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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, 'the Delhi School of Poetry' .1) Many Urdu poets wrote poems

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

R

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.


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Lamentation Dedicated to the Declining Capital

51

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:


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Journal of the Japanese Association for South Asian Studies, 12, 2000

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 sehain jo kueh nahin rakhtefaqr 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, written by Qayam al-Din Qa'im bridpuri in 1754-55, the 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) 71 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.


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53

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.

As mentioned above, Urdu poetry developed in Delhi after the middle


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of the eighteenth century, but the situation around the poets was grow-

ing worse. Robbery, plundering, 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


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55

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

And when poets think of Delhi, they shed tears, or tears come into


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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-zkali: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-cisar 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


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57

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


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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:cidbiigh-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.


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59

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


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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

couplet.


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Lamentation Dedicated to the Declining Capital 61

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


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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:


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63

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 (1-1tim)

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 ehi 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


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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

àlam 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 Àlam 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 Àbd 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.


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Lamentation Dedicated to the Declining Capital 65

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 o 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-epa 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


17/23


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


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67

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


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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 among 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.


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69

Notes

1) See Hashmi, Nur al-Hasan, 1965 (orig. 1949, Karachi), Di11T a Dabistan-e Sha'iri

Lahore, Ishrat Publishing House; Muhammad Hasan, 1989, Dihli men Urdu Shaìri

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. Lahore: Majlis-e Taraqqi-e Adab.

3) See, for example, Saiyid Àbd Allah, 1965, Shahr Ashob ki Tarikh, Mubrihith.

Lahore, Majlis-e Taraqqi-e Adab; Naìm Ahmad, 1968, Shahr Ashob. Delhi, Maktaba-

e Jarnià. Iqtida Hasan, 1995, 'Later Mughals as Represented in Urdu Poetry: 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 Shaìrana 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 means 'a lamentation on Delhi.' Although marthiya has become 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 Àbd 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-e Adab. Most of the couplets treated herein are derived from the 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 Àrshi. ed. by Imtiyaz 'Ali Khan Àrshi, Lahore, Majlis-

e Taraqqi-e Adab., Shaikh Ghulam Hamadani Mushafi,Kulliyat-e Mushafi. ed. by

Nur al-Hasan, Lahore, Majlis-e Taraqqi-e Adab., Mir Hasan, 1966, Kulliyeit-e Mir


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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-e Adab. Kaukab, Tafazzul Husain Khan Dihlavi (ed.), 1954 (reprint)

(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, Majrnfià-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 Àbd al-Haq,

Karachi, Anjuman-e Taraqqi-e Ural Pakistan. According to Dr

. Mu'in al-Din

Àqil

, 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: Ìlmi 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. Lahore: Majlis-e Taraqqi-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 Àbd al-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 Àbd Allah, op.

cit., p. 232.)

22) ibid. pp. 231-232. Saiyid Àbd Allah compared both collections in detail.

23) Minhaj-e Siraj-e Juzjani, 1954, Tabqat-e Nasirr. Vol

. 2. ed. by Àbd 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.


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71

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 Àliya. or see Muhammad Sadiq, 1964, A History of Urdu Literature. 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 Àbd Allah, op. cit.

38) Akbarabadi, Nazir, 1951, Kulliyat-e Nazir. ed. by Maulana Àbd 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


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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).

delhi urdu poetry.pdf

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