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A Tentative Paradigm for the Study of Languages and Literary Cultures in Hyderabad City
R.S. Sharma
The historic turn in social discourses has stimulated interest in the reconstruction of histories at the grass root level. The process that started with Greenblatâs New Historicism has now percolated into the wider discourse of Cultural Studies. A monumental exercise in this field is Sheldon Pollockâs Literary Cultures in History which traces the many trajectories that some Indian languages have traversed in the course of their present development.1
Similarly urban development has been a key constituent in the development of languages and literatures the world over. There are a large number of studies focused on the role cities have played in the development of languages and literary cultures. In recent years, studies on cities such as Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi, and Chennai have appeared. However, I am not sure if studies about Hyderabad as a city have appeared so far, particularly from newer perspectives drawing from Urban Studies or Cultural Studies.
To be sure, there are books about Hyderabad, a whole archive of it, in many languages, but not a comprehensive account in one language. So we begin by asking ourselves whether we need such a study. Sensitive writers and thinkers have always felt that the unique cultural and linguistic identity of Hyderabad is lost in the larger paradigms of cultures and languages borrowed from outside.
Since its humble origins in Chichalam (which appears, I hazard a guess, to be a distortion of Srisailam) the city has been evolving along linguistic patterns promoted by the many waves of migrants and settlers, not only from other parts of the Indian subcontinent, but also from distant parts of the world.
Hyderabad was always a global city embracing languages and literatures along with the people who brought them here. While the process seems to have been located within the origins of Deccani or Dakhni, certainly there were languages of the indigenous people such as Koyas, Chenchus, Banjaras and Gonds which appear to have been lost, but which are now being resurrected and studied with seriousness. Their linguistic presence is now visible in the many place names such as Koheda, Chanchalguda, Banjara Hills, but also in the traditional sources such as oral history, inscriptions, folk festivals, and songs. There are even attempts to invent scripts for them. The promotion of mono-lingualism in the guise of linguistic states has deprived many languages of their legitimate place in the language diversity of the country. Mono-lingualism has been part of imperialism and though empires have vanished other global discourses have taken up their place. David Crystal suggested it earlier, G.N. Devy has suggested more recently in his long project on Indian languages. It is not surprising, therefore, that Deccani which was the original source of both standard Hindi and Urdu, Khadi Boli and Urdu-e-Mualla, had to contend with Urdu and Persian for its survival. No wonder the eminent Deccani poet Hashimi had to assert:
tujhe chakari kyon, tu apnich bol
tere shair dakhani, tu dakhanich bol
What is your worry, speak as you will
Your verses are Dakhani, let Dakhani be your tongue.2
Now that mono-lingualism is going through a revisionist phase, the time is proper for having a re-look at the languages and literary cultures in Hyderabad. We can start with the following parameters in mind:
1. The intrusion of Empire within the native spaces and their cultures and subsequent waves of migration and settlement.
2. The development of power grids as a historical processâthe growth of the city along with the pattern of migration and settlements.
3. The culture of the court and the country.
4. The intrusion of ideologiesâArya Samaj, Marxism, pan-Indianism/Congress Nationalism, Utopianism.
5. End of the old order and the emergence of the newâthe role of caste and community organizations.
6. The library movement and the role of libraries, academies, etc.
7. Global factorsânew internationalismâthe role of foreign missions such as Max MĂźller Bhavan, Alliance Francaise, America Studies Research Centre, the PEN International, etc.
8. The role of women.
9. Translations and translators.
10. The role of universities.
11. The role of individuals.
12. The role of the state and the mediaâthe press, the radio and TV.
Keeping these parameters in mind it is possible to build an archive for the study of languages and literary cultures in Hyderabad city. It will inspire young scholars across communities to undertake research in local literary history to create a multi-lingual forum to exchange scholarship, and to create proper environment for the publication of a journal and a directory of literary societies and personalities associated with them.
In fact, Munindraâs founding of Triveni, and Murlidhar Sharmaâs Sahitya Sangam International, were positive moves in this direction. Muse India, the e-journal (Managing Editor G.S.P Rao) is also contributing to this endeavour.
