See the script bar at the bottom of the page for viewing choices. I have corrected obvious calligraphic errors, and have adjusted the punctuation for clarity. The original long paragraphs have been numbered (#1# and so on) and then broken into shorter ones. Sectional numbers have been inserted. Qamar Ra'is, ed., pp. 234-236.
adab kī ġharaẓ-o-ġhāyat
ḥazrāt !
[(1) Our language has developed a literature]
#1# yih jalsah hamārī adab kī tārīḳh meñ ek aham vāqiʿah hai - hamārī sammelanoñ aur anjumanoñ meñ ab tak ʿām t̤aur par zabān aur us kī ishāʿat se baḥaṡ kī jātī rahī hai -- yahāñ tak kih urdū aur hindī kā jo liṭrechar maujūd hai , us kā manshā ḳhayālāt aur jażbāt par aṡar ḍālnā nahīñ , balkih maḥaẓ zabān kī taʿmīr thā - vuh bhī nihāyat hī aham kām thā - jab tak zabān ek mustaqil ṣūrat nah iḳhtiyār kar le , us meñ ḳhayālāt-o-jażbāt adā karne kī t̤āqat hī kahāñ se āʾe - hamārī zabān ke bāniyoñ ne hindūstānī zabān kī taʿmīr kar ke qaum par jo aḥsān kiyā hai , is ke liʾe ham un ke mashkūr nah hoñ to yih hamārī aḥsān-farāmoshī hogī -
lekin zabān żarīʿah hai , manzil nahīñ - ab hamārī zabān ne vuh ḥaiṡiyat iḳhtiyār kar lī hai kih ham zabān se guzar kar us ke maʿnī kī t̤araf bhī mutavajjuh hoñ aur is par ġhaur kareñ kih jis manshā se yih taʿmīr shurūʿ kī gaʿī thī , vuh kyūñ-kar pūrā ho - vuhī zabān jis meñ ibtidân bāġh-o-bahār aur baitāl pachchīsī kī taṣnīf hī miʿrāj-e kamāl thī , ab [[235]] is qābil ho gaʾī hai kih ʿilm-o-ḥikmat ke masāʾil bhī adā kare -
#2# aur yih jalsah isī ḥaqīqat kā khulā huʾā ětirāf hai - zabān bol chāl kī bhī hotī hai aur taḥrīr kī bhī - bol chāl kī zabān to mīr amman aur lallū lāl ke zamānah meñ bhī maujūd thī - unhoñ ne jis zabān kī dāġh-bel ḍālī vuh taḥrīr kī zabān thī , aur vuhī ab adab [kī] hai - ham bol chāl se apne qarīb ke logoñ se apne ḳhayālāt z̤āhir karte haiñ , apnī ḳhvushī yā ranj ke jażbāt kā naqshah kheñchte haiñ - adīb vuhī kām taḥrīr se kartā hai - hāñ us ke sun'ne vāloñ kā dāʾirah bahut vasīʿ hotā hai , aur agar us ke bayān meñ ḥaqīqat aur sachchāʾī hai to ṣadiyoñ aur qarnoñ tak us kī taḥrīreñ diloñ par aṡar kartī rahtī haiñ -
merā manshā nahīñ kih jo kuchh supurd-e qalam ho jāʾe , vuh sab kā sab adab hai - adab us taḥrīr ko kahte haiñ jis meñ ḥaqīqat kā iz̤hār ho - jis kī zabān puḳhtah , shustah , aur lat̤īf ho - aur jis meñ dil aur dimāġh par aṡar ḍālne kī ṣift ho - aur adab meñ yih ṣift kāmil t̤aur par usī ḥālat meñ paidā hotī hai , jab us meñ zindagī kī ḥaqīqateñ aur tajrube bayān kiʾe gaʾe hoñ - t̤ilismātī ḥikāyatoñ yā bhūt pret ke qiṣṣoñ yā shahzādoñ ke ḥusn-o-ʿishq kī dāstānoñ se ham kisī zamānah meñ mutāṡir huʾe hoñ lekin ab un meñ hamāre liʾe bahut kam dilchaspī hai -
#3# is meñ koʾī shak nahīñ kih fit̤rat-e insānī kā māhir adīb shahzādoñ ke ḥusn-o-ʿishq aur t̤ilismātī ḥikāyat meñ bhī zindagī kī ḥaqīqateñ bayān kar saktā hai aur us me ḥusn kī taḳhlīq kar saktā hai - lekin us se bhī is ḥaqīqat kī taṣdīq hotī hai kih liṭrechar meñ tāṡīr paidā karne ke liʾe ẓarūrī hai kih vuh zindagī kī ḥaqīqatoñ kā āʾīnah-vār ho , phir āp [[236]] use jis pas-manz̤ar meñ chāheñ , rakh sakte haiñ - chaṛe kī ḥikāyat yā gul-o-bulbul kī dāstān bhī us ke liʾe mauzūñ ṡābit ho saktī hai -
The Purpose and Range of Literature
Gentlemen!
[(1) Our language has developed a literature]
#1#This gathering is, in the history of our 'literature', an important event. In our sammelans and anjumans, up till now usually discussion has gone on about our language and its publishing-- to such an extent that the literature that exists in Urdu and Hindi has had the purpose not to create an influence on thoughts and feelings, but rather merely to construct a language. That too was an extremely important task. As long as the language would not take on a single stable form, from where would it get even the strength to express thoughts and feelings? The favor that the founders of our language have done for the community by constructing the Hindustani language-- if we would not be thankful to them, then this will be our ingratitude.
But the language is a means, not a destination. Now our language has taken on such a status that we should pass beyond the language and also be attentive to its meaning, and reflect on how the intention with which its construction had been begun, would become fulfilled. That same language in which in the beginning the composition of Bagh-o-bahar and Baital paccisi was the height of accomplishment, has now become capable of expressing problems of learning and knowledge as well.
#2# And this gathering is an open confession of this very reality. The language is one of everyday conversation, and also of writing. The language of everday conversation was present in the time of Mir Amman and Lallu Lal too. The language that they delineated was a language of writing, and now it is one of literature. In the language of everyday conversation we express our thoughts to our intimates, we create a picture of our feelings of happiness or sorrow. An author does that same work through writing. Indeed, the circle of his listeners is usually very wide, and if in his expression there is reality and truth then his writings keep on affecting hearts for centuries and generations.
I do not mean to say that whatever would be confided to a pen is always literature. That writing in which there would be an expression of reality is called literature-- the language of which would be well-made, polished, and elegant, and would have the quality of affecting the heart and mind. And in literature this quality is created in a perfected way, when in it the realities and experiences of life would have been expressed. Tales of enchantment, or stories of ghosts and goblins, or dastans of the romantic passions of princes, might have affected us at some time, but now for us they hold very little interest.
#3#There's no doubt that an expert author can express the realities of life in the romantic passions of princes and in tales of enchantment, and can create beauty in them. But an even greater proof of this reality is that in 'literature', in order to create an effect it's necessary that it should be like a mirror to those realities of life; then you can put it into whichever background you might wish. The Tale of a Climb, or the dastan of the Rose and the Nightingale, can prove to be harmonious/satisfactory to them.
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