Urdu Poetry
Celebrating the best of Urdu poetry. Selected by Khushwant Singh and Kamna Prasad.
I went to the book release at the Meridian hotel in Delhi. Zohra Seghal was supposed to be the chief guest, but she fell just before the event and was unable to attend. Khushwant spoke about the future of the Urdu language. He felt that the script was dying, but the language was kept alive. Similar to Gurmukhi and Bengali, where the language is alive but the script is dying.
He felt that Urdu was the kohinoor of all languages. Urdu evolved as a mixture of Turkish, Arabic and Persian that was spoken by the Muslim soldiers in invaders armies, combined with Sanskrit, Hindi, Braj and Dakhani spoken by Indian soldiers in the Mughal army. Modern Urdu poetry has the benefit of a Persian inheritance, which is represented in the poetry of Habib Jalib and Zehra Nigah
He wanted the central government to pressurize the state governments to make it a compulsory language in the school curriculum.
His opinion on translations was that one should not translate unless it is better than an earlier translation.
He mentioned a few of the interesting observations he had to deal with while translating. For instance dil and jigar, one means heart and the other means liver. Does it translate into passion, desire or lust.
Agrahi does not just mean the stretching of arms
Maikhana it translates into a pub, but there were no taverns in Delhi. Boy servants helped pour liquor in liquor shops. Is the idea all taken from Persian? For Muslims wine was considered Haram, but they have written on the joys of drinking more than on any other subject.
Bulbul in the rose- This depiction represents love, where one partner is not responding. The Bulbul is in love with the rose, that does not respond to it. But the Bulbul, an Indian bird does not sing. Was it a nightingale instead. This image is taken from Arabic and Persian art and literature, moths incinerating themselves on candle flames, similar to Majnu’s unending quest for his beloved Laila, and Farhaad hacking rockcliffs to reach Shirin.
The Ghazal has helped to popularize Urdu poetry. The Ghazal is not limited to one theme. Although it’s rhyming pattern is consistent, the thought content in every couplet can be different and can be quoted independently. That is why Ghazal are not given titles or named. This quality or structure makes a ghazal very flexible.
Urdu Ghazals have been completely absorbed in Hindi film music. K.L. Saigal, Mohammad Rafi, Begum Akhtar, Lata Mangeshkar, Talat Mahmood and Jagjit Singh are some examples of this blending.
The book, I don’t think is an in depth look at Urdu poetry, but it does have a large cross section of Urdu poets. And with Khushwant Singh’s easy readable style will be accessible to a large population than a more detailed and dense book.
Kishwar Naheed’s poem
We Sinful Women
Here we are known as women who sin
Because we are not awed by women who display fineries,
Or feel snubbed by their superior ways.
We do not sell our souls as they
We bow our heads before none, nor join our hands as if to pray.
Here we are known as women who sin
While those who reap the harvest of our bodies
Are exalted worthies
Men of good sense and distinction
The wise upholders of culture and propriety.
Here we are known as women who sin
And when we march with the banner of truth
They place roadblocks of falsehood in our way;
Faiz Ahmed Faiz
Hope in Despair
Last night the memory of you stole into my mind
Stealthily as spring steals into a wilderness;
As on a desert wastes a gentle breeze begins to blow
As in one sick beyond hope, hope begins to grow.
I went to the book release at the Meridian hotel in Delhi. Zohra Seghal was supposed to be the chief guest, but she fell just before the event and was unable to attend. Khushwant spoke about the future of the Urdu language. He felt that the script was dying, but the language was kept alive. Similar to Gurmukhi and Bengali, where the language is alive but the script is dying.
He felt that Urdu was the kohinoor of all languages. Urdu evolved as a mixture of Turkish, Arabic and Persian that was spoken by the Muslim soldiers in invaders armies, combined with Sanskrit, Hindi, Braj and Dakhani spoken by Indian soldiers in the Mughal army. Modern Urdu poetry has the benefit of a Persian inheritance, which is represented in the poetry of Habib Jalib and Zehra Nigah
He wanted the central government to pressurize the state governments to make it a compulsory language in the school curriculum.
His opinion on translations was that one should not translate unless it is better than an earlier translation.
He mentioned a few of the interesting observations he had to deal with while translating. For instance dil and jigar, one means heart and the other means liver. Does it translate into passion, desire or lust.
Agrahi does not just mean the stretching of arms
Maikhana it translates into a pub, but there were no taverns in Delhi. Boy servants helped pour liquor in liquor shops. Is the idea all taken from Persian? For Muslims wine was considered Haram, but they have written on the joys of drinking more than on any other subject.
Bulbul in the rose- This depiction represents love, where one partner is not responding. The Bulbul is in love with the rose, that does not respond to it. But the Bulbul, an Indian bird does not sing. Was it a nightingale instead. This image is taken from Arabic and Persian art and literature, moths incinerating themselves on candle flames, similar to Majnu’s unending quest for his beloved Laila, and Farhaad hacking rockcliffs to reach Shirin.
The Ghazal has helped to popularize Urdu poetry. The Ghazal is not limited to one theme. Although it’s rhyming pattern is consistent, the thought content in every couplet can be different and can be quoted independently. That is why Ghazal are not given titles or named. This quality or structure makes a ghazal very flexible.
Urdu Ghazals have been completely absorbed in Hindi film music. K.L. Saigal, Mohammad Rafi, Begum Akhtar, Lata Mangeshkar, Talat Mahmood and Jagjit Singh are some examples of this blending.
The book, I don’t think is an in depth look at Urdu poetry, but it does have a large cross section of Urdu poets. And with Khushwant Singh’s easy readable style will be accessible to a large population than a more detailed and dense book.
Kishwar Naheed’s poem
We Sinful Women
Here we are known as women who sin
Because we are not awed by women who display fineries,
Or feel snubbed by their superior ways.
We do not sell our souls as they
We bow our heads before none, nor join our hands as if to pray.
Here we are known as women who sin
While those who reap the harvest of our bodies
Are exalted worthies
Men of good sense and distinction
The wise upholders of culture and propriety.
Here we are known as women who sin
And when we march with the banner of truth
They place roadblocks of falsehood in our way;
Faiz Ahmed Faiz
Hope in Despair
Last night the memory of you stole into my mind
Stealthily as spring steals into a wilderness;
As on a desert wastes a gentle breeze begins to blow
As in one sick beyond hope, hope begins to grow.
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