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Urdu Literature As A Modernising Force

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The concise Oxford Dictionary defines modernism as “modern views and methods especially tendency in

matters of religious belief to subordinate tradition to harmony with modern thought.”

Reference to religious belief here may be incidental but the definition aptly tends to focus attention on views and

methods in harmony with the changing means and modes of production which shapes the economic structure of

a period and the level of consciousness of a particular period in all fairness should be guided by the demands

relation of production of a society make upon the individuals. But economic changes do not instantaneously

bring about changes in the values and modes of thought which fall in line with the economic pattern through a

painful transformation.

The time lag between the remnants of obsolete and outmoded relations of

production and the demands of changing economic order, therefore, persists

resulting in various kinds of tensions and collisions between the old and the

new, the dying and the embryonic concepts in practically every sphere of

intellectual activity.

To those who believe in the exclusiveness of literary activity, aesthetics and

technical components of a masterpiece might be the end of all critical studies

but the fact remains that literature forms a significant part of intellectual and

emotional activity of a particular period and hence emotions, values, concepts

expressed therein may be fruitfully studied and against the backdrop of the

total consciousness of its age and its social and economic motivations.

Literature is to survive, it was have to partake in and initiate the process of

modernization i.e the task of correlating the social concepts and norms with the demands of the new relations of

production.

IIProf. D.D Kosambi has rightly remarked that history is “the presentation, in chronological order of successive

developments in the means and relations of production”. He goes on to note that “the entire course of Indian

history shows tribal elements being fused into a general society”. (intro 27)

This peculiarity of the Indian society is to be voted particularly in the context of the present discussion value

judgements of various cultures, may be misleading and prejudiced but if one believes that society usually moves

from simple to complex and from primitive to more advanced shape then one has to admit that social change,

however cruel and at times fulfills a historical necessity and elevates the social structure to a higher level of

culture. Hence any culture which motivates such integration serves as a tool of modernization. Urdu was born

within this process. As a part of Khari Boli, it tried to fuse together the various dialects of its origin and tried to

standardise these into a colloqial speech with a rich cultural tradition of Western and Central Asia. To call it a

Muslim tradition will be a misnomer for it had closer links with the indigenous cultural milieu of their homelands

specially Iran, Turkey, Samarkand, Bukhara and Afghanistan than with the Islamic tradition. In this respect, Urdu

literary tradition began as a modernizing force setting free the various regional literatures from their narrow

boundaries. True, Urdu did not accept in its fold all the dialects of the North like Brij and Awadhi for it insisted on

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11/17/2015 Urdu Literature As A Modernising Force – Asri Adab: The Definite Urdu Journal

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its urban sophistication and syntactical uniformity and standardization, but it was the price of modernization.

The role of Urdu can, thus, be fruitfully studied only in this perspective. India was cut off from the mainstream of

world culture and Urdu was perhaps the only language, which, through its literature, tried and succeeded in

building a bridge between local and indigenous literature and the main body of literary tradition prevailing in the

world of those days. What is known as the TurkoIranian tradition was in fact the reservoir of the world

consciousness of those days drawn from the Platonic and NeoPlatonic and Aristotelian and other Greek

sources on the one hand and from Arab, Egyptian and Sumerian cultures on the other. The ideas which

percolated into Urdu literature through Hafiz and Khayyam about the unknowability of the riddle of Existence, the

sanctity of Wine and Vagabondage and the supremacy of Love all bore the imprint of philosophies of cultures of

yesteryears and thus contained the collective wisdom of our civilization.

The tenor of Urdu poetry (even in its earlier phase) had a liberalizing impact. It sang of mystical longing of the

Beloved and rejects all dogmatic and ritualistic formulae to the goal. In the process, it ridiculed the Mullah,

idealised the wineseller and the vagabond and pleaded free thinking against obscurantism and blind faith. The

entire symbolist vocabulary of Urdu Ghazal was cast in the same mould and in as much as it created a wider link

with the cultural mainstream releasing its rotaries from narrow regional loyalties or obscurantist ritualism, Urdu

literature from its very beginning played a modernizing role. Its poetry was not rooted in religion or mythology but

in a secular half mystic, half hedonistic modes of medieval thinking. Medieval times were perhaps peculiar in this

respect that despite their apparent concern with religious concepts and terminology, the medieval royalty had

been actively engaged in evolving a mechanism to escape control by religious authority. Mahmud of Ghazni was

the first Muslim Sultan to rebel against the Central Islamic Caliphate. Alauddin Khilji was another ruler who

defied the authority of the religious schools. And Akbar put it in practice, freeing himself completely from the yoke

of the religious and judicial authority of the Caliph and Ulemas. Thus Urdu, which combined the medieval

tradition with a modern approach, fulfilled the emotional and intellectual needs of the middle classes. In those

days, it must be remembered, literacy was mainly the prerogative of the upper classes and the powerelite and

hence literature only reflected the responses of the elite and the middle classes. Hence the mocking of the

