuddin):

‘Leanings of the writer’ had to be taken into account and not his ‘intentions’. A story could not escape from being obscene if the details of the story were obscene. A story was not like a book, which could be good in some parts and bad in some parts.

How does one interpret this judgment?

I have read these lines several times but could not make any sense of them. The only way I can describe this judgment is by resorting to an American slang, actually Texan, which may not be quite as elegant but very expressive: Justice Munir is “trying to pee down both legs”.

It seems Pakistan owes more than just ‘doctrine of necessity’ to Justice Munir.

Manto lived another 4 years to write numerous stories and short pieces, including his most famous Toba Tek Singh. He died shortly before reaching his 43rd birthday, on 18 January 1955, in extreme poverty and broken hearted.

Manto has been described as one of the greatest short-story writers of South Asia, but Pakistani establishment never owned him. However, on his 50th death anniversary, in 2005, the government officially recognized Manto by issuing a commemorative postage stamp in the series of stamps called Writers of Pakistan.

Technically, Justice Munir’s judgment on Thanda Gosht still stands, but practically there is no ban on the story, today, in Pakistan, and it is freely printed and sold along with Manto’s other works.

It would be interesting to see what would happen if someone petitioned the Supreme Court today to overturn Justice Munir’s judgment on Thanda Gosht or else ban the story. I was told, Aitzaz Ahsan has the record of this court case and is amply qualified to petition the Court. Perhaps, ATP could petition Mr. Ahsan to take up this case with the Supreme Court.

Now, back to the title, Zehmat-i-mehr-i-darakhshan. It is a phrase from a couplet of Ghalib. Here is the couplet first, then a translation by Khalid Hasan, then meanings of difficult words and, finally, an explantion.

Larazta hai mera dil, zehmat-i-mehr-i-darkhshaN par
Main hooN woh qatra-e-shabnam, keh ho khaar-i-bayabaN par

I am like a drop of dew that rests on a thorn in the wild;
My heart trembles at the thought of the sun that will (soon) rise (and annihilate me.)

darakhshaN = Brilliant light, sunlight
mehr = The sun, favor, kindness
zehmat = trouble, pain, uneasiness of mind
khaar-i-bayabaaN = thorn bush in the wild

Normally, the morning sun brings new life, hope and a new beginning in a person’s life. But for a drop of dew in the wild, the morning sunshine heralds its death, for the moment the sun comes up, the dew evaporates. This is how Manto saw his daily life. Every new day brought new worries, new trials and tribulation.

Earlier Parts of This Post can be Read at:
1. Manto ka muqaddama: Obscentiy Trial Part I
2. Manto ka muqaddama: Obscentiy Trial Part II

21 responses to “Saadat Hasan Manto’s Obscenity Trial: Zehmat-i-Mehr-i-Darakhshan

  1. Gardezi says:

    I had not made that connection, but yes his obscenity trial is so very relevant today. Makes one realize that things have not just gotten bad they were always so!

  2. Hassan Goraya says:

    Manto was a genius. What i cannot comprehend for the life of me is how come a writer of such depth and class should be viewed as obscene.
    That was his style of seeing things and the more u read the more you begin to love this tender and sensitive writer.
    Such a shame for letting something like that happen to a great writer. That couplet describes his conundrum. What were they scared about? His stories would plunge the country into depths of sin or something like that..when you see on television the blasts, the killings i think that 100 times more obscene and whats worst is that they all use Islam (pinnacle of human justice) as an excuse.
    Maybe this is what we are getting for not nurturing free thinkers such as Manto.

  3. Arifa says:

    I finally found the time to sit and read all three parts together.

    It was a joy to do so. I had also missed on this when reading the book years ago so I am glad that you translated this. My normal view is that such things should never be translated because they loose their original flavor. But now I think that at least for younger people we need to reintroduce them to masters like this.

    I say this because it was my young niece who first told me to read this series here. She knows that I come to Adil Najam’s site sometimes but she is more regular than me and so she alerted me about this. I think this is a great contribution itself that people who have not or cannot read the originals are being made aware about there great intellectuals.

    I was very happy that with the lawyers movement many young people got reintroduced to Jalib. Faiz luckily has stayed in people’s imagination. I am glad that this site is bringing others to light for a new readership. There are other sites that focus only on literature but the problem is that only those who are already interested go there. The great thing about this one is that it has general audience and lots of people get education.

  4. Jabbar says:

    I found the mention of Justice Munir very interesting and also his decision.

    Yes, indeed, he gave us more than the doctrine of necessity. And nothing good.

  5. adeel says:

    I wonder if towards the end of his days Manto had become disillusioned at the State of Pakistan (that was supposed to bring in happiness and new opportunities but failed to deliver on its promise) Didn’t Mehr-i-darkhshaN became zehmat-i-mehr-i-darkhshaN for him.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*