Urdu Literature

Urdu Reading

Urdu literature made its first appearance somewhere around the 14^th century in Mughal India, and was raised by the educated elites of the Mughal courts. The presence of the Muslims gentry in a large Hindu India, did not dominate the awareness of the Urdu poet, the way Islamic and Persian tradition did. The colorful Urdu language had a rich glossary derived from Prakrit coupled with Arabo-Persian words. Some of the noted literary men who used this language include Mirza Asadullah Khan Although Ghalib wrote in Persian as well, he is better known for his ghazals written in Urdu.

 His ghazals contain Urdu heavily loaded with Persian words. Before Ghalib, the ghazal was mainly an expression of love and tenderness but Ghalib introduced the elements of attitude, the sadness of human life among other things, so immensely expanding the purview of the ghazal.

Ghalib closest competitor was the Dehli poet Zauq who occurred t be a tutor to Bahadur Shah Zafr, then royal leader of India. The phases used by a Zauq are homely, his language graceful and his pronunciation stylish. The two of them unanimously fashionable and recognized the supremacy of Meer Taqi Meer, an immense figure of Urdu poetry in those times. Yet another famous contemporary of Ghalib was the poet Momin, whose ghazals had a definitely emotional flavor.

In the later period, other personalities of Urdu poetry include Allama Dr. Muhammad Iqbal who will be remembered forever for his “Saare Jahan Se Achcha Hindustan Hamara”, Josh Maliahabadi he prefix his name was meant to represent his passion for poetry. Faiz Ahmed Faiz Kaifi Azmi and Sahir Ludhianvi both of them penned many lyrics for Bollywood movies and otherwise had impressed position for themselves in the records of the language.