PROF Dr Gian Chand Jain was a matchless research scholar, critic, linguist and an academic. But his last book Aik Bhasha, Do Likhavat, Do Adab (2005) kicked up a controversy that raged even after his death and spoilt his image, clouding the great services that he had rendered for Urdu for over 50 years.
Gian Chand penned over three dozen books on Urdu language and literature. Most of Jain’s books are considered authoritative works often serving as reference in research papers, dissertations and academic works. It is unfortunate that a great scholar and a lover of Urdu was made an outcast and all his services for Urdu were ignored because of just one book. No doubt, the book had caused great pain to the lovers of Urdu but it is unfair to discard all his other works and deny him the kudos that he deserves for his long services to Urdu. Now we can look back at the whole episode from a distance of about 15 years and can be a bit more objective, perhaps.
Prof Gian Chand Jain was born in Seohara, district of Bijnor, UP, on September 19, 1923. He did his PhD on ‘Urdu Ki Nasri Dastanen’ form Allahabad University in 1948. It was one of the 10 earliest doctoral degrees awarded in Urdu in the subcontinent. Gian Chand went on to get another doctorate and in 1960 Agra University awarded him a DLitt on his research work ‘Urdu Masnavi Shumali Hind Mein’. Gian Chand taught and guided research scholars at different institutions including Hameediya College, Bhopal; Jammu University; Allahabad University and Central University, Hyderabad (Deccan). Surprisingly, he was a poet as well.
Gian Chand wrote on general linguistics, Urdu language, grammar, Urdu dastan, history of Urdu literature, prosody, Iqbal, Ghalib, research methodology and the history of Urdu language. But he was basically a research scholar as his stance, whatever he wrote on, was usually that of a researcher. He had established himself as one of the most prominent scholars of Urdu. His insight as a researcher and his penchant for bringing to light obscure classical texts or correcting errors in literary history is rarely equalled by his peers. Just like Qazi Abdul Wadood, he was a researchers’ researcher. Many of his research works appealed chiefly to other research scholars. Gian Chand’s book Tehqeeq Ka Fan (1994) is the most comprehensive book written in Urdu on research methodology. He had consulted over a hundred English, Hindi and Urdu books on research to write this book. Similarly, his book Aam Lisaniyaat (1985) is the most comprehensive work in Urdu on linguistics, albeit it has now become a bit stale. As put by Nisar Ahmed Farooqi in one of his articles, Gian Chand’s stature as a researcher is at par with Hafiz Mahmood Sherani, Abdus Sattar Siddiqi, Syed Abdullah, Qazi Abdul Wadood and some other giants of Urdu research.
Jain’s book Aik Bhasha, Do Likhavat, Do Adab proffered some ideas and theories that were simply not palatable. On the origin of Urdu, for instance, he said Hindi had a chronological precedence over Urdu. He believed since Muslim writers and scholars of Urdu were biased against Hindus and Hindi, they have not done justice to either of them. The book evoked strong reaction and it was termed as “biased, sarcastic, malicious, anti-Urdu and anti-Muslim”. As a rejoinder Shamsur Rahman Farooqi wrote the first objective, detailed and scholarly article. Mirza Khalil Baig wrote a scholarly book in reply and Abdus Sattar Dalvi, too, penned a book to counter some of the argument raised by Jain.
In the late 1990s, Prof Jain had settled in the USA. So it was his last book and by the time it was sent to press Prof Jain was already suffering from different serious ailments, including gradual loss of memory and shaky hands, and was undergoing treatment in the USA. Many believed that the book was either written by someone else or was at least “fine tuned” by others, as Jain was not in a physical and mental state to write a book. Some even pointed the finger at Gopi Chand Narang, but it was unsubstantiated. Anyway, it was painful to see a serious and erudite scholar like Jain talk in communal terms. He died in Porterville, California, USA, on August 18, 2007, and was cremated.
Some of Gian Chand Jain’s other books are: Tehreeren (1964), Tafseer-i-Ghalib (1971), Tajziye (1973), Rumooz-i-Ghalib (1976), Haqaaiq (1978), Lisani Mutal’e (1979), Zikr-o-Fikr (1980), Ibtidai Kalam-i-Iqbal (1988), Adabi Asnaaf (1989), Khoj (1990), Muqaddame Aur Tabsire (1990), Urdu Ka Naya Arooz (1990), Parakh Aur Pehchaan (1990), Ghalib Shanas Malik Ram (1996), Upendarnath Ashk (2000), Qazi Abdul Wadood Ba Haisiyyet-i-Murattib-i-Matn (2000), Urdu Ki Adabi Tareekhen (2000) and Lisani Rishte (2003). Jain wrote Tareekh-i-Adab-i-Urdu in five volumes in collaboration with Dr Sayyada Jafer. Kachche Bol (1991) is a collection of his poetry.
As fallout from his last book, Prof Jain was intentionally forgotten. But we must not forget the great works he had penned.
Published in Dawn, August 19th, 2020
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