Subject: Re: A History of Urdu Literature Date: Sun, 31 Jan 1999 18:29:04 -0800 From: Padmanabhan Srinagesh Organization: SBC Internet Services Newsgroups: alt.language.urdu.poetry ahmadj@noka.ub.bw wrote: . > > Jigar Muradabadi: > Al-haq keh teri wus'at-e-takhayyal ke aage > Sahraa kaf-e-khaakastar wa gulshan qafs-e-rang. > > [The truth is, that in comparison to your (Ghalib's) vastness of > thought, a desert is a fistful of sand and a garden is merely a cage > of colour]. > > One can detect an allusion to Ghalib's she'r: > > Qumri kaf-e-khaakistar wa bulbul qafs-e-rang > Ai naala, nishaan-e-jigar sokhta kiya hai? > > [Qumri (a dove-like bird) aur bulbul har do faryaad karte hain. Qumri > muththi bhar raakh hai, aur bulbul rang ka qafas (cage). Ai faryaad, jigar > jalne ki nishani kiya hai?] > > Just an example of excelling in "a certain capacity of thought"! > > Jamil > > -----------== Posted via Deja News, The Discussion Network ==---------- > http://www.dejanews.com/ Search, Read, Discuss, or Start Your Own Thanks to Afzal, Jamil and Fuzuli Sahibs for their insightful comments. Since there appears to be some interest in this thread, let me post a little more from Prof Sadiq, and if the interest keeps up, I'll keep posting snippets. Let me say again, at the outset, that I often enjoy reading authors even when I disagree with them. This is certainly the case with Prof Sadiq, if for no other reason than for his vast compilation of shers in Urdu, together with translations. I find that reading these books (and others like Three Mughal Poets, mentioned by Fuzuli Sahib) to be an enjoyable way of learning to read Urdu. I don't have time to prrofread what I put down, so pleasse forgive any errors. A HIstory of Urdu Literature, Second Ed, Muhammad Sadiq, Oxford India Paperback, First Published 1964, 2 Ed 1984. Sadiq Sahib was formerly Professor of Urdu, Charirman and Professor of English, Govt COllege Lahore, and later Pricnipal Dyal Singh College, Lahore. Snippets from his Introduction: "According to Mohommed Hussain Azad, our first authentic literary historian, it was Vali Dakkani who first pur Urdu poetry on the literary map. Then the frontiers began to be pushed back, and gradually a whole subcontinent of literature came into sight - the literature of Golkonda and Bijapur, which rose with the ascendancy of these kingdoms and ended with their decline and extinction. If we accept the traditional view that Urdu literature began with Vali, then its rise and growth synchronised with teh period when the Middle Ages had already entered on their final stage and were about to merge into modern times. If, however, the second theory is correct, and Urdu poetry started, as it really did, with teh rise of Muslim dynasties in the Deccan, then it falls within the later half of hte Middle Ages. But for the purposes of this study, whether we accept the first view or the second, it will be advisable not only to study the immediate background of Urdu literature, but the entire Middle Ages. ..... Accordingly, in dealing with the background of medieval Urdu poetry, I shall not confine myself to teh period of Mughal decadence, as almost all writers on the xubject have done, but review the entire middle Ages. ..... It is customary with some sentimental historians to deplore the later Mughal period as the wreck of a golden age, but barring political decline and the consequent insecurity and chaos that followed the loss of power, there is, intellectually, no difference betwen the periods of Mughal ascendancy and decline. In politics, in religion, in its economic order and educational system, the earlier and later periods of Islamic rule in India present an unbroken continuity of tradition. ... In the realm of the spirit, other-worldliness compeltely overshadowed medieval thought. According to the accepted thought the world was unreal or an illusion, and the goal of life was achieved then only when the seeker after truth realized this and passed beyond the show of things to teh spritual core that lay beneath the material rind. Cognate with teh above was the probationary character of man's life on earth, the view, namely, that the world was merely a preparation ground for a better and fuller life to come, and it was vain to set one's heart on its hopes and joys and problems. Now I am far from suggesting that this belief would inevitably lead to inaction or renunciation. ... The static character of medieval society and its extreme immobility have been due, in no small degree, to teh despotic character of government..... The evils of the political system were aggravated by the tyranny of an ecclesiastical system which grew more and more hard as time passed." Professor Sadiq later ascribes the limitations of some poets to these features of their times. His intro proceeds with a brief description of tasavvuf: "Tasavvuf was one of the cardinal forms of thought in Islam during this period. The modern view is that it was not an integral part of Islam, but was gradually absorbed into it on account of contact with Buddhism, Christianity and Hinduism. ... Tasavvuf now overshadowed life and thought, and its ethical part, namely, the unreality of life and the vanity of power and greatness became part and parcel of hte life of the Muslims. Tasavvuf, in the most general terms, may be defined as an emotional approach to the reality of life. It is held by the materialists ... that all knowledge is due to the activity of hte intellect, which provides the only infallible avenue to a knowledge of the world. The sufis, on the other hand, are of the opinion that the intellect can only deal with the world of hte senses. Beyond the material world, there is a spiritual world to which reason has no access, and which can only be approached through feelings. It is therefore part of the duty of hte sufi to develop the latter at the expense of the former. .... The greatest service of tasavvuf was that it was the only tolerant system in the world from which tolerance had been ruthlessly outlawed." In concluding the introduction: "As teh subsequent chapters will show, all these factors, political, religous, and economic, have entered into Urdu poetry, and determined its peculiar physiognomy. To begin with, being hte product of a static age, there is no real development in its forms and themes. The poets look back to the past, and originality is frowned upon and treated as eccentircity. Again there is no advance in ideas, there is no real advance in the language, too, although as time passed, it gained in smoothness and flexibility. In regard to its tone and temepr, the influence of religion, no doubt, made itself felt in the form of a vague and tepid optimism, and it figures pretty constantly in most poets. But beneath this surface optimism, there are unplumbed depths of disappointment and frustration which well up in the form of hte quietist ethics of the age. In Urdu poetry there is very little of a genuine affirmation of life; its themes are resignation, passivity, self-pity and the tyranny of fate. This poetry with is wistfulness and pathos made a deep appeal to readers and listeners because it was an image of their own thwarted lives. ... the old tyrannies are not dead, and we like painful themes because they bring an agreeable feeling of relief." More if there is interest. Muhtaajagi se mujh ko nahin ek dam faragh (muhtaajagi=poverty, faragh=leisure) Haq ne jahan main naam ko "Hatim" kiya mujhe (Hatim= generous person as in Hatim Tai) This was written by Sheikh Zahir ud din Hatim, and can be contributed to Tejjit's list of punning takhallus. The Professor says: "His was the first authentic voice after Vali and Siraj, and points as surely to Sauda and Mir." Nagesh