Persian in India: Once language of court and administration, Farsi survives in the country in a unique way

 

Shams Ur Rehman Alavi

In mid-1980s, there used to be a column in children’s magazine, Paraag, where the editor replied to readers’ queries in detail, but also tried to bring a little humour.

I remember, once a boy had asked, ‘Uncle, why an intelligent person is called ‘aql-mand’ when ‘mand’ means slow in Hindi?. The editor, Kanhaiya Lal Nandan replied, ‘My dear son, it’s Farsi suffix ‘mand’ and by not realising it, you are proving yourself ‘aqal’-‘band’ [mind closed, shut].

The boy was curious, rightly so, because nobody tells that this is Persian, which was for centuries the language of courts and administration in India. In fact, there is so much Farsi in vocabulary in Indian languages that it is an intrinsic part of lingua franca but people don’t even realise it.

From words as small as ‘daar’ [keep, hold], or ‘khaana’ [house] or ‘mand’ [having], each forming hundreds of words — dukaandaar [shopkeeper], dawakhaana [dispensary or medical shop], ehsaanmand [indebted], it is so much present in our speech — even if a person is speaking Urdu, Bangla, Hindi or Marathi, that it is not even noticed.

In 1980s, when I was a young boy, I was expected to learn Farsi, in order to improve my Urdu. I wasn’t too interested but elders would always insist that without Farsi, you can never have good command over Urdu.

My mother felt that if I learnt a bit, I could be able to relate to ‘tough Urdu’ that was written in the past and also understand the poetry of Maulana Rom [Rumi], Urfi, Nazeeri and Hafiz, that her elders often quoted.

For me, the idea that one had to take out time in the summer holidays and spend time on yet another subject, was strange. After all, one barely got two months of summer holidays, and the thought that you have to spend an hour or two out every day from the schedule, was not delightful. Still, I had no choice.

Some of my uncles suggested that I should start with ‘aamad-nama’. However, one of my elder cousin brother, Ahmad Yahya bhai, gifted me Tasir-ul-Mubtadi.

But, when I started, it was the traditional way — rote learning, repeating the ‘sabaq’ in Gulzar-i-Dabsitaa.n that for centuries has been the standard basic text for beginners in the sub-continent.

Many of my friends and young friends in UP, Bihar or other states who had the option to study Persian as third language in certain schools, had ‘the first, second, third book of Persian for each class’.

However, I had to repeat terms ‘Aab-e-Zar’ — Soney Ka Paani, Aawaz-e-Dilkash — Dil ko kheenchne wali aawaaz, Peer-e-Kham-Kamar — Tirchhi kamar wala boodha, initially.

It was a system of training the mind, so that you directly learnt the language — entire sentences and could make out the meaning, without getting lost into the complex maze of tenses and the rules of grammar.

I must say that Hafiz Shah Taqi Anwer, the renowned scholar, gave me ample attention and taught well. In addition to reading and repeating, I had to write it on ‘takhti’ with the reed ‘qalam’.

This routine continued for a few years. Must be around 40–50 classes every year in the summer holidays when I visited Lucknow. Unfortunately, I couldn’t go past all the ‘hikaayaats’ [moral stories in prose form] in Gulzar-i-Dabistaa.n.

Today as I look back, I feel I should have an opportunity to study it in school as well. However, I got a basic understanding, which indeed helped me in Urdu. The Gulistaa.n and Bostaa.n were read more as a tradition, later on.

India has produced huge literature in Persian. Almost every library in old parts of a prominent Indian city or town has racks filled with Persian books. There is also so much religious literature in the form of classical texts.

And above all, the appeal of poets like Hafez and Rumi, that is unparalleled. Urdu ghazal is an extension of the tradition of Persian poetry. Mirza Ghalib was immensely proud of his Persian poetry. He wrote:

Farsi ba-ee.n ta-ba-beeni-naqsh-haai-rang rang
Baguzar az majmua-e-Urdu ke be-rang man-ast

He felt there was an immensely beautiful world in his Persian poetry, compared to his Urdu works that he found ‘colourless’. Unfortunately, he is loved and known more for his Urdu poetry that he didn’t take too seriously.

