Sometime back, I received two Urdu journals, one from Aligarh and the other from my own city Lahore, both carrying with them a history of literary journalism now hallowed because of its association with personalities like Sir Syed Ahmad Khan and Sir Abdul Qadir.
The two journals are, Tahzibul Akhlaq and Makhzan now appearing in their revived form under the editorship of Professor Abul Kalam Qasmi and Dr Waheed Qureshi.
In fact, it is more because of their glamourous past that I feel tempted to talk about them. But let me not mix them up. So at the moment I will talk about Makhzan. I will talk about the past and present of Tahzibul Akhlaq later.
Makzan was a venture of Sheikh Abdul Qadir, who had conceived it as a purely literary journal devoted to the cause of Urdu. It made its appearance at the advent of the twentieth century and soon turned into a leading literary journal of its time. It had the privilege of having Allama Iqbal and Maulana Zafar Ali Khan, as its permanent contributors. Sheikh Mohammad Ikram was its assistant editor.
The journal flourished as a leading literary magazine for a decade or so and then closed. But after the emergence of Pakistan it was revived under the editorship of Maulana Hamid Ali Khan. Again it did not last long.
The journal, which was born at the start of the twentieth century, was revived once again at the turn of the twenty first century. It was during 2001 that the Quaid-i-Azam Library took the initiative to revive it. An editorial board headed by Mr Inayatullah, who in fact is the moving spirit behind this project, was formed and Dr Waheed Qureshi was appointed its editor.
Makhzan, which was originally a monthly, has this time been conceived as a bi-annual. I have before me the later issue of 2002, which has come out in 2003. Among the contents is an article about Bhartari Hari, which tempts one to talk about.
Bhartari Hari is one of the poets of ancient India, who was a source of inspiration for Iqbal. Apart from his couplet, which translated in Urdu makes the title line in Bal-i-Jibreel, the poet also makes an appearance in Javaid Nama and wins glowing tribute from Iqbal.
However, the poet has not been able to attract much attention from Iqbal scholars. But if we know very little about him, it is not solely because of the Iqbal scholars’ indifference to him. In fact, very little is known about this poet. His whole life is wrapped in mystery. This is what has been discussed in the article included here. The writer is Akhtar Shumar, who, while surveying Urdu translations of Bhartari’s verse, has painstakingly dug out a few facts about his life. But they are legends rather than facts.
Akhtar Shumar deserves praise for his labour. But the biographers, from whom he has benefited, seem to have derived much of their information from a work of fiction, where Bhartari makes his appearance as a fictional character. This work is Baital Pachchisi.
It forms part of Katha Sarit Sagar, a work of fiction running into nine volumes. But it at the same time enjoys an independent position. It was rendered into Urdu under the auspices of the Fort William College. In this katha Bhartari Hari has been presented as a Raja ruling Dharanagar, which in some other versions has been described as Ujjain. He is the son of Raja Gandharav Sain and the younger brother of Vikramajit.
But there is no mention of him being a poet. Betrayed by his consort he loses interest in all things worldly. He abdicates, turns a sanyasi, and goes into the woods.
So the real man is lost in legend and tales. But his verse is there. As Akhtar Shumar tells us, there exist three collections of his verse known as Shringar Shatah, Niti Shatah, Vairag Shatah. This verse carrying with it the quality of universality has been translated in different languages of the world, including Urdu.
Akhtar Shumar in his article is chiefly concerned with the Urdu translations of the poet. In his survey he has discussed the translations made by Gori Shankar Lal and Krish Chaudhary. I will like to add a few more names to this brief list. First and foremost is Iqbal, who has translated him both in Urdu and Persian. Bang-i-Dara includes a poem titled Aftab, which is a translation from Bhartari’s Gaetri Mantra. In Javaid Nama we come across couplets which are, as mentioned there, translations from Bhartari. Asar Lukhnavi too has translated a few ashloks from him.
More recent are the translations by Intizaruddin Khan. These translations have been presented in a volume titled, Shair-i-Azam Bhartari Hari.
Bhartari Hari is chiefly known as a poet. But in addition he also enjoys the reputation of a philosopher and a grammarian. Iqbal treats him as a philosopher-poet, who, though a king, had also gained a high place in the tradition of Faqr, which Bhartari himself will like to call Sanyas.
Sometime back, I received two Urdu journals, one from Aligarh and the other from my own city Lahore, both carrying with them a history of literary journalism now hallowed because of its association with personalities like Sir Syed Ahmad Khan and Sir Abdul Qadir.
