Poems by Indian Women is a volume of poetry edited by Margaret Macnicol, published in 1923, containing 110 selections written by 56 women in 14 languages.

The case of Urdu poet Sheikh Rangrezin (1703), has a very interesting couplet which carries an anecdote with it. Rangrezin, as one might guess, means a woman who dyes clothes. &nbsp;The story goes that a Brahmin poet known as Alam sent her his turban to be dyed and by mistake left in the folds a slip of paper on which he had written half a verse of poetry:&nbsp; 
&nbsp;&ldquo;Why has the waist of a woman, like a gold stick, become thin?&rdquo;

The woman poet Rangrezin sent the reply, tucked in the folds of the turban :

&ldquo;Having taken away the gold of the waist, the Creator has put it on the bosom.&rdquo; &nbsp;&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Mahlaqa Bai Chanda (1767-1824)

She was the first sahib-e diwan, (a poet having a volume of poetry as an existing document) woman poet.&nbsp;She was a courtesan by profession in the Asif Jahi Sultanate of Aurangabad. Her poems, compiled as Gulzar-e Mahlaqa are of reasonably good quality in a world dominated largely by men. A patron of the arts, she gave away large sums of money and endowed several shrines. When she died, her enormous wealth was distributed among homeless women. She knew horse riding, as she is shown riding an elephant on a hunt with a cart with a tiger on it accompanying her elephant. Chanda&rsquo;s contemporary in the North, (1759-1806) was Shah Alam II&rsquo;s daughter, Hayat un Nisa Begum. I present here two of Chanda&rsquo;s couplets in translation: 
Hoping to blossom (one day) into a flower 
Every bud sits, holding its soul in its fist. 
How can Chanda be dry lipped O saqi of the heavenly wine? 
She has drained the cup of thy love.

Gul Badan Begum (1523-1603)

The learning and sophistication of women in the Mughal royal families are common knowledge. There were scholars, poets, stateswomen and architects among them. Daughter of Babur, sister to Humayun and Askari, Humayun&rsquo;s wife Hameeda comes alive as they might in a modern psychological novel. When she died (at 80) Akbar himself helped carry the bier.However, with the increasing impact of the colonial masters, our literary and social cultures grew weak. A major disruption was caused in the literary imagination, and, consequently, in the manner we viewed ourselves. With the decline of the classical culture, the culture (or system) of economically independent and highly educated and refined courtesans also fell into disrepute and decay, and poetry itself became a bad word for women, as the definition of decent and upper-class women did not include a knowledge of the affairs of the heart, soul or the body. &nbsp;

It took very long for women to again come to the fore in the world of Urdu poetry and we don&rsquo;t see anything worth notice before the nineteen forties. Urdu woman poets, however, have been present ever since then, prominent among them being Parween Shakir, Darab Bano Wafa, Ada Jafri, Kishwar Naheed, Fahmida Reyaz, Sajida Zaidi, Zehra Nigah, Azra Abbas, Bilqees Zafirul Hasan, Shafiq Fatima Shera, Zahida Zaidi and many more names. Some of the above-mentioned names are no more, while some are living.

 
As can be expected, there being no immediate predecessors for them to take a cue from, the road taken by the women poets was fraught with difficulties. Different methods and techniques were tried out by different voices and we can&rsquo;t really say that a women&rsquo;s &lsquo;movement&rsquo; in poetry was launched. While one may acknowledge that women&rsquo;s poetry is recognised by its tone of protest or complaint, &nbsp;confessional and existential poems of the first order as well as ghazals have also been written prolifically by them.&nbsp;

I wrap up this piece on women poets in Urdu by citing some poems along with their translations into English. This is mainly to show the reader a glimpse of the tone and tenor of women&rsquo;s poetry in Urdu and also to illustrate the variety of subject matter.

Bilqees Zafirul Hasan 
Har dil azeez who bhi hai hum bhi hain khush mizaaj 
Ab kya batayen kaise hamari nahi bani 
He&rsquo;s also well liked, I too am of the amiable sort 
How can I explain the disharmony between us? 
Bano Darab Wafa 
Kabhi Gokul kabhi Radha kabhi Mohun ban ke 
Main khayalon mein bhatakti rahi jogan ban ke

(Putting on the guise of a child cowherd or of Radha or of Krishna himself 
I wandered in my thoughts like a woman saint-mendicant) 
&nbsp;

Parveenn Shakir 
Ab bhala chhod ke ghar kya karte 
Shaam ke waqt safar kya karte 
(What was the fun of abandoning home now 
What was the fun of the journey at evening time?)

