Politics, Public Issues and the Promotion of Urdu Literature: Avadh ...

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ULRIKE STARK • 87October 1871 at the request of the Maharaja of Patiala. He died in 1876 atthe early age of thirty. 55A new era dawned for AA when, in 1870, Maulvµ Ghul≥m Mu√ammadKh≥n (d. 1904) assumed the editorship of the paper. A native of Delhi, hehad spent part of his youth in the company of the Nawab of Patauri andsubsequently gained experience as a journalist and editor in Meerut andother places. Ghul≥m Mu√ammad Kh≥n was a pupil of Mirz≥ Gh≥lib andcomposed poetry in Persian and Urdu under the pen name “Tapish.”During the eight years of his editorship AA thrived. 56 Relations betweenhim and Munshi Naval Kishore, which for the longest time had beenamiable, took a dramatic turn in 1876, when, after a supposedly seriousaltercation between the two men, Ghul≥m Mu√ammad Kh≥n was dismissed.What prompted the dispute is not known. It may have had to dowith Ghul≥m Mu√ammad Kh≥n’s editorial policy, notably his overt supportof Sir Sayyid A√mad Kh≥n’s reformist paper Tahÿµbu ’l-Akhl≥q which,as noted earlier, caused Munshi Naval Kishore some embarrassment. Atall events, it was none other than Sir Sayyid who personally came to theeditor’s rescue: in an article appearing in the Aligarh Institute Gazette of29 September 1876 he expressed his deep regret over Ghul≥mMu√ammad’s dismissal and pointed out that Naval Kishore had carelesslylet go of one of the most capable editors of his paper, to whom AA owedits entire success. 57The letter did not fail in its purpose: Ghul≥mMu√ammad was promptly reinstalled in his capacity as editor. Yet, he didnot remain with AA for much longer; several months later he decided toresign as editor and leave the paper for good. In May 1877 he informedthe readers of AA that having devoted all his energy to the paper for thepast eight years and having ruined his health and eyesight in the process,he was to quit AA and start his own paper Mushµr-e QaiΩar-e Hindinstead. 58There is a rather dubious claim, probably going back to Garcin deTassy, that, following Tapish, for a short period Maul≥n≥ Sayyid Amjad‘Alµ “Ashharµ” (b. 1851) took charge of the paper. 59 This claim is not sub-55 Garcin de Tassy, 1876, pp. 136–7.56 Apparently Munshµ Fid≥ ‘Alµ “‘Aish” was assistant editor at the time.N∑r≥nµ, p. 74.57 The article is reprinted in Khurshµd, p. 182.58 For Tapish, see ¿≥birµ, pp. 99–104.59 Ibid., pp. 104–6.
88 • THE ANNUAL OF URDU STUDIESstantiated by biographical accounts on Ashharµ. 60 Indeed, it would seemstrange that this distinguished scholar of Persian and Arabic should giveup his high administrative post in the state of Bhopal and move toLucknow. In January 1881 Ashharµ established his own printing pressAmjad al-Maπba‘ in Bhopal from where he launched the journal Dabµru ’l-Mulk. A prolific poet and writer, Ashharµ made an important contributionto historiographical and biographical literature in Urdu.Mention has already been made of the next and most famous editorof AA, Pan≈it Ratan N≥t^ “Sarsh≥r” (1846–1902). If AA must be creditedwith having “launched the career of one of the most important prose fictionwriters in Urdu,” 61 it was Sarsh≥r who, in turn, brought about theheyday of the paper’s fame. Born in a Kashmiri Brahmin family settled inLucknow, Sarsh≥r received his education at Canning College and latertook up employment as a school teacher. He had for some time contributedarticles to various journals, particularly to Sayyid Sajj≥d ƒusain’ssatirical journal Avad^ Pan± (est. 1877), when Naval Kishore appointedhim as editor of AA on 10 August 1878. Apparently, Sarsh≥r had beenintroduced to Naval Kishore by the Director of Public Instruction R. T.H. Griffith and employed with a view to counteracting the fierce attackson AA that Avad^ Pan± had started to indulge in at the time. 62 It comes asno surprise that Sarsh≥r’s change of sides did little to alleviate the tensionbetween the two papers. On the contrary, the publication of Fas≥na-e¥z≥d and the ensuing boost it gave to the circulation of AA provokedjealous attacks and bitter criticism from Avad^ Pan±. The result, accordingto Sadiq, was “an open war between the two papers, which, after a crescendoof abuse and whacking blows on both sides, resulted in an honourabletruce.” 63This is not quite accurate, for the attacks continuedthroughout the 1880s: In August 1880 the Avad^ Pan± accused AA of beingan anti-Muslim paper. In 1886, the serialized publication in AA of60 See, e.g., Salµm ƒ≥mµd Ri¤vµ, Urd∑ Adab kµ Taraqqµ M® Bhåp≥l k≥ ƒiΩΩa(Bhopal: Alavµ Press, 1965), pp. 174–6.61 C.M. Naim and Carla Petievich, “Urdu in Lucknow/Lucknow in Urdu,”in Lucknow: Memories of a City, ed. Violette Graff (Delhi: Oxford UniversityPress, 1997), p. 171.62 Firoze Mookerjee, Lucknow and the World of Sarshar (Karachi: Saad Publications,1992), pp. 57–8; Ram Babu Saksena, A History of Urdu Literature (1927;New Delhi: Asian Educational Services, 1990), p. 325.63 Sadiq, p. 418.
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