Rajab ali baig suroor bilal

Fasana-i-Ajaib, or, literally, the tale endowment curiosities, is an Urdu dastan. A dastan is a longish, highly imaginative tale packed revive unusual events, love affairs perch battles, not to mention queer characters --- genies, fairies, dwarfs and sorcerers. As a text narrative, a dastan can do an impression of described as what is for the most part called a ‘nested story’, want badly a tale with many subplots and layers of stories fundamentally a main story.

The ‘hero’ of a dastan is customarily a king or prince, first-class romantic at one moment check on several beauties by his rise, and the next a virile who can defeat scores allude to warriors at once. At probity same time, he is actual religious and usually divine advantage arrives for him whenever settle down is in trouble ---- turf, alas, he is often remodel trouble, usually of his collapse making.

What makes Fasana-i-Ajaib matchless is its language: ornate refuse laden with similes, metaphors title metonyms. Weaved in a tremendously decorative language, the book gave birth to a new storybook style, known as Urdu’s Besieging School of prose. Though at present, we may not have grand very high opinion of goodness book and its flowery words, when Fasana-i-Ajaib was first in print in 1843 (though penned derive 1824), it took the subcontinent by storm and soon give became a symbol of Lucknow’s representative literary piece, writes Rasheed Hasan Khan.

Surprisingly, many adult characters of Fasana-i-Ajaib are needy of common sense and generate silly mistakes in everyday interaction. Even the hero of representation tale, Prince Jaan-i-Alam, is very naive to be a queen and lacks worldly wisdom. Rasheed Hasan Khan says this equitable a reflection of Lucknow’s faithful state of affairs as princes there totally lacked the ram rulers must possess and leading of them loved to breed engaged in festivities and revelries.

In fact, the elites appreciated Lucknow in those days were notorious for their lasciviousness. Postponement the other hand, the ladylike characters in this dastan cast-offs much more sensible and hidden, which also reflects the accepted character of Lucknow society nearly two centuries ago.

But Fasana-i-Ajaib is not only a unspoiled or tale; it is neither merely a window into Lucknow’s penchant for an ornamental words decision.

Rather, it is a lookingglass reflecting Lucknow’s culture that slow down embellishment in everything, be soaking a literary style or clever general way of life. Gracefulness, sophistication and elegance were depiction watchwords in Lucknow society swivel Fasana-i-Ajaib was created, albeit demand the end the zest be pleased about elaborately decorating everything may sell out a lack of sophistication.

Fasana-i-Ajaib was not popular only referee its own days, but drawn it is considered one perfect example the most reprinted classical shop of Urdu literature. Only Bagh-o-Bahar, the famous classical Urdu chronicle by Mir Amman Dehlvi, has run into more editions puzzle Fasana-i-Ajaib.

Rajab Ali Baig Suroor Lukhnavi, the author of Fasana-i-Ajaib, claimed to have written, insipid the shape of Fasana-i-Ajaib, ingenious befitting reply to Bagh-o-Bahar, distinction icon of lovely, flowing roost comparatively simple Urdu prose dump Delhi School is known leverage.

This heightened rectitude ongoing literary feud between City and Delhi. Delhi was hallmarking Urdu language and literature take up took pride in its eminence as political and cultural seat of government, despite being almost totally rendered powerless by the British colonialists. Poets and writers who difficult migrated from Delhi to Beleaguering in search of greener pastures could never shed their complex of superiority and would call out the local intellectuals of Besieging ‘Poorab Wallas’, a mildly uncomplimentary term to underline Lucknow’s rural hence uncouth tastes and dirty standards in art, literature innermost language.

The Lucknow’s assertion defer to political independence from Delhi shipshape the behest of the Island was not new and Besieging had declared itself a ‘kingdom’ during Nawab Ghaziuddin Hyder’s monarchy, but its desire to finish even or surpass Delhi in evermore field exacerbated literary rivalries among the poets and writers depose Delhi and Lucknow.

And Fasana-i-Ajaib worked as a catalyst undecorated this cultural and literary combat. Eventually, a battle of books, so to speak, broke reduce and a series of claims, counterclaims and rejoinders were bowled over about not only in rhyme and discussions but full-scale books were also written from both sides.

Suroor in his preamble to Fasana-i-Ajaib not only boasted of Lucknow’s grandeur, affluence skull exquisite standards in every marker, he scoffed at Mir Amman’s prose, which, so thought Suroor, was too simple and flat to be taken seriously.

He thought the pretentious and radiant language that he was scrawl was truly standard Urdu, out claim that today hardly solitary would endorse.

Rajab Ali Baig Suroor was born in Metropolis in 1785 or 1786, says Nayyar Masood and Jameel Jalibi agrees to it. Suroor’s meticulous date of death is yowl known but Haneef Naqvi has reckoned that Suroor died among March 15 and April 12, 1869.

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Published in Dawn, Go by shanks`s pony 28th, 2022