Main tera naam leke tazabzub mein pad gayi 
Sab log apne apne azizon ko ro liye 
(I found myself confused and puzzled even as I mentioned your name 
While everyone else mourned their near and dear ones)

Shafiq Fatma Shera 
Rut Mala* 
Neele bhure parbat tujh par 
Barkha mausam mausam barsi 
Tujhko baha nahi payi 
Aandhi takrayi par uda nahi payi 
Dhoopen pighlane ko badhin 
Tab badli chhatar bani 
Tab shail shaam ayi 
Neele bhure parbat 
Hum tab bhi azad the 
Hum ab bhi azad rahein dil shaad rahein 
Paabandi agar ho toh ek ada ho 
Apni hi manmaani ada 
Hati ziddi sadaa rahein&hellip;.

*this is a small part of a longer poem by the name of Rut Mala

(The rain rained through many seasons 
On you, o blue-brown mountain 
Could not flow you down. 
The storm struck you, 
Could not pluck you off 
The sunshines advanced to melt you, 
The clouds came and sheltered you then 
And the cool evening descended. 
O blue-brown mountain, 
We were free then 
Let us remain free even today, and happy 
Let any restriction there is, be just an eye- catching novelty 
Our own heart&rsquo;s contrivance 
Always stubborn, always headstrong)

(All translations are done by the author)

&nbsp;

(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)&nbsp;

The road taken by the women poets was fraught with difficulties. With the increasing impact of the colonial masters, the Urdu literary and social cultures grew weak.

Poems by Indian Women is a volume of poetry edited by Margaret Macnicol, published in 1923, containing 110 selections written by 56 women in 14 languages. The case of Urdu poet Sheikh Rangrezin (1703), has a very interesting couplet which carries an anecdote with it. Rangrezin, as one might guess, means a woman who dyes clothes. The story goes that a Brahmin poet known as Alam sent her his turban to be dyed and by mistake left in the folds a slip of paper on which he had written half a verse of poetry: “Why has the waist of a woman, like a gold stick, become thin?” The woman poet Rangrezin sent the reply, tucked in the folds of the turban : “Having taken away the gold of the waist, the Creator has put it on the bosom.” Mahlaqa Bai Chanda (1767-1824) She was the first sahib-e diwan, (a poet having a volume of poetry as an existing document) woman poet. She was a courtesan by profession in the Asif Jahi Sultanate of Aurangabad. Her poems, compiled as Gulzar-e Mahlaqa are of reasonably good quality in a world dominated largely by men. A patron of the arts, she gave away large sums of money and endowed several shrines. When she died, her enormous wealth was distributed among homeless women. She knew horse riding, as she is shown riding an elephant on a hunt with a cart with a tiger on it accompanying her elephant. Chanda’s contemporary in the North, (1759-1806) was Shah Alam II’s daughter, Hayat un Nisa Begum. I present here two of Chanda’s couplets in translation: Hoping to blossom (one day) into a flower Every bud sits, holding its soul in its fist. How can Chanda be dry lipped O saqi of the heavenly wine? She has drained the cup of thy love. Gul Badan Begum (1523-1603) The learning and sophistication of women in the Mughal royal families are common knowledge. There were scholars, poets, stateswomen and architects among them. Daughter of Babur, sister to Humayun and Askari, Humayun’s wife Hameeda comes alive as they might in a modern psychological novel. When she died (at 80) Akbar himself helped carry the bier.However, with the increasing impact of the colonial masters, our literary and social cultures grew weak. A major disruption was caused in the literary imagination, and, consequently, in the manner we viewed ourselves. With the decline of the classical culture, the culture (or system) of economically independent and highly educated and refined courtesans also fell into disrepute and decay, and poetry itself became a bad word for women, as the definition of decent and upper-class women did not include a knowledge of the affairs of the heart, soul or the body. It took very long for women to again come to the fore in the world of Urdu poetry and we don’t see anything worth notice before the nineteen forties. Urdu woman poets, however, have been present ever since then, prominent among them being Parween Shakir, Darab Bano Wafa, Ada Jafri, Kishwar Naheed, Fahmida Reyaz, Sajida Zaidi, Zehra Nigah, Azra Abbas, Bilqees Zafirul Hasan, Shafiq Fatima Shera, Zahida Zaidi and many more names. Some of the above-mentioned names are no more, while some are living. As can be expected, there being no immediate predecessors for them to take a cue from, the road taken by the women poets was fraught with difficulties. Different methods and techniques were tried out by different voices and we can’t really say that a women’s ‘movement’ in poetry was launched. While one may acknowledge that women’s poetry is recognised by its tone of protest or complaint, confessional and existential poems of the first order as well as ghazals have also been written prolifically by them. I wrap up this piece on women poets in Urdu by citing some poems along with their translations into English. This is mainly to show the reader a glimpse of the tone and tenor of women’s poetry in Urdu and also to illustrate the variety of subject matter. Bilqees Zafirul Hasan Har dil azeez who bhi hai hum bhi hain khush mizaaj Ab kya batayen kaise hamari nahi bani He’s also well liked, I too am of the amiable sort How can I explain the disharmony between us? Bano Darab Wafa Kabhi Gokul kabhi Radha kabhi Mohun ban ke Main khayalon mein bhatakti rahi jogan ban ke (Putting on the guise of a child cowherd or of Radha or of Krishna himself I wandered in my thoughts like a woman saint-mendicant) Parveenn Shakir Ab bhala chhod ke ghar kya karte Shaam ke waqt safar kya karte (What was the fun of abandoning home now What was the fun of the journey at evening time?) Main tera naam leke tazabzub mein pad gayi Sab log apne apne azizon ko ro liye (I found myself confused and puzzled even as I mentioned your name While everyone else mourned their near and dear ones) Shafiq Fatma Shera Rut Mala* Neele bhure parbat tujh par Barkha mausam mausam barsi Tujhko baha nahi payi Aandhi takrayi par uda nahi payi Dhoopen pighlane ko badhin Tab badli chhatar bani Tab shail shaam ayi Neele bhure parbat Hum tab bhi azad the Hum ab bhi azad rahein dil shaad rahein Paabandi agar ho toh ek ada ho Apni hi manmaani ada Hati ziddi sadaa rahein…. *this is a small part of a longer poem by the name of Rut Mala (The rain rained through many seasons On you, o blue-brown mountain Could not flow you down. The storm struck you, Could not pluck you off The sunshines advanced to melt you, The clouds came and sheltered you then And the cool evening descended. O blue-brown mountain, We were free then Let us remain free even today, and happy Let any restriction there is, be just an eye- catching novelty Our own heart’s contrivance Always stubborn, always headstrong) (All translations are done by the author) (Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)

