Urdu the language of poets and Sayar. Urdu is one
of the most sweets language of the world it has delicacy and royalty mixed in
it. Urdu is the language used in some parts of India, Pakistan and many other
countries. Their are many news channels in Urdu, News in Urdu or Urdu New as it
is generally called can be read through leading Daily Urdu Newspapers Weekly
Urdu News Paper providing Urdu News Papers, News can also be read through Urdu
Websites of Indian Urdu News Papers, Urdu Daily, India Urdu News Papers, Indian
Urdu News, Indian Urdu Newspapers, Newspaper Urdu, Urdu Times, India Urdu.
Saturday, December 29, 2012
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Verbal speech for Gujarat convention: Urdu Literature without Borders
Let Language be your wings to the world Urdu language
and literature has a long and colorful history that is inextricably tied to the
development of that very language, Urdu, in which it is written. While it tends
to be heavily dominated by poetry, the range of expression achieved in the
voluminous library of a few major verse forms, especially the Ghazal and Nazm
(poetry), has led to its continued development and expansion into other styles
of writing, including that of the short story, or Afsana. Urdu literature is
principally popular in India and Pakistan. Additionally, it enjoys substantial
popularity among South Asian immigrants in North America, Europe and Middle
East and usually around the world. It is widely understood in Afghanistan. Urdu
is finding interest in North American, European and South Pacific Asian
countries primarily through South Asian immigrants
So every moment read, write and speak
and wear the culture of Urdu, Urdu language Urdu language and literature has a
long and colorful history that is inextricably tied to the development of that
very language, Urdu, in which it is written. While it tends to be heavily
dominated by poetry, the range of expression achieved in the voluminous library
of a few major verse forms, especially the Ghazal and Nazm (poetry), has led to
its continued development and expansion into other styles of writing, including
that of the short story, or Afsana. Urdu literature is principally popular in
India and Pakistan. Additionally, it enjoys substantial popularity among South
Asian immigrants in North America, Europe and Middle East and usually around
the world. It is widely understood in Afghanistan. Urdu is finding interest in
North American, European and South Pacific Asian countries primarily through
South Asian immigrants.urdu language and literature
aspires to be one of world’s leading language providing innovative, responsive
and high quality job opportunities all over the world. i hope to enable
individuals to realize and develop to the fullest their educational and
intellectual potentialities; promote social and human values in order to build
a strong character, as also inculcate scientific temper and moral values; to
facilitate pursuit of knowledge and academic excellence in the light of call of
times.In the light of above discussion
following vision and objectives must to be follow by our Urdu scholar.
Vision
Language
is the main source of communication and expression of ideas and thoughts of the
people and literature is the most effective tool to disclose a person’s
emotions and feelings that represents, at large the environment and society
around the persons. Maulana Md. Mozaffar wishes to develop and enlarge language
ability in the masses of Gujarat and to promote literary interest in creating
and expressing their feelings and emotions in their writings.
To
develop linkage program with the Urdu departments of various Universities and
Colleges of Ahmad Abad Gujarat.
Teaching
and Learning Urdu with collaboration of NCPUL.
Formation
of the department under title comparative study of literature written in Indian
languages.
Formation
of the Department under title comparative study of literature written in euro
Asian Languages.
Formation
of the Institute of Composition and translation for fulfilling the curricular
requirements of the various disciplines of the University.
Objectives
Teaching of the Urdu language and
literature of different academic levels as the compulsory subject in Gujarat.
Teaching of other Indian Classical Poets
through Urdu for National Solidarity and oneness of different academic levels
as the compulsory subject in Gujarat.
Offering Urdu nursery school to onward
to higher education Programs in Urdu in order to promote comparative studies,
research activities and awareness among the scholars through Urdu teaching and
learning processes.
To enhance the skill of communication
thought writing & speaking among the scholars and general masses and to
encourage them in participating research and analytical studies of socio
cultural subjects.
Publication of books, reprint of old
books regarding Art and Culture of Delhi, Magazine and translation of books
etc.
Research Work.
Seminars, Drama Festival, Sponsorship to
Literary & Cultural Organizations.
Award & Prizes for literary
excellence, Monthly Financial Assistance to aged needy Writers/Poets or
their dependents.
Mushairas.
Development of Urdu Language.
Promotion and propagation of literary
activities.
Teaching Scheme.
To organize all educational, cultural,
social and religious programmes with other language Academics.
