Introduction
 

"Shahr-ashob" is a classical genre of poetry which exists in Persian and Turkish as well as Urdu. In Persian and Turkish shahr-ashobs some city, its residents, and most commonly the beauty of young boys who follow the various professions, are described in a jesting /obscene [hazaliyah] manner. But the thematic tradition, disposition, and atmosphere of the Urdu shahr ashob are, in general, entirely different.

Urdu shahr-ashob began at the start of the eighteenth century. After the death of Aurangzeb (1707), frightful shadows of decadence [zaval] and adversity began to loom in every direction. Thus the genre of poetry which in Persian and Turkish was especially used for intellectual enjoyment, became in Urdu a vehicle for the description of political, economic, and social disturbances. For this reason we can say that shahr-ashob is that classical genre of poetry in which, without any special constraint of form, the ruined condition of both common people and elite, due to political, social, and economic trends, is descnbed. ...

In this [pre-1857] era, in accordance with the power of the decisions of history, a few situations came about such that sometimes some low [razil] persons obtained some status, or acquired some wealth and property. The elite [shurfa] attributed such situations to the age's overturning of values. They considered the rise of the newly rich and influential to be the extreme of disgrace [zillat], and regarded them with the greatest degree of contemps. Hatim, Jauhari, Asif, Tajalli, Mus'hafi, Nazir, Kamal, and Jur'at have reflected this mind-set in their poetry. ...

Given the discussion presented in the preceding pages, in its light it can easily be said that this genre of poetry is both a comment on life, and a criticism of life. These poems are not the result of mental games [xiyal-ara'i] or the quest for new themes [mazmun afirini], but are the products of the conditions of that age.

The political, social, and economic conditions and events that are versified within the shahr-ashob have a poetic quality [shi'riyat] within them. The secret of the importance and greatness of this genre of poetry is that not only does it have sincerity, grasp, depth, simplicity, and effectiveness, but it has only enough of the elements of art [fanni 'anasir] mixed into it so that the mind, instead of losing itself in beauty and artfulness, is drawn toward events and reality. ...

In the shahr-ashob, the feeling of humaneness [insan-dosti] is operative. The shahr-ashob contains very few verses in which the lower class has been made the object of anger and irritation. At a time when there were piles of corpses, crowds of hungry people, and heaps of ruins everywhere, the pursuit of merely personal or class-based grievances was almost impossible. Accordingly, most shahr-ashob poets have depicted the sufferings of both the common people and the elite. ...

Shahr ashob is the most successful example of stylistic simplicity [vazahat nigari], and in classical Urdu poetry it has no rival. In other genres of poetry, the love of complexity [mushkil pasandi] was held to be an important aspect of artistry. ...

In some places, to give something greater impact, exaggeration has been used. But this figure of speech has been used with great cleverness, an extremely light touch, and an accurate sense of place and occasion. In this context, it is especially notable that exaggeration has been used in describing and praising Delhi. ... [examples] ... These figures of speech, although they are based on every kind of exaggeration, are applied to that city which, despite its desolation and destruction, has long been considered the heart of India. Thus these figures are symbols which give a sense of the greatness of the city. Moreover, there is a delicacy in them which does not impose a burden on the mind.

Thus where exaggeration has been used to convey grief, sorrow, and destruction, even there its purpose has been to give a more pointed expression to events and reality. Thus such verses have the sharpness of a dagger. ...

In the shahr-ashob much emphasis is given to sorrow and suffering. Here and there the poems take on the effect of a marsiyah or a nauhah. In some verses a sense of unendurable grief and irresistible pain gives rise to a feeling of helplessness and desperation. But a look at the genre as a whole does not give an impression of throwing down one's weapons in the face of difficulties, but rather evokes the courage to stand up firmly against unfavorable circumstances. The shahr-ashob teaches us forcefully about man's ability to endure sorrow, and his unconquerable power of repelling disasters. Thus we can also learn that man has the ability to overcome unemployment, poverty, hunger, fear of death, and other treacherous circumstances. Thus we are given the belief that man is great, and that life is stronger than death, and we must affirm that the shahr-ashob is the perfect example of realism [haqiqat pasandi] and realistic description.

The present age prefers knowledge and intellect to emotion and feeling. Human achievement has opened for mankind new horizons of knowledge and awareness, research and invention, inquiry and investigation, which have made individual emotions and feelings much less socially important. Moreover, in the arts too, usefulness [afadiyat] has begun to be very much emphasized. Accordingly, writers and poets have begun to be examined as to whether they keep in mind the desire for a better society and political system. Nowadays classical literature and other cultural arts are also examined from the point of view of what we can learn from them in this age. The political and social evils described in the shahr-ashob are still present today. Therefore, analyzing this genre of poetry can teach us a number of lessons. As man moves further away from the [feudal] landlord society [jagirdari ka nizam] and its memories, the importance and interest of individual ideas, feelings, and opinions steadily diminishes. The shahr-ashob offers the greatest possibility of fulfilling these modem demands. Through the shahr-ashob's emphasis on common human sympathy, affection, mental and emotional harmony, and the shared sorrows and joys of various social classes, this genre of poetry is rooted in common and everyday feelings and attitudes and rises above the limits of time and place.

Up to the present, this genre of poetry has not been considered worthy of attention, and has not been given the kind of general and full-scale critical examination which would establish the nature of its importance and its literary rank. Even the manuscript sources of these poems are not easily available. The shahr-ashobs dating from before 1857 are hardly known at all. Since attention has not been given to this important and unique part of Urdu poetry, the history of our literature and its analysis, cannot be considered complete. Our literary scholars, researchers, and critics have, because of their ignorance of shahr-ashob, presented a false and one-sided picture of classical Urdu poetry. The shahr-ashob is incontrovertible proof that our classical poets were not ignorant of the conditions of their times, and their poetry is not only the story of beauty and love, rose and nightingale.