A travelogue of Urdu ghazal

RP Sethi

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‘Kamaal ‘Jahan mein ahle – danish soorate – Khursheed jeete hain,

Idhar doobe udhar nikle,

Udhar doobe Idhar nikle

One in millions follows knowledge like a sinking star,

beyond the utmost bound of human thought.

PROF GOPI CHAND NARANG is one such luminary, and I am dedicating the couplet quoted above to his intellectual aura. The Urdu Ghazal: A Gift of India’s Composite Culture, written by Prof Gopi Chand Narang, is a wonderful record and travelogue of this ‘sinf-e-sukhan’ (vidha). Even in its infancy, ghazal worked as something miraculous. It denied all borders, barriers and boundaries on the global map and sneaked in wherever it found a comfort zone.

Breaking the shackles of caste, colour, creed and culture, it went ahead relentlessly till it gained a formidable platform. The genre of Urdu ghazal was more of an idea than an accomplished poetic form when it advanced from Arabia to Iran and then to India. It walked like a friar from one door to another to attain meaning and maturity. Gradually, it grew from its pastoral form to gain a five-star culture status. It is like a travelogue of a little outburst of a water-leakage that came out from the suppressed, sedimentary layers of human heart and oozed forth as a powerful and unboundable stream.

The book depicts ghazal’s evolution and revolution over five centuries. It is not only a periodical investigation and information about the authors of Urdu ghazal but also about the way they handled it. And that ghazal’s long journey has been squeezed into one book is quite astonishing and remarkable.

The reference of Urdu ghazal in the present context is very relevant and apt. It reveals its journey from darkness to light. Also, it shows the genre was not a well baked dish on a platter to be relished. A lot of hard work and emotional and intellectual energy was invested to make it prosper. Interestingly, ghazal was widely acceptable even in its unchiselled form due to its brevity. The two sentences (misras) of a couplet happened to be the complete messenger, the carrier of a thought or an emotion. Hence, the prince and the pauper (shah-o-gada), saints and lovers, the dancers (tawayaf) at the kothas, the priest at the mosque, the vendors … all loved to recite ghazal, demonstrating its universal appeal.

For the readers of this book, it’s impossible not to fall for the charm of ghazal. It would not be wrong to say:

“Ham hue, tum hue ki mir hue,

Uski zulfon ke sab aseer huye”

Besides, the book is informative. The chronological chapter-wise summary of Urdu poets exhibits how ghazal underwent various concepts, undercurrents and demographical and foreign influences. The book provides a long list of stalwart poets, both male and female, who hailed and led their respective eras.

At present, when the world is facing the horror of annihilation and is at the mercy of a prevailing epidemic and impending wars, the following couplet by visionary Sahir Ludhianvi, while confirming the seriousness of the threat, warns us:

‘Gujashta jung mein paikar jale magar is bar,

ajab nahin ke ye parchhainya bhi jal jayen’

To it, I would add:

“Aitmi daur mein kuchh aur jale ya na jale,

khwaab masoomon ke palkon mein hi jal jayenge”

The book is very relevant in the present literary scenario, and Urdu lovers will cherish it. The author has left no stone unturned to record the pulse-beat of Urdu ghazal. In my opinion, he deserves a lot of credit for this wonderful book, and I salute him for his relentless search for knowledge in this field. To conclude, I would attribute the following couplet to Professor Narang:

“Teri tehrir mein jo payee hai,

Wo aalimana rahnumai hai.”