Urdu-language Literature

Urdu literature ( ur, , ) is literature in the Urdu language. While it tends to be dominated by poetry, especially the verse forms of the ''ghazal '' غزل and ''nazm '' نظم, it has expanded into other styles of writing, including that of the short story, or ''afsana'' افسانہ . Urdu literature is mostly popular in Pakistan, where Urdu is the national language and India, where it is a recognized language. It is also widely understood in Afghanistan and has a moderate amount of popularity in Bangladesh.

Origin

Urdu developed in the Delhi Sultanate. Urdu literature originated some time around the 14th century in present-day North India among the sophisticated gentry of the courts. The continuing traditions of Islam and patronisations of foreign culture centuries earlier by Muslim rulers, usually of Turkic or Afghan descent, marked their influence on the Urdu language given that both cultural heritages were strongly present throughout Urdu territory. The Urdu language, with a vocabulary almost evenly split between Sanskrit-derived Prakrit and Arabo- Persian words, was a reflection of this cultural amalgamation.

Religious period (1350-1590)

Literary composition in Urdu first started in the Deccan in the 14th century. An early form of Urdu was first introduced in the Deccan by the soldiers of Alauddin Khalji who raided the Deccan from 1294 to 1311. In 1326, Muhammad bin Tughluq shifted his capital from Delhi to the Deccan and in 1347 Zafar Khan, his governor in the Deccan, declared independence establishing the Bahmani Sultanate and took the title of Ala-ud-Din Bahman Shah. The Bahmani sultans cultivated the use of Urdu in the kingdom as opposed to Persian which was the court language of the Delhi Sultanate. This dialect, which up to 1375 had no difference with Delhi Urdu, was influenced by local languages like Gujarati and Marathi came to be known as Dakhini. The works composed during this period are mostly Dakhini prose and poetry on religious themes.

Important writers of this period include Bande Nawaz whose ''Miraj ul Asiquin'', a Sufi tract is one of the earliest Urdu prose. Other important writers included Shah Miranji and his son Shah Buran.

Urdu in the Deccan (1590-1730)

Qutub Shahi poets (1590-1687)

Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah, the fifth sultan of the Qutb Shahi dynasty of Golkonda and founder of the city of Hyderabad, was a royal poet and prolific writer in Persian and Dakhini. Other poets included Wajhi and Gavvasi. In 1655, Ibn e Nishati wrote ''Phul ban'', a romance in 1300 lines. ''Qissa o bairam e Gul andman'' written by Tab’i is an important work of the period. Written in 1670, it is nearly 2700 lines long.

Adil Shahi poets (1590-1688)

Ibrahim Adil Shah II was another royal poet who was also a patron of art and literature. His Kitab-e-Navras (Book of Nine Rasas) in Dakhani is a collection of 59 poems and 17 couplets. Other important poets included Rustami, Nusrati, and Mirza.

Urdu in Deccan under Mughal Rule (1687-1730)

The most important Urdu writer of this period was Wali Mohammed Wali.

18th century

First Urdu period in Delhi (1730-1830)

In the 18th century, the three most important forms of Urdu poetry were ''ghazal'', the ''qasida,'' and the ''masnavi''. Shaikh Zahuruddin Hatim was an important poet in Delhi during this period. His major works include two volumes of poetry, ''Diwan'' and ''Diwanzada''. Urdu poetry was dominated by Mazhar, Sauda, Mir, and Dard, who later came to be known as “the Four Pillars of Urdu Poetry”. Another major figure was Mir Hasan, known for his masnavis, the most famous being ''Sihar-ul-Bayan,'' often referred to as ''Masnavi e Mir Hasan''.

Other important poets of this period include Mas'hafi, Insha and Nazeer.

19th century

Poetry

Urdu poetry in Lucknow

During the nineteenth century, the centre of Urdu literature shifted from Delhi as most literary men migrated to other parts of India like Hyderabad, Patna, and Lucknow. The Lucknow court emerged as the centre of Urdu poetry as it received poets from Delhi with much enthusiasm. Chief among these poets were Khaliq, Zamir, Aatish, and Nasikh. Other poets included Anis and Dabir.

