URDU

The Hindustan Times Report: Municipal Toilets over Zauq's Grave

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) report on renowned poet Shaikh Mohammed Ibrahim 'Zauq's grave in Paharganj substantiates the allegation that the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has constructed toilet blocks on the grave.

According to an ASI report submitted before Mr. Justice Kuldip Singh (of the Supreme Court), the enclosure wall containing the grave of Ustad Zauq was removed and levelled to the ground for providing public conveniences to the residents of Nabi Karim, Paharganj. The Court had asked the committee to locate the exact place where the tomb of Shaikh Mohammed Ibrahim Zauq is situated.

The report, prepared by a committee of experts from ASI, Delhi University and other institutions, the lavatories are situated on the grave of the great poet.

An outstanding poet, the court poet and literary guide to Mughal emperor Bahadurshah Zafar, Zauq did on October 17, 1854 was buried in 'Kallu-ka-Takiya', which formed a part of Nabi Karim graveyard.

No evidence in any form nor any vestiges of this grave of the famous poet are now left so that the grave's existence can be identified.

The earliest reference to the existence of the grave of Zauq is available in the book of famous historian Bashiruddin Ahmed. The book, titled "Waqiat-i-Darul Hukumat-i-Dihli' (History of the Imperial City) published by Shamsi Press, Agra in 1919. Bashiruddin Ahmed has given a vivid description of the grave as well as its condition then prevailing. According to the writer, the grave of Zauq is situated in 'Kallu-ka-Takiya' a graveyard near Qadam Sharif. There were seven more graves near the grave of Zauq. It had an enclosure and there was a tablet on the head side of the grave containing an epitaph in Urdu verse with the date of his death.

Bashiruddin Ahmed also mentions that the grave was lying in an uncared-for condition and its boundary wall had fallen at several places. The book did not contain any photographs or any other illustration. The committee, however, discovered some photographs in the Delhi Wakf Board, which give a fairly good idea of the grave. On the basis of these photographs, the committee concluded that the grave of Zauq was built on a platform and had a stone sacrophagus with a head stone with an epitaph within an enclosure wall.

It appears that after 1919, the original tablet was destroyed and a new square stone tablet with Persian and Urdu inscriptions with the date of Zauq's death was fixed at the head side of the grave. The Delhi Wakf Board has some photographs to prove the same. The later epitaph in Urdu was composed by Sahil Dehlavi in 1938.

An interesting piece of evidence regarding the existence of the grave till the end of 1950 is the inspection note drawn on December 16, 1950 by Maulana Hifzur Rehman of the Delhi Waqf Board and the action taken by the Waqf Board Committee for carrying out repairs to the grave as well as its enclosure. The inspection note mentions the condition of the grave, the inscription and the repair work that was carried out for its preservation.

The next reference to the existence of the grave till the end of July 1952, comes from the action taken by police authorities on a complaint lodged by Mohammed Jafri on July 23, 1952. The police report submitted on Mohammed Jafri's complaint mentions that the grave of Zauq was quite intact. The tablet of the grave was, however, missing and the police officials attributed that to the communal disturbance during 1947.

As per the revenue records available in the Deputy Commissioner's office and the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), public latrine block was constructed in 1961 by the MCD in Nabi Karim graveyard.

"It is now learnt that this latrine block is situated on the grave of Ustad Zauq, a noted Urdu poet and it is desirable that the same is removed from its present site. The proposal was placed before the standing committee. for according sanction for acquiring the land measuring 150 sq yards under Khasra Number 52, Mauja Qadam Sharif and the same was duly approved by the committee, but nothing concrete was done... All research, verification, surveys on the subject lead to the conclusion that an enclosure wall containing the grave of Zauq was removed along with several other graves to construct public latrines”, read the report compiled by Superintending Archaeologist, Delhi Circle, Mr. D.V Sharma.

(The Hindustan Times, 24 October, 1996)

Shahabuddin's Letter to Minister of

HRD, Govt. of India, 27 October, 1996

The Archaeological Survey of India on instructions from the Supreme Court, has reported that in 1961 the Municipal Corporation of Delhi constructed a public latrine block on the grave of the eminent Urdu poet Zauq and adjacent grave which lay even the enclosure. It is amazing that such deliberate desecration of a graveyard went unnoticed even though the grave included that of the poet Zauq Delhi as a Union Territory directly under the Central Government and the MCD was functioning under the 14 Governor appointed by the Central Government. The Central Government, therefore, cannot escape responsibility for this desecration.

The question arises whether the decision to locate the toilet at the particular site was inadvertent or deliberate needs to be locked into.

I would therefore, request you to take the initiative to have an administrative inquiry set up to establish the genesis of the decision and whether all facts then available were taken into consideration.

Ather Farouqui on Urdu's Struggle for Survival

For the past 50 years Urdu has been engaged in a relentless struggle for survival. The first threat to its survival was posed when it was made out to be language of Muslims Once this association was clearly established in the popular mind, Urdu came to be targeted through slow exclusion from the syllabi, gradual diminution of facilities for instruction to Muslim children in state-run-schools and the decline in circulation of Urdu magazines and newspapers. All these developments have threatened Urdu with virtual extinction and Muslim literary elite have failed to respond to this deplorable situation with creative imagination.

What is, then, the solution? First, Muslims shall have to undertake a complete change in the syllabus and policies of the Madaris. The reforms should be such that those who study in them can acquire a degree of proficiency to survive in the contemporary changing world and lead a worthwhile secular existence.

The Aligarh Muslim University shall have to impart education for B.Ed and M.Ed with Urdu as medium as done by Jamia Millia in New Delhi. Urdu is taught as a compulsory subject in AMU even today, but curly on paper.

Urdu has been a victim of the same step-motherly treatment by the government to which Muslims in India have been a victim. One of the consequences of this has been that in comparison to other minority communities. Muslims have been rendered particularly backward and Urdu virtually on its way out.

After independence Muslims in India could not develop the courage to wage a struggle for Urdu, or Urdu occupied a low priority among the issues raised by Muslims after independence. The Muslims in India now live by the hope that Urdu will live on in South India and Bihar.

What will be the linguistic scenario of South India and what linguistic issues will raise themselves is difficult to predict. Through re-organization of educational institutions (Madaris) not only can Urdu be saved but the pace of spread of education among Muslims can be accelerated. This process of re-organization can also be extended to other parts of India.

Through linking the system of Madrasas to an influential all India religious movement like Tableeghi Jamat the network of such schools can be utilized for promotion of Urdu. On the whole in today's secular India, the guarantee of Urdu's survival paradoxically depends upon its ability to rely on religion and religious institutions.

(Source: The Times of India, 21 October, 1996)