'Fasana-i-Azad' is, perhaps, one of the strangest books of Urdu. Hugely popular in the late 19th and early 20th century and still a favourite, the modern classic is neither a novel nor a daastaan (a daastaan is a long tale that has many stories within it and is abound in supernatural elements).

'Fasana-i-Azad' is, perhaps, a link between the two — a bridge that spans from classical to modern and conjoins daastaan with novel. Strictly speaking, it does not have a plot, though it has hundreds of anecdotal happenings that are connected with each other through only a few of its main characters. Despite having no plot, it spreads over four large-sized volumes. The new edition published from India in 1986 consists of six voluminous parts.

Published in book form first in 1880, 'Fasana-i-Azad' was serialised from December 1878 to December 1879 in 'Avadh Akhbar', an Urdu weekly published from Lucknow by Munshi Nawal Kishore. So how do you write an episodic book that is not a novel in true sense of the word and does not have a plot either but intends to make readers laugh and is published in a weekly that has a serious outlook? What you should keep in mind while writing it is that you have to retain the interest of the readers in order that the ever-increasing popularity of the work as well as the circulation of the paper does not suffer a lapse.

Let us see how Pandit Ratan Naath Sarshaar did it. Sarshaar, the author of 'Fasana-i-Azad', had command over colloquial Urdu spoken in and around Lucknow. He was a very witty fellow and the main idea behind writing 'Fasana' was to make people laugh. Having worked for some newspapers and magazines, Sarshaar knew what hooked general readers. He was an avid reader of English fiction and was impressed by Cervantes' satirical romance 'Don Quixote de la Mancha'(later, he translated the work into Urdu and named it 'Khudai Faujdaar'). So he decided to use all his strong points and prepared a formula that worked colloquial language, a whiff of ornamental expressions peppered with rhyming words and occasional couplets, a hefty measure of situational comedy, a main character with heroic qualities and accompanied by a friend who acts like a buffoon. And lo and behold! 'Fasana-i-Azad' is prepared. The magic formula works and both author and weekly become a must-read for Lucknow's lovers of literature.

It was, of course, inspired by the celebrated work of Cervantes and 'Azad', its protagonist, was a localised and amended version of Don Quixote. Khauji, the buffoon in 'Fasana', was a reflection of Cervantes' other character, Sancho Panza, a squire who accompanied Don. But Sarshaar had added some ingenuous elements and set the work in contemporary Lucknow, a town that had lost its glory but loved to show off. It was not the glittering Lucknow of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan. Neither was it the glorious Lucknow of Wajid Ali Shah. It was pretentious and decadent Lucknow of post-1857 era, ruled by the British.

Strange as it may seem, Sarshaar loved Lucknow and praised it in the manner Rajab Ali Baig Suroor had done in his famous work 'Fasana-i-Ajaaeb'. But at the same time Sarshaar was critical of some of its traditions, especially the old ways and orthodox mentality. Both Lateef Hussain Adeeb and Muhammad Ahsan Farooqi are convinced that 'Fasana-i-Azad' is Lucknow's caricature. Though he exaggerates while drawing the sketch of Lucknow just like a cartoonist does who distorts the faces to emphasise an oddity, the canvas painted by Sarshaar is true in essence. Here we find the incongruity that was so glaring that it was hard to miss it but the nobles and feudal lords of Lucknow were oblivion of the paradox Sarshaar was laughing at the days of glory are gone long ago but keeping courtiers and concubines is must in order that one is respected in the society; Lucknow is lost to the British but the people of the town still brag of chivalry and pretend to be warriors; the world has changed and people such as Sir Syed Ahmed Khan are heralding a new dawn but old madressahs are imparting the same old education, poetics has undergone a sea change but poets of Lucknow still sing of lips and cheeks of their beloveds; railway tracks are replacing old modes of travel and there are people who believe having food on trains is a sin.

These contradictions are vividly reflected in Azad's encounters with different people and hilarious misfortunes of Khauji who pretends to be a warrior and on every disgrace recalls his 'qarauli' (a hunting-knife) which is missing just by chance or due to the opponent's good stars. On no occasion he finds one. The missing 'qarauli' and Khauji's bragging is symbolic. It recalls the fall of Oudh (Avadh) to the British and the boasting betrays the pride that was still there though all was lost including the armoury and courage to fight the British. Khauji is addicted to opium and gets beaten in every fight he picks up, which he often does. He believes in his superb physique and fighting skills but can never win over an opponent. The difference between reality and what Khauji thinks of himself is in fact intended as a satire on general characteristics of Lucknow society.

Waqar Azeem says that 'Fasana-i-Azad' will live on in the history of Urdu literature as in its pages the Lucknow of a specific era has become alive and is still breathing. We can see rites, rituals, festivities, mourning, feasts, weddings, cock-fights, kite-flying, poetry sessions, dancing girls, crimes, superstitious beliefs and what not. What can be added to the statement is that 'Fasana' mirrors the social, political and ideological conflict that was going on between opposite forces at that time. It portrays the ridiculousness and meaninglessness of a culture that was still dreaming of bygone grandeur and had closed its eyes from ground realities.

Pandit Ratan Naath Sarshaar was born in 1846 in Lucknow into a Kashmiri Hindu family. But in his neighbourhood lived some noble Muslim families. Sarshaar as a boy would go to the inner portions of the houses where pardah-observing Muslim ladies lived. Here he learned the chaste Urdu and its colloquial use that he later used so eloquently. The lifestyle, superstitions, attires, idiom and vocabulary of the noble families of Lucknow which we find in his works come from first hand experience. His other works include Shams-uz-zuha, Jaam-i-Sarshaar, Sair-i-kohsaar, Kaamni, Kuram dhum, Bichhri hui dulhan, Pi kahan, Hasho and Toofan-i-be tameezi. He rendered Alf laila, or 'the Arabian nights', into Urdu.

Sarshaar died on January 31, 1903, in Hyderabad Deccan.

—drraufparekh@yahoo.com