Mullah and the ideals of Khayyam and Hafiz suited the needs of the middle classes admirably and the poetry of

heady wine and enlightened free thinking formed a ready response in mushairas and poetic symposia. This

served the purpose of modernizing the medieval society to a certain extent.

But then literature is a complex and everchanging phenomenon. Urdu literature, till early 19th century, reflected

the mood of the times – the burning desire for change, the human predicament in a society where old values

were crumbling like a house of cards and the emergence of the new values was not in sight. It mirrored the

pamperisation of the artisans and vulgarisation of the elite and the breakdown of the economic and

administrative mechanism on one hand and of the rise of the military structure on the other. To quote only a few

instances, Sanda’s Qarida TazlikiRozgar and Hajviyat, Qasim’s denounciation of Emperor Shah Alam in his

Hajr, Nazeer Akrabadi’s and Haitim’s Shahr Ashabs and Mir’s touching references to the plight of the common

man tell the tale of the painful transition from medieval norms to the nascent modern consciousness.

IIIMuch greater challenge was yet to come. Urdu literature for quite some time identified itself with the medieval

outlook particularly in Lucknow. Serving the medieval needs, it nearly cut itself off from the changing pattern

being brought about by the fortuneseekers of the East India Company who were finding access to the portals of

political power in India after undergoing the enriching experiences of the Renaissance reformation and the

French and Industrial Revolutions in Europe. These experiences brought out the importance of Reason much

more sharply in contradistinction to Faith – and Reason of the 19th Century judged all values in the context of

social utility. Again, the chasm between medieval modes and modern sensibility deepened and the need for

bringing about change in the tenor and temper of Urdu literature so as to synchronise it with the new relations of

production became obvious. Sir Syed Ahmad Khan and his Aligarh movement fulfilled the historic need by

making Urdu literature as a tool of modernization.

To characterise a complex phenomenon like the Aligarh Movement is rather difficult. Its political objectives were

not exactly revolutionary for Sir Syed Ahmad Khan was much too eager to rehabilitate the image of the Indian

Muslim in the British mind as an enlightened, educated and above all, loyal citizen that he strictly advised his co

religionists either to keep aloof from politics or to organize themselves into a loyalist group. This was a far cry

from the Wahabis and the later day Deobandi Maulvis who fought against the British mainly due to their

interferences, real or imaginary, into their obscurantist attitudes.

For Sir Syed the main battle was not to be waged against the British but against our own obscurantism. A devout

believer in rationalism, he waged a relentless battle against superstition, dogmatism and obscurantism and

fought almost singlehandedly a war of liberation of the human mind. His war cry was ‘Reason and

Enlightenment’ and his ideals were inspired by social reform and literary consciousness.

Sir Syed Ahmad Khan had to fix his priorities and in his bid to shape the Indian Muslim society into a new mould,

he had to sacrifice his ideas of religious reform for achieving success in educational upliftment of the Muslim

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elite. Though Sir Syed was basically interested in modernising the Indian Muslims and as a medium of

modernisation, in Western education – the obscurantists were interested in Western education as it gave them

employment and not in the modernisation of outlook Sir Syed had in view. Even a man of vision like Sir Syed

Ahmad Khan had to accept the limitations of his coreligionists when, on the advice of his comrade Mohsinul

Mulk, he agreed to abstain from expressing any views on religious reform so that the cause of M.A.O. College

may not be jeopardised.

What interests us more here is the impact Sir Syed made on Urdu literature in terms of modernization of outlook.

The Aligarh Movement inspired epoch making writers like Hali, Shibli, Azad and Nazeer Ahmad and it is no

secret that these were the writers who crusaded against moribund traditionalism and strove hard not only to

widen the intellectual horizons of the reading public but also brought the ideas of Rationalism, Reformism and

Nationalism to our literature. For them, literature was a serious activity having a bearing on social and cultural life

of the nation and they handled this important medium with deep sense of responsibility and devotion.

