Hyderabad: Five years after the death of Prof Fatima Begum Parveen in 2021, the Urdu world is still searching for a voice capable of filling the void she left behind. The doyen of Urdu teaching and literature, she was much more than an accomplished professor, critic and poet. She was a formidable orator whose command over the language, depth of knowledge and captivating style of presentation made her a distinctive presence at literary and academic gatherings.
Prof Parveen remains one of those rare personalities whose absence continues to be felt in Hyderabad’s Urdu circles. Five years on, no one has quite emerged to occupy the place she once held – as a scholar, teacher, literary critic and, above all, as one of Urdu’s compelling voices.
A few days before the Teachers’ Day, Prof Parveen passed away following complications arising out of a Covid infection, leaving behind a rich literary legacy and a generation of students, colleagues, writers and admirers who were touched by her scholarship and eloquence.
For Hyderabad’s Urdu fraternity, however, her passing is not merely the loss of a professor. It is the silencing of an eloquent voice — a voice that carried the authority of scholarship, the warmth of a teacher and the force of an accomplished orator. It was this rare combination that earned her the affectionate title ‘Bulbul-e-Deccan’.
As a journalist covering Urdu literature and cultural events in Hyderabad, I had the opportunity to attend and report on several programmes in which Prof Parveen participated. Over the years, I saw her speak on books, poets, literary personalities and a wide range of subjects concerning Urdu. Each encounter left a lasting impression.
What struck me most was the depth of her knowledge and the effortless manner in which she communicated it. She did not merely speak about a book or a poet; she opened up the work for the audience. Her observations were informed by extensive reading and research, yet her delivery was never weighed down by academic jargon. She could move seamlessly from a scholarly point to an anecdote, from literary criticism to an emotional response, and from classical poetry to contemporary concerns.
For a journalist, such speakers are a gift. Their words provide not merely information but perspective. Prof. Parveen had the rare ability to give an audience something to think about long after a programme had ended. On several occasions, while covering literary events, I found myself particularly attentive when she rose to speak. One knew that her intervention would add substance to the proceedings.
Her oratory was not based on rhetoric alone. It was rooted in knowledge. The confidence with which she spoke about classical poets, Deccani literature, criticism and the evolution of Urdu poetry came from years of study and teaching. That scholarship gave weight to her words and made her one of the most sought-after speakers at Urdu literary gatherings.
“Her death is an irreparable loss to Urdu literature and the vacuum created by her is hard to fill,” said Dr Taqi Abedi, the Hyderabad-born Canadian physician, poet and noted Urdu scholar. The sentiment captures the sense of loss felt across literary circles.
Prof Parveen was associated with the Department of Urdu at Osmania University, an institution that has played an unparalleled role in the development of Urdu scholarship in the Deccan. She belonged to a distinguished tradition of teachers who regarded the classroom not merely as a place for instruction but as a space for intellectual and cultural formation.
Ironically, literature was not her first academic choice. She initially studied science and completed her BSc. She later secured admission to an MSc programme in Warangal. But after her family moved to Hyderabad, she decided to pursue an MA in Urdu at Osmania University in 1975.
“After studying science, taking interest in literature was a bit difficult,” she once recalled.
The transition was indeed challenging. She was the only student among 49 in her class to pursue Urdu at the postgraduate level. Prof Mughni Tabassum, then head of the Urdu department, recognised her difficulties and encouraged her by citing examples of students from science backgrounds who had excelled in literature.
His encouragement transformed her academic journey. Prof Parveen went on to secure two gold medals in her MA, marking the beginning of an extraordinary career in Urdu studies.
She subsequently emerged as a poet, critic, researcher, translator and teacher of distinction. Her literary output eventually extended to 23 books, covering classical, Deccani and modern Urdu literature.
Among her important works were Akhtar Ansari Ki Shayari Ka Tanqidi Mutaliya, Karbe Karbala, Zaviya-e-Nigah, Deccani Adab Ka Mutaliya, Classici Shayari Ka Mutala and Nanhi Nazmein. The last was her Urdu translation of Naneelu, the celebrated collection of short poems by Prof N Gopi, former Vice-Chancellor of Telugu University.
