Brown Pundits

Shamsur Rahman Faruqi’s The Sun That Rose From the Earth: Insights into the world of Urdu poetry in the Late Mughal Era

By Kabir Altaf

South Asians continue to be fascinated by the Mughal period.  Whether one sees this period as the origin of North India’s high culture (the view of most Pakistanis and partisans of the Islamicate culture) or as hundreds of years of slavery under the Muslims (the view of the Hindu Right), it is clear that the Mughals remain central to India’s history and to the country’s conception of itself.   This period was also the time when there was a great flourishing of the arts, including music and poetry. For example, it was during the reign of Muhammad Shah “Rangila” (r. 1719-1748) that khayal gaiyki—presently the main style of classical vocal music in North India—was developed. Some scholars also state that it was in Muhammad Shah’s time that Urdu replaced Persian as the language of the Mughal court.   What is without question is that the 18th and 19th centuries were when Urdu poetry reached its heights and when the works of authors such as Mir Taqi Mir (1723-1810) and Mirza Ghalib (1797-1869) were created.

It is the lives and works of these poets which forms the core of Shamsur Rahman Faruqi’s collection of novellas, The Sun That Rose From The Earth—the author’s own translation into English of his Urdu work Savaar aur Doosre Afsane.  The three major stories–“Bright Star, Lone Splendour”, “In Such Meetings and Partings, Ultimately” and “The Sun That Rose from the Earth”—are about Ghalib, Mir, and Mushafi respectively.  Faruqi is known as the “grand old man of Urdu literature” and received the Padma Shri from the Government of India in 2009.  His novellas reflect his vast knowledge of Urdu poetry and the culture that produced it.

“In Such Meetings and Partings, Ultimately” is one the longest stories in the book and revolves around Mir Taqi Mir’s romance with Nurus Saadat, a courtesan from Isfahan.  The title comes from one of Mir’s verses from his first divan (1752), which Faruqi translates as follows: “In such meetings and partings, ultimately/ Lives are lost. There is no end to Love/And Beauty never relents.” The story ranges from Armenia—where Nurus Saadat’s mother, Labiba Khanam, is orphaned and becomes a courtesan, to Isfahan, and finally to Delhi, where Mir meets Nurus Saadat.  Since she is a courtesan and is contracted to another, her meetings with Mir must remain secret.  She is also dying of consumption and eventually she pushes Mir away so that he will not have to deal with the grief of her death.

Faruqi is a master at physical description and at describing people’s clothes (which reveals his immense knowledge about the cultural details of the period). Here is his introduction of Mir: “He was twenty-two, twenty-three years of age, tall but slim. His wrists were strong and broad, his eyes, red with sleeplessness—or was it drink?—were still commanding, full of character, though it could be seen that they could twinkle with humour when the occasion demanded. His beard was not long or dense…”  This physical description is followed by a paragraph on Mir’s clothes, which begins: “He had a short, light, full-sleeved tunic on his upper body. It was called nima, or angarkha, depending on the style. The nima was worn waistcoat fashion. The fabric was woolen, russet coloured. It was called banat, but it was not of the best quality and its russet was now fading somewhat. Under the nima he wore a long woolen tunic. His trousers were of Aurangabadi mashru…” (Faruqi 250).  Though such long descriptions tend to slow down the narrative pace, they are invaluable for giving one a sense of the period.

Another noteworthy aspect that Faruqi gets across is that it was not only Muslims who were involved in the creation of Urdu poetry.   One of Mir’s close friends is Rai Kishan Chand Ikhlas, an Urdu poet in his own right.  Similarly, the narrator of the story about Mushafi is Darbari Mal Vafa, whose father, Kanji Mal Saba, was a Persian poet and a student of Mushafi’s. The fact that Hindus are shown as being involved in the creation of Urdu and Persian poetry gives the lie to the modern Hindutva version of history that the religious majority was deeply oppressed under “Muslim” (really Mughal) rule.  Faruqi’s book is thus an essential corrective to the revisionist myths of today’s India.

The book is filled with Persian and Urdu verses, though these suffer from being sometimes awkwardly translated into English.  However, this is my limitation as a reviewer of being unable to fluently read the Urdu version of Faruqi’s book. Probably, the verses would have more power there. In the English version, they sometimes get in the way of advancing the plot.

Overall, The Sun That Rose From The Earth provides a fascinating look at Delhi at the beginning of the long Mughal decline. It is a must-read for those with an interest in Urdu poetry and culture.

Kabir Altaf received a B.A. in Dramatic Literature from George Washington University. He has studied Hindustani Classical Vocal and is currently teaching Music History at the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS)

I thought I would share this important comment on Alauddin Khilji in light of the Padmavat defamation. I haven’t seen it yet though but I’ve heard it’s very anti-Alauddin..

I could be wrong but Pakistan’s elites are in the following cities:

Islamabad is the home to the political & bureaucratic elite. Very chaste and crisp Urdu and a real redoubt of the Pakistani government. I spent alot of time in this city when growing up but have found to be a Talibanised version of an English village (I jest but not by much). The main ethnicities are Punjabis, who are thoroughly Urdufied and Pakistanised and Pathans, who are the exotic minority in the city with their colourful language & weird accents.