Practically every one of them stressed the need of adaptability to new circumstances. Perhaps the most

revealing statement of the period was by Hali:

———————–

———————

linking all Thought to Matter. He followed this up by linking up of literature with social needs. His idea of ‘ Natural

Poetry’ was not limited to the poetry of the flora and fauna but of poetry which could depict social reality and

affect the moral tone of the period. Shibli’s political poetry as well as his deep and abiding interest in History and

scientific discoveries gave him a place of distinction in the annals of literature. Perhaps more precise and sharp

was Nazeer Ahmad’s role, when, as a novelist, he portrayed the Indian Muslim society at the crossroads of

history. Ridiculing the obscurantism, superstition and morbid hedonism and conventionalism, he tried to strike a

balance between healthy elements of the East and the West and thus strove to achieve a compromise between

the old and the new in the context of the contemporary reality. His novels advise a change in social outlook. The

dormant middle class households were illuminated by the enlightened modernism of the contemporary period.

In fact, the intellectual of the period was engaged in very difficult, tightrope walking by striving to evolve some

formula to retain his national pride or cultural identity on the one hand and to avail of new opportunities thrown

open by Western civilization on the other. This is perhaps the reason of the twofacedness of the literary ethos,

one represented by Akbar Allahbadi’s satires on the Anglicized Indian and Nazir Ahmad’s ‘IbnUlWaqt’ (son of

Fortune or opportunist) and Abdul Hamid Sharar’s ‘historical’ novels depicting the glory of the medieval times

when the Islamic crusaders defeated the Christian warrior knights in West Asia. Shibli wrote biographies of

Muslim monarchheroes of the bygone ages with devotion and diligence. The celebrated ‘Awadh Panch” made

the new British Raj and its “toady” imitators butt of its scathing attacks and yet, simultaneous to this ran the trend

of Nazir Ahmad’s novels, Ratan Nath Sarshar’s “FasanaIAzad” and Hali’s “Musaddas”, which advised their

audience to adapt themselves to the changing times and to adjust themselves with the new modes of culture

accordingly.

In this duality, in fact, lay the germs of the new national consciousness.

IVWith the birth of national consciousness, the needs of modernization entered a new phase. Literature, in the

context, was to herald national unity and an urge for independence. Urdu literature has often been described as

a literature of Romance and Revolution, Love and Liberty and it is not far wrong to characterise it in these terms.

First four decades of Urdu literature are replete with names like Iqbal and Brij Narayan Chakbast who sang

patriotic songs and wrote about the liberty and Asian pride, of Prem Chand, who wrote about the exploited

peasantry and the rising wave of popular anger against the British enslavers, of Maulana Mohammad Ali, Hazrat

Mohani, Zafar Ali Khan and Abul Kalam Azad, who underwent great sufferings on the hands of the British in the

struggle for independence. “Al Hilal”, his Urdu Weekly took the Urdu world by storm and the writings of

Muhammad Ali and Abu Kalam Azad gave the Urdu reader a new touch of ‘radicalism’.

It was during this period that internationalism made its impact felt in Urdu literature. Zafar Ali Khan wrote a full

length play on the RussoJapanese war of 1901 to commemorate the victory of an Asian power on a European

colonizer. Khilafat issue threw the Urdu writer into the vortex of international politics and the “sick man of Europe”

evoked all sympathy so much so that a number of folk songs were composed against the British oppressor who

were enslaving both Turkey and India. Later on, with the emergence of Bolshevik power in Russia, popular

sympathy also found ready response. Perhaps, it was Abdul Haleem Sharar who noted this new political

phenomenon in his articles in “Dilgudaz”. Later on, Hasrat Mohani openly declared himself a supporter of the

“Soviets” and the Bolshevik influences began to percolate steadily thereafter. In his early poems, Iqbal wrote

about the Russian Proletarian Revolution in his “KhizirIRah” and thus paved the way for a new type of

modernity.

11/17/2015 Urdu Literature As A Modernising Force – Asri Adab: The Definite Urdu Journal

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With the advent of the Progressive Writers’ Movement in 1936, this new mood got accentuated. Prem Chand in

his presidential address had launched the quest of a new criterion for Beauty meaning thereby that the modern

aesthetics should find full expression of the exploited classes of the Indian society. But in fact, progressive

literature combined in itself not only the urges of the new ‘radicals’ but also the aspirations of the modern

iconoclasts. All sorts of modernists including symbolists, psychoanalysts and ‘decadents’ – found themselves in

this medley crowd which was desperately trying to explore new artistic dimensions.

