■
Article■
Lamentation
Dedicated
to the Declining
Capital:
Urdu
Poetry
on Delhi
during
the Late
Mughal
Period
●
So Yamane
Introduction
The purpose of this study is to analyze some characteristics of Urdu lamentation dedicated to the capital Delhi (Dihlr or Dillr in Urdu), during the late Mughal period.
In the study of Urdu literature, it has been argued that Urdu poetry in the Delhi of that time is famous for its typical characteristics of the use of simple words in a simple style and a pessimistic motif. This is why Urdu poetry in Delhi during the late Mughal period is called Dabistan-e Dihl r, 'thDabistan-e DDabistan-elhi School of PoDabistan-etry' .1) Many Urdu poDabistan-ets wrotDabistan-e poDabistan-ems on Delhi to express their grief at the declining capita1.2) These poems were written mostly by Urdu poets in Delhi or by those who migrated from Delhi to other places. Among them is one famous genre which is categorized as shahr ashob, which means disturbance of the peace of a city, and some studies have been done on it. Most studies, however, are related to the history of shahr eishob and the fact that the poems of shahr
山根 聡 So Yamane, Department of Area Studies (South Asia, Urdu), Osaka
Univer-sity of Foreign Studies. Subject: Urdu Literature.
Publications: Ghuldm 'Abbas Sawc-inil o Fan kii Tahqrqi Ja'iza (in Urdu), Lahore, Sang-e Meel Publications, 1996. 295p. "Caudhri Barkat 'All Ichizoku to Gendai Urdu Bungaku", (in Japanese), in Sekai Bungaku 4., Osaka Gaikokugo Daigaku Sekai Bungaku Kenkyukai, 1999, pp. 281-316.
ashob reflect the social disorder of that era.3)Furthermore, these studies
are limited to very few individual poets who have employed this genre.4) Another weakness of these studies is the omission of Urdu couplets of the same motif. Since these couplets are not included in shahr iishob but
in ordinary ghazals, amatory poems, there has been a tendency for stud-ies on shahr ashob and ghazals to be regarded as separate objects of a study. Although a ghazal consists of several couplets and each couplet is independent in its own motif, it is possible to isolate those couplets dealing with Delhi. But so far, few attempts have been made to study such couplets. Saiyid `Abd Allah is among those who have proposed that much attention needs to be paid to them, and he called this kind of couplet 'ashobiya shi`r', a couplet of tumult5) But after Saiyid `Abd Allah, little attention has been given to the comprehensive study of either these couplets or shahr ashob. My objective is to understand these poems on Delhi as monodies and to study their characteristics.
There are typical characteristics in the method and technical back-ground of the metaphor of the poems, and it is through the study of their metaphorical expressions that we will be able to analyze how the Urdu poets utilized poetry to express their feelings about the decline of their beloved capital.
Social Disorder in Delhi and the Flowering of Urdu Poetry After the death of Aurangzeb in 1707, Delhi faced many problems. Conflicts among the successors of the emperors caused disputes and assassinations in the Mughal Court, and invasions on Delhi by Nadir
Shah (1739) and Ahmad Shah Durrani (1749-61) brought about social disorder in the capital. As well, after the first half of the eighteenth century, some powers were inclined to become independent or semi-independent from the Mughal Empire. Furthermore, the force of the Marathas made many expeditions into Mughal territory and the British East India Company was expanding its territory from Bengal to North India. People in Delhi were troubled with the social disorders, and called their troubles `riau gardiyein'6) an expression indicating that Delhi had declined as the Mughal capital during the empire's last years. For ex-ample, Mir Taqi Mir expressed the badly damaged situation in Delhi as follows:
Dilli- men aj bhik bhi milti nahin unhen
tha kal talak dimagh jinhen taj o takht ka (Mir Taqi Mir)')
The people who were proud of their royalty till yesterday:
Today even charity is not given to them
Sikh, Marathe, nor ueakke shah o gada sab khwahan hain
eain se hain jo kueh nahin rakhte faqr bhi ik daulat hai ytin (Mir Taqi Mir)
The Sikhs, Marathas, thieves, sharpers, kings and beggars are eager
Only the haven't are in peace here, faqr is a wealth in this world
The capital had become merely symbolic and the dynasty was losing
its control. Nevertheless Urdu literature flourished during this period.
In the middle of the eighteenth century, Urdu literature, especially
po-etry, took the place of Persian poetry in Delhi. Suzuki Takeshi points
out that the reason why Urdu poetry could replace Persian poetry is
related to the situation of the dynasty in Delhi. Since the dynasty had
started to decline, the status of the official language also changed because
it could not gain sufficient patronage. The importance of Persian at the
Court decreased and people and the growing power of the East India
Company began to give more attention to the lingua franca, called Urdu,
that had been used not only in daily life but also in the academic and
administrative institutions.8 From the study of tadhkiras, i.e.
biographi-cal memoirs of poets, it becomes clear that Urdu poetry gained
popular-ity among all walks of life. For example, in Majmii` a-e Naghz by Hakim
Abu al-Qasim Mir Qudrat Allah Qasim (written in 1806), we can see
that Urdu poets belonged to all walks of life.9) In Tadhkira-e
Makhzan-e Nikat, writtMakhzan-en by Qayam al-Din Qa'im bridpuri in 1754-55, thMakhzan-e total
number of Urdu poets is 128.10) Then in Nikat al-Shu'ara written by
Mir Taqi Mir (1758?), some 104 poets are introduced.") In Tadhkira-e
Shu` ara-e Urdu by Mir Hasan (1785?), 304 poets are included,12) then
289 poets in Gulshan-e Hind by Haidar Bakhsh Haidari (1800-01),13) 693
poets in MajmiVa-e Naghz (1806),14)
671 in Gulshan-e Be-khar by Nawwab
Muhammad Mustafa Khan Shefta (1834),15) and 542 in Tadhkira-e
Gulistan-e Sukhan by Mirza Qadir Bakhsh Sabir Dihlavi.16) This in- crease in the number of Urdu poets shows that Urdu poetry gained rapid popularity in and around Delhi from the middle of the eighteenth century to the beginning of the nineteenth century, in spite of the de-cline of the capital.
