Dr.Mazhar Naqvi
Imamis have not been much fair to Mirza Salamat Ali
Dabeer. First, they unnecessarily pitted him against Mir Anees in 19th
century India and now paying no attention towards preservation of his work. Although
he is better known as a leading exponent
of marsiya writing along with Mir Anees, Dabeer also excelled in the art of other
forms of Urdu poetry. Being a Shair-e-Ahlebait, he refrained himself from
writing Ghazals but his Salams surely indicates his mastery over ghazal writing.
A couplet from one of his Salams exemplify clearly that his poetic skills are comparable
to Ghalib. The couplet says “
“Hurr fida pyaasa jo Shah par ho gaya
Ai salami, qatra tha samandar ho gaya!”
Translation in
English:
When the thirsty Hurr (willingly) sacrificed his life for
the Shah (Hussain);
(Know) O salami, (O pilgrim) In truth the drop became the
entire ocean!
It is indeed strange that Dabeer has remained neglected
from the point of research on his work despite having a considerable following
in Lucknow during his life time. In the era of Anees and Dabeer, their
followers were divided into two formidable groups known as ‘Anneesiye and Dabeeriye’.
Though the poets never criticized each other, their followers always tried to establish
supremacy of Anees over Dabeer or vice-versa. While much work has been done on
Anees, Dabeer remains neglected till date. No complete or authentic text of Dabeer’s poetry is available
and even critical work on him too is buried in the files of literary journals.he
has remained ignored even after publication of Maula Shibli Nomani’s great work
titled ‘ Mawazana-i-Anis-o-Dabeer’.
There is dearth of material even on his son as well who himself was an
excellent marsiya writer and trained by his illustrious father. Dabeer surely
deserves much better treatment. Born in 1803 in Delhi, he had started
reciting marsiya since childhood during Muharram
gatherings. He began writing poetry under the tutelage of Mir Zameer. He moved to Lucknow following its emergence as a great
center of Azadari under the patronage of Awadh Nawabs. He found suitable
environment in Lucknow and excelled at a time when Anees was considered unparalleled.
Research on him is needed because considerable amount of his work has not seen
light of the day. His work is a treasure and master piece of elegiac poetry and
hence, deserves to be preserved and protected. Such endeavor is also required because
of the poor condition of his last resting place in Nakhas area.(References
available on request. Photo Courtesy Google Images).
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