Khudkushī as the Fate of the Razīl: Interrogating Reformist Urdu Literature from the Early 20th Century

In examining the early Urdu novels to uncover the “secluded” worlds of women protagonists from colonial India, scholars have highlighted how this genre sought to reform sharīf Muslim women and children. In a similar vein, this paper interrogates early twentieth century Urdu reformist literature by focusing on discourses around caste, social hierarchy, status, lineage, and descent. In doing so, the paper presents an understanding of the distinctions prevalent in the Urdu vernacular literary sphere, most prominently between notions of the sharīf (of noble descent) and the razīl (of low descent). While the political writings of elite ashrāf actors such as Sayyid Ahmad Khan attempt to reform the ashrāf qaum, engagements with the lifeworlds of non-ashrāf actors as depicted in ashrāf literature in Urdu, are rare.

This paper will analyze an Urdu novel titled, Khudkushī (Suicide), by Ahmed Hussain Khan published in 1900. Khan was a prolific Urdu novelist known for works such as Afghani Chhura (1899) and Intiqam-e-Shaitan (1897), and an Urdu translation of Charles Dickens’ stories. He was also the editor of the Urdu journal, Shabāb-e-Urdu during the 1920’s. Khudkushī is a novel based on ‘desī zindagī’ (local life) with its setting based in urban Lahore. The protagonist of the story Kalu, the son of a Hajjām (barber) and a Mirāsī (traditional caste of singers/dancers), has managed to clear his middle-school exam to be appointed as a government clerk; rechristened as Kallu Khan, he is consumed by non-ashrāf values of naḵẖwat (pride) and takabbur (arrogance). The tale of Kalu is meant to serve as a lesson for his likes, those from a razīl, non-ashrāf background—the status of ashrāf cannot be merely attained through asharfī (money)—and if a razīl or kamīnā (low) attempts to do so, he is destined to the fate of khudkushī.