2012 Volume 1, Issue 4

Int. J. of Res. in Linguistics & Lexicography: INTJR-LL-1(4)-49‐55

ISSN 2226-5589 (Online) 2226-4973 (Print)

Representation of Women in Ali’s Twilight in Delhi (1940)

By
Dr. Zia Ahmad
Asstt. Prof. of English at the Institute of Social Sciences, Bahauddin Zikriya University, Multan,
Pakistan
Abstract

This paper discusses the portrayal of women by Ali in his novel Twilight in Delhi (1940) and explores
to find whether this was a deliberate attempt of the writer to exclude Muslim women from the normal
course of political events while Muslim men were undergoing socio-political change due to British
rule. The novel Twilight in Delhi (1940) reflects the socio-political situation in India under the British
rule. The Muslim India was undergoing politico-cultural change from the traditional Mughal culture
to the British colonial culture under the hegemonic control of the colonizer. The character of Mir
Nihal seems less affected by this because he is made to represent the dying Mughal tradition while his
son Asghar adopts the British dress code as well as education and becomes a part of the colonial
officialdom. The women at the house of Mir Nihal show no such transformation, rather reflect a
combination of the Mughal and Muslim culture in letter and spirit. This paper aims at discovering
whether Ali is projecting the local Indian culture in attempt to write back to the Empire, in terms of
Ashcroft (2002) or he believed that preservation of Muslim culture in India could be guaranteed only
if Muslim women were excluded out of the impact of hegemonic British colonialism. The selected
text which portrays the women characters by Ali has been discussed and critically analyzed through
the relevant critical discourse there by providing answer to this crucial question.

Introduction

The discussion about the socio-political status of women was already available in Urdu fiction which
extended into fiction in English because of the influence of English language. Discussion about the
status of women in Pakistani society has evolved as a dominant theme in the Pakistani fiction in
English. This fiction has portrayed Pakistani women as the victims of so many social and political
taboos of Pakistani society which is heavily dominated by Indian, English and central Asian cultures
(Ahmed 2009).Shamsie (2007) is of the view that the rise of Pakistani novel began with unrealized
potential of the Shahnawaz while even before this, Ali had entered in the field of fiction with his
Twilight in Delhi (1940) which earns him the title of ‘Father of Pakistani Fiction in English’. After
1947, a large body of literary work was created by quite a significant number of Pakistani writers like
Ghose, Sidhwa, Aslam, Hamid and Shamsie and others. These writers have given Pakistan a literary
identity and have shaped many of the themes in Pakistani literature in English by writing mostly about
the poverty, injustice, and discrimination against women in the Pakistani society. But “The story of
Pakistani fiction in English would be incomplete without the background of 1947 in which English
language itself is the prime factor. It was the language of power, because, not only the colonial rulers
used it but also the freedom movement leaders, like Jinnah and Gandhi, and their immediate
companions” (Shamsie 2007).

The beginning of Pakistani fiction coincides with thePakistan Movement in the 1940s. “This was the
time when the consolidation of British power in India sparked off intense debates over the question of the
condition and rights of Indian women” (Ali 2000).Ali is one of the first writers who turned to express in
English under the umbrella of All-India Progressive Writers Association (1936), especially because of
the ease and freedom from taboos that were inherent in Urdu language and Culture. His first novel
Twilight in Delhi (1940) in English challenges the existing canons of imperial literature and provides
Muslim view of the colonial encounter.
 Int. J. of Res. in Linguistics & Lexicography: INTJR-LL-1(4)-49‐55
 