One of the greatest Persian poets, Bedil, is buried in Delhi and Sheikh Ali Hazee.n in Benares. Till just over a decade ago, veteran poets like Saraswati Saran Kaif in Bhopal and Qasim Niyazi were actively penning Farsi poetry.

In Bhopal, the city I grew up, there were many Persian scholars. It was once a princely state and Persian was the state language till 1858, until it was replaced by Urdu. Nawab Shahjahan Begum was an accomplished poet who has a collection of poetry in Persian too. 

Three hundred and fifty miles away, Lucknow too remains a major centre of Persian. Wali-ul-Haq Ansari continued to write poetry in Lucknow till the last decade. 

People learn the language in households or from elders. Besides, Persian is taught in madarsas and Darul Ulooms and there are Persian departments in umpteen Colleges and Universities. It is also taught in Islamic centres, Sufi darsgaahs and Khanqaahs. 

Lot of people learn it as it considered part of culture, along with Arabic and Urdu or those who appreciate the Farsi shaa’eri [poetry].One of the challenges faced in learning Persian is that we still learn classical Persian in India and there is a disconnect with modern Persian. 

There is need for better books and smarter ways. Especially, the use of audio-visual medium to teach so that students learn the correct pronunciation, because even otherwise there is a tendency to shun ‘eraab’ i.e. ‘zer-zabar-pesh’ [maatras] in printing Urdu, Persian books. 

READ: Once language of court and administration, Farsi survives in the country in a unique way

Sharib Kausar Kakorvi: Urdu poet who mastered calligraphy, composed chronograms and also wrote ghazals in Persian

Shams Ur Rehman Alavi

The ever-smiling poet Sharib Kausar Kakorvi's life was an inspiration for many of us.

A self-made person, he didn't let physical disability stop him in his passion--acquiring knowledge.

One can't forget the twinkle in his eyes when he would talk about writing a second 'qaseeda-e-lamia' or a 'hamd', composing a chronogram or ghazals in Farsi. His zeal to constantly learn and improve his skills, was unique.

Despite polio that had affected his legs, I never saw him sad or depressed for even a moment, though it affected his school education. But he learnt from books, mastered languages, taught innumerable children. Also, he achieved financial independence.

If there was no one to teach him a particular subject, he would delve deep in books or find a way to learn it. He learnt 'arooz' [prosody] from Iftikhar Ahmad Alavi, who lived in Delhi, and was a disciple of late Sahar Ashqabadi.

The hunger for learning, child like enthusiasm, the passion, it was inspiring for all of us. ٰٰٰI remember when he used to do composing work for publishers, doing 'kitaabat' i.e. writing with 'klik' pen on those yellow pages before advent of computer apart from teaching.

Alongside, he would teach kids--correct their Sheen, Qaaf, as well as looking at their handwriting. In later years, he would always have a certain aim. For a period, he would focus on Arabic, then he would feel that he needs to improve his English.

In recent years, he would ride his tricycle and often attended 'mushairas' too. In the town he was loved by all and sundry. When he would go out, people would gather, stop and won't let him go unless he recited a few verses or ghazals.

He has left several collections of poetry in Urdu. His recent collection of ghazals in Persian is yet to be published. It was remarkable that in recent years, he composed ghazals in Farsi, when very few poets in India are penning poetry in Persian.  

As far as chronogram is concerned, it is the art of composing couplets in such a way that it denotes a particular date--the addition of Urdu letters as per the 'Abjad' system, brings out the date or year of the event.

Poet Dr Makhmoor Kakorvi has paid this unique poetic tribute. On the right, the Qita-e-Tarikh* is mentioned.

All these things apart, the single biggest thing one could learn from Sharib Kausar's life was that if a person doesn't have a dedicated teacher or resources, has several constraints, but can still go against all odds and carve a niche for himself, if he has such a strong desire and determination to do so. 

