By IANS,
Hyderabad : Vice President Hamid Ansari Saturday released a new edition of “Muraqqa-e-Chughtai”, a rare combination of poetry by Urdu great Mirza Ghalib and paintings by eminent artist Abdul Rahman Chughtai.
Considered as a masterpiece, it was first published here in 1928 and has now been reprinted by Andhra Pradesh Urdu Academy.
Ansari recalled that with patronage and encouragement of arts by Mir Osman Ali Khan, the then ruler of Hyderabad state, Chughtai made possible the task of imparting a concrete form to the “uncreated garden” of Ghalib’s thought with his pen and brush.
“The academy deserves accolades for realising the importance of the objective of the great and skilled artist of India and for reviving this everlasting masterpiece which had almost lost its sheen under the dust of so many passing years,” he said.
“To render a couplet into a painting is like capturing the imagination. Chughtai has given ample evidence of his excellence by absorbing in his colours the entire range and depth of Ghalib’s metaphor,” he added.
During his speech in Urdu, Ansari read a few couplets of Ghalib from the book. He also recalled how Ghalib imparted a new consciousness and a new horizon to Urdu ghazals. Fired by Ghalib’s imagination, the ghazal became the power and destiny of Urdu.
After a gap of 81 years, the Urdu Academy has re-published the book, which has a foreword by poet Mohammad Iqbal. Printed on glazed art paper, the book has a couplet on one page and an illustration on the facing page.