Urdu Literacy Centers.
Establishment National
Urdu Library.
Hope soon near future Urdu language and
literature will explore and spreads around the Ahmeda Bad Gujarat with take a
status of establish language under the leadership of Malana Md. Mozaffar.
I appreciating his intelligentsia and nobility,
Sir this is the language which really needs now to nurture at every aspects I
believe Maulana is the right person who will enrich this language with his
intellectual power and proper guidance.
Wish you Maulana Saheb and all present absent our Urdu family all the
best for the noble cause that Maulana bring for inter-national harmony for the
sake of not only the Indian community also universe through promoting and
preaching Urdu language and literature. May God bless you Maulana more power to
enrich this language amongst the people of whole community of the world.
Your writings and contribution are the
high level solution of the day to day problems for the creation of God. Your
Lot of works, writings, which are not only fountain source of patriotism and
humanity also top ranking prescription which are high level asset and better
than any religions all secrets of to be an success human are hidden in your
writing.
Your life will be an inspiration for
coming generation till the end of this immortal world you are the guiding light
of new-age world. Your dedication and commitment to build a dispute free
peaceful world every human being can be proud of will never be forgotten. A
guileless soul and an honest visionary, we all will always keep remain in our
heart and also will transfer to our coming generation.
May god bless you to be solution of
pillar not part of the problems for the human beings in this world respect and
love each other unto Death?
Because
multilingual scholars are a main pillar of global scholarship they make unique
contributions that help reform, expand, and enrich the knowledge base of core
disciplinary communities this is certainly a widely accepted
idea for example, writers, if all knowledge is situated and
personal, then periphery perspectives on different disciplines may provide
unique insights also views the situation’s of multilingual scholars in their local
communities as strength and notes, it affords uniqueness and closeness of
perspective in my point view as above cited multilingual scholars enrich the
knowledge base of core academic communities in two important ways one they
write about things that mainstream disciplinary communities do not know of and
two through accessing works that mainstream academic communities and they draw
attention to untapped or unknown resources.
In the light
of above statements, it can be argued that limited participation of
multilingual scholars in global scholarship will impoverish knowledge
production Therefore, it is important that the particular difficulties of
multilingual scholars be made public so that the research field can identify
ways to help these scholars maintain visibility in the academic forum and
contribute more to the core knowledge base.
Therefore, I
congratulate you that, you are one is the best multilingual scholars of global
scholarship continuously you are giving your best unique contributions to the scholars
those are belongs to the world of different languages and literature. God bless
you much and more opportunity to enrich the whole Flowerdew,
2000 J. Flowerdew, Discourse community, legitimate peripheral
participation, and the nonnative-English-speaking scholar, TESOL Quarterly
(1) (2000), pp. 127–150. Full Text via CrossRef | View Record in Scopus Cited By in Scopus (41)Languages and literature around the world as well as human communities.
I am very
thankful to all Respected Sir / Madam / gentleman audience that all are listen
me with love and peace and grateful to Maulana that he call and give me
opportunity to deliver my speech amongst the top ranking audience I
appreciating your scripts / writings and salute your Urdu literary contribution
with generously it will be written in golden words how much I am happy to read
it that I have no words to praise you and thanks certainly in future your
writings and contributions will play a key role to build-up a healthy and
wealthy society around the India and world and a high-level good relations
between our and other country through a bridge of love and peace.
I pray to Holy
God your intellectual practices of multilingualism will be a concern for core
academic communities.
Yours sincerely
Dr. Syed Mohd. Yahya. Saba
Dept. of Urdu
Kirori Mal College, University of Delhi, Delhi-110007
Mob: No: 09968244001
Sunday, December 23, 2012
Respected Bhayya Dr. Shoaib Raza Saheb Assalamo Alekum
Respected Bhayya Dr. Shoaib
Raza Saheb Assalamo Alekum
Chief Editor
siyasi
taqdeer,
Respected Sir you are well known around the world and very active in the literary
field, I request to you that if you are holding or will be hold under the kind
of your any friend any where any literary event and function like Mushairah,
convention please strongly recommend the name given below.
Language is the main source of
communication and expression of ideas and thoughts of the people and literature
is the most effective tool to disclose a person’s emotions and feelings that
represent, at large, the environment and society around that person. Urdu language and literature
has a long and colorful history that is inextricably tied to the development of
that very language, Urdu tends to be heavily dominated by poetry. We wish to develop and enlarge Urdu language ability in the
masses and to promote literary interest in creating and expressing their
feelings and emotions in their teaching, learning, writings and research all
over the world through your world fame daily news paper namely http://siyasitaqdeer.com/.
