Itihaas : Correcting A Limited, Stereotype View
Urdu is now a ‘dead’ language. It is easy to dismiss its poetry as decadent and its poets as maudlin sycophants who eked out a living by writing panegyrics redolent with fulsome flattery of their patrons. The patrons were Emperors and Nawabs of the 18th Century during which this language came into being. It was a time of great political upheaval. The Mughal Empire was coming apart. Border areas were being nibbled off. The Persians took Kabul in 1739 and the British Bengal in 1757.
The patrons whether Emperor or Nawwaab had failed in war because they had not kept up with the developments in military technology and the techniques of warfare. After Muhammad Shah lost the battle of Karnal on 13th February 1739 the victor, Nadir Shah said
‘Indians know how to die in battle; not how to win!’
The fate of the patron has been visited upon the poor poet. He has been tarred by the same brush as his patron who was the losers of battles and failures in the politics of the time. Perhaps we should correct this impression by quoting Mirza Rafi Sauda.
‘Sauda’ was born in a noble family of Shahjahanbad Dillee and inherited considerable wealth. Shahjahanbad Dillee was subjected to its first invasion massacre and despoliation in 1739. After that traumatic year invasion of India, the sacking of Dillee and the massacre and looting of its inhabitants became a regular feature. Sauda migrated East to Farrukhabad in 1757.
It is said that he had already lost the patronage of the Emperor because of his bluntness.
A story has the Emperor telling the poet that he versification so easy that he could compose three or four lyrics (ghazals) while performing his ablutions.
‘Sauda’ responded ‘The odour of the verse reeks of the inspiration!’
On another occasion the Emperor offered to confer the title ‘Malikulshuara’ ‘King of the Poets’ upon Sauda. Sauda declined with the comment that no title could improve the quality of his verse. Whatever titles came would arise from the appreciation earned by his verse from connoisseurs and aficionados.
The greatness of Sauda can be seen from a verse he wrote about the practice of demolition of temples and the raising of mosques on the site. As this one matter has dominated Indian politics for a long time and other more pressing problems such as starvation deaths, female foeticide and genocide have been pushed into the background we reproduce the verse in Roman script so that it can be read aloud and its spirit invoked and follow it with the translation
Before we proceed further it is necessary to look at the one word which will be difficult to translate. This is dil. It means the heart and a whole lot else. Mir Taqi Mir says
Dil kee burbaadee ka kyaa muzkoor hey; yeh shahar sauw murtubaa lootaa guyaa
‘What purpose will be served by talking of the destruction and despoliation of the dil for this city has been looted a hundred times!’
The Sufi saint Bullaiy Shah says
Masjid dhaa dey mandir dhaa dey, dhaa dey joa kuchh dheiyndaa
Eyk fukut bus dil naa dhaaiyn, Saain is wich reyhndaa
‘Go right ahead and demolish whatever can be pulled down whether it be mosque or temple; only refrain from destroying the dil as God Himself dwells in it.
The verse of Sauda which we want to quote and translate may now be understood better so here goes-
Toard kur butkhaaney koa musjid binaa kee tooney Shaikh!
Burhaman kay DIL kee bhee kuchh fikr hey ta’ameer kaa
‘O Shaikh! You have demolished a temple and built a mosque in its place. Do you have any concern for rebuilding the dil of the Brahman which you broke by destroying his place of adoration and worship?
As can be seen there is no decadence or weakness in this verse. Sauda is addressing the relationship between the Hindus and the Muslims fearlessly and in a most humane manner.
He also says
Ka’aba gur tootaa to kyaa jaaey ghum hey Shaikh!
Yeh qasrey dil naheen kay bunaayaa naa jaaeygaa
If it is only the holiest of the holies, the sanctuary of Ka’aba itself which has been demolished it is no cause for regret and suffering. It is not the dil which cannot be put together again.
It shows the spirit of the age that such verse earned kudos and not a fatwaa for death by assassination.