Of course, with social disorder in the capital, the living environment of the Urdu poets in Delhi was forced to change. Some of them had been under the patronage of the Court or the nobility, but because of the downfall of the nobility, they had to leave Delhi and move to other cities, for instance, Lucknow, so as to get the patronage of the Nawwelbs. Mir
Taqi Mir, Muhammad Rafr Sauda, Mir Hasan, Shaikh Ghulam
Hamadani Mushafi, Insha Allah Khan Insha and Salamat 'Ali Dabir were among them. On the other hand, some poets wrote qasi-das (odes) in favor of some notables of the East India Company, in order to get pa-tronage. For example, Sauda wrote qasida for Richard Johnson, who was the chief assistant of the resident of Lucknow,17) and Sauda dedicated his first diWain (collection of poems) to Richard Johnson.18) Beciarar found employment at an Englishman's office, and Ghalib also presented a Per-sian qasida to Queen Victoria.19) On the other hand, there were some poets who stayed in Delhi, since they belonged to the Sufi sect and became leaders of the Sufi schools. One, Khwaja Mir Dard was a leader of the Sufi sect Muhammadiya of Naqshbandi-ya, and Hatim, who once was a soldier, became a Sufi because he was disappointed with the social disorder.
The poets who left Delhi wrote many lamentations about it in the styles of ghazal. After the Indian Mutiny (Jang-e Azadi) in 1857, two collections of such lamentations, Fughan-e Dihli (1863)20) and Farydd-e Dihli (1931),21) were compiled. These consist of ghazals written on the declining city of Delhi. Fughan-e Dihli includes 63 poems on Dehli by more than 40 poets. Faryad-e Dihli, which was published in Lucknow, is almost a kind of revised edition of Fughtin-e Dihli, and most of the poems were taken from it.22) Accordingly, this paper covers only the poems from Fughan-e Dihli.
Interestingly, this kind of lamentaion is only found in the late eigh-teenth century or after 1857. When the East India Company occupied Delhi in 1803 and recaptured it in 1857, and restored its stability, al-though Urdu poets wrote poems on Delhi, we find only a few lamenta-tions during this period.
Now we shall look more closely at some of the more important fea-tures of the expressions in those shahr ashob or couplets.
of the eighteenth century, but the situation around the poets was grow-ing worse. Robbery, plundergrow-ing, and murder became an everyday occur-rence in Delhi. Although the situation was unbearable, people in Delhi could not forget the glorious days of the past. Delhi was not only the administrative capital of the Empire, but also the center of Mughal cul-ture. Urdu poets wrote many poems and couplets praising the glory of the capital.
falak zamin o malii'ik jandb thi Dihli bihisht o khuld men bhi intikhith thi Dihli jawiib kahe ko thd la jawdb thi Dihli
magar khayed se dekhd to khwab thi Dihli (Dagh Dihlavi) Delhi was a divine place
It was distinguished even in the paradise Delhi had no match; it was a unique place
But when we noticed it cautiously, it looked like a dream
People in Delhi personified their city and called it Tiazrat Dihli', `Saint Delhi'
. This nickname is used in Tabqiit-e Niisri23) and in the poems by Amir Khusrau.24) The word `hazrat' is usually used to honor a Sufi. Delhi is famous for its Sufi saints,") and it was the only city in Mughal India so personified. This shows how the people in Delhi were affiliated, and felt comfortable, with their city. It is easy for us to imagine how sorry the people in Delhi felt when their beloved capital was plun-dered. Urdu poets there must have experienced this kind of feeling, too. That is why their lamentations were 'dedicated' to Delhi, the poets hav-ing expressed it as a personified city.
We find three distinct types of poems (including couplets in ghazals) on Delhi; the first consists of poems in which the word Delhi is used, and the second, of poems in which the metaphor for Delhi is used. These poems succeeded in including double meanings in one poem. When one reads this kind of poem casually, one may presume that it is simply love poetry, but if one goes deeper and recognizes the metaphor used in this poem, one can enjoy the second meaning that shows how the poet felt about the decline of Delhi. The use of this kind of metaphor will be considered later. The third type consists of poems whose basic purpose is to show the social life of Delhi in detail, and in rather a
satirical way. Most poems titled shahr dshob' are also included in this type. Of course, this classification is only for convenience, as there are no
strict rules in writing such poems, and there are couplets which can belong to more than one type. However this classification will be helpful in attempting to discuss the poems in detail.
Poems in Which the Word 'Delhi' Is Used
As I mentioned above, many Urdu poets took Delhi as a motif for their poetry. But when we look at the history of Persian literature, we see the same kind of example in the works of Shaikh Sa`di of Shiraz. Sa`di wrote lamentations on the occasion of the slaughter of Musta'asim Billah, the last Caliph of the Abbasid Dynasty and the destruction of Baghdad when the city was plundered by Mongols in 1258.26) Shibli Nu'mani writes that a lamentation is to be dedicated to a dead person, but Sa`di was the first poet to write lamentations for a nation or a city.27) Since Urdu literature flourished under the influence of Persian literature and most of the Urdu poets of the late Mughal period wrote both in Urdu
and Persian, it may safely be assumed that Urdu poets were influenced by the tradition of Persian poetry in writing an elegies for a city. And the
fact that people personified Delhi supports the fact of writing 'dedica-tions' to Delhi.
The motif of the poems in which the word Delhi is used resembles `nostalgia
,' and poets tried to describe their feelings of regret at the situation. Poets compare the situation of the past with the present, and yearn for the bustle, crowds, and prosperity of Delhi. Here are some examples from poems written in the late eighteenth century or at the beginning of the nineteenth century.
ve Dilli ke kuce hain ab sare khali
khawe se khawe the jahiin roz ehilte (Mir Taqi Mir)
These congested streets of Delhi where shoulders were striking shoulders These cheerful streets now lie abandoned
ab khardba hu'd Jahanabad
warna har ik qadam pe yan ghar thd (Mir Taqi Mir) Jahanabad turned into a deserted place
Once it had abodes at each and every step
their eyes, or flow down their cheeks.
