Year: 2015
Type: article
Abstract: Writing the Lucknowi tehzib: urban myths and urban history 1 If any single work has served to cement the impressions of cultural sophistication associated with Lucknow, it is Hindūstān mēn Mashriqī Tamaddun kā Akhirī Namūna ya'ni Guzushta Luckna'u, ('Lucknow: the Last Phase of an Oriental Culture'), by the Lucknowi novelist and essayist 'Abdul Halim Sharar (1860-1920). 1 In introductory remarks imbued with heavy affection, Sharar evoked the court of Awadh, and the urban capital of its heyday from 1775 until 1856, as 'the last example of eastern refinement and culture ( mashriqī tehzīb-va-tamaddun) in India.'He continues:We still have memories and present examples of several other courts, but the court in which the old culture and lifestyle reached its culmination was this court, which reached such heights and then, suddenly and sadly, vanished so fast… the place in which this court was established had a greater distinction and importance than any in India.(Sharar 2000(Sharar [1914(Sharar -1920]] : 41) 2The text then describes many of the city's lavish cultures and fashions, ruminating upon the particulars of its costumes, calligraphy, gastronomy, cock-fighting, kite-flying, poetry recitation and etiquette, among many others.Sharar depicts a unique and sophisticated Islamicate 2 civic culture which, as well as being a pinnacle of Indo-Muslim cultural achievement, was also one of successful integration, amalgamating artistic contributions from across South and West Asia, and facilitating engagement from both Muslim and Hindu populations.3 Accessible, informative and translated into several languages, Sharar's portrait has heavily influenced modern perceptions of Nawabi Lucknow; yet, this work was hardly a Urban Mythologies and Urbane Islam: Refining the Past and Present in Colonial...
DOI: 10.4000/samaj.3943
Author: Justin Jones
Institution: University of Oxford
Language: English
Subfield: Philosophy
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W1816161970