Twitter users start #shameUPSC hashtag campaign to protest exclusion of Arabic, Persian from UPSC during Congress-led UPA regime

The momentum is building to protest Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) decision to remove the classical languages--Arabic, Persian and Pali, from the civil services.

There are tweets about the importance of these languages apart.

The Twitterati forwarded and Re-tweeted (RTd) these messages, causing a stir on the internet.

The hashtags #shameUPSC & #restoreArabicPersianPaliinUPSC were initiated to protest the mindless move on social networking website, Twitter.

Historical documents including papers during the 1857 revolution against British are mostly in Persian. Legendary freedom fighters like Tatya Tope's communication is also in the language. Persian was also official language of princely states ruled by Hindu Rajas and Muslim kings [Nawabs].

Also, there is huge amount of literature in Persian in India. Legendary Indian poets like Bedil and Ghalib wrote in Persian. India has kept Persian in its original form. Pali is one of the oldest languages in India. There are old texts and Buddhist literature in Pali. Arabic is taught across India.

There are madarsas and Darul-Ulooms apart from departments of these languages in dozens of universities in India. There are Arabic-Persian Universities in India like Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti University in Lucknow which has come up recently and the Mazharul Haq Arabic Persian University in Bihar.

There are scores of other institutions too. The 'esteemed members' of UPSC board perhaps have no idea about the huge number of texts, manuscripts and literature in India in these languages.

Perhaps, a situation will come when we will be dependent on foreigners to translate our own works, and we won't be able to decipher them on our own.

Do you know all words that end with 'daar' are of Persian origin? The example is dunkan-dar, kiraye-dar.
Thousands of words like 'gul' [flower], aqalmand [intellect], dilkash [beautiful], khat [letter], aab [water], dil [heart], kitab [book], naan [bread], have come to us from Persian.

The movement aims at telling people the importance of these languages. Isn't Latin taught in Europe even today? Should we sever links to our past heritage? Earlier too UPSC tried to remove the languages in the early nineties. Now there is a fresh attempt.

Sadly, this is happening during the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) regime. The fact is that many people aren't aware of the heritage of nearly 1,000 years [many a millennia in the case of Pali]. We urge the President, the Prime Minister, the HRD ministry and Congress leaders to restore the languages.

The JNUSU led by Akbar Chawdhary also led a demonstration on the issue. The protesting students said that by this absurd yardstick, English, is also a foreign language.

Further, there are now growing voices against the controversial move that is hurting a large number of students.

If you want to be part of this movement. Do use the hashtags and tag politicians, important personalities, to inform them about your views. Force them to withdraw the whimsical decision, which shows badly on the members of UPSC who are supposed to know importance of our cultural heritage of thousands of years.

There have been protests on the ground. Now do act on internet as well.

#ShameUPSC
#restoreArabicPersianPaliinUPSC

See earlier post on this issue:
1. UPSC misuses autonomy, removes Arabic, Persian, Pali from civil services

See an important article:
1. The translations of Ramayana in Persian

UPSC misuses autonomy, UPA remains apathetic: Movement needed to restore Arabic, Persian, Pali in Civil Services

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The decision of Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) to remove Arabic, Persian and Pali from the list of optional subjects in the civil services examination, has invited strong condemnation from across the country.

There is a vast literary treasure in India in these three languages that have the status of classical languages in the country.

There are million of books in libraries in these languages apart from revenue records in many states that are in Persian. Old historical structures and coins carry plaques in these languages.

In taking the decision to remove these languages, the UPSC has misused its autonomy. Unfortunately, it is the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) which is at the helm, when the decision has again been taken.

Nearly two decades back, there was a similar decision. After strong protests, the decision was revoked. Congress was the ruling party. PV Narsimha Rao was the prime minister then. Now it has happened once again. Why there is an effort to remove these languages from UPSC, the apex

The UPSC members have done great disservice to the nation with this act. They have shown their lack of awareness about Indian culture and history, when they decided to remove these languages from the list of optional subjects.

