Lajja

Lajja (Bengali: লজ্জা Lôjja) (Shame) is a novel in Bengali by Taslima Nasrin, a writer of Bangladesh. The word lajja/lôjja means "shame" in Bengali and many other Indo-Aryan languages. The book was written about the violence, rape, looting and killings of Bengali Hindus that took place in December 1992 after the destruction of Babri Masjid took place in India. The book was first published in 1993 in Bengali and was subsequently banned in Bangladesh. It nonetheless sold 50,000 copies in the six months after its publication, though Taslima fled her native Bangladesh after receiving death threats from Islamic groups. Nasrin dedicated the book "to the people of the Indian subcontinent," beginning the text with the words, "let humanity be the other name of religion." The novel is preceded by a preface and a chronology of events.