On Lesbianism: Ismat Chugtai's Lihaaf/The Quilt

Is looking for evidence of obscenity and vulgarity in ‘Lihaaf’ an attempt at disrupting the meaning and purpose of the text?

Art, as we know it is nothing but a form of expression and writing is a very distinguished art form. To interpret any art, it becomes fundamental to delve deep in the artist’s mind to further study their state, surrounding and motive. The creative essence of an artist is a split result not only of eloquent ability but also their personal experience; thus, keeping this argument as a constant, we can pose answers to the question which is put up. Ismat Chugtai beginning in the 1930s wore many hats as a novelist, short story writer, filmmaker and the like. It is often simply said for writers that- their writing or they were way ahead of their time but, for Ismat Chugtai, I believe this statement is truly applicable. Lihaaf/The Quilt as a narrative is centred around the motif of the body which is recurrent with the many characters besides Begum Jaan and Rabbu i.e. with the Nawab, young slender-waisted boys and the narrator. Such focus on the body with the sheer blunt description coming from the pen of a woman writer was not something ordinary in the context of its times.

After the first reading of the text, the story did feel ‘vulgar’ or ‘obscene’ to the extent of the narrator, her being involved without consent in the whole setting. The following excerpt substantiates this speculation- “I wanted to run away, but she held me tightly. I began to wriggle away and Begum Jaan began to laugh loudly. To this day, whenever I am reminded of her face at the moment. I feel jittery.” Any other kind of vulgarity is not clearly observed. If obscene or vulgar stands to highlight the Lesbianism focus for sexual relations is still a taboo subject, it is important to further problematize such placement. Primarily, Lesbianism isn’t a vulgar discourse however, here, the characters too are not in a truly justified lesbian relationship itself. Rabbu and Begum Jaan are homosexual partners but with a power dynamic. The bond is one of physical gratification and not emotional. The base fact that nor a homosexual relationship neither Rabbu alone was a strict preference for Begum Jaan speaks volumes about the prevalent bond; In this manner, the text becomes a trajectory of desire rather than emotion. In his essay-Ismat Chugtai’s “The Quilt”: Is it a Lesbian Text, Subhash Chandra takes this point forward. He mentions, “It could as well have been any other man, or a woman other than Rabbu or another child, as far as Begum Jan is concerned. It is only her sexual gratification that seems to matter to her.”

Further, the fact that Chugtai was not herself aware of the concept of Lesbianism speaks about the underscored neutrality of the text. Still, it would be wrong to say it was a completely innocent attempt and the reader is thankful that it wasn’t. The text is quite radical in every manner. The characters are vocal about their sense of being. It feels like they are deliberately kept out of the pitfall of being sympathized with as if doing so would ridicule their grandeur. The fact that the story never focusses on the male figures (the Nawab Sahib or the slender boys) qualifies itself as a radical female narrative talking about something as delicate (topic) as female bodies and pleasure. Despite Begum Jaan’s power-driven actions for individual motives, one does not eliminate to recognize that it (her bodily gratification) was but a fundamental need. Chugtai too, in the initial description of Begum Jaan, describes her as a failing but not fallen woman. She tells the reader that she, “…the beautiful Begum wasted away in anguished loneliness.” Begum Jaan’s desperate attempts at winning her husband back also contribute to creating this effect of a slight sensitivity. To add, Chugtai mentions about meeting the actual Begum from Aligarh whose life had inspired the creation of Lihaaf/The Quilt. In the excerpt from her autobiography, Kaghazi Hai Pairahan, she writes- ‘…Drawing me to one side she said, “Do you know, I divorced the Nawab and married a second time? I have a pearl of a son, by God’s grace” …I felt like throwing myself into someone’s arms and crying my heart out;’ Collectively, all of this contributes to doing away with the vulgar and obscene label which was anyway ascribed to Lihaaf/The Quilt.

Another point to be discussed must be the strategic introduction of the narrator. She is described as an aggressive person which has been understood as a male characteristic for innumerable years. In the year 1942 when the story was written, such character attribute (of aggressiveness) was almost certain to create a feeling of “the other”, perhaps it even suggested the scope for the narrator being a potential partner (which she eventually though unknowingly becomes in the absence of Rabbu). The focal detail to substantiate this can be the narrator’s acknowledgement- “Often I wondered why the hell I was so aggressive. At my age, my other sisters were busy drawing admirers, while I fought with any boy or girl I ran into.” Having mentioned the immediate reader spectacle on the question, talking and problematizing the Obscene Trial at Lahore to which the text and Chugtai were subjected to is ineluctable. Ismat Chugtai was branded as an obscene writer after Lihaaf/The Quilt. The summon sent out did create a lot of noise even though it worked in favour of Chugtai for it lawfully clarified her stance. The story, in her own words, ‘…became the proverbial stick to beat me with and whatever I wrote afterwards got crushed under its weight… “Lihaaf” made my life miserable. Shahid and I had so many fights over the story that life became a battlefield.’ Under this lens, the text became a notorious and vulgar (improper) measure of Chugtai’s brilliance.

The inscribed account of sensory-sexual engagement and images (like the elephant image) remains quilted or closeted as the lesbianism. Overall, the text comes across as a celebration of Begum Jaan depicted through the innocent experience of the narrator. I decipher that a radical (bodily) celebration as such could have not escaped the labels of obscenity and vulgarity running parallel to the times when it was written. To look for evidence in Lihaaf, I believe, cannot even remotely survive or qualify as a belittling attempt to disrupt the meaning and purpose since, the meanings are manifold and the vulgarity, subjective. On the contrary, I believe, it is these attempts that elevate the meaning and ultimately provide relief to the overwhelming mind of the author. As for vulgarity, in Chugtai’s words- “…people can brand the books prescribed in the courses of psychology and medicine as vulgar if they like.”

-Narita