From Premchand’s play ‘Karbala’, to BR Ambedkar: What the idea of the ‘non-Hindu’ Hindu offers us

A century ago in 1924, Premchand, the north Indian writer, published his play Karbala. In 680 Common Era, Prophet Muhammad’s grandson Imam Hussain, contesting Caliph Yazid’s authority, was killed at Karbala. These events, cementing Islam’s Sunni-Shia split, came to define Shia selfhood and are commemorated annually during Muharram.

Premchand’s play, however, is not an internalist retelling of Karbala’s tragic arc. It is instead framed by the dislocation of Hindus in West Asia. In the writer’s telling, Hindu Brahmin brothers, led by Sahas Rai, live in seventh century Mesopotamia. Outraged by the oppressive caliph, they take up arms alongside Hussain and are murdered at Karbala.

Premchand crafted his play inspired by early 20th century tales circulating in north India. Some Punjabi Brahmins – in the Mohyal, Dutt and Hussaini sects – say their ancestors were martyred at Karbala, in present-day Iraq.

In 1911, British official TP Russell Stracey, while stationed in the Punjab, recorded the kavit or poetry of Dutt Brahmins. In their warrior myths, they suffer alongside Hussain, while survivors undertake an odyssey, through Bukhara and Kandahar, back to India.

The Dutts praise their ancestor Rehab Singh, believed to have lost sons at Karbala. Of him it is said: “Dutt sultan, Hindu ka dharma, Musalman ka iman. Adha Hindu,...

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