I appreciate
your intelligentsia and nobility that this is the language, which really needs
now to nurture at every aspect. We believe that, you are the right person who
will enrich this language with your intellectual power and proper guidance. I
wish you and your family all the best for the noble cause that you bring for
inter-national harmony for the sake of inter-national community through this
language. May God bless you more power to enrich the people of whole community
of the world.
Your life will
be an inspiration for the coming generation till the end of this immortal world
you are the guiding light of new-age world. Your dedication and commitment to
build a dispute free peaceful world every human being can be proud of will
never be forgotten. A guileless soul and an honest visionary, we all will always
remain in the heart of coming generation.
Your writings
and contribution are the high level solution of the day to day problems for the
creation of God. Your Lot of works / writings, which are not only fountain
source of patriotism and humanity also top ranking prescription which are
supper level asset and better than any religions.
May god bless
you to be solution of pillar not part of the problems for the human beings in
this world? Respect and Love each other unto Death.
Dr. Nasir Malik Sb.
The Editor, Urdu Sukhan
Director, Art Land, Girls
College Road, Chowk Aazam, District Layh, Punjab Pakistan
Pin Code 31450
Mob: 0092-302-7844094
Off: 0092-606- 372557
With
best regards and
Thanking
you in anticipation
of a positive response from your side,
Yours sincerely
Dr. Syed Mohd.
Yahya. Saba
Dept. of Urdu
Kirori Mal
College, University of Delhi, Delhi-110007
E-mail: urisath@yahoo.com
E- mail: urisath@gmail.com
Mob: No: 09968244001
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Forms of Urdu Poetry
A
beginner's guide to the different Urdu Poetry forms. Here you will find brief
descriptions of each form. The most well known and popular form is the Ghazal.
For a more detailed description, please keep in touch some commonly used terms
in Urdu poetry are defined in the glossary. If you have any
suggestions about this page, please e-mail them to me at urisath@yahoo.com
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Introduction to Various Forms of
Urdu Poetry
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Ghazal (pronounced as
"ghuzzle")
Ghazal is a collection of couplets (shers or ashaar) which
follow the rules of 'matla', 'maqta', 'bahar', 'qafiya' and 'radeef'. The
couplets are complete in themselves. All the couplets of a ghazal must be of
the same bahar, end in the same words (radeef) and have the same rhyming
pattern (qaafiyaa). Every ghazal MUST have a matla. A ghazal may or may not
have a maqta but if it does, it has to be the last sher of the ghazal.
Ghazals which do not have a radeef are called
Gair-muraddaf ghazals. In such cases, the rule of qafiya is strictly
followed. These type of ghazals are very rare. Ghazals with the same radeef
are called ham-radeef ghazals.
Fard
A
composition consisting of only one sher.
Hamd
Poem
written in praise of God.
Hazal
Humourous poetry, also known as 'mazaahiyaa' or
'mazaakiyaa' shaayari. Some examples of humourous Urdu poetry can be viewed here.
Hijv
A satirical poem written to condemn or abuse a person.
This type of poetry is considered inferior and generally avoided by reputed
poets. The opposite of a hijv is a madah which is written in praise of
patrons.
Madah
Poem written in praise of royalty, patrons, etc.
Manqabat
A poem written in praise of members of the family of the
holy Prophet.
Marsiya (muhr-see-yaa)
An elegy written to mourn the death of a great man or a
dearly loved person. In its stricter sense, traditionally accepted in Urdu, a
marsiya is an elegy written specifically in honour of the martyrdom of Hazrat
Imam Husain and his comrades at Karbala. It describes the battle fought on
the plains of Karbala by Hazrat Imam Husain against the army of Yazid. The
most well known writers of Marsiya in Urdu are Mir baber Ali Anees and
Salamat Ali Dabir. Sub-parts of the marsiya are called Nauha and Soz.
Masnavi (pronounced
"mus-na-vee")
A long narrative poem - much longer than the ghazal -
embodying religious, romantic or didatic stories. It is written in rhyming
couplets, with each couplet having a different rhyme and radeef. The most
famous masnavis are Masnavi-e-Rumi in Persian, Shah Namah of Firdausi, and
Zehar-e-Ishq in Urdu.