 
Ali’s Portrayal of Women

Ali’s Twilight in Delhi (1940) has much to say about the lives and sufferings of the Indian Muslims
under the British rule. “Twilight in Delhi is set in 1911, in a neighbourhood of Muslim in Delhi, and
narrates what the Muslims felt because of the downfall of the Mughals and the rise of the British”
(Shamsie 2007). Ali (1940) not only talks about slowly dying Muslim cultural traditions but also men
and women who were suffering because of the change. This was the time when not only Muslim
power in the subcontinent had dwindled but also they felt strong urge to reform their society in which
the lives of Muslim women got crucial importance. “The condition of the Muslim women was the
barometer with which the life of the Indian society could be judged” (Ali 2000). But in spite of these
changes, the women in his novel do not appear to be the modern ones. They were still the silent
majority whose lives were controlled by the men. In fact, he has seen the lives of the women with a
male dominant view which would like to see women as they are and feel satisfied to fit them in the
traditional roles set for them since ages. He seems to have belief in essentialist feminism because he
has advocated for the removal of some social traditions and suffering of women because of
colonization process and men’s efforts to use women for the preservation of their pre-colonial culture
but he does not portray women as progressive and independent ones. He portrays women in the
backdrop of loss of power of the Muslims.

The women characters in the novel of Ali (1940) are discussed below.

Begum Mir Nihal

Ali in his Twilight in Delhi (1940) gives the portrayal of those rich women of Delhi who were neither
educated in modern art nor sciences and nor willing to play a bigger role in the political or social life.
Among them the first one is Begum Mir Nihal, the wife of the protagonist, Mir Nihal. She lives under
the strict supervision of her husband and is unable to exercise her will in any of the matters that
pertain to life outside-home. However, she has the capability of dealing with her domestic affairs with
a relative freedom but even here she has to consult her husband at first, may it be the marriage of a
daughter or a son or the matter of attending or joining a gathering at home. The portrayal of Begum
Mir Nihal is that of a segregated woman who keeps busy in her home chores and remains contented in
exercising her authority on her domestic servants and her other junior women and, up to some extent,
the junior male members of the family. She is just a source of comfort for her family and husband
exactly in accordance with the traditions and customs of the Mughal Indian culture associated with the
central Asian and Afghan plus Arabic one. Her contentment remains the same even when she finds
that her husband has time for his pigeons and the prostitute Bubban and not for her. She complains
nothing other than feeling a little sad. The portrayal of Begum Mir Nihal is purely that of a domestic
woman with no education and no desire for taking part in the social and political life.

She is rather more influenced by the magic, charms, and effects of holy verses like her cousin who
lives in the same family but is widowed for a long time. This woman, in the story, is the sister of Mir
Nihal who was widowed at an early age and could not marry because of the taboo against widow
marriage in the Hindu society. Yet she lived a respectable life according to the Muslim standards of
womanhood. She is very much doubted by the other family women that she was ill-luck woman and
that she exercised magical and other activities in order to control the lives of the other people. This
woman too does not complain about the lack of anything in her life and remains contented with the
life that has been decided for her. Neither is she educated according to the western standards nor has
she ever wished to go and work outside of her home. The portrayal of this woman by Ali is in exact
correspondence to the centuries old tradition and the custom through which almost all the women and
especially the women of the rich or the noble class had to undergo.

Begum Waheed

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Another woman, Begum Waheed, the elder daughter of Mir Nihal, was also married earlier at her
tender age and was to live in sufferings by neglecting the demands of her body and soul at a very
tender age. She had to accept the status of a widow at the early age of 19 years. Although her religion
allowed her a second marriage yet she did not do so because of the force of customs and traditions of
the Indian society. Ali says,

Begum Waheed, Asghar’s eldest sister had been married to Saiyyad

Waheedul Haq in Bhopal. But she had become a widow at the age of nineteen, soon
after the birth of her second child. She was religious by nature; and, not to arouse
unnecessary suspicions, she had decided to live with her husband’s people. For
though Islam permitted her to marry again, the social code, derived mostly from
prevailing Hindu practice, did not favor a second marriage. (Ali 1940)

Mehru

Not only the portrayals of the mature and married women exhibit the tendency of the hold of the
custom and tradition on them but this is also visible in the portrayal of the young and unmarried
women from the noble family in this novel. Ali (1940) gives us a portrayal of the daughter of Mir
Nihal, Mehru. This young girl is portrayed as a shy and reticent one who does not have any allowance
of complaining against any injustice meted out to her. This girl is the youngest in the family and her
marriage remains the subject of discussion for all the young and the old. Mehru’s marriage is
pronounced with a man she had never met before. She does not raise even a single word of complaint
against it to any of the members of the family. She is capable of raising this question to the stars at
night as to why she has to marry a man she does not know even. She is unable to raise this question to
any of the male member of her household. Very close to the marriage, it is revealed that her husband
is a very ugly man; still she follows the footsteps of her husband and reaches his home without a
complaint. This young woman does have some doubts about her marriage but she did not show them
up.

