THE word ‘pseudo’ means not genuine, false. And ‘epigraph’ means an inscription. Therefore, falsely attributed texts are sometimes referred to as ‘pseudepigraphs’ in literary criticism.

A misattributed or ‘pseudegraphic’ text is the work whose generally known author is not the real author and it turns out to have actually been written by someone else. Incorrectly attributed literary works are not always result of literary forgeries and sometimes misattribution is unintentional, though plagiarists and cheats do involve in such malpractices.

Richard D. Altick (1915-2008) is considered a world authority on research methodology. On misattribution he says that we have “to identify the author of anonymous or pseudonymous works (or works attributed to the wrong writer); to decide which parts of a work written by two or more authors belong to whom; and to remove from the received list of a writer’s works whatever pieces are not his, thereby purifying his canon (the roster of his authentic writings)”.

In our literary history, we come across works that have been attributed to authors who did not pen them. Such studies are known, in Urdu, as ‘tehqeeq-i-mansoobaat’, or research on misattributions. Some of our scholars have busted many myths. Revisiting these facts would be of interest:

General perception about Qissa Chahar Durvesh was that it was originally written in Persian by Ameer Khusrau, but Hafiz Mahmood Sherani proved that it was written in Mughal era, some 300 years later than Khusrau’s era, though various Urdu versions are based on Persian texts.

M’eraaj-ul-Aashiqeen, a work on Sufism, was edited by Moulvi Abdul Haq and he said it was penned by Hazrat Syed Muhammad Husaini Banda Nawaz Gesu Daraaz. Dr Husaini Shahid and, later on, Dr Hafeez Qateel, proved that it was not written by Hazrat Gesu Daraaz but a shorter version of Tilavat-ul-Vujood, a work by Makhdoom Shah Husaini.

It was commonly believed that Firdousi had composed a hajv (lampoon) to vent his resentment against Mahmood Ghaznavi, but Hafiz Mahmood Sherani proved that some of the couplets included in the so-called hajv were composed by some other poets and a few others were taken out of contest from Firdousi’s Shah nama and joined together with some fake verses. He also proved that the number of couplets in Mahmood’s hajv kept on increasing in numbers with the passage of time.

A booklet named Risala-i-Kashf-ul-Asraar is attributed to Hazrat Ali Bin Usman Hajveri, popularly known as Data Ganj Bakhsh. Hakeem Muhammad Moosa Amritsari proved that the attribution is false, and perhaps intentional, as it is written in ‘Sabk-i-Hindi’, or Indian style of Persian, and Hazrat Data Sahib’s Kashf-ul-Mahjoob is in a prose style belonging to Samanid or Samanian era.

Naval Kishor, the famous publisher from Lucknow, had published several editions of Divan-i-Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti Ajmeri. Hafiz Mahmood Sherani proved that no critic had mentioned Khwaja Ajmeri’s poetry until 500 years after his death and the attribution is incorrect. Sherani wrote that it might have been penned by Maulana Moinuddin Bin Sharafuddin.

Dr Ghulam Mustafa Khan wrote that a Persian divan published by Naval Kishor (5th edition, 1883) is wrongly attributed to Hazrat Abdul Qadir Jeelani. He has cited certain evidences that prove his point of view and establish the fact that the divan is not authored by Hazrat Abdul Qadir Jeelani.

Dr Nazeer Ahmed has written that there are some quatrains in the divan of Hafiz Sherazi that were not written by Hafiz as these quatrains are included in Nuzhat-ul-Majalis. We know that Nuzhat-ul-Majalis, an anthology of quatrains, was compiled in 13th century AD and Hafiz was born in 14th century AD.

Mazhar-ul-A’jaaib, is attributed to Fareeduddin Attar, but Khaliq Anjum wrote that it was written by someone else and attributed to Attar with religious motives.

Khaliq Anjum wrote that most of the books attributed to the Sufis of Chishtiya order are either fake or misattributed.

Qazi Abdul Wadood proved that Gulistan-i-Sukhan was written by Imam Bakhsh Sebhai and its attribution to Mirza Qadir Bakhsh Sabir is incorrect.

Some manuscripts of Mirza Sauda’s kulliyaat (collected works) have verses that were not composed by Sauda, wrote Khaliq Anjum and Rasheed Hasan Khan. Such interpolations are not uncommon in classical Urdu poetry manuscripts.

Hafiz Mahmood Sherani wrote that Khaliq Bari was not written by Ameer Khusrau and its original author was someone else also named Khusrau.

It is a known fact that Mirza Ghalib wrote the book Lataaif-i-Ghaibi to defend himself but put his friend Miandad Khan Sayyah’s name on its title as author.

It is a misconception that Divan-i-Makhfi was written by Zaibunnisa Makhfi, daughter of Aurangzeb Alamgir.

Facts about suspected or incorrect attributions presented in this piece have been collected from different sources, especially an issue of Tehqeeq, a research journal edited by Dr Najm-ul-Islam. Some are from Khaliq Anjum’s book Matni Tanqeed.

drraufparekh@yahoo.com

Published in Dawn, March 21st, 2022