Raja Gidh by Bano Qudsia

Buy Raja Gidh / راجه گدھ by Bano Qudsia Urdu Novel For Sale

Raja Gidh (Urdu: راجه گدھ) by Bano Qudsia is one of the most widely read and acclaimed Urdu novels. Gidh is the Urdu word for a vulture and Raja is a Hindi synonym for king. The name anticipates the kingdom of vultures. In fact, parallel to the main plot of the novel, an allegorical story of such a kingdom is narrated.

Bano Qudsia has written this novel drawing on the religious concept of Haraam and Halaal. Many readers tend to interpret Raja Gidh as a sermon, in which Bano Qudsia puts forth her theory of hereditary transmission of Haraam genes.. In the opinion of many readers and critics she manages to convince them that the pursuance of Haraam, be it financial, moral or emotional, results in the deterioration of a person’s normality in some sense.

Apart from the above implication the novel has many social, emotional and psychological aspects. The nostalgic narration of the historical Government College Lahore and of the Lawrence Garden Lahore lights upon the days of seventies and eighties.

Bano Qudsia is among those Urdu writers who would think ten times before writing a sentence. But she does not sacrifice the flow of the narrative anywhere in this novel. Her characters are not black and white ones as some of the critics would like to suggest.

Aftab belongs to a Kashmiri business family. Though he also loves her, he can not rise above his family values and succumbs to his parent’s pressure to marry someone against his wishes and leave for London to look after his family business. Now the long story of separation begins.