Mehr Afshan Farooqi - Poetics of Exile and the Indian Sub-continent

The anguish of exile has a special literary and historical significance in India. The ancient epic Ramayana revolves around the exile - banwas of Rama, the exemplary heir of the kingdom of Ayodhya. In modern times, India's Partition has been described as an almost organic splitting of a people and culture. Its angst found expression in the poetry and fiction of Urdu writers across the sub-continent. I will use examples from the ghazal to illustrate the special meanings of hijr-separation, and hijrat-migration, in the context of Urdu.