Bilqeece

The same traditionalism of the society with respect to women becomes a cause of suffering and
trouble for the women even after they were married. The bride of Asghar, Bilqeece had a great love
for her husband and wanted to show it as well. But she could not do so because of her training for
keeping silent before men. She was taught under the influence of tradition that she had to remain shy
and not to express her emotions to any one even not to her husband. She keeps silent most of the time
and only looks at her husband with love. With the passage of time, she fell seriously ill and died. This
was the same woman who was loved and caressed by her family and when she was to leave her home
to go her bridegroom’s home, everyone had shed tears.

The women in the novel of Ali (1940) reflect a traditional set up of their lives. This makes them lose
many of the valuable things of their life. Bilqeece could not win the attention of her husband because,
as Ali (1940) says, even in her childhood, she had not been allowed to keep her head uncovered. “She
had been constantly told that one day she would have to go someone else’s home and that she must
always behave properly. She was taught the art of cooking and sewing like a perfect house-wife” (Ali
1940).

Discussion and Critical Analysis

Thus, Ali tries to prove that the young women, who lived in India in the middle of the 19th century,
were still without the benefits of the social effects of the colonialism on them. British colonialism had
affected them rather negatively that they had to become the preservers of the local Mughal culture.
They were neither aware of their rights nor had any desire to force their rights on the people around
them. They did not have awareness because most of them did not have modern education, even not

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touched by the reform agenda such as that of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan. They were just equipped with
the religious education that was thought necessary for them to play their traditionally accepted roles of
mothers and daughters within the four walls of their houses. They did not question about their inferior
position because of their social construct as a woman. They were taught to endure and be reticent.
They believed in the practice of these restrictions on them as their virtues. That is why, the young
women like Mehru accepted their marriages with unacceptable strangers to uphold the above said
values, which they were expected and supposed to take care of. It means that influence of colonialism
has not yet taken a firm ground to modernize the lives of women in India to compete and face the
traditional conservatism which was wrestling with the reform and change, especially in the lives of
women. They were still living under the deep influence of the Mughal Muslim culture. Ali (1940) also
shows the similar lives of the women of his time, as the following lines by Shamsie (2002) indicate,

Ahmed Ali deals with the thwarted lives of women, with great sensitivity,
whether he writes about the unhappiness of the spurned Bilqeece or the trauma of
Asghar's hapless sister Mehru, who finds herself married to a monster, because he
comes from a distant city and her family has made optimistic assumptions about him,
through inaccurate reports. (Shamsie 2002)

The portrait of Mehru shows that Ali found women, in his age and culture, as submissive human
beings who did not have any knowledge of emancipation and empowerment and who always said
‘yes’ to the decision made by their parents. The greatest issue of the life of women portrayed by Ali
was the marriage and most of them were very much touchy and concerned about this; but, were
unable to have any say in this. They took a major part in the development of marriage between men
and women but had no hand in the final decision-making about their own marriages. Especially, the
young girls did not have a say; and, therefore, the women of Ali (1940) were reticent and obliging to
their men and had no opinion of their own. This was the situation of the women who had not yet
reached the knowledge that was brought by the Europeans. The women of Ali (1940) are not educated
and empowered in the modern context, but are clinging to their sense of loss of the culture, rule, and
the social ideals that were cherished in that culture. These women seem to be unaware in the four
walls of their homes from the cultural and educational revolution brought by the English occupation
of India. The traditional concept of the most obedient women is quite evident from the character
portrayal of Begum Waheed. She had married at a very earlier age which was like the child-marriage
practiced in South Asia. However, one cannot deny the fact that she had some kind of influence in her
family. The portrayal of the elder daughter of Mir Nihal shows that she played a big role in making
the whole family agreed on the love-marriage of her brother. She was able to exercise her will in her
house as well as in the house of her father. This type of influence was, of course, not an allowance or
prerogative to the women. It was actually their dexterity and skill to handle the matters when their
men allowed them to transgress their established field and influence their decisions in the world
portrayed by Ali’s (1940) fiction.

