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

The question of when Urdu originated, is a topic much debated by scholars but traces back to the introduction of Muslim interaction in South Asia. As they brought with them Persian, Arabic and Turkish expressions into the local Indian languages, a confluence of Sanskrit and Persian led to the growth of both Hindi and Urdu-- quite inseparable in an undivided India.

Reeling under an ambivalent &lsquo;Muslim Indian&rsquo; identity today, Urdu now finds home in popular culture like Ghazal, Qawwali and Mushaira.

Jashn-e-Rekhta 2017, one of the world&rsquo;s largest Urdu festivals recently concluded in India and I got in conversation with the founder of Rekhta Foundation and the force behind Jashn-e-Rekhta, Dr&nbsp;Sanjiv Saraf, as he welcomed Urdu lovers to celebrate the mystical language and its historic relevance in the Ganga-Yamuna region--India.

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He describes his love for Urdu as part of fond childhood memories, &ldquo;I grew up with my father listening to ghazals in the house. But owing to studies and an inclination towards business, I didn&#39;t have enough time to learn or focus on Urdu. However, business gave me limited creative satisfaction and I started getting driven towards Urdu literature and poetry and eventually fell in love with the language.&rdquo;

A successful businessman, Saraf took time and stepped back from business, to work towards his passion and focus his energy on learning Urdu.

This led him to discover that there wasn&rsquo;t much available for those who were interested in the language. He says, &ldquo;There wasn&#39;t enough content or resources available on the Internet and whatever existed was incomplete, non-credible and mostly in Urdu script. It struck me that there could be millions like me who love Urdu but do not have access to the content.&rdquo;

He adds, &ldquo;I then, felt the need to preserve, archive and digitise Urdu. In 2013, Rekhta Foundation was set up with the objective of promoting and disseminating Urdu literature, especially Urdu poetry to an audience beyond those conversant with the Urdu script.&rdquo;

<h3>See Pictures: <a href="http://www.wionews.com/photos/an-entry-into-jashn-e-rekhta-a-celebration-of-urdu-language-200">Jashn-e-Rekhta 2017</a>&nbsp;</h3>

&nbsp;

Birth of a language

As published in&nbsp;Handbook of Twentieth-Century Literatures of India, Omar Qureshi points that Urdu developed during the Delhi Sultanate in what is today&mdash;India and Pakistan&mdash;and flourished during the Mughal empire,&nbsp;especially in the military camp and marketplace in the environs of the Delhi Fort. The word &lsquo;Urdu&rsquo; is of Turkish origin and refers to a military camp.

Sharing an Indo-Aryan base, Hindi and Urdu became the conjoined twins of India. The language with majority of Sanskrit origin words, in Devnagiri script became Hindi, while the language with majority of Persian, Arabic and Turkish words in Indo-Persian script became Urdu.

Despite this divide, grammar and indigenous words remain common in both languages.

Saraf asserts Urdu&rsquo;s Indianness and says, &ldquo;Undivided India was the birthplace of Urdu and many kings and nobles patronized the rich Urdu poetic traditions. Urdu poetry plays a significant part of our cultural memory and has been successful in opening itself to both revolutionary as well as romantic emotions. The language has always managed to inspire millions with its charm and lyrical beauty.&rdquo;

Relevance of Urdu in India

Jashn-e-Rekhta 2017 brought together the best, to reflect on the timeless service of Urdu, in building of Indian art and culture. The poetic genius of multiple-award winners Gulzar and Javed Siddiqui were effective in transcending people to the world of dreams, Salman Akhtar elaborated upon the use of English vocabulary in Urdu poetry while Prof. Gopi Chand Narang talked about creative miracles of Amir Khusro and Urdu&rsquo;s significance for the mass literary sensibility.

Prasoon Joshi spoke about Urdu adding beauty to lyrics while eminent jurists appreciated&nbsp;the role that&nbsp;Urdu played in shaping judicial discourse in India.

Dr. Rizvanul Haque, in the book,&nbsp;History of Urdu Literature and Its Impact on Indian Culture Modern Period,&nbsp;writes that Urdu has been on the frontrunner in triggering patriotic emotions. During freedom struggle, the slogan &lsquo;Inquilab Zindabad&rsquo; (long live the revolution) was born out of Urdu, given by Hasrat Mohani.

In cinema, Urdu screenwriters wrote films and songs and the plot line was usually inspired by Urdu theatre and books.

Dedicating his life to Urdu, Saraf adds, &ldquo;Ghalib&rsquo;s poetry, even though is over a century old, is still quoted in our day-to-day lives.&rdquo;

Is there anything of more credence than the fact that till date, we recite nazms written centuries before by laureates of yesterday?