Notwithstanding initial drift towards Bohemianism and too much preoccupation with sex and morality – a trend

represented by the publication of “Angaray” and the emergence of various such trends in Meeraji, Saadat Hasan

Manto and Rashid – the Progressives soon succeeded in stitching their wagon to the star of political struggle of

the proletarian masses. Dreams of revolution and change permeated in their literature, though most of these

were the pipe dreams of middle class young men. Even though it could not produce a proletarian literature, yet it

succeeded in expressing middle class sympathies for the downtrodden. It created urbanity of outlook, open

mindedness and a zest for free inquiry and reflected equality of sexes, fraternity among all sections of mankind,

and faith in the revolutionary spirit of the times.

Since India’s independence in 1947, Urdu language and literature were subjected to a stepmotherly treatment

yet it has been a vehicle of modernization. It has firmly defied all parochialism, regionalism or communalism and

has been a treasure house of ideals and ideas born out of our own composite culture. Undoubtedly, it still

betrays middle class attitudes but within this limitation it has been struggling towards the modernization of

outlook. In Krishna Chandra’s stories on the Korean war, internationalism found an echo, while Qurratul Ain

Hyder’s “Aag Ka Darya” the whole tapestry of Indian culture was portrayed to create a modernist approach to

Indianness free from parochial fidelities and communal loyalties; while in Rajinder Singh Bedi’s “Ek Chadar

Maili Si” even regional modes were interpreted as part of a modernist approach towards Man and Woman. In

short, Urdu literature in postindependence era has been an expression of national integration at one level and

modern quest for human liberty at the other.

For the contemporary Urdu literature, the concept of a Total Man in contradistinction with the man and woman of

a particular age and region seems to be even more popular. The contemporary writer seeks to portray the

suffering of Man in all ages and all regions. He may not be representational yet his concern with the predicament

of humanity in an age of nuclear holocaust is part of the modernist approach towards life. It may be at times

jumbled up and to generalized but his concern for the human existence is undoubtedly sincere.

Urdu literature, therefore, served as a medium of modernization of outlook since ages. It has consistently

reflected the attitudes of educated young men who inhabited the cities and were at the forefront of cultural

change. Caught in the crisscross of regional influences and contacts, it always mirrored i) an allIndia cultural

milieu of the middle class which intermingled freely and sooner or later, liberated itself from parochial fidelities ii)

urbanization of civilization in contradistinction with the rural and pastoral stagnation. In this process, Urdu

literature became a vehicle of expression for the tension of the cities, the humdrum and squalor of the slums, the

conflict of ideas and values in town communities and the collision of idyllic dreams with the hard merciless

realities of the cities iii) In Urdu literature were reflected the urges of the middle classes to align themselves with

the exploited forces of the new means of production and thus to fall in line with the forces shaping the historic

destiny of our people.

VAround 1960, another change in the literary scene became evident. A whole new generation of poets and short

story writers had by now silently entered the literary field. These were uninspired by the ideals of social reform or

revolution and had very little in common with the ideals of the Progressive Movement. To them, didacticism was

taboo. Their faith in future was uncertain, their commitment to ideals was unsteady.

Influenced, as they were, by the tensions brought about by the speedy industrial development of India, they

compared their predicament with that if the Western avantgarde. Social commitment to them was not an axiom,

for their very relationship with their social environment was in question. Hence the whole gamut of problems of

social significance of their themes and the nature of communication and expression came under discussion.

Literature, to them, was merely and expression of their badly bruised personalities torn asunder by tensions

brought about by machines, offices, and a mad race for survival. They found themselves dangling between a

dying civilization and a glittering city life. They wrote poetry full of tension, disappointment and uncertain

yearnings. Often their images are incoherent, similis and metaphors are often jumbled up, expression weak and

ambiguous, and the diction rough, often prosaic – yet some of them, at least, have significant things to say.

Perhaps the last illustration would come from Akhtarul Iman, who symbolises this new sensibility much more

than any other modern poet. Directly concerned with the human predicament in the Indian subcontinent, he

draws with the help of social sciences and other spheres of human knowledge, the portrait of the harassed

individual enmeshed in a crisis of human values. His “SubzaIBegana”, Mirr Nazir Ali, logo a loga and Neeraj

and of course his masterpiece “Ek Larka”, express various aspects of the same theme with different techniques

and varying levels of symbolic and allegorical expression.

