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Urdu Political Poetry During the Khilafat Movement Author(S): Gail Minault Source: Modern Asian Studies, Vol Urdu Political Poetry during the Khilafat Movement Author(s): Gail Minault Source: Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 8, No. 4 (1974), pp. 459-471 Published by: Cambridge University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/311865 . Accessed: 31/01/2014 10:09 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Cambridge University Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Modern Asian Studies. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 128.83.205.53 on Fri, 31 Jan 2014 10:09:59 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions ModernAsian Studies, 8, 4 (I974), pp. 459-47I. Printedin GreatBritain. UrduPotiticat Poetry during the Khitafat Movement GAI L M INAU LT Universityof Bexas,Austin, fexas THE Khilafat movement,which took place among Indian Muslims immediatelyfollowing the First World War, was so called becauseit was a politicalagitation designed to pressurethe Britishgovernment to preservethe defeated Ottoman Empire and its ruler, the Caliph of Islam. The Khilafat movement was also, more fundamentally,a campaignto unite IndianMuslims politically by meansof religiousand culturalsymbols meaningful to all strataof the community.The move- ment gained added significancebecause it took place simultaneously, and cooperatedfully, with Gandhi'sfirst non-violent non-cooperation movementagainst British rule. Muslimand Hindu were thus engaged in parallelpolitical activity: the broadeningofnationalpoliticalpartici- pation fromthe elite to the massthrough new techniquesof organiza- tion and communication. The resultsof the Khilafat and non-cooperationmovements were disappointing.Their following was massiveonly in relationto whathad gone before,Hindu-Muslim cooperation proved ephemeral,and the OttomanCaliph was consignedto the scrapheap, not by the British, but by the Turksthemselves. Still, the Indianpolitical scene had been irrevocablychanged. No longerwas the nationalistmovement confined to the councilhouses and bar associations;it had movedinto the streets, the bazaars,temple fairs, and mosques.Orderly debate on constitu- tional questionscontinued, but was eclipsedin the popularmind by flag-wavingprocessions of khadi-cladvolunteers, tinselled triumphal arches,poetic recitations,and endlessemotional stump speeches. In a culturerich in popularpageantry, its use for political purposescannot be discounted,though it is difficultto say exactlyhow muchit counted. Newspaperaccounts mentioned that processionsbrought out crowds, This paperwas preparedfor presentationat the WesternRegional Conference of the Associationfor Asian Studies,Salt Lake City, 9-I I NovemberI972. I am indebted to IftikharAzmi of Lucknowand Nazir Ahmad Khan of Aligarhfor their help in translatingthe poeticexcerpts, and to Dr M. A. R. Barkerfor his interestand advice on the translations. 459 This content downloaded from 128.83.205.53 on Fri, 31 Jan 2014 10:09:59 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 460 GAIL MINAULT that poeticlaments brought tears to theireyes,l but one cannotmeasure exactlythe effectof these techniqueson political action. Urdupolitical poetry was just one of manytechniques used during the Khilafatmovement for conveyinga political messagein termswhich were traditionallyfamiliar and acceptable.As statedabove, it is virtu- ally impossibleto estimateits impacton the popularmind in termsof actualideas conveyed or numbersswayed. What can be discussedis the importanceof poetryin the body of Urdu literature,the natureof its traditionalimagery, and the waysin which this imagerywas informed with politicalmeaning 2 Urdu has a long and distinguishedpoetic tradition, inherited from its Persianancestry. The formsof Urdu poetryare the sameas for Persian: the romanticlyric or ghazal,the lengthynarrative poem or masnazJi,the ode or qasida,and others.Poetry) both in Persianand Urdu, was the occupationof a literaryelite and was essentiallyan oral form, meant for recitationin poeticgatherings or mushai'ra.Urdu poetic composition floweredin the late Mughalperiod, but Urduprose was late to develop. Persianremained the languageof the courtand the administratisnuntil the I830S, and thereafterUrdu prose forms graduallyemerged, re- stricted at first to religious tracts, and, among the newly western educatedelite, to journalismand a few didacticnovels.3 The elite natureof the Urdu poetic traditionpresupposed courtly patronagefor poets and lordly manorsfor the assemblyof musha'iras; the ability to composea competentghazal was the markof a cultured gentleman.After the society which suppliedpatronage to professional poets had declined,the poet still lurkedwithin every Muslimgentle- man, whateverhis occupation.For all its elitist tradition,however, Urdu poetrywas still composedmainly for recitation.This character- t Examplesare myriad;see, especially,accounts of meetingson KhilafatDay, I7 October I9 I9 in BombayChronicle, I8 Oct. I9 I9, and Independent(Xlahabad), 22 and 24 OctoberI9I9; or accountsof stumpingtours by Muhammadand ShaukatAli in Independent,II-I3 January I920, Lahore7Eribune, I4 January I920, and Bomba Chronicle,23-24 FebruaryI 92 I . 