Opinion: Embracing Urdu women poets

Literature and society: do the two terms, clubbed together, seem to suit each other or are they incongruous as a pair?&nbsp;

While literature, as we all know, is a discipline which pertains to the written word, society is the name given to the structure which human beings create as a result of their mode of interactive living. What have the two got to do with each other? Are the two interdependent or can they exist independently of each other? Or, can we study either literature or society without making any reference to the other? That is to say, can we know a society without having knowledge of its literature or can we make an effective study of literature without finding out about the society in which it emerged?

As we will see shortly, there could be many ways of approaching the subject. Let us examine the traditional way of looking at literature first. According to this view, literature is a social activity and a product of the society. Since society gives rise to literature, therefore, literature should be one of the following things: (a) It should reflect society. (b) It should depict moral and ameliorative themes and, thus, serve society in a useful way. (c) It should consider itself answerable to society and, therefore, should not contain anything adverse or inimical to society. In other words, literature should be a useful activity, and an activity which in some way makes literature and society interdependent on each other.&nbsp;

Those who hold the above-stated view are obviously in some way followers of Plato, who did not want poetry to be allowed in the ideal Republic except in so far as it promoted positive thinking and discouraged negative thinking.&nbsp;

Plato&rsquo;s concept of the ideal world prompted him to declare that a poet or an artist&rsquo;s creation is &lsquo;twice removed&rsquo; from reality. He believed that the world we live in is a shadow that is, a copy of a world which exists in an ideal state. Our world, therefore, is itself a picture in which copies are made by skilled persons like carpenters, masons, tailors weavers etc. of the ideal table, chair, building or dress.&nbsp;