These women were still enjoying the facilities they had always enjoyed during the Muslim reign in
India. But, now, the outward situation was changing and the effects of the colonialism on Muslim men
and women were penetrating into the roots of this culture. The novel Twilight in Delhi (1940) is about
the change of the culture of Indian Muslim, which they had so far tried to save and preserve, because
of the English invasion of Indo-Pak subcontinent. The change was therefore visible in the lives of the
people in general. Ali (1940) says in his introduction of the novel Twilight in Delhi,

After the English had occupied mainly the Indian cities, life had started to
change and it could not be found in the real Indian sense as the British had started to
dismantle what was Mughals and Islamic. So that is why many Hindu writers of his
age in 1930 looked for the material of their books in the countryside of India because
India still lived there. (Ali 1940)

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The Muslim men of Ali’s time had gone under social and political changes but the condition and the
status of the women was the same even in the British India. Besides, when men saw that they were no
more able to uphold their traditional, political, and cultural values, they handed this job over to the
women inside their houses to take care of their values and the preservation of their culture. They
were, therefore, shut in the four walls of their houses and seeing men was only a rare chance for them.
A segregation that existed in the time of Mughal India had been enforced even more vigorously, as is
evident from the following words of Shamsie (2002),

In fact the Coronation Durbar marks the dividing point, between the fortune
of both Mir Nihal's household and traditional Delhi. Soon the old city walls are
demolished. The 1919 influenza epidemic follows in the wake of World War I. The
last part of the book is filled with sadness, death, and disintegration. Mir Nihal's
moribund milieu continues to collapse in on it. Unlike his upright, older brother,
Habibuddin, a government official who dies young, Asghar neither has the will nor
the inclination to find gainful employment or to take an interest in the Freedom
Movement or wider issues. He comes to embody the shallow, superficial “hybrid
culture” that emerges in Delhi with its “hodgepodge” of Indian and Western ways.
(Shamsie 2002)

Twilight in Delhi (1940) is surely reflective of the life of Delhi, including women, under the British
rule in the first half of the 20th century. Rather, we can say that almost half of the novel is deeply
associated with the women and their life which reflects that Ali (1940) had vast store of observation
of women’s life in that period. As for example, besides portraying the domestic women of the main
flow of society, he also goes to portray periphery women who served as keeps and concubines all
over India following the traditions of the society. Ali (1940) tells us about the secret love of Mir Nihal
with an outsider woman, Babban Jan, who was being maintained by him in a separate house. But the
woman in this case is totally helpless because of the lack of education and other resources for her. So,
the portrayal of woman given by Ali (1940) is totally that of a silent, reticent, and dependent woman.
This was the status of women in general that has found its way in the novel of Ali (1940). Not only
such cases were rampant but also the living places of the prostitutes were visited very frequently by
the young and old of the family of the well to do. In a way, the prostitutes did have a role in the
society in developing so called special mannerism of the decadent Mughal culture and hunger for the
love of women. But these women mostly lived a separated and segregated life and were almost out of
the status of nobility. They were not acceptable in the main fold of life. On the other hand, the same
Mir Nihal maintained a strict cover for his own women at home to maintain his nobility. He would
keep them inside the four walls of the house. They maintained strict Purdah. The life of such women
was totally silent and without colour except the colour added to it because of various marriage parties
when most of the women stayed at home. Ali mentions that “mostly life (of women) stayed like water
in a pond with nothing to break the monotony of the static life” (Ali 1940). It is not very strange that
the women of the society in which Ali lived, did not protest or try to break this monotony. They rather
seem to be well satisfied with the life given to them by the society. Whatever freedom they enjoyed
was given to them only under the strict rules set by the society of that time.