Dihli pe rand dal- hai karta hun jab nig-dh
main is kuhan kharlibe ki- ta`m-fr ki taraf (Mir Taqi Mir) When I imagine the rehabilitation of Delhi
I mourn on this wasteland
yad-e Dihli se to ji apnc7 bhar ata hai
ha'e ve sairen, ye tiflan-e khush iiin-a-z kali:6in (Mushafi) With the remembrance of Delhi my heart becomes grieved
Oh where have those recreations and the sweet-toned young singers gone kare hai dhikr MIT kei ko't jab
meri ankhon se girta- hai lahu tab (Mir Hasan) Whenever someone talks about Delhi Blood tears flow from my eyes
The poets still felt uneasy after they migrated to the other cities , even though they could get patronage in a stabilized city . They recollect scenes and memories of their beloved capital Delhi, and they even regret their migration. We can feel what a strong nostalgia the `Delhites' had in their minds.
jab aya main diy-dr-e Lakhnari men
na dekhd kunh bandr Lakhnaft men (Mir Hasan) When I got to the land of Lucknow
I didn't witness any charm or delight in that state
In Fughan-e Dih1F on the occasion of Indian Mutiny in 1857, we can see many shahr ashob poems, too. The poets abandon themselves to grief over the situation of Delhi. They describe the concrete and clear facts in their poems.
yeh sarkashi- huT Merath kr fauj men jis dam na kiirtit-s ko klitei hue the jo brahm
yahan vo ii'e to aya thil- sab kii na-k men dam jo afsar un ke the pahle kiy-ci sar un kii qalam hue vo qatl jo di-wil-n-e 'am ke age
firishte chor zamin iisman ko bhage (Sozdn) When the troops in Meerut became rebellious
The same who had not been annoyed slashing the cartridges With the arrival of these troops the citizens became sick of them
First the officers were beheaded
They were slain in front of the Diwan-e'Am With this tragedy the angels fled to the sky
Asad Allah Khan Ghalib, one of the most famous poets in Urdu literature also describes the situation.
shahr-e Dihli ka dharra dharra-e khak tishna-e khun hai har Musalmein ka (Ghalib) Each and every grain of dust in Delhi
Today is thirsting for the blood of the Muslims
It is worth noting that Ghalib mentioned 'Musalman' apart from 'Hin-dus', although poems of the early nineteenth century never stated that only Muslims had been looted. Mir, Mushafi, and Mir Hasan lamented over Delhi as `Delhites', not as Muslims. They only regretted having missed their charming city.
Interestingly, some poets do not describe clearly why Delhi was de-stroyed, but instead, they are wondering about its destruction, or write that'evil eyes' brought about the situation.
jigar ho tukre fasana hai vo bala us ka har ik makan o makin khak men mild us ka waqar jitnei barh tha, ghata siwa us ka hazar haif ki ab nam bhr mita us ka du'a-e bad kisr aise hi pur-jafei kr lagi yagin jan ki us ko nazar bald ki (Sozan)
The grieved story of Delhi can cut the liver into pieces All the dwellers and the dwellings have rolled in the dust The dignity the city had achieved had fallen greatly Alas alas even its name is no more
It was destroyed by the wicked prayer of someone very cruel Believe me it was ruined by the evil eyes of the sky
parr hain einkhen wahan jo jagah thi nargis ki
khabar nahrn kiise khei ga'r nazar kis ki (Dagh Dihlavi) Some evil eyes had razed the beds of narcissus
God knew whose evil eyes had devoured them
As the concept of 'evil eyes' is usually used for a human being, we may say that using it for Delhi is a typical example of the personification of
the city. This usage shows that poets seem to be helpless in the situation and grieve at the unavoidable ill luck of the capital. The poems start by admiring the capital, then 'evil eyes' cause the destruction of the city, and after that, poets pray to Allah for its restoration.
likhun kahiin talak al-Qissa hal-e barbadi likhun kahlin talak is iismiin kr jalladi kisi ko qaid-e mihan se nahth hai iizadi-ki deigh diigh hai dil har ko'i hai farylidt ilahfphir ise dblid o shad dikhla de
ilahi phir ise hasb-e mureid dikhlei de (Dagh Dihlavi) In short how can I pen the tale of this devastation
And for how long can I write the cruelty of the hardhearted sky Nobody is trouble-free in the world
Every heart is scarred and everyone is a plaintiff Oh God make the city habitable and cheerful again And let us see it again according to our wishes iliihT kar de phir ab:cid biigh-e Dih1F ko
kar apne fazl se roshan ariigh-e Dihlf ko may-e nishat se bhar de ayligh-e Dihlf ko dilon se khalq ke to dho de diigh-e Dihli ko du`a hai tujh se yahi de musabbib al-Asbith kar apne abr-e karam se vo biigh phir shadb(`Aish) Oh God rehabilitate the garden of Delhi
And with your grace enlight the lamp of Delhi
O thou fill the goblet of Delhi with the mirth-exciting liquor And cleanse the sorrowful shock of Delhi from the hearts of the people I have to pray you o thy causer of causes,
With the cloud of your virtues, enrich its fertility again
In Fughiin-e Dihlt, there are poems with a rhyme on the word 'Delhi'. Because the rhyme is repeated over again, the poem has the effect of being written as a prayer. This is why Mirz Qurban Beg Salik calls these poems `nauha' , which means 'moaning'.
Poems of Double Meaning
In the poems on Delhi, there are many poems with a double meaning , where one meaning is love and the other is the poet's feeling about the decline of Delhi.
The origin of this double meaning is not clear, but we can see that this usage can be divided into three types. The first is `Thiim' , a genre in Persian poetry employing double meaning. The second is a Sufism-influenced expression, "ishq-e 1.1aqiqr (true love, love, with God) and "ishq -e majazi (feigned love, love with this world) in one couplet. The third is ' slesh' or ' doha' in local literature, especially in the Deccan. Ac-cording to E.G. Browne, Them 'depends on the employment in a verse of two or more ambiguous terms, which from their juxtaposition, appear to be used in one sense, while they are really intended in the other.'") This style became popular among Urdu poets in the middle of the eighteenth century. The expression of love in Sufism had long been a central motif in Persian poetry, and Muhammad Husain Azdd points out that there was also the influence of local traditions of dohii on Thiim.29) We have no definite information on what was most influential on the use of double meaning in Urdu poetry, but it seems reasonable to suppose that Urdu poetry itself had been influenced by these kinds of usage, and had al-ready had a traditional background of the metaphor of double meaning. Examples of metaphor in Urdu poetry include a beloved described as a tyrant (zalim) or an idol (sanam), and the characteristics of the beloved are represented by metaphors such as eyes of narcissus (nargis), lips of a bud (kali), and the elegant body of cypress (sarv). Although this kind of metaphor was utilized from the beginning under the influence of Persian poetry, these metaphors are still in use with the same meaning. Urdu poets, though, utilized the tradition of metaphor to express their deep sorrow over Delhi, and it is notable that this kind of metaphor about Delhi is used only for the limited place and a limited time.