The poet, in turn, makes copies of the copies made by the carpenter or mason or nature itself. The artist, therefore, is a painter of untruth, as he is twice removed from reality. It was basically this theory which led to the apologetic view in the art (literature). As a result, we see serious efforts being made on the part of Western literary writers to provide justifications for the existence of literature. What else could a race threatened with banishment from the &lsquo;ideal republic&rsquo; do? One could think of a good number of people down the ages who have defended literature on grounds of its moral utility for society. They have argued that literature holds a mirror up to society and constantly suggests morally enhancing ideas.&nbsp;

Almost as soon as this view is formulated, it is in danger of developing pitfalls. For, if literature is to reflect society, how can it possibly be morally uplifting? There are innumerable incidents of injustice and virtue going unrewarded in this world. A morally enhancing literature cannot be a true reflection of society, to whichever age the society may belong.&nbsp;

Moreover, a prominent difficulty in the traditional approach is that all the components of the proposition &ldquo;literature should be a useful activity for the society and should promote positive thinking and discourage negative thinking&rdquo; are impossible to define in a logically coherent or useful manner. This is simply because what is useful for one person may be considered harmful to another. What is positive for one person may well turn out to be negative for another.&nbsp;

Thus, ultimately, literature becomes a tool in the hand of the ruling class or the rule makers. Briefly, the problem is that there cannot be absolute standards to determine good, bad, positive, negative, moral immoral and so on. Only those whose interests are suited by literature can view literature as a socially useful activity and it generally happens that the ideology in power gets such literature produced as portrays a certain view as the truth.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)&nbsp;

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

<hr />

Only those whose interests are suited by literature can view literature as a socially useful activity

Literature and society: do the two terms, clubbed together, seem to suit each other or are they incongruous as a pair? While literature, as we all know, is a discipline which pertains to the written word, society is the name given to the structure which human beings create as a result of their mode of interactive living. What have the two got to do with each other? Are the two interdependent or can they exist independently of each other? Or, can we study either literature or society without making any reference to the other? That is to say, can we know a society without having knowledge of its literature or can we make an effective study of literature without finding out about the society in which it emerged? As we will see shortly, there could be many ways of approaching the subject. Let us examine the traditional way of looking at literature first. According to this view, literature is a social activity and a product of the society. Since society gives rise to literature, therefore, literature should be one of the following things: (a) It should reflect society. (b) It should depict moral and ameliorative themes and, thus, serve society in a useful way. (c) It should consider itself answerable to society and, therefore, should not contain anything adverse or inimical to society. In other words, literature should be a useful activity, and an activity which in some way makes literature and society interdependent on each other. Those who hold the above-stated view are obviously in some way followers of Plato, who did not want poetry to be allowed in the ideal Republic except in so far as it promoted positive thinking and discouraged negative thinking. Plato’s concept of the ideal world prompted him to declare that a poet or an artist’s creation is ‘twice removed’ from reality. He believed that the world we live in is a shadow that is, a copy of a world which exists in an ideal state. Our world, therefore, is itself a picture in which copies are made by skilled persons like carpenters, masons, tailors weavers etc. of the ideal table, chair, building or dress. The poet, in turn, makes copies of the copies made by the carpenter or mason or nature itself. The artist, therefore, is a painter of untruth, as he is twice removed from reality. It was basically this theory which led to the apologetic view in the art (literature). As a result, we see serious efforts being made on the part of Western literary writers to provide justifications for the existence of literature. What else could a race threatened with banishment from the ‘ideal republic’ do? One could think of a good number of people down the ages who have defended literature on grounds of its moral utility for society. They have argued that literature holds a mirror up to society and constantly suggests morally enhancing ideas. Almost as soon as this view is formulated, it is in danger of developing pitfalls. For, if literature is to reflect society, how can it possibly be morally uplifting? There are innumerable incidents of injustice and virtue going unrewarded in this world. A morally enhancing literature cannot be a true reflection of society, to whichever age the society may belong. Moreover, a prominent difficulty in the traditional approach is that all the components of the proposition “literature should be a useful activity for the society and should promote positive thinking and discourage negative thinking” are impossible to define in a logically coherent or useful manner. This is simply because what is useful for one person may be considered harmful to another. What is positive for one person may well turn out to be negative for another. Thus, ultimately, literature becomes a tool in the hand of the ruling class or the rule makers. Briefly, the problem is that there cannot be absolute standards to determine good, bad, positive, negative, moral immoral and so on. Only those whose interests are suited by literature can view literature as a socially useful activity and it generally happens that the ideology in power gets such literature produced as portrays a certain view as the truth. (Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)

Opinion: Does literature serve any useful purpose?

