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However, drawing on the works of other commentators and the evidence presented in poetry, Vanita declares that it was also a time of prosperity and vibrant artistic production in which women played an important role. The Nawabs of Awadh, for instance, have long been derided as decadent and effeminate rulers, a description which wiggled its way into later literary and cinematic representations, such as Premchand’s Shatranj ke Khiladi and Satyajit Ray’s film of the same name. In doing so, she marshals evidence against commonly held assumptions and brings forth fascinating historical nuggets. She also explores the sub genres that rekhti spawned, such as chaptinama, which described erotic relations between women.Īs Vanita parses the rekhti repertoire, she lays bare the lives of women and paints a canvas of life in Delhi and Lucknow in the 18 th and 19 th century. Vanita emphasises the interplay and overlaps between rekhti and rekhta, suggesting that the two are inseparable, rather than discrete, entities. It knocks down baseless assumptions about the genre and digs through the colonial impact on Urdu criticism to uncover its rich legacy. In such a literary landscape, Ruth Vanita’s Gender, Sex & the City: Urdu Rekhti Poetry in India, 1780 – 1870 (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012), the first book-length study in English of rekhti, is an invaluable resource. In an article on rekhti, historian Rana Safvi recounts, “When I first decided to include rekhti in a #shair schedule, purist members were outraged that I was trying to defile Urdu ghazals, since rekhti too is written in that form.” However, prejudice against rekhti is not simply a thing of the past. With rekhta upheld as the paragon of Urdu poetry, many scholars considered rekhti inferior. There were female rekhti poets too, but almost none of their works are extant. This later provoked another criticism – that men could not ‘authentically’ capture ‘women’s experiences’ and performed it merely for titillation. Interestingly, however, most rekhti poetry is written by men, some of whom dressed up as women and wore make-up during public recitals. It is these allusions to lesbian love that many commentators found obscene. In rekhti, the addressor is female, though the beloved can be either female or male. It eschews the heavily Persianised register of rekhta and employs a more colloquial cadence. Young lady, greens grow in every bed of yours!) If you don’t mind, may I seize a handful or two? (When she came to take fire, an attraction took hold Na bur ā m ā ne to lun noch ko’ ī muthi bharīegam ā har ter ī ky ā r ī men har ā s ā g lag ā Ā g lene ko jo ā ’ ī n to kah ī n l ā g lag āī ī b ī hams āī ne d ī j ī men mer ī ā g lag ā Take these verses by Insha Allah Khan‘Insha’: Rekhti, on the other hand,focuses on women’s relationships and their everyday activities and preoccupations. Upon whose shoulder lie strewn your scattered tresses) (Sleep is, peace of mind is, the very nights are
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Teri zulfen jis ke baazu par pareshaan ho ga’in Nind us ki hai, dimaagh us ka hai, raaten us ki hain Its main theme is unrequited love, though many love poems could also be interpreted as yearning for the divine. While both employ the ghazal format and it’s metrical and rhyme schemes, rekhta traditionally genders the lover and beloved as male, a convention inherited from Persian poetry. It is counter posed to rekhta, the “literature narrated in the masculine voice”. It’s an entire genre of poetry known as rekhti, which was characterised by a female speaker and preoccupation with women’s everyday lives. In a canon that is overwhelmingly preoccupied with the many shades of unfulfilled love, the references to dildos might leave a reader quite incredulous.īut it’s not just dildos that sit unseen in Urdu works. Gender, Sex & the City: Urdu Rekhti Poetry in India, 1780 – 1870, Ruth VanitaĪ mention of dildos (sabura) in Urdu poetry came as a sheer surprise to me. The poem ends humorously with the dildo disappearingįrom her trunk and her crying out that the mischievous creature has run away.” Although she prefers the “real thing” to a toy, she finds the latter She declares Calcutta models superior to local ones and is willing to spend extra for a dildo made of whaleīone or leather. “… Nisbat’s speaker reveals her urban sophistication by shopping for a dildo.