Saadat Hasan Manto

Saadat Hassan Manto was born in Paproudi village of Samrala, in the Ludhiana district of the Punjab, India in a Muslim family of barristers on 11 May 1912.[12] He belonged to a Kashmiri trading family that had settled in Amritsar in the early nineteenth century and taken up the legal profession. His father, Khwaja Ghulam Hasan, was a session judge of a local court. His mother, Sardar Begum had a Pathan ancestry and was the second wife of his father.[13] Ethnically a Kashmiri he was proud of his roots. In a letter to Pandit Nehru he suggested that being 'beautiful' was the second meaning of being 'Kashmiri'.[14][15]

He received his early education at a Muslim High School at Amritsar where he twice failed his matriculation examination.[16] In 1931 he took admission at the Hindu Sabha College but dropped out after first year due to poor results.[17]

The big turning point in his life came in 1933, at age 21, when he met Abdul Bari Alig, a scholar and polemic writer who encouraged him to find his true talents and read Russian and French authors.[18] Bari also encouraged Manto to translate Victor Hugo's The Last Day of a Condemned Man into Urdu which was later published by Urdu Book Stall, Lahore as Sarguzasht-e-Aseer (A Prisoner's Story).[19] He then translated Oscar Wilde’s Vera into Urdu in 1934.[20] He published his first original story in Urdu, Tamasha (Spectacle) under a pseudonym in Abdul Bari Alig’s Urdu newspaper Khalq (Creation). It was based on the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.[21] During this period he contributed to the daily newspaper Musawat, (Equality) and Ehsan (Kindness), both published from Amritsar.[21] He also edited and translated Russian and French stories for the journals Alamgir and Humayun.[22][23] On Bari’s encouragement these Russian stories were then published in Lahore under the title, Rusi Afsanay (Russian Stories). The collection included stories from Tolstoy, Gorky and Chekhov and two of Manto’s original stories, Tamasha (Spectacle) and Mahigir (Fisherman).[23]

This heightened enthusiasm pushed Manto to pursue graduation at Aligarh Muslim University, which he joined in July 1934, and soon got associated with the literary circle who would later become members of the Indian Progressive Writers' Association (IPWA).[24] It was here that he met writer Ali Sardar Jafri and found a new spurt in his writing. His second story, "Inqlaab Pasand", was published in Aligarh magazine in March 1935.[25] His education at Aligarh was cut short when nine months into joining the university he was diagnosed with tuberculosis. He spent the next three months at a sanatorium at Batote in Kashmir to regain his health and then returned home to Amritsar.[26]

After a brief stay in Amritsar, Manto moved to Lahore in search of employment and joined the newspaper Paras (Philosopher’s Stone). In 1936, at Lahore, he published his first collection of original short stories Atish Paray (Nuggets of Fire).[27]

In late 1936, he moved to Bombay when he received an invitation to edit the weekly Mussawir (Painter).[27]

In Bombay, Manto started his work as an editor of Mussawir along with Nazir Ludhianvi and the magazine Samaj (Society). He also started to write dialogues and scripts for the Hindi film industry, working first for the Imperial Film Company and then for Saroj Movietone.[28] His films during this period include the 1940 film Apni Nagariya.[29] He wrote many radio plays including Ao Radio Sunen (Come, Let's Listen to Radio) and Qalopatrah ki maut (Cleopatra's Death).[30] In Bombay, he also came in contact with Progressive Writers' Association and became friendly with progressive writers like Krishan Chander, Rajinder Singh Bedi and Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi.[30]

In 1940 he published his second collection of short stories Manto Ke Afsanay (Stories of Manto) from Lahore.[31]

In August 1940 he was dismissed from the editorship of Musawwir and started working for another magazine called Karwan (Caravan) at a lower salary. Dissatisfied in his work, he applied to Krishan Chander for a job with All India Radio in Delhi. Subsequently he moved to Delhi in January 1941 and accepted the job of writing for Urdu Service of All India Radio.[32]

Manto joined All India Radio in early 1941 and became acquainted with many writers working there such as Chiragh Hasan Hasrat, Akhtar Hussain Raipuri, Ansar Nasiri, Mahmud Nizami, Meeraji and Upendranath Ashk.[32]

This proved to be his most productive period as in the next eighteen months he published over four collections of radio plays, Aao (Come), Manto ke Drame (Manto's Dramas), Janaze (Funerals) and Teen Auraten (Three women). He continued to write short stories and his next short story collection Dhuan (Smoke) was soon out followed by his first collection of topical essays, Manto ke Mazamin. This period culminated with the publication of his mixed collection Afsane aur Dramey in 1943.[33] Meanwhile, due to growing differences with his colleagues at All India Radio, he left his job and returned to Bombay in July 1942 and again started working with the film industry.[34]

Manto returned to Bombay in July 1942 and rejoined as the editor of Musawwir. During this time, he associated with his Aligarh friend Shaheed Latif and his wife Ismat Chughtai. In 1932, on Latif’s invitation he joined the Filmistan studio.[32] Here he also formed friendship with Ashok Kumar[35] and entered his best phase in screenwriting giving films like Aatth Din, Chal Chal Re Naujawan and Mirza Ghalib, which was finally released in 1954.[29][36] He also wrote Shikari. Some of his short stories also came from this phase including Kaali Shalwar (1941), Dhuan (1941) and Bu (1945), which was published in Qaumi Jang (Bombay) in February 1945. Another highlight of his second phase in Bombay was the publication of a collection of his stories, Chugad, which also included the story 'Babu Gopinath'.[37] Dissatisfied with the people at Filmistan, he joined the Bombay Talkies in 1947, after the partition of India.[38]

