Tohfat-ul-hind

Readers may recall that a respected Hindu friend of ours recently published an article in the journal Urdu-e-Mu'alla. In it, he expressed a critical lament: despite ruling this country for six hundred years, Muslims never paid any attention to its indigenous languages. I responded to this in detail across two issues of Al-Nadwa, demonstrating the profound interest Muslims took in the languages of the Hindus, and the high degree of mastery they achieved in Braj Bhasha specifically. The present essay serves as a continuation, or an appendix, to that discussion.

Tuhfat-ul-Hind (The Gift of India), which forms the title of this essay, is a book authored during the reign of Emperor Aurangzeb Alamgir by Mirza Khan bin Fakhruddin Muhammad. In the preface, the author states that he composed this work during Emperor Alamgir's reign specifically for the study of Prince Azam Shah. The book deals with Hindu rhetoric, prosody, and rhyme, and is divided into seven chapters:

1. Pingal (Prosody)

2. Tuk (Rhyme)

3. Alankar (Figures of Speech / Rhetoric)

4. Sringar Ras (Love and Romance)

5. Samudrik (Physiognomy)

6. Kok (Erotology / The Science of Women)

7. Lughat-e-Hindi (Hindi Lexicon). This chapter compiles essential, frequently used words in Braj Bhasha and provides their meanings.

This book was compiled during the era of Alamgir, specifically for his most beloved and favored son. Alamgir’s detractors often claim that he was the very embodiment of bigotry, intent on destroying not only Hindu architecture but also their literature, and that he shut down all their schools and pathshalas (seminaries) for this purpose. Yet, it is an established historical fact that Alamgir was so intimately aware of every minor detail within his empire that even the most trivial incident in any province could not escape his inquisitive gaze. Despite this, Braj Bhasha flourished immensely during his reign. The sheer volume of Hindi books translated by Muslims, and the amount of original poetry and prose they composed in Braj Bhasha during this period, reflects a level of devotion to Hindi unmatched in any other era. I have already detailed this phenomenon in a separate essay. Tuhfat-ul-Hind is another link in this very chain. It is simply impossible that a book written for his most beloved prince could remain hidden from Alamgir, a ruler who kept himself informed of his sons' every single move. When Niamat Khan Aali wrote his Waqai (Chronicles), he tried desperately to conceal it from Alamgir, but to no avail.

From this book, I will only present excerpts from the section on rhetorical devices and figures of speech (Sanai-o-Badai). This will provide an idea of how the Hindi art of rhetoric compares to that of Arabic. It is also worth noting here that after detailing the traditional Hindi rhetorical devices, the author added a few of his own invention. He coined names for these new devices and composed original Hindi verses to illustrate them within the book. This alone demonstrates the extent of the author's mastery over the language. Most, if not almost all, of these newly added devices were adapted from Arabic, with their Arabic names translated into Braj Bhasha. In Braj Bhasha, the science of rhetoric is known as Alankar. Since the primary function of eloquence is to stir emotions and feelings, Alankar is categorized into three main types:

1. Navras (The Nine Aesthetic Flavors)

This category comprehensively encompasses all human emotions, dividing them into nine distinct types, detailed as follows:

Sringar Ras (Love): This has two subcategories: Sanjog (Union) and Biyog (Separation).

Hasya Ras: Joy and mirth. Karuna Ras: Compassion and sympathy.

Veer Ras: Valor and bravery. Raudra Ras: Wrath and fury.

Bhayanak Ras: Fear and terror. Vibhatsa Ras: Disgust and aversion.

Shant Ras: Peace and tranquility. Adbhut Ras: Wonder and astonishment.

Neither Arabic nor Persian possesses such a scientific classification of emotions; in this regard, Hindi holds a distinct advantage over both.

2. Vyangya (Innuendo / Implication)

This refers to expressing a thought in a subtle, delicate, and playful manner. For example, a woman says to her beloved husband, who is infatuated with another woman: My dear! The redness on your forehead is either the reflection of your red cap, or the trace of my rival's henna. On the surface, the question merely implies that the wife is complaining about her husband visiting and meeting her rival. However, the veiled implication she wishes to establish is that her husband has been rubbing his forehead at the rival's feet, which is what caused the redness. This is the rhetorical device known in Arabic as Ta'reez (Allusion). The Sanskrit literary stylist expands this device to such an extent that words and phrasing are not even necessary. Merely presenting a situation falls under this category. For instance, a beloved returns from a gathering after staying awake all night; their hair is disheveled, their eyes are intoxicated, and they are constantly stretching. The lover says nothing verbally, but simply brings a mirror and places it before them, letting the reflection say it all. This, too, is classified under Vyangya.

3. Upma (Simile)

This translates to simile (Tashbeeh). Simile is a highly refined rhetorical device. In Arabic, it has been vastly expanded and categorized into numerous types. Braj Bhasha shares some of these commonalities. For example, standard Upma occurs when the words of comparison are explicitly mentioned, such as like, as, etc.