Sir Muhammad Iqbal - Tere sheeshe mein ma&rsquo;i baaqi nahi hai, bataa kya tu mera saaqi nahi hai (Your wine-glass contains the life-giving wine no more. Tell me, are you not my sustainer?)&nbsp;

Ammi, apa, bitiya, bibi, ninni bibi, chanda-mama, babua, adaab.

Well, these are some of the first words that begin to echo when I enter the word &ldquo;mother tongue&rdquo; on the computer of my mind. A sweet, rosy scent wafts into my mind with some tenderness, some do&rsquo;s and don&rsquo;ts gently mixed with it. A sweet and melodious language indeed is my mother tongue &ndash; Urdu. Some of the words remain, hanging in there, but some are lost, or at least their meanings and resonances are lost to a fast-moving, polarised and unthinking, self-obsessed world. Those, that hang in there, do much to groom our personalities, perhaps even instill some poetry, along with style and elegance into us. But that does not go to say that you can&rsquo;t swear or abuse or crack vulgar jokes in Urdu. In fact, they lace the humour or the candidness of such exchanges with a sarcasm which could not otherwise be achieved in a short-cut type, unthoughtful or crude language.&nbsp;

Now, &ldquo;bitiya&rdquo; is a typical word for a girl, and can be used for both a little, as well as a grown-up girl, and must be familiar to the reader. But &ldquo;bibi&rdquo; is a word which is almost always confused with &ldquo;biwi&rdquo; now and I bite my nails anxiously when my father reciprocates my friends&rsquo; salaams or namaste with a &ldquo;khush raho bibi&rdquo; (meaning stay well and happy young lady), hoping that she understands that he is calling her &ldquo;bibi&rdquo; which means a decent or fair lady or young woman and so on. How can he not use the word &ldquo;bibi&rdquo; if he wants to retain the flavour of the speech he uses to attend young ladies? He can&rsquo;t possibly abandon its use just because it gets distorted or misunderstood.&nbsp;

I suppose that is the way to fight the battle against misreading or distortion of many of the words of Urdu language. You should just continue to use them, not with any vindictive agenda, but because you like to believe that correct usage will provide the healing touch to a beleaguered language.

Why do I call my mother tongue beleaguered? In a world of text messages and Instagram, any language may find itself beleaguered when it comes to short forms or acronyms, but the internet and the cell phone has added to the usage of words too. The world is yapping in Urdu too. There are words everywhere, playing hide and seek with language.&nbsp;

So what does Urdu suffer from? What are the challenges it faces today? &nbsp;&nbsp;

With the declaration of Hindi (which could be called a Sanskritised form of Urdu in the Nagri script) as the national language of India at the time of independence, the notion that Urdu could no longer provide jobs caught on very quickly and wrongly. As a result, there were no worthy takers of the language in the university departments. Same was the case with the Persian departments in Indian universities. Very soon, we began producing mediocre or even poor quality Urdu teachers who were themselves slightly embarrassed at having studied Urdu because the syllabi in the universities also suggested to some extent that Urdu was an outdated language whose days of glory were over. The moment of victory was already lost. These mediocre teachers produced even more mediocre Urdu intellectuals which in turn impoverished the Urdu scene.&nbsp;

So, while the Indian nation was never really averse to Urdu, the mentor, keepers, and the Urdu minds had started becoming sterile and polluted, almost as if, ashamed of their legacy of Urdu since they couldn&rsquo;t see beyond their noses.&nbsp;

Today, we have a huge dearth of good teachers and thinkers in Urdu. Indians, and prominently Hindus, want to learn the language, savour it, enjoy it, but they don&rsquo;t know where to go. This is a challenge that all, who love their mother tongue Urdu, have to rise to. By assigning Urdu language learning to the madrasas and not teaching it to our own children, we have handed Urdu to the poorest among the Muslims. More than 90% of those children go to madrasas who can afford no better education. This also leads to linking Urdu with religion, and alif for Allah, instead of maybe alif for amrud became a done thing.&nbsp;

My mother tongue tastes like the sweet spring of my mother&rsquo;s milk as she would lull me to sleep at her breast, melodiously singing &ldquo;ninni bi ninni bi aya karo, angan mein dhol bajaya karo&rdquo; (sweet-sounding lady of sleep, come to my courtyard, come and play the drums of sleep sic). You must have guessed by now that &ldquo;bi&rdquo; is a shortened and loving version of &ldquo;bibi&rdquo;.&nbsp;

