THOUGH it sounds quite weird today, it is a fact that till the first quarter of the 20th century there used to be a marked difference between the two versions of the Urdu language spoken by men and women. A number of special Urdu dictionaries have been written to record the vocabulary and meanings preferred by women.
But the students of linguistics know that it is not as weird as it sounds because sociolinguists admit that such differences do exist even today across many languages. George Yule in his The study of language says one general conclusion from dialect surveys is that “female speakers tend to use more prestigious forms than male speakers with the same general social background” (Cambridge University Press, 1993).
R.L.Trask, an authority on historical linguistics, while discussing the issue of language and gender in Language: the basics wrote that “perhaps one of the most obvious social divisions in society is that between men and women, and this division, not surprisingly, is often strongly represented in speech. In some languages, the difference is so great that men and women actually use different words” (Routledge, 2004).
Nasir Nazeer Firaq Dehlvi (1865-1933) is a writer of Urdu known and loved for his portrayal of Delhi’s culture, society and history in an elegantly idiomatic Urdu prose. Another of his speciality is women’s parlance. Firaq presented the idioms and expressions used particularly by the Delhi women so perfectly and in such abundance that when Syed Ahmed Dehlvi, the compiler of Farhang-i-Aasifiya, met Firaq he paid Firaq tribute by saying “what a great job you have done by presenting such a large number of Delhi idioms in just one brief story ‘Akhter mahal’. I am really surprised”. Another article by Firaq, titled ‘Begumon ki chher chhaar’, offers a very interesting peep into a scene of altercation among Delhi women over trivial matters during some wedding rites. The article is packed with peculiar Delhi colloquial style and women’s preferred vocabulary.
Hakeem Khwaja Syed Nasir Nazeer Firaq Dehlvi was born in Delhi on Aug 16, 1865. A poet and author of 22 books, Nasir Nazeer Firaq first attracted the attention of literary circles for his prose when his articles appeared in Makhzan, a literary magazine launched from Lahore 1901 by Sheikh Abdul Qadir. Firaq’s prose caught the fancy of readers when he began writing a series of articles in Saqi, a Delhi-based Urdu literary magazine published and edited by Shahid Ahmed Dehlvi. Portraying the cultural life at Delhi’s Red Fort and titled ‘Lal qile ki aik jhalak’ (a glimpse of Delhi’s Red Fort), these articles made Nasir Nazeer Firaq stand among the writers who were considered authority on Delhi’s idiom and the cultural history of the city. These articles were later collected and published in book form. His other books known for cultural glimpses are Dilli ka aakhri deedaar and Dilli ka ujraa huva lal qila.
But most of his books have been out of print for quite long. Though a new edition of Lal qile ki aik jhalak had appeared from India about a couple of decades ago, it was not easily available in Pakistan. His book Mazaameen-i-Firaq, though much sought-after, was out of print, too. Luckily both have recently been published from Pakistan.
Lal qile ki aik jhalak has been reprinted by Karachi’s Green Books. A slim volume, it is packed with interesting and detailed depiction of life in and around Delhi’s Red Fort. The author has drawn a picture of even the times when the Red Fort was being built. But Dr Khaleeq Anjum, an Indian scholar known for his love of Delhi and its history, has mentioned in his intro that Firaq’s writings are not without exaggeration and one should not readily believe everything Firaq narrates. But he admits that the book is an extraordinary example of Delhi school’s Urdu prose.
As for the authenticity of the events described in the book, Dr Intizar Mirza in his preface has said that the old woman who had narrated these events to Firaq, which he later turned into story-like prose, was named Banni Begum alias Dulhan Begum. She was employed at the royal kitchens of the Red Fort and was an eyewitness to many of the incidents she described. Nasir Nazeer Firaq was very young at that time and she, whom Firaq has named Nani Begum, was a nonagenarian. But Firaq also refers to his mother. His ancestors had been living in Delhi for centuries. His maternal great-grandmother was Khwaja Mir Dard’s granddaughter. At least, most of the details about the Delhi’s cultural life and rituals must be true, though Firaq’s magic pen may have put some extra lustre over it. This might have been a result of his being a disciple of Muhammad Hussain Azad, the Urdu prose writer known for his beautiful albeit hyperbolic prose.
Firaq’s another book, Mazaameen-i-Firaq, has been published by Majlis-i-Taraqqi-i-Adab, Lahore. Edited by renowned scholar Muhammad Saleem-ur-Rahman, the book has a glossary, quite an invaluable guide for everyone, even for scholars since some of the words used by Firaq are not found in concise dictionaries.
Some of Firaq’s other books are Maikhana-i-Dard, Saat talaqanon ki kahaniyan, Rubaiyyat-i-Firaq’ and Naala-i-andaleeb. Some of his works still remain unpublished.
It is generally believed that Nasir Nazeer Firaq died on Feb 12, 1933, but Muhammad Saleem-ur-Rahman says in his intro that the correct date is Feb 18 and not Feb 12, though the year is the same.
Published in Dawn, February 15th, 2016
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