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Urdu Literature As A Modernising Force
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The concise Oxford Dictionary defines modernism as “modern views and methods especially tendency in
matters of religious belief to subordinate tradition to harmony with modern thought.”
Reference to religious belief here may be incidental but the definition aptly tends to focus attention on views and
methods in harmony with the changing means and modes of production which shapes the economic structure of
a period and the level of consciousness of a particular period in all fairness should be guided by the demands
relation of production of a society make upon the individuals. But economic changes do not instantaneously
bring about changes in the values and modes of thought which fall in line with the economic pattern through a
painful transformation.
The time lag between the remnants of obsolete and outmoded relations of
production and the demands of changing economic order, therefore, persists
resulting in various kinds of tensions and collisions between the old and the
new, the dying and the embryonic concepts in practically every sphere of
intellectual activity.
To those who believe in the exclusiveness of literary activity, aesthetics and
technical components of a masterpiece might be the end of all critical studies
but the fact remains that literature forms a significant part of intellectual and
emotional activity of a particular period and hence emotions, values, concepts
expressed therein may be fruitfully studied and against the backdrop of the
total consciousness of its age and its social and economic motivations.
Literature is to survive, it was have to partake in and initiate the process of
modernization i.e the task of correlating the social concepts and norms with the demands of the new relations of
production.
IIProf. D.D Kosambi has rightly remarked that history is “the presentation, in chronological order of successive
developments in the means and relations of production”. He goes on to note that “the entire course of Indian
history shows tribal elements being fused into a general society”. (intro 27)
This peculiarity of the Indian society is to be voted particularly in the context of the present discussion value
judgements of various cultures, may be misleading and prejudiced but if one believes that society usually moves
from simple to complex and from primitive to more advanced shape then one has to admit that social change,
however cruel and at times fulfills a historical necessity and elevates the social structure to a higher level of
culture. Hence any culture which motivates such integration serves as a tool of modernization. Urdu was born
within this process. As a part of Khari Boli, it tried to fuse together the various dialects of its origin and tried to
standardise these into a colloqial speech with a rich cultural tradition of Western and Central Asia. To call it a
Muslim tradition will be a misnomer for it had closer links with the indigenous cultural milieu of their homelands
specially Iran, Turkey, Samarkand, Bukhara and Afghanistan than with the Islamic tradition. In this respect, Urdu
literary tradition began as a modernizing force setting free the various regional literatures from their narrow
boundaries. True, Urdu did not accept in its fold all the dialects of the North like Brij and Awadhi for it insisted on
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11/17/2015 Urdu Literature As A Modernising Force – Asri Adab: The Definite Urdu Journal
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its urban sophistication and syntactical uniformity and standardization, but it was the price of modernization.
The role of Urdu can, thus, be fruitfully studied only in this perspective. India was cut off from the mainstream of
world culture and Urdu was perhaps the only language, which, through its literature, tried and succeeded in
building a bridge between local and indigenous literature and the main body of literary tradition prevailing in the
world of those days. What is known as the TurkoIranian tradition was in fact the reservoir of the world
consciousness of those days drawn from the Platonic and NeoPlatonic and Aristotelian and other Greek
sources on the one hand and from Arab, Egyptian and Sumerian cultures on the other. The ideas which
percolated into Urdu literature through Hafiz and Khayyam about the unknowability of the riddle of Existence, the
sanctity of Wine and Vagabondage and the supremacy of Love all bore the imprint of philosophies of cultures of
yesteryears and thus contained the collective wisdom of our civilization.
The tenor of Urdu poetry (even in its earlier phase) had a liberalizing impact. It sang of mystical longing of the
Beloved and rejects all dogmatic and ritualistic formulae to the goal. In the process, it ridiculed the Mullah,
idealised the wineseller and the vagabond and pleaded free thinking against obscurantism and blind faith. The
entire symbolist vocabulary of Urdu Ghazal was cast in the same mould and in as much as it created a wider link
with the cultural mainstream releasing its rotaries from narrow regional loyalties or obscurantist ritualism, Urdu
literature from its very beginning played a modernizing role. Its poetry was not rooted in religion or mythology but
in a secular half mystic, half hedonistic modes of medieval thinking. Medieval times were perhaps peculiar in this
respect that despite their apparent concern with religious concepts and terminology, the medieval royalty had
been actively engaged in evolving a mechanism to escape control by religious authority. Mahmud of Ghazni was
the first Muslim Sultan to rebel against the Central Islamic Caliphate. Alauddin Khilji was another ruler who
defied the authority of the religious schools. And Akbar put it in practice, freeing himself completely from the yoke
of the religious and judicial authority of the Caliph and Ulemas. Thus Urdu, which combined the medieval
tradition with a modern approach, fulfilled the emotional and intellectual needs of the middle classes. In those
days, it must be remembered, literacy was mainly the prerogative of the upper classes and the powerelite and
hence literature only reflected the responses of the elite and the middle classes. Hence the mocking of the
Mullah and the ideals of Khayyam and Hafiz suited the needs of the middle classes admirably and the poetry of
heady wine and enlightened free thinking formed a ready response in mushairas and poetic symposia. This
served the purpose of modernizing the medieval society to a certain extent.