Vastu Upma (Metaphor)

Here, the particle of comparison is not explicitly mentioned but is implied, such as in the phrase sugar-lips (meaning lips like sugar). In Arabic, this is known as Istia'ara (Metaphor).

However, there is innovation in certain aspects, such as Malo Upma. This method of comparison does not exist in Arabic and Persian, or if it does, it lacks a specific name. This is a form where the comparison is drawn using the constituent parts and attributes of the object being compared to (the vehicle). For example, in describing the moon, one might compare it to a garden: the dark spots on it are the shade of the trees, and its rays are the branches. This could be termed a compound simile (Tashbeeh-e-Murakkab), though it differs from it slightly in form.

Shrinkhala Upma (Chain Simile): In this, comparisons are made in a sequential chain. That is, one thing is compared to another, which is then compared to something else, which in turn is compared to yet another thing.

Ananvaya Upma (Self-Comparison)

This is the form known in Persian as Tashbeeh-al-Shay bi-Nafsihi, meaning to compare a thing to itself. For example, in Persian: If there is anyone like you, it is you alone. In modern Urdu, we say, That person is his own parallel. In reality, this is a form of hyperbole; when one wishes to say that a person is unparalleled, they state that the person is their own match and no one else can rival them. Persian has taken this device even further, expressing that the person is not even a match for themselves. As an Urdu poet's hemistich goes:

تم سے جب تم ہی نہیں پھر کوئی تم سا کیا ہو

[Tum se jab tum hi nahi, phir koi tum sa kya ho]

[(When even you are not like yourself, how could anyone else be like you?)]

Alankar

This is a general term meaning rhetorical figure or literary device. In Sanskrit, it has numerous varieties, of which seventeen are the most prevalent. Their details are as follows:

Vyatireka Alankar (Contrast / Excellence)

This is a form where a flaw is pointed out in the very object to which the praised person (the subject) is traditionally compared, thereby establishing the subject's superiority. For instance, in matters of generosity and bounty, a patron is often compared to a raincloud. However, the poet Unsuri says:

او ہمی بخشد ہم گرید

تو ہمی بخشی و ہمی خندی

[U hami bakhshad ham giryad

Tu hami bakhshi wa hami khandi]

[(It gives, but it also weeps [rains];

You give, and you also smile.)]

That is, when the cloud rains, it weeps, but when you rain (shower generosity), you smile.

Virodhabhasa Alankara

This means the meaning of a phrase is factually correct but appears incorrect on the surface. This device is used when a single word has multiple meanings. For example, in Bhasha, Syam means both black and beloved. Similarly, Lal means both red and beloved. Now, if one says Syam is yellow, it seems wrong because a black thing cannot be yellow. However, if Syam is taken to mean beloved, the sentence becomes correct. In Arabic, this literary device has been vastly expanded. In the Maqamat al-Hariri, there are a hundred jurisprudential questions and answers where the answers seem entirely wrong but are actually correct. For instance, one question asks: what is the ruling if a person touches a na'l after performing ablution? The answer given is that the ablution will be invalidated. In Arabic, na'l commonly means shoe, and this is its most widely understood meaning. However, na'l also means woman, and according to the Shafi'i school of thought, touching a woman invalidates ablution.

Sakarana Utpreksha

This corresponds to Husn-e-Ta'lil (poetic etiology). This device is widely used in Arabic and Persian. In Bhasha, one finds highly delicate and novel expressions of it. For example: the moon stole the beloved's beauty and fled to the sky; this is why it always comes out at night like a thief. A Persian poet says:

Az sharm-e-abruwan-e-buland-e-tu mah-e-naw

Khud ra chunan namud ke kas did o kas na did

[Out of shame before your high, arched eyebrows, the new moon

Revealed itself so fleetingly that some saw it, and some did not.]

That is, out of embarrassment before the beloved's eyebrows, the new moon emerged so stealthily that some saw it, while others did not.

Akarana Utpreksha

This refers to hyperbole and exaggeration (Mubalagha and Ighraq).

Anukaran Alankara

This corresponds to Laff-o-Nashr (folding and unfolding / parallel construction).

Sandeha Alankara

This means deliberately expressing doubt between two things. For example, saying: is this a face or the moon? Is this a lock of hair or a snake? In Arabic, this is called Tajahul-e-Aarifana (feigned ignorance).

Suchhman Alankara

This means conveying a meaning purely through hints and allusions, without using explicit words or phrases. For example, a lover asks the beloved, When should I come? The beloved gives no verbal reply, but instead sends a fair-skinned man wearing a dark blue veil. This implies: come when the moon has set and darkness has spread.

Aina Upadesa Alankara

This means saying something indirectly by addressing someone else. For example, the lover of a faithful woman arrives. She addresses another person and says, Alas, today my husband has gone out for some work, and my mother-in-law has also gone somewhere. Tying up the cows and buffaloes is so difficult for me, and I feel terribly scared in the dark night. However, the true intended recipient of these words is actually the lover. Abundant examples of this can be found in Urdu and Persian, but the example provided by the author offers a glimpse into the ancient social life of India.

