February 22, 2004

THE 200th birth anniversary of Mirza Dabir seems to be leading to a revival of this neglected marsiya writer. These days, a number of literary groups and marsiya organizations are engaged in preparations to celebrate the occasion in a befitting manner. A number of research works are in the offing. Mashkoor Husain Yad, in his enthusiasm, has surpassed them all. He has been quick to bring out a volume titled Mutala-i-Dabir.

Mirza Dabir flourished as a marsiya writer in 19th century Lukhnow. In his hands, marsiya touched new heights and consequently won him fame. He was acknowledged as a great master in this field. But he soon found himself confronting a rival, Mir Anis, who with his distinctive qualities as a marsiya writer, surpassed him. He won a large number of admirers who, due to their devotion to him, were known as Anisiyas. But Dabir’s admirers, too, were no less devoted to their great master and hence were called Dabiriyas. These two groups’ devotion to their respective marsiya writers led to a heated controversy. The Anisiyas and Dabiriyas challenged each other, each claiming a superior position for his hero and with a dismissive attitude towards his rival.

A little later, Maulana Shibli joined this controversy. In his comparative study of these two great masters titled Muwazna-i-Anis-o-Dabir, he clearly came out as an Anisiya. He was all praise for Anis, and had no kind words for Dabir. Muwazna was a verdict against Dabir. What’s more, the verdict was accepted in the literary world as the final word on Anis and Dabir. As a rejoinder to Muwazna, a number of scholars from among the Dabiriyas wrote in his defence. But the defence was weak and a strange situation developed. Every scholar writing on Dabir is on the defensive, trying to contradict the charges levelled by Shibli. In a way, Shibli’s book has turned into a stumbling block in the way of understanding Dabir. Every study on Dabir appears as a rejoinder to Muwazna. The most recent is the study by Mashkoor Husain Yad. He, too, has not been able to extricate himself from Shibli’s criticism of Dabir. He starts by trying to show the hollowness of his hostile comments.

These defensive articles, in a way, serve the purpose of Maulana Shibli who has not treated Dabir as an independent poet. He talks of him and his poetic faults just to highlight the poetic merits of Anis. Dabir’s defenders have fallen into his trap. They just can’t discuss Dabir without reference to Anis. They must justify his position by comparing him to Anis. In this process, Dabir has lost his position as a marsiya writer with an individuality of his own.

What is needed in the first instance is an attempt to restore Dabir’s independent position as a marsiya writer, which he amply enjoyed in his time. A critic studying Dabir in the present situation is required to forget Anis for the time being, and Shibli’s Muwazna along with it.

No doubt, Mashkoor Husain Yad’s Mutala-i-Dabir is a serious attempt to understand him. And he does not talk in general terms. He always keeps the text in view. In the end, he has chosen one particular marsiya for an in-depth study. He has ably explained the poetic merits of Dabir’s marsiya and has shown us how this marsiya writer, who had been held in great esteem in his time, was misunderstood in later periods. But what mars this study is the critic’s wish to annihilate Shibli’s thesis. He has wasted much of his energy in trying to show the shallowness of Shibli’s arguments.

However, the fact that it is a critical study of Dabir makes it valuable. The Urdu marsiya, in general, has attracted the attention of researchers more than of critics. So marsiya criticism is a little less developed area than that pertaining to other branches of Urdu literature. This situation adds to the meaningfulness of Mashkoor Husain’s work.

But where is the text which has been discussed here? One has to be a researcher to have access to the marsiyas of Dabir. They have not been available in the market for a long time. Even the selections which have been published are very few. Perhaps the latest selection was Hilal Naqvi’s Daftar-i-Dabir, published in 1995 by Mohammadi Education and Publications, Karachi.

Dabir was a prolific marsiya writer. The publication of his whole text asks for an ambitious plan. Have the organizers of the 200th anniversary made any such plan? At least on this occasion, Dabir’s marsiyas should be available to us.

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