The role of individuals in the promotion of literary cultures has been very significant. For example, Prof. Banshidhar Vidyalankar, Prof. Aryendra Sharma, Pannalal Pittie (founder of Kalpana the prestigious Hindi literary journal), Munindra (editor of Hyderabad Samachar), Yudhvir (editor of Milap), Nehpal Singh Verma (organizer, Geet Chandini), Murlidhar Sharma (editor, Prasangam, a literary journal), Govind Akshaya (editor, Golconda Patrika), have all played a pivotal role in the promotion of Hindi literary culture. Similar efforts have been made by other individuals such as Potukuchi Sambasiva Rao in Telugu, as is recorded elsewhere in this volume.
Like individuals, institutions such as literary societies, universities, libraries, journals, the radio and television have reflected the evolving nature of literary cultures in Hyderabad. Some of these have been discussed elsewhere in this volume.
A study of languages and literatures of a city provides important insights into the evolving nature of that city. A language is a visible and an audible expression of the presence of a community of people. Similarly literature is the oral and the verbal manifestation of the aesthetic and creative energies of that language community. A city evolves from the confluence and intermingling of several language communities as they come together to create a common habitat and to pursue their peculiar goals and aspirations, both spiritual and material. Over a period of time a city assumes the nature of an idea as a symbol of the collective life of these communities. It acquires a life of its own, impressing its unique imprint on the evolving collective life of that city, lending it a character, and a name, an entity in which history and geography become one.
Literary culture, thus, refers to the totality of these forces that give a city its voice, its face, a process in which people, places and persons come together to articulate their nostalgia for what is not there, their future which is yet to take shape, and their present in which they struggle with the quotidian realities of day-to-day life. The literary culture of a city is, therefore, a way of understanding the life of an entire community embedded as it is in its languages and the many ways in which they reflect their creative energies. The older a cityâs history, the greater is its diversity and complexity. Some of the constituents that go into the making of this diversity and complexity are:
1. Patterns of migration and settlements in specific geographical locations lending habitats their peculiar face and voice.
2. The expansion of these habitats into power grids leading to further expansion and growth of newer habitats.
3. The nature and culture of the political regimes and those controlling these regimes.
4. The role of ideology in influencing the socio-economic dimensions of a given community.
5. The micro-cultures of the settled communities.
6. The role of institutions structuring verbal culture, literary and cultural societies.
7. Kinds of libraries and archivesâeducational institutions such as schools, colleges, universities and academies.
8. The presence of institutional bodies.
9. Language environment, translation.
10. The role of the media.
11. The role of individual intellectuals, scholars, academics, writers, poets and publishers and others engaged in ancillary activities.
12. Activities which promote literary culture such a poetsâ gatherings, theatres, book clubs, and folk forms of literature.
Culture of Poetry in Hyderabad
Like elsewhere in the world, literary culture in Hyderabad has evolved round the primary form of poetry or verse. The culture of the courts and the indulgence of its elites created an environment in which poets found patronage and poetry found appreciative audience. Both the Kutub Shahi and the Asaf Jahi royals were fond patrons of poetry. They drew from different streams of poetry: Persian, Hindavi, Telugu and Marathi and experimented with newer forms of poetic compositions. They had their own ustads (tutors), held periodic mushairas (poetic gatherings) and entertained their guests with poetry. The culture of the mushairas became a part of the courts and soon percolated among the elite. Soon it became a part of the culture of the city and remains till today an important part of the literary culture in Hyderabad.
While the royals and the court followed the poetic conventions of Persian and the newly-evolving Deccani, other elite followed the conventions of Sanskrit. The culture of multi-lingual mushairas emerged out of this development.
