Скачать или смотреть Sunlight on a Broken Column by Attia Hosain: A Discussion

Published in 1961, ‘Sunlight on a Broken Column’ is an autobiographical account provided by a fictional character Laila, a fifteen-year-old girl from a wealthy Muslim family of Taluqdars. She had lost her parents at a very early age and lived with her aunts: Abida and Majida and her sister, Zahra in an orthodox household. According to the wishes of her dead father, she had been given western schooling but was not allowed to enter into college. She was forced to keep purdah like her aunts, however, her heart craved for higher things in life such as personal freedom by fighting against conservatism. She had greater ideals and desires for her future, which were not possible to achieve in a life restricted by marriage and the purdah system. Unlike Zahra, she did not submit meekly to the traditions of her family and read, likewise, had philosophical and revolutionary thoughts.
We get an insight of the early 20th century India, which is consumed by superstitions, communal riots, oppression, prejudice, intolerance, hatred, ignorance and poverty. The book represents the clashes between Shias and Sunnis, Hindus and Muslims, Englishmen and Congress workers, rich and poor, educated and ignorant. The servant class was denied every basic right by the Taluqdars and Zamindars. This struggle was a representation of Laila’s heart as she too strongly desired independence and happiness.
Attia Hosain was herself born into a traditional Muslim household in pre-independence India. Her father was a taluqdar of Oudh and was greatly involved in the political and national movements of his time. In 1933, Hosain became the first woman from a taluqdar’s family to graduate but was not sent to Cambridge with her brother because of the distinctions made between sons and daughters in her family. It was because she had experienced the many faults and glories of aristocratic society, that she had created the character of Laila, a thoughtful girl who challenges her family’s traditions and society’s customs. Attia Hosain has understood the human heart, the many trials of Indian life and with her political insight, she has recreated the early 20th century British India through the eyes of an adolescent Muslim girl.


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