Language Comprehension No. 205; ‘A Tour of Noor Al-Laghat’ (Part I)

Karachi: On March 3, 2024, Zaban Fahmi No. 204 “Dastar Se Dastarkhawan” was published, Khaksar wanted a month’s leave due to personal engagements. Now I am ready to serve. There are a number of topics covered, but for a change of taste, you might want to visit a reputable dictionary, so I’d like to include you.

Farhang Asafia, which has the honor of being the first among the authoritative dictionaries of Urdu, is followed by Noor Al Laghaat of Maulvi Noorul Hasan Nair, the contents of which in most places are more than those of Farhang Asafia. An omitted word or phrase found here surprises the reader.

Allama Syed Sulaiman Nadvi had said on one occasion as if in support of this idea of ​​Rakim:

“Along with these youths, our deprivation of the grace and excellence of this old Nair is also a sad accident of this year (September 6, 1936). He was the son of a great father and himself a poet and scholar of art more than a poet. In our language, after Farhang-e Asafia, the second complete dictionary Noorullaghat was compiled by his experienced hands”. (Excerpt from the convocation address of the Fifth Urdu Conference of the Indian Academy dated January 16, 1937 at Lucknow as the President, including ‘Naqoosh-i Soleimani, published in 1939)

“The vast garden of the Urdu language is so full of colorful flowers that there is probably no mind in India that has not been touched by its fragrance, but the flowers are so abundant and of such variety that today it is difficult to distinguish them. It is difficult to know which flower plant was taken from where, where did the root grow and how did the difference in water and weather affect the color. Each flower has a variety of fragrances which are not easy to distinguish……….. The collection or repository of this research is referred to as a dictionary”.

This text of the author has been taken from the preface of Noor Al-Laghat. Even though he did not become a famous poet like his father Grami, but he was a master poet and his fine taste in poetry is also evident in this collection. A research book on him titled “Maulvi Noorul Hasan: Life and Services” was written by Mr. Azizur Rahman Aleem and published in Delhi in 1986. This book is available online and is definitely a wealth of information.

Maulvi Noorul Hasan Sahib, the author of Nurul-Laghat, became famous as a jurist (BA, LLB) and a poet in his time, but it is not known to the public even today that he was the worthy son of the great orator Mohsin Kakurvi, whose poem ” “Madih-e-Khairul-Mursaleen (peace be upon him)” is your example in Urdu poetry. By the way, Mohsin Sahib was also a lawyer, but the reason for his fame is his eloquence.

Maulvi Noorul Hasan himself was an orator and Milad Khan. The example of his asceticism and piety was difficult to find even in that era.

Maulvi Noorul Hasan Nair’s sample poem, I dedicate to the readers’ taste of study:

Annihilation of the human soul in the world
In my eyes, the servant becomes God
Happy are the lovers who are happy on the new day
Pain has learned to grow and become medicine
Do not wander in the forgetfulness of love
Oh shine of pain, you will be the guide
*
If there is equality, it should have some effect
What can one do if the heart is not under control?
Neyria Omar and these funny friendships
May Allah bless you too
*
And just see what color was prominent in the last ghazal of an ascetic and pious person:

He wrote on my picture in Murqa
Now the form of this patient is not recognized
Repent in heavy rain, O Zahid, by drinking
This request is not accepted by you
Whose house do they go around saying this is wrong?
Nothing we say is accepted
The health hesitates, it has been heard since, O Nir
That repentance does not go away for a period of time

Originally, it was the breathless tone of classical poetry, which was difficult for the old teachers of speech to abandon. We can say; our study of great and old poets is not such that the younger ones expect anything from them, even if a new poet can do such a thing. I hardly find a good example of the use of classical vocabulary.

The first marriage of Maulvi Noorul Hasan Nair took place in 1882 at the age of seventeen. On the occasion of their marriage, the famous speaker Amir Minai, who participated in the ceremony, wrote a eulogy in Persian. He got married for the second time in 1903.

The Naqsh-i-Owl of Nurul-Laghat (Part I: A.B) came to Mansa Shahud in November 1924, that is, after seven months, we can also hold its centenary celebration. The Urdu dictionary was spelled correctly due to the fact that it was mentioned literally on the cover of Noor Al-Laghat published under the management of Hamid Hasan Alvi Sahib from Neer Press, Patanala, Lucknow. Masculine is correct. However, it should be kept in mind that the word dictionary also means language and its plural is also dictionary.

In the first publication, the names of Maulvi Nair’s previously published books were also given; Kulliyat-e Mohsin (All the Words of the Beloved Father), Khursheed-e Badr (Nair’s Pronounced Natiya Masdus), Talilat-i Manzoom and Digest of Awadh Case Law[Digest of Oudh Case Law]His other books include ‘Hindi language and the physical balance of Muslims’ and ‘Effect of customs and manners on language’, while he also published an illustrated magazine of Urdu literature, ‘Adib-e-Urdu’, which has forty-one issues. Available online.

