Topic started by Karuvayan (@ cs2417546-174.austin.rr.com) on Sat Mar 22 20:56:11 .
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.
http://www.dawn.com/2003/03/19/fea.htm#4
A flurry of books on ancient India
Ariel
A CURSORY look at Pakistani publishers' catalogues or a visit to Urdu
Bazaar in Karachi should take book-lovers by surprise. Scores of books
on ancient India, Hindu mythology, religion, philosophy, epics and the
Bhagti movement are nowadays available in Urdu - either in translation
or original.
Quite an interesting departure. Titles on Vedas, Upanishads, Puranas,
Ramayana, Mahabharat, Bhagwad Gita, Tulsidas, Bhagat Kabir, Mirabai,
Guru Nanak and even on revivalist movements within Hinduism such as
Arya Samaj are available. It is a good sign that while passing through
one of the most tense periods in Indo-Pak relations, our publishers are
publishing books on Hinduism.
Knowing our publishers as one ought to, it is but natural that they are
publishing such books only to meet a demand in commercial quantity.
Whatever be the reason, even Indian publishers are busy cashing in on
an increasing demand for Urdu books on Hindu religion and philosophy.
Knowing that a good book creates an hunger for piracy, some of the
publishers encourage swap deals - one Indian title in exchange for one
Pakistani without being fussy on other details knowing that
technicalities of the IPRs (intellectual property rights) in the book
trade don't go well with the authors.
Relations between Pakistan and India are so sore at the moment that
there is no possibility of having any ideal atmosphere for IPR's
compliance so a free- for-all atmosphere is helping less-known living
Urdu writers across the borders.
In case their works tantalize the book pirates across the borders they
would prefer their works to reach out their readers even though no
financial benefits accrue to them. As for dead writers, it is only the
publishers - like the Darul Musannifeen or the Khuda Bakhsh Literary
Publications - which could point their fingers at the pirates only to
get some response in return as has been the case with the Darul
Musannifeen.
So, without caring about the exact legal status of the explosion of
books which provide 'knowledge' about our big neighbour but also about
the religion of our Hindu compatriots, I think it is a good sign. Now
there is hardly any Veda or an introduction work on the Upanishads or
the Puranas or epics such as Ramayana or Mahabharat - or the Arya Samaj
classic Satyarth Prakash, a resourceful bookseller could satisfy
readers' thirst for literature on Hinduism. I have got hold of
different editions of Kabir, Mirabai, Guru Nanak's Dohas, Bhajans and
Ashlokas, a Karachi publisher has brought out beautiful books on Kabir
and Mirabai, and it could be said that production-wise they are the
best.
Now after having said it all, the question arises whether it is the
stand- off between India and Pakistan (which is still on in spite of
statements to the contrary) which has possibly created the desire to
know what is, after all the corpus of knowledge to which most people
living on this side of the border have not been well disposed so far.
Ever since Emperor Akbar's effort to get some Sanskrit classics
translated followed by Dara Shikoh's translation of Upanishads -
Majma-ul-Bahrain (Meeting of two seas alluding to Islam and Hinduism) -
scores of Hindu poets composing Persian poetry and Muslim poets
composing poetry in Brij, Avadhi and other regional dialects have made
their presence felt so far. Who can forget the Hindu poet Chandar Bhan
Brahman, composing the historic dialogue in Persian between Baba Lal
and Dara Shikoh, at Batala, a place 60 miles east of Lahore.
Now the stand-off has successfully given rise to a radical shift
towards knowing our neighbour, whether it be our friend or tormentor.
The fact remains that each one of us has shaped the psyche of the
other. The 'love-and-hate' relationship between the two neighbours
evokes memories of the Mahabharat with a contemporary Lord Krishna
exhorting one to have a go at the other.
The city of Lahore, named after Laho, son of Rama, is witnessing an
interesting upsurge in publications on Hinduism in the faint hope of
filling in the vacuum caused by an ominous stand-off between the two
countries of the subcontinent. Who knows the mind, fed on this minor
renaissance of a specific nature, should learn to behave more self
assuredly dispelling 'fear' which keeps on creating one stand-off after
another.
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It is interesting to note that there is such a scholarly exchange. It is equally amazing to observe how much our own so called Indians hate our heritage (The kind of indians like Missionary christians and DMK morons)
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