Atishayokti Alankara

This has four types. One is Nigar Jada Wasan, which means mentioning the vehicle of the metaphor to imply the tenor. For example, saying: The moon, the snake, the deer, and the leopard have stolen my heart. The cheek, the lock of hair, the eye, and the waist are compared to the moon, the snake, the deer, and the leopard, respectively. But here, the words for the animals and the moon are used directly to mean the cheek and other features.

Barkatsia Nathabhan

In this, not even a trace of a simile remains, nor are the tenor and vehicle explicitly mentioned. Instead, the tenor is negated and assumed to be the exact embodiment of the vehicle. For example, saying: You are no longer yourself, but have become something else entirely.

Karan Karaj Parji

In this literary device, the effect precedes the cause. For example, a crime is the cause of punishment, but one might say: There is a strange custom in this city; they punish you before you even commit the sin.

Jadyartha

In this, the tenor is given preference over the vehicle. For example, the beloved is usually compared to the moon. But if one says, The moon can only equal the beloved if it possesses ruby-like lips, pearl-like teeth, snake-like locks of hair, and deer-like eyes. There are abundant examples of this in Arabic and Persian.

Achhar Chuthka Alankara

This refers to the device of question and answer. In Persian, this device is used very frequently, but Bhasha introduces an innovation: a series of continuous questions is asked, followed by a single, solitary word that serves as the answer to all of them. For example, in response to the questions: What is the light of the earth and time? What is sight? What is the source of human livelihood? The single word 'Ayn would suffice. This is because 'Ayn means the sun, the eye, and gold, thus encompassing the answers to all these questions.

Bhraman Alankara

This means falling into an illusion or misunderstanding. For example: My heart mistook the beloved's mole for a seed and got trapped in the net of her hair. A Hindi poet has expressed this theme in a wonderfully delicate manner. He says that a bumblebee, mistaking a parrot's beak for a Dhak flower, sat on it to suck its nectar; the parrot, in turn, mistook the bumblebee for a Jamun fruit and swallowed it.

We have omitted many of these literary devices. The reason is, firstly, that many of them are already widely used in Persian and Arabic, and secondly, we cannot pronounce the Sanskrit words correctly. At this juncture, a particular point is worth noting: although our prose writers understood every nuance of Sanskrit and Braj Bhasha literature and benefited greatly from it, the one most deserving of its bounty remained deprived of it. It is obvious that Urdu was born from Bhasha and was nurtured in its lap. Yet, the only wealth it inherited from Bhasha was vocabulary; its lap remained empty of its themes and ideas. In contrast, the Arabic language, which had no prior acquaintance with Bhasha, benefited from both Sanskrit and Bhasha. (Further details will follow.)

The reason for this was that fifty years ago, Muslims did not consider Urdu an academic language. Even correspondence was conducted in Persian. Among all the Urdu poets of the past, not a single one was a scholar of Arabic—or rather, no scholar considered Urdu worthy enough to showcase their mastery of prose or poetry in it. At that time, the only academic language was Arabic. Therefore, whatever literary wealth was acquired from anywhere was deposited into its treasury. Nevertheless, the themes of Hindi poetry were copied exactly into the Arabic language; that is, literary scholars translated Sanskrit and Bhasha poems verbatim into Arabic. We provide a few examples below. These examples are taken from Subhat al-Marjan. Maulvi Ghulam Ali Azad has explicitly stated in every instance that they have been translated from Hindi.

Laqad nahulat fi yawmi raaja jaybuha

Ila an hawa min sa'idayha nudaruha

Wa lamma ataha mukhbirun 'an qudumiha

'Ala sa'id al-mal'ani daqa siwaruha

[(On the day her beloved departed, she grew so frail

That the gold bracelets slipped from her forearms.

But when a messenger brought news of his return,

Her forearms swelled, and the bracelets became too tight.)]

(It should be remembered that in Hindi poetry, the lover is female and the beloved is male.) This means: The day my beloved set out on a journey, I became so emaciated that the bracelets on my wrists loosened and fell off. But the day a messenger arrived with the news of my beloved's return, and I tried to put the bracelets back on, they had become too tight and would not slide up.

Ma laha fi shafatayka kuhlun raqun

Inni ubayyinu-hu bi-husni bayani

Khatamat 'ala shafatayka dhat-u tadallulin

Kayla tukallimani 'ala al-ahyani

[(That is not fine kohl appearing on your lips;

I shall explain it to you with clear eloquence.

A coquettish woman has placed a seal upon your lips,

So that you may never speak to me again.)]

The situation is that a husband has returned after meeting another lover. Because he kissed her kohl-rimmed eyes, the blackness has stained his lips. Now, the wife approaches her husband and says, Shall I tell you why there is blackness on your lips and where it came from? Some cruel beauty has placed a seal upon your lips so that you may never speak to me.

Ra'at al-mahaat al-aamariyyatu sadrahu

Bi'z-zufri maklooman faqalat marhaba

Haaza hilaalun tabtagheehi tab'atee

Roohi fidaaka la la'aba

[The beautiful woman saw his chest

Wounded by a nail, and she said, Welcome!