Munaajaat
A lyrical poem written as a prayer to God.
Musaddas
A poem in which each unit consists of 6 lines. The most
well known poet of this style of writing was Maulana Altaf Husain Hali.
Naat
A poem written in praise of the holy Prophet.
Nazm
In a broad sense, nazm is a term used to define all kinds
of Urdu poetry which do not fall into any other category. However, in a
literary sense, a nazm is a well organized, logically evolving poem where
each individual verse serves the need of the central concept or theme of the
poem. Though a nazm is traditionally written in rhymed verse, there are many
examples of nazms written in unrhymed verse, or even in free verse.
Qasida (pronounced
"quh-see-daa")
A panygeric, or poem written in praise of a king or a
nobleman, or a benefactor. As in a ghazal, the opening couplet of a qasida,
is a rhyming couplet, and its rhyme is repeated in the second line of each
succeeding verse. The opening part of the qasida, where the poet may talk in
general about love and beauty, man or nature, life or death, is called the
'tashbib' or 'tamheed'.
Interestingly, the ghazal has evolved from the qasida.
Over time, the tashbib got detached and developed into what we today know as
Gazal. A qasida is usually quite long, sometimes running into mor than a 100
couplets. A Gazal is seldom more than 12 couplets long, averaging about 7
couplets.
Qataa
A poem consisting of four lines, in the form of two shers.
However, unlike shers in a ghazal, the subject of the two shers is the same.
It is believed that the qataa was invented for occasions when poets felt that
they were unable to express their thoughts completely and satisfactorily in a
single sher.
Qawaalli
Traditionally a devotional song expressing love and
oneness with God sung by a group of people to the accompaniment of musical
instruments. Nowadays, qawaallis cover popular topics like love and wine.
Rubayi (pronounced
"ru-baa-ee")
A self-sufficient quartrain, rhyming (a, a, b, a) and
dealing generally with a single idea, which is customarily introduced and
developed with the aid of similes in the first three lines, and concluded,
with concentrated effort and impact, in the fourth line.The most well known
rubaayis in Persian were written by Omar Khayyam. In Urdu, some of the most
well known practitioners of this form were Firaq, Josh and Yagna Yaas
Changezi.
Salaam
A salutory poem written in praise of the holy Prophet. It
can also be a poem describing the incidents of Karbala. It is recited
standing up.
Seharaa
A song sung at the time of tying the seharaa during the
wedding ceremony. It is usually in praise of the bride/groom and their
relatives.
Vaasokht
A poem describing the displeasure and carelessness of a
lover.
History of Ghazal
Ghazal
originated in Iran in the 10th century A.D. It grew from the Persian qasida,
which in verse form had come to Iran from Arabia. The qasida was a panegyric
written in praise of the emperor or his noblemen. The part of the qasida
called tashbib got detached and developed in due course of time into the
ghazal. Whereas the qasida sometimes ran into as many as 100 couplets or more
in monorhyme, the ghazal seldom exceeded twelve, and settled down to an
average of seven. Because of its comparative brevity and concentration, its
thematic variety and rich suggestiveness, the ghazal soon eclipsed the qasida
and became the most popular form of poetry in Iran.
The
ghazal came to India with the advent and extension of the Muslim influence
from the 12th century onwards. The Moghuls brought along with them Iranian
culture and civilization, including Iranian poetry and literature. When
Persian gave way to Urdu as the language of poetry and culture in India, the
ghazal, the fruit of Indo-Iranian culture, found its opportunity to grow and
develop. Although the ghazal is said to have begun with Amir Khusro
(1253-1325) in Northern India, Deccan in the South was its real home in the
early stages. It was nursed and trained in the courts of Golconda and Bijapur
under the patronage of Muslim rulers. Mohd. Quli Qutab Shah, Wajhi, Hashmi,
Nusrati and Wali may be counted among its pioneers. Of these, Wali Deccany
(1667-1707) may be called the Chaucer of Urdu poetry. Wali's visit to Delhi
made in 1700 acquires a historic significance. This visit was instrumental in
synthesizing the poetic streams of the South and the North. Wali's poetry
awakened the minds of the Persian-loving North to the beauty and richness of
Urdu language, and introduced them to the true flavor of ghazal, thus
encouraging its rapid growth and popularity.
