''Shabkhoon'' was an
literary magazine
A literary magazine is a periodical devoted to literature in a broad sense. Literary magazines usually publish short stories, poetry, and essays, along with literary criticism
Literary criticism (or literary studies) is the study, evalu ...
started in June 1966 in
Allahabad
Allahabad (), officially known as Prayagraj, also known as Ilahabad, is a metropolis in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.The other five cities were: Agra, Kanpur (Cawnpore), Lucknow, Meerut, and Varanasi (Benares). It is the admin ...
, India.
The magazine was founded and edited by poet and author
Shamsur Rahman Faruqi who used to work on it along with his job at the Indian Postal Service. The journal covered the modernist (jadidiyat) voice in Urdu literature at a time when the literary scene was dominated by progressive literature (taraqqi pasand) and was hailed as "the harbinger of modernism in Urdu".
The Magazine was calligraphed by a scribe (katib) Salimullah Naiyer.
Forty years after being started, the journal was published for the last time in June 2006.
Though it was popular, it ceased publication owing to editor Shamsur Rahman Faruqi's failing health.
Describing the support of his wife Jamila Faruqi, Rehman said:
Origins
Faruqi initially thought of naming the Magazine ''Teesha'' (axe or adze) associated with
Farhad, a stonemason in the Persian Romance
Khosrow and Shirin
Khosrow and Shirin ( fa, خسرو و شیرین) is the title of a famous tragic romance by the Persian poet Nizami Ganjavi (1141–1209), who also wrote Layla and Majnun. It tells a highly elaborated fictional version of the story of the lov ...
, who had to cut through a mountain. Finally, ''Shabkhoon'' (surprise attack by night) — an allusion to "shaking the world of
rdu RDU may refer to:
*Raleigh–Durham International Airport's IATA code
*The Raleigh–Durham area
*RDU-FM, a New Zealand radio station
*Red Dot United, a political party in Singapore
*WTKK, a radio station licensed at the time to Wilson, North Caroli ...
literature out of stasis" — was decided upon. The magazine was financially supported by Faruqi's wife Jamila. It was published for the first time in June 1966 with Progressive writer Ejaz Hussain as its first editor.
Notable Contributors
The magazine became so popular that progressive writers started contributing to the magazine. The magazine also published works of Pakistani writers. Some of the notable contributors include:
*
Adil Mansuri
Adil Farid Mohammed Ghulam Nabi Mansuri (18 May 1936 – 6 November 2008) was an Indian poet, playwright, and calligrapher, primarily responsible for the development of modern Gujarati ghazal poetry and plays. He wrote in several languages, namely ...
*
Ali Sardar Jafri
Ali Sardar Jafri (29 November 1913 – 1 August 2000) was an Indian writer of Urdu language. He was also a poet, critic and film lyricist.
Biography
Early life and education
Ali Sardar Jafri was born in Balrampur, Uttar Pradesh, where he sp ...
*
Anwar Sajjad
*
Asif Farrukhi
*
Balraj Komal
*
Intizar Hussain
*
Ismat Chughtai
Ismat Chughtai (21 August 1915 – 24 October 1991) was an Indian Urdu novelist, short story writer, liberal humanist and filmmaker. Beginning in the 1930s, she wrote extensively on themes including female sexuality and femininity, middle-class ...
*
Rajinder Singh Bedi
Rajinder Singh Bedi (1 September 1915 – 1984) was an Indian Urdu writer of the progressive writers' movement and a playwright, who later worked in Hindi cinema as a film director, screenwriter and dialogue writer and he is grandfather Rajat ...
*
Zafar Iqbal
External links
Various editions of the magazine are available on Rekhta
References
{{Reflist
2006 disestablishments in India
Defunct literary magazines
Defunct magazines published in India
Literary magazines published in India
Magazines established in 1966
Magazines disestablished in 2006
Mass media in Allahabad
Urdu-language magazines
1966 establishments in Uttar Pradesh