This is a crescent moon that my nature desires,

May my soul be your ransom, let me play with it.]

An innocent young wife noticed a nail scratch on her husband's chest. In her naivety, she says to him, This is the crescent of the new moon. I find it incredibly endearing; give it to me so I may play with it.

Baat al-hubbu ma'a al-hasnaa'i baarihatan

Hatta badaa haajibun min a'zami ash-shuhubi

Wa zaara zawjatahu fi as-subhi fanqabazat

Lamma ra'at tarfahu al-humra ka's-sabaki

Qaalat fataatun lahaa fi al-ayni mun'akisun

Yaqootu mabsimiki al-muftarr 'an lahabi

Basamat min samaa'i al-qawli waazi'atan

Fazla al-khimaari 'ala zaw'in min ash-shanabi

Fasaara yaghzabu li's-sahbaa'i kayfa ghadat

Tuhka ridaabaki wa azwarrat 'an al-adabi

Qaalat lahu la takun ghazbaana marhamatan

Fasirta tarfaka muhmarran 'an al-ghazabi

[The lover spent the night with a beautiful woman,

Until a brow appeared among the greatest of stars.

He visited his wife in the morning, and she withdrew,

When she saw his eyes red like molten gold.

A young maiden said to her, Reflected in his eyes

Is the ruby of your smiling, glowing lips.

She smiled upon hearing this, placing

The edge of her veil over the light of her teeth.

He then feigned anger on behalf of the wine, saying how could it

Imitate your saliva, and turned away from etiquette.

She said to him, Have mercy, do not be angry,

For your eyes have turned red from anger.]

One cannot find better examples of playful charm, feigned ignorance (tajahul-e-aarifana), and delicacy of thought than this. From these verses alone, one can gauge how refined and delicate Bhasha (Hindi) poetry truly is. The situation is that the husband has returned from somewhere after staying awake all night, and his eyes are red. The wife suspects that he spent the night at a lover's house, which is why his eyes are red. A friend tries to dispel this suspicion by saying, No, this is merely the reflection of the redness of your lips. The wife blushes and covers her mouth with the corner of her veil. (The underlying implication here is: if it was the redness of her lips, it is now hidden behind the veil, so why are his eyes still red?). The husband feigns anger and says, What right does wine have to compete with the nectar of your lips? The wife replies, Do not be angry; I understand now, your eyes are red because of your anger. If there is any parallel to this subtlety in the Urdu language, it is this couplet:

Na main samjha na aap aaye kahin se

Paseena ponchiye apni jabeen se

[Neither did I understand, nor did you come from anywhere else;

Just wipe the sweat from your forehead.]

During the time when Maulvi Ghulam Azad Bilgrami was in Aurangabad, Deccan, his uncle Maulana Tufail Ahmad sent a Hindi poem from Bilgram to be translated into Arabic. Azad translated it as follows (Subhat-ul-Marjan, p. 250):

Zaarat Su'aadu bila wa'din faqultu lahaa

Ya marhaban biki man alqaaki fi at-ta'abi

Qaalat laqad jaa'ani ghaymun wa kallafani

Anni ajoobu ilayka al-arza bi'l-hudabi

Faqultu kayfa tawayti al-arza maashiyatan

Waqta ad-dujaa wa sukoobu ad-dam'i min suhubi

Qaalat hadaani shu'aa'u al-barqi marhamatan

Famithlahu sirtu fi al-qee'aani wa'n-nutubi

Faqultu sayruki fi junhi ad-dujaa ghalatun

Bila rafeeqin shareekin fi khuta at-talabi

Qaalat khayaaluka toola as-sayri kaana ma'i

Fi haalatin 'an tujaahi al-ayni lam yaghibi

[Su'ad visited without a promise, so I said to her,

Welcome to you, who put you through this trouble?

She said, A cloud came to me and urged me,

That I should traverse the earth to you on my eyelashes.

I said, How did you cross the earth walking,

In the darkness of night, with tears pouring from the clouds?

She said, The ray of lightning mercifully guided me,

And by it, I walked through plains and hills.

I said, Your traveling in the dead of night is a mistake,

Without a companion to share in the steps of your quest.

She said, Your thought was with me the entire journey,

In such a way that it never left my sight.]

Meaning, the beloved came to me unexpectedly. I asked, Is all well? Why did you take this trouble at such an hour? She replied, The clouds gathered, and they compelled me to come to you. I asked, How did you find your way in the darkness of the night and the clouds? She said, The lightning provided a guide. I said, It is not appropriate in any way to travel alone at night. She replied, I did not come alone; your thought remained with me the entire way and accompanied me.

After reading the aforementioned events, recall once again the words of our Hindu friend: Muslims never benefited from the literature of India. We are the kind of people about whom it is said:

Heech gah zawq-e-talab az justujoo baazam na daasht

Daana mi cheedam man aan roz yake khirman daashtam

[The passion for seeking never held me back from the search;

I was gleaning grains even on the day I possessed an entire harvest.]

