Aadha Gaon, meaning half a village, was published in 1966 and is set in Gangauli, the author's own village in the Ghazipur district of eastern Uttar Pradesh. It portrays the Shia Muslim zamindar families of one half of the village, their feuds, marriages, scandals and Muharram mourning rituals, from the late 1930s to the early 1950s.
There is no single hero; the village itself is the protagonist, observed by a narrator who grew up there. When the Muslim League's campaign for Pakistan reaches Gangauli, most villagers cannot see why their home should be anywhere else. Partition divides families nonetheless, and then the abolition of zamindari strips the landowners of their status, leaving them adrift in the new republic.
Written in Hindi but full of the Bhojpuri and Urdu of everyday speech, the novel was controversial for its frank language and its insistence that Indian Muslims belong to their soil. It is now recognised as one of the great Hindi novels about Partition from a Muslim village's perspective. Gillian Wright translated it as A Village Divided.
Book details
| Author | Rahi Masoom Raza |
|---|---|
| First published | 1966 |
| Original language | Hindi |
| Translated by | Gillian Wright |
| Genre | Literary fiction |
| Type | Fiction |
| Pages (approx.) | 360 |
| Setting | Gangauli village, Ghazipur district, Uttar Pradesh, late 1930s to early 1950s |
Themes
- Partition
- Belonging and homeland
- End of zamindari
- Shia Muslim culture
- Village community
Who should read it
Readers who want a rarely told Muslim village view of Partition and its aftermath in North India.