Rekhti (, ), is a form of

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

feminist poetry. A genre developed by male poets,Rekhti
Rekhta Foundation, Retrieved 10 May 2016 it uses women's voices to talk about themselves. It was formed in 19th-century

Lucknow Lucknow () is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the largest city of the List of state and union territory capitals in India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is the administrative headquarters of the epon ...

, then part of the State of Awadh (now in

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

). The poet Saadat Yaar Khan Rangin is credited with its creation. Written generally in

ghazal ''Ghazal'' is a form of amatory poem or ode, originating in Arabic poetry that often deals with topics of spiritual and romantic love. It may be understood as a poetic expression of both the pain of loss, or separation from the beloved, and t ...

form, it uses women's special idioms, mannerism and accents. Their topics include women-women and women-men affairs and also women's sensual desires and sexual urges.

History

Prior to the 17th century,

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

was the main language of literature and poetry in Northern Hindustan, as well as a local language for many. As a gender-neutral language, the romantic and sexual aspects of its poetry were often ambiguous and open to interpretation. In contrast, Hindustani's emerging predecessor ''Hindavi/ Dehlavi/ Khariboli,'' used as a medium of oral communication in many parts of the Indian subcontinent, distinguished between genders. The nascent ''

'' style of poetry was a popular mode of composition in this language. However, in the north, ''ghazals'' tended to be an expression of love from a male to a female. The practice of writing poetry in the woman's voice was pioneered in the

Deccan The Deccan is a plateau extending over an area of and occupies the majority of the Indian peninsula. It stretches from the Satpura and Vindhya Ranges in the north to the northern fringes of Tamil Nadu in the south. It is bound by the mount ...

, by

Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah (4 April 156511 January 1612) was the fifth sultan of the Sultanate of Golconda and founder of the city of Hyderabad. He built its architectural centrepiece, the Charminar. He was an able administrator and his reign is c ...

, fifth ruler of the

Golconda Sultanate The Sultanate of Golconda (; ) was an early modern kingdom in southern India, ruled by the Persianate, Shia Islamic Qutb Shahi dynasty of Turkoman origin. After the decline of the Bahmani Sultanate, the Sultanate of Golconda was established i ...

. Here, the ''Khariboli'' dialect was known as Deccani due to some of its regional quirks. Qutb Shah composed ghazals in Deccani but used its gender-specific nature to write them from the female's perspective, which reversed the roles in the ''ghazal'' medium. This role-reversal was popular in the Deccan, employed by poets like Hashmi Bijapuri, Asadullah Wajhi, and Hasan Shauqi. Some examples: The conquest of the Deccan by

Aurangzeb Alamgir I (Muhi al-Din Muhammad; 3 November 1618 – 3 March 1707), commonly known by the title Aurangzeb, also called Aurangzeb the Conqueror, was the sixth Mughal emperors, Mughal emperor, reigning from 1658 until his death in 1707, becomi ...

brought the region into the fold of northern literary traditions, which spurred the development of the dialect in Delhi into

Rekhta ''Rekhta'' ( ; ''Rekhtā'') was an early form of the Hindustani language. This style evolved in both the Perso-Arabic and Nagari scripts and is considered an early form of Standard Urdu and Modern Standard Hindi. According to the Pakistan ...

. The process also brought the role-reversal trend to the north, and it was only at this time (early 18th century) that the term Rekhti was coined. Here it was furthered by northern Indian poets.

Famous exponents

# Saadat Yaar Khan 'Rangeen' # Meer Yaar Alii 'Jaan Sahib' # Mohsin Khan 'Mohsin' #

Insha Allah Khan 'Insha' Insha Allah Khan (; c. 1752 Murshidabad –1817), known as Insha, was an Urdu poet in the courts of Lucknow and Delhi in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. A multi-talented polyglot, he was the author of the first grammar of the U ...

Qalandar Bakhsh Jurat Qalandar Bakhsh Jurat was an Indian poet of the Lucknow school. His real name was Yahya Aman. He was born in about 1748 in Delhi but spent his childhood in Faizabad and later migrated to Lucknow. He was the disciple of Mirza Jafar Ali Hasrat and ...

References

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History

Famous exponents

See also

References

Further reading