They also removed French, German and Russian. In fact, keeping Arabic, Persian and Pali in the same bracket, shows how the mandarins of the top body, seem tohave no idea about the extent of literature these classical languages has and how much important it is for India.

Already, we don't have enough students taking languages in universities.

With diminishing options, the Arabic, Persian and Pali departments in universities in the country, will be severely affected.

It will be a big loss for our heritage.

There will perhaps be a situation when there will be more experts of these languages outside the country, than here.

DP Agarwal is the chairman of the UPSC. The commission has ten members viz. Rajni Razdan, Venkatarami Reddy Y, Alka Sirohi, David R Syimlieh, Manbir Singh, Amar Pratap Singh, DK Dewan, Vinay Mittal, P Kilemsungla, Chhatar Singh.

It beats the brains how these 'intellectuals' took this insane decision. As far as Persian is concerned, India has preserved the original classical form of the language. Not just Mughals, hundreds of princely states used it as an official language in 19th century and even later.

The texts, manuscripts are lying in libraries and archives departments and they will not be researchers, students, to decipher them. What a shame!

The UPSC is also playing with the future of students. Sadly, the UPA claims that it wants to increase job opportunities for Muslims, but under its tenure, the languages are being removed. Two of these languages give students of 'madarsas' the option to dream big.

In fact, several Muslims have taken Arabic and Persian as optional subjects and have cleared the examination to become IAS, IPS and IFS officers. Recently, teachers and students protested outside UPSC and the chairman had refused to meet their delegation.

United Muslims Front (UMF) held a major protest that was led by the front chief Shahid Ali.

The All India Association of Arabic Teachers & Scholars (AIAATS) in collaboration with the All India Persian Scholars’ Association (AIPSA) organized a symposium in Delhi on the issue, but now seminars are not required.

The need is for action. There have been protests in Lucknow and Allahabad. The issue is that UPSC's action is illogical and shows that its top officers have little idea about Indian history and have no focus on keeping the standards of learning in the universities.

It is time to condemn their decision, which is either due to prejudiced mindset or total lack of knowledge.
The need of the hour is to petition the President of India, whom UPSC annually submits its report. Also, write letters to Prime Minister, urge the MPs to take up the issue in the Parliament. If there is more delay, the decision may not be overturned.

Do act now. 

Homosexuality in Urdu poetry: Tolerance in medieval India and Islamic societies in the past

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For once, the Shankaracharya and the Shahi Imam are on the same side as also the BJP and the Muslim leaders. They are all opposed to the court's decision terming consenting homosexual relationship among adults as 'no longer criminal'.

Barely a handful of MPs have openly hailed the verdict. But it's interesting how tolerant people were towards homosexuality in the past. In Islamic world, from Iran to India,  such relationships were common and were completely acceptable in the society as well as among the Ulema [clergy].

Gar aan turk sheerazi be-dast aarad dil-e-maara
ba khaal hindosh bakhsham samarqand o bukhara ra [Hafiz]

Translation: If that Turk lad listens to my heart's cry, I can forsake the cities of Samarqand and Bukhara against the black mole on his face.

Poets like Hafez and the great Mir Taqi Mir openly wrote about their homosexuality. The divans of Urdu poets of 18th and 19th century are full of couplets that would outrage even some of today's 'self-styled liberals', but in those days even the orthodox Ulema were either lenient or indifferent.

They were ready to accept that everybody need not necessarily be like us and society should not impose its views on everyone. In present scenerio, it seems strange as an intellectual like Mushirul Hasan avoids commenting on the decision, for fear of enraging others.

Eminent religious scholars were less judgmental then and often took umbrage behind the extensive legal case including the requirement of witnesses that are needed to hold someone guilty of unnatural acts as per Shariah.

Either it was medieval homosexuality that is evident in couplets from the era of Aarzoo and Mir Soz or the pederasty in Firaq's shaayri and Josh's memoirs, the tolerant society openly accepted it. However, today it is unthinkable.