Second Urdu period in Delhi

The second quarter of the nineteenth century saw the revival of Urdu poetry in Delhi in the Mughal court. Bahadur Shah Zafar, the last Mughal Emperor, was himself a poet and a patron of poetry. Chief poets who flourished under his patronage includes Zauq, Ghalib, Azurda, and Momin.

Some of Momin’s pupils in poetry such as Shefta and Mir Hussain Taskin became distinguished poets themselves.

New movement

The fall of the Mughal empire and kingdom of Awadh after the Rebellion of 1857 and the contact with English language started a new movement in Urdu literature. The flag bearers of this new movement were Syed Ahmad Khan, Muhammad Husain Azad, and Altaf Hussain Hali. This period saw the rise of prose, criticism, and drama in Urdu literature. Writers and poets began to explore new subjects and themes and experiment with new forms.

Altaf Hussain Hali was a prolific poet who left a vast amount of work behind. His major poetic works include ''Masnavis'', ''Musaddas e Hali'', ''Shikwa e Hind,'' and ''Qasida e Ghyasia''. He also wrote ''marsias'' or elegies on the deaths of Ghalib, Hakim Mahmud Khan, and Sir Syed.

Suroor Jahanabadi was another exponent of the new movement in Urdu poetry. He wrote patriotic poems like ''Khak-i-Watan'' (The Dust of the Motherland), ''Urus-i-Hubbi-Watan'' (The Bride of the Love of the Country), and ''Madar-i-Hind'' (Mother India). His historical and religious poems include ''Padmani'', ''Padmani-ki-Chita'' (Funeral Pyre of Padmani), and ''Sitaji-ki-Giria-o-Zari'' (The Laments of Sita).

Prose

Ghalib, better known for his poetry, also wrote a considerable amount of Urdu prose during his lifetime which includes his collection of letters and three short pamphlets entitled ''Lataif-i-Ghalib'', ''Tegh-i-Tez,'' and ''Nama-i-Ghalib''. His letters, autobiographical in nature, were collected and published in two volumes as ''Urdu-i-Mualla'' (the Royal Urdu) and ''Ud-i-Hindi'' (Fragrant Stick of India).

Fort William College writers

Until the nineteenth century, Persian was the official language of the court and culture and all correspondence was carried out in Persian. The development of Urdu prose for practical purposes can be traced back to the establishment of the Fort William College in Calcutta in 1800 which was founded to instruct British officers of the East India Company in Indian vernacular languages. John Gilchrist, the head of the college, was author of many Hindustani works such as ''Oriental Linguist, an Introduction to the Language of Hindustani'' and ''Hindustani Grammar''. He gathered a group of Indian scholars at the college who went on to write books for the use of fresh officers and also created a standard prose for Urdu and Hindi. The chief among these scholars were Mir Amman Dehelvi, Mir Sher Ali Jaafri, Mir Bahadur Ali Husaini, Sayid Haidar Bakhsh, Kazim Ali Jawan, Nihalchand, Hafizuddin Ahmad, Ikram Ali Khan, Lallujilal, Beni Narayan, and Mirza Ali Lutf.

Aligarh movement

Syed Ahmed Khan, the leading figure of the Aligarh Movement, was also a voracious writer and journalist who wrote various books from theological to historical subjects. His major theological work, ''Al-Khutbat al-Ahmadiya fi'l Arab wa'I Sirat al-Muhammadiya'' (A Series of Essays on the Life of Muhammad and Subjects Subsidiary Therein), was published in 1876. He made significant contributions to Urdu journalism through his journals and periodicals, ''Tehzeeb-ul-Akhlaq'' and the ''Aligarh Institute Gazette''.

The Aligarh movement produced a band of literary enthusiasts who had a far-reaching influence on Urdu literature. The chief among them were Shibli Nomani

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