Lajja (
Bengali: লজ্জা
Lôjja) (
Shame) is a novel in Bengali by
Taslima Nasrin, a writer of Bangladesh. The word
lajja/lôjja means "shame" in Bengali and many other
Indic languages. The book was first published in 1993 in the Bengali language, and was subsequently banned in
Bangladesh,
New York Times, June 8, 1994.
New York Times, August 28, 1994. and a few
states of
India. It nonetheless sold 50,000 copies in the six months after its publication,
New York Times, March 13, 1994. though Taslima fled her native
Bangladesh after death threats from Islamic radicals.
New York Times, July 6, 1994.
Nasrin dedicated the book "to the people of the
Indian subcontinent", beginning the text with the words, "let another name for religion be
humanism." The novel is preceded by a preface and a chronology of events.
Synopsis
Lajja is a response of Taslima Nasrin to
anti-Hindu riots which erupted in parts of
Bangladesh, soon after the demolition of
Babri Masjid in India on 6 December 1992. The book subtly indicates that communal feelings were on the rise, the
Hindu minority of Bangladesh was not fairly treated, and
secularism was under shadow.
Plot summary
In a far off place in
Ayodhya, in the state of
Uttar Pradesh in India, on 6 December 1992,
Babri Masjid is demolished, and the demolition has repercussions even in Bangladesh, a different country, and a...
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