In
its form, the ghazal is a short poem rarely of more than a dozen couplets in
the same metre. It always opens with a rhyming couplet called matla. The
rhyme of the opening couplet is repeated at the end of second line in each
succeeding verse, so that the rhyming pattern may be represented as AA, BA,
CA, DA, and so on. In addition to the restriction of rhyme, the ghazal also
observes the convention of radif. Radif demands that a portion of the first
line -- comprising not more than two or three words -- immediately preceding
the rhyme-word at the end, should rhyme with its counterpart in the second
line of the opening couplet, and afterwards alternately throughout the poem.
The opening couplet of the ghazal is always a representative couplet: it sets
the mood and tone of the poem and prepares us for its proper appreciation.
The last couplet of the ghazal called makta often includes the pen-name of
the poet, and is more personal than general in its tone and intent. Here the
poet may express his own state of mind, or describe his religious faith, or
pray for his beloved, or indulge in poetic self-praise. The different
couplets of the ghazal are not bound by the unity and consistency of thought.
Each couplet is a self-sufficient unit, detachable and quotable, generally
containing the complete expression of an idea.
Some
poets including Hasrat, Iqbal and Josh have written ghazals in the style of a
nazm, based on a single theme, properly developed and concluded. But such
ghazals are an exception rather than a rule, and the traditional ghazal still
holds sway. However, we do come across, off and on, even in the works of
classical poets, ghazals exhibiting continuity of theme or, more often, a set
of verses connected in theme and thought. Such a thematic group is called a
qita, and is presumably resorted to when a poet is confronted with an elaborate
thought difficult to be condensed in a single verse. Although the ghazal
deals with the whole spectrum of human experience, its central concern is
love. Ghazal is an Arabic word which literally means talking to women.
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Progressive Movement and Urdu Poetry
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The
Progressive Movement widened the horizon of Urdu poetry; liberated it from the
classical cliche, and added fresh modern imagery structure to the poem; used
the rhyming scheme with fresh vigour and introduced and developed new forms
like free verse, dramatic and allegorical poems, with experiments in meters;
gave it an ideological content and used it as a weapon in the freedom struggle
fo India; denounced decadence and cynicism, yet discovered in this attitude
also an element of protest against existing conditions; enriched the treasury
of poetic diction by using ordinary and common words which the older classical
poets had banished form the realm of poetry, and thus came closer to the
people.
Many
progressive poets actually prticipated in the freedom struggle with their
poetry on their lips, and wrote very good poetry in prison as well. They were
the poets of a country where great patriots had mounted the gallows reciting
poetry with proud defiance, like Ram Prasad Bismil who immortalized these lines
of a poet from Bihar of the same pen name:
sar_faroshi
kii tamannaa ab hamaare dil me.n hai
dekhanaa
hai zor kitanaa baazuu-e-qaatil me.n hai
rah_rav-e-raah-e-muhabaat
rah na jaana raah me.n
lazzat-e-saharaa_navardii
duurii-e-manzil me.n hai
-
Bismil Azimabadi
(We are
prepared to sacrifice our head,
Let us see the power of the executioner's arm
Do not linger behind, O traveller of the path
of love
The pleasure of wandering in the desert lies
in it's distance)
They
had identified themselves with a partiotic movement whose slogan was Inquilab
Zindabad (Long live the revolution) given from the height of the gallows by
another martyr, Bhagat Singh, who used to quote poetry freely in his letters
that he wrote from his death cell. And this slogan Inquilab Zindabad was used
by all freedom-fighters including Nehru and Gandhi. Their meetings, attended by
thousands of people, at times by hundreds sof thousands, resounded with this
slogan, and the word Inquilab became a household word in India.
This
Progressive Movement was a spectrum of different shades of political and
literary opinions with Prem Chand, a confirmed believer in Gandhism at one end,
and Sajjad Zaheer, a confirmed marxist, at the other end. In between them were
various other shades including non-conformists, but every one of them
interested in the freedom of the country and glory of literature.
The
basic and fundamental postulate of the Progressive Writers Movement is the
unity of art, use and beauty. It is not a violent departure from the past or an
angry revolt against tradition as such, although we did reject certain
unhealthy and obscurantist trends. And that is how our path was new. What we
tried to do was a reiteration of the values getting lost in modern commercial
age, or distorted under the weight of the decaying social systems. It is a
rediscovery with a new experience and consciousness, and new artistic additions
giving fresh vigour to Urdu poetry and literature as a whole. The false notion
should be discarded that a few hot-headed men can get together and launch a
literary and artistic movement of such a dimension as the Progressive Movement.
