Urdu literature
This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content. Readers will be able to edit existing articles and post new articles directly |
Urdu literature, history/ headwords
An exhaustive journey into literary history
By Intizar Hussain
With the plan of an exhaustive history of Urdu literature in view, Jameel Jalibi embarked on a long journey through centuries of the Indo-Pak subcontinent. The first volume, as the starter of this ambitious plan, came out in the late seventies of the twentieth century. It was soon followed by the second volume which in its turn was subdivided into two volumes, and published in 1982.
Now with the advent of the twenty-first century, we have from him the third volume of the series. But he is still in the middle of his journey as the present volume covers only half of the nineteenth century. The other half is to be covered in the fourth volume. But that is not the end of the story.
Beyond the nineteenth century lies the tumultuous twentieth century. It may too refuse to be contained in one volume. So the project is long and arduous. May Jalibi live long so as to be able to achieve the completion of this ambitious project. He, on his part, seems determined to complete it in accordance to his plan. Great works ask for extraordinarily devoted souls. Urdu is fortunate to have one such soul within its fold.
But how does this history stand distinguished from those previously written? Is it volume alone which makes the difference? Or is it the detailed study of each period and of writers belonging to the period, which qualifies it to be treated as a distinctive literary history? Of course this too is a distinctive feature of this history. But the real basis of distinction is something else. In our literary histories written so far literature, more particularly poetry, had been treated as an independent phenomenon in the social environment of our society. Only occasionally casual references were made to the prevalent social conditions.
Here in this case the very conception of a literary history is different. Here the concept is that literature is not an isolated phenomenon in the history of a society. On a deeper level it has links with what is going on in society. So for a correct understanding of literature it is necessary to keep the socio-political situation of that age in view.
Literary trends can best be understood when seen in the perspective of socio-political and cultural conditions of that period. In his preface to the present volume Jalibi has expressly said that he has tried to seek connection of literature with society, culture, and linguistic evolution and make a study of it in totality. And that “what was the peculiar spirit of that age, which provided an incentive for literary creation.”
The corollary to this concept is that prose and poetry should be studied jointly. “The reason is,” says he, “that prose and poetry both are equally influenced by social and cultural conditions. They both can better be understood when seen in the perspective of their times.”
So in the present volume, which deals with literary trends during first half of the nineteenth century, Jalibi begins by looking firstly at the political situation and then at the changing social and cultural scenario. Traditional society, as he perceives, was in tatters. The validity of age-old customs and rituals was being questioned. A need for social reforms was being felt, giving rise to certain reformative movements both among the Hindus and the Muslims.
With this awareness of political, social and cultural situation, he turns to the literary scene as it emerged during those times and surveys it in that perspective.
Jalibi’s history stands distinguished also because of its refusal to share the prejudices our literary historians had in general inherited from the elitists of Delhi and Lucknow. Because of its eliticism, the literary world of old Delhi and Lucknow was simply incapable to appreciate and recognize poets like Jafar Zatalli and Nazir Akbarabadi. Jafar was perhaps the worst sufferer as the literary historians of the later periods too appeared sharing the same prejudice against him.
But Jalibi chose to take a serious notice of this poet for two reasons dear to him. One reason being the acute socio-political awareness of the poet, which made his verse reflective of the deteriorating conditions of that age. The other reason lies in his linguistic innovations, which inform his poetic diction. This helps us to understand the evolutionary process Urdu was passing through at that stage of its development.
In contrast to Jafar Zatalli and Nazir Akbarabadi, Nawab Wajid Ali Shah, with his passion for fine arts, invited a different kind of prejudice. And Jalibi tells us that the Britishers and some papers at their behest launched a vilification campaign against him. In fact they were in search of some justification for dethroning him and taking Oudh completely in their control. They exploited conservative Muslims’ prejudice against fine arts and interpreted his involvement in arts as signs of his decadence and moral degradation.
Wajid Ali Shah figures prominently in the present volume of Jalibi’s book. In reply to his character assassination, Jalibi has brought to our notice the positive aspects of his character and has discussed in detail his contributions to different branches of arts and literature.
So one distinctive feature of this history is its attempt to fight those cultural prejudices and misconceptions which stand in the way of the understanding of our literary tradition and a number of such trends which have enriched this tradition.
This history has also refused to treat Lucknow and Delhi as two different schools of poetry. In the estimation of this history it is one and the same tradition of poetry extending from Delhi to Lucknow.
So it is a history conceived differently and exhaustively.