Reclaiming what is ours

Rizvanul also writes that Urdu suffered the highest after partition, even after being on the driver&rsquo;s seat during the Indian freedom movement. The language was looked at strangely, and it got surrounded with prejudices--a religious identity--rather than a geographical or cultural one.

Saraf on being questioned about dual identity, religion and love for Urdu, opens his heart out: &ldquo;I have never really been criticised, rather have received tremendous support in furthering my efforts with Rekhta. Urdu is perceived as a language belonging to a certain section of the country, and with Rekhta--our aim is to take it back to the masses. Even though I do not have an educational background in Urdu, people appreciate the work that the foundation does.&rdquo;

He adds, &ldquo;Based on the demographics on our website, we find that over 70 per cent of visitors are in the age bracket of 18-35 years and the number is growing. This combined with the profile and enthusiasm; sheer number of attendees at Jashn-e-Rekhta was a sure sign of the interest that Urdu as a language and as a medium generates. In our perception, there is a resurgence of Urdu, especially among what is commonly known as, non-Urdu wallahs.&rdquo;

He offers Rekhta as a one-stop solution for those who don&rsquo;t have an initial education in Urdu. He continues, &ldquo;Rekhta Foundation strives to preserve and promote the Urdu culture, the language and its various art-forms. A non-profit organisation, Rekhta operates a free online resource for Urdu poetry and literature, amassing a wide array of content from 13th&nbsp;century till present, in one place. It is available in Persian, Devnagari and Roman scripts.

&ldquo;The Foundation also drives a massive effort for the digitisation of Urdu books including popular magazines and rare literature alike. The objective of Rekhta is to highlight the secular character of Urdu and to promote and disseminate Urdu literature, to a global audience having roots in our sub-continent, particularly those not conversant with the script.&rdquo;

A lifelong romance

The annual Jashn-e-Rekhta festival sees over 100 distinguished writers, poets, artists, litterateurs, and acclaimed personalities.

At the festival, they also launched a website &lsquo;Aamozish&rsquo;-- a fresh way to learn Urdu, that enables you to learn better with modules designed to show how words are formed, audio cues for proper pronunciation, while also tracking the learning progress in real time.

Saraf is happy with his work and adds, &ldquo;I have dedicated my life to Rekhta.&rdquo; Currently, modern Urdu is the national language of Pakistan and is spoken by millions of people in India.

(WION)

You can check out more about Rekhta Foundation at&nbsp;<a href="http://www.rekhta.org/" id="LPlnk114388" previewremoved="true">www.rekhta.org</a>. It is a free online resource for Urdu lovers.

Sanjiv, who founded the Rekhta foundation in 2013, felt the need to preserve, archive and digitise Urdu to make it more accessible

