Gems of Urdu Literature- A Thousand Yearnings, Beloved Delhi (2 Books in One Box)

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A Thousand Yearnings About the Book Ghalih, Momin, Asurda, Sahbai-in short, all the masters of the art began to tease Zang, exclaiming loudly in praise of our friend Shauq's verse. Shang thought than they were genuinely praising him and could not see that were making a fool of him. The moment anyone cried out in praise he turned his gaze upon Zang and said. "You see? This is the way to write poetry."-FARHATULLAH BEG, 'A Memorable Delhi Mushaira In this treasure trove of stories, verse and history, Ralph Russell-one of the greatest scholars of Urdu-expands our world of Urdu letters to include fascinating folk and oral narratives, besides exceptional prose and poetry. By situating each form historically, he gives us a refreshing perspective on the diverse literary cultures of India in the last two centuries. Besides canonical short stories by the likes of Manto, Krishan Chander, Premchand and Rashid Jahan, he brings us gripping extracts from the memoirs of Ismat Chughtai and Shaukat Thanavi. Exciting creation tales from the Quran find space next to the popular stories of Akbar and Birbal, and the legendary exploits of Sikandar (Alexander the Great). The sublime section on love poetry features selections from the masters Mir, Ghalib, Momin and others, and is supplemented by astute commentary and roman transliterations of the original Urdu. Finally, in Farhatullah Beg's brilliantly imagined account of the 'last Delhi mushaira, Russell presents a moment in time never seen again, with the horrors of 1857 just around the corner. This luminous volume is an accessible introduction for new readers, and a pleasurable companion for those familiar with Urdu literature. Originally published to great acclaim as Hidden in the Lute (1995), this revised edition has been edited by Russell's student and friend, the novelist Marion Molteno.

About the Author Ralph Russell (1918-2008) has been widely recognized as the greatest western scholar of Urdu. Khushwant Singh described him as 'the most revered name of interpreters of Ghalib's life and works'. He headed the Urdu department at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London for thirty years, and was a popular visiting scholar in India and Pakistan. His unusual skill as a translator and his insightful writing have opened up an appreciation of Urdu literature to a wide range of readers. His books include The Pursuit of Urdu Literature: A Select History (1992), How Not to Write the History of Urdu Literature: and Other Essays on Urdu and Islam (1999) and The Oxford India Ghalib: Life, Letters and Ghazals (2003) among others.

Introduction This book presents a selection of Urdu literature for anyone who cannot read Urdu but is interested to find out what it has to offer. Apart from people who count English as their mother tongue, there are many to whom this description applies. In particular I hope it will be useful to young people of South Asian background who use English as their effective first language. In both India and Pakistan there are tens of thousands of people whose parents are Urdu speakers but whose own education has been through the medium of English, and who are likely to be considerably more fluent in English than in Urdu. I am very pleased to know that many of them regret that they have learnt less about Ghalib's poetry than about Wordsworth's, and would like to do something to change this situation. In India, many others who are not Urdu speakers have heard Urdu poetry recited or sung, and know that it has a rich literature. They look upon it as part of their wider South Asian heritage and would like to know more about it. In Britain, Canada, the USA and elsewhere where people from Urdu-speaking backgrounds have settled, many of their children and grandchildren have not had the chance to become confident speakers and readers of the language of their family and community. A growing number of them now feel a strong desire to learn more about the wealth of their literary heritage, and they have no choice but to do this through the medium of English.

Beloved Delhi About the Book Urdu poetry rules the cultural and emotional landscape of India-especially northern India and much of the Deccan-and of Pakistan. And it was in the great, ancient city of Delhi that Urdu grew to become one of the world's most beautiful and supple languages. Through the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, while the Mughal Empire was in spectacular decline, Delhi became the capital of a parallel kingdom-the kingdom of Urdu poetry-producing some of the greatest, most popular poets of all time. They wrote about the pleasure and pain of love, about the splendour of God and the villainy of preachers, about the seductions of wine, and about Delhi, their beloved home. This treasure of a book documents the life and work of the finest classical Urdu poets: Sauda, Dard, Mir, Ghalib, Momin, Zafar, Zauq and Daagh. Through their biographies and poetry-including their best-known ghazals-it also paints a compelling portrait of Mughal Delhi. This is a book for anyone who has ever been touched by Urdu or Delhi, by poetry or romance.

About the Author Saif Mahmood is an author, poetry and literature critic, commentator, translator, rights activist and Advocate of the Supreme Court of India. Founder of the South Asian Alliance for Literature, Art & Culture (SAALARC), Saif has won particular acclaim for his passionate recitations of Urdu poetry, especially of such progressive and contemporary poets as Faiz, Majaz, Sahir and Jaun Elia. His writings on literature and law and his English translations of Urdu prose and verse have appeared in several prestigious Indian and international publications.

Foreword POLITICS AND POETRY ARE SAID TO BE INTERWOVEN, EVEN IF they aren't equivalent. In the Delhi of the nineteenth century, everybody-from the king down to the impoverished vagrant singing in the koocha and bazaar-was smitten with poetry. Before 1857, before the long twilight of the Mughals had turned to dark night, poets had dominated the city's cultural and intellectual landscape; they were held in greater esteem than the later emperors, whose 'rule' extended no further than the shabby grandeur of the Qila-e-Moalla, or the Exalted Fort, as the Red Fort was then called. After 1857, the political climate became far too volatile for poets to write of Delhi with the old flair and confidence. They could, at best, defend or decry-depending upon their lot after the cataclysmic events of the Great Revolt-the causes and effects of the annus horribilis that was to change their city and their lives irrevocably. And this they did in prodigious amounts of poetry written in Urdu during and after 1857. Even prior to 1857, there existed a body of poetry known as shehr-ashob, literally meaning 'misfortunes of the city', to express political and social decline and turmoil. The first proper shehr-ashob is said to have been written by Mir Jafar Zatalli, one of Urdu's most incendiary poets, who is believed to have lived between 1658 and 1713. The shehr-ashob of Zatalli's period had elements of satire and humour and flashes of political insight; Zatalli himself was unsparing in his criticism of all authority, including the emperor, for which he was sentenced to death by Farukkhsiyar.