The Urdu language — a product of two cultures

By Intizar Husain - November 6, 2011 

“THE Urdu language stands at a junction of two cultures, the Islamic and the Indian. This cultural junction has a history of a hundred years of evolution and Hindus and Muslims have equally played a part in this evolutionary process,”says Dr Gopi Chand Narang in his recently published book, Kaghz-i-Aatish Zadah. The book is a miscellany covering a number of topics. They range from the Geeta to the schools of thought of Delhi and Lucknow and different personalities starting from the first Urdu poet, Quli Qutub Shah, to the scholar Malik Ram. Divided into two parts, Kaghz-i-Aatish Zadah runs to more than 700 pages.

Despite the diversity of subjects and personalities discussed, the theme of mixed Indo-Islamic culture recurs again and again.

The leading article discusses this phenomenon, which is believed to be the outcome of an evolutionary process spread over a thousand years rather than the result of coercion or planning.

Dr Narang refers to the early period of Urdu literature and enumerates a few Hindu writers, such as Chandrabhan Brahman and Wali Ram Wali, to show that Hindu writers were active from the very start in the field of Urdu literature. Many Hindu writers were associated with Mir, Ghalib, Momin, Mushafi and they also acted as Ustads to a number of young Muslim poets.

As a consequence of this mixed crowd of Hindu and Muslim poets, a distinct kind of poetry flourished in Urdu, which, as pointed out by Dr Narang, speaks of a hidden relationship between the two faiths. He quotes a number of poets, such as Nazeer Akbarabadi, Maulana Hasrat Mohani and Allama Iqbal, who have paid tributes to Sri Krishna and Sri Ram Chandra.

In his article about Geeta, Dr Narang tells us that we have 82 Urdu translations of the text,mostly by Muslim writers. In another article, he tries to show that the classical tradition of Urdu poetry brings before us a mixed social life in which Hindu customs and rituals mix with the Muslim. In this respect, Dr Narang has made some interesting revelations based on his research. He tells us that Bibi Ki Sahnak, a ritual associated with Hazrat Fatima Zahra, is the brain child of Jodha Bai. Also, marsiya in Lucknow owes much to the Hindu poet Channo Lal Tarab. Dr Narang is of the opinion that Holi, Diwali and Basant were celebrated in the Red Fort more as social festivals rather than as religious ones. As fireworks were common at both Shab Barat and Diwali, the two festivals were celebrated close together.

Marhattas, says Dr Narang, used to observe Muharram with devotion and this was also the case in the state of Gwalior.In Lucknow, Hindus in general participated in the rituals of Taziadari and Sozkhwani.

In one article Dr. Narang studies Anis’s  marsiyas from a cultural perspective. Anis has often been criticised for not being faithful to the personalities involved in Karbala as they appear steeped in Lakhnavi culture. Dr Narang, attending to this objection, explains the creative process that transforms into poetic reality. In Anis’s marsiyas, we find in the portrayal of the personalities and the events of Karbala, a fusion of the Arab with what is culturally Indian. The outcome is a cultured poetic expression. He quotes widely a number of couplets such as:

In this, according to Dr Narang, we find a creatively inspired depiction of the Indo-Arab culture. That is what imparts to these marsiyas a cultural value.

Another article is devoted to the cultural study of Deccani Urdu poetry. There has been muchcontroversy about the birth-place of the Urdu language and as far as Urdu literature is concerned, it is widely accepted that Urdu poetry, with its different forms, was born and nurtured in Deccan. So its first period has been designated as Deccani period. Dr Narang is of the opinion that the Muslim states in this region were hardly under any Iranian influence. So the realm of poetry too was not dominated by Persian. Instead it appeared to be influenced with a local tinge. Dr Narang argues that the fact that Urdu literature in its infancy deeply imbibed influences from local cultures has helped it develop a liberal tradition, which stands for love, tolerance, and peaceful coexistence.