Concept and Text: Aftab Husain Speaking about literature in terms of a Hindu-Muslim divide might seem politically incorrect but, at times, it is necessary to have a ‘communal’ perspective only to get a secular picture of the phenomenon Apart from sharing a humanist-progressive worldview in life and literature, Hindi critic Professor Namwar Singh and fiction… continue reading
ज़बानें अपना कल्चर रखती हैं और वही ज़बान बड़ी तसव्वुर की जाती है जिस में ख़याल और इज़हार के लिए अल्फ़ाज़ की तंगी न हो, यूँ तो सारी ज़बानों के अपने लफ़्ज़ और अपना शब्द-कोश होता है। और दुनिया के मुखतलिफ़ हिस्सों में बस्ने वाले लोग अपनी ज़बान पर फ़ख्र भी करते हैं, इसी तरह… continue reading
In the latter half of twentieth century, the world was hit by a Feminist storm; and rightly so. The female voices rose to break free of the four-walls behind which they had always remained unheard in a strongly patriarchal society. We mention here some names and their works that championed the cause of Feminism in… continue reading
A brief history of Urdu language exploring the popular myths that label Urdu as a ‘foreign language’, ‘Islamic language’, ‘camp language’ etc. It also offers a rough sample of a broad and universal linguistic pattern through the case history of India.
Some stories never die; they are told again and again, from time to time, place to place, author to author. One such is the story of Heer and Ranjha. About six centuries old now, it was first narrated in verse by one DamodarArora during the reign of Emperor Akbar. Damodar was a native of Jhang where the story is broadly based and he had heard it from one Raja Ram Khatri who is supposed to be an eyewitness to all that happened. Since then it has been narrated variously and in various languages, both in verse and prose. One of the most notable narratives came from Waris Shah in 1766, apart from several others in Sindhi, Haryanavi, Hindi, Urdu, Persian, and English. In Persian alone, there are as many as twenty versions of this story and in Urdu not less than fifteen.
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