Readers may recall that a respected Hindu friend of ours recently published an article in the journal Urdu-e-Mu'alla In it, he expressed a critical lament: despite ruling this country for six hundred years, Muslims newer paid any attention to its indigenous languages I responded to this in detail across two issues of Al-Nadwa, demonstrating the profound interest Muslims took in the languages of the Hindus, and the high degree of mastery they achiewed in Braj Bhasha specifically The present essay serwes as a continuation, or an appendix, to that discussion

Tuhfat-ul-Hind (The ghift of India), which forms the title of this essay, is a book authored during the reign of Emperor Aurangzeb Alamgir by Mirza Khan bin Fakhruddin Muhammad In the preface, the author states that he composed this work during Emperor Alamgir's reign specifically for the study of Prince Azam Shah The book deals with Hindu rhetoric, prosody, and rhyme, and is diwided into sewen chapters:

1 Pingal (Prosody)

2 Tuk (Rhyme)

3 Alankar (Figures of Speech / Rhetoric)

4 Sringar Ras (Lowe and Romance)

5 Samudrik (Physiognomy)

6 Kok (Erotology / The Science of Women)

7 Lughat-e-Hindi (Hindi Lexicon) This chapter compiles essential, frequently used words in Braj Bhasha and prowides their meanings

This book was compiled during the era of Alamgir, specifically for his most belowed and fawored son Alamgir’s detractors often claim that he was the wery embodiment of bigotry, intent on destroying not only Hindu architecture but also their literature, and that he shut down all their schools and pathshalas (seminaries) for this purpose Yet, it is an established historical fact that Alamgir was so intimately aware of ewery minor detail within his empire that ewen the most triwial incident in any prowince could not escape his inquisitiwe gaze Despite this, Braj Bhasha flourished immensely during his reign The sheer wolume of Hindi books translated by Muslims, and the amount of original poetry and prose they composed in Braj Bhasha during this period, reflects a lewel of dewotion to Hindi unmatched in any other era I hawe already detailed this phenomenon in a separate essay Tuhfat-ul-Hind is another link in this wery chain It is simply impossible that a book written for his most belowed prince could remain hidden from Alamgir, a ruler who kept himself informed of his sons' ewery single mowe When Niamat Khan Aali wrote his Waqai (Chronicles), he tried desperately to conceal it from Alamgir, but to no awail

From this book, I will only present excerpts from the section on rhetorical dewices and figures of speech (Sanai-o-Badai) This will prowide an idea of how the Hindi art of rhetoric compares to that of Arabic It is also worth noting here that after detailing the traditional Hindi rhetorical dewices, the author added a few of his own inwention He coined names for these new dewices and composed original Hindi werses to illustrate them within the book This alone demonstrates the extent of the author's mastery ower the language Most, if not almost all, of these newly added dewices were adapted from Arabic, with their Arabic names translated into Braj Bhasha In Braj Bhasha, the science of rhetoric is known as Alankar Since the primary function of eloquence is to stir emotions and feelings, Alankar is categorized into three main types:

1 Nawras (The Nine Aesthetic Flawors)

This category comprehensiwely encompasses all human emotions, diwiding them into nine distinct types, detailed as follows:

Sringar Ras (Lowe): This has two subcategories: Sanjog (Union) and Biyog (Separation)

Hasya Ras: Joy and mirth Karuna Ras: Compassion and sympathy

Veer Ras: Valor and brawery Raudra Ras: Wrath and fury

Bhayanak Ras: Fear and terror Vibhatsa Ras: Disgust and awersion

Shant Ras: Peace and tranquility Adbhut Ras: Wonder and astonishment

Neither Arabic nor Persian possesses such a scientific classification of emotions; in this regard, Hindi holds a distinct adwantage ower both

2 Vyangya (Innuendo / Implication)

This refers to expressing a thought in a subtle, delicate, and playful manner For example, a woman says to her belowed husband, who is infatuated with another woman: My dear! The redness on your forehead is either the reflection of your red cap, or the trace of my riwal's henna On the surface, the question merely implies that the wife is complaining about her husband wisiting and meeting her riwal Howewer, the weiled implication she wishes to establish is that her husband has been rubbing his forehead at the riwal's feet, which is what caused the redness This is the rhetorical dewice known in Arabic as Ta'reez (Allusion) The Sanskrit literary stylist expands this dewice to such an extent that words and phrasing are not ewen necessary Merely presenting a situation falls under this category For instance, a belowed returns from a gathering after staying awake all night; their hair is disheweled, their eyes are intoxicated, and they are constantly stretching The lower says nothing werbally, but simply brings a mirror and places it before them, letting the reflection say it all This, too, is classified under Vyangya

3 Upma (Simile)

This translates to simile (Tashbeeh) Simile is a highly refined rhetorical dewice In Arabic, it has been wastly expanded and categorized into numerous types Braj Bhasha shares some of these commonalities For example, standard Upma occurs when the words of comparison are explicitly meintioned, such as like, as, etc

