Hyderabad :

Sultan Mohammed Quli Qutub Shah, the founder of Hyderabad, was the first poet of Deccani language, the proto model of Urdu, and not Wali Deccani as has been often claimed by historians of the language, Syed Taqi Abedi, a Hyderabadi-Canadian researcher, said on Wednesday.

The researcher also stated that the credit of tracing the origin of Urdu language to the 16th century goes to Syed Mohiuddin Quadri Zor who has left behind extensive research on Deccani, Urdu and Hindi.

Delivering the first Syed Mohiuddin Quadri Zor Memorial lecture which was jointly organized by Maulana Azad National Urdu University, Maulana Azad Club and Zor Foundation at Salar Jung Museum, Abedi said until Zor’s research on Urdu became known, Wali Deccani was considered the first Deccani-Urdu poet who had an anthology to his credit.

Ziauddin Ahmed Shakeb, who presided over the function, concurred with Abedi and said that while Wali belonged to 18th century, Qutub Shah wrote poetry in the 16th century. He said that owing to Zor’s undisputed works, the universities across the world have started a separate discipline on Deccani language and literature.

“Until 15th century Hindi and Urdu were spoken languages. The foundation of Urdu as a written language was laid down in the Deccan. It became a secular language in which mass literacy campaigns were undertaken. The kind of work Zor has left behind is equally beneficial to Urdu and Hindi linguists since Deccani is considered to be the prototype for the two languages,” he said.

Abedi revealed that the royal copy of the anthology of Qutub Shah was with the State Central Library which was earlier known as Kutub Khan-e-Asafia. “The copy is no longer there. It was said that the anthology was eaten away by moths. I doubt this and suspect that somebody has stolen it. It is also possible that it will reappear in European markets of artifacts,” he said.

Shakeb said that there is a file in the Institute of Archives and Research which says that the anthology was sent to the Nizam with a proposal for editing and publishing it. “There is only one sentence related to the anthology which says it did come back with the proposal file,” he said.

The two scholars said that Zor made use of the two incomplete parts of the anthology which are still available in the library of Salar Jung Museum. One of the greatest achievements of Zor was setting up of Idara-e-Adabiyat-e-Urdu along with three other friends at Punjagutta. The building of the Idara is known as Aiwan-e-Urdu. Mohammed Miyan, vice-chancellor of Manuu, pledged support for research on Zor and his works. He also promised to host an international conference on Urdu.

source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Hyderabad> Anthology /  TNN / December 26th, 2013