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

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ULRIKE STARK • 73colonial postal system, postage from the outset constituted a vital factor inthe commercial history of “vernacular” papers. Nothing much hadchanged since 1822 when Harihar Dutt had solicited the government forfree postage, complaining that the circulation of his weekly J≥m-e Jah≥Num≥ had been “materially impeded and obstructed even in spite of mybest exertions and efforts to extend it.” This, Dutt maintained, was “inconsequence of its being liable to payment of full postage, which hasrestrained many intending subscribers in the mofussil from patronisingthe said News Paper.” 16 The adverse effects of postage on circulation continuedto be a vexing problem for Indian newspaper proprietors. So muchso that in March 1869 Munshi Naval Kishore initiated a campaign for thereduction of postage for newspapers and periodicals and rallied a group oftwenty-five influential newspaper proprietors and editors from all overNorth India, Calcutta and Bombay in drawing up a petition to the government.The petition at the time was rejected. 17 Yet the governmentseems to have had second thoughts, for in 1871 it introduced a fifty-percentreduction in the standard postage. Not surprisingly, the measuregave an immediate boost to the Urdu newspaper trade. It not only led to“a striking increase” 18 in the number of new launches, but also benefitedwell-established papers like AA which were able to attract larger numbersof subscribers. From August 1871 AA started to appear twice a week, andfrom May 1875 three times a week. Even after the reduction, postage continuedto account for a considerable proportion of readers’ expenses: In1877 the annual cost for ordinary subscribers was Rs. 20 excluding and Rs.30 including postage, postage thus comprising a third of the cost. Highersubscription rates of Rs. 40 and Rs. 50, respectively, obtained for thegentry and nobility. The provincial government at the time subscribed to50 copies charged at ordinary subscription rates—Naval Kishore’s attemptto introduce higher rates was rejected outright.AA did much to enhance the spread of the newspaper reading habitamong the aristocracy and educated middle class in the North-WesternProvinces and Avadh. That the paper also enjoyed growing popularity16 Quoted in P. Thankappan Nair, "Origin of the Persian, Urdu and HindiPrinting and Press in Calcutta," Indo-Iranica 43 (1990), p. 35.17 See Stark, pp. 67–8.18 Oudh Administration Report for the Year 1871–2, p. 128. ‘Abdu ’s-Sal≥mKhurshµd, ¿a√≥fat P≥kist≥n va Hind M® (Lahore: Majlis-e Taraqqµ-e Adab, 1963),p. 180.
74 • THE ANNUAL OF URDU STUDIESamong those sections of society who could not afford to subscribe to anewspaper regularly is borne out by the quaint testimony of a correspondentof AA who, writing from Hoshangabad in 1874, complained of thecommon malpractice of the servants of the post office who were in thehabit of opening the covers of the paper addressed to him. Not only didthey read it themselves, they circulated it among their friends, on whichaccount the paper reached him very late. 19 One eminent subscriber of AAwho publicly welcomed its expansion and growing influence was SirSayyid A√mad Kh≥n. In the opinion of the great Muslim reformer, MunshiNaval Kishore was to be credited with having popularized the notionof a news magazine and created widespread public awareness for modernconcepts of information among Urdu-speakers in the North-WesternProvinces and Avadh. 20 In an article published in his own reformist journal,Tahÿµbu ’l-Akhl≥q (est. 1870), Sir Sayyid expressed his hope to see AAexpand even further:Avad^ Akhb≥r has been a very respected paper before and nothing can beadded to it now. We hope that our contemporary journalists will imitateAvad^ Akhb≥r, and as for Munshi Naval Kishore’s magnanimity—God’sblessings upon him—we hope that his paper will appear on a daily basis inthe manner of the large renowned English newspapers. May God let it beso. 21The praise and good wishes were mutual for AA openly sympathizedwith Islamic modernism and the Aligarh Movement. It did its best tosupport Tahÿµbu ’l-Akhl≥q when soon after its inception the paper facedsevere opposition from the Muslim orthodoxy. The editor of AA at thetime was Ghul≥m Mu√ammad Kh≥n “Tapish,” a long-standing supporterof Sir Sayyid. He not only reprinted many of the articles published inTahÿµbu ’l-Akhl≥q, 22 but also adopted a policy of refusing to include in the19 AA of 16 October 1874, Selections from the Vernacular Newspapers Publishedin the Punjab, North Western-Provinces, Oudh and Central Provinces (SVN), 1874,p. 493.20 Syed Jalaluddin Haidar, “Munshi Nawal Kishore (1836–1895)(Mirror ofUrdu Printing in British India),” Pakistan Library Bulletin, Vol. XII, No. 1, p. 20.21 My translation. Tahÿµbu ’l-Akhl≥q, 1 Jam≥dµu ’¡-¬≥nµ 1288 A.H., quoted inKhurshµd, pp. 180–1.22 For example, Sir Sayyid’s influential review of William Hunter’s TheIndian Musalmans was reprinted in the AA of 22 December 1871.
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