But then literature is a complex and everchanging phenomenon. Urdu literature, till early 19th century, reflected
the mood of the times – the burning desire for change, the human predicament in a society where old values
were crumbling like a house of cards and the emergence of the new values was not in sight. It mirrored the
pamperisation of the artisans and vulgarisation of the elite and the breakdown of the economic and
administrative mechanism on one hand and of the rise of the military structure on the other. To quote only a few
instances, Sanda’s Qarida TazlikiRozgar and Hajviyat, Qasim’s denounciation of Emperor Shah Alam in his
Hajr, Nazeer Akrabadi’s and Haitim’s Shahr Ashabs and Mir’s touching references to the plight of the common
man tell the tale of the painful transition from medieval norms to the nascent modern consciousness.
IIIMuch greater challenge was yet to come. Urdu literature for quite some time identified itself with the medieval
outlook particularly in Lucknow. Serving the medieval needs, it nearly cut itself off from the changing pattern
being brought about by the fortuneseekers of the East India Company who were finding access to the portals of
political power in India after undergoing the enriching experiences of the Renaissance reformation and the
French and Industrial Revolutions in Europe. These experiences brought out the importance of Reason much
more sharply in contradistinction to Faith – and Reason of the 19th Century judged all values in the context of
social utility. Again, the chasm between medieval modes and modern sensibility deepened and the need for
bringing about change in the tenor and temper of Urdu literature so as to synchronise it with the new relations of
production became obvious. Sir Syed Ahmad Khan and his Aligarh movement fulfilled the historic need by
making Urdu literature as a tool of modernization.
To characterise a complex phenomenon like the Aligarh Movement is rather difficult. Its political objectives were
not exactly revolutionary for Sir Syed Ahmad Khan was much too eager to rehabilitate the image of the Indian
Muslim in the British mind as an enlightened, educated and above all, loyal citizen that he strictly advised his co
religionists either to keep aloof from politics or to organize themselves into a loyalist group. This was a far cry
from the Wahabis and the later day Deobandi Maulvis who fought against the British mainly due to their
interferences, real or imaginary, into their obscurantist attitudes.
For Sir Syed the main battle was not to be waged against the British but against our own obscurantism. A devout
believer in rationalism, he waged a relentless battle against superstition, dogmatism and obscurantism and
fought almost singlehandedly a war of liberation of the human mind. His war cry was ‘Reason and
Enlightenment’ and his ideals were inspired by social reform and literary consciousness.
Sir Syed Ahmad Khan had to fix his priorities and in his bid to shape the Indian Muslim society into a new mould,
he had to sacrifice his ideas of religious reform for achieving success in educational upliftment of the Muslim
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elite. Though Sir Syed was basically interested in modernising the Indian Muslims and as a medium of
modernisation, in Western education – the obscurantists were interested in Western education as it gave them
employment and not in the modernisation of outlook Sir Syed had in view. Even a man of vision like Sir Syed
Ahmad Khan had to accept the limitations of his coreligionists when, on the advice of his comrade Mohsinul
Mulk, he agreed to abstain from expressing any views on religious reform so that the cause of M.A.O. College
may not be jeopardised.
What interests us more here is the impact Sir Syed made on Urdu literature in terms of modernization of outlook.
The Aligarh Movement inspired epoch making writers like Hali, Shibli, Azad and Nazeer Ahmad and it is no
secret that these were the writers who crusaded against moribund traditionalism and strove hard not only to
widen the intellectual horizons of the reading public but also brought the ideas of Rationalism, Reformism and
Nationalism to our literature. For them, literature was a serious activity having a bearing on social and cultural life
of the nation and they handled this important medium with deep sense of responsibility and devotion.