As a resident of Bombay, Manto had intended to stay in India after partition. In 1948, his wife and children went to Lahore to visit their relatives and friends. During this time, as stories of the atrocities of partition riots reached him, in the midst of occasional communal riots in Bombay itself, he decided to migrate to Pakistan, and left for it by ship.[38] He stayed a few days in Karachi, finally settling at Lahore with his family.[39] Manto and his family thus found themselves as "muhajirs" (refugees from India) and were among the millions of Muslims who left present-day India for the new Muslim-majority nation of Pakistan.[40]

When Manto arrived in Lahore from Bombay, he associated with several intellectuals at Lahore's Pak Tea House. According to one commentator: "There was absolutely no external influence and people would share their opinions on any subject without fear even during the military dictators' regimes."[41] In Lahore, Manto lived with his wife and family in an apartment in Lakshmi Building located in Lahore's famous Lakshmi Chowk (where many Film Distributors had offices) at the juncture of McLeod Road and Abbott Road, near today's Butt Karahi (a desi cuisine restaurant) which is still very famous in the city having several branches across the country.[42] Lakshmi Building no longer exists as such but only its front or facade has been renovated and still faces McLeod Road. Lakshmi Building was abandoned during the partition riots of 1947-48 in Lahore. The mansion is currently dilapidated and uninhabited, though its façade still exists, renovated and painted.[43][44] Later on, when Manto's financial situation went from bad to worse, he and his family moved in with his wife Mrs. Safia Manto's extended family. This was Manto's extended family as well including his relatives Film Director Masud Pervaiz and Cricket Commentator Hamid Jalal. Manto, Safia Manto and their three daughters all lived with their extended family in a large apartment in the posh LAKSHMI MANSION, an Apartment Complex situated between Hall Road and Beadon Road [45] which had a circular enclosed green space with a Peepal Tree where the other Apartment residents included Mani Shankar Ayyar and the renowned Lahore jeweller Girdhari Lal. The three storied building was built by Lala Lajpat Rai's Lakshmi insurance company in 1938, inaugurated by Sarojini Naidu, and was at one time the residence of K.Santhanam, an eminent lawyer.[46] Lakshmi Mansion still exists in Lahore and was never abandoned. Later residents have included a former Speaker of Pakistan's National Assembly and Pakistan Peoples Party stalwart Malik Meraj Khalid.

Manto's grave at Miani Saheb graveyard in Lahore.

Manto had suffered public trials for writing obscene literature in the newly created and increasingly Islamized Pakistan. Sessions Judge Munir presided over Manto's last trial in Lahore and he is the infamous judge who later became Justice Munir, Chief Justice of Pakistan Supreme Court and who invented the Doctrine of Necessity alias Nazria e Zaroorat in later years to buttress martial law in Pakistan. In this trial in Lahore against Manto, Faiz Ahmad Faiz, M.D. Taseer and many literary celebrities testified in favor of Manto. Manto's trial ended with a warning from Sessions Judge Munir that he was being let off easy with just a fine but would be sent to jail for many years if he did not stop writing his provocative short stories. So, Manto could not write his novel and cutting edge short stories.[47] Manto sank into depression. He tried to alleviate his depression with alcohol and this started affecting his liver and led to cirrhosis of liver with him vomiting blood. His wife and relatives tried admitting him into Lahore Mental Asylum on Jail Road, Lahore which was the rehab clinic for alcoholics at that time. This treatment did not work. Manto returned to Lakshami Mansions, Beadon Road near Mall Road. Soon he had become increasingly alcoholic, which eventually led to cirrhosis of the liver. He died on 18 January 1955, at Lakshami Mansions, Lahore. His death was attributed to the effects of alcoholism.[48]

Manto is buried in Miani Saheb graveyard in Lahore. In 1954 he composed his own epitaph:[49]

Here lies Saadat Hasan Manto. With him lie buried all the arts and mysteries of short story writing . . . Under tons of earth he lies, wondering who of the two is the greater short story writer: God or he.

However, on the insistence of his family it was replaced by an alternative epitaph on his grave, which was also authored by him, inspired by a couplet from Ghalib:[49]

This is the grave of Saadat Hasan Manto, who still thinks his name was not the repeated word on the tablet of time.”

Manto faced trial for obscenity in his writings, three times in British India before 1947 (‘Dhuan’, ‘Bu’ and ‘Kali Shalwar’) and three times in Pakistan after 1947 (‘Khol Do’, ‘Thanda Gosht’ and ‘Upar Neeche Darmiyaan’) under section 292 of the Indian Penal Code (by the British Government) and the Pakistan Penal Code in Pakistan’s early years.[63] He was fined only in one case. Regarding the charges of obscenity he opined, "I am not a pornographer but a story writer".[64]

While the conservative or right-wing section of the society criticised him on moral grounds, the progressives or Marxists and leftists criticised him for ideological reasons, namely for his migration to Pakistan and embrace of Pakistani nationalism, Manto then being championed by traditional minded literary critics such as Hasan Askari and Mumtaz Shirin.[65]