In 1927, the second part of Noor al-Laghat was published, which included words and phrases beginning with letters ‘P’ to ‘Kh’. The third part of this dictionary (letters ‘D’ to ‘Q’) came out in 1929. The fourth and last Part was published in 1931 which included the contents of letters ‘K’ to ‘Y’.

This dictionary was published many times and in the recent past, those who republished it like Farhang-e-Asafia, according to their extensive information, Maulvi Syed Ahmed Dehlavi and Maulvi Noorul Hasan Nair tried to replace and correct the words. Sorry, sorry! Rather, say, “Oh, it’s a shame, I’m sorry for you. People who, on the basis of their knowledge alone, were more reliable, valid and good name than any so-called institution today, sow them to ‘correct’ their work.” They have come down in the field of action.

This is the same “tragic education” in English words. [Tragic commedy]It is because of which I had to deal with such a lowly servant of the country and the nation many times. People are bent on teaching without learning and everyone turns to himself as a scholar, mujtahid, mufti, Baccarat, Socrates and Einstein (according to the German pronunciation). In every problem of the world, people are shouting in such a way that someone would have shouted earlier.

In the foreword of Noor Al-Laghat, Maulvi Nair has a very useful chapter titled ‘Obsolete and Eloquent Words’. Giving the example of Asa with the meaning of likeness or likeness, he presented this stanza of the ancient poet Maruf:

The heart was beating in the heart, drinking the blood of the heart

An example of easy going back is presented in the form of a poem like this:

The killer took the time of slaughter when the name of God
The dagger easily fell on our throat (Dagh).
Instead, give the following example:
You are the opposite of happy eyes
Deer come, light up your eyes (Shad)
Aake instead of on: Begrudges non-visitation
What did you kill (believer)?

(On a side note, “Onke” is not yet obsolete in our family. One of my younger brothers always says Onke: S.S.)

Come, come, do,

I want to fix the path of the valley
Don’t blame me
(dominant)

At par, rather than ‘equal’ which is eloquent: the horror is such that even from the shadows I say

Why are you following me?
(stain)

Bhaon means near, as in this verse of Sauda:

There are cities, there are villages
Your brothers are separated from you
(deal)

An example of spreading means spreading is presented in this stanza of Atish:
The valleys spread before us

And then he also explained that “some commentators consider its combination with the Persian word to be illegal”.

Describing ‘Pah’ instead of ‘Par’ as obsolete, Maulvi Sahib quoted this poem of Jalal (probably Jalal Lakhanvi) and wrote that “Some of the scholars have abandoned its use in prose and colloquial speech:

My friends asked me who gave the heart to me
I stayed in my heart, your name did not come on my lips

In my personal opinion, the colloquial reference is not correct, here we often say ‘per’ instead of ‘pah’.

Regarding the obsolescence of Tilak ie Tak, the author wrote that “special poets have abandoned it”. It is surprising that even in modern times some poets wear ‘Tilak’.
After this chapter Maulvi Nair established an important chapter like “Few principles of eloquence” which is needed even in today’s modern dictionaries. He wrote that “in the present tense (instead of come, go, etc.) come, pick up, liegeo, go, show, come, pick up, go, go, show, give, take, etc. are used instead of pageo”.

This matter is still preserved in our colloquialism here, however, it has not been preserved in the standard poetic and prose language.

The author writes that “the addition of Hindi adjectives is obsolete”, that is, it is wrong to use adjectives following ancient Urdu (especially Deccani) (Judkini is still prevalent in dialect and Punjabi: س اس). For example, the use of the plural of “Kadi” is shown in this stanza:

Here Rakim Sohail submits on the basis of his personal study that Punjabi gentlemen and others like him have started to use the plural of love, the plural of grace and the plural of intelligence in their speech and poetry. In the past, Khaksar wrote an article on Haider Qureshi (resident of Germany) in English and one in Urdu, then this innovation appeared in a whole ghazal and I grasped it, what is the meaning of the ‘intelligence’ of a single person?

In the chapter under review, Maulvi Nair made an interesting point that in the poem of Mir Anais, he presented a non-eloquent example of “Phira should be” instead of “Phirana should be” Whatever happens at home
A poor person should never be turned away

In the last part of the preface, Maulvi Sahib has described fifteen rules under the title of ‘What have been taken into account in this dictionary’, the last of which is: “Those English words that have come to most languages ​​and are found in newspapers.” , have been entered in the dictionary and have also written tezkirutaniths such as Babalog, Bal, Balti, Bar, Babin Lat”.

(continued)