Hindustani Lyrics | Page 2

Mirrors; for his Soul is ever passing forward on the high Quest.
Knowledge and skill are as dust, and self as nothing, compared with the
Love that goads and urges him on.
As a language, Urdu has a most composite ancestry, and comprises
elements derived from the original languages of India, from Sanskrit,
the tongue of the Aryan invaders, from Persian, from Turkish, from
Kurdish and other Tartar tongues, from Arabic, even from Egyptian
and Abyssinian; and later from such very foreign sources as Portuguese,
Dutch, French, and English. The political phases through which India
has successively passed have left their record in this hybrid character of
the language. The process of its evolution really began long before the
Christian era, when Sanskrit--the language of the Aryan
conquerors--began to commingle with the languages of the peoples in
Upper India, or Hindustan. From this union came the prakrits, or

vernaculars. The one which at the time of the Buddha was current in
Magadha--parts of the present British Behar and Orissa and the United
Provinces of Agra and Oudh--was known as Magdhi, and the message
delivered by the great Teacher was recorded in that vernacular. This
spread rapidly with the growth of Buddhism, and became the court and
official language of a large part of Upper India. The language which
was developed in the north and north-west was called at first by the
simple name Bhasha (Bhakha), which means the usual tongue, but later
took the name of Hindi, and is written in the Sanskrit (Deva-nagari)
character.
At the beginning of the eighth century the Muslims appeared as
conquerors in India. Mahmoud of Ghuzni, about 1,000 A.D., won great
victories, and from that time Bhasha began to be modified in the towns.
Four centuries later Tamerlane of the Mogul race entered India and
took Delhi, laying the foundation of the Empire definitely established
by Babar in the beginning of the sixteenth century. Hindi became
saturated with Persian, itself already laden with many Arab words
introduced through conquest and religion. The market of the army was
established round Delhi, and bore the Tartar name of Urdu, which
means horde or army, and thus, camp. It was especially at Delhi, after
its rebuilding by Shah Jehan and its growth into the metropolis and
literary and commercial and military centre, that the hybrid tongue took
definite shape; it was named Zaban-i-urdu (literally, the language of the
army) or simply Urdu, and was written in the Persian character. Even in
its infancy it manifested a wealth of poetic inspiration derived from its
varied ancestry.
The poets from whose work the lyrics in this book have been selected
were mostly writers of voluminous Diwans, and they occupied various
and diverse stations in life. Some were Rulers, some soldiers, some
darweshes (devotees), some men of letters only. The name given is in
each case the takhallus (pen-name); each has some special significance,
as Sauda, the folly of love, Momin, the believer, Zafar, the victorious;
and frequently this name is introduced, by way of signature, into the
closing stanza of a poem.

ABRU: born at Lucknow, lived at Delhi, was a darwesh of the Order of
Kalenders, and wrote an Urdu Diwan much appreciated for the
ingenious allegories in which it abounds.
AMIR: Amir Minai of Rampur, one of the best poets of the latest
period: a great mystical poet: his Qasidahs for Muhammad are sung by
devotees: Court poet of Rampur: travelled to Mecca and Medina, and,
after the death of his patron, Nawab Kalbe Ali Khan, came to
Hyderabad on hearing of the Nizam's fame and interest in poetry: rival
of Dagh, by whose side he lies buried in Hyderabad.
ARZU: a poet of Gwalior, where he held an important Government
post in the days of Shah Alam II. (r. 1759-1806). He wrote his poems
mostly in Persian, and was the author of a Dictionary of Mystical
words.
ASIF: pen-name of H.H. Mir Mahbub Ali Khan, Nizam of Hyderabad,
who died in 1911: pupil of the poet Dagh (q.v.) and was an esteemed
poet, and patron of poets.
DAGH: a court poet of Rampur: went to Hyderabad and became the
teacher of the Nizam in poetry (see Asif): lived there in great honour as
Poet Laureate, and was given the title of Fasih-ul-Mulk (the eloquence
of the nation): his poetry is described as natural and graceful in
expression: his proficiency was so great that no poet could stand
against him in the Mushaira: he was of extraordinary wit.
FIGHAN: of Delhi: was the foster-brother of the Emperor Ahmad Shah
(r. 1748-1754) and was one of the principal officers at the Imperial
Court: famous for his piquant and witty conversation, and greatly
skilled in jeux de mots, at which he spent his days and nights.
GHALIB: came of a distinguished