Contemporary Urdu poetry has just one openly gay poet Iftikhar Nasim 'Ifti'. However, in the past it was not considered outrageous. Poets openly wrote about their relationships.

Turk bachche se ishq kiyaa thaa rekhte kya kya maiNne kahe
rafta rafta Hindustaan se sher meraa Iran gayaa
[Mir Taqi Mir]

Above I quoted a coulet of the legendary Persian poet Hafiz. It was no different in India. Mir Taqi Mir celebrated his relationship:

Mir kyaa saade haiN biimar hue jiske sabab
usii attaar ke launDay se davaa lete haiN

Or

Us Mughal-zaade se nibhii har baat kii takraar khuub
bad-zabaanii kii bhii usne, to kahaa bisyaar khuub

His divan is full of such references, often termed as 'ibtizaal' [literary decadence] and deleted from concise collection of his poetry. Like poets of that era, Mir had homosexual relationships with boys and later got married also, as per the tradition of the times.

But he never faced any opposition then. There was no disapproval from the Ulema then. Were they less religious or less cultured? Certainly not. But they did respect every person's right to lead his life as per his wishes.

Or at least leave them to their own ways rather than worrying about what they do in their bedrooms. I feel if a person is truly religious or spiritual he would be more compassionate and would avoid finding faults with others.

In Urdu ghazal, the gender of the beloved is often not clear. However, there are hundreds of couplets in divans of the classical poets where the lover is clearly a male or a boy.

The great poet Khwaja Haider Ali Aatish wrote:

Zuleikha ko dikhaaye aasmaaN tasviir Yusuf kii
Ye dil diivana hai jiskaa pari-paikar hai voh laRkaa

Mir Soz said:

Hai chaal qayaamat, hai husn ya sharaara
chaltaa hai kis adaa se Tuk, dekho Khudara

and Aarzoo wrote:

fareb-e-khush pisraaN khurdan Aarzoo rasm ast
za-rooe tajruba guft eeN chuniiN pidar maaraa

One of the greatest poets of the sub-continent, Mir Taqi Mir, who is termed Khuda-i-Sukhan, wrote numerous couplets celebrating gay relationships. In fact, so explicit is Mir, that one may think twice before quoting them.

Not more than a fraction of their poetry is explicit or obscene. In fact, a majority of the asha'ar treats the subject subtly and with sensuousness like the following couplet of a gahzal where the usage 'kya kya kuchh' is unusual and fresh. The poet yearning for his beloved dreams of the pleasures of sexual union.

wasl uskaa Khudaa nasiib kare
meraa dil chaahtaa hai kya kya kuchh

In these couplets Mir falls sick owing to his excessive longing for his beloved boy [yaani maiN shauq kii ifraat se biimaar huaa] and Mus'hafi describes the feelings in terms of waves [lahroN se saara daryaa aaGhosh kar diyaa].

The legendary Urdu scholar SR Faruqi terms some of them as 'international literary gems' and extraordinary couplets. It is noteworthy that Faruqi doesn't even use words like 'good' and 'fine' generously.

The recent court verdict has 'shocked' a large number of clerics and even litteratuers. The Victorian law that criminalised not just gay relationships but also any other form of sexual activity [even any other sexual position among man and woman except missionary posiion] other than the order of Nature, has just been reinterpreted by the Delhi High court.

Even today in sub-continent, many homosexuals succumb to family pressure and marry, thereby destroying the life of a woman also. Pakistan-born Iftikhar Nasim has been brutally honest about his life and the difficulties he faces when he decided to 'come out' rather than living a 'false life'.

Read selected couplets of Iftikhar Nasim here.
Read his famous poem Mere Baba. In this verse the poet seeks answers for his alternate sexuality in Urdu, Hindi and Roman scripts here.

[UPDATE: This post was written in 2009. Now, in 2013, the Supreme court has said that the law stands and homosexuality that had been de-criminalised, is a criminal act.]