+ Pix

New Delhi: Recently, Dr. Khaliq Anjum, secretary of Anjuman Taraqqi-e Urdu, Delhi and Shahid Maahuli of Ghalib Institute stated in a statement that Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) demands an amount of Rs. 50,000 for organising Urs of Zauq at his mazar. It is really a great pity that not to talk of maintaining and preserving mazars and houses of our poets, saints, leaders etc. as memorials, one has to pay fees even for a faateh. All the mazars of our poets are locked, though because of a PIL filed by Firoz Bakht Ahmad of the NGO, Friends for Education Maulana Azad’s mazar was unlocked in 2005 but that of Zauq is still locked since 1997. Ghalib’s mazar which used to be locked, but even then Ghalib Academy has probably got it unlocked. In Lucknow, on the mazar of Mir Taqi Mir a railway gate has been built.

Firoz Bakht further said that when we go to England we learn how the British people and governments have so well maintained and preserved the memorials of their literary personalities be it Shakespeare, Wordsworth, William Blake, Keats, Dickens, Shelley, Addison or any other. The memorials of all these men of letters are so well maintained and protected and the expenses on their maintenance are met from the income accrued from the sale of ticket to tourists who want to visit them. Similarly in America also the tombs and houses of heroes and literary figures like T.S. Eliot, Emerson, Robert Frost, George Washington, Benjaamin Franklin etc. are so neat and clean and well maintained that they look like picnic spots for tourists and visitors. There one can not only relax and have tea and snacks etc. in good canteens but get books and photos concerning their life, key chains, tea-shirts and other memorabilia items as well.

Now let us have a look at the memorials of our poets and authors, be it Ghalib, Momin, Zauq, Daagh, Jigar Muradabadi, Akbar Allahabadi, Firaq, Mahinder Singh Bedi, Nazeer Akbarabadi, Wali Dakkini, Ali Sardar Ja’fari, Kaifi Azmi or any other. Have we maintained and preserved them in accordance with their calibre and status? Except one i.e. of Ghalib the memorials of probably no one else exist now. Do we know where are the houses or graves of Ghalib’s friend, poet Nawab Mustafa Khan Shefta, Mir Dard, Bismil Syeedi, Faqir Muhammad Goya etc? Memorial of Ghalib and Zauq’s mazar were saved because of PILs filed by Firoz Bakht though their conditions too are not satisfactory.

Construction of Zauq’s mazar had started when Firoz Bakht had written an article in the Hindustan Times on 6 August 1996 in which he had mentioned the bad condition of the mazars of Urdu poets. Justice Kuldeep Singh of the Delhi High Court and lawyer M.C. Mehta had taken note of this and thereafter repair and renovation work at least of Ghalib and Zauq’s mazars started. Supreme Court appointed Firoz Bakht a member of the committee which was to decide the place of Zauq’s mazar which was built soon thereafter but nearby a double storeyed lavatory and bathrooms also were built. Ghalib’s mazar however, like his haveli is in a dilapidated condition and is locked since 1997. He wrote many letters to the government requesting that its management may be entrusted to any Urdu institution like Anjuman Taraqqi-e Urdu, Urdu Academy, NCPUL, Ghalib Academy etc. but to no avail.

This writer would like to tell you abou the story of Zauq’s mazar. Truly speaking, till a few years ago nobody knew who or what Zauq is/was and where his house and mazar are. It came to be known from his article that the Delhi Municipal Corporation has built 14 lavatories (seven for males and seven for females) on his mazar in 1961. Sheikh Muhammad Ibrahim ‘Zauq’ was the teacher of Moghul king Bahadur Shah Zafar and was born on 15 November 1788 in Delhi’s muhalla Kabulidarwazah which was one of the 14 gates of Delhi and which no longer exists. From the inscriptions on Zauq’s mazar it is gathered that he died on 17 October 1884.

In those days Akbar Shah was the king of Delhi who had no interest in poetry. Mirza Abu Zafar, his heir became king of Delhi and came to be known as Bahadur Shah. Being fond of poetry and himself being a poet he took up Zafar as his pseudonym or Takhallus. Zauq, at the young age of 19 years only, became Bahadur Shah Zafar’s teacher and was honoured with the title of Khaqan-e Hind. Zauq wanted his mazar to be built in Qadam Sharif, a graveyard in Nabi Karim near Pahar Ganj in Delhi which is now surrounded by houses and buildings after the huge influx of refugees from Lahore in the wake of partition.

It appears from a letter dated 16 December 1950 of late Maulana Hifzur Rahman Sewhari, who was at that time Trustee of Delhi Waqf Board that till 1950 Zauq’s mazar was there (at Pahar Ganj). He and subsequently Maulana Azad had tried to get his mazar repaired and renovated but because of opposition by interested people and government’s insensitivity it could not be repaired and rebuilt for quite a long time.