Practically every one of them stressed the need of adaptability to new circumstances. Perhaps the most
revealing statement of the period was by Hali:
———————–
———————
linking all Thought to Matter. He followed this up by linking up of literature with social needs. His idea of ‘ Natural
Poetry’ was not limited to the poetry of the flora and fauna but of poetry which could depict social reality and
affect the moral tone of the period. Shibli’s political poetry as well as his deep and abiding interest in History and
scientific discoveries gave him a place of distinction in the annals of literature. Perhaps more precise and sharp
was Nazeer Ahmad’s role, when, as a novelist, he portrayed the Indian Muslim society at the crossroads of
history. Ridiculing the obscurantism, superstition and morbid hedonism and conventionalism, he tried to strike a
balance between healthy elements of the East and the West and thus strove to achieve a compromise between
the old and the new in the context of the contemporary reality. His novels advise a change in social outlook. The
dormant middle class households were illuminated by the enlightened modernism of the contemporary period.
In fact, the intellectual of the period was engaged in very difficult, tightrope walking by striving to evolve some
formula to retain his national pride or cultural identity on the one hand and to avail of new opportunities thrown
open by Western civilization on the other. This is perhaps the reason of the twofacedness of the literary ethos,
one represented by Akbar Allahbadi’s satires on the Anglicized Indian and Nazir Ahmad’s ‘IbnUlWaqt’ (son of
Fortune or opportunist) and Abdul Hamid Sharar’s ‘historical’ novels depicting the glory of the medieval times
when the Islamic crusaders defeated the Christian warrior knights in West Asia. Shibli wrote biographies of
Muslim monarchheroes of the bygone ages with devotion and diligence. The celebrated ‘Awadh Panch” made
the new British Raj and its “toady” imitators butt of its scathing attacks and yet, simultaneous to this ran the trend
of Nazir Ahmad’s novels, Ratan Nath Sarshar’s “FasanaIAzad” and Hali’s “Musaddas”, which advised their
audience to adapt themselves to the changing times and to adjust themselves with the new modes of culture
accordingly.
In this duality, in fact, lay the germs of the new national consciousness.
IVWith the birth of national consciousness, the needs of modernization entered a new phase. Literature, in the
context, was to herald national unity and an urge for independence. Urdu literature has often been described as
a literature of Romance and Revolution, Love and Liberty and it is not far wrong to characterise it in these terms.
First four decades of Urdu literature are replete with names like Iqbal and Brij Narayan Chakbast who sang
patriotic songs and wrote about the liberty and Asian pride, of Prem Chand, who wrote about the exploited
peasantry and the rising wave of popular anger against the British enslavers, of Maulana Mohammad Ali, Hazrat
Mohani, Zafar Ali Khan and Abul Kalam Azad, who underwent great sufferings on the hands of the British in the
struggle for independence. “Al Hilal”, his Urdu Weekly took the Urdu world by storm and the writings of
Muhammad Ali and Abu Kalam Azad gave the Urdu reader a new touch of ‘radicalism’.
It was during this period that internationalism made its impact felt in Urdu literature. Zafar Ali Khan wrote a full
length play on the RussoJapanese war of 1901 to commemorate the victory of an Asian power on a European
colonizer. Khilafat issue threw the Urdu writer into the vortex of international politics and the “sick man of Europe”
evoked all sympathy so much so that a number of folk songs were composed against the British oppressor who
were enslaving both Turkey and India. Later on, with the emergence of Bolshevik power in Russia, popular
sympathy also found ready response. Perhaps, it was Abdul Haleem Sharar who noted this new political
phenomenon in his articles in “Dilgudaz”. Later on, Hasrat Mohani openly declared himself a supporter of the
“Soviets” and the Bolshevik influences began to percolate steadily thereafter. In his early poems, Iqbal wrote
about the Russian Proletarian Revolution in his “KhizirIRah” and thus paved the way for a new type of
modernity.
11/17/2015 Urdu Literature As A Modernising Force – Asri Adab: The Definite Urdu Journal
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With the advent of the Progressive Writers’ Movement in 1936, this new mood got accentuated. Prem Chand in
his presidential address had launched the quest of a new criterion for Beauty meaning thereby that the modern
aesthetics should find full expression of the exploited classes of the Indian society. But in fact, progressive
literature combined in itself not only the urges of the new ‘radicals’ but also the aspirations of the modern
iconoclasts. All sorts of modernists including symbolists, psychoanalysts and ‘decadents’ – found themselves in
this medley crowd which was desperately trying to explore new artistic dimensions.
