Amir Khusro Website: Hindvi poetry

The supporters of his Hindvi poetry have also argued that Khusro himself mentioned his love and pride of Hindvi language in preface to one of his Persian divans Ghurrat-ul-Kamal. Interestingly one may find in his authentic books, many Persian couplets that have Hindvi words in them – not just simple nouns, but actual phrases – most of them very cleverly having meanings both in Persian and Hindvi. Here is a famous example :

Raftam ba tamaasha-e kanar-e ju-e,
Deedam balab-e aab zan-e hindoo-e;
Guftam sanama baha-e zulfat chi bu-ad?
Faryaad bar aavurd ke dur dur muye.

(I went to enjoy the beauty of the river-side and saw an Indian lady at the ghat. “Oh, idol of mine,” said I, “what is the price of your tresses?” and she replied, dur dur muye- ‘go away you wretch’ (so in Hindi) or ‘every single hair of mine has pearls in it’ (so in Persian). (dur dur muye is a popular abusive word still found in much of north India).

Nate Anderson, a Hindi enthusiast, defends use of Devanagari for Hindi writing

My friends who learn Russian eagerly learn Cyrillic from the first day. My friends who learn Japanese learn Kanji characters and not one, but two Japanese phonetic alphabets. My Indian friends who learn English learn Roman. Why do we treat Hindi and Devanagari so differently? Why do we insist on systematically romanizing the language?

more..

Kabir : The Mystic Poet --- KabirWeb

The hall mark of Kabir's poetry is that he conveys in his two line poems (Doha), what others may not be able to do in many pages.

A very good resource about Amir Khusro

Amir Khusro Dehlavi (also spelt Khusrau or Khusrow), a prolific Persian poet (1253-1325 AD) associated with royal courts of more than seven rulers of Delhi Sultanate, is also a household name in much of North India and Pakistan, through the playful Hindi riddles, couplets and legends attributed to him.

Index to Mellon Project

malhaar - Mellonsite for Advanced Levels of Hindi-Urdu Acquisition and Research

From the article History of Urdu Poetry by Anisur Rahman

.. Every rebel was, therefore, a progressive writer and vice-versa during those exhilarating days. He was basically wedded to the idea of political and social revolution. He drew his inspiration from Marx. He rejected the striving for individual signatures, new modes of expression and new experiments in form. It was important for the poet to denote rather than connote, and to appeal to the larger humanity rather than to the individual. Falling victim of these errors before long, the movement alienated some noted poets, the most important of them being N. M. Rashed (1910-75) and Miraji (1912-49), who came together to lead a group called Halqa-e-Arbab-e-Zauq (Circle of Connoisseurs) in 1939. The progressive writers insistence on ideology and the impatience of those who cared more for art are reminiscent of the British poets of the 1930s and the later stance of W. H. Auden.

Faiz Ahmad Faiz (1911-84) is the most prominent and the finest of the poets who subscribed to the progressive ideology. he was singularly successful in striking a balance between art an ideas. He was drew upon sources other than Urdu and Persian and imparted an individual tone to his poetry. he did not raise slogans; he only uttered soft notes of expostulation. he was inspired more by the spirit of liberation than by slogans raised elsewhere. Prominent among other progressive poets were Asrarul Haq Majaz (1908-56), Makhdoom Mohiuddin (1908-69), Ali Sardar Jafri (b.1913), Jan Nisar Akhtar (1914-76), Kaifi Azmi (b.1918) and Sahir Ludhianawi (1921-80).

Noon Meem Rashid

ज़िन्दगी से डरते हो
ज़िन्दगी तो तुम भी हो, ज़िन्दगी तो हम भी हैं
आदमी से डरते हो
आदमी तो तुम भी हो आदमी तो हम भी हैं
आदमी ज़ुबाँ भी है, आदमी बयाँ भी है
इस से तुम नहीं डरते
हर्फ़ और मानी के रिश्ते हाये आहन से आदमी है वाबस्ता
आदमी के दामन से ज़िन्दगी है वाबस्ता
इस से तुम नहीं डरते
अनकही से डरते हो
जो अभी आई नहीं उस घड़ी से डरते हो
उस घड़ी के आने की आग ही से डरते हो
पहले भी तो गुज़रे हैं
दौर नारसाई के, बेरिया, ख़्हुदाई के
फिर भी ये समझते हो, हेच आज़रूमन्दी
ये शब ज़ुबाँबन्दी, है रहे ख़्हुदाबन्दी
तुम यही समझते हो, तुम मगर ये क्या जानो
लब अगर नहीं हिलते, हाथ जाग उठते हैं
हाथ जाग उठते हैं, राह का निशाँ बन कर
नूर की ज़ुबाँ बन कर
हाथ बोल उठते हैं सुबह की अज़ाँ बन कर
रोशनी से डरते हो
रोशनी तो तुम भी हो, रोशनी तो हम भी हैं
रोशनी से डरते हो
शहर की फ़सीलों पर
देव का जो साया था, पाक हो गया आखिर
अज़दहाम-ए-अफ़्साँ से फ़र्द की नवा आई
ज़ात की सदा आई
राह-ए-शौक़ में जैसे राहरवी ख़्हूँ लपके
इक नया जुनूँ लपके
आदमी छलक उठे
आदमी हँसे देखो, शहर फिर बसे देखो
तुम अभी से डरते हो
हाँ अभी तो तुम भी हो, हाँ अभी तो हम भी हैं
तुम अभी से डरते हो

[aahan = stone; vaabastaa = related; daur = age]
[naarasaa_ii = incapability/failure; ]
[beriyaa = sincere/without guile; azaa.N = call for prayer]
[fasiil = boundary walls]
[az_dahaam-e-afsaa.N = knife/dagger sharpening tool]
[fard = man; navaa = sound/voice]

Word of the day: 'mashiiyat'

Meaning:
mashiiyat - God's will [n. fem. Arabic]

Couplet:

अल्लाह रे! फ़रेब-ए-मशीयत कि आज तक
दुनिया के ज़ुल्म सहते रहे ख़ामुशी से हम

[Sahir Ludhianvi]

[fareb = deception; Khaamushii = silence]

Urdu Poetry: A Beginners' Guide - Music of Words

The painter uses paint to create art; the poet uses words. Words not
only convey meanings, but their sound creates an atmosphere, whereby
we, the readers, are transported into the scene that the poet has in
mind. An example will help explain this. Let us look at the couplet
by Josh Maleehabadi:

kabhii pur-hol ban jaata hai jab raatoN ka sannaaTa
suriile taar ki jhankaar sii ma'luum hoti hai
...

from an ALUP post by Jamil Ahmed

Sanskrit words in Quran

Syed Salmaan Nadwee saahib ne 1903 meN aik kitaab tasneef kee thee, "Arab o Hind ke Ta'aluqaat". us kitaab meN unhoN ne teen Qur'aanee alfaaz ko Hindi ul asl bataayaa hai, "mushk" (mask, perfume derived from dear), "zanjabeel" (adrak, ginger) aur "kaafoor" (camphor). is ke ilaawa ba'az logoN "sundus" aur "hind" (ba ma'anee "talwaar" yaa 100 oonToN kaa giroh) bhee Sanskrit ke alfaaz haiN jo Hadith meN to haiN. ye alfaaz Hindustaan se Arab malaah apne saath Arabia le gaye aur rafta rafta ye Arabi meN musta'amal ho gaye.