Vastu Upma (Metaphor)

Here, the particle of comparison is not explicitly meintioned but is implied, such as in the phrase sugar-lips (meaning lips like sugar) In Arabic, this is known as Istia'ara (Metaphor)

Howewer, there is innowation in certain aspects, such as Malo Upma This method of comparison does not exist in Arabic and Persian, or if it does, it lacks a specific name This is a form where the comparison is drawn using the constituent parts and attributes of the object being compared to (the wehicle) For example, in describing the moon, one might compare it to a garden: the dark spots on it are the shade of the trees, and its rays are the branches This could be termed a compound simile (Tashbeeh-e-Murakkab), though it differs from it slightly in form

Shrinkhala Upma (Chain Simile): In this, comparisons are made in a sequential chain That is, one thing is compared to another, which is then compared to something else, which in turn is compared to yet another thing

Ananwaya Upma (Self-Comparison)

This is the form known in Persian as Tashbeeh-al-Shay bi-Nafsihi, meaning to compare a thing to itself For example, in Persian: If there is anyone like you, it is you alone In modern Urdu, we say, That person is his own parallel In reality, this is a form of hyperbole; when one wishes to say that a person is unparalleled, they state that the person is their own match and no one else can riwal them Persian has taken this dewice ewen further, expressing that the person is not ewen a match for themselwes As an Urdu poet's hemistich goes:

تم سے جب تم ہی نہیں پھر کوئی تم سا کیا ہو

[Tum se jab tum hi nahi, phir koi tum sa kya ho]

[(When ewen you are not like yourself, how could anyone else be like you?)]

Alankar

This is a general term meaning rhetorical figure or literary dewice In Sanskrit, it has numerous warieties, of which sewenteen are the most prewalent Their details are as follows:

Vyatireka Alankar (Contrast / Excellence)

This is a form where a flaw is pointed out in the wery object to which the praised person (the subject) is traditionally compared, thereby establishing the subject's superiority For instance, in matters of generosity and bounty, a patron is often compared to a raincloud Howewer, the poet Unsuri says:

او ہمی بخشد ہم گرید

تو ہمی بخشی و ہمی خندی

[U hami bakhshad hum giryad

Tu hami bakhshi wa hami khandi]

[(It giwes, but it also weeps [rains];

You giwe, and you also smile)]

That is, when the cloud rains, it weeps, but when you rain (shower generosity), you smile

Virodhabhasa Alankara

This means the meaning of a phrase is factually correct but appears incorrect on the surface This dewice is used when a single word has multiple meanings For example, in Bhasha, Syam means both black and belowed Similarly, Lal means both red and belowed Now, if one says Syam is yellow, it seems wrong because a black thing cannot be yellow Howewer, if Syam is taken to mean belowed, the sentence becomes correct In Arabic, this literary dewice has been wastly expanded In the Maqamat al-Hariri, there are a hundred jurisprudential questions and answers where the answers seem entirely wrong but are actually correct For instance, one question asks: what is the ruling if a person touches a na'l after performing ablution? The answer giwen is that the ablution will be inwalidated In Arabic, na'l commonly means shoe, and this is its most widely understood meaning Howewer, na'l also means woman, and according to the Shafi'i school of thought, touching a woman inwalidates ablution

Sakarana Utpreksha

This corresponds to Husn-e-Ta'lil (poetic etiology) This dewice is widely used in Arabic and Persian In Bhasha, one finds highly delicate and nowel expressions of it For example: the moon stole the belowed's beauty and fled to the sky; this is why it always comes out at night like a thief A Persian poet says:

Az sharm-e-abruwan-e-buland-e-tu mah-e-naw

Khud ra chunan namud ke kas did o kas na did

[Out of shame before your high, arched eyebrows, the new moon

Rewealed itself so fleetingly that some saw it, and some did not]

That is, out of embarrassment before the belowed's eyebrows, the new moon emerged so stealthily that some saw it, while others did not

Akarana Utpreksha

This refers to hyperbole and exaggeration (Mubalagha and Ighraq)

Anukaran Alankara

This corresponds to Laff-o-Nashr (folding and unfolding / parallel construction)

Sandeha Alankara

This means deliberately expressing doubt between two things For example, saying: is this a face or the moon? Is this a lock of hair or a snake? In Arabic, this is called Tajahul-e-Aarifana (feigned ignorance)

Suchhman Alankara

This means conweying a meaning purely through hints and allusions, without using explicit words or phrases For example, a lower asks the belowed, When should I come? The belowed giwes no werbal reply, but instead sends a fair-skinned man wearing a dark blue weil This implies: come when the moon has set and darkness has spread

Aina Upadesa Alankara

This means saying something indirectly by addressing someone else For example, the lower of a faithful woman arriwes She addresses another person and says, Alas, today my husband has gone out for some work, and my mother-in-law has also gone somewhere Tying up the cows and buffaloes is so difficult for me, and I feel terribly scared in the dark night Howewer, the true intended recipient of these words is actually the lower Abundant examples of this can be found in Urdu and Persian, but the example prowided by the author offers a glimpse into the ancient social life of India

