The Avadh Punch: How A Weekly Magazine Used Satire Against the British rule
Words by Aliya Usmani
Welcome to the Brown History Newsletter. If you’re enjoying this labour of love, please do consider becoming a paid subscriber. Your contribution would help pay the writers and illustrators and support this weekly publication. If you like to submit a writing piece, please send me a pitch by email at brownhistory1947@gmail.com. Check out our Shop and our Podcast. You can also follow us on Instagram and Twitter.
The Avadh Punch: How a Weekly Magazine Used Satire Against the British rule by Aliya Usmani
“Urdu humour offers such rare insights into South Asia’s cultural history that it should be read as a historical document without undermining its artistic achievements.”
- Mushirul Hasan in Wit and Humour in Colonial North India
Creativity often blooms in bleak times. When the going got tough in colonial Avadh (a princely state ruled by Wajid Ali Shah which was annexed by the British in 1856 and located in present-day Uttar Pradesh constituting areas largely in and around Lucknow) a section of writers sought to comment on their times through cartoons, sketches, essays, and poems. The language of Urdu is well known to have produced a fair share of satire or hajv. The Avadh Punch, a weekly magazine published from January 1877 to 1936, continued this tradition and made an unprecedented contribution to this legacy. In its heyday, the Magazine was a household name in colonial India. Known as much for its good taste and dignity, the Avadh Punch must be remembered for its remarkably fresh style of commentary on the predicament of late 19th-century colonial India.
The Punch magazine first appeared in London in 1841; it was marked by humour and satire and is known to have coined the term ‘cartoon’ in the modern insinuation of the word. Many Urdu magazines attempted to emulate its style, but the Avadh Punch was unique in the quality of its satire, and therefore, it is worth examining its legacy.