Mahfjl, vol. 1, no. 1 13 underdog — the prostitute 9 the pander 9 the clerk — as the hero. Unlike other Urdu i/riters who also began to use these types as protagonists 5 Manto never romanticized his heroes. For example, he never presented the prostitute as a spiritually pure, morally radianc maid who 9 because of the capitalists 9 is forced to lead a life of shame. Instead, the prostitute in Manto^ stories is a sympathetic human being who is given to human passions and desires 9 but also possessed of human kindness 9 anxieties, and frustrations. Because of his realistic portrayal of human life and action9 Manto was tried for obscenity several times in his early career. With each of these trials, however, he was acquitted with honor. Manto also created politics and political issues in his stories. Most outstanding among these are the three volumes which deal with the partition of 19^7• Manto^ sympathies lie with the common .nan who did not understand or even know "about the action of the government, who did not understand the slogans and speeches that encouraged hatred between Muslim and Hindu, and who, one day, was forced to fight, even kill, his neighbor. In theje stories we find some of the most powerful and acrid denunciations of partition, as well as some of the most vivid ?jid true-to-life portraits of people caught up in the chaos and slaughter of partition. The story, thanda gost (liberally, ^Cold Flesh'Q, belongs to this peri5d, f)ubli§hed in l^ho. Ifl^ile the critics and readers applauded this sensational story, Manto was again summoned to court to stand trial for obscenity. As before, he was not convicted, but was made to pay a nominal fine. Later;, in 19509 he published this same story, together vith a long, humorous account of his trial. All told, Manio was tried for obscenity six times, but with no convictions. After partition, Manto left Bombay to live in Lahore. Tnere, he refused to join the ranks of the propagandists and nationalists who controlled all media of publication in the new nation. Though lie suffered from chronic financial difficulties, his popularity among critics and readers continued. When Manto died of alcoholism on January l8, 19^5'5 thousands of people in Lahore walked in his funeral procession, a rare tribute which the public pays to an author. Stylistically, Manto is an innovator in Urdu literature. He tore Urdu prose from the clutcLes of sentimentalism and. mawk-ishness in which it was a prisoner for so long, Manto gave Urdu prose a hardaess and precision which it rever before possessed. In Ills early works 5 Lanco was fond of the sensational, and because he was interested primarily in the effect h could create with his story, he used fche trick or dramatic ending freely. In this aspect 9 Lanto is similar to Maupassant, to whom he favorably compares. In his later stories, however, Manto is chiefly concerned with character development and in creating a particular atmosphere in his stories• In these respects, ho reseubles Chekhov, or Gorky, whom Manto was particularly fond of and whose stories he translated into Urdu, The following story, in English for bhe first time, is translated from the Urdu by C» M. KaLn and riuth L. Schmidt, and is taken from thanda g:ost ai-r dusri kahaniySM (Cold Flesh ajid QUier Stories)o"Lahore g 19^0.