Her critical studies of Ghavasi, the poet laureate of the Qutb Shahi kingdom, and Akhtar Ansari, the progressive poet known for his emotional poetry, occupy an important place in her literary contribution. She also wrote extensively on Amir Khusrau, Mirza Ghalib, Mir Taqi Mir, Mirza Rafi Sauda and Sheikh Ibrahim Zauq. Her studies of the Deccani qaseeda and the marsiyas of Mir Anees and Mirza Dabeer demonstrated the breadth of her scholarship.
What made her criticism particularly valuable was its independence. She did not approach literature merely to praise an author or flatter a literary circle. Her assessments were reasoned, balanced and dispassionate. She combined scholarship with literary sensitivity, making her criticism useful to both researchers and ordinary readers.
Her intellectual debt to Prof. Mughni Tabassum remained evident throughout her career. In Prof. Mughni Tabassum – Aik Raushan Chiragh Tha Na Raha, she critically examined the life and work of her teacher, guide and mentor. Her treatment was affectionate but candid; she did not hesitate to express her independent views even on sensitive aspects of his personal life.
Yet when she turned to poetry to mourn her guru, the critic gave way to the poet:
Wo aasman tha, wo aasman hai
Wo saiban tha, wo saiban hai…
And, reflecting on his death, she wrote:
Meri nazar mein
Badan ka marna nahin hai marna
Qalam hai zinda, bayan zinda
To kaise isko kahenge murda
Those words acquire a special poignancy today. Prof Parveen believed that death could not end the life of a person whose pen and ideas continued to illuminate others. Her own life has now become an embodiment of that belief.
Her poetry, particularly her ‘azad nazm’, revealed another dimension of her personality. She wrote with sensitivity about human emotions, nature, social conditions and personal loss. Following the untimely death of her husband, Dr Majeedullah Siddiqui, she penned deeply moving verses of separation:
Har rang hai be-rang sajan tere bina
Har ruth hai mere vaaste bekar magar
Rehna hai zamane mein sajan tere bina…
She was also deeply interested in the literary and linguistic relationship between Telugu and Urdu. Her translation of Prof Gopi’s poetry demonstrated her command of Telugu and her ability to recreate the spirit of another language in Urdu rather than merely translating its words.
At the time of her death, Prof Parveen was working on another significant literary project—the compilation of the poetic works of Mir Osman Ali Khan, the seventh Nizam of Hyderabad. His poems remain scattered in different sources, and she wanted to bring them together in a single volume.
“It is a pity that no effort is made to preserve the works of the man who gave the Osmania University,” she had observed.
That project will now remain unfinished unless someone takes up the task she had begun.
For those who knew her professionally, however, Prof Parveen’s greatest contribution may remain her teaching and her public speaking. Her extension lectures across the country earned her a reputation far beyond the walls of Osmania University. Her students remember a teacher who demanded intellectual engagement; audiences remember an orator whose words carried conviction.
For me, as a journalist who covered many of her literary programmes, the memory that remains strongest is of Prof. Parveen standing before an audience and speaking with complete command of her subject. Her knowledge was impressive, but what made it memorable was the passion with which she shared it. She had the ability to make listeners feel that literature was not something confined to books and classrooms but a living engagement with society, history and human experience.
Hyderabad has produced many distinguished Urdu scholars and orators. Prof Fatima Begum Parveen belonged to that rare category of personalities whose contribution cannot be confined to a single field. She was simultaneously a teacher, critic, poet, researcher, translator and public intellectual.
Her death has silenced one of Urdu’s most powerful voices in the Deccan. But the silence is only physical.
She herself had written of her mentor:
Kitab iski abhi bhi mashal
Maqale iske hamesha roshan
Wo noor bankar hamare dil mein, dimagh mein bhi
Rahega zinda, amar rahega
The words she wrote for Prof Mughni Tabassum now speak for her.
The Bulbul-e-Deccan has fallen silent, but her books, her students, her scholarship and the memory of that remarkable voice will continue to keep her alive.
