Literary Notes: Tribute to Urdu's first woman researcher and critics on Women's Day.

MARCH 8 marks International Women's Day. So let us celebrate the achievements of women who have illuminated horizon of Urdu's literary research and criticism with their writings.

Though women's contribution to Urdu's creative literature has largely been acknowledged and women writers of Urdu who penned short stories, novels, autobiographies and poetry have been recognised as established writers, the role that women critics and researcher have played usually goes unnoticed.

It is a fact that even male critics and researchers rarely get the spotlight that creative writers and poets enjoy, let alone women in a male-dominated society. The reason is criticism and research is generally perceived as something dry and drab (used by some insomniacs as tranquillising drugs). An askew view is that women are less likely to engage themselves to criticism and research. The fact is women critics and researchers have been putting in their share alongside their male counterparts since long, albeit they may not outnumber them for certain societal restrictions. In the present era, a large number of women researchers and critics are enriching Urdu literature both in India and Pakistan.

Many names come to one's mind when we think of women researchers and critics who are held in high esteem because of the high-standard work they have carried out on Urdu language and literature in recent past and not-so-recent past. For instance, Begum Shaista Ikramullah (1915-2000) is credited with being the first woman researcher to have earned a PhD on Urdu literature. Her dissertation was titled A Critical Survey of Development of Urdu Novel and Short Story and London University conferred a doctorate on her in early 1940s. In fact, it was one of the earliest PhDs awarded in Urdu.

As mentioned by Dr Uzma Farman and Ahmed Piracha in their separate works on Urdu's women researchers and critics, Dr Maimoona Ansari did her PhD on Mirza Hadi Ruswa from Aligarh University and it was published in 1963.

Dr Aamna Khatoon (1915-1983) was head of Urdu department at Bangalore University, as mentioned on the title page of one of her books. She did some real research work on Dakani language, Urdu orthography, Urdu grammar, Insha Allah Khan Insha and edited some classical texts. Her books include Riyasat Mysore Mein Urdu, Dakani Ki Ibtida, Tehqeeqi Navaadir, Lataaif-us-Sa'adat and some others. Though her books are not available in Pakistan, they are treasure troves of rare information and...