Lucknow is the capital of the state Uttar Pradesh. In the last few centuries it has been known as the city of opulence and courtesy. The local people pride themselves of their poetic traditions, brocades and embroidery, elaborate gold jewelry and precious stones, rich palate and refined taste. They owe all this to a particular period of the Indian history, related to the Great Mughal rule that lasted for more than two centuries. Babur established the new dynasty of seven generations in the 16th century. He is related to the Turkic conqueror Timur on his father’s side and to the Great Mongol emperor Chinggis Khan on his mother’s side. He was trained and educated in Persian culture, literature and arts and their strong influence in India continued with his successors. Later on Lucknow became a center of artistic and literary activities generously supported by rich patrons.
The city is located on the banks of the Gomti River. It is a perfect combination of the old and new. Historical sights of intricate Mughal architecture and perfectly symmetric lush parks and gardens co-exist in perfect harmony alongside with shiny contemporary coffee shops and stores. It was a pleasant experience to have a refreshing cup of cappuccino in a well-cooled café after the visit to the Bara Imambara, a religious complex built by the Shiite Muslims for ritual purposes. The main chamber was enormous, almost 50 meters long, 16 meters wide and 15 meters in height, with no pillars in the middle supporting the vaulted ceiling – one of the most unique architectural structures in the world. The guide also showed me that if someone was standing on the balcony on one side of the hall and lit a matchstick, you could see it from the opposite side. He also took me through the famous labyrinth, the only one in India, he claimed, which consisted of many corridors at different levels joined by 489 identical doorways. He spoke beautiful Urdu, effortlessly embellishing it with canny aphorisms and poetic verses with a simple but profound meaning.
I had come to Lucknow exactly for this reason, to expose myself to this inexplicably delicate language and inimitably exquisite culture. On my way to the city I met a local politician on the plane and struck up a friendship with him. Later, in his house I met his friends and relatives and listened to their discussions. It was interesting to find that literate people in Lucknow don’t just talk in simple Urdu, they create poetic and literary nuances in their discourse no matter what the topic is and they seem to transform ordinary conversation into a poetry recitation event. At the gathering I attended, it sounded as if those present were reciting poetry all the time, as if they spoke in meter and from time to time they supported their point with a couple of verses from Ghalib, Mir, Faiz and other renowned Urdu poets. I didn’t always follow completely, but I got clues when a new quote was received by the others with approving nods and exclamations such as, “vah!”, “are vah, vah!”
In addition, I was invited to a few mushairas, gatherings for the recitation of romantic poems known as ghazals. Each ghazal is relatively short, consisting of a series of stanzas with a similar meter and length, every one of which expresses an independent philosophical statement with a short phrase that is repeated at the end of each stanza.
The mushaira developed as a cultural phenomenon under the patronage of the Mughal rulers, who brought the influence of Persian literature and civilization to India. The ghazals were also performed as musical compositions to the accompaniment of traditional instruments, such as the tabla, sitar, sarangi or harmonium. A nineteenth century Urdu novel, Umrao Jan Ada, by Mirza Ruswa a narrative about the life of a legendary courtesan, a beautiful dancer and talented poetess and singer who lived in Lucknow, offers one of the most elaborate descriptions of such gatherings. Fragrant flower petals float in cool water, bubbling hukkas emit aromatic vapor, scented betel leaf wrapped in silver leaf lie arranged in trays, covering the floor are beautiful silk carpets and shiny white satin sheets on which the poets, all men, are seated, wearing clothes made of brocade embossed with gold and silver threads, all deeply engaged in aesthetic, intellectual and philosophical discourse. Certainly, the events I had seen were not so lavish, but I always enjoyed them. I too have memorized a few verses that serve to make me a desirable participant on these occasions. My comprehension of poetry is reasonably good so that I can at least make comments in prose and show that I’m not a complete outsider at the poetry event.
Urdu developed relatively late in the context of the linguistic history of India. It evolved gradually based on a dialect spoken around the area of the Delhi Sultanate between the13th and 16th centuries, called KhaRibolii or Hindavii. Urdu formed in a multilingual milieu as a result of continuous contacts between the local population speaking closely related dialects and the foreign military, royal, and trading parties, who moved into and settled in the area. They spoke Arabic and Turkic, but also used the prestigious Persian language for creating literature, for administrative documentation and official communication. In the process of coexistence, interaction, cooperation and inter-mixing, several generations developed bilingualism and more frequently even trilingualism, based on which new language emerged. It further developed by gradually detaching itself from its restricted functions of a spoken-only language and replaced Persian as a literary language in the Mughal courts. Urdu literally means ‘military camp’. With only few exceptions, it shares with Hindi, , the phonological and grammar systems as well as core vocabulary. Both languages belong to the Indo-European family’s Indo-Iranian branch and, more specifically, to the Indo-Aryan group. At the colloquial level they are almost identical. In the bazaar, on the street, in the neighborhood, in most Bolliwood films only the greeting expressions and gestures are different – some say salaam aleikum, others say namaste or Ram-Ram. Differences are apparent in the journalistic style, academic studies and literary criticism, because of the abundance of lexemes from Persian and Arabic origin and because Urdu is written right to left in the nastaliq script. On the other hand, Hindi uses the devanagari writing system and in these styles it draws extensively vocabulary from Sanskrit origin27.
