‘Despite all his greatness, Bedil not known in his native India’

Abdul Qadir Bedil is the most unfortunate poet of the Subcontinent because despite all his greatness, he is overall not known in his native country, India.

It were the people of Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan who first recognised Bedil’s greatness, and he was a revered literary figure in that region. Fortunately, during the last 70 years people of Iran have also begun appreciating the greatness of Bedil’s verses.

This was stated by Canada-based Urdu and Persian scholar Dr Syed Taqi Abedi during a lecture organised by the Anjuman Taraqqi-e-Urdu on Bedil at the Urdu Bagh on Tuesday afternoon.

Whenever Dr Abedi comes to Pakistan, the Anjuman always invites him for some book talk or lecture. In recent years he spoke on Firaq Gorakhpuri and Iqbal’s rejected Urdu verses at the Urdu Bagh, and they were a treat for the literary enthusiasts in attendance. Dr Abedi lamented the publication of only a limited number of books on Bedil in Urdu. Had Bedil been born in Iran, we would have thousands of books on him, he remarked.

He said Bedil was born during Shah Jehan’s tenure and had witnessed the reign of eight Mughal rulers in his life, adding that his initial life was hard as both his parents had died when he was a child, and he was brought up by his uncle who had a Sufi disposition.

The scholar explained that Bedil was born in Bihar or Bengal, and his mother tongue was Bengali. He also knew Persian, Arabic, Turkish, Sanskrit and Urdu. He said Bedil was a prolific poet who composed over 90,000 couplets in Persian, while the number of his Ghazal couplets is 48,000.

Dr Abedi said that earlier, only five Mathnavi penned by Bedil were in record, but now two more have been discovered, raising the count to seven. The number of Rubaiyat composed by Bedil is 4,650, he added.

He informed the audience that poetry written by Bedil in languages other than Persian has been lost. He said Mir Taqi Mir in his Nukat-e-Shu’ara had also mentioned Bedil, and recorded two Urdu couplets by Bedil in that Tazkirah.

Fortunately, he added, that entire Urdu ghazal had been found in Afghanistan, due to which we now have just one single Ghazal of Bedil in Urdu. Commenting on what was the need for the Anjuman Taraqqi-e-Urdu to organise lecture on Bedil, who was a Persian poet, the speaker said that no other Persian poet had such a profound influence on Urdu poets. He was of the view that all great Urdu poets had been influenced by Bedil. He cited many verses by Ghalib that paid tribute to Bedil, but then said that among the Urdu poets, it was Iqbal whose poetry had the most influence of Bedil.

He said that the theme of the supreme stature of human beings in the cosmos that pervaded Iqbal’s poetry was actually inspired by Bedil. Dr Abedi said Bedil lived in the times of many other notable poets, like Ghani Kashmiri, Ne’mat Khan Aali and Afzal Sarkhush, none of whom had talked about the role of human beings in the grand scheme of things.

Citing a famous Misra of Iqbal, Kar-e-Jahan Daraz Hai Ab Mera Intizar Kar, Dr Abedi read a couplet by Bedil that dealt with the same theme. Bedil said in the couplet that when he came to know that the doors of paradise had been opened, he decided that it was not the right time to enter paradise, and that he would go there some other day.

The scholar also recited a Rubayi by Josh Malihabadi about the need for diving deep into the words to capture their full meaning, saying that Josh echoed Bedil’s ideas. He said that the theme of meaning was rampant in Bedil’s verses, and he came to be called Abul Ma’ana (the father of meaning).

Dr Abedi also spoke on the fact that Bedil had attained the stature of a great poet during his life. He said that although Aurangzeb Alamgir’s era was not very favourable for poets, and he had also abolished the post of Malik-ul-Shu’ara (poet laureate), many aristocrats and Nawabs continued to patronise poets and experts of other art forms. He said Bedil was given a large house in Delhi with a daily stipend, and after his death, Bedil was buried in the same house. He also said Mushafi had recorded in his Tazkirah that he had paid a visit to Bedil’s house, which was then in a dilapidated state, and seen his grave.

He pointed out that the grave that is currently ascribed to Bedil in Delhi is not the real grave of the poet. He said that notable poets like Jafar Zatalli would come to literary gatherings at Bedil’s house. Notable among Bedil’s disciples were Bandarabindas Khushbu, whose book on Bedil was a major source of information about Bedil’s life, Khan Aarzoo and Shah Gulshan, who became the Ustad of Wali Deccani, added the speaker. Dr Abedi also remarked that Bedil was the first progressive poet who included the problems of the labour class in his poetry.