Poets and writers are like the seeds holding the heart; the movement provides
them the good soil and the right climate to blossom.
Poetry
is song as well as declamation; whispering of the breeze in a rose garden, and
the rage of the storm that uproots the trees; the soft fall of dew on the freen
grass, and the torrential rain with thunder and lightning; a sweet smile on a
pair of lips, and the shriek of a martyr tortured in prison; the slogan of the
nation breaking the chains of slavery, and the symphony of the march of
history. It is wrong to presume that poetry is only this and not that. Yet a
categorical statement can be made. Poetry is not absurd.
The
theme of poetry is neither religion nor politics nor recording of events. It
embraces all aspects of human life, because the basic and the only theme of
poetry, as that of all literature and art, is Man. But the emphasis changes from
age to age, and the flavour of language and the beauty and style of images
accoriding to the country and its people. The people is Man and Man is people
in all its aspects, colours, races, names, professions, running into millions.
In the words of the great American poet, Carl Sandburg:
The people
is the great canyon of humanity
and
many many miles across.
The people
is pandora's box, humpty dumpty, a clock of doom and an
avalanche
when it turns loose.
The people
rest on land and weather, on time and the changing winds.
The people
have come far and can look back and say
"We
will go farther yet".
The people
is a plucked goose and a shorn sheep of legalised fraud.
And the
people is one of those mountain slopes
holding
a volcano of retribution.
Slow in all
things, slow in its gathered wrath,
slow
in its onward heave.
slow in its
asking: 'Where are we now? what time is it?'
-The
People, Yes; by Carl Sandburg
A
terrible question that could be put to the poets also: "Where are we now?
What time is it?" Poetry is an autonomous Republic of Letters within the
sovereign State of Human Civillisation but not a law unto itself.
Since
the dawn of civilisation the poet has been considered as some kind of a prophet
as expressed in Persian: "Shairi juzwest az paighambari". And
prophets as founders of religions always spoke in a poetic language and changed
the course of history and destiny of Man. And we in the East are the inheritors
of the great traditions of the Vedas, the Gospels and the Quran.
When
mankind had just started lisping, in the so-called black Yajurveda the highest
principle was manifesting itself as food(Annam). Here are three awe-inspiring
stanzas from the Taittirya Brahmana:
I am the
first born of the divine essence.
Before the
Gods sprang into existince, I was.
I am the
naval(the centre and source) of immortality.
Whoever
bestows me on others-therby keeps me to himself.
I am Food.
I feed on food and on its feeder.
The foolish
man obatins useless food.
I declare
the truth: it will be his death.
Because he
does not feed either friend or companion.
By keeping
his food to himself, he becomes guilty when eating it.
I the food
am the cloud, thundering, and raining
They(the
beings) feed on ME -- I feed on everything
I am the
real esscence of the universe, immortal.
By my force
all the suns in heaven are aglow.
-from
Heinrich Zimmer in Philosophies of India
The
German Orientalist, Heinrich Zimmer has called this hymn the Cosmic Communist
Manifesto. Tit is not difficult to discover the echo of this humn in Mahatama
Gandhi's utterance: "Even God dare not reveal Himself to the hungry except
in the form of bread"
Krishan
Chander's famous short story, Anna Daata(Food Giver) which influenced the
fictonal trends of many Indian languages in the continuation of the same
thought, as old as the Vedas and as new as the progressive fiction. The
terrible experience of the Bengal famine in the wake of the Second World War
gave it new poignancy. It was also the turning point in the creative life of a
romantic who had started with Tilism-e-Khayaal published in 1938. Surendra
Prakash's "Bajuka"(The Scarecrow), although inspired by Prem Chand's
"Godan", has vauge reflections of the same thought. Both, the
progressive Krishan Chander and 'jadid' Surendra Prakash, have depicted reality
through symbolic images.
No
great poet has ever forgotten his mission as a prophet, the denunciator of evil
and upholder of virtue. Every one of them is a nightingale in a garden not yet
created (andalib-e-gulshan-e-naafrida). Every one of them is the voice of today
as well as the voice of coming tomorrow. His poetic mission has a message, and
there is no dichotomy between the message and the word, between the content and
the form. Use and beauty are not diverced from each other. Many poets have been
treated as sages, and even tyrants bowed before them with reverance, and
listened to them with awe. Yet there are poets who have been hounded,
imprisoned, tortured and executed for speaking the Truth. They did not recant,
and went on murmuring like Galileo, "But the earth does not revolve around
the sun".
