Do you know the names of Babar’s wife, his daughter and grandmother? You might not know because in the history you have read, there is mention of Mughal rulers but there is no mention of the women of their family. And even if they get it, they are on the margins. But Mughal women played a big role in that era which was forgotten.
Famous Hindi poet Pawan Karan has created a new history by writing poems about hundred women of the Mughal family. Hardly anyone has written so many poems in any language about so many women of any dynasty.
Pawan Karan’s collection titled ‘Stree Mughal’ has become a subject of curiosity in the world of Hindi literature these days. Pawan Karan, born on June 18, 1964 in Gwalior, had earlier written ‘Stree Shatak’ in two volumes, in which he created a narrative of the suffering and resistance of 200 women by searching from ancient Indian literature. Now he has tried to capture the lives of women of the Mughal period in poetry. This is a completely new effort and it is also an innovation in Hindi poetry. A lot of hard work and deep vision of Pawan Karan is also visible behind this.
The interesting thing is that from where did he get such an idea and to give poetic form to this idea, Pawan must have searched the pages of history. This collection of hers draws our attention towards how we ignore women while writing history and the history that has been written till now has been written from the men’s point of view only. Perhaps this is the reason why we do not know the heroines of our history.
From this collection you will learn that Khanzada Begum was the elder sister of Babar who had to marry Uzbek Sultan Mohammad Shabani Khan to save the life of Babar who was defeated in the war. The name of Babar’s widow was Bibi Mubarak Yusufzai and the name of Babar’s mother was Qutuluk Nigar Khanum. Babar’s daughter’s name was Gul Chehra Begum. His another daughter’s name was Masoom Sultana Begum.
Tansen became a Muslim in love
In this way, Pawan Karan has written poems on many forgotten women of the Mughal era, which also includes the wives, daughters, lovers and maids of Humayun, Akbar, Shahjahan etc. There is also a poem in this collection about a girlfriend of Tansen who converted to Islam. Pawan Karan writes about the love of Tansen and Tani-
To make me believe how much you love me,
you changed your god
I didn’t even put any such condition before you.
And there was never any dispute between us regarding religion.
We can do anything for you Tani
I couldn’t understand what you meant by this.
you will change your god for me
Allah you have changed Ustad
People will blame me for this
They will definitely say that I must have insisted on doing this.
Now how will I convince people
That you did not change your deity as per my wish.
For my sake, Emperor Akbar’s Navratna
Changing one’s appearance has become a hobby for people.
It is discussed that at my request
Why would you even leave the court, let alone the religion?
who did not abandon his plan at the behest of the king
She changed her clothes for love…
Seen in this way, this collection of Pawan Karan is ‘a new history of the Mughal period’ which had remained untold till now.
Pawan Karan has also been a very talented Hindi poet. From this point of view, he has a talent for writing poetry and he has used this talent for writing poetry. But the question is why instead of writing the history of women of the Mughal period, he has adapted them into poetry? Is it because he is not a historian and writing history requires more work and research or because he felt that in poetry he could say his whole thing in fewer words which could not be said in detail even in history? Could. In poetry we capture the soul of history.
Now the question is whether Pawan Karan has captured the soul of the history of his era in these 100 poems, has created those characters afresh, has tried to place those characters in today’s context, of history and present. Is there any movement in between? If Gupta ji had written Urmila Khand Kavya, was it Urmila’s new life, a new creation?
We also raise this question in the context of historical novels. Did Vrindlal Verma create any new Mrignayani in ‘Mriganayani’? Today we read ‘Andhayug’ again and again because it portrays today’s dark era. While reading these poems it seems that perhaps they have kept history as it is. He has reduced recreate. But still what he has done is very unique, unique and interesting. With this collection he has once again tried to prove that we can know history through poetry also. There are many examples of this in our epics, khandakavyas and mythological texts.
It is true that the historical nationalist consciousness that Subhadra Kumari Chauhan’s poem ‘Jhansi Ki Rani’ created within us, even a history book could not do, or the cultural awareness that ‘Mahabharata’ and ‘Ramayana’ created within us through their mythological characters. Even the history books of that period did not create awareness. There are many examples of such things which prove that the power of literature and art is sometimes greater than the power of history. It not only records the history of its time but also transcends the history of literature and art. And it is taken out of history and becomes a creation of the present as well. Now these poems of Pawan Karan should also be tested on the criterion that how much history is there in these poems and how much composition and creation is there in them.
But it is also true that it is not an easy task for a poet to write a poem on hundred women of the Mughal period or of any dynasty. When we write on characters like Radha, Chitralekha, Draupadi, Ambapali, Sujata, Vasavadatta, Shakuntala, we are usually familiar with their stories and then a connection with the poem is instantly formed, but the characters about whom we do not know. It is difficult to assimilate. However, Pawan Karan deserves congratulations that he has given a new priceless heritage to Hindi which will always be remembered even if Hindi criticism does not welcome it much.
,
Tags: Books, hindi literature, Hindi Writer, Literature
FIRST PUBLISHED: March 24, 2024, 09:01 IST