Gopi Chand Narang : Champion of Urdu in India
Rabab Naqvi
Dawn, Karachi

Gopi Chand Narang is the only Urdu writer who has the distinction of being recognized and decorated by the Presidents of both India and Pakistan, for his contribution to the language. He is known especially for his work on the post-modernist theory of Deconstruction. On the occasion of the Centenary of Iqbal in 1977, he received the President of Pakistan's Gold Medal for distinguished scholarly work on Allama Iqbal. In 1990, on January 26, the Republic Day of India, he was awarded the 'Padma Shri' by the President of India. Last year, the government of India awarded him the 'Padma Bhushan'.

An eminent scholar, linguist, critic and a passionate supporter of Urdu, Gopi Chand Narang is very outspoken against the politicization of the language in India and is lyrical in its defence. He describes Urdu as a 'miracle language'. "It is the Taj Mahal of Indian languages, a fragrance that no one can stop from spreading", he observes. He believes that Urdu is a language of Communication and that is why it is spoken worldwide. "No border dare stop its spread", he says.

Within minutes he will convince anyone that Urdu is a truly Indian language because it reflects the composite culture of India. Moreover, as it is spoken by Hindu, Muslims and Sikhs, it is also the language of interfaith harmony since the days of Amir Khusrau in the 13th century.

Yet it has been associated with the Muslims in India. Narang says, "Associating Urdu with the Muslims in India is part of a political conspiracy against this composite language which was born out of a cultural interaction between the Hindus and the Muslims. The communalization of Urdu is part of its politicization which has occurred in the last half century. In fact, it is part of the hangover of the two nation theory which stands discredited by historical events in the subcontinent.

"Nevertheless narrow minded politicians on both sides of the border unwittingly subscribe to it. Pakistan is a nascent nation. Naturally it needs a language and a cultural core which it may call its own. The bigger problem lies in India where presently Urdu's association with the Muslim minority is exploited as a vote bank. In India, I have yet to come across a leader of a political party, left or right, who does not praise Urdu for its charm and elegance, yet these leaders are indifferent to its linguistic rights".

He goes on to add, "Urdu is one of the national languages according to the Constitution of India. Facilities for teaching it in schools in the northern Indian states, especially Uttar Pradesh, have been denied. Nobody asks the question whether Bengali, Punjabi, Gujarati, Marathi and other Indian languages are the language of the Muslims or the Hindus. Languages nowhere in the world have religion. A language belongs to whosoever uses it. The sad thing is that only in case of Urdu and Hindi the communal divide exists".

Gopi Chand Narang is concerned for the survival of Urdu in the subcontinent and in restoring it to its original status when it was free of political and communal connotation. If in India Urdu has been associated with the Muslims then it is not the language of the majority anywhere in Pakistan. "In my opinion, the remedy lies in giving equal linguistic and educational rights to Urdu in the secular educational system in India and the creation of awareness in Pakistan that Urdu belongs to both the countries. It is Indo-Aryan by origin. It is part of the common heritage and nobody's monopoly", he says.

I ask him if in the process of communalization and politicization of Urdu in India, the contribution of the Hindus to the Urdu language and literature has failed to be recognized fully.

He acknowledges that Urdu has become so entwined with politics that instead of sheer merit other extraneous factors also come into play. "Hindus over the centuries from Chandar Bhan Brahman of Shahjahan's era down to Chakbast, Sarshar, Firaq Gorakhpuri, Bedi, Krishan Chander, Anand Narain Mulla and others have contributed to Urdu. You cannot understand the beginning of Urdu fiction without considering Ratan Nath Sarshar and lately Premchand. But there is no denying the fact that in spite of being a language of common heritage Urdu's ethos is Indo-Islamic. Lately some books have discussed this point. Recognition of the contribution of the Hindus depends on who the historian is. In literature opinions differ. Appreciation has to be on the basis of merit not religion, caste, or creed. Take just two examples, Firaq Gorakhpuri and Krishan Chander. After partition both these authors were equally popular in Pakistan. But when it comes to including authors in the textbooks extraneous factors do come in. In India, Pakistani poets and fiction writers are extremely popular with Hindu readers. They sell more in the Devanagari script than in the original Urdu version (Nastaliq script)," says Narang.