Notwithstanding initial drift towards Bohemianism and too much preoccupation with sex and morality – a trend
represented by the publication of “Angaray” and the emergence of various such trends in Meeraji, Saadat Hasan
Manto and Rashid – the Progressives soon succeeded in stitching their wagon to the star of political struggle of
the proletarian masses. Dreams of revolution and change permeated in their literature, though most of these
were the pipe dreams of middle class young men. Even though it could not produce a proletarian literature, yet it
succeeded in expressing middle class sympathies for the downtrodden. It created urbanity of outlook, open
mindedness and a zest for free inquiry and reflected equality of sexes, fraternity among all sections of mankind,
and faith in the revolutionary spirit of the times.
Since India’s independence in 1947, Urdu language and literature were subjected to a stepmotherly treatment
yet it has been a vehicle of modernization. It has firmly defied all parochialism, regionalism or communalism and
has been a treasure house of ideals and ideas born out of our own composite culture. Undoubtedly, it still
betrays middle class attitudes but within this limitation it has been struggling towards the modernization of
outlook. In Krishna Chandra’s stories on the Korean war, internationalism found an echo, while Qurratul Ain
Hyder’s “Aag Ka Darya” the whole tapestry of Indian culture was portrayed to create a modernist approach to
Indianness free from parochial fidelities and communal loyalties; while in Rajinder Singh Bedi’s “Ek Chadar
Maili Si” even regional modes were interpreted as part of a modernist approach towards Man and Woman. In
short, Urdu literature in postindependence era has been an expression of national integration at one level and
modern quest for human liberty at the other.
For the contemporary Urdu literature, the concept of a Total Man in contradistinction with the man and woman of
a particular age and region seems to be even more popular. The contemporary writer seeks to portray the
suffering of Man in all ages and all regions. He may not be representational yet his concern with the predicament
of humanity in an age of nuclear holocaust is part of the modernist approach towards life. It may be at times
jumbled up and to generalized but his concern for the human existence is undoubtedly sincere.
Urdu literature, therefore, served as a medium of modernization of outlook since ages. It has consistently
reflected the attitudes of educated young men who inhabited the cities and were at the forefront of cultural
change. Caught in the crisscross of regional influences and contacts, it always mirrored i) an allIndia cultural
milieu of the middle class which intermingled freely and sooner or later, liberated itself from parochial fidelities ii)
urbanization of civilization in contradistinction with the rural and pastoral stagnation. In this process, Urdu
literature became a vehicle of expression for the tension of the cities, the humdrum and squalor of the slums, the
conflict of ideas and values in town communities and the collision of idyllic dreams with the hard merciless
realities of the cities iii) In Urdu literature were reflected the urges of the middle classes to align themselves with
the exploited forces of the new means of production and thus to fall in line with the forces shaping the historic
destiny of our people.
VAround 1960, another change in the literary scene became evident. A whole new generation of poets and short
story writers had by now silently entered the literary field. These were uninspired by the ideals of social reform or
revolution and had very little in common with the ideals of the Progressive Movement. To them, didacticism was
taboo. Their faith in future was uncertain, their commitment to ideals was unsteady.
Influenced, as they were, by the tensions brought about by the speedy industrial development of India, they
compared their predicament with that if the Western avantgarde. Social commitment to them was not an axiom,
for their very relationship with their social environment was in question. Hence the whole gamut of problems of
social significance of their themes and the nature of communication and expression came under discussion.
Literature, to them, was merely and expression of their badly bruised personalities torn asunder by tensions
brought about by machines, offices, and a mad race for survival. They found themselves dangling between a
dying civilization and a glittering city life. They wrote poetry full of tension, disappointment and uncertain
yearnings. Often their images are incoherent, similis and metaphors are often jumbled up, expression weak and
ambiguous, and the diction rough, often prosaic – yet some of them, at least, have significant things to say.
Perhaps the last illustration would come from Akhtarul Iman, who symbolises this new sensibility much more
than any other modern poet. Directly concerned with the human predicament in the Indian subcontinent, he
draws with the help of social sciences and other spheres of human knowledge, the portrait of the harassed
individual enmeshed in a crisis of human values. His “SubzaIBegana”, Mirr Nazir Ali, logo a loga and Neeraj
and of course his masterpiece “Ek Larka”, express various aspects of the same theme with different techniques
and varying levels of symbolic and allegorical expression.
