The dialogue between Sufism and existentialism is a constant theme in the Urdu poetry of Khwaja Mir Dard. Lawyer Faisal Siddiqi made this remark on Sunday afternoon while speaking on Dard at an event hosted by Danish-o-Ramish, an organisation striving for the preservation of classical arts and literature.
The audience was told that many classical poets of Urdu besides Mir and Ghalib are still relevant today, but sadly, Mir and Ghalib continue to overshadow them and little discussion takes place on Sauda, Dard, Mazhar Janejanan, Zauq, etc.
Siddiqi praised Dard for his dexterity in writing complex ideas in simple words, saying that Dard appears to be unrivalled in the classical Urdu poetry in this aspect. Journalist Rana Asif gave an account of the time in which Dard lived. He said that it was an era of chaos and destruction, as the Mughal empire was on a steep decline and Delhi was raided by Nadir Shah and Marathas.
He said Mazhar Janejanan was killed, while Mir and Sauda migrated from Delhi to Lucknow, but Dard chose not to flee. The destruction of Delhi and the decline of the Mughal civilisation permeates Dard’s poetry, Asif said, adding that through his poetry, Dard succeeded in presenting tragedy with aesthetic sensibility.
Explaining how one can relate with Dard in the present day, Asif said that one can compare Mir and Sauda with those people who leave Pakistan and settle abroad, and Dard with those who choose not to leave their homeland despite all the chaos happening there.
Siddiqi, Asif and Danish-o-Ramish founder Hijaz Naqvi explained some couplets by Dard, especially his famous ghazal that starts with “Tuhmat-e-Chand Apne Zimme Dhar Chale”. An interesting discussion took place on the couplet “Saaqiya Yaan Lag Raha Hai Chal Chalao / Jab Talak Bas Chal Sakay Saghar Chale”.
For Asif, the couplet reminds him of overindulgence in worldly delights at the time of social and cultural decline. He said Saghar (goblet) symbolises worldly pleasures, and the couplet reflects the tendency of a declining society to remain oblivious of where it is heading towards.
For Siddiqi, the couplet is a stoic statement. It is a reaction of a sensitive soul to the disasters happening all around him. As Dard realises he can do nothing to change the situation, he finds refuge in stoicism, the lawyer said. He, however, added that becoming a stoic is not a solution.
He said that later poets like Ghalib do not exhibit stoicism in their verses and attempt to find answers to the problems surrounding them. The discussion also highlighted Sufism in Dard’s poetry, as Asif quoted Muhammad Hussain Azad as saying that before Dard, no one had succeeded in presenting Sufi ideas in Urdu poetry to such an extent. The journalist added that as Dard belonged to a Sufi tradition, his poetry brims with humanism.
Comparing Dard with Ghalib, he said that like Ghalib, Dard’s Urdu poetry corpus is small, as he wrote only 1,500 couplets.
The talk also clarified a supposedly derogatory remark made by Mir about Dard that “Dard was a half poet”. The speakers said Mir said this because Dard only penned ghazal and did not attempt to write in other genres of poetry in vogue at that time. Naqvi said that on one occasion Mir praised Dard and called him Bahar (spring season) of poetry.
The audience was surprised at the abundance of contemporary ideas in Dard’s poetry that was composed three centuries ago. Asif said that today self-awareness is a buzz word, and everyone aspires to be self-aware. Centuries ago, Dard wrote: “Na Hai Aql-o-Danish, Na Fazl-o-Hunar / Bas Aik Dil Hai Jo Aagaah Hai”.
