Wali Gujarati: Father of Urdu poetry

লিখেছেন লিখেছেন Democratic Labor Party ০১ মার্চ, ২০১৪, ০৩:১৫:৪৫ দুপুর

By Kashif-ul-Huda,

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There are disputes over when and where Urdu poet Wali Gujarati was born and when he left this world.

But what is not in dispute is Wali’s contribution to Urdu poetry. Also not in dispute is when and why his tomb was razed to the ground and road built over it.

Wali Gujarati also known as Wali Dakkani is considered as Father of the Urdu poetry because he for the first time was able to use the new and emerging language of Urdu for complicated and serious thoughts, following the course of Farsi poetry of his time.

A brillant documentary on Wali reveals all his legacies:




He left this world some three hundred years ago. He was buried in Ahmadabad in his family graveyard.

In today's India, Wali’s grave got cut off from the rest of the graveyard and ended up being in the middle of the road. In 2002, during the Click this link that claimed the lives and properties of thousands of innocent Muslims and saw destruction of hundreds of Mosques and Dargahs (tombs), any sign of Wali’s Dargah was also removed and overnight a road was built on top of it!

Wali’s Dargah was located a few steps away from the Police Commissioner’s office.

While BJP chief minister Narendra Modi presided over the razing of the Dargah, it was Ahmadabad Municipal Corporation under Congress Mayor Himmat Singh Patel that moved quickly to build the road over it.

But Wali’s imprint on Urdu poetry is so deep that in order to remove any sign of Wali, they have to kill Urdu as well.

Now, why is Wali considered Father of Urdu shayari ?

Anyone can ask the question what about Ameer Khusro, who three hundred years before Wali was composing poetry in local language?

Prior to finding an answer,you have to look closely at Ameer’s poems and you will see that the Click this link or the intermingling of two oceans of India and Muslim culture has never happened in his poetry.

Consider these famous lines:

زیحال-ا مسکین مکن تغافل,

دورے نینا بنے بتیاں;

کی تاب-ا ہجراں ندارم ے جان,

نہ لہو کہے لگے چھٹیاں.

Zeehaal-e miskeen makun taghaful,

duraye naina banaye batiyan;

ki taab-e hijran nadaram ay jaan,

na leho kaahe lagaye chhatiyan.

[Do not overlook my misery

Blandishing your eyes, and weaving tales;

My patience has over-brimmed, O sweetheart,

Why do you not take me to your bosom.]

They go together beautifully but Farsi never crosses its own line to spill over to the line in Brij Bhasha. Genius of Wali was to bridge the mental gap that existed among the educated elites who believed high-class poetry can only be in Farsi.

Wali’s visit to Delhi exposed this new language’s poetic prospects to the poets there. Another stalwart of Urdu poetry Meer Taqi Meer, who was born just a generation after Wali was influenced by him so much that he has composed the verse paying tribute to Wali:

خوگر نہیں کچھ یوں ہی ہم رکھتا-گوئی کے/

معشوق جو اپنا تھا, باشندہ-ا-دخان تھا

Khugar nahin kuch yun hi hum Rikhta-goi kay/

Mashooq jo apna tha, bashinda-e-Dakhan tha

(It isn’t casually that I began dabbling in Urdu/I picked it from my lover, a native of the Deccan).”

And had it not been for Wali, poets like Meer and Ghalib would not have appeared in Urdu and this language would not have even been taken seriously as a literary language. Wali took many of the expressions, idioms, and poetic techniques from Farsi traditions and made it workable in Urdu. He also enriched Urdu with local words making this language and his poetry uniquely popular.



Wali Dakkani, without a tomb. [Photo by Nasiruddin Haider Khan]

But he also borrowed heavily from the Muslim tradition and applied those imagery in his poetry.

Two sample Ashaars.

لیب پی دلبر کے جلوہ-گر ہے جو خال ( مولے)

حوز-ا-کہسار پی جیوں کھارہا ہے بلال

Lab pe dilbar ke jalwa-gar hai jo khaal ( mole)

Hauz-e-kausar pe jyuN kharha hai bilal

I have not seen a mole described so beautifully and in a sacred way as in the sher above.

ای قبلہ-رو ہمیشہ محراب میں بھوان کی

کرتی ہیں تیری پلکاں مل کر نماز گویا

ai qibla-roo hamesha mehrab meiN bhawaaN ki

karti haiN teri palkaaN mil kar namaaz goya

Just notice the Dakkani influence in use of the words for eyebrows and eyelashes.

And,

موسا جو آ کے دیکھ تجھ نور کا تماشا

اس کو پہاڑہ ہووے پھر طور کا تماشا

Moosa jo aa ke dekhe tujh noor ka tamasha

Uss ko pahaar howe phir toor ka tamasha



A selection of his poetry:

ای نور-ا-جان-و-دیدہ تیرے انتظار میں

مدّت ہی پلک سوں پلک آشنا نہیں

Ai noor-e-jaan-o-deeda tere intezaar mein

Muddat hui palak soon palak aashna nahiN

پھر میری خیر لینے وو سیّد نہ آیا

شاید کے میرا حال اسے یاد نہ آیا

Phir meri khair lene wo sayyad na aaya

Shayad ke mera haal usse yaad na aaya

شراب-ا-شوق سے سرشار ہیں ہم

کبھی بخود, کبھی ہوشیار ہیں ہم

Sharaab-e-shauq se sarshaar hain ham

Kabhi bekhud, kabhi hushiyar hain ham



بیس-ا-رسوائی-ا-عالم والی

مفلسی ہے, مفلسی ہے, مفلسی ہے

Bayis-e-ruswai-e-aalam wali

Muflisi hai, muflisi hai, muflisi hai

ایسا بسا ہے آ کر تیرا خیال جیو میں

مشکل ہے جیوں سوں تجھکو اب امتیاز کرنا

Aisa basa hai aa kar tera khyaal jiyu meiN

Mushkil hai jyuN soon tujhko ab imtiyaz karna

عاجز-ا-حسن دیکھ کے وو رویے با-عرق

پیدا کیا ہے چشمہ-ا-آتش سے اب آج

Aijaz-e-husn dekh ke wo roye ba-arq

Paida kiya hai chashma-e-aatish se aab aaj

دل-ا-عشاق کیوں نہ ہے روشن

جب خیال-ا-صنم چراغ ہوا

dil-e-ishaaq kyuN na huay raushan

jab khyaal-e-sanam chiragh hua

اثر-ا-بادہ-ا-جوانی ہے

کر گیا ہوں سوال کچھ کا کچھ

asr-e-baadah-e-jawani hai

kar gaya hooN sawal kuchh ka kuchh

ای والی اس بے-وفا کی مہربانی پر نہ بھول

دل کا دشمن ہے, مگر کرتا ہے باتیں پیار کی

ai wali uss be-wafa ki meharbani par na bhool

dil ka dushman hai, magar karta hai baateiN pyaar ki

تجھ جدائی میں نہیں اکیلا میں

درد-و-غم اس پاس ہوتا ہے

tujh judaai mein nahiN akela main

dard-o-gham aas paas hota hai

والی اس گوہر-ا-کان-ا-ہی کی کیا کہوں خوبی

میرے گھر اسس طرح آتا ہے جیوں سینے میں راز اے

wali uss gauhar-e-kaan-e-haya ki kya kahooN khoobi

mere ghar iss tarah aata hai jyuN seene meiN raaz aaye

বিষয়: সাহিত্য

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