11/17/2015 Urdu Literature As A Modernising Force – Asri Adab: The Definite Urdu Journal
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Apart from him, Nida Fazli, Ameeq Hanafi, Khalilur Rahman Azmi, Shahryar and a host of other poets are busy
experimenting with new forms. Among new innovations is the rise of prose poetry which started with Sajjad
Zaheer’s “Pighla Nilam” and the tradition was carried forward by the present author and certain others. The idea
is to release poetry from the shackles of ornamentation, verbosity and to replace the conventional rhyme and
rhythm with the natural rhythm of common speech and everyday conversation along with suggestive symbolism.
The main achievements of main poetry have been i) The extension of the frontiers of poetic sensibility both in
terms of theme and technique, ii) better and more sustained use of symbolism in poetic art, iii) replacement of
medieval imagery with a more modern outlook and fore exploration of the internal depths of the human psyche.
These achievements are also manifest in the new urdu ghazal. Ghazal, though highly stylised and conventional
form was successfully revived and given a new look by modern poets. The idea was to bring to Ghazal the dust
and din of the modern life of the common man and to express this in simple words, images and situation which
may break its classical ornamentation and stylised vocabulary. Firaaq, Majrooh, Faiz, IbnIInsha, Taban, Parvez
Shahidi, Jan Nissar Akhtar, Makhdoom, Khurshed Ahmad, Hasan Naeem and a host of younger poets extended
its horizons.
In fiction too, new grounds were broken perhaps the most outstanding is the progress in Urdu novels. Quraitul
Ain Haiders “Aag Ka Darya”, Rajinder Singh Bedi’s “Ek Chadar Maili Si”, Abdulla Hussain’s “Aag Ka Durya”,
Khadija Mastur’s “Angan”, Mumtaz Mufti’s “Alipur Ka Aili”, Hyatullah Ansari’s “Lahoo Ke Phool,” Alim Masroor’s
“Bahut Der Kar Di”, Jeelani Bano’s “AiwanIGhazal”, Ismat Chughtai’s “Dil Ki Duniya”, Balwant Singh’s “Raat
Chor” and “Chand” are a host of other novels that come to mind which revolutionized this literary genre. Quraytul
Ain treats time as the central character of her novel and depicts the story of Indian history as the biography of
Nilambar and Champa in a long sequence of time which changes their names and places but hardly their
cultural ethos and eternal lives. Udas Nazleen and “Angan” and “Lahoo Ke Phool” have mainly political interests
rendered in highly sensitive human situations and characters while “Alipur Ka Aili” is a psychological study of a
complex personality and “Ek Chadar Mali Si” gives the cultural backdrop of the Punjab the pride of place in a tale
of human suffering. Qazi Abdus Sattar’s novels “Shab Gazeeda” and “Aakhri Khatt” display richness of
experience and power of observation and description of minutest details of rural life in eastern Uttar Pradesh and
recreation of historical situations of Mughal India in “Dara Shikoh”.
It will be no exaggeration to note that Urdu novels have recently taken great strides. It is still a long way to go but
the stamp of modernization on Urdu novel can hardly be ignored. It has reformist zeal. It does not seek to convert
or convince which perhaps robs it of the sincerity or single minded devotion to ordeals marked in Nazeer
Ahmad’s novels but its modern outlook can hardly be missed.
The process of modernization also entered the fields of Urdu short story. Krishan Chandra with his sensitive and
politically and socially significant stories ruled for a long time as the uncrowned king of Urdu fiction followed
closely by Rajinder Singh Bedi and Saadat Hasan Manto and Ismat Chughtai, Khwaja Ahmad Abbas, Qurratul
Ain Hyder and Hayatullah Ansari completed the top list. Slowly the emphasis shifted from plot to characterization
(particularly to the portrayal of uncouth and abnormal characters) and later on to the depiction of historical
perspective rendered symbolically in terms of fiction or the deep probing of the various layers of the human
personality. New techniques were evolved. Ratan Singh’s short stories were very short, crisp and suggestive.
