Nazeer hailed as ‘poet of people’
KARACHI: Scholarly papers were read out at a conference titled Tareekh Aur Awam, organised by Tareekh (quarterly), Karachi University’s Pakistan Study Centre and Jinnah Medical and Dental College at the college’s auditorium on Saturday.
The first session of the moot, presided over by Prof Sahar Ansari, was dedicated to Nazeer Akbarabadi. Known historian Dr Muabarak Ali was the first speaker of the conference. The title of his speech was So Hai Wo Bhi Admi, taken from a famous Nazeer poem Adminama.
He established from the outset that Nazeer Akbarabadi wasn’t given his due credit in the realm of literature because he wasn’t close to the elite of society (ashrafiya). He said the 18th century was an important era as it was a period of social and economic change. The Mughal rule was on the decline, which was mainly felt in northern India. Oudh, Deccan, Rampur, etc were in a relatively good position where artistes, musicians, poets, etc were being celebrated and patronised. Agra and Delhi,
the two capitals, on the other hand, were devastated.
He said Nazeer Akbarabadi lived in Agra and was a teacher. He existed among the common folk and was part of the common culture that existed in the form of festive occasions (Eid, Holi, Diwali, etc). The concept of carnivals (mela) had also widened the gap between the rich and the poor. In that regard Adminama was a revolutionary poem, he said.
He said Nazeer’s poetry indicated that the real man could be seen behind the mask of caste, creed or religion. He argued that in the 18th century historians were writing accounts of society’s decline while poets were composing elegies and dirges (shehr-i-ashob). Nazeer also wrote one on Agra. He commented that despite all that, poets or religious scholars couldn’t find solutions to problems that society was going through. He said unless society had thinkers and philosophers, the correct analysis and evaluation of issues facing it were hard.
Ahmed Salim’s speech was on Tareekh Mein Fard Ka Kirdar. He said it was difficult to ascertain from where our history began: 5,000 years ago, 1,400 years ago, from 1947 or from 1971.
He raised the question as to who’s more important in history: hero or the people? He then asked whether those heroes who took part in different movements had any part to play in history. He said we confined heroes to national or ethnic limits.
He told the gathering that Aurangzeb was a powerful ruler whom a lot of people admired, but if we studied him we’d find out that Khushhal Khan Khattak fought against him. Similarly, Ahmed Shah Abdali was a hero to one group, but was a murderer for another. He then gave a lot of other examples and finished off his speech by discussing the 1971 debacle when a majority was labelled traitors by a minority.
Dr Jaffar Ahmed’s topic was Awam Ki Tareekh. He said historiography often carried biases. In the 18th and 19th centuries things changed with the advent of the Industrial and French revolutions and historians started to include the people in their accounts. He quoted quite a few books written by American and European authors to support his argument.
Dr Tariq Sohail gave a presentation on the subject of Awam Leader Ko Kis Nazar Se Dekhte Hain. His presentation was based on a study that he conducted asking 300 students questions about three political figures: Asif Zardari, Altaf Husain and Nawaz Sharif.
Dr Riyaz Shaikh spoke on Yugoslavia Ki Kisan Tahreek. He said that from the 12th to 18th century there were 180 movements initiated by farmers. He informed the audience that the first farmersÂ’ movement began in 1253 and gave a brief account of five such movements which made an impact on the region.
Sahar Ansari in his presidential address lauded all the papers and suggested that poets felt society’s problems and played an important part in pointing out its flaws.
He appreciated Nazeer Akbarabadi for remaining away from the royal court and promoting secular values (by secular he said he meant not atheism but an all-inclusive approach).He quoted some interesting couplets proving that the poet’s message was still relevant.
The second and last session of the conference was dedicated to American historian Howard Zinn.
Source: Dawn
Date:5/15/2011
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