Two famous saints of the 17th and 18th centuries, Shah Mohammad Kazim
Qalandar and Shah Turab Ali Qalandar, come in for detailed discussion. Their
texts — “Shant Ras” and “Amrit Ras” — have been made the object of a focused
study. According to the author, Krishna emerges as the most shining symbol of
the ‘quest for ultimate truth'. Muslim poets always look up to him for spiritual
attainment and intellectual guidance. Their poetry betrays the equal measure of
their love for Shri Krishna and the prophets. Tariq regrets that Shah Mohammad
Kazim Qalandar and Shah Turab Ali Qalandar are not included in the list of
Bhakti poets whose hero is Krishna though they have composed poetry even in Braj
Bhasha. The book is braced to provide a complete understanding of the Indian
mind and culture and its close affinity with Islamic tradition. It also makes it
clear that Urdu poetry is invested with the tremendous potential to bind the
whole nation together. --
Shafey Kidwai
By Shafey Kidwai
4 Jun,
2010
Shamin
Tariq's recently published monograph traces the history of Urdu poetry against
the backdrop of religious tolerance.
Notwithstanding widespread adulation of the ghazal, immense
popularity of some prominent Urdu poets such as Mir, Ghalib, Iqbal, Faiz, Faraz,
Firaq, Gulzar and Shaheryar and news channels' penchant for using Urdu words
frequently, Urdu is still stigmatised by some quarters as the forerunner of
communalism.
For them
it nurtures separatist tendencies by harping on a strong feeling of cultural and
religious exclusivity. Further, insistence on a maudlin notion of love hardly
enables Urdu poetry to go beyond the life of desire, and popular Urdu poetry
recited in poetry symposiums (mushairas) betrays the communal insularity. This
view is not completely fallacious, as contemporary Urdu poetry is marked with
sporadic angry outbursts against communal riots and
discrimination.
Does
Urdu poetry regurgitate the themes of religious bigotry, intolerance and
cultural chauvinism? Could one find the traits of a religious zealot in Urdu
poetry? These questions are convincingly discussed by eminent Urdu scholar and
poet Shamim Tariq in his well-documented monograph tiled “Krishna in the poetic
wisdom of Sufis”.
The
Government of India's Ministry of Culture awarded a senior fellowship to the
author to undertake the research project, which is now published as a
book.
The
book, divided into 10 chapters, traces the history of Urdu poetry in the
backdrop of religious tolerance. Explaining the poetic tradition of Mysticism
and Bhakti, Islamic pantheism and Vedantic monotheism, Tariq also enumerates the
similarities and dissimilarities among them with remarkable thoroughness. The
philosophy of Maya and the Vedantic concept of being contributed immensely in
popularising Islamic Mysticism, and it produced judiciously blended two distinct
cultures. The cultural and spiritual ethos of India gave a much needed impetus
to cultural assimilation, and the abiding concern for fellow human beings
nullified rigid religious boundaries. Urdu poetry eloquently summarises this
phenomenon.
How do
cultural ethos and worldview operate in a multi-cultural society? Tariq zeroes
in on this question by sifting the works of early Sufi poets
dispassionately.
The
focused study of the saint poets prompted him to describe Krishna as the most
popular poetic symbol of Sufi poetry. The author points out that Sufis learnt
local dialects and composed poetry in the regional languages despite being well
versed in Arabic and Persian languages. They used to converse in Hindustani even
in the 15th Century.
Equal love
Two
famous saints of the 17th and 18th centuries, Shah Mohammad Kazim Qalandar and
Shah Turab Ali Qalandar, come in for detailed discussion. Their texts — “Shant
Ras” and “Amrit Ras” — have been made the object of a focused study. According
to the author, Krishna emerges as the most shining symbol of the ‘quest for
ultimate truth'. Muslim poets always look up to him for spiritual attainment and
intellectual guidance. Their poetry betrays the equal measure of their love for
Shri Krishna and the prophets. Tariq regrets that Shah Mohammad Kazim Qalandar
and Shah Turab Ali Qalandar are not included in the list of Bhakti poets whose
hero is Krishna though they have composed poetry even in Braj Bhasha. . The book
is braced to provide a complete understanding of the Indian mind and culture and
its close affinity with Islamic tradition. It also makes it clear that Urdu
poetry is invested with the tremendous potential to bind the whole nation
together.
Source: The Hindu, New Delhi
9:20 PM
Sultan Shahin
0 comments:
Post a Comment