Surindra Prakash, Balraj Manra, and Iqbal Majid’s symbolic stories adopted a new tenor of fiction writing while
Qazi Abdus Sattar’s sensitive depiction of the changing rural scene, Ram Lal’s “Headless Buddha” and “O.C”,
Razia Sajjad Zahir’s “Ummat Wala Faqir” all point out to the changing pattern of Urdu short story. Perhaps the
most eloquent and representative story of “Balraj Manra’s “Woh” in which a young man wanders in search of a
match box to light his cigarettes – a symbolic search of mankind for knowledge and fulfillment which leads to
many hazards and end in a fiasco. The texture of the short story has also acquired new plasticity. Ranging from
classical timesequence to the stories woven through fragments arranged in a haphazard manner we find here
every variety. Some are dedicated to the stream of consciousness others made up of jumbled up pieces
belonging to various time sequences and yet all these stories convey the turmoil and turbulence of the modern
age.
In the field of drama, this progress has not been so obvious, undoubtedly writers and producers like Habeeb
Tanveer wrote “Agra Bazaar” and “Ghalib Kaun Hai” and staged these plays successfully. Manju Qamar
Yadullahi’s “Bahadur Shah”, Mehdi’s “Ghalib Ke Urenge Purze’ and “Ghazal”, Mohammad Mujib’s “Aazmaish”,
Mohammad Hasan’s Kuhre Ka Chand”, Tamasha Aur Tamashaei”, Mor Pankhi” and “Mahalsara” Rafiya Sritunaz
“Dodi ChiraghIMehfil” a maful, Reoti Saran Sharma’s “Chirag Ki Lau” were important contributions. But the
most significant of them was producer Al Kazi’s stage productions of a number of Urdu translations of leading
English and European plays on National School of Drama stage such as “Look Back in Anger” and “Danton’s
Death”. These not only influenced Urdu playwrights but also popularised Urdu version in various areas. Also
noteworthy are Sagar Sarhadi’s “Tanhayee” which is been shown to Delhi audiences currently, Ismat Chughtai’s
“Tanhaye Ka Zeher” which was awarded Hum Sub Ghalib Award last year, Krishan Chandra’s “Darwaza Khol
Do”, Iqbal Majid’s “Kutte” and Habib Tanveer’s “Chamba Aur Char Bhai” and “Charan Das Chor”.
This practically brings us to the end of a panoramic view of the present scene of creative literature in Urdu. Urdu
was born and bred as an instrument of social change, and an agent of values of urbanization, centralization and
universalization. It has within it seeds of free thinking humanism and during the entire span life it has
11/17/2015 Urdu Literature As A Modernising Force – Asri Adab: The Definite Urdu Journal
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successfully disassociated itself from parochial, religious or regional loyalties and this tradition of “open this
world” still continues. Its mushairas and its popularity in full proves it close links with the masses.
India is in the midst of the process of modernization which means cultivation of a scientific temper in keeping with
the socio economic needs of the times. Literature alone can do very little – for modernization is essentially a
socioeconomic process, it is been being brought about not only through the pulls of the national economy but
also because of the industrailization and technology which need a modern mind to handle them but literature
can undoubtedly do its bit by bringing about an internal change in men and women who handle technology and
are affected by them. This can be possible only by removing all cobwebs of medieval superstition, parochialism,
sentimentalism, unnecessary ornamentation and verbosity and by inculcating a broad rational humanistic
approach towards men and matters so that the gap between the inner and outer life of men and women may be
bridged to save them from a great catastrophe. Civilizations only prosper when they remain in tune with the
forces of production which shape a society and to keep pace with these forces and to adopt the ethos of a period
to the sensibility released by them covers all activities. Urdu has been a useful instrument in this process and
has potentialities of meeting this challenge in its own way. In this endeavor, Urdu literature itself is changing,
other growing its medieval imagery. New metaphors are coming up and a whole new life inhabits the literary
planet, even when industrialization and technology stiffens the urge of men and women literature asking new
questions, awkward and embarrassing and even these queries of a troubled society have a cathartic effect and
successfully bridge the gap between private and public life of an individual in a fragmented society. These
questions are being asked. Inquisitive minds and troubled conscience seek their fulfillment and realization in
contemporary literature. Much depends upon their success for that will give not only a new rational scientific
temper and a modern idiom to literature but may help in bringing about a transformation in our society which all
of us have been waiting for.
Prof. Mohammad Hasan
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Asri Adab, a quarterly journal published by Late
Prof. Mohammad Hasan, discussed issues
related to contemporary Urdu literature as well
as burning social and political issues. It has
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and as an objective viewpoint on the literary
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