South Asia

Abstract

Modern South Asia, a diverse, populous, multilingual, and geopolitically influential sub-continent, has produced much utopian literature. This chapter analyses utopian literature in vernacular or bhasha literature and in English. I shall examine how Buddhism, with its emphasis on extirpation of suffering, as well as on social justice, has produced South Asian utopian literature, as in the work of neo-Buddhist and Marxist writer Rahul Sankrityayan. The chapter will further examine Rabindranath Tagore as a critic of nationalism and as a builder of utopian communities (including a university), and two dramatic works by Tagore: a dance drama, Tasher Desh (Land of Cards, 1933) and a musical play with both utopian and dystopian overtones, Red Oleanders (1925). Gender plays an important role in these plays but can be seen also in writings by feminist women, notably Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain. The chapter considers her short story “Sultana’s Dream” (1905), a text with overtones of satire and humor. It concludes with an examination of utopian elements in the oeuvre of Salman Rushdie, particularly in his work for children, Haroun and the Sea of Stories (1990).