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Apart from him, Nida Fazli, Ameeq Hanafi, Khalilur Rahman Azmi, Shahryar and a host of other poets are busy

experimenting with new forms. Among new innovations is the rise of prose poetry which started with Sajjad

Zaheer’s “Pighla Nilam” and the tradition was carried forward by the present author and certain others. The idea

is to release poetry from the shackles of ornamentation, verbosity and to replace the conventional rhyme and

rhythm with the natural rhythm of common speech and everyday conversation along with suggestive symbolism.

The main achievements of main poetry have been i) The extension of the frontiers of poetic sensibility both in

terms of theme and technique, ii) better and more sustained use of symbolism in poetic art, iii) replacement of

medieval imagery with a more modern outlook and fore exploration of the internal depths of the human psyche.

These achievements are also manifest in the new urdu ghazal. Ghazal, though highly stylised and conventional

form was successfully revived and given a new look by modern poets. The idea was to bring to Ghazal the dust

and din of the modern life of the common man and to express this in simple words, images and situation which

may break its classical ornamentation and stylised vocabulary. Firaaq, Majrooh, Faiz, IbnIInsha, Taban, Parvez

Shahidi, Jan Nissar Akhtar, Makhdoom, Khurshed Ahmad, Hasan Naeem and a host of younger poets extended

its horizons.

In fiction too, new grounds were broken perhaps the most outstanding is the progress in Urdu novels. Quraitul

Ain Haiders “Aag Ka Darya”, Rajinder Singh Bedi’s “Ek Chadar Maili Si”, Abdulla Hussain’s “Aag Ka Durya”,

Khadija Mastur’s “Angan”, Mumtaz Mufti’s “Alipur Ka Aili”, Hyatullah Ansari’s “Lahoo Ke Phool,” Alim Masroor’s

“Bahut Der Kar Di”, Jeelani Bano’s “AiwanIGhazal”, Ismat Chughtai’s “Dil Ki Duniya”, Balwant Singh’s “Raat

Chor” and “Chand” are a host of other novels that come to mind which revolutionized this literary genre. Quraytul

Ain treats time as the central character of her novel and depicts the story of Indian history as the biography of

Nilambar and Champa in a long sequence of time which changes their names and places but hardly their

cultural ethos and eternal lives. Udas Nazleen and “Angan” and “Lahoo Ke Phool” have mainly political interests

rendered in highly sensitive human situations and characters while “Alipur Ka Aili” is a psychological study of a

complex personality and “Ek Chadar Mali Si” gives the cultural backdrop of the Punjab the pride of place in a tale

of human suffering. Qazi Abdus Sattar’s novels “Shab Gazeeda” and “Aakhri Khatt” display richness of

experience and power of observation and description of minutest details of rural life in eastern Uttar Pradesh and

recreation of historical situations of Mughal India in “Dara Shikoh”.

It will be no exaggeration to note that Urdu novels have recently taken great strides. It is still a long way to go but

the stamp of modernization on Urdu novel can hardly be ignored. It has reformist zeal. It does not seek to convert

or convince which perhaps robs it of the sincerity or single minded devotion to ordeals marked in Nazeer

Ahmad’s novels but its modern outlook can hardly be missed.

The process of modernization also entered the fields of Urdu short story. Krishan Chandra with his sensitive and

politically and socially significant stories ruled for a long time as the uncrowned king of Urdu fiction followed

closely by Rajinder Singh Bedi and Saadat Hasan Manto and Ismat Chughtai, Khwaja Ahmad Abbas, Qurratul

Ain Hyder and Hayatullah Ansari completed the top list. Slowly the emphasis shifted from plot to characterization

(particularly to the portrayal of uncouth and abnormal characters) and later on to the depiction of historical

perspective rendered symbolically in terms of fiction or the deep probing of the various layers of the human

personality. New techniques were evolved. Ratan Singh’s short stories were very short, crisp and suggestive.

Surindra Prakash, Balraj Manra, and Iqbal Majid’s symbolic stories adopted a new tenor of fiction writing while

Qazi Abdus Sattar’s sensitive depiction of the changing rural scene, Ram Lal’s “Headless Buddha” and “O.C”,

Razia Sajjad Zahir’s “Ummat Wala Faqir” all point out to the changing pattern of Urdu short story. Perhaps the

most eloquent and representative story of “Balraj Manra’s “Woh” in which a young man wanders in search of a

match box to light his cigarettes – a symbolic search of mankind for knowledge and fulfillment which leads to

many hazards and end in a fiasco. The texture of the short story has also acquired new plasticity. Ranging from

classical timesequence to the stories woven through fragments arranged in a haphazard manner we find here

every variety. Some are dedicated to the stream of consciousness others made up of jumbled up pieces

belonging to various time sequences and yet all these stories convey the turmoil and turbulence of the modern

age.

