A CENTURY ago, when the doors of formal education were shut on most Muslim women of the subcontinent, a group of teenaged Muslim girls brought out a handwritten monthly magazine for women named Chaman which carried a collection of essays and poems.

These young women belonging to a certain Naqvi family in Badaun (Uttar Pradesh) would circulate one or two copies of their journal among friends and family members turn by turn through the postal service. This periodical may be counted in the list of other pioneering women-specific publications such as Khatoon (Aligarh), Tehzeeb-i-Niswan (Lahore) and Ismat (Delhi) though it had a comparatively small circle of readers. Rudad-e-Chaman is a compendium of available copies of this magazine along with profiles of the editors and some contributors and a selection of their unpublished writings. Rumana Qadri has done valuable work by compiling available copies of this century-old handwritten women’s magazine which is a feast for those who relish Urdu prose and history.

Chaman started appearing in January 1914 and continued till 1918 with brief interruptions. Edited by Humaira Khatoon Naqvia and her two sisters Sayyeda Khatoon Naqvia and Azra Khatoon Naqvia, three other women of the same family, Tayyaba Khatoon, Viladat Fatima and Binte Fatima, and a friend of theirs, Muhammad Jehan Begum (from Agra), were its main contributors.

The handwritten Chaman, perhaps, became a necessity for the Naqvi family to maintain a connection among the female members of the extended family scattered all over India when the men moved out of their hometown, Badaun, for jobs. The magazine signifies early changes in the status of women belonging to India’s newly-emerged and educated Muslim families in the early 20th century.

In a small segment of Muslim society, social restrictions on women had started easing after Sir Syed Ahmed Khan’s movement in the late 19th century. The Naqvia sisters, who did not face any opposition from the men of the family, were among the first Muslim females to get a modern education and lifted the taboo of literacy for women. These women had access to contemporary Urdu-language newspapers and magazines such as Zamindar, Al-Hilal etc.

The editor, Humaira Khatoon, was the daughter of Syed Inayat Ahmad who was a senior official in Gwalior state and made arrangements for his daughters’ education up to the syllabus of high-school level at home. Her husband worked as a mufti-e-azam (chief jurist) in Hyderabad Deccan till the state’s annexation with India. Reform in morals and social attitudes of women is Chaman’s main theme. The declared objective of the magazine was to make family life harmonious. Through these essays, we come to know of the values, manners and concerns of the Muslim women of those times. The writers’ thoughts and imagination revolve around the institution of family, and the roles and responsibilities of women. Most essays are about guidance and instructions to other women on family ties: the significance of a woman’s good relationship with her mother-in-law and the importance of doing household chores like sewing and maintaining cleanliness. Other articles emphasise moral values like the merits of modesty, courage and good manners and demerits of jealousy and backbiting.

Viewed in the present context, some of the views expressed in Chaman may appear to be overtly orthodox — there is an essay, for instance, counselling women to accept male polygamy. The editors of this magazine, by and large, subscribe to a conservative way of life with subservient roles and responsibilities for women in family life. What sets Chaman writers apart from the rest of orthodox Muslim society is that they want Muslim women to get a modern education — quite a radical suggestion at that time.

The book’s delight is in its simple but powerful prose: the spontaneous diction, natural flow and the use of idioms makes these writings quite charming. In expressing their thoughts and describing social settings, the writers used pure Urdu language untainted by English diction. This publication has preserved not only a peculiar subculture but a language that has almost disappeared. Poetry by the Naqvia women is no less impressive: they have written poems mostly on religious themes or family relations.

A selection of prose and poetry written much after the closure of the magazine is also part of the book. Through some of these writings we learn the emotions of the people left behind in Badaun after some members of the extended family migrated to Pakistan post-Partition. Humaira Khatoon stayed in Badaun while her siblings migrated to Pakistan (she wrote a poignant poem on this subject).

Binte Fatima, who was the moving spirit behind the magazine, stands out as a talented storyteller but unfortunately she did not pursue this vocation. She has written a piece, ‘Nanhe bhai ki kuch yaadein aur baatein’, about her brother Syed Aal-e-Nabi, a deputy collector who died young, which reads like a powerful short story. The excerpts of her detective novel, Phoolon ka Haar, featuring lively prose and fast-paced drama, also make for an interesting read.

Rudad-e-Chaman (1914-1918)

(ANTHOLOGY)

Compiled by Rumana Qadri

Revised by Fatima Qudsia Naqvi

Ushba Publishing International, Karachi

ISBN 978-9699154249

344pp.