I ask Dr. Narang if the popularity of the Devanagari script in India would mean changing over to it. Dr. Narang was very sure that it will not happen for literary and academic reasons. "There was a movement started by Rahi Masoom Raza which favoured the adoption of the Devanagari script in India, but that has died down," he says.

Narang thinks that there will always be a demand for publications in the Devanagari script since the post-partition generation of Indians are not that familiar with the Nastaliq script, but they love the language. He says, "Urdu has real charm and sophistication of its own and it presents the perfected idiom of khari boli. It is very popular with directors and producers in Bollywood (Indian film industry), but only in Devanagari because most of the actors and actresses cannot read their dialogues in the Nastaliq script. There are others who want to read Urdu writers, Indian and Pakistani, in Devanagari script. Because of the sheer force of linguistic logic, there will always be a demand for Urdu writers in the Devanagari script."

Gopi Chand Narang distinguishes between the academic and the commercial aspect of the language, "Devanagari is being used for Urdu in India, but only for commercial purpose. The Urduwalas in India who number more than 60 million read and write Urdu in the Nastaliq script and it is the Nastaliq script which needs to be preserved for teaching Urdu."

The movement to switch over to the Devanagari script formally may have died down, but interest in India is high enough for the Urdu academics in some of the states and Jamia Millia Islamia to teach Urdu through the Devanagari script. Rahi Masoom Raza's novel, Adha Gaon, was published in Hindi long before the Urdu version came out. Ismat Chughtai's daughter did not learn the Nastaliq script. Muslim actresses and actors can read their dialogues only in the Devanagari script. So is the case of Shabana Azmi, daughter of Kaifi Azmi.

Since partition in 1947, people have been predicting the demise of Urdu. Instead of disappearing it has spread in other parts of the world. In the 21st century, Jashan-i-Narang is held not in Aligarh, Lucknow, or Lahore but in Toronto. Narang attributes this to Urdu's inherent vitality.

"After the advent of the Muslims in India, the linguistic sea was churned for centuries and yielded the aab-e-hayat, Urdu. I am not deriding other languages, but Urdu has assimilated the Indic base with Arabic and Persian elements as no other language has. Urdu is a highly sophisticated and refined medium. It is also aesthetically enchanting. It is an open language without any inhibitions. Look at its interaction with English lately. Its aesthetic appeal, linguistic vigour and functionality, all are contributing to its global growth," he says.

For Gopi Chand Narang, love of Urdu is part of his cultural personality. He believes that, "Language is not a matter of choice. It is part of your existential situation. You are born into a language. Your psyche, both your conscious and unconscious mind, is conditioned by language. In fact Language is Being, it is what you are. I was born in Balochistan where besides Pushto and Balochi, Urdu was widely spoken. Before partition, Urdu was the school language throughout north-west India. My father was a scholar of Sanskrit and Persian. I was brought up in the lap of Urdu. Of course after coming to India pursuing it was a conscious decision."

Following the trend of his time, he studied science at the undergraduate level. But for his masters he followed his instinct and switched over to Urdu. A brilliant student, he obtained a first class first.

Gopi Chand Narang is the President of the Sahitya Akademi, the biggest literary body in India which oversees 22 languages. He has published more than 56 books on classical poetry, folklore, fiction, linguistics, etc. Most of them are in Urdu. Some are in Hindi and English. He is the author of over 200 scholarly articles which have been published in India and abroad. He knows seven Indians languages including Siraiki which is his mother tongue. Eight books have been written on him.

Reading Gopi Chand Narang is not enough. Don't miss a chance to hear him speak. He is also an excellent speaker.

(27 February 2005)