2 I am particularlyindebted to the worksof Ralph Russelland KhurshidulIslam forthe observationswhich follow. For a detaileddiscussion of the contentand imagery of Urdu lyric poetry and the societywhich producedthem, see Russell and Islam, ThreeMughal Poets (Cambridge, Mass.: HarvardUniversity Press, I968), Chs 4-5; and Ralph Russell,'The Pursuitof the Urdu Ghazal',30urnal of AsianStudies XXIX, I (NovemberI969), I07-24. A detaileddiscussion of Urdu prosodyoccurs in M. A. R. Barker,'Urdu Poetics', in A Readerof ModernUrdu Poetry (Montreal: McGill UniversityPress, I968) App. I, pp. xiii-xx. 3 Forthe developmentof the Urdu novel,see RalphRussell, 'The ModernNovel in Urdu', in TheNouel in India,ed. by T. W. Clark(London: George Allen and Unwin I 970) pp I02-4I * This content downloaded from 128.83.205.53 on Fri, 31 Jan 2014 10:09:59 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions URDU POLITICAL POETEtY DUEtING KHILAFAT MOVEMENT 46I istic renderedit accessibleto the illiteratemany as well as to the lettered few. As poetic recitationsbecame part of political mass meetings, poetry became a means of communicatingbetween the politicized elite andthe throngsin theiraudiences. Further) it wasa formof literary expressionthat spoketo the emotions.As such,it was an ideal medium for reachingthe heartsof many Muslimswho remainedunmoved by detailedpolitical discussion. ' The traditionalthemes and symbolsofs Urdu poetry were derived from Persianpoetics. In love lyrics,the loveris alwaysseparated from his beloved;he longsto be nearher, but it is impossible.In traditional Muslimsociety, with its rigidsegregation of the sexes,all romanticlove is of necessityillicit, its consummationeither impossible or dangerous. Hence the imageryused to describethese feelingscontains a sense of impendingdisaster. The moth and the candle are the lover and his beloved.The caged nightingaleis the lover imprisonedby his desire, yearningfor his nest or his gardenabode. His mistressis usuallypor- trayed as haughty'and distant, or as downrightsinister: a huntress come to entrap the bird and ravage his nest, or a flower-plucker, destroyingthe beauty of the garden. Common,too, is the imageryof conviviality:a caravan,an assemblyof comrades,or a wine-drinking partyrepresent the stateof beingin the companyof the beloved.In this case, she is doubtlessa courtesan,and thus once again someonewho can neverbelong to the poet alone.His feelingof emptinessin separa- tion from'her is describedin opposingimages: the vanishedcaravann leaving behind only footprintsin the shifting sands, the dispersed assembly,smoke still risingfrom a gutteringcandle. Similarsymbols were used in the poetryof religiousmysticism. The parallelsbetween sacred and profanelove were ever-present-inPersian ' Sufi poetry, where the devotee in searchof God was portrayedas a lover searchingfor his beloved.And just as illicit love in a segregated societycould be disastrous,SQ could devotionto God and the monistic quest for spiritualunity with Him be blasphemous.Sufism had em- braced monisticdoctrines, but in orthodoxIslam, unity of the indi- vidual soul with the transcendentGod is impossible.Thus Sufi poetry was ambiguous.It could be about earthly'love, or divine, or both simultaneously.4 It is but a short step to informsuch ambiguousimagery'with yet anotherlevel of significance,a politicalone. Forexample, the devastated gardenand the vanishedluxury and convivialityof wine-bibbingbe- came the vanishedglories of Islamic rule. The huntress,at first the 4 Russell,'The Pursliitof the Urdu Ghazal',pp. I I4-I6. This content downloaded from 128.83.205.53 on Fri, 31 Jan 2014 10:09:59 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions - 4b2 GAIL MINAULT oppressorin tove, now becamea political oppressor.The nightingate in the cage becamethe patriotyearning for freedom,or later and even moreliterally, the imprisonedpolitical leader. An excellentexample of this transformationof lyric imageryis the M1lsaddas:Madd o jfatr-e- Islamby Hali, a contemporaryof
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