Salman Rushdie‘s novel The Satantic Verses hadn’t been sold in India, the country of the author’s birth, for 36 years, until this week.
The novel, which forced the India-born author into hiding after its publication in 1988, has gone on sale at Bahrisons Booksellers in New Delhi, and the news has been met warmly by members of India’s publishing community.
According to The BBC and The Guardian, the book’s reappearance in India has come after a Delhi High Court ruled that its ban could be invalid as authorities seeking to keep it could not provide the relevant notification of the government’s original ban. Though importing the book appears to remain illegal, publishing it is not and the ruling has clearly empowered the local publishing business to act. The situation has perplexed Indian legal experts, with no precedent from which to work.
Awarded the Booker Prize, the controversial novel was inspired by an episode in the life of Prophet Muhammad. India’s government moved to ban it after rioting and outrage from Islamic groups, as a global debate over freedom of speech versus religious sensitivity raged. Soon after the novel was published, Iranian leader Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa on Rushdie over its content. Rushdie went into hiding as several people associated with the publication were targeted with violence, with a Japanese translator murdered and 37 dying in an arson attack in Turkey. Rushdie himself was attacked on stage at an event in upstate New York in 2022 after coming out of hiding. He lost an eye after being stabbed by a man who was arrested on second degree attempted murder and separate domestic terrorism charges. This year, Rushdie published a memoir about his experience, titled Knife: Meditations After An Attempted Murder.
Bahrisons this week posted on social media saying ‘The Satanic Verses‘ was in stock and the Guardian quoted a source from the bookseller saying sales had been “very good” and that it was “selling out.” Several posters who appear to be based in India responded to the bookshop on X asking how they could order copies.
Manasi Subramaniam, Editor-in-Chief at Penguin Random House India, posted a line from the book in which Rushdie writes, “Language is courage: the ability to conceive a thought, to speak it, and by doing so to make it true.” She added: “At long last. @SalmanRushdie’s The Satanic Verses is allowed to be sold in India after a 36-year ban.”
Local news outlets are reporting that several Islamic groups have released statements opposing its release.
Rushdie was born in India, but spent much of his life in the UK and now resides in New York. We’ve reached out to Rushdie’s agent for comment.