This brings me to the question of corruption of language which has become a burning issue, particularly with Urdu. As an official kind of crude and unsympathetic, Hindi blares at us from the television sets and government files and other official sites. It seeps into Urdu, distorting better versions of the language existing there, ruining its elan, its mellifluousness.&nbsp;

I can give you umpteen examples &ndash; Sher jaag utha, instead of sher jaag gaya. Chai lijiye, instead of chai pijiye or chai nosh farmaiye, hum Benares se hain, instaed of hum Benares ke hain.

This has echoes of English, which probably got unwittingly translated into Hindi by the Hindi speakers and was then picked up by the Urdu speakers. Also, let us not import words from another language when we already have some in our own language. This runs the risk of bringing the original word into disuse someday in the future. A random list would go like this &ndash; towel, specs, table, kitchen, shoes, book, air, and the list goes on.&nbsp;

By the way, do you know the originals? &nbsp;

(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)

With the pervasion of Hindi and English words, Urdu seems to have lost its originality, purity and thus the importance.

Sir Muhammad Iqbal - Tere sheeshe mein ma’i baaqi nahi hai, bataa kya tu mera saaqi nahi hai (Your wine-glass contains the life-giving wine no more. Tell me, are you not my sustainer?) Ammi, apa, bitiya, bibi, ninni bibi, chanda-mama, babua, adaab. Well, these are some of the first words that begin to echo when I enter the word “mother tongue” on the computer of my mind. A sweet, rosy scent wafts into my mind with some tenderness, some do’s and don’ts gently mixed with it. A sweet and melodious language indeed is my mother tongue – Urdu. Some of the words remain, hanging in there, but some are lost, or at least their meanings and resonances are lost to a fast-moving, polarised and unthinking, self-obsessed world. Those, that hang in there, do much to groom our personalities, perhaps even instill some poetry, along with style and elegance into us. But that does not go to say that you can’t swear or abuse or crack vulgar jokes in Urdu. In fact, they lace the humour or the candidness of such exchanges with a sarcasm which could not otherwise be achieved in a short-cut type, unthoughtful or crude language. Now, “bitiya” is a typical word for a girl, and can be used for both a little, as well as a grown-up girl, and must be familiar to the reader. But “bibi” is a word which is almost always confused with “biwi” now and I bite my nails anxiously when my father reciprocates my friends’ salaams or namaste with a “khush raho bibi” (meaning stay well and happy young lady), hoping that she understands that he is calling her “bibi” which means a decent or fair lady or young woman and so on. How can he not use the word “bibi” if he wants to retain the flavour of the speech he uses to attend young ladies? He can’t possibly abandon its use just because it gets distorted or misunderstood. I suppose that is the way to fight the battle against misreading or distortion of many of the words of Urdu language. You should just continue to use them, not with any vindictive agenda, but because you like to believe that correct usage will provide the healing touch to a beleaguered language. Why do I call my mother tongue beleaguered? In a world of text messages and Instagram, any language may find itself beleaguered when it comes to short forms or acronyms, but the internet and the cell phone has added to the usage of words too. The world is yapping in Urdu too. There are words everywhere, playing hide and seek with language. So what does Urdu suffer from? What are the challenges it faces today? With the declaration of Hindi (which could be called a Sanskritised form of Urdu in the Nagri script) as the national language of India at the time of independence, the notion that Urdu could no longer provide jobs caught on very quickly and wrongly. As a result, there were no worthy takers of the language in the university departments. Same was the case with the Persian departments in Indian universities. Very soon, we began producing mediocre or even poor quality Urdu teachers who were themselves slightly embarrassed at having studied Urdu because the syllabi in the universities also suggested to some extent that Urdu was an outdated language whose days of glory were over. The moment of victory was already lost. These mediocre teachers produced even more mediocre Urdu intellectuals which in turn impoverished the Urdu scene. So, while the Indian nation was never really averse to Urdu, the mentor, keepers, and the Urdu minds had started becoming sterile and polluted, almost as if, ashamed of their legacy of Urdu since they couldn’t see beyond their noses. Today, we have a huge dearth of good teachers and thinkers in Urdu. Indians, and prominently Hindus, want to learn the language, savour it, enjoy it, but they don’t know where to go. This is a challenge that all, who love their mother tongue Urdu, have to rise to. By assigning Urdu language learning to the madrasas and not teaching it to our own children, we have handed Urdu to the poorest among the Muslims. More than 90% of those children go to madrasas who can afford no better education. This also leads to linking Urdu with religion, and alif for Allah, instead of maybe alif for amrud became a done thing. My mother tongue tastes like the sweet spring of my mother’s milk as she would lull me to sleep at her breast, melodiously singing “ninni bi ninni bi aya karo, angan mein dhol bajaya karo” (sweet-sounding lady of sleep, come to my courtyard, come and play the drums of sleep sic). You must have guessed by now that “bi” is a shortened and loving version of “bibi”. This brings me to the question of corruption of language which has become a burning issue, particularly with Urdu. As an official kind of crude and unsympathetic, Hindi blares at us from the television sets and government files and other official sites. It seeps into Urdu, distorting better versions of the language existing there, ruining its elan, its mellifluousness. I can give you umpteen examples – Sher jaag utha, instead of sher jaag gaya. Chai lijiye, instead of chai pijiye or chai nosh farmaiye, hum Benares se hain, instaed of hum Benares ke hain. This has echoes of English, which probably got unwittingly translated into Hindi by the Hindi speakers and was then picked up by the Urdu speakers. Also, let us not import words from another language when we already have some in our own language. This runs the risk of bringing the original word into disuse someday in the future. A random list would go like this – towel, specs, table, kitchen, shoes, book, air, and the list goes on. By the way, do you know the originals? (Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)