Pindi (Rawal) is the ugly older sister of Islamabad but of course is where the military is based and so would probably be where all the military elite (which is the shadow government of the country) is based.

Lahore is the home to the economic elite, after all Punjab is the largest and most influential state. It is no Karachi however and is far more regional than cosmopolitan. It has a rough macho culture and can be a bit crude & crass. However as one of Pakistan’s oldest and most prestigious cities it has considerable sway. Punjabi language & ethnicity has obviously a strong sway here as the common tongue mixed in with Urdu of course.

Pakistan’s greatest city (& my personal favorite) is of course Karachi. It may not necessarily have the moneyed but the social trendsetters are here . Predominantly drawn from Pakistan’s once dominant elite (the Urdu-speakers are sort of like the Wasps in Pakistan, a faded elite) who go to certain schools (well only one, KGS), study abroad, live in Defence & Clifton and have a rather hedonistic approach to life (not in the manic way as upper-crust Lahoris but in a more studied & sophisticated way). The living room arbiters of the cultural life of the nation; English-speakers with Muhajir heritage (of course most of these families have intermarried with the locals etc). Love-hate relationship with India and very confused about Pakistan in general; believe that they are the last continuance of the Mughal decadence of Delhite culture. I may be projecting my own love of Karachi here but it really is the Queen of East; the last redoubt of Urdustan.

Much as I like New Delhi (I much prefer New Delhi to Lahore & my truest roots are there since my late grandmother was born in Karol Bagh) it’s not very inspiring to see the Muslims clustered in ghettos like cattle waiting to be slaughtered. Ghalib would probably find Karachi, more than Delhi, to be a more familiar city..

These are K-Jo’s children that he had by surrogacy. They are obviously very cute and beautiful and I’m very happy for him (I’m a huge supporter of surrogacy).

However it seems that they were fertilised with a white egg donor and while I don’t comment on personal choices; I don’t see why he couldn’t have chosen someone of his own race.

What I find strange about Hindutva is that they hate us (the Mughals & their Muslim spawn in India) but are so ambivalent/ almost slavish towards white people.

Classic example of divide & rule; as much as I believe in desi solidarity if a Pakistani or Persian had done such a thing I would not have approved. If one has no pride in one’s colour or heritage then what’s the point

Don’t get me wrong there is nothing wrong in falling in love with people of different races and have children with them; that’s a very beautiful thing. However to go out of one’s way and pull a Michael Jackson; to try and have super-Aryan children, strikes me as a complex too many.

Furthermore Karan has the onus of being one of the most emulated individuals in India and by somehow sending out the impression that white is right is not healthy for a society that is already ridden with colour complex. Roohi & Yash would have been just as lovely in a darker shade of brown..

I have noticed that desi Hijabi women in Britain have a habit of acting very precious; as though every men is into them.

My second observation that just as some styles suit certain races; does the Hijab suit desi women when one of their prized assets, luxuriant thick hair, is all bundled up?

Finally if the point of the Hijab is to make a woman unattractive then isn’t that something to be discouraged; Model minorities should always put their front foot forward.

ps: Oh My Lord! I had literally just posted this article when my wife prompted me that this is World Hijab Day. That is so shocking like within 2 minutes of this article being published I found that out; quell coincidence!!

I just realised in my reply to Min Min Pucci that Brown Pundits has turned 7 yrs Old over the Christmas – New Year period of 2017.

I had just met my wife-to-be so BP coincides with the definitive end of my single life. December 15 is my birthday and Dec 15′ 2010 (I had just turned 26) is when I met the very brilliant Vidhi; a birthday gift from the gods..

In that same period I remember feverish discussions on the Sepia Mutiny thread board between Razib, Alia and myself. I can’t remember the topic and I prefer the haziness of my memories to the cold hard truth of a google search.. Legends arise in mists after all.

It was a very interesting Christmas/birthday period since I hadn’t travelled anywhere (my job at that time was very demanding) but everyone else had and it was a curiously still moment in my life.

In the script of my life it was the pregnant pause that would birth the events of the next decade. In a way it was a very innocent and idealistic time of my life; passionate about the far rather than the near. Essentially I was ripe to take my blogging to the next level (I had been blogging at my own blog from 2002 but never as far or as wide as I would have liked)..

It was Razib’s idea to start a brown-focussed weblog (to add to his mighty online empire). I jumped on the idea since I work well collaboratively.

I remember I submitted a list of names and Razib pounced on Brown Pundits; so it was a very serendipitous beginning for the first two “Brown Pundits”.

Omar joined almost immediately and became a formidable (and saner voice than mine; the devil in me loves to bait the mob) presence on this blog. We spent most of the first years discussing Pak-nationalism (the gift that keeps on giving to all desi comment forums) until BP “intermitted” (I can’t remember exactly when).

This reboot of BP is a lot quieter but maybe because we’re a lot older..