We can see two kinds of special metaphors in poems on Delhi. The first is a metaphor of ' eaman' , 'a flower garden', or 'bagh' with the same meaning, and the second is WU','a heart'.
The metaphor of Oaman has traditionally been used in Urdu love poetry; it means the heart of a lover (poet), which is always destroyed by the beloved. Love in Urdu poetry never succeeds, and the beloved of a flower gatherer (gulOrn) gathers all the flowers from Oaman. A lover's heart is destroyed totally without flowers, and autumn (khiziin), a season of grief and ruin, comes instead of spring, a lovely season (bahiir).
Urdu poets utilized this metaphor for Delhi. That is why when one reads this metaphor, one feels that this is a traditional love poetry with a
traditional metaphor, but at the same time, the poem shows that the Oaman of Delhi was destroyed in a brutal way and there is nothing left behind in the city. Actually, the word Oaman had already been used with the meaning of a country in a metaphor in Dakni Urdu poetry:
aj ghamndk hain Oaman ke gul
balki dil nith hain saman ke gul (RD hi)") Orchard flowers are dolorous today
Nay rather the. Jasmine flowers are broken hearted
Muhl al-Din Qadri Zor points out that the word Oaman is effectively used as a metaphor of Deccan (Dakan in Urdu), since both Oaman and Dakan have the same rhyme.") These poems were written at the end of the seventeenth century, around the fall of Golkonda by Aurangzeb in 1695. Urdu poetry in the Deccan was introduced to Delhi at the begin-ning of the eighteenth century. That is why it seems reasonable to sup-pose that at the same time, the metaphor of naman was also introduced to the poets in Delhi. Let us examine some couplets written on Delhi using this metaphor.
caman kharab kya ho khizan ka khana kharab
na gul rahii na bulbul hai beighbein tanha (Flatim)32) The fall has ruined the garden; it should be ruined too
Only the gardener-neither the rose nor the bulbul-remains there sabii se har sahr mujh ko la/di le Nis a-if hai
caman men ah gulcin ne yeh kis bulbul ka dil tora (Sauda) Every morning I experience the smell of blood in the breeze Alas the heart of a bulbul is injured by a guliin
kiya khizan d'i naman men shajar o gul jata rahli cain aur mere jigar ka sabr bha jata raha (T alib)
A ruthless fall arrived, the plants and flowers disappeared
Also gone away the peace and patience of myself
jahan caman men nasheman the bulbulon ke Zafar
hazar hazf ki wan ashiyan-e zagh bane (Zafar)33)
The place where Bulbuls nested in the garden
Alas what a pity! The crows now dwell there
Sauda uses the word bagh, `a garden' instead of caman in the following
bagh-e Dail men jo ik roz hu'd merd guzar
na vo gul hi nazar aya na vo gulshan na bahar (Sauda) One day I passed through the garden city Delhi Neither flowers nor garden nor the spring existed there
In this couplet, the word 'beigh-e Dihri clearly means not only 'a gar-den', but also the city of Delhi itself.
The important fact is that when we see the word naman in Dakni poetry, and if this poetry is written on the Deccan, we can imagine that
caman is a metaphor for Deccan. And when we see the same word in the
poetry on Delhi, we see caman as a metaphor of Delhi. So this eaman is
a special metaphor showing a particular location. In the couplet using
the metaphor of eaman by the last emperor of the Mughal Empire,
Bahadur Shah Zafar II, we can see the word ' qafas' , which means a bird
cage in the following couplet. A bird, which had been able to enjoy the
season of spring in the garden, has now became a captive in a birdcage.
pahuncenge kyon kar naman tak ham qafas se Mut kar
taqat-e parwaz apne bad o par men kuch nahin (Zafar)
How can I get back to the heart of the garden after my release from
the cage
Incapable to fly are my feeble wings
It is not clear when this couplet was written, and that is why it is
possible that this `qafas' does not mean Delhi but Rangoon, but we can
clearly say that this symbolic metaphor is helpful for us to understand
how constrained the last emperor felt in those days.
The second metaphor is dil' , and this metaphor has also been used in
Urdu love poetry very often. As mentioned above, a beloved always
destroys a lover's heart in both Persian and Urdu poetry. Urdu poets
utilized this metaphor for Delhi as well, since the word dil has
associa-tions with Delhi because of its similarity of sound with DillF.
Further-more, dil is described as a place to live in, for example, a place (ja'e), a
village (nagar, basti), a town (shahr), or a state (mulk, diydr, saltanat), or
dil is an inhabited (iibiid) place. More importantly dil was the center of
both a person and a country. In Farhang-e AsafTya, a famous Urdu
dictionary compiled in Delhi, it is explained that the word 'Duni is the
dil and War al-Khilizfa' (capital) of Hindustan, or `taksiilr ghar' (true home) of Urdu.34) The following is a part of a poem by Dagh Dihlavi, where Dagh explains clearly that Delhi is not only the center (dil) of India, but also of the world.
yeh shahr vo hai ki har ans o fan kd dil tha yeh shahr vo hai ki qadrdein kii dil tha yeh shahr vo hai ki Hindustan kd dil tha yeh shahr vo hai ki siire jahan kd dil tha raid na adhi - yahan sang o khisht ki sfirat
bani hu'i till jo sari bihisht ki sfirat (Dagh Dihlavi) This is the city dear to everyone
This is the city dear to every appreciator This is the city that was the heart of India
This is the city that was the heart of the whole world The magnificent buildings which had resembled heaven Have all but lost their magnificence
But dil has become a destroyed (kharlib , ujrii , lutd) place. We can say that these similarities are the common attributes between dil and Dilli, and this is the reason why poets succeeded in utilizing this word very symbolically.
