The literary giants that Lahore has produced over the centuries are in a way the defining attribute of this entire part of the subcontinent. It was for this very reason that Jawaharlal Nehru in 1947 mourned the loss of the city to Pakistan as ‘a wound that is unlikely to heal’.

The uniqueness of the people and its scholars, be they in the exact sciences or in linguistics or in creative poetry and prose in a variety of languages or even in oratory, stand out over time. In a way all these great men and women have shaped the very culture and ethos of the entire Indian subcontinent. It would be a useful exercise to put the sheer span of Lahore’s creative genius in perspective, so that even given the ebb and flow of time, our understanding of our ancestors is relatively clearer in our own minds.

First let us touch on our language. Before Sanskrit was created almost 3,500 years ago the language spoken in Lahore and the areas up to the mountains of Khyber was Old Punjabi. Sanskrit in that sense is a creation of the ruling classes of around 1,500BC. The very first grammar was formally scripted by Daksiputra Panini, whose book ‘Ashtadhyayi’ is still a classic in linguistic principles.

Born approximately 2,500 years ago in the Mahajanapada era in a village just off the river Indus and educated in the Taxila University, the family moved to a village just outside Lahore. Panini’s analysis of noun compounds even today forms the basis of modern linguistic theories. His morphological analysis, generative in essence, is said to be the basis of the logical structure of the modern computer.

Panini’s brother Pingala is the creator of the classic ‘Chandrashastra’ which is the first known description of a ‘binary numeral system’. Much later Pascal and Fibonacci used, and acknowledged, their own work as Pingala’s work taken forward. The entire concept of a ‘zero’ is his creation. So the environs of Lahore in the creative literary sense have ancient foundations, which over time, has produced some amazing minds.

But given the origins from ancient Punjabi to old Sanskrit to new Punjabi to new Sanskrit and then over time to the use of Persian, the creation of the Gurmukhi script and the introduction of Urdu, a military camp language that evolved using Turkish-Arabic-Persian words with Hindi, came to exist in Lahore. The literary giants that emerged over the centuries used just one or more of these languages. It is no wonder that the cultural mix of Lahore has roots spread over a vast area.

Among the first poets of Lahore who made a name was Masud Sa’d Salman, who was born inside the Walled City in 1046AD during the Ghaznavid period. He wrote in Persian and his biting poems in 1085AD landed him in a prison in Afghanistan. He mostly wrote in the ‘qasidah’ form with a subtle biting wit. His line: “Today in pain I am higher than yesterday” speaks of his troubles. He was released in 1096AD and within two years jailed again only to be released in 1106AD. He returned to Lahore and died in 1121AD. In a way, he was the first of the great poets of Lahore.

Then we have a line of greats, each unique in their style. In one column, it is impossible to even name them all but let us start with Shah Hussain (1538-1599) whose love for Madho Lal saw the emergence of the Madho Lal-Hussain tradition which today we know for Mela Chiraghan. He lived inside the Walled City in a small house that centuries later was occupied by another great Punjabi poet Ustad Daman. Shah Hussain can be said to have created the basis of Lahore becoming a tolerant open-minded society.

Much later in the same tradition, we see Lahore being visited by a line of Sufi saints who all used both poetry and prose as their vehicle of expression. Among them is Ahmad Zanjani and Ali Hasan of Hajver almost nine centuries ago. Among the Punjabi poets we have Bulleh Shah living in Lahore to please his ‘murshid’ Inayat Qadri at his ‘dargah’ located at today’s Queen’s Road. The great Waris Shah (1722-1798) occasionally visited Lahore to get his epic ‘Heer’ published in today’s Urdu Bazaar.

So given such an amazing set of poets and writers we come to the recent past and among the poets of Lahore we have the great philosopher Allama Iqbal writing in both Urdu and Persian. His contribution is universally acknowledged and he set in vogue new traditions in both poetry and prose. Iqbal was followed by a unique Urdu poet the great Faiz Ahmad Faiz, whose life was one of considerable suffering. But his immortal works have been translated into 43 languages, which speaks volumes of his universal appeal.

