Introduction

The goal of this club is to promote the study and practice of the Hindi and Urdu languages through student, staff, faculty, and community participation in poetry readings and recitations.  Hindi and Urdu literary gatherings are a part of the rich tradition of the subcontinent, and serve as valuable extra-institutional sites for the practice and enjoyment of language and literature.
 

Mushairaor Goshthi--a Literary Gathering

Inherently interactive, "Mushaira" or "Goshthi" meetings are literary gatherings at which participants recite, or even sing, poems for an audience that participates by anticipating the rhyme scheme, joining in the refrain, or simply appreciating the performance vocally through customary interjections.  Performers—for indeed skilful elocution or recitation is seen as a performance rather than simply a reading—may recite either their own poetry or well known pieces from within the tradition.  Such gatherings celebrate creativity as much as they do literary appreciation or connaisseurship, both of which must be performed with equal skill.
 

Goals of the Literary Club
 

• Not only will participation in such gatherings better acquaint students with the intricacies of the language and literature they are studying, but it will also initiate students into the culture(s) that shape(s) both.
• The format of these gatherings will permit an interdisciplinary groups of students, staff, and faculty to share their love of literature in an informal and invigorating setting.
• These gatherings will also acquaint students with poets and literary connaisseurs from within the community, and allow for some continuity beyond a limited course of language study.

Mushaira-Goshthi in a Geopolitical Context

A Mushaira-Goshthi rather than Hindi or Urdu Literary Club is proposed in order to signal the enviable tradition of harmonious Hindu-Muslim co-existence in the Indian subcontinent.  The "Hindustani" tradition is one of mutual intelligibility and appreciation between Hindi and Urdu-language poets and audiences.  At a time of communal conflict in the Indian subcontinent, and in light of the gradual erosion of this tradition of mutuality, Mushaira-Goshthi will also serve as a salutary reminder of syncretism in practice for our community and our students.  The club will actively solicit participation from the Indian, Pakistani, and Bangladeshi community by providing a multicultural and multireligious forum that is sadly all too rare these days in the South Asian community.  Moreover, although the links of the literary tradition to Middle Eastern cultures are rarely discussed, Mushaira-Goshthi also provides opportunities for revisiting this forgotten historical lineage.

Principal Sponsors and Participants

Mushaira-Goshthi is an initiative issuing from Asian Studies and Middle Eastern and South Asian Studies (MESAS) with the active support of faculty and a great deal of enthusiasm among undergraduate students.  The following faculty members will host events associated with this program: Deepika Bahri, Diana Dimitrova, Joyce Burkhalter Flueckiger, Laurie Patton, Rakesh Ranjan.  The most significant partner in this venture, however, is the community.  Leading figures in the community have been invited to spearhead the formation and development of the
Mushaira-Goshthi Club.

Important Contacts:

President, Manju Tiwari    770-232-9039
Vice-President, Waqas Khwaja, wkhwaja@agnesscott.edu

Asian Studies,  404-727-6280

Asian Studies Program Administrative Assistant:
                                                                          Martha Shockey
                                                                          Asian Studies Program
                                                                          1385 Oxford Road
                                                                          mshocke@emory.edu
                                                                          (404) 727-6280

Related Links  [under construction]
 

• Introduction to Jayashankar Prasad
• Urdu Poetry Archive