KARACHI: Writers and Readers Café held at the Arts Council of Pakistan’s Josh Malihabadi Library a session on Thursday evening on the history of Urdu marsiya (a genre of poetry that commemorates Imam Husain’s martyrdom at Karbala).

Dr Aliya Imam and Dr M. Raza Kazmi were the eminent speakers who expressed their views on the subject. The event was moderated by Dr Aqeel Abbas Jafri.

The first question that Dr Jafri, after talking about the form of shakhsi marsiya (personal marsiya) put to the scholars was whether the tradition of that kind of writing had its roots in Persian and Arabic literatures. Dr Kazmi replied that the tradition of extemporaneous poetry (filbadeeh shairi) existed in Arab. Persia had a similar tradition but ever since Islam came to Iran, Pahlavi and Arabic became the Persian language. “When it comes to Urdu, Urdu literature and the subject of Karbala began together. Karbal Katha by Fazli is considered to be the first publication. Then Quali Qutub Shah was not just the first sahib-i-diwansha’ir of Urdu [a collection of poems to his credit], but was the first marsiya poet. Therefore, the marsiya started with Deccani Urdu. However, at the time the genre was not in the kind of shape that it later became in Lucknow, which we today call the salaam (in the form of a ghazal).

“When the marsiya reached Delhi, the mussaddas marsiya [spanning over six lines] was first written. Ghalib also made one attempt. Delhi has a particular school of marsiya on which books have also been penned. Now as poets like Mir and Sauda went to Lucknow from Delhi, the marsiya too reached Lucknow.”

Dr Aliya Imam and Dr Raza Kazmi shed light on development of elegy in Urdu poetry

Dr Jafri at that point mentioned Punjab’s contribution to the genre. Dr Kazmi answered the marsiya was written in Punjab as well where there were more emotions (jazbaat) but sincere (mukhlisana) and effective (pur asar).

Dr Imam primarily spoke on the poet Mir Anis. She said the tragedy of Karbala has influenced the entire world which is why marsiyas have been written all across the world. As far as the subcontinent is concerned, in Deccan, the rulers belonged to the fiqa-i-Jafria, so the marsiya was highly praised in that part of the country. From there the genre arrived in the region of Avadh. In Avadh, Wajid Ali Shah was the ruler.

She said: “The tragedy of Karbala is about standing with the oppressed against the oppressor (zulm ke khilaf mazlum ki himayat). Marsiya reached its high point in the subcontinent. In that regard, the biggest name is that of Mir Anis.”

She went on to highlight the attributes of Anis’ poetry. She said the poet saw the tragedy of Karbala from various aspects. Two of the points that she raised were the importance of women and the significance of relationships. “Karbala brings relations together (rishton ko jorta hai). This is the contribution of Anis who highlighted it through his poetry.”

The last point that Dr Imam made was to do with the notion of majority. She argued these days we hear on a daily basis that the ‘majority is with us’. Karbala changed the ‘chemistry’ of majority and minority. “Mir Anis understood that psychology well.”

Published in Dawn, July 13th, 2024