The poets of Lahore are by the hundreds, and in this column we can mention just a few of the prominent ones, and they include Sufi Tabassum, Ustad Daman, Hafiz Jalandhari, Munir Niazi, Ahmad Nadeen Qasmi, Habib Jalib, MD Taseer, Akhtar Shirani and the great Daud Rahbar, one of the ‘ignored greats’. But then time will surely heal his place in history. Also mention should be made of Saghar Siddiqui, Nasir Kazmi, Ehsan Danish, Ahmed Rahi, Amrita Pritam, Amjad Islam Amjad, Ahmed Rahi, Anis Nagi and Kripa Sagar. Each of these poets have their own unique way of presenting.

In the field of dramatics the name of the dramatist and poet Agha Hashar Kashmiri stands out as ‘the Shakespeare of Urdu’. His plays include ‘Rustam-o-Sohrab’, ‘Safaid Khoon’, and ‘Khwab-i-Hasti’ and over 36 other plays. He wrote his plays in an era where the theatre of Lahore was carving out its place in history. In a different tradition we see the emergence of Imtiaz Ali Taj and his play ‘Anarkali’ a classic in every respect. His play for children ‘Chacha Chakkan’ also has an immortal status. In the current era, we also have Shahid Nadeem and his Ajoka Theatre with plays like ‘Bullah’, ‘Toba Tek Singh’ and a host of others with international recognition.

On the modern-era prose writers and thinkers the list is again endless. In a way, it would not be a bad idea to start with Rudyard Kipling and his ‘Kim’ of Lahore. Here we see four major languages being used to express themselves, they being English, Persian, Punjabi and, most of all, Urdu. In the pre-Partition days communal-based writing took up a lot of space in newspapers and book publishing was not at its peak.

After 1947 we see the writers of Lahore emerge from the tragedy that Partition ended up being, with the name of Sadaat Hasan Manto standing out. Here it would be reasonable to mention that communal and nationalistic persecution by the rulers, mostly military, played a major role in shaping the ethos of Lahore writers. But they all stood up to tyranny and must for this they are not commended enough. Defiance and competence remain the two major hallmarks of the writers of Lahore.

The Partition stories by Bapsi Sidhwa in the English language achieved international fame. But then in the form of novels the name of the great Intizar Hussain stands out. Much earlier, Altaf Hussain Hali with his pioneering work of literary criticism in Urdu, the ‘Muqaddama-i-Sher-o-Shairi’ set the stage for a tradition that later writers found impossible to ignore. Like the Partition tragedy, Hali had witnessed the killing in the 1857 Uprising, which saw him drifting and ending up living in Lahore and producing 32 different works. His ‘naat’ which has attained immortal status is “Woh Nabiyon Mein Rahmat Laqab Pannaywala”.

Among the list of writers, the name of Abdullah Hussain also stands out, as does that of Ashfaq Ahmed who acquired a cult status in his lifetime, as did his wife Bano Qudsia. It is a great compliment to Lahore that its women emerged with amazingly sensitive works, like the writings of Razia Butt, Hajra Masroor, Khadija Mastoor, Altaf Fatima and even Moni Mohsin.

In a much more revolutionary tradition we have the writings of Tariq Ali and his ‘New Left’ tradition which, in a way, influenced the secular writers of his age. This London-based activist has produced well over 73 books and continues to be a major influence in international literary circles. One rather romantic aspect of his life was his association with the revolutionary Che Guevara.

On a much different level, Lahore produced writers like Amjad Islam Amjad who carved a new tradition in television drama with his classic ‘Waris’. Again in a totally different tradition, Lahore-born John Bayley, whose novels ‘In another Country’ and ‘George’s Lair’ are considered among the greats of the 20th century.

Yet again the Urdu writer A Hameed set in trend a totally different tradition, and his drama ‘Ainakwala Jinn’ set a new standard for writing for children. He followed it with writing 100 novels for children in, what is known as, the ‘Ambar Naag Maria Series’.

Just as others had set new standards, we see the emergence of Mohsin Hamid with his English language book ‘The Reluctant Fundamentalist’ which won international fame. He has written four major novels and won over 23 international awards. The list of writers belonging to, or having lived in, Lahore runs into hundreds. But what is certain that given the unique city that it is, each writer or poet or dramatist has carved out their own unique style and tradition. It is no wonder that it is known as the sub-continent’s city of a thousand poets and writers.

(The writer is a jouralist and author and an expert on Lahore.)