In the field of drama, this progress has not been so obvious, undoubtedly writers and producers like Habeeb

Tanveer wrote “Agra Bazaar” and “Ghalib Kaun Hai” and staged these plays successfully. Manju Qamar

Yadullahi’s “Bahadur Shah”, Mehdi’s “Ghalib Ke Urenge Purze’ and “Ghazal”, Mohammad Mujib’s “Aazmaish”,

Mohammad Hasan’s Kuhre Ka Chand”, Tamasha Aur Tamashaei”, Mor Pankhi” and “Mahalsara” Rafiya Sritunaz

“Dodi ChiraghIMehfil” a maful, Reoti Saran Sharma’s “Chirag Ki Lau” were important contributions. But the

most significant of them was producer Al Kazi’s stage productions of a number of Urdu translations of leading

English and European plays on National School of Drama stage such as “Look Back in Anger” and “Danton’s

Death”. These not only influenced Urdu playwrights but also popularised Urdu version in various areas. Also

noteworthy are Sagar Sarhadi’s “Tanhayee” which is been shown to Delhi audiences currently, Ismat Chughtai’s

“Tanhaye Ka Zeher” which was awarded Hum Sub Ghalib Award last year, Krishan Chandra’s “Darwaza Khol

Do”, Iqbal Majid’s “Kutte” and Habib Tanveer’s “Chamba Aur Char Bhai” and “Charan Das Chor”.

This practically brings us to the end of a panoramic view of the present scene of creative literature in Urdu. Urdu

was born and bred as an instrument of social change, and an agent of values of urbanization, centralization and

universalization. It has within it seeds of free thinking humanism and during the entire span life it has

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successfully disassociated itself from parochial, religious or regional loyalties and this tradition of “open this

world” still continues. Its mushairas and its popularity in full proves it close links with the masses.

India is in the midst of the process of modernization which means cultivation of a scientific temper in keeping with

the socio economic needs of the times. Literature alone can do very little – for modernization is essentially a

socioeconomic process, it is been being brought about not only through the pulls of the national economy but

also because of the industrailization and technology which need a modern mind to handle them but literature

can undoubtedly do its bit by bringing about an internal change in men and women who handle technology and

are affected by them. This can be possible only by removing all cobwebs of medieval superstition, parochialism,

sentimentalism, unnecessary ornamentation and verbosity and by inculcating a broad rational humanistic

approach towards men and matters so that the gap between the inner and outer life of men and women may be

bridged to save them from a great catastrophe. Civilizations only prosper when they remain in tune with the

forces of production which shape a society and to keep pace with these forces and to adopt the ethos of a period

to the sensibility released by them covers all activities. Urdu has been a useful instrument in this process and

has potentialities of meeting this challenge in its own way. In this endeavor, Urdu literature itself is changing,

other growing its medieval imagery. New metaphors are coming up and a whole new life inhabits the literary

planet, even when industrialization and technology stiffens the urge of men and women literature asking new

questions, awkward and embarrassing and even these queries of a troubled society have a cathartic effect and

successfully bridge the gap between private and public life of an individual in a fragmented society. These

questions are being asked. Inquisitive minds and troubled conscience seek their fulfillment and realization in

contemporary literature. Much depends upon their success for that will give not only a new rational scientific

temper and a modern idiom to literature but may help in bringing about a transformation in our society which all

of us have been waiting for.

Prof. Mohammad Hasan

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Tamasha Aur Tamashayee – Hindi Translation

Tamasha Aur Tamashayee

Prof. Mohammad Hasan Memorial Function held in

Moradabad – Part 1

BayadEDr. Mohammad Hasan, Moradabad – Part 2

Moradabad: BayadEDr. Mohammad Hasan

About Articles

Asri Adab Archive Download PDF Books

Hindi Translations Obituaries

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Asri Adab, a quarterly journal published by Late

Prof. Mohammad Hasan, discussed issues

related to contemporary Urdu literature as well

as burning social and political issues. It has

served as a platform for intellectual discourse

and as an objective viewpoint on the literary

and political landscape of the Indian

subcontinent. This website is our attempt to

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© Asri Adab, 2012