No
poet of any worth in the past ages could have said what a modern professor at a
university who is also an Urdu poet and ciritic, has written:
"Real
poet does not pursue meaning and sense. He cannot become so low and stoop to
this non-poetic level. He opens his inner eye and sees the unconcious
happenings within his soul in a state of trance. His job is only to give
words-images to these happenings...As such poetry has nothing to do with clear
meaning and sense. Therefore it is not necessarily understandable" -Dr.
Hamdi Kashmiri in Kargah-e-sheeshagaran
The
very idea of enjoyment of meaningless poetry is the reflection of a state of
mind created by the decline of civilisation and vulgarisation of culture. The
situation is not new. Some fifty years afo a well-known art critic, Ananda K.
Coaraswami, wrote in his Introduction to The Art of Eastern Asia:
If
we are to make any approach whatever to an understanding of Asiatic Art as
something made by man, and not to regard it as a mere curiosity, we must first
of all abandon the whole current view of Art and Artists. We must realise and
perhaps remind ourselves again and again that that condition is abnormal in
which a distinciton is drawn between workmen and artists, and that this
distinction has only been drawn during relatively short periods of the world's
history. Of the two propositions following, each explains the other: viz, those
whom we now call artists were once artisans; and objects we now preserve in
museums were once the common objects of the market place.
Here
I would like to add a footnote to Ananda Comaraswami's statement that even
today in the villages of Bhihar, Uttar Pardesh, and Gujarat in India the most
artistic things of daily use are very common, and that they are the work of
ordinary peasant women who do not know that their craft can decorate the
museums of the world. To come back to Comaraswami again:
"During
greater parts of the worlds history, every product of human workmanship,
whether icon, platter, or shirt button, as been at once beautiful and useful.
This normal condition has persisted in Asia longer than anywhere else. If it no
longer exists in Europe and America, this is by no means the fault of invention
or machinery as such; man has always been inventive. The art of the potter was
not destroyed by the invention of the potters wheel...If beauty and use are not
generally seen together in household utensils and businesman's costumes, nor generally
in factory made objects, this is not the fault of machinery employed by us; it
is incidental to our lower conception of human dignity and consequent
insensibility to real values."
Ananda
Comaraswani drew this conclusion after a deep study of five thousand years of
Indian sculpture and well-defined principles of Hindu iconography. Without
having read this celebrated art critic Majrooh Sultanpuri also came to the same
conclusion. When he came to Bombay in 1944 he was writing traditional style ghazals.
But after a visit to Ajanta and Ellora he was transformed and he joined the
Progressive Writers' Association. He was no more in serach of eternal themes
which used to be generally traditional.
He found subjects of poetry
scattered all around:
Dehr mein
Majrooh koie javidan mazmoon kahan,
main jise chhoota gaya woh javidan banta gaya
(Where can
you find, Majrooh, and eternal theme in this world of flux
Whatever has been touched by my poetry has
become eternal)
And Faiz who is one of the founders of
the Progressive Movement wrote from prison in the early fifties:
Hum ne jo
tarz-e-fughan ki hai qafas mein iijad,
Aaj gulshan mein wohi terz-e-bayan
therhri hai
(The style of wailing that we have created in the cage
Has been accepted as te style of song in the
garden today)
And Majaz, a contemporary of Faiz
said:
Iss
mehfi-e-kaif-o-masti mein, iss anjuman-e-irfani mein,
sub jaam bakaf baithe hi rahe, hum
pee bhi gaye chhalka bhi gaye
(In this assembly of ecstacy and intoxication, in this gathering
of
intellectual
understanding.
The
revellers kept sitting with full cups in their hands, we spilled
a
little and drank to the last drop)
And Jazbi, another contemporary
progressive poet, sang:
ghamon ki
dunya ko raund daalen nishat-e-dil paaimaal kar lein
naaii muhabbat naya junoon hai
khudaya kya apna haal kar lein
(we feel like trampling upon the life of sorrow
and
the ecstacy of the heart
Our love is new, our madness new,
we
know not what to do with ourselves)
This
was the poetry with a new temper, with a new ecstacy born out of the turmoil of
the freedom struggle of India. Earlier poets had admired the cresent beauty of
the curve of the sword hanging on the head; here the progressive poet also held
a sword in his hand. Here matyrdom was part of the glory of the struggle. The
poet deals with mental and emotional experiences reflecting the climate of mind
and the seasons of heart. It is within his power to create gardens or produce
deserts of the soul. That is the reason why some of the greatest and most
beautiful poetry has been written in the worst periods of history. Tulips and
roses have bloomed in the blood-stained landscape.