The importance of dil and the concept of its being a center of a body and a country are clearly shown in the following qasida. Dil is described not only as a nickname of Delhi, as 'the center of the world', but also as `a house of Allah'
.
dil-e jahan tha Dilli se mudda`ii hai hai na samjhe dil men tilangan-e pur-jafel hai hai ki dil ko bolte hain khana-e khudd hai hai khudii ke ghar ko bigekii sitam kiya hai hai nahin jahein men wallah is jafa ki - pandh
jo intiqdm ho is kii to bas khudii ki panah (Zahir) Delhi meant the heart of the world
Alas the cruel hearted Tilangas couldn't understand its meaning The heart is known as the house of God
Oh what a pity the house of God is wrecked
I swear my God in the world there should be no refuge for these tyrants And if revenge is sought then only God could provide a shelter The following serve as examples of the metaphor of dil:
dil o Diill donon agar hain kharlib
pe kueh lutf is ujre nagar men bhi hai (Mir Taqi Mir)
My heart and Delhi both are disgusted
But a joy is there even in this ruined city
dida-e giryan hamiird nahr hai
dil khardba jaise Duna shahr hai (Mir Taqi Mir)
Like a stream are our tear-shedding eyes
And just like the city of Delhi my heart is a wasteland
Mir Taqi Mir was fond of using the word dil. According to Majfd
Yazdani, Mir used the word dil in more than one fifth of all his couplets,
which means a total of 2354 couplets included the word dil, among
10270 couplets.35) Of course most of the couplets using dil simply express
love alone, but when Yazdani extracted all the couplets that included the
word dil from all the other couplets, he also found some instances of it as
a metaphor for Delhi.') Here we can see some examples of the metaphor
of dil by several poets.
dil ko `usshaq ne aisei kiya viran zidim
muddat ab edhiye is shahr ko baste baste (klatim)
Thou cruel one so badly thee abandoned the heart of lovers
To dwell again the city of heart needs a long long time
mulk-e dil iiblid kyon Hatim kei karta hai khareib
kya men basti khush ati- hai tujhe virangi (1-1ätim)
Why do thou bring to ruin the joyful city of klatim's heart
Do you enjoy the abandoning of my living city
dil ki- virani kei kya madhkfir
yeh nagar sau martaba lutii gayei (Mir Taqi Mir)
How I mention the destitution of my heart
This abode for the uncountable times was despoiled
shahr-e dil eih ' ajab J.-6-1'e
thi par is ke ga'e
aisel ujra ki kisrt tarah baselya na gayii (Mir Taqi Mir)
A wonderful place was the city of heart,
But after her departure
So badly was devastated and could not be rehabilitated.
dil ki- eibadi- ki is had hai ki kharlibi ki na pfinh
jana jetta hai ki is rah se lashkar nikla (Mir Taqi Mir)
So terribly plundered are the abode of my heart
It appears a savage army has rushed through it
abad shahr-e dil tha usi shahryar tak
pahunna na ko'i phir is ujre diyar tak (Sauda)
The city of heart remained spirited till my crowned head
Nobody got to this city of ruins after her
mulk-e dil qatl kar ke Sauda kii
lashkar-e husn yfin palata hai (Sauda)
After slaying the heart land of Sauda
The army of beauteous has returned victoriously
rone ki Sauda tathrr kya kahfin main
`alam ke dil ko jin ne khun -ab kar diya (Sauda)
O Sauda how can I express the deep effects of your weeping It has turned the heart of the world into pure blood
rahta hai khdk o khfin men sadd lutta hu'd mere gharib chi ko ilahei yeh kya hu'd (Taban) O what has happened to my humble heart It is always rolling about in blood and dust abeld mulk-e dil vo yaro kahan
rahegiz-jis ja pe dard o gham kei nit karviin rahegii (Shah `Alam Thani Aftab) O my friends this land of heart how can it remain alive
The caravans of pain and grief are always encamped on this soil Shahr Ashob and Ashobiya Shi`r
In the study of shahr ashob, Saiyid `Abd Allah made the origin and history of shahr ashob clear. According to him, shahr ashob is a kind of poetry in Turkish and Persian literature which praises the beauty of a boy and creates a disturbance in the city among lovers.") Then the motif changed and in eighteenth century India, shahr ashob became a popular genre of Urdu poetry, describing satirically the social disorder of the city. And we can see many shahr ashob poems in Urdu in the style of ghazal. Most were written on Delhi both in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries and after the fall of Delhi in 1857. But exception-ally, Nazi-r Akbarabadi wrote it on Akbarabad, i.e. Agra.38) Here we see the work by Sauda, which shows how he described the situation of Delhi in a satirical way.
ghord le agar, naukari hain kisii ki
tankhdh ka phir `dlam-e bala pe makiin hai
guzre hai sada- yiin `urf o dana ki khatir
shamshFr jo ghar men to sipar baniye ke yahiin hai
If they own a horse and are employed by someone
Their chance of payment would remain beyond the universe
To provide the grass and grain to the horse,
Some times they keep the sword at home
But the scabbard is pledged to the moneylender
sipahi rakhte the naukar amir daulatmand
sau amad in ki to jagir se hu'i hai band
kiya hai mulk ko muddat se sar-kashon ne pasand
jo ek shakhs hai ba'is sfibe ka Hid-wand
rahi na is ke tasarruf men faujdarT-e Kol (Sauda)
The chiefs and the nobles kept the soldiers in service
But the revenue from their estates has been cut off
The country for a long time in the grip of refractories
One who is the master of twenty-two provinces
Has lost even the faujdeiri of Kol
Sauda's satirical shahr ashob was able to show that the poet was not
totally disappointed with the situation, but that he seemed to have
com-posure and courage.
