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Haiku in Urdu
Haiku in Urdu
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Haiku is the most precise, compact and condensed form of verse. It is a three-
liner and is all about the relationship of man with nature. In Japan, haiku
provides a kind of spiritual nourishment and is rooted in Zen Buddhism. It now
covers every aspect of life. The Zen philosophy of 'Satori' (enlightenment) is
still practiced for studying nature through meditation. The Japanese immerse
themselves in a natural scene or phenomenon and then express their feelings in a
haiku.
Syed Hasan Abid Jafri was the one who introduced haiku to Urdu. He wrote an
article, "Japani shairi par eik nazar" for Nigar (Lucknow) in December 1922. For
over a decade there was a meaningless silence on the subject. In 1936, Saaqi,
another esteemed literary journal, published a 'Japan number'. The translators
of Japanese poetry included Aziz Tamannai, Fazle Haque Qureshi and Ali Zaheer.
Noorul Hasan Barlas, who had lived in Japan for a long time, played a vital role
in providing material for this issue.
From 1938 to 1980's, the most prominent Haiku enthusiasts were Hameed Nizami,
Meeraji, Zafar Iqbal, Kaleemuddin Ahmed, Abdul Aziz Khalid, Qazi Saleem,
Tasadduq Husain Khalid, Dr Muhammad Amin and Mohsin Bhopali. In the 1970s, Dr
Muhammad Amin, from Multan, visited Japan and started writing original Urdu
three-liners and published his anthology, Haiku in 1980. Three years later, in
1983 the first Urdu Haiku mushaira was organized by the Japan Cultural Center in
Karachi. Soon the new genre became popular in Urdu. Some fifty Urdu anthologies
and many collections have so far been published.
[Source: Dawn]
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