Sadat Hasan Manto is now widely acknowledged as a great short story writer of Urdu. He was a creative genius, indeed.  Among other things, deep psychological insights of human behaviors and personality seems to have informed ingenuity of his writings. Though he had to face judicial trials—and tribulations—for the charges of obscenity before and after Partition, he never gave in. Controversial for being charged as lascivious, Manto’s short story “Dhuvāṅ” is though much talked about, less interpreted, and evaluated in its own primary context. Akhter Ahsan, a distinguished psychologist and one of the pioneers of Na’ī Shā‘irī movement of 1960s, had analysed it in psychological context but it remained unpublished for long. Its edited version is first time being brought out. To Dr Ahsan, primary context of “Dhuvāṅ” lies in Eastern mythical and religious tradition. This way Dr Ahsan refutes Manto’s Urdu critics who resort to Western psychological insights to interpret his stories. 

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