There are many Urdu couplets on Delhi in Urdu ghazals, and Saiyid
`Abd Allah named these couplets iishobiya shi`r'
, which means 'a couplet
of tumult', as mentioned above. Here are some examples:
jis sar ko ghuriir aj hai yan tajwari ka
kal us pe yahin shor hai phir nauha-gari ka (Mir Taqi Mir)
Someone who is proud of his kingship today
Tomorrow will be a cry after his demise
nam aj koT nahtn letei hai unhon ka
jin logon ke kal mulk yeh sab zer-e nagin thii (Mir Taqi Mir)
No one mentions the names of those crowned heads
Who were the sovereigns of this land just yesterday
shiihein ki kuhr-e jaweihir thi kheik-e pa jin ki
inht ki ankh men phirtr suld'iyein dekhi (Mir Taqi Mir)
These kings, the dust from whose feet was regarded as the collyrium
We witnessed their eyes being blinded with needles
Naww-cib na Khan ko'i rand shahr men baqi
Nawwdb jo Gujr hai to Mewiiti- bhi Khan hat (Mushafi) Neither a real Nawwith nor a Khan remained in the city The remaining Nawwab is a Gujr, the Khan is a Mewati but-khana o masjid men jo phalli- hai khareibi
naqus ka nala na mu'addhin le adhlin hai (Mushafi) The temples and the mosques are equally disrupted The cry of naqus and the call of prayer is discontinued do car tilange jo khare rahte hain un se
bas qal'a ke ntne lit tak ik aman o aman hai (Mushafi) Peaceprevails only under the walls of the fort
Where a few tilangas are posted to maintain law and order pidar ke samne bete ko qatl ha,e kiya
gham d'e yiid na kyon kar janab-e Asghar lea yeh Karbala kii namfina dikhatt hai Dihlt
pidar ko na `sh-e pisar par rula-ti hai Dihli (Mubin) Alas the son was killed in front of his father It reminds us the tragedy of Asghar
Delhi is showing the scenario of Karbala
It makes the father mourn on the dead body of the son kahiye na unhen amir ab aur na waztr
Angrezon ke hath pe qafas men hain asfr jo kunh vo parha'en sau yeh munh se bolen bangle kt mama hain yeh Pftrab ke asir (Jur'at)
Don't call them now ministers or nobles They are caged by the British
Whatever is instructed they utter that
These animated dolls are the starlings of Bengal Musalmanon ke melon ka- hu'd hai qul
puje hai jog-miiya aur debt nishan bil-qt nahtn hai saltanat ka magar han nam ko Aurangzebr (Ghalib) The Muslim festivities are ended
Now the Jogmaya and debt are worshiped here No authority of Sultanate exists any more The so-called kingship is just symbolic ghar se bazar men nikalte hue
zahra hota hai ab insiin kd (Gilalib)
In Delhi one dreads
Leaving his house to enter the bazar
kitnii hai bad-nasib Zafar dafn ke liye
do gaz zamin bhi na mili kii-e yar men (Zafar)
O Zafari What a hard lot
Not to get even a few yards burial space in the lover's alley
Conclusion
From these observations, several points become very clear. The first is that Urdu poets of the late Mughal period in Delhi were very much influenced by the situation of the decline of Delhi, and some of them had to leave Delhi. But even though they left Delhi, they could not forget their beloved capital, and they chose the city as a motif of their poetry. The basic concept of these poems is, we can say, 'nostalgia', and this concept seems to have caused Urdu poets to write poems on Delhi, too.
The second is that when Urdu poets wrote poems on Delhi, they took advantage of traditional patterns of Urdu poetry, such as the use of double meanings in one couplet, or the use of traditional metaphor, or the style of shahr eishob. Since Urdu poetry has a traditional background of tragedy in love, it was easy for Urdu poets to take the declining capital as a motif. The personification of Delhi as their beloved capital encour-aged them to write lamentation on it. Thus they utilized the traditional usage with a new motif. This is the reason the metaphor of naman and dil' became different from the traditional usage. Those metaphors indi-cate the limited location of a limited time, that is, the declining capital of the late Mughal period.
The third point is the peculiar helplessness that can be seen in the couplets on Delhi. The poets wrote lamentations while shedding tears, or praying to Allah for the restoration of the capital. In this way, they wrote shahr ashob or ashobiya shi`r. When they wanted to express their inconsolable feelings over Delhi, they wrote poems in a satirical style. This style also gives us an impression that Urdu poets were not com-pletely in despair over Delhi. Thus, we can feel that strong nostalgia lies at the root of all the poems on Dehli.
When we look at the lives of Urdu poets, we feel their courage in seeking patronage. They migrated and wrote odes for new patrons, even
for Englishmen, so as to earn patronage, but at the same time, they wrote odes for their beloved capital Delhi. Although poets could not get any patronage by writing poems on Delhi, they could not help writing them. Such poems were written by most of the poets of the time, and at least one collection of them was compiled.
Leaving poetry and turning to prose works that were written in both Persian and Urdu by Urdu poets in the late Mughal period, we can see some examples written on the situation in Dehli. For instance, in Darya-e Latafat, Insha Allah Khan Insha explained that most of the cultural heritage was brought to Lucknow by the people who migrated from Delhi.39) Or in Khutfit-e Ghalib expressed deep sorrow at the destruction of Delhi in and after 1857." Ghalib's expression of lamenta-tion in his letter is so impressive that his letter seems to be a kind of shahr ashob in prose.
Judging from these, it is no exaggeration to say that there was a com-mon awareness of a strong nostalgia for Delhi acom-mong not only Urdu poets belonging to Delhi, but also the people in Delhi in the late Mughal period. Added to this is the most important fact that this kind of poetry has been read with deep sympathy by Urdu readers until the present time, and they have a common feeling for Delhi of that time . Further-more, we can see examples of such a motif in modern Urdu poetry; that
is to say, modern Urdu poets have written poems to express their regret about social problems by using other metaphors. For example , Muhammad Iqbal wrote a poem on Delhi using the same metaphor of dil,41) and Faiz Ahmad Faiz and Nasir Kazmi wrote poems and ghazals related to the disturbance that preceded independence in 1947, as well as the independence of Bangladesh in 1971, by using other metaphors .') The use of metaphor to express political motifs in poetry has been adopted into Urdu literature since the last century particularly.
khardba Di li kei dah &Ind bihtar Lakhnaii se
thii-wahin main kiish mar jatii sareisTma na ata yahlin (Mir Taqi Mir) The wasteland of Delhi was much better than that of Lucknow Alas I could have died there and not left in distress
This shows the deeper involvement and grief of Urdu poets regarding Delhi even after migration to Lucknow from Delhi.
Notes
1) See Hashmi, Nur al-Hasan, 1965 (orig. 1949, Karachi), Di11T ka Dabistan-e Sha'iri Lahore, Ishrat Publishing House; Muhammad Hasan, 1989, Dihli men Urdu Sha`iri ka Tandhibi o Fikri Pas-manar. Delhi, Urdu Academy. Hashmi divided the school into five eras and showed in full detail that how its characteristics could be seen in the poetry of Delhi School, especially in the study of its language and style. And Hasan makes it clear that Urdu poetry in Delhi is a mixture of both Persian and Indian local literatures according to some Urdu translation of couplets by Shaikh Sa`di of Shiraz and some couplets under the influence of dohd, a popular form of a local poetry. Hasan laso discussed the influence of Sufism on Urdu poetry, but his study is limited to the period until the mid-eighteenth century, especially the era of Mir Tag". Mir, as a background for the following period.
