Can a city develop a characteristic, exclusive literary style? A
long-standing convention divides the Urdu ghazal tradition into
"Dabistan-e-Dehli" and "Dabistan-e-Lakhnau" or Delhi and Lucknow
schools, each with an array of poets and devoted adherents - and fierce
critics. The role of both the cities in Urdu literature is beyond
dispute but how can we distinguish between the rival schools, and is the
classification even valid?
Urdu scholar Frances Pritchett
believes the division was created by some early historians of Urdu
literature. One view was that the works of Delhi poets were simple,
austere, chaste and dignified and of Lucknow convoluted, frivolous,
sensual and decadent. Contemporary literary critics, especially Shamsur
Rehman Faruqi, question the very classification - and ignoring
contributions of various other bits of India.
It doesn't seem
very probable either city's poets wrote to a template. But if "Dehlvi"
or "Lakhnavi" are just seen as a sense of identification or how the
poets are known to posterity, Lucknow city itself, leave apart its
suburbs or remaining erstwhile Nawabi dominions, hosted a significant
number, right from when ghazal-writing came into its own in the late
18th century down to the present.
But outside the circles of Urdu
scholars and the painfully few bilingual aficionados, none is a
familiar name like Delhi's Mir or Ghalib. Not even Wajid Ali Shah
"Akhtar", known for all other reasons except poetry. It is difficult to
list all on this platform but a representative selection can be offered.
Prominent
among the pioneers were Ghulam Hamdani 'Mushafi' (Aasman ko nishana
karte hain/Tir rakhte hai jab kamaan mein ham) and his rival Insha Allah
Khan 'Insha' (Kamar baandhe hue chalne pe yaan sab yaar baithe
hain/Bahut aage gaye, baaqi jo hain tayyaar baithe hai).
There
were Insha's associates: Saadat Yaar Khan 'Rangin' (Rishta-e-ulfat ko
todun kis tarah/Ishq se main munh modun kis tarah), Qalandar Baksh
'Jurrat' (Mil gaye the ek baar us ke jo mere lab se lab/Umr bhar honto
pe apne ham zabaan phera kiye) and Nawab Syed Mohammad Khan 'Rind'
(Nuqsan jaan hai 'Rind' jo do gham bahm huye/Karte ho ranj hijr mein
fikr sukhan abas).
Khwaja Haider Ali 'Aatish' (Zameen-e-chaman
gul khilati hai kya kya/Badalta hai rang aasman kaise kaise) and Imam
Baksh 'Nasikh' (Zindagi zinda-dilli ka hai naam/Murda dil khaak jiya
karte hai) were another set of rivals in the 1830s.
Others of the
time included Faqir Muhammad 'Goya' (Nishan ham be-nishanon kaa na
paya/Saba ne muddaton tak khaak chaani), Syed Agha Hasan 'Amanat' (of
play 'Indar Sabha' fame), Mirza Mohammad Taqi 'Havas' (Dukh pahunche jo
kuch tum ko tumhari yeh saza hai/Kyun us ke 'Havas' ashiq-e-janbaaz hue
tum) and Wazir Ali 'Saba' (Aap hi apne zara jaur-o-sitam ko dekhen/Ham
agar arz karenge to shikayat hogi).
There were Pandit Daya
Shankar 'Naseem' (Guzra jahan se main to sun ke yaar ne kaha/Qissa gaya,
fasaad gaya, dard-e-saar gaya), Munshi Amir Ahmed 'Amir Minai' (Sarakti
jaye hai rukh se naqaab ahista-ahista/Nikalta aa raha hai aftaab
ahista-ahista), Mirza Rajab Ali Beg 'Suroor' (Itni chhaani hai khaak
tere liye/Chaa raha hai ghubar ankhon mein) and Ram Sahai 'Tamanna'
(Apni yehi tamanna hai aap se 'Tamanna'/ Meri nazar ke aage rahiye
kitaab hokar) among others.
The 20th century saw Mirza Mohammad
Hadi 'Aziz' (Uthaye jaake kahan lutf-e-justju koi/Jagah voh kaunsi hai
tu jahan nahi hota), Mirza Zaakir Hussain Qizilbaash 'Saqib' (Zamana
bade shauq se sun raha tha/Hamin so gae dastan kahte kahte), Bisheshwar
Prasad 'Munawwar' (Munawwar' mujh pe shaam-e-yaas ghalib aa nahi
sakti/Ke har umeed se hota hai ek rang-e-sahr paida), and Brij Narain
'Chakbast' (Agar dard-e-mohabbat se na insan aashna hota/Na kuch marne
ka gham hota na jeene ka maza hota).
Leading lights included Syed
Ali Naqi Zaidi 'Safi' (Dil se nazdeek hai aankhon se bhi kuch dur
nahi/Magar is pe bhi mulaqat unhe manzur nahi), Syed Anwar Hussain
'Arzoo' (Do tund hawaon par buniyad hai tufan ki/Ya tum na haseen hote
ya main na jawan hota), and Nawab Jafar Ali Khan 'Asar' (Zindagi aur
zindagi ki yaadgar/Parda aur parde pe kuchh parchhaiyan).
There
were Hakim Saeed Ahmed 'Natiq' (Koi na sun saka mera qissa zamaane
mein/Itna asr bhi ho na kisi ke fasaane mein), Siraj ul-Hasan 'Siraj'
(Aap ke paaon ke niche dil hai/Ek zara aap ko zahmat hogi) and Naubat
Rai Saxena 'Nazar'(Lakhnau hum par fida hum fida-e Lakhnau/Kya hai
taaqat aasman ki jo churhae Lakhnau).
Closer to our time were
Asrar-ul-Haq 'Majaz', Anand Narain 'Mulla' (Voh kaun hain jinhe tauba ki
mil gai fursat/Hamen gunah bhi karne ko zindagi kam hai), and Krishan
Bihari 'Noor' (Sach ghate ya badhe to sach na rahe/Jhoot ki koi intiha
hi nahi).
These poets' works and of many more are available - even online - you might not even need to learn Urdu!
(08.02.2015
- Vikas Datta is an Associate Editor at IANS. The views expressed are
personal. He can be contacted at [email protected] )
