INTERNATIONAL Children’s Book Day is observed every year in the first week of April. It coincides with Hans Christian Andersen’s birthday, as Andersen is considered one of the greatest writers of children’s literature.

Sponsored by International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY), the event aims at ‘bringing books and children together’. Making access to books easy for children is the basic idea behind observing the day.

And it brings to one’s mind the literature written for children in Urdu. Interestingly, despite a long oral tradition, the earliest juvenile literature committed to writing in Urdu was not stories and it consisted of bilingual, versified dictionaries known as nisab nama. Beginning in the mid-18th century, these versified works were intended to give children a list of Urdu and Persian synonyms. In the 19th century, Ghalib, too, had composed such a brief versified dictionary named Qadir Nama.

With the revolution in 1857, almost every literary genre witnessed a sea change and children’s Urdu literature was no exception: Muhammad Hussain Azad, Altaf Hussain Hali, Rashidul Khairi and Nazeer Ahmed richly contributed to children’s literature and wrote poems, essays and stories. But it was Ismail Meruthi who wrote exclusively and extensively for children. Aside from his lovely and easy-to-read Urdu poems, Meruthi wrote a series of integrated elementary textbooks with the concept of graded vocabulary. These primers were taught at schools until after the creation of Pakistan and can teach a thing or two to the new writers of textbooks even today. At least, a few poems and fables included in these primers may come in handy.

Allama Iqbal, who translated or adapted quite a few poems for children from western literatures, proved his class in this realm, too. Then we see a long list of writers who enriched children’s Urdu literature and they include Muhammadi Begum, Ahsan Marehrvi, Tajwer Najeebabadi, Akhter Sherani, Prem Chand, Adul Majeed Salik, Chiragh Hasan Hasrat, Hamidullah Afsar, Shafiuddin Nayyar, Imtiaz Ali Taj, Ismat Chughtai, Ilyas Ahmed Mujeebi and Hafeez Jallandhari. And then arrived the unforgettable character Tot Batot, created by Soofi Tabassum.

In the pre-Independence era, a number of children’s magazines were launched in Urdu and they created quite a conducive atmosphere for the creation of children’s literature in Urdu. These magazines published stories, essays, poems, dramas, jokes, riddles and sketches and pictures as well to enhance children’s interest. They included Phool (Lahore), Ta’leem-o-Tarbiyet (Lahore), Payam-i-Ta’leem (Delhi), Ghuncha (Bijnor) and Bachchon Ki Dunya (Allahabad). In the post-Independence era, other magazines that made their mark include Naunehal (Karachi), Bhai Jaan (Karachi), Khilona (Lahore), Bachchon Ki Dunya (Lahore), Honehaar (Karachi), Jugnoo (Lahore), Tot Batot (Karachi), Saathi (Karachi) and some others.

Another trend that helped promote children’s literature is the tradition of publishing children’s page in almost all Urdu newspapers.

As for poetry composed for children after Independence, some big names wrote for children as well; for instance, Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi, Ibn-e-Insha, Qateel Shifai, Mahshar Badyuni, Qayyum Nazar, Khatir Ghaznavi, and Saleem Farooqi. Other well-known writers who created stories and novels for children include Hajra Masroor, Ashraf Suboohi, Meerza Adeeb, Altaf Fatima, Maqbool Jahangeer, Kamal Ahmed Rizvi, Saeed Lakht, Zulfiqar Tabish, Jabbar Tauqeer, A.R. Khatoon, Muslim Ziai, Ishtiaq Ahmed, Jameel Jalibi and Saqiba Raheemuddin.

Two aspects that made our juvenile literature all the more valuable are: 1) translations from Western and Eastern literatures; 2) simplified and abridged versions of Urdu’s classical works.

Beautifully rendered into Urdu, with keeping in mind children’s mental and moral needs, translations include, for example: Sulaimani Khazana, a simplified and short Urdu version of Rider Haggard’s King Solomon’s Mines and Pinakoo Ke Karname, a humorous tale translated from English work The Adventures of Pinocchio, based on the famous Italian author Carlo Collodi’s novel. Several stories from The Arabian Nights have been rendered into simplified Urdu versions for children. Similarly, stories from Sheikh S’adi’s works and Maulana Rumi’s fables too have been translated specially for children.

Some writers have shown good skills in creating abridged and adapted versions of Urdu’s classical literature. For instance, Daastan-e-Ameer Hamza, the famous tale, was published in simplified version in several volumes by Feroz Sons. Works like Bagh-o-Bahar, Fasana-i-Azad, Haji Baghlol and some other classical works, too, have been published in simple versions.

Some of the remarkable and popular works written in Urdu for children are: Mera Naam Mangoo Hai (Jabbar Tauqeer), Hafiz Jee (Saeed Lakht), Shikar Ki Kahaniyan (Maqbool Jahangeer), Pakistan Ki Sair (Razia Faseeh Ahmed), Darakht Ke Bachche (Muslim Ziai), Aik Tha Chor (Anwer Inayatullah) and Laal Bander (Abdul Wahid Sindhi).

We must not forget some publishing houses that played all the important role in making books accessible to children and they include: Dar-ul-Isha’at Punjab (Lahore), Feroz Sons (Lahore), Sheik Ghulam Ali (Lahore), Hamdard Foundation (Karachi), Urdu Academy Sindh (Karachi), National Book Foundation (Islamabad) and Dawah Academy (Islamabad).

drraufparekh@yahoo.com

Published in Dawn, March 29th, 2021