IT hurts when one hears the oft-repeated lament that “Urdu books do not sell”. But the fact is every now and then we come across the second or third editions of Urdu books. If Urdu books do not sell, why do publishers keep on churning out new editions or reprints of Urdu books?
The mantra ‘Urdu books do not sell’ is just a ploy used by publishers to avoid paying royalties to writers. Some say only select Urdu books, such as written by well-known or popular writers, sell well and publishing Urdu’s serious works is altogether a bad business strategy. Serious works do not attract buyers, they say, citing a phenomenal rise in the use of social media and other entertainments that absorb readers’ attention and cash. Well, maybe. But prosody and rhetoric are topics too serious and when books on such topics sell and their second editions too are received well, one feels all is not lost and in a nation of 220 million, it is not difficult to find at least a few hundred serious readers.
Of late, new editions of two Urdu books have been marketed — and they are serious material — not to mention scores of popular Urdu works that have been recently reprinted for the umpteenth times. No wonder that popular fiction and popular poetry usually get reprinted and one can find many editions of works by great authors like Ghalib, Iqbal and Qurratul Ain Hyder. But serious works getting reprinted are not rarity either.
Dr Muzzammil Husain’s book Urdu Mein Ilm-i-Bayan Aur Ilm-i-Badee’ Ke Mabahis, recently reprinted, first explains what ilm-i-bayan (exposition) and ilm-i-badee (figures of speech) are and then describes in details the large number of varieties and sub-varieties of rhetorical modes with examples from Urdu’s classical poets. In the third chapter, he critically evaluates books on the topic written in Urdu and then in the next chapter traces this tradition in Urdu literature. His conclusion is: most of today’s poets are unaware of these branches of poetics that are used to embellish the verses, though importance and positive effects of these modes cannot be overemphasised.
The book was first published by Majlis-i-Taraqqi-i-Adab (MTA) in 2010 and it flew off the shelves within a year or so. Due to many reasons, MTA was not able to bring out a second edition immediately and after having waited for quite long, the author decided to get it reprinted. Lahore’s Fiction House gladly did that. This in itself is a reminder that Urdu books even on such topics, perceived as dry and drab, sell well since they fulfil a gap created by dearth of experts who could write on such technical subjects with ease.
Aside from tashbeeh (simile) and iste’ara (metaphor) and their numerous sub-varieties (for example, majaaz-i-mursal, or metonymy), the book explains, with examples, figures of speech such as mubalgha (hyperbole), talmeeh (allusion), zu qafyatain (double-rhymed), tajnees (homonymy), sauti takraar (alliteration), mura’at-un-nazeer (observance of the similar) and many more.
A third edition of a book, discussing arooz or prosody, has been reprinted by National Book foundation, Islamabad. Written by Syed Abraar Husain, it is titled Urdu Behren, or Urdu metres, and subtitled Ash’aar Ki Taqtee’ Seekhne Ke Liye Aasaan Kitab, or an easy primer for learning scansion.
The author in his foreword says that whenever someone talks about teaching prosody, a tortuous terminology is used and as a result a novice who wants to learn prosody simply escapes.
So instead of using unfamiliar and strange-sounding terms, the author has based his technique to explain taqtee (scansion), as put by him, “on syllables”. He has divided the words into long and short syllables and then stressed and unstressed syllables. He has used an interesting technique to represent these syllables. In this technique a lower-half semi-circle is used to show a single-lettered syllable and a dash to express a two-lettered syllable. Hence, Urdu word vafa, for instance, is shown with a lower-half semi-circle and a dash (–), meant to represent Urdu letter vow with a zabar and two Urdu letters, fe and alif.
Explained with examples from verses by modern-day Urdu poets, the book discusses 12 metres (behren) most likely to be used in Urdu poetry. But to keep the reader abreast with the traditional terms, such as faaelun and mafaaeelun, the book also shows these arkaan (feet of the verse) underneath the signs of semi-circles and dashes that symbolise syllables. It is recommended for anyone interested in learning scansion with ease.
Such reprints are a boon for students who cannot find such books either in libraries or online.
Published in Dawn, May 30th, 2022
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