Syed Raza Ali Wehshat Kalkattavi’s Diary: Discovery and Introduction

Abstract

This paper brings out and introduces the ‘biaz’ (diary) of early twentieth century Urdu and Persian poet, Syed Raza Ali Wehshat Kalkattavi. Kalkattavi was born in Kolkata and was a protégé of Shams Faridpuri who was Dagh Dehlavi’s pupil. His classical poetic style was inspired by the nineteenth century Urdu poet, Ghalib which earned him the titles such as ‘Ghalib-i-Saani’ (The Second Ghalib) and ‘Ghalib-i-Dauraan’ (Ghalib of the Time). His work as a teacher and poet of Urdu and Persian was also recognized by the British with the conferment of the titles of “Khan Sahib” and “Khan Bahadur”. As the paper shows, the diary under study includes 178 pieces in verse, out of which 43 are unpublished. We have analyzed the macrostructure of the diary by tabulating its details and briefly analyzed its themes.