Art

:: 19th Century Urdu Literature – a female renaissance ::

Gul-i-Hina

A major reformist work was produced by Depty Nazir Ahmed. He belonged to the Delhi School of thought and associated with the Aligarh Movement. His writing has tremendous importance in Urdu literature. His aim was to educate and civilise women in the traditional way.

Urdu literature of the 19th century reflected the social as well as family culture of India. It also helped us to visualize the various aspects of the lives of these members of the society of that time. The emergence of Urdu literature in 19th century for women created a strong class of feminists who started new journals as well as institutions for women. A wave of authors male and female came on the scene that favored equality of women and their participation in different fields of life. Urdu literature about women in the later half of the 19th century also helped us to visualize various aspects of dissimilar local cultures, the local superstitions and customs they followed, the regional idioms, proverbs and parables that made up the local language used only by the women. It also depicted the contrast between Muslim and Hindu women with British women.

The writers of reformist’s literature were further encouraged by an act of government. In 1868 the Lt. Governor of North Western Provinces, William Muir announced the annual award of prizes for literary woks that would deal realistically with social problems. This annual competition to produce works expressing views on women’s literacy, home economics and orthodox practices, stimulated many reformists. In 1869, for instance, Sayyad Munir wrote Larkiyun Ki Talim (Education for Girls) which was awarded a prize and which took the form of a series of dialogues between a mother and her daughter. The basic theme was to demonstrate the importance of education for mothers, as they were responsible for the training of their children, in particular the upbringing of girls and their preparation for marriage.

The second prize winner was Innayat Husain’s Mufid e Khalaiq (Of Benefit to the People), which was published in the same year and came to be adopted as a textbook in girls’ schools in the North Western Province and Oudh and Rampur states. He criticized illiterate women and their attitudes, he also appreciated the modern medical education for girls but he considered romantic tales like Qissa-e-Laila Majnun and Shireen Farhad harmful for girls. He also referred to the Quranic Passage in which Muslim men and women are both enjoined to seek knowledge. He proceeded to outline the characteristics of famous Muslim women and advised his readers to follow their example.

The main objectives of these writings were to revive the Indian society; seek greater support for British rule among authors as the vast majority opposed and criticised it and find out the solutions for problems in the religious as well as traditional education system.

Sayyid Mumtaz Ali (1860 – 1935), for example, who with his wife founded a journal for women, took up an agenda largely set by the English, dealing with polygamy, child marriages and the rights of women regarding marriage, the status of a daughter, wife and mother, purdah and the need for education. His journal continued for fifty years and ended its publication in 1948., Mumtaz Ali argued that men and women are equal, insisting that physical strength was a trivial measure of superiority and that in all important aspects, including intelligence, all humans were the same.

A major reformist work was produced by Depty Nazir Ahmed who was educated. He belonged to the Delhi School of thought and was associated with the Aligarh Movement. His writing has tremendous importance in Urdu literature. His aim was to educate and civilise women in the traditional way. He challenged the behavior of uneducated women who followed customary practices and were unfamiliar with Islamic teachings. He emphasised moral training for women through education. He said that education can be divided into two parts, one related to worldly matters and for the satisfaction of the mind and the other related to religion and for spiritual satisfaction. Therefore, English education is necessary for the progress of the people. He wrote a number of novels for the education and training of the women. His writings are a reflection of the society of Dehli. Mirat ul Aroos, Binat ul Nash, Toba tu Nasuh, Fasana e Mubtala, Ibn ul Waqt, Iyama, Rivay e Sadiqa are books in which he presented various aspects of women’s characters. He pointed out the problems faced by women of that time and also offered wise solutions to these problems.

Molana ALtaf Hussain Hali (1837 – 1914), the friend of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan and an active member of the Aligarh Movement also represented women’s problems in his writings like Majlis-un-Nisa. In his poem Chup ki Dad he presented women’s problems in a realistic way. Besides these the following authors also contributed in the improving the status of women and their standard of education in the19th century.

The open debates, particularly on topics relating to women’s education and their seclusion were regularly published in journals and the famous writers of that time were Deputy Nazir Ahmed, Molana Altaf Hussian Hali, Sheikh Abdulla, Syed Mumtaz Ali, Molana Rashid-ul-Khari, Molana Ashraf Ali Thanawi, Rashida-ul-Nisa, Muhammadi Beghum, Sajad Haider Yaldrem, etc.

These authors highlighted matters regarding women and also criticised drawbacks like ignorance, backwardness, matrimonial issues (unmatched marriages, childhood marriages etc.), purdah, combined family system, family troubles and settlements, the status of women in and outside the home, superstitions among the women, courtesans and their position in society, widow status etc.

These authors pointed out the various problems by women and also criticised the issues like ignorance, backwardness, matrimonial issues (unmatched marriage, childhood marriage etc.), Purdah, combined family system troubles and settlement, the status of women in home and outside the home, superstitions among the women, courtesans and their position in society, widow status etc.

The 19th and 20th century literature reflects these following modes:

||-- The works published with the patronage of the government for the study of the situation of Indians

||-- Modernist elite wanted to introduce changes in Indian society on the western pattern.

||-- Religious literature whose aim was to defend religious identity.

Ultimately the result of the writings of these authors and in organising various institutions for women, was the feminist trends that emerged in India. The late begum of Bhopal organized the first All-Indian Mohammedan Women’s Conference in 1914. Then the women of all creeds and castes joined together in India and held the All-India Women’s Conference.

Officials of British government also took interest in the establishing institutions for women, for example MR Oaten, Director of Public Instruction, and Bengal, who in a famous speech called upon Indian women to participate in the political as well as in social reforms. His speech inspired a series of articles on the subject in the WIA Journal, Stri Dharma, by Mrs. Hyidekoper, a former principle of Bethune College. M.R Cousins, the then secretary of WIA, circulated a letter on the basis of these articles, in which she appealed to educated women to form local committees to be subsequently synthesized into an All India Organization. The response was enthusiastic and a series of conferences were held at twenty two different places between September and December 1926, as a result of which the ALWC was fond. Then the first session of this organization was held at Poona in January 1927. In his address the president of the conference stated, “Here with the rising tide of revival of Indian culture, here, at the beginning of what may rightly be regarded as the Indian renaissance, we are assembled to discuss – those things, which are essential for the education and the general wellbeing of the future mothers of the race.”

In this regards the second AIWC session on Educational Reforms that was held from 7 -10 Febuary 1928, is worth mentioning. In this meeting the Begum of Bhopal identified the cause for the “present unsatisfactory condition of female education”, stating, “Up till now whatever has been done for the education of women, has been done by men, and although we ought to be thankful to them, we cannot ignore the fact that man cannot fully realise our needs or look at them from the same viewpoint as we can.” (quoted by Maitrayee, AIWC on Educational Reform ( 7- 10 Feb 1928 ).

This literature not only created a consciousness among the women, but also created wide scope for them to participate in practical lives. As a consequence of this literature the rate of women’s education has increased; they even began going abroad for higher studies and many emerged as enlightened professional ladies.