Opinion: Is Urdu language dying because of Hindi infiltration?

The issue of Uniform Civil Code for Indians is something that doesn&rsquo;t make sense to me at all. I can say this on many counts, but the most important one among them is the fact that this idea goes against the fundamental spirit of the Indian Constitution. Our Constitution negates the principle of &lsquo;one constitution, one personal law&rsquo; and allows for people of different communities and regional identities to maintain and preserve their culture and customs through the maintenance of their personal laws.&nbsp;

It is common knowledge that there are several communities, including those belonging to what is defined as &lsquo;Hindu&rsquo; as well as tribes in India who don&rsquo;t fall within the broad rubric of Hindu law. They are adjudicated according to their specific personal laws. This is good for cultural diversity and the principle of pluralism of which India has always had reason to be proud of. Such a practice ensures the richness of our cultural fabric and prevents the mainstream or influential communities from gobbling up the identities of the less numerable or marginalised communities. India glows with the pride of special rights and privileges given to diverse communities. The non-application of Uniform Civil Code is a victory for plurality.

It, therefore, makes no sense to expect the Muslim community to be brought under the Uniform Civil Code under the pretext of reforming some of the gender-biased practices of a community. This would amount to interfering with a well-developed system of jurisprudence with its own set of highly nuanced checks and balances. Besides, such a step would lead to further insecurity in the Muslim community in their own country as this has been the long-standing agenda of the saffron parties, which have never seen any good in the Muslims of India.&nbsp;

The important thing that needs to be said about unjust and unfair practices in Muslim society is that any reform in the interest of gender parity and women&rsquo;s empowerment should come from within the community. The Prophet of Islam PBUH had given the community the authority to amend and reform laws in the interest of social justice and humanitarian values.&nbsp;

The community has complete authority to draw and execute its own laws; it can also petition the government of the day to acknowledge the changes the community members themselves can make or would like to make in their personal laws. This is apparent in the amendments made in respect of the rules of nikah and divorce that were carried out by many Islamic countries or in such countries where Muslims are in the majority. If such countries can carry out amendments, what prevents Muslims in India from doing the same?&nbsp;

I would take this opportunity to plead with the power banks of Muslim clerics in India to shed their insecurities of identity as well as selfish desires to rule over women. They should come forward with their own moderations of the system, which, in any case, is full of variations and inconsistencies. It also needs to be recognised that our social systems in all parts over the world are anti-woman and there is an urgent need to bring about a change of perspective without arbitrary enforcement of unwanted laws.&nbsp;

The very fact that triple talaq or pronouncing talaq in one go of three utterances without any witness has been rejected by the majority of predominantly Muslim countries is itself proof enough that this is NOT a sacrosanct custom and can be done away with by consensus. The Holy Prophet PBUH declared, &#39;if something is flawed or wrong, my community will always be in disagreement over it&#39;.&nbsp;

