The poet who perfected art of epic and elegy in Urdu

Dawn.com — January 4, 2003
by Mufti Jamiluddin Ahmad

Kisi nay teri tarha say aey Anis Uroosay sukhan ko sanwara nahin (None has decorated the Bride of poesy Like you have done Anees).

ISLAMABAD, Jan 3: Mir. Ghalib. Anees and Iqbal. This is how the well-known scholar and critic of Urdu literature, Prof Ehtisham Husain places Mir Babar Ali Anees, the great Urdu poet who perfected the art of elegy and epic and place it on the highest pinnacle of Urdu poetry, nay, of world literature. So when poets Zia Jullundhuri and Iftikhar Arif spoke of the place of the great "bard" on the firmament of Urdu literature at a seminar held at the Academy of Letters by literary organizations 'Rasai Adab' from Karachi (whose members incidentally couldn't come), and the Islamabad organization, 'Imkan', to remember the great poet on his two hundredth birth anniversary, the importance of the mastercraftsman of the events of Karbala, of the powerful narrator of the struggle of good against evil was more than clear to the large audience who had come to listen to a number of scholars on the subject.

"It requires a lifetime to understand a poet of real significance," said Zia Jullundhuri, who presided over the function, lamenting the fact that Anees was not given the proper place as a poet that he deserved. Zia Jullundhuri spoke of the times that Anees was writing, the time when Muslims in the sub- continent had lost their power, the time of the war of independence, and the way he narrated the great events of Karbala, in his own, inimitable style to become a messenger of hope; and not despondency. Hali, later brought the sadness of the experience of the downfall through the Mussadas but Iqbal, like Anees, gave it a new hope through his khudi. "In the poetry of Anis, you can discern the message of hope", he said. He also spoke of the way he enriched the Urdu language.

Iftikhar Arif, (who quoted from Ehtisham Hussain as written earlier) spoke of the "freedom of choice" exercised by Imam Husain in the way of Allah which has been so effectively brought about by the poet. He also spoke of the family relationships that have been highlighted by him, and which are part of our values. "A karbala had started in the sub-continent, and the great poet wanted to subsume it in the great tragedy of Karbala. Dr Aliya Imam, in her usual effective, flowery style spoke of the story of 1857 that was written with blood and the way the great poet felt that the need of showing the way of hope.

She spoke of the commitment of Jihad that led Imam Husain to sacrifice his near and dear ones. She asked for popularizing the message of Anees through symposia and translating his poetry into other languages Dr Siddiq Shibli of the Allama Iqbal Open University said that we have not been able to pay the great debt that we owe to Mir Anees by not improving on our research by Shibli Naumani (his namesake!) and Maulana Altaf Husain Hali. He also lamented the fact that house and places in the West are named after great poets like Shakespeare and Goethe, but we do not seem to honour a poet like Mir Anees.

Dr Syed Shabhiul Hasan Rizvi spoke of the traditional heights of Greek tragedy which he thought were surpassed by Mir Anees in his portrayal of the tragic, heroic events of Karbala. He also read in tahtul lafz (traditional rendering of Marsia with emphasis on intonation to draw, as it were, scenes from Karbala through words) selections from various marsias (elegies) of Mir Anees.

Akhtar Usman read out his own powerful marsia and dedicated it to Mir Anees. Prof Sajjad Husain spoke of the andaaz-i-bayan (the style) of the writing of the great poet but also spoke of the subject that the great poet makes the theme of his poetry. "In the days of Mir Taqi Mir Sauda and Khawja Mir Dard, in the days of Ghalib, Momin, Zauq, Sheefta and Zafar and in the days of Iqbal, Maulana Zafar Ali Khan and Khushi Mohammad Nazir were no less poets in terms of artistic technique but what was that thing that distinguished Mir in the eighteenth, Ghalib in the nineteenth and Iqbal in the twentieth century?", he asked.

Nikhat Zaidi also spoke on the occasion. Anjum Khaliq, secretary of Imkan, who also acted as the stage secretary, also rea

http://www.dawn.com/2003/01/04/nat19.htm

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