Interestingly, Persian was replaced by English in 1835 as the official language of government and the higher courts in India; Bengali and Urdu were used in the lower administrative and judicial levels in the northern and eastern regions, and Urdu and English were introduced in the Punjab by English officials to prevent the inhabitants from adopting another regional language28. Urdu was stereotypically associated with the Muslim community during the colonial times, but this was an inaccurate generalization, which unfortunately has not been overcome to this day. There are Muslims whose first language is other than Urdu, for example the Biyari, Nawayath and Mappila communities in the south of India or Bengalis in the east, and similarly, Hindus, Sikhs, Christians or agnostic and atheists also happen to speak Urdu if they grew up in an Urdu speaking environment like in the state of Jammu-Kashmir or cities such as Bangalore, Bhopal, Lucknow, Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Mysore, etc. It is problematic to make this simplistic, straightforward affiliation between a particular language and a religious community because of the underlying complexities in the linguistic, regional, ethnic and religious diversity of Indian society, and because of the existing and unavoidable tensions and anguish. This is a thorny topic that has been politicized in the last several decades, especially before and after the 1947 Partition.
Hindi and Urdu are also susceptible to debate. It is possible to consider Hindi/Urdu a single language, Hindustani, used by a large speech community existing in a complex socio-linguistic environment. In addition to its spoken variety consisting of mutually comprehensible spoken dialects, this language has two distinct formal variants used in religious, literary, educational, political and other formal domains. The illiterate speakers of this language are in active control of the spoken variant, Hindustani, and passively comprehend only one formal variant, Hindi or Urdu. The literate speakers usually are in active control of the spoken and can actively use either Hindi or Urdu. At the same time it is also possible to regard Hindi and Urdu as two separate languages reflecting different socio-political, historical and literary traditions. All this is a matter of point of view. What is important is that they exist among a multitude of other languages also encoding a variety of behaviors, customs and attitudes different enough to be considered separate and similar enough to be united in a geo-political, socio-linguistic region29.
Mr. Mehdi was sitting next to me in the plane to Lucknow. Right before we took off I got some gum from my bag and offered him a piece. He smiled, pointed to his belly and asked for two, implying he always ate for two. He was very loquacious and we chatted continuously during the flight. When we landed my hotel car was not there and he was worried for me. I reassured him several times that I would be all right and that he should go, but he was really uncomfortable leaving me alone. He offered to give me a ride, but I was confident that the car was on its way and most probably was stuck in traffic. He actually confirmed that on his cell phone. He ordered an airport employee to open big all-glass doors and we entered a separate section designated for government officials. I entered a large lobby-like space with marble floors, heavy flowery curtains and four or five sitting areas each with large armchairs and a sofa arranged around a dark mahogany coffee table. We sat in the middle of the room and were immediately served tea and biscuits. We waited for my car for almost an hour.
He told me that he was involved in politics. It was his family’s traditional occupation for generations. They were leaders of the local communist party organization from the time before the Partition of India and Pakistan and were well-known and well-respected. They were not harassed to leave for Pakistan, as was the case with many families, and so they didn’t move. He grew up around the most recognized and distinguished people of the city, he listened to their conversations, learned their lingo, early on became familiar with the main political issues and social agendas. He received his training in writing speeches and composing poetry by being around the elderly and his experience he gained by listening to them. He explained to me that he was Sayed, in other words he was a direct descendent of Muhammad, by way of the Prophet’s daughter Fatima and his son in-law Ali. However, he hurriedly added that he has a lot of friends who were Sheikh, i.e. not having such a pure ancestry. After he completed his law degree, he had a jump start, he received a job at the party headquarters right away and soon after, he became a local state minister. His older son was also going to continue the family’s tradition, whereas his younger one had a choice to decide what he wanted to do, but he himself chose the same path.
“Politics and ideology are not considered here just a field of intellectual endeavor in the beginning of someone’s career. It is a craft and a livelihood from the very beginning of a person’s life as an adult. It is inherited and transmitted from generation to generation. And I am proud that both my son’s are going in this direction. It’s not our family’s social prestige that I am concerned about. It’s the fact that the Muslims’ representation in the political life of the country, legislature, government sector, private business and public safety institutions is under 4%. Yet, we are the largest minority – 13.4%.”
My acquaintance looked at me and smiled:
“You cannot make an argument that their living in the village prevents them from participation in the government. The vast majority of Muslims don’t live in the rural areas like their Hindu brothers, but in the cities. However, this is related to another problem we have to deal with – the high illiteracy level. Urdu, in reality is dead in the Indian education system. Our children don’t learn Urdu script, Urdu literature and Muslim culture in the schools. We claim that India is a secular country, but the school textbooks are full of myths about Hindu gods and deities. And you know, this is against, or rather, in violation of our concept of oneness of our Supreme God. Tell me, why should parents send their kids to these schools?”
“You must have community schools, then.” I asked.
“Yes, sort of, in the temples we do. But they only focus on religious education and teach some reading and writing. They don’t bring the kids to higher levels and, as a consequence, young people cannot compete for good jobs. Simple and logical, right? I am not sure where all this will take us. We need laws, we need reforms to guarantee and protect our rights and freedom. And we need to raise our voice and push and push and push… And we have to be careful not to do it at others’ expense. We have to be careful not to cause confrontation. It is not easy to explain and let our brothers know how we are discriminated against in truth. My health has deteriorated a lot. I need rest. But I am not giving up and my sons are helping me a lot. I hope Allah is with us!”
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27 For more see Schmidt, Ruth Laila. “Urdu.” The Indo-Aryan languages. Eds. Jain, Dhanesh and George Cardona. Routledge, 2003. 315-386. Also Masica, Colin P. The Indo-Aryan Languages. Cambridge University Press, 1993. 27-30
28 Bose Sugata and Ayesha Jalal. Modern South Asia: History, Culture, Political Economy. NewYork: Routledge, 2003 67
29 See for more King, Christopher. One Language, Two Scripts: the Hindi Movement in Nineteenth Century North India. Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1994.