rung
pairahan ka kushboo zulf lehrane ka naam,
mausam-e-gul hai tumhare baam par
aane ka naam
- Faiz
(What is
color but your garment,
what
is fragrance but your scattered stresses
We call it the season of spring when you
appear on the balcony)
mujhe sehl
ho gaiN manzilen who hawa ke rukh bhi badal gaye
tera haath
haath mein aa gaya ke charagh raah mein jal gaye
-
Majrooh
(It has
become easier to reach the destination now,
the stormy
winds have changeed their direction
With your hand in my hand, the long path
is
illuminated with lighted lamps)
The
asthetic sensibility of progressive poets is not constricted, it has a much
wider range:
dast-e-sayyad
bhi aajiz hai, kaf-e-gulchin bhi
boo-e-gul thehri na bulbul ki zaban thehri hai
-
Faiz
Powerless
is the hand of the hunter,
helpless
the hand of the plundrer of the flowers
The
fragrance of the rose cannot remain imprisoned,
the sweet
song of the nightingale cannot be stopped
Sutoon-e-daar
pe rakhte chalo saron ke charagh
jahan talak
yeh sitam ki siyah raat chale
-
Majrooh
go on
puttin on the top of the gallows the lamps of martyred heads
As long as
this night of injustice and tyranny lasts
koh-e-gham
aur giran aur giran aur giran
ghamzado teshe ko chamkao ke kuchh raat kate
-Makhdoom
The
mountain of sorrow becomes heaavier and heavier
O Comrades of sorrow, take up your shining
axes
to
cut the rocks of the night.
jab kashti
saabit-o-salim thi, saahil ki tamanna kiso thi
ab aisi
shikasta kasti par sahil ki tamanna kaun kare
- Jazbi
Who cared
for the shore when the boat was unbroken and intact?
Now with
this broken boat why should there be any desire to reach the shore
Here
I would like to point out that the progressive poets have changed the
connotations of old illusions and gave them new meanings according to the temper
of the times. Tesha(Axe) in Makhdoom's couplet is an example. It is no more an
instrument of suicide as in the old classical poetry. Now it is the symbol of
the triumphant working class. Actually this process was intiated by Iqbal.
Kohkan (The Mountian Cutter) comes with Tesha (Axe)in his ahnd and demands the
throne of Parvez, the King. The progressive poets inherited this tradition and
carried it forward. They also created new symbols and poetic images that run
into thousands, but no research work has been done on them so far.
Once
in Bombay, Faiz was surprised to see in the house of a young progressive poet
and journalist a picture of Lenin side by side with and image of Christ on the
corss. Both are symbols of progressive poetry. Faiz has used Saleeb and Daar
most effectively and beautifully. Once again Karbala is emerging as a powerful
symbol of revolutionalry poetry. Two years back I wrote my epic poem Karbala
and a bunch of other poems with the same symbols. The caption of the recent
poems of Faiz is From Karbala-e-Beriut. A younger progressive, Iftikar Arif's
poems are full of allusions of Karbala. Hindu mythology and its great epics are
also part of our treasury. Kaifi Azmi has a special fascination for them.
Earlier Josh Malihabadi combined the two Islamic and Hindu traditions in his
revolutionalry poetry. Heralding the dawn of freeedom just a few years before
1947, the year of Indian and Pakistani independence, Josh said:
ban raha
hai sarsar-0-sailab khoone-e-Hashmi
aaj Abu
Sufian ke ghar mein charaghan hai to kya?
jaa rahi
hai aag Lanka ki taraf baDti hui
aaj agar
Ravan ka ghar Sita ka zindan hai to kya?
(The blood
of Mohammad's family,
the
Hashmi blood is turing into hurricanes and floods
How does it matter if the house of Abu Sufian(Yazid's
Grandfather)
is
bright with dazzling lights?
The flames of fire are rushing towards Lanka
How does it matter if the courtyard of Ravan
is the prison of Sita?
An
endeavour of this magnitude would not have been made possible without help from
a lot of people. This site would be incomplete without an acknowledgement of
the support and encouragement that I have received from various sources since I
started this work.
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