Talking of the social system and the Muslims, an important aspect that is often overlooked is that the Muslim marriage gives a woman the right to say yes or no in marriage. Such a right is NOT given to men. They just cannot force a woman to marry them against her will. The woman also has the right to annul her marriage without giving any particular reason.&nbsp;

The right to say yes or no inevitably grants the boy and the girl the opportunity to get to know each other before they marry and explore the pros and cons of the marriage. This ensures and builds confidence and mobility in the female. This is a significant part of the Muslim Personal Law but why does it remain un-enforced? Obviously, the practice or implementation of laws or precepts requires more than passing Bills. It calls for exercises of security building and welfare, respect and positive intent of preservation, not annulment of identity.&nbsp;

I am completely against triple talaq or any other gender unfair practice in my community, but I would want the reform to come from within.&nbsp;

The non-application of Uniform Civil Code is a victory for plurality

The issue of Uniform Civil Code for Indians is something that doesn’t make sense to me at all. I can say this on many counts, but the most important one among them is the fact that this idea goes against the fundamental spirit of the Indian Constitution. Our Constitution negates the principle of ‘one constitution, one personal law’ and allows for people of different communities and regional identities to maintain and preserve their culture and customs through the maintenance of their personal laws. It is common knowledge that there are several communities, including those belonging to what is defined as ‘Hindu’ as well as tribes in India who don’t fall within the broad rubric of Hindu law. They are adjudicated according to their specific personal laws. This is good for cultural diversity and the principle of pluralism of which India has always had reason to be proud of. Such a practice ensures the richness of our cultural fabric and prevents the mainstream or influential communities from gobbling up the identities of the less numerable or marginalised communities. India glows with the pride of special rights and privileges given to diverse communities. The non-application of Uniform Civil Code is a victory for plurality. It, therefore, makes no sense to expect the Muslim community to be brought under the Uniform Civil Code under the pretext of reforming some of the gender-biased practices of a community. This would amount to interfering with a well-developed system of jurisprudence with its own set of highly nuanced checks and balances. Besides, such a step would lead to further insecurity in the Muslim community in their own country as this has been the long-standing agenda of the saffron parties, which have never seen any good in the Muslims of India. The important thing that needs to be said about unjust and unfair practices in Muslim society is that any reform in the interest of gender parity and women’s empowerment should come from within the community. The Prophet of Islam PBUH had given the community the authority to amend and reform laws in the interest of social justice and humanitarian values. The community has complete authority to draw and execute its own laws; it can also petition the government of the day to acknowledge the changes the community members themselves can make or would like to make in their personal laws. This is apparent in the amendments made in respect of the rules of nikah and divorce that were carried out by many Islamic countries or in such countries where Muslims are in the majority. If such countries can carry out amendments, what prevents Muslims in India from doing the same? I would take this opportunity to plead with the power banks of Muslim clerics in India to shed their insecurities of identity as well as selfish desires to rule over women. They should come forward with their own moderations of the system, which, in any case, is full of variations and inconsistencies. It also needs to be recognised that our social systems in all parts over the world are anti-woman and there is an urgent need to bring about a change of perspective without arbitrary enforcement of unwanted laws. The very fact that triple talaq or pronouncing talaq in one go of three utterances without any witness has been rejected by the majority of predominantly Muslim countries is itself proof enough that this is NOT a sacrosanct custom and can be done away with by consensus. The Holy Prophet PBUH declared, 'if something is flawed or wrong, my community will always be in disagreement over it'. Talking of the social system and the Muslims, an important aspect that is often overlooked is that the Muslim marriage gives a woman the right to say yes or no in marriage. Such a right is NOT given to men. They just cannot force a woman to marry them against her will. The woman also has the right to annul her marriage without giving any particular reason. The right to say yes or no inevitably grants the boy and the girl the opportunity to get to know each other before they marry and explore the pros and cons of the marriage. This ensures and builds confidence and mobility in the female. This is a significant part of the Muslim Personal Law but why does it remain un-enforced? Obviously, the practice or implementation of laws or precepts requires more than passing Bills. It calls for exercises of security building and welfare, respect and positive intent of preservation, not annulment of identity. I am completely against triple talaq or any other gender unfair practice in my community, but I would want the reform to come from within.

Triple talaq, Uniform Civil Code and the Indian Constitution

Author

Zee News Rajasthan

Editor

Baran Farooqi

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