Urdu Ramayana helps bridge communal gap
JAIPUR: An Urdu version of the Hindu epic Ramayana composed 82 years ago is building bonds of goodwill in western Rajasthan’s Bikaner district.
On Sunday, a cultural society in Bikaner held a poetry reading session of the Urdu Ramayana that was written in 1935.
The Mehfil-e-adab Society and Paryatan Lekhan Sangh jointly organised the programme.
It was composed by poet Maulana Badshah Hussain Khan Rana ‘Lakhnavi’ in 1935. The story goes that Rana, a poet , came to Bikaner state from Jaipur state in 1914 at the invitation of then ruler maharaja Ganga Singh. He was employed as the head maulvi at
Doongar college from 19191942.
At the time, many Urdu lovers came to learn the language or learn shayiri from him. One of his students who was the then jail superintendent, was a Kashmiri pandit.
In 1935, the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) organised a national competition as part of the golden jubilee celebrations of the birth of Tulsidas, author of the Ramayana.
The jailor, whose name is not known, urged Rana to compose the Ramayana in Urdu. Rana said he could only write if inspired by the subject and pressed to hear the Ramayana.
AK Gehlot, former vice chancellor of the veterinary university in Bikaner said the Ramayana is written in simple language and can be read in 30 minutes. “if someone wants to know the story of the Ramayana concisely then they can read this poem.”
Qadri said the book was also part of the Urdu syllabus in Bikaner state before Independence.