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Book Authors Article
Lajja

Lajja

Now with a new author's note

Anchita Ghatak
,
Taslima Nasrin (Anchita Ghatak Tr.)
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A special collectible edition from one of the most eminent voices of our generation
A savage indictment of religious extremism and man’s inhumanity to man, Lajja was banned in Bangladesh but became a bestseller in the rest of the world. This brand-new translation marks the twentieth anniversary of this controversial novel. The Dattas Sudhamoy and Kironmoyee and their children, Suronjon and Maya have lived in Bangladesh all their lives. Despite being members of a small Hindu community that is terrorized at every opportunity by Muslim fundamentalists, they refuse to leave their country, unlike most of their friends and relatives. Sudhamoy believes with a naive mix of optimism and idealism that his motherland will not let him down. And then, on 6 December 1992, the Babri Masjid at Ayodhya is demolished by a mob of Hindu fundamentalists. The world condemns the incident, but its immediate fallout is felt most acutely in Bangladesh, where Muslim mobs begin to seek out and attack the Hindus. The nightmare inevitably arrives at the Dattas’ doorstep and their world begins to fall apart.

Imprint: India Hamish Hamilton

Published: Sep/2025

ISBN: 9780143419211

Length : 344 Pages

MRP : ₹599.00

Lajja

Now with a new author's note

Anchita Ghatak
,
Taslima Nasrin (Anchita Ghatak Tr.)

A special collectible edition from one of the most eminent voices of our generation
A savage indictment of religious extremism and man’s inhumanity to man, Lajja was banned in Bangladesh but became a bestseller in the rest of the world. This brand-new translation marks the twentieth anniversary of this controversial novel. The Dattas Sudhamoy and Kironmoyee and their children, Suronjon and Maya have lived in Bangladesh all their lives. Despite being members of a small Hindu community that is terrorized at every opportunity by Muslim fundamentalists, they refuse to leave their country, unlike most of their friends and relatives. Sudhamoy believes with a naive mix of optimism and idealism that his motherland will not let him down. And then, on 6 December 1992, the Babri Masjid at Ayodhya is demolished by a mob of Hindu fundamentalists. The world condemns the incident, but its immediate fallout is felt most acutely in Bangladesh, where Muslim mobs begin to seek out and attack the Hindus. The nightmare inevitably arrives at the Dattas’ doorstep and their world begins to fall apart.

Buying Options
Paperback / Hardback
Bookswagon Amazon
Ebooks
Amazon Google

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Anchita Ghatak

Anchita Ghatak works with development organizations on issues of poverty, rights and gender. She has translated Sunanda Sikdar’s prizewinning Bengali memoir Dayamoyeer Katha into English as A Life Long Ago.

Taslima Nasrin (Anchita Ghatak Tr.)

Taslima Nasrin (Author) was born in the city of Mymensingh, Bangladesh. After graduating from Mymensingh Medical College, she worked as a government doctor in public hospitals until 1993. When ordered by the government to
choose between her job and writing, she chose to resign from public service to continue her literary pursuits.
Nasrin is one of the most uncompromising feminist writers of the Indian subcontinent. Her writing has earned her immense popularity but
also controversy. In advocating for women’s rights, she has not only faced attacks from religious fundamentalists but also encountered opposition from the State and patriarchal society at large. Fundamentalist groups
demanded her execution and even placed a bounty on her head. As a result, she was exiled from her beloved homeland in 1994. Fatwas and numerous lawsuits against her freedom of expression still hang over her in Bangladesh. After years of exile in Europe, she settled in West Bengal, India, but was later expelled from that state as well. This Bengali writer has found
no refuge in either part of Bengal. Several of her books have been banned by the Bangladesh government, including Lajja (a fact-based novel in defence of humanity), Amar Meyebela
(a memoir of her childhood), Utal Hawa (about her teenage and early adult years), and the third and fourth parts of her autobiography, Ka (translated as Split: A Life) and Sei Sob Andhokar. West Bengal’s government also
banned Ka, although the Calcutta High Court overturned the ban two years later.
Nasrin has received numerous awards and honours. In India, she won the Ananda Purashkar twice: for Nirbachito Kolam and Amar Meyebela. She received the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought from the European
Parliament, the UNESCO Prize for promoting tolerance and peace, the French government’s Human Rights Prize, the Simone de Beauvoir Prize and the Edit de Nantes Prize from France for her fi ght against religious extremism. Other honours include the Academy Award from the Royal Academies for Science and the Arts of Belgium, and the Kurt Tucholsky Prize from PEN Sweden. She has also received honorary doctorates from Ghent University and the University of Leuven in Belgium, the American
University of Paris and Paris Diderot University. She has held fellowships at Harvard and New York University.
Nasrin has authored over fifty books across poetry, short stories, novels, essays and autobiographies. Her works have been translated into twenty-five languages, including English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Swedish, Norwegian, Icelandic, Finnish, Dutch, Arabic and Turkish.
A vocal advocate for humanism, human rights, women’s liberation and free thought, she has delivered speeches around the world, including at prestigious institutions such as Harvard, Yale, Oxford, Edinburgh and the Sorbonne. Globally, she has become a symbol of the fight for freedom of expression.

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