While, on the other hand, such silence gives rise to the dependency of these women on the black
magic, and the amulets from the (so called) holy men. They are very superstitious because of the
illiteracy. Begum Mir Nihal does not believe in love. When she listens about the over infatuation of
her son for a particular girl, she says that Begum Shahbaz had done black magic on her son. The same
woman, however, is helpful to the men of her family if they want to achieve something. It is the same
Begum Waheed who was living a life of widow, came to give a compassionate help to her brother for
arranging a marriage of his own choice. It means that the culture of Ali’s time only silenced women in
the case of their own marriages. They could make a good contribution and had a type of say in the
marriages of their brothers.

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Out of this traditional concept of women portrayed by Ali, we can see that the plight of the women
from the royal family of India was also the same. These women lived the worst possible life because
of the loss of power of their men and the mistreatment of the British to the surviving royal-blood of
the Indian Mughals. It is true that after wars and epidemics, the worst sufferers are the women. The
same holds good for the royal women of the Mughals. Ali (1940) says,

The princesses had married cooks and kaharsi, their own servants and served
as cooks and maids, many of them had become beggars and went about begging in
the streets. Some were given five or ten rupees as pension by those who had usurped
their kingdom. But there were many who were not given even this much of help. (Ali
1940)

Ali (1940) suggests that the traditional concept of women is developed mainly by the tradition and the
culture in terms of the concept of woman as a social construct, as referred by Beauvoir (1949/1974),
which binds women to accept whatever worst falls in their lap. Mehru in the novel of Ali (1940), was
to be sacrificed at the altar of family honour, not for one or two days but for whole of her life. She
could see her groom only after she was given farewell from her home. When she saw him “she felt
like cow under the butcher’s knife. But she could not alter her fate and had to accept it with as much
courage as she could muster” (Ali 1940).

It is evident that Ali (1940) portrays women in the traditional set up. But we must not ignore the fact
that he has advocated the cause of the women’s rights at many places of his novel. The situation in
the novel definitely brings before us the mental sufferings of the women of that time. The women did
not have a say in their marriage decisions and mostly, these decision were made by keeping in mind
the social tradition and the norm, not the will and the wish of the women. The consequences were
great and the women continued to suffer by making compromise after compromise. Mehru of
‘Twilight in Delhi’ is the best symbol, representing the women of that time. She demonstrates how
silently the women would obey the decision made by their males, especially when they were not
consulted at all. This was equal to throwing the women on “satiii” (burning pyre) even before her
husband dies. Therefore, something was needed through which women may be rescued from such
type of sufferings. Ali (1940) has brought before his readers this part of women’s life in India. Ali
(1940), however, does not set any role-model woman character, nor does he offer any comparison
between the suffering women and independent women, which is very evidently done by Shahnawaz
(1957) just after 10 years. Ali’s (1940) images of women show that the women faced the misery and
problems of their lives because they were women and he does not portray any round characters of
women who should rebel against the said tradition to get rid of the oppression they had to undergo.
We can find the physical as well as psychological sufferings of women, as portrayed by Ali (1940),
are accepted by them silently because they think they are women and the burden they are supposed to
carry, have to carry without complaint. They are the best examples of the women as a social
constructs.

Conclusion

The portrayal of women given by Ali (1940) evidently demonstrates the patriarchal efforts to preserve
their indigenous culture by reforming women’s role in society but without undergoing changes in
accordance with the cultural patterns of the colonists. They were trying to preserve their culture as
much as they could and taught their women that, after losing their power to the British, the best way
of survival was their success in preserving their Mughal and Islamic culture. This is the reason that
every woman of Ali (1940) seems taking no notice of the changes coming around them. The change
is noticed only in political terms and that also is observed with anger. At the social level, this change
is visible only among the young and educated men who have been shown following the British
cultural values as is found in the character of Asghar but women were being trained and advised to
carry the burden of social tradition and cultural values of the Indian Muslims.

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End Notes
i
Water carriers.
ii
Sati is a kind of Hindu custom which requires a woman to burn herself alive on the funeral burning pyre of
husband.

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