2) See, for example, Dhu al-Fiqar, Ghulam Husain, 1966, Urdu Sha'iri ka Siyasi our Samaji Pas-man3wr. Lahore, Punjab University; Jalibi, Jamil, 1987, Tarikh-e Adab-e Urdu, Vol. 2. LahorAdab-e: Majlis-Adab-e Taraqqi-Adab-e Adab.
3) See, for example, Saiyid `Abd Allah, 1965, "Shahr Ashob ki Tarikh," Mubrihith. Lahore, Majlis-e Taraqqi-e Adab; Na`im Ahmad, 1968, Shahr Ashob. Delhi, Maktaba-e Jarni`a. Iqtida Hasan, 1995, 'LatMaktaba-er Mughals as RMaktaba-eprMaktaba-esMaktaba-entMaktaba-ed in Urdu PoMaktaba-etry: I; A Study in the light of the Shahr Ashobs from Hatim, Sauda and Nazir', 'Later Mughals as Represented in Urdu Poetry: II; A Study of Qa'im's Shahr Ashob', Later Moghuls and Urdu Literature. Lahore: Ferozson's Ltd. pp. 51-74, pp. 75-87., F. D. Nasim, Ikhtatamiya, 1999, Baravin Sad" Hijri men Dilli Ka Sha`irana Mahaul, Lahore: Urdu Academy, pp. 317-322.
4) Mirza Adib, 1980, "Mir ka Marthiya-e Dihli" Nuqfish, Mir Taqi Mir Number, Vol. 2. Lahore, Nuqush Press. Mirza Adib named couplets on Delhi by Mir `marthiya-e Dihli', which m`marthiya-eans 'a lam`marthiya-entation on D`marthiya-elhi.' Although marthiya has b`marthiya-ecom`marthiya-e an established genre of epicedium sung in commemoration of Hasan and Husain dur-ing Muharram in Urdu literature, it may be suitable to call the poems on Delhi `marthiya -e Dihli , i.e. 'a lamentation on Delhi' synthetically. For the further study of marthiya, see Mirza Amir 'Ali Beg Jonpuri, Vol. 1 in 1985, Vol. 2 in 1986, Tadhkira-e Marthiya Nigaran-e Urdu. Vol. 1-2. Lucknow: Sarfaraz Press. 5) Saiyid `Abd Allah, op. cit.
6) Hari Ram Gupta, 1961, "Role of Delhi", Marathas and Panipat. Chandigarh, Panjab University, pp. 321-345. `Nau gardiydn' means Nadir Gardi, Shah Gardi, Jat Gardi, Gujar Gadri, Baluchi Gardi, Rohilla Gardi, Maratha Gardi, Mughal Gardi, and Turk Gardi.
7) Mir Taqi Mir, 1986, Kulliyiit-e Mir. ed. by Kalb-e 'Ali Khan Fa'iq, Lahore, Majlis-e Taraqqi-Majlis-e Adab. Most of thMajlis-e couplMajlis-ets trMajlis-eatMajlis-ed hMajlis-erMajlis-ein arMajlis-e dMajlis-erivMajlis-ed from thMajlis-e Majlis-editions published by Majlis-e Taraqqi-e Adab, Lahore, except the couplets included in Fughtin-e Dihli. And all the poems were translated into English by Dr. Tabassum Kashmir'. See Mirza Raft' Sauda, 1976, Kulliyat-e Saudd, ed. by Shams al-Din Siddiqi, Lahore, Majlis-e Taraqqi-e Adab., Mirza Asad Allah Khan Ghalib, 1992, Diwan-e Ghalib Nuskha-e `Arshi. ed. by Imtiyaz 'Ali Khan `Arshi, Lahore, Majlis-e Taraqqi-Majlis-e Adab., Shaikh Ghulam Hamadani Mushafi,Kulliyat-Majlis-e Mushafi. Majlis-ed. by Nur al-Hasan, Lahore, Majlis-e Taraqqi-e Adab., Mir Hasan, 1966, Kulliyeit-e Mir
Hasan. ed. by Wahid Qureshi, Lahore, Majlis-e Taraqqi-e Adab., Shah Alam Thani, 1997, Shah Alam Thanr Aftab. ed. by Jamil, Muhammad Khawar, Lahore, Majlis-e Taraqqi-Majlis-e Adab. Kaukab, Tafazzul Husain Khan Dihlavi (Majlis-ed.), 1954 (rMajlis-eprint) (org. Delhi, 1863), Fughan-e Dihli. Lahore: Academy Punjab.
8) Suzuki Takeshi, (in Japanese) "Urudii Gazaru no Hatten to Keikou II," (The Evo-lution of Urdu Ghazals and Some of Its Important Features , Part II) Tokyo Gaikokugo Daigaku Ronshu. 25, Tokyo.
9) Hakim Abu al-Qasim Mir Qudrat Allah Qasim, 1973, Majrnfi`a-e Naghz. ed. by Hafiz Mahmad ShiranT. Delhi: National Academy.
10) Qayam al-Din Qa'im Candpuri, 1966, Tadhkira-e Makhzan-e Nikat. ed. by Iqtida Hasan. Lahore: Majlis-e Taraqqi-e Adab.
11) Mir Tag' Mir, 1979 (reprint), Nikat al-Shu'ara. ed. by Maulavi `Abd al-Haq, Karachi, Anjuman-e Taraqqi-e Ural Pakistan. According to Dr . Mu'in al-Din `Aqil, there are 106 poets in the 'Paris Edition' of this tadhkira.
12) Mir Hasan, 1985, Tadhkira-e Shu'ara-e Urdii. ed. by Akbar Haidar Kashmiri . Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Urdu Academy.
13) Saiyid Haidar Bakhsh Haidari, 1967 (org. 1802, Calcutta) Gulshan-e Hind. ed. by Mukhtar al-Din Ahmad. Delhi: `Ilmi Majlis.
14) Hakim Abu al-Qasim Mir Qudrat Allah Qasim, op. cit.
15) Nawwab Muhammad Mustafa Khan Shefta, 1973, Gulshan-e Be-khar . ed. by Kalb-e 'All Khan Fa'iq. LahorKalb-e: Majlis-Kalb-e Taraqqi-Kalb-e Adab.