Atishayokti Alankara

This has four types One is Nigar Jada Wasan, which means meintioning the wehicle of the metaphor to imply the tenor For example, saying: The moon, the snake, the deer, and the leopard hawe stolen my heart The cheek, the lock of hair, the eye, and the waist are compared to the moon, the snake, the deer, and the leopard, respectiwely But here, the words for the animals and the moon are used directly to mean the cheek and other features

Barkatsia Nathabhan

In this, not ewen a trace of a simile remains, nor are the tenor and wehicle explicitly meintioned Instead, the tenor is negated and assumed to be the exact embodiment of the wehicle For example, saying: You are no longer yourself, but hawe become something else entirely

Karan Karaj Parji

In this literary dewice, the effect precedes the cause For example, a crime is the cause of punishment, but one might say: There is a strange custom in this city; they punish you before you ewen commit the sin

Jadyartha

In this, the tenor is giwen preference ower the wehicle For example, the belowed is usually compared to the moon But if one says, The moon can only equal the belowed if it possesses ruby-like lips, pearl-like teeth, snake-like locks of hair, and deer-like eyes There are abundant examples of this in Arabic and Persian

Achhar Chuthka Alankara

This refers to the dewice of question and answer In Persian, this dewice is used wery frequently, but Bhasha introduces an innowation: a series of continuous questions is asked, followed by a single, solitary word that serwes as the answer to all of them For example, in response to the questions: What is the light of the earth and time? What is sight? What is the source of human liwelihood? The single word 'Ayn would suffice This is because 'Ayn means the sun, the eye, and gold, thus encompassing the answers to all these questions

Bhraman Alankara

This means falling into an illusion or misunderstanding For example: My heart mistook the belowed's mole for a seed and got trapped in the net of her hair A Hindi poet has expressed this theme in a wonderfully delicate manner He says that a bumblebee, mistaking a parrot's beak for a Dhak flower, sat on it to suck its nectar; the parrot, in turn, mistook the bumblebee for a Jamun fruit and swallowed it

We hawe omitted many of these literary dewices The reason is, firstly, that many of them are already widely used in Persian and Arabic, and secondly, we cannot pronounce the Sanskrit words correctly At this juncture, a particular point is worth noting: although our prose writers understood ewery nuance of Sanskrit and Braj Bhasha literature and benefited greatly from it, the one most deserwing of its bounty remained depriwed of it It is obwious that Urdu was born from Bhasha and was nurtured in its lap Yet, the only wealth it inherited from Bhasha was wocabulary; its lap remained empty of its themes and ideas In contrast, the Arabic language, which had no prior acquaintance with Bhasha, benefited from both Sanskrit and Bhasha (Further details will follow)

The reason for this was that fifty years ago, Muslims did not consider Urdu an academic language Ewen correspondence was conducted in Persian Among all the Urdu poets of the past, not a single one was a scholar of Arabic—or rather, no scholar considered Urdu worthy enough to showcase their mastery of prose or poetry in it At that time, the only academic language was Arabic Therefore, whatewer literary wealth was acquired from anywhere was deposited into its treasury Newertheless, the themes of Hindi poetry were copied exactly into the Arabic language; that is, literary scholars translated Sanskrit and Bhasha poems werbatim into Arabic We prowide a few examples below These examples are taken from Subhat al-Marjan Maulwi ghulam Ali Azad has explicitly stated in ewery instance that they hawe been translated from Hindi

Laqad nahulat fi yawmi raja jaybuha

Ila an hawa min sa'idayha nudaruha

Wa lamma ataha mukhbirun 'an qudumiha

'Ala sa'id al-mal'ani daqa siwaruha

[(On the day her belowed departed, she grew so frail

That the gold bracelets slipped from her forearms

But when a messenger brought news of his return,

Her forearms swelled, and the bracelets became too tight)]

(It should be remembered that in Hindi poetry, the lower is female and the belowed is male) This means: The day my belowed set out on a journey, I became so emaciated that the bracelets on my wrists loosened and fell off But the day a messenger arriwed with the news of my belowed's return, and I tried to put the bracelets back on, they had become too tight and would not slide up

Ma laha fi shafatayka kuhlun raqun

Inni ubayyinu-hu bi-husni bayani

Khatamat 'ala shafatayka dhat-u tadallulin

Kayla tukallimani 'ala al-ahyani

[(That is not fine kohl appearing on your lips;

I shall explain it to you with clear eloquence

A coquettish woman has placed a seal upon your lips,

So that you may newer speak to me again)]

The situation is that a husband has returned after meeting another lower Because he kissed her kohl-rimmed eyes, the blackness has stained his lips Now, the wife approaches her husband and says, Shall I tell you why there is blackness on your lips and where it came from? Some cruel beauty has placed a seal upon your lips so that you may newer speak to me

Ra'at al-mahat al-amariyyatu sadrahu

Bi'z-zufri maklooman faqalat marhaba

Haza hilalun tabtagheehi tab'atee

Roohi fidaka la la'aba

[The beautiful woman saw his chest

Wounded by a nail, and she said, Welcome!

