Thanks to a 2006 tele-film, this has become Urdu writer Rajinder Singh Bedi’s signature story. Set in the violent upheaval of British India’s 1947 partition, it follows Sunderlal, a Hindu activist whose wife, Lajwanti, is abducted into Pakistan. The ironic descriptions of domestic life (Lajwanti considered vicious beatings from Sunderlal “normal”, and appears confused by the kind treatment of her Muslim captor) highlight traditional Indian attitudes towards women at the time. A second irony is that although Sunderlal campaigns for the rehabilitation of abducted women, he refuses to discuss Lajwanti’s experiences with her, preventing both from finding closure.
Since publishing this post we have featured another story with the same name. In that story, by Mulk Raj Anand, a young Indian woman receives unwanted sexual advances from her brother-in-law while her husband is living away from home. You can read it here: Lajwanti (Anand).
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