literary notes: Lahore in Urdu, Punjabi and Persian poetry
THIS Persian couplet, written by Empress Noor Jahan (1577-1645), can roughly be translated as:
I have bought Lahore with my life,
I have given life and bought another paradise.
Little did she know that these words would prove prophetic and she would be buried at Lahore — the other paradise that she had bought with life.
But Noor Jahan was not alone in being enticed by this bewitching city known for its rich culture, history, arts and literature as over the centuries Lahore has captivated all and sundry. A Persian aphorism says Isfahan is half the world, praising its scholars, poets, artisans, traders, architectural heritage and beauty and ... and what not. But a Punjabi axiom suggests that Lahore is the entire world, not the half, as it says one who has not seen Lahore, has not yet been born.
To celebrate the city, Nuqoosh, the illustrious Urdu literary magazine published from Lahore, had brought out in February 1962 a 1200-page special issue. Named Lahore Number, it covered in detail the history of Lahore from the Ghaznavid era, beginning in 997 AD, to the 1950s. This special issue encapsulated the political, social, cultural, artistic and literary history of Lahore as well as Lahore’s architectural landmarks, shrines, gardens, religious schools, educational institutes, mosques, temples, gurdwaras, libraries, museums, takiyas (abodes of dervishes), akharaas (wrestling grounds) and festivals. Not to be missed in this star-studded history were the legendary personalities who lived in Lahore, including musicians, male and female singers, dancers, qawwals, wrestlers, film stars, film directors, hakeems (medicine men), calligraphers, painters, historians, political figures, journalists, poets, prose writers ... you name it.
Interestingly, this special issue of Nuqoosh also included a section on Persian poetry in Lahore and Khwaja Abdul Hameed Yazdani had briefly introduced in an article the famous Persian poets who had lived in Lahore over its 1000-year-old history. The other half of the article narrated how Persian poets had reflected on Lahore. So, alongside common people, intellectuals, too, loved the city and Lahore’s charm created a special place not only in the hearts of writers but in their writings as well. Local poets have always talked about Lahore in their poetry — be it Urdu or Persian or Punjabi poetry — almost always lovingly. Lahore’s portrayal in poetry enables us to see the city in a different perspective and looking at how poets have talked about Lahore is an interesting study.
To record and understand this admiration for Lahore as reflected in our poetry, Gurmani Centre for Language and Literature, LUMS, has come up with a collection of articles titled Lahore Ki Kahani Shaeri Ki Zabani, or, Lahore’s story as told by poetry. Subtitled Urdu, Punjabi Aur Farsi Shaeri Mein Lahore Ka Zikr and edited by Dr Nasir Abbas Nayyar, with assistance from Shaista Hasan and Zahid Hasan, the book has three sections, each covering a language whose literature mirrors Lahore and these three languages are Urdu, Punjabi and Persian. The book has aptly been dedicated to three poets from Lahore representing the three languages: Masood Saad Salman, Nasir Kazmi and Ustaad Daaman.
The place or location plays an important role in shaping ideas and creativity, argues Nasir A. Nayyar in his erudite foreword, successfully tracing the philosophical and epistemological basis for a city’s eulogy.
Paraphrasing what Nayyar says, we can say that to narrate the inner world and express creativity, poets and writers require metaphors used in everyday language, but these metaphors are derived from the experiences authors go through in a physical world they live in or, in other words, the outer places, spaces or locations. What authors gain from these experiences taking place in an exterior world does shape their language and metaphors too and, in turn, with these metaphors and symbols authors describe the interior world.
According to Nayyar, most of the mythological symbols, too, emanated from human experiences that occurred at a specific space and at a specific time. Though these symbols are apparently inexplicable and are considered extraterrestrial or beyond physical human experience in essence, they in fact were used to refer to some physical and mundane existence before becoming symbols. So, adds Nayyar, cities have an emotional and psychological bond with its inhabitants, known as topophilia, and this book is an endeavour to explain that bond between Lahore and its denizens.
In Urdu section, articles by Sarvarul Huda, Muhammad Nasruallah, Shaista Hasan and Ambreen Salahuddin are included. In Punjabi section, Iftikhar Ahmed Sulehri, Vasif Lateef, Karamat Ali Mughal and Iqbal Qaiser have contributed their papers. Persian section has articles by Shaista Hasan, Naseemur Rahman and Sher Zaman. An English article by Pegah Shahbaz elaborates Lahore as seen in Persian masnavis of Heer-o-Ranjha.
The book shows how Lahore has inspired poets and how they have expressed their sentiments for the city.
Published in Dawn, September 23rd, 2024