Literary notes: Remembering Ghalib: literary controversy and legal wrangling.

Byline: Rauf Parekh

MIRZA Ghalib (1797-1869) is a literary colossus. December 27 marks Ghalib's birth anniversary. While remembering Ghalib, many things come to one's mind, including lexicographical issues.

Ghalib was not a lexicographer, but had a deep interest in lingual and lexicographical matters, as shows Qat'e-i-Burhan, Ghalib's criticism written in Persian on a famous and authentic Persian dictionary named Burhan-i-Qat'e. Ghalib's critique of the Persian dictionary was not taken well among the conformists and it kicked up a controversy that stirred reactions, rejoinders and counter arguments. As a result, at least 14 books or pamphlets were published, some against and some in favour of Ghalib's point of view.

The prolonged heated disagreement continued even after Ghalib's death and many scholars, including towering figures such as Qazi Abdul Wadood and Prof Nazeer Ahmed, published detailed assessments on the issue. Here is a brief account of the Persian dictionary, the book written by Ghalib and the battery of works and reactions it unleashed:

According to Prof Nazeer Ahmed, Burhan-i-Qat'e is a Persian dictionary compiled by Muhammad Hussain Tabrizi in 1062 Hijri/1652AD in Deccan. The compiler's penname was Burhan and his forefathers had migrated to India from Tabriz, Iran. The dictionary, considered one of the important Persian dictionaries, had become very popular because the compiler had collected words from different older dictionaries. This was strength of the dictionary as well as weakness as it had gathered all the entries found in other lexicographic works without much scrutiny and it led to many inaccuracies.

Ghalib was confined to his home during the violent events of 1857 war of freedom and the turmoil that followed. During this forced solitude he penned Dastamboo, a book in Persian, and then just to spend time meaningfully he began studying Burhan-i-Qat'e. Ghalib felt there were many inaccuracies and he began noting the 'lapses' in the margins. Later on, he compiled what he thought were 'errors' with his remarks and thus a book was made. Completed in 1860, Ghalib named it Qat'e-i-Burhan and it was first published in 1862 from Lucknow. Ghalib revised and expanded the book. He renamed it Dirafshe-i-Kaviani and it appeared as second edition in 1865 under the new title.

Ghalib had infuriated many of the old school followers with his criticism and it elicited a number of books against his work. But some others supported Ghalib...