RBSE SS Urdu Literature flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Mirat-ul-Uroos

First Urdu novel (1869) by Maulvi Nazir Ahmad; a domestic tale advocating female education through dialogue between two sisters-in-law, Akbari and Asghari.

Aab-e-Hayat

Muhammad Husain Azad's 1880 history of Urdu poetry, combining biographical sketches, critical commentary, and vivid anecdote; a foundational text of Urdu literary historiography.

Muqaddama-e-Sher-o-Shairi

Altaf Husain Hali's 1893 critical preface arguing for 'natural poetry' (necharal shayari) that reflects real life and moral purpose, rejecting artificial ornamentation.

Firdaus-e-Bareen

Abdul Halim Sharar's historical romance set in the Middle East; blends adventure, moral instruction, and Islamic history, typical of his didactic fiction.

Guzishta Lucknow

Rasheed Ahmad Siddiqui's memoir of Awadh's culture, manners, festivals, and language; a key source for Lucknow's social and literary history.

Shatranj ki Bazi

Prem Chand's Urdu short story using a chess game as an allegory of the 1857 revolt; the two players represent the British and the Indian resistance.

Matla and Maqta

Matla is the opening couplet of a ghazal in which both lines rhyme; maqta is the closing couplet containing the poet's pen name (takhallus).

Radif and Qafiya

Qafiya is the rhyming word before the radif; radif is the repeated word or phrase after the qafiya, preserved across all couplets of a ghazal.

Shikwa and Jawab-e-Shikwa

Iqbal's paired poems from Bang-e-Dara: the first voices a complaint to God about Muslim decline, the second is God's reply explaining the causes.

Azad Nazm

Free verse in Urdu, breaking strict metre and rhyme while retaining rhythm; developed by progressive and modernist poets in the mid-20th century.

Nazm-e-Mu'arra

Blank verse in Urdu: unrhymed but metrically regular poetry; used for narrative and reflective poems, distinct from free verse.

Marsiya

Elegy for the martyrs of Karbala, especially in the Lucknow school; structured in chehra, sarapa, jawab-e-sawal, and rukhsat sections.

Rekhta

Early name for Urdu poetry, meaning 'mixed' or 'scattered'; used before the term 'Urdu' became standard for the language and its literature.

Dakani Urdu

Early southern Urdu literary tradition centred in the Deccan (Golconda, Bijapur); poets include Nusrati, Wali Dakani, and Siraj Aurangabadi.

Progressive Writers' Movement

Founded in Lucknow in 1936; advocated social realism and anti-colonial themes in literature; associated with Faiz, Josh, and Sajjad Zaheer.

Angare

1932 anthology of short stories by Sajjad Zaheer, Ahmed Ali, Rashid Jahan, and Mahmud-uz-Zafar; a precursor of the Progressive movement, banned by the British.

Halqa-e-Arbab-e-Zauq

Modernist literary circle founded in Lahore in 1939; promoted free verse, experimentation, and a break from classical conventions.

Aligarh Movement

Sir Syed Ahmad Khan's late-19th-century reform movement promoting modern education, simple prose, and rationalist interpretation of religion.

Ergative 'ne'

In Urdu, transitive verbs in the perfective aspect mark the subject with 'ne': 'us ne kitab parhi' (he read the book).

Oblique case

The form a noun or pronoun takes before a postposition or in the plural; e.g., 'larka' (direct) becomes 'larke' (oblique).

Compound verbs

A main verb plus a light verb (dena, lena, jana, dalna) that adds completion, benefit, or suddenness: 'kar dena', 'kar lena', 'kar jana'.

Postpositions

Urdu places relational words after the noun: 'ghar mein' (in the house), 'mez par' (on the table), 'kitab ke bare mein' (about the book).

Aap

Formal and respectful second-person pronoun in Urdu; takes plural verb agreement even when addressing one person.

Inshaiya structure

Three-part essay: tamheed (introduction), matn (body with arguments and examples), natija (conclusion); one paragraph per idea.

Darkhwast

Formal Urdu application or petition; includes sender's address, date, receiver's designation, subject, salutation, body, and closing.

Khulasa

A summary in Urdu, reduced to about one-third of the original, retaining the central argument and key facts in the writer's own words.

Tashbeeh

Simile in Urdu rhetoric: an explicit comparison using 'jaise' or 'ki tarah' between two things sharing a quality.

Istiara

Metaphor in Urdu rhetoric: an implicit comparison without a connector; musarraha names the borrowed term, makniya suppresses it.

Tajnees

Punning repetition of words that are similar in sound but different in meaning; a common device in classical Urdu ghazal.

Tazad

Antithesis in Urdu rhetoric: the juxtaposition of opposite ideas or words within a line for emphasis and contrast.

Do chashmi he

The letter ھ written after a consonant to mark aspiration: bh, ph, th, dh, kh, gh, chh, jh; distinguishes aspirated from unaspirated sounds.

Nun-e-ghunna

The nasalization mark ں in Urdu script; it changes meaning, as in 'hain' (are) versus 'hai' (is).