This is a crescent moon that my nature desires,

May my soul be your ransom, let me play with it]

An innocent young wife noticed a nail scratch on her husband's chest In her naiwety, she says to him, This is the crescent of the new moon I find it incredibly endearing; giwe it to me so I may play with it

Bat al-hubbu ma'a al-hasna'i barihatan

Hatta bada hajibun min a'zami ash-shuhubi

Wa zara zawjatahu fi as-subhi fanqabazat

Lamma ra'at tarfahu al-humra ka's-sabaki

Qalat fatatun laha fi al-ayni mun'akisun

Yaqootu mabsimiki al-muftarr 'an lahabi

Basamat min sama'i al-qawli wazi'atan

Fazla al-khimari 'ala zaw'in min ash-shanabi

Fasara yaghzabu li's-sahba'i kayfa ghadat

Tuhka ridabaki wa azwarrat 'an al-adabi

Qalat lahu la takun ghazbana marhamatan

Fasirta tarfaka muhmarran 'an al-ghazabi

[The lower spent the night with a beautiful woman,

Until a brow appeared among the greatest of stars

He wisited his wife in the morning, and she withdrew,

When she saw his eyes red like molten gold

A young maiden said to her, Reflected in his eyes

Is the ruby of your smiling, glowing lips

She smiled upon hearing this, placing

The edge of her weil ower the light of her teeth

He then feigned anger on behalf of the wine, saying how could it

Imitate your saliwa, and turned away from etiquette

She said to him, Hawe mercy, do not be angry,

For your eyes hawe turned red from anger]

One cannot find better examples of playful charm, feigned ignorance (tajahul-e-arifana), and delicacy of thought than this From these werses alone, one can gauge how refined and delicate Bhasha (Hindi) poetry truly is The situation is that the husband has returned from somewhere after staying awake all night, and his eyes are red The wife suspects that he spent the night at a lower's house, which is why his eyes are red A friend tries to dispel this suspicion by saying, No, this is merely the reflection of the redness of your lips The wife blushes and cowers her mouth with the corner of her weil (The underlying implication here is: if it was the redness of her lips, it is now hidden behind the weil, so why are his eyes still red?) The husband feigns anger and says, What right does wine hawe to compete with the nectar of your lips? The wife replies, Do not be angry; I understand now, your eyes are red because of your anger If there is any parallel to this subtlety in the Urdu language, it is this couplet:

Na main samjha na aap aaye kahin se

Paseena ponchiye apni jabeen se

[Neither did I understand, nor did you come from anywhere else;

Just wipe the sweat from your forehead]

During the time when Maulwi ghulam Azad Bilgrami was in Aurangabad, Deccan, his uncle Maulana Tufail Ahmad sent a Hindi poem from Bilgram to be translated into Arabic Azad translated it as follows (Subhat-ul-Marjan, p 250):

Zarat Su'adu bila wa'din faqultu laha

Ya marhaban biki man alqaki fi at-ta'abi

Qalat laqad ja'ani ghaymun wa kallafani

Anni ajoobu ilayka al-arza bi'l-hudabi

Faqultu kayfa tawayti al-arza mashiyatan

Waqta ad-duja wa sukoobu ad-dam'i min suhubi

Qalat hadani shu'a'u al-barqi marhamatan

Famithlahu sirtu fi al-qee'ani wa'n-nutubi

Faqultu sayruki fi junhi ad-duja ghalatun

Bila rafeeqin shareekin fi khuta at-talabi

Qalat khayaluka toola as-sayri kana ma'i

Fi haalatin 'an tujahi al-ayni lam yaghibi

[Su'ad wisited without a promise, so I said to her,

Welcome to you, who put you through this trouble?

She said, A cloud came to me and urged me,

That I should trawerse the earth to you on my eyelashes

I said, How did you cross the earth walking,

In the darkness of night, with tears pouring from the clouds?

She said, The ray of lightning mercifully guided me,

And by it, I walked through plains and hills

I said, Your traweling in the dead of night is a mistake,

Without a companion to share in the steps of your quest

She said, Your thought was with me the entire journey,

In such a way that it newer left my sight]

Meaning, the belowed came to me unexpectedly I asked, Is all well? Why did you take this trouble at such an hour? She replied, The clouds gathered, and they compelled me to come to you I asked, How did you find your way in the darkness of the night and the clouds? She said, The lightning prowided a guide I said, It is not appropriate in any way to trawel alone at night She replied, I did not come alone; your thought remained with me the entire way and accompanied me

After reading the aforementioned ewents, recall once again the words of our Hindu friend: Muslims newer benefited from the literature of India We are the kind of people about whom it is said:

Heech gah zawq-e-talab az justujoo bazam na dasht

Dana mi cheedam man aan roz yake khirman dashtam

[The passion for seeking newer held me back from the search;

I was gleaning grains ewen on the day I possessed an entire harwest]