An excellent translation by author, translator par excellence and Renaissance woman Professor Tahira Naqvi of New York University (NYU), of Ismat Chughtai’s Ek Qatra Khoon, is finally out as One Drop of Blood: The Story of Karbala. Chughtai, the grand dame of Urdu literature, a defiant, fearless, outspoken, outrageous and controversial firebrand, published Ek Qatra Khoon in 1976 at the height of India’s — or rather, Indira’s — Emergency.

One June 4, 1975, the Allahabad High Court found Indira Gandhi, then prime minister of India, guilty on charges of misuse of government machinery for her election campaign and declared her election victory null and void. To maintain her position, Gandhi retaliated by declaring a state of emergency and overnight the biggest democracy in the world turned into a totalitarian, fascist state.

Elections were suspended, opposition members of the parliament dismissed, civil liberties curbed, political opponents jailed and the press censored. A most heinous violation of human rights — the mass, forced sterilisation of poor slum-dwellers — was carried out under the supervision of Gandhi’s son Sanjay Gandhi who, in the manner of Amir Muawiya’s son Yazid, was Gandhi’s heir apparent. So irked was he by the maze of slum tenements surrounding the Jama Masjid in New Delhi that on April 13, 1976, he had the tenements bulldozed. Over 70,000 people were displaced. In altercations with the police, at least 150 protestors died.

Gandhi — who was labelled “Empress of India” by The Economist and the Hindu goddess ‘Durga’ by the Indians — justified her actions in her speeches under the guise of protecting democracy, preventing chaos and division in the nation and bringing peace and prosperity to India. Her rallying cry was “Ghareebi hatao!” [Abolish poverty], which echoed the words and actions of Yazid.

The preface to Ek Qatra Khoon reads: ‘This is the story of those 72 people who took a stand against imperialism to defend human rights. This is not a 1,400-year-old story. It is today’s story. For even today, man’s biggest enemy is man. Even today, the standard bearer of humanity is man. When a Yazid raises his head in some part of the world, Hussain steps forward and crushes him. Even today, light wins against darkness.’ It is an elegant, nuanced work in which Chughtai draws parallels between the incidence at Karbala and the Indian Emergency.

A superb English translation of Ismat Chughtai’s take on India’s Emergency in 1975, which is as prescient now as it was then

Chugtai had stated that, from a young age, she had been deeply affected by the story of how Ali Asghar, the infant son of Imam Hussain, was shot in the neck with an arrow at the tragedy of Karbala. She dedicated Ek Qatra Khoon to the poet Mir Anees — his four volumes of marsiya [lamentations] were the inspiration for her book. Indeed, Chughtai adopted the andaaz-i-bayaan [style and expression] of Anees, but her novel is not a transcription of his marsiyas; she transforms the high art of poetry into the everyday pathos of real time and real people with real emotions.

When Chughtai wrote about women’s sexuality, her writings were labelled ribald. When she talked about the exploitation of women and the proletariat and its consequences, her writings were considered dangerous and outrageous. One short story enraged the denizens of Lahore to the extent that they had it declared pornographic and the government hauled her before the courts. Masooma [The Innocent] in which she exposed the underbelly of the filth, sordidness and money-hungry tactics of the film industry also landed her in legal trouble. Ek Qatra Khoon, however, originally received weak reviews and was labelled ‘meek’. Her critics dismissed it hastily because they were unable to see any bearing between a 7th century succession battle with the Umayyad dynasty at Karbala and contemporary Indian society.

But Chughtai had once again been misunderstood and, perhaps, misread. Ek Qatra Khoon is the epitome of resistance literature, a political and moral allegory. That is not to say that there is no recitation of marsiya in it — there is plenty of that, for instance: “Rise up, you foolish one. Good fortune awaits you. Imam Hussain comes to you to wash for prayers. Rise, you lucky one, and touch his feet. You are about to receive the same stature as Kausar.” Or when Hazrat Zainab’s frightened, trembling, foreboding voice utters, “Oh God, is this a river or a mirage? Are these bubbles or human skulls floating in the water? Are these waves or swords clashing with each other? I cannot bear to look.”

Chughtai’s language in Ek Qatra Khoon is elegant and elevated. Yet at the same time it remains political, moral and ethical. She quotes Adolf Hitler from Mein Kampf. She uses phrases and words such as ‘fair and free elections’, ‘fascism’, ‘human rights’, ‘the poverty of the average man, the excesses of the ruling classes’, ‘mistreatment of minorities’ and ‘ilaaj’ [treatment]. This was Gandhi’s favourite word, which she bandied about in support of her self-serving actions. When Chughtai talks about Yazid’s marble palaces and imported European dogs, she is talking about Teen Murti Bhavan (the Nehru family residence) for, in the 7th century, there was no actual importation of European dogs.

Tahira Naqvi, an educator and accomplished writer, has been the translator of Chughtai’s work for decades. No one knows Chughtai’s work as well as she does. Naqvi’s translations have been read at multiple universities and colleges; I would say she is the one who introduced Chughtai to the English-reading audience in both the West and the East. Social scientist and translator Raza Naeem, in a private conversation, expressed the sentiments of many when he said, “Tahira, at this point, is Ismat.” He is right. For the South Asian disapora and those unfamiliar with Urdu, it is Naqvi’s literary translations that echo Chughtai’s thoughts and words with astonishing accuracy and insight. Her translations are the prism through which they read, understand and appreciate Chughtai.

Naqvi’s translation, One Drop of Blood, is a brilliant masterpiece, a tribute to her two passions — “Ismat and Karbala”, as she states herself. The book has been a labour of love, specifically translated for the younger generation and Naqvi’s tour de force. If Ek Qatra Khoon is a timeless work, One Drop of Blood is a timely translation as, once again, India — Chughtai’s birthplace — is in the grips of a fascist political party. Once again, under the guise of preventing chaos and bringing peace and prosperity, seven million Kashmiris have been besieged by an army of one million. Forget human rights, they are being denied basic human necessities. Kashmiri children are being blinded by the pellet guns wielded by so-called peacekeepers. India’s military generals boast of interring Kashmiri children in de-radicalisation camps, meanwhile Muslims in Assam are being singled out, interred and stripped of citizenship.

But it is not just India. The media’s talking heads and spin doctors talk about swiftly moving peacekeeping forces even as thousands are annihilated in Iraq two days before a scheduled cease-fire. They talk about enhanced methods of interrogation, including water-boarding and torture. Wedding parties in Afghanistan are blown up as collateral damage by drones controlled from faraway places. The present White House demands allegiance from Republican senators with threats of “heads on a pike” — just as Yazid’s army paraded the heads of Imam Hussain and his companions from Karbala to Damascus. An Arab prince rains terror in the form of missiles and bombs on poor Yemenis, while journalists are shot or hacked to death. Yes, we can safely say that One Drop of Blood is not just a timeless, but timely warning against the corrupting influence of absolute power. It is here to stay and it will be read again and again as history repeats itself with each passing year.

The reviewer is a physician, the granddaughter of Mirza Azeem Baig Chughtai and author of the short story collection Her Mother’s Daughter and Other Stories

One Drop of Blood: The Story of Karbala
By Ismat Chughtai
Translated by Tahira Naqvi
Women Unlimited, India
ISBN: 978-9385606250
440pp.

Published in Dawn, Books & Authors, March 1st, 2020