The question of when Urdu originated, is a topic much debated by scholars but traces back to the introduction of Muslim interaction in South Asia. As they brought with them Persian, Arabic and Turkish expressions into the local Indian languages, a confluence of Sanskrit and Persian led to the growth of both Hindi and Urdu-- quite inseparable in an undivided India. Reeling under an ambivalent ‘Muslim Indian’ identity today, Urdu now finds home in popular culture like Ghazal, Qawwali and Mushaira. Jashn-e-Rekhta 2017, one of the world’s largest Urdu festivals recently concluded in India and I got in conversation with the founder of Rekhta Foundation and the force behind Jashn-e-Rekhta, Dr Sanjiv Saraf, as he welcomed Urdu lovers to celebrate the mystical language and its historic relevance in the Ganga-Yamuna region--India. The objective of Rekhta is to highlight the secular character of Urdu and to promote and disseminate Urdu literature, to a global audience having roots in our sub-continent, particularly those not conversant with the script × He describes his love for Urdu as part of fond childhood memories, “I grew up with my father listening to ghazals in the house. But owing to studies and an inclination towards business, I didn't have enough time to learn or focus on Urdu. However, business gave me limited creative satisfaction and I started getting driven towards Urdu literature and poetry and eventually fell in love with the language.” A successful businessman, Saraf took time and stepped back from business, to work towards his passion and focus his energy on learning Urdu. This led him to discover that there wasn’t much available for those who were interested in the language. He says, “There wasn't enough content or resources available on the Internet and whatever existed was incomplete, non-credible and mostly in Urdu script. It struck me that there could be millions like me who love Urdu but do not have access to the content.” He adds, “I then, felt the need to preserve, archive and digitise Urdu. In 2013, Rekhta Foundation was set up with the objective of promoting and disseminating Urdu literature, especially Urdu poetry to an audience beyond those conversant with the Urdu script.” See Pictures: Jashn-e-Rekhta 2017 Birth of a language As published in Handbook of Twentieth-Century Literatures of India, Omar Qureshi points that Urdu developed during the Delhi Sultanate in what is today—India and Pakistan—and flourished during the Mughal empire, especially in the military camp and marketplace in the environs of the Delhi Fort. The word ‘Urdu’ is of Turkish origin and refers to a military camp. Sharing an Indo-Aryan base, Hindi and Urdu became the conjoined twins of India. The language with majority of Sanskrit origin words, in Devnagiri script became Hindi, while the language with majority of Persian, Arabic and Turkish words in Indo-Persian script became Urdu. Despite this divide, grammar and indigenous words remain common in both languages. Saraf asserts Urdu’s Indianness and says, “Undivided India was the birthplace of Urdu and many kings and nobles patronized the rich Urdu poetic traditions. Urdu poetry plays a significant part of our cultural memory and has been successful in opening itself to both revolutionary as well as romantic emotions. The language has always managed to inspire millions with its charm and lyrical beauty.” Relevance of Urdu in India Jashn-e-Rekhta 2017 brought together the best, to reflect on the timeless service of Urdu, in building of Indian art and culture. The poetic genius of multiple-award winners Gulzar and Javed Siddiqui were effective in transcending people to the world of dreams, Salman Akhtar elaborated upon the use of English vocabulary in Urdu poetry while Prof. Gopi Chand Narang talked about creative miracles of Amir Khusro and Urdu’s significance for the mass literary sensibility. Prasoon Joshi spoke about Urdu adding beauty to lyrics while eminent jurists appreciated the role that Urdu played in shaping judicial discourse in India. Dr. Rizvanul Haque, in the book, History of Urdu Literature and Its Impact on Indian Culture Modern Period, writes that Urdu has been on the frontrunner in triggering patriotic emotions. During freedom struggle, the slogan ‘Inquilab Zindabad’ (long live the revolution) was born out of Urdu, given by Hasrat Mohani. In cinema, Urdu screenwriters wrote films and songs and the plot line was usually inspired by Urdu theatre and books. Dedicating his life to Urdu, Saraf adds, “Ghalib’s poetry, even though is over a century old, is still quoted in our day-to-day lives.” Is there anything of more credence than the fact that till date, we recite nazms written centuries before by laureates of yesterday? Reclaiming what is ours Rizvanul also writes that Urdu suffered the highest after partition, even after being on the driver’s seat during the Indian freedom movement. The language was looked at strangely, and it got surrounded with prejudices--a religious identity--rather than a geographical or cultural one. Saraf on being questioned about dual identity, religion and love for Urdu, opens his heart out: “I have never really been criticised, rather have received tremendous support in furthering my efforts with Rekhta. Urdu is perceived as a language belonging to a certain section of the country, and with Rekhta--our aim is to take it back to the masses. Even though I do not have an educational background in Urdu, people appreciate the work that the foundation does.” He adds, “Based on the demographics on our website, we find that over 70 per cent of visitors are in the age bracket of 18-35 years and the number is growing. This combined with the profile and enthusiasm; sheer number of attendees at Jashn-e-Rekhta was a sure sign of the interest that Urdu as a language and as a medium generates. In our perception, there is a resurgence of Urdu, especially among what is commonly known as, non-Urdu wallahs.” He offers Rekhta as a one-stop solution for those who don’t have an initial education in Urdu. He continues, “Rekhta Foundation strives to preserve and promote the Urdu culture, the language and its various art-forms. A non-profit organisation, Rekhta operates a free online resource for Urdu poetry and literature, amassing a wide array of content from 13th century till present, in one place. It is available in Persian, Devnagari and Roman scripts. “The Foundation also drives a massive effort for the digitisation of Urdu books including popular magazines and rare literature alike. The objective of Rekhta is to highlight the secular character of Urdu and to promote and disseminate Urdu literature, to a global audience having roots in our sub-continent, particularly those not conversant with the script.” A lifelong romance The annual Jashn-e-Rekhta festival sees over 100 distinguished writers, poets, artists, litterateurs, and acclaimed personalities. At the festival, they also launched a website ‘Aamozish’-- a fresh way to learn Urdu, that enables you to learn better with modules designed to show how words are formed, audio cues for proper pronunciation, while also tracking the learning progress in real time. Saraf is happy with his work and adds, “I have dedicated my life to Rekhta.” Currently, modern Urdu is the national language of Pakistan and is spoken by millions of people in India. (WION) You can check out more about Rekhta Foundation at www.rekhta.org. It is a free online resource for Urdu lovers.

Celebrating Urdu, the language of love and poetry: In conversation with Sanjiv Saraf

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Opinion: Embracing Urdu women poets

Celebrating Urdu, the language of love and poetry: In conversation with Sanjiv Saraf