February 15, 2009

A research work generally serves the purpose of bringing back into the limelight some important figures of the past who may have receded into oblivion. And, the newly published research work I intend to talk about serves this very purpose in respect to a poet, who till yesterday was, alongside his much praised ghazals, very much a part of our contemporary literary scene. But soon after his death his name seems to have receded in our memories.

During the latter half of the past century, we have among us one more Hafeez other than the famous Hafeez Jallundri. He was a poet known as Hafeez Hoshiarpuri.

And it was not because of his belonging to a different town that he stood distinguished from Hafeez Jallundri. In fact, it was essentially so because of the distinctive quality of his ghazals. He has to his credit a number of couplets, which possess the quality of popular appeal.

But in spite of this distinction his fame as a poet suffered after he passed away only because of his negligence in bringing out his works in book form.

The fact is that he very much wished to bring out his collection of verses, but he wanted to be sure that what he presented to the readers was flawless.

In our literary world poets with less talent suffer in general from over-confidence. How ironic that in contrast to the assertiveness of minor poets, Hafeez with all his poetic talent felt reluctant to bring out his collection because of him being hesitant and humble.

It was only after his death that his admirers managed to get his collection published under the title Muqam-i-Ghazal.

And now is it that a scholar has cared enough to make an extensive study of his life and works. So in consequence we have from Dr Qurratulain Tahira an exhaustive study of Hafeez Hoshiarpuri, which has been published by the Urdu Academy Sindh, Karachi under the title Bai Zabani Zaban na Hojai.

Thanks to this well-researched work, we now know much about his life and his achievements in the field of poetry. Hafeez Hoshiarpuri was a perfect gentleman and a perfectionist in terms of his poetry.

His perfectionism is evident from the care he took for technical flawlessness and for correct usage of the language in all his poetic works.

It was perhaps his deep involvement in classics which was responsible for this trend in him. Qurratulain has in the book written in detail about his involvement in classic books and hand-manuscripts.

 

Hafeez was often seen wandering in markets for second hand books in search of some precious piece of writing — hand-written or in printed form — irrespective of its language, be it in Urdu or Persian, Sindhi or Punjabi.

 

He was always in search of old, rare books and manuscripts not readily available. So he was often seen wandering in markets for second hand books in search of some precious piece of writing — hand-written or in printed form — irrespective of its language, be it in Urdu or Persian, Sindhi or Punjabi.

We can gauge from this that he had a vast know-ledge in classics. Steeped deep in the classical tradition of Persian and Urdu poetry he applied the ghazal as a medium of expression which was most suited to his temperament.

This choice is significant when seen in the background of what was in vogue in the literary world in those times.

Hafeez had turned to poetry at a time when new minds were under the sway of modernism. Newer modes of poetic expression such as free verse were very much in style. Hafeez could not be unaware of this new trend in Urdu poetry. He was in those years a student of the Government College Lahore with philosophy as his subject, and N.M. Rashid and Faiz Ahmed Faiz were his college friends.

With his specialised study of philosophy his creative mind was well in tune with the modern sensibility permeating in the modern Urdu literature. But modern literary fashions had no lure for him. Thus, he chose the ghazal as his medium of expression.

Hafeez, according to Qurratulain, had linked himself with that tradition of ghazal which relies on the experience of love or ishq. Making it a point of reference, the author has discussed the ghazal of Hafeez and his achievement in this respect; rightly realising love as the basic experience determining the character of his ghazal.

Hafeez also believed that ‘Ghazal can afford to be accommodative to everything we want to say. In fact, ghazal is the best form of expression for saying all kinds of things in a suggestive way.’

And with this belief, he during the years of Partition suspended his ishqiya ghazal and turned his attention to the sorrows and sufferings caused by Hindu-Muslim riots and the consequent migration.