Mushairas and kavi sammelans became an important part of the cultural life in Hyderabad. It was common for communities and social bodies to organize mushairas and kavi sammelans on important social occasions including the annual Indo-Pak Mushaira, the multi-lingual mushaira at the All India Industrial Exhibition, and the All India Hindi Kavi Sammelan organized by the Agrasen Shiksha Samiti. These became institutions by themselves, drawing poets from different parts of India. The culture of mushaira was shared practically by all major linguistic groups. However, even the minor groups enjoyed the mushaira. Yazdyar S. Kaoosji reports how a miniscule minority of Parsees in Hyderabad aspired to preserve its language by organizing poetsâ gatherings. He writes: âDadabhai Kaoosji kept alive the interest in Persian language, regularly holding âBazm-e-Saadiâ evenings (gathering centred on Saadi, the great Persian poet) at his home in Public Gardens as did the surgeon, Dr Bahram Surti, himself a Persian poet.â3
Persian continued to appear in poetsâ gatherings in Hyderabad. On many occasions poems in Persian were rendered by members of Poetry Society. In its 504th meeting on 23 September 1988, the society celebrated the centenary of Nawab Erach Yar Jung, where poems from his biaz (notebook) were rendered with English translations by Prof. (late) Sirajuddin.4 Dr Polly Chenoy, Tayaba Begum, Dr. B.S. Surti, Taqi Ali Mirza, S. Sirajuddin, Amir Ahmed Khusro, Shahriyar Kaoosji and Rayees Akhtar have kept the Persian poetic tradition alive in Hyderabad.
However, it will be erroneous to think that this culture of poetry was restricted to Indian languages. The nature of the court and elite had significantly changed during the late Asaf Jahi regime. The forces of modernity had changed the nature of the elite. The new elite were more oriented towards Europe, particularly France and England. Most of them were English educated and had sound mastery of the English language. The newly-created modern institutions had brought large numbers of bureaucrats who were deeply entrenched in English ethos, were anglophiles and keen to anglicize the life of the court. The culture of poetry was no exception. It is interesting to observe here that the inaugural meeting of the Poetry Society of Hyderabad started with readings of Portuguese poetry.
When the Poetry Society of London was founded, it in no time found a branch in Hyderabad. The Hyderabad branch of Poetry Society (1929) became the new avatar of the culture of mushaira in Hyderabad. Lovers of English language and literature, anglophile elite, and bureaucrats converged on it to share the ecstasy of writing in a modern European language. Sir Nizamat Jung (1871-1955), poet, administrator, monarchist, and a very sophisticated anglophile was the moving spirit behind this development. He was the first president of the society and remained in that position for the next ten years.
As president of the Poetry Society, Nizamat Jung created a circle of friends which included eminent poets like Sarojini Naidu, her brother, Harindranath Chattopadhyay and a host of others who constituted a school by themselves. Lesser known poets of the Nizamat Jung circle included Agha Mohammad Ali, M. Farhatullah Baig, Col. Sulaiman Moizuddin, Col. A. Jabbar, Dr. Hashim Amir Ali and others.
Jung guided and nurtured a whole generation of poets who are now lost in oblivion for want of research. He published nine volumes of poetry most of which were later collected by the administrator Zaheer Ahmed in a volume entitled Poems (1954).5 He published in prestigious journals like Times Literary Supplement and received rave reviews for his craft. He was essentially a monarchist but his love for Islamic themes was deep and passionate. He wrote mostly on Islamic themes but occasionally also wrote on secular subjects. From his exposure to late romantic poetry, he imbibed a deep interest in the sonnet as a form and produced some exquisite sonnets. Zahir Ahmed was perhaps the only Indian intellectual to show deep interest in poetry, and apart from collecting his poems, he also produced an autobiographical account of his life and times in the very readable Lifeâs Yesterdays: Glimpses of Sir Nizamat Jung and His Times (1945).6 His sonnets, he quotes from TLS, were âfull of singular excellence revealing a graceful fancy and true literary tasteâ.7 His poetry, wrote Sarojini Naidu, has âall the ecstasy of Hafiz, the wine of Omar, the mystic intoxication of Ghalib, the supreme abandon of Rumiâ, and who claims âthe burning sands of Arab deserts and the mystic roses of Persian gardensâ.8
Sir Nizamat Jung...
