A RESEARCH scholar with three newly compiled volumes of Mirza Dabir arrived last week in Lahore. He was warmly welcomed and was much lauded for this valuable work in the inaugural function of these volumes. The next day he proceeded to Lucknow via Delhi for the purposes of the research in hand.
This was his second visit after a lapse of about one year. The three volumes he had brought with him in the last visit was the first instalment of the long series of Dabir’s volumes he has planned to bring out.
The scholar is Syed Taqi Abdi, who professionally is a medical practitioner, living in Canada and is busy in his research work on Dabir. His deep involvement in this work of research may well be read as a sign of hope for Dabir, who since long was consigned to oblivion. To be more explicit, should we now expect a revival of Dabir? Perhaps yes. Perhaps the process has begun.
The history of literature offers instances of poets, who after remaining for long in oblivion attracted attention of some scholar possessed with a searching eye. He retrieved all the verses lost to us and re-interpreted them in accordance with the sensibility of his times. And lo, the poet stands revived. Perhaps Dabir in his recession to oblivion was waiting for some such scholar. He has at last found one such soul.
But how did Dabir recede into oblivion? He at one time dominated the scene of marsiya and was held in high esteem as a great master in the field of marsiya writing. He was at his peak, as a marsiya writer when Mir Anis made his appearance. His meteoric rise in the field soon seemed posing a challenge to Dabir’s authority in marsiya writing.
The two poets were polite enough to restrain themselves from challenging each other openly. But their disciples and devotees lacked that kind of restraint. They soon were divided into two camps better, known as ‘Dabiriyai’ and ‘Anisiyai’, each ready to fight with tooth and nail for the claimed superior position of his master.
At a later stage, Maulana Shibli’s book Mawazna-i-Anis-o-Dabir imparted a literary dimension to this fight. Maulana, though not a Lucknavi, behaved on this occasion typically like Lucknavis, who had been very fond of cock-fighting. His comparative study of the two poets gives the impression of being a cock-fight.
But we should not be oblivious to the positive contribution made by Shibli’s Mawazna. It imparted a literary respectability to marsiyas, which hitherto was treated as the kind of verse meant to serve solely the purposes of Majlis-i-Aza. By discussing it according to the laws laid down for judging poetry, Shibli got it released from the confines of Imambara and elevated it to the level where it is reckoned among accepted forms of poetry. But unfortunately he did it at the cost of Dabir.
Indeed Muwazna did not go unchallenged. Dabir did have his defenders. But they were hardly a match to Maulana Shibli who was an acknowledged scholar and a literary authority. Hardly any of the defenders had the ability to make a critical study of Dabir’s marsiyas and determine their literary worth. In the absence of such a study, Shibli’s judgments on Dabir were readily accepted in the literary circles. What added to this situation was the non-availability of Dabir’s works. Syed Taqi Abdi holds his relatives and disciples responsible for this as none of them cared for the publication of his works. Consequently, Dabir gradually receded into oblivion.
It is only in recent years that some scholars interested in marsiya have paid attention to Dabir. Foremost among them is Syed Taqi Abdi, who is engaged more seriously in his research on Dabir. He in fact had started with his research on Mir Anis. He concentrated his research on one of his marsiyas and presented it along with his research in a deluxe volume. But after that he solely devoted himself to the research on Dabir. As stated above, the three volumes published last year were the first instalment of the proposed long series consisting of Dabir’s writings. The three volumes brought out now are the second instalment. These three volumes are:
• Masnaviat-i-Dabir
• Abwabul Masaib
• Mushaf-i-Farsi
All these three volumes, like the previous ones, consist of Dabir’s miscellaneous writings other than marsiyas, which have been dug out after much research. The first is a collection of his newly discovered masnavis written on different religious themes. On the basis of these masnavis Dabir, claims Abdi, deserves to be counted among distinguished masnavi writers of Urdu.
The next volume Abwabul Masaib is a prose writing of Dabir, which has been unearthed after much research. Here, is a narration of the tragic events of Karbala under the title quoted above.
The third is a collection of his verses in Persian.
These volumes will be followed by a series of volumes consisting of marsiyas, which, according to the research of Taqi Abdi, are 675 in number. This number also includes his unpublished marsiyas.
A RESEARCH scholar with three newly compiled volumes of Mirza Dabir arrived last week in Lahore. He was warmly welcomed and was much lauded for this valuable work in the inaugural function of these volumes. The next day he proceeded to Lucknow via Delhi for the purposes of the research in hand.
