SOME of the trends that took the fancy of natives of the subcontinent in the aftermath of the 1857 freedom war were but emulation of the British rulers.
One such trend was establishing the organisations or clubs, often called societies, for a particular cause or activity. Understandably, most of these societies must have been established with a nod from the colonial rulers, if not at their behest.
Literary or scholarly societies had begun to spring up in the subcontinent a few years after 1857 and Delhi Literary Society — or, more appropriately, ‘Dehli’ Society — was one of them.
According to Dr Abdus Sattar Siddiqi, Delhi Society’s journal would publish the proceedings of the society’s meetings. Some scholars have written that Delhi Society’s Risala or magazine was a monthly, but Dr Siddiqi corrected it and said it was not a regular magazine but was published usually every year to report the activities of the society as well as the papers read at the meetings. It once also carried an article by Mirza Ghalib.
In its first issue, published in 1866, it was said that on July 28, 1865, Colonel Hamilton, the commissioner of Delhi, convened a meeting of the notables of the city, including some Englishmen, at his Delhi residence. After constituting a committee, he referred to Lahore’s Anjuman-i-Mataalib-i-Mufeeda [usually known as Anjuman-i-Punjab] and Aligarh’s Scientific Society, suggesting that the committee should concentrate on the similar topics, especially history, old buildings, old coins, languages and arts and crafts. The society was named ‘Dehli’ Society (Maqaalaat-i-Siddiqi, Lahore, 2015).
Delhi Society’s second meeting took place on Aug 11, 1865. Ghalib, too, attended it and read out an Urdu article. In his article Ghalib not only condemned the natives who had fought against the British during the 1857 war of freedom but also wrote that “God gave victory to the British”. Then Ghalib went on to say that he had been writing panegyric odes since 1855 to pay homage to the “ruler of the land and seas Her Majesty the Queen as lofty as the sky”. This sounds strange when we consider that Bahadur Shah Zafar was the ruler of India in 1855, albeit in name only, and Ghalib used to attend his court as a poet. It was not until two years later that the British took over completely.
Though Munshi Pyare Lal’s name is not mentioned among those who had attended the first meeting of Delhi Society, Dr Siddiqi had evidence to prove that Munshi Pyare Lal was the secretary of Delhi Society and he used to publish society’s journal. Dr Siddiqi opines that Pyare Lal might have been nominated later on. Ghalib, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan and Moulvi Zakaullah too had been made the members of the society, as the first issue of society’s journal mentioned.
Munshi Pyare Lal, also known as Master Pyare Lal Ashob, had certain traits that endeared him to Ghalib. Ashob was made a curator at Lahore’s education department and when he was leaving Delhi for Lahore, he resigned from Delhi Society. His resignation was accepted in the meeting of the society held on Dec 9, 1868, notes Dr Siddiqi. During the meeting, a laudatory resolution was passed to appreciate Pyare Lal’s services. Ghalib on that resolution wrote: “only my heart knows the pain that Babu Pyare Lal’s departing has caused me. Now I feel there is no one in Delhi who belongs to me”.
While at Lahore, Ashob co-authored Rusoom-i-Hind, an Urdu book first published in 1868 by the education department, as put by Ashob himself, “to help military officers pass their exams”. The other author was Capt. W. R. Holroyd. The first three chapters were penned by Ashob. The book narrates religious beliefs and practices of the Hindus and Muslims. But the most remarkable aspect is its language: easy yet lovely, idiomatic yet flowing.
It is surprising and disappointing that Pyare Lal Ashob’s name is hardly mentioned in the history of Urdu literature. Jameel Jalibi’s history of Urdu literature is a monumental work but it has only passing references to Pyare Lal Ashob and Master Ramchandr. It has no indication that these two writers had much importance in the history of Urdu prose. Intizar Hussain in his column published in Dawn had pointed out this lacuna when the fourth volume of Jalibi’s history was published.
Master Pyare Lal Ashob Dehlvi was born in Delhi in 1838. He was educated at Delhi College where he was a student of Master Ramchandr and Maulana Sehbai. Ashob joined the education department and was made headmaster at Gurgaon. A few years later he served as Delhi Normal School’s headmaster. Later on, he was made curator and then inspector of schools. Ashob was the editor of Ataaleeq-i-Punjab, an Urdu magazine that government of Punjab had launched from Lahore in January 1870. Ashob translated several books from English into Urdu for students. His other books are: Urdu Ki Teesri Kitab — often wrongly attributed to Muhammad Hussain Azad — Qisas-i-Hind, Tareekh-i-Inglistan and some others.
Master Pyare Lal Ashob Dehlvi died in Delhi on May 28, 1914.
Published in Dawn, May 18th, 2020
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