Umrao Jaan Ada (اُمراؤ جان ادا ) by Mirza Hadi Ruswa | Novel Review with Ali Adil Awan

Mirza Hadi Ruswa (1857 – 21 October 1931) was an Urdu poet and writer of fiction, plays, and treatises. He served on the Nawab of Awadh's advisory board on language matters for many years. He was well-versed in Urdu, Persian, Arabic, Hebrew, English, Latin, and Greek.His famed Urdu novel, Umrao Jan Ada, published in 1905, is considered by many as the first Urdu novel. It is based on the life of a renowned Lucknow courtesan and poet of the same name and later became the basis for Umrao Jan Ada (1972), a Pakistani film, and two Indian films, Umrao Jaan (1981) and Umrao Jaan (2006). The novel was also the basis of a Pakistani television serial, Umrao Jan Ada, which aired in 2003.



According to the novel, the story of Umrao Jaan was recounted by her to the author, when he happened to meet her during a mushaira (poetry gathering) in Lucknow. On listening to her couplets, the author along with Munshi Ahmad, a novel and poetry enthusiast present at the gathering, convinces Umrao Jaan to share her life story with them. The novel is written in first person as a memoir.] The book was first published by Gulab Munshi and Sons Press, Lucknow in 1899.The novel is known for its elaborate portrayal of mid-19th century Lucknow, its decadent society, and also describes the moral hypocrisy of the era, where Umrao Jaan also becomes the symbol of a nation that had long attracted many suitors who were only looking to exploit her.The existence of Umrao Jaan Ada is disputed among scholars as there are few mentions of her outside of Ruswa's book. She does appear in his earlier unfinished novel Afshai Raz, but is very different from the cultured character in Umrao Jaan Ada. The existence of an Uttar Pradesh dacoit named Fazal Ali is recorded, and there are British documents that mention the claims of a courtesan named Azizan Bai who stated that she was taught by Umrao Jaan.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirza_H...
Goodreads: 93611.Mirza_Mohammad_Hadi_Ruswa
https://www.rekhta.org/ebooks/?author...
https://wikivisually.com/wiki/Mirza_H...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umrao_J...
Goodreads: umrao-jan-ada



#MirzaHadiRuswa#UmraoJaanAda#ADABICOLLAGE