In 6 Points: Who Was Feminist Urdu Writer Ismat Chughtai?

Ismat Chughtai: Considered the grand dame of Urdu fiction, on her 107th birth anniversary, Ismat Chughtai was also honoured with a Google doodle and her literary legacy has revitalized Urdu. Many of the writing of this brilliant writer was banned at that time because their fiercely reformist and feminist content offended conservatives.

NEW DELHI: On this day, the literary world celebrates the birth anniversary of ‘the grande dame of Urdu fiction’- Ismat Chughtai. The fierce and fearless writer in her own words came from a family of "Hindus, Muslims and Christians who all live peacefully".



Considered the grand dame of Urdu fiction, on her 107th birth anniversary, Ismat Chughtai was also honoured with a Google doodle and her literary legacy has revitalized Urdu. Many of the writing of this brilliant writer was banned at that time because their fiercely reformist and feminist content offended conservatives.

Who Was Ismat Chughtai?

1. Chughtai was born in Badayun, Uttar Pradesh in 1911 to a middle-class, Muslim family.


2. Chughtai established herself as a significant voice in the Urdu literature of the twentieth century.


3. Her writings in the 1930s mainly centred around female sexuality and femininity, middle-class gentility, and class conflict, subjects considered taboo for the age.


4. Some of her unapologetic writings, which include Angarey, Dheet and Lihaaf, were banned in South Asia.


5. In 1976, she was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India.


6. She passed away in 1991 at the age of 76.