16) Mirza Qadir Bakhsh Sabir Dihlavi, 1966, Tadhkira-e Gulistan-e Sukhan Vol . 1, 2. ed. by Khalil al-Rahman Da'adT, Lahore, Majlis-e Taraqqi-e Adab. All the tadhkiras quoted above were written in Persian. Still more, we have another tadhkira of the late Mughal period. It is Mirza 'Ali Lutf's, Tadhkira-e Gulshan-e Hind. (1906 (org. 1801) ed. by Maulana Shibli Nu'rnani and Maulavi `Abd Haq , Lahore, Dar al-Isha'at-e Panjab.), that is the tadhkira written in Urdu. Actually this is an Urdu translation from Tadhkira-e Ibrahim in Persian, by the direction of John Gilchrist of the Fort William College. Lutf added some poets after the translation but this tadhkira includes only 68 poets. Because of the exceptional background of this tadhkira, this was not quoted in this context.
17) Sauda, 1976, "Qasida dar Madh-e Mumtaz al-Daula Richard Johnson", Kulliyat-e Sauda, Vol. 2. ed. by Shams al-Din Siddiqi. Lahore: Majlis-e Taraqqi-e Adab, p. 329. This ode was written in 1780.
18) That is why Sauda's edition is called `Nuskha-e Jansan (Johnson Edition)'. 19) Ghalib, 1992, op. cit.
20) Kaukab, Tafazzul Husain Khan Dihlavi (ed.), op. cit.
21) Faryad-e Dihli. 1931, Lucknow, Nizarni Press. The original title of this anthology is Inqilab-e Dihli, but the book is known as Faryad-e Dih1F. (see Saiyid `Abd Allah, op. cit., p. 232.)
22) ibid. pp. 231-232. Saiyid `Abd Allah compared both collections in detail.
23) Minhaj-e Siraj-e Juzjani, 1954, Tabqat-e Nasirr. Vol . 2. ed. by `Abd HabIbT Afghani. Lahore: Majlis-e Taraqqi-e Adab.
24) Sar Saiyid Ahmad Khan, 1990, Athar al-Sanadid . Vol. 1. ed. by Khaliq Anjum. Delhi: Urdu Academy Dill". p. 259.
25) See, for example, Zuhtir al-Hasan Sharib, 1988 (orig. 1977), Dail- ke Bd`rs Khwaja. Delhi: Taj Publishers.
26) Gamo Reiichi, 1964, (in Japanese) Baraen: Iran Chusei no Kyoyo Monogatari. (Gulistan) Tokyo: Heibonsha. pp. 16-17.
27) Nu`mani, Shibli, n. d., Shi`r al2Ajam. Vol. 2. Lahore: Anjuman-e Himayat-e Islam, p. 69.
28) E.G. Browne, 1969, A Literary History of Persia, Vol. 2, p. 83. See also Ghulam Husain Dhil al-Fiqar, 1971, "Iham-go our Digar Shu'ara", in Tiirikh-e Adabiylit-e Musalmanem-e Pakistein o Hind. Vol. 7. Lahore: Punjab University.
29) Maulana Muhammad Husain Azad, 1990 (orig. 1880)Ab-e Ijayeit. Lahore, Maktaba-e `Aliya. or sMaktaba-eMaktaba-e Muhammad Sadiq, 1964, A History of Urdu LitMaktaba-eraturMaktaba-e. London: Oxford University Press.
30) A couplet by Ruhi. See Zor, Muhl al-Din Qadri, 1969, Dakni Adab ki Tarikh. Karachi: Urdu Academy Sindh. p. 105.
31) ibid.
32) Ghulam Husain Dha al-Fiqar, op. cit.
33) Abu al-Zafar Siraj al-Din Bahadur Shah. 1994, Kulliyat-e ?afar. Lahore: Sang-e Mil Publications.
34) Maulavi Saiyid Ahmad Dihlavi, 1987 (org. 1918), Farhang-e Asafiya. Vol. 2. Lahore: Urdu Science Board. p. 265. In this explanation here, no example is presented about the metaphor of Delhi.
35) Yazdani, M.A. Majid, 1986, Badan Neima-e Mir. Lahore: Majid Yazdani. pp. 65-66.
36) ibid. pp. 51-58.
37) Saiyid `Abd Allah, op. cit.
38) Akbarabadi, Nazir, 1951, Kulliyat-e Nazir. ed. by Maulana `Abd al-Bari. Lahore: Maktaba-e Shi`r o Adab. pp. 465-471.
39) Insha Allah Khan Insha, 1988 (Reprint), (in Persian) Daryd-e Latafat., (Urdu trans-lated by Pandit Brij Mohan Dattaturiya Kaifi. Karachi: Anjuman-e Taraqqi Ural Pakistan), p. 117.
40) Mirza Asad Allah Khan Ghalib, 1969, Khutut-e Gheilib. Vol. 1. ed. by Ghulam Rasal Mihr. Lahore: Punjab University. p. 368, pp. 380-382.
41) Muhammad Iqbal, 1989 (orig. 1923) "Bilad-e Islamiya", in Kulliyeit-e Iqbal. Lahore: Ghulam 'Ali and Sons.
42) Faiz Ahmad Faiz utilized traditional metaphors to express the political motif with a strong tone. By contrast, the poems on Delhi in the late Mughal period were also written with metaphors but they expressed a feeling of helplessness. This is a differ-ence between them. But in Urdu literature, because of the similarity in the style and the motif of nostalgia, Nasir Kazmi is sometimes compared with Mir Taqi Mir.
The Japanese translation of the Urdu poetry on Delhi will be introduced in So Yamane, 2000, "Deri eno Aitou-shi" (Lamentation on Delhi), "Sekai Bungaku" Vol. 5, Osaka Gaikokugo Daigaku Sekai Bungaku Kenkyukai Osaka University of
Foreign Studies, Osaka. This paper owes much to the thoughtful and helpful com-ments of Dr. Tabassum Kathmiri, Dr. Ashwani Kumar Srivastava, and Dr. Mein
al-Din 'AO. Especially I am indebted to Dr. Tabassum Kashmir' for his assistance in translating the poems into English. Earlier drafts of this paper were presented at the International Ghalib Seminar in Delhi in December 1998 (in Urdu) and the annual conference of the Japanese Association for South Asian Studies in Sendai , Japan, in October 1999 (in Japanese).
