Title: Mirat-Ul-Uroos
Author: Deputy Nazir Ahmad
Pages: 223
Fiction
Miratul Uroos is considered as the first urdu novel, published in 1869. It was authored by Molvi Nazir Ahmed Dehalvi (1830-1912), also known as Deputy Nazir Ahmed, who was a social and religious reformer. It was translated into English with the title of “The Bride’s Mirror”. The author wrote a series of novels starting with Miratul Uroos to primarily educate his own daughters about society, its complexities, the status of women, the probable challenges they could face in their future life and the way forward. The basic theme of this novel is female education in 19th century Indian Muslim society at large. This novel is credited for giving birth to an entire genre of work promoting female literacy.
Also Read: VIOLENCE AGAINST HER
In the novel, a contrast of the life experiences of two characters, Akbari and Asghari, two Muslim girls from Delhi, is depicted. The first part of the story describes the life of Akbari, who is raised with all sorts of privileges at her disposal. She is characterized as a lazy and poorly educated lady. After her marriage, she faces a tough time while dealing with the challenges married life throws at her. The situation is aggravated by her poor judgments and ill behaviour.
The second part of the story depicts the character of Asghari as a modest, hardworking, educated and confident young lady. Asghari being a realist, dislikes the bad habits and like idle chattering etc, As a result, she is dear to everybody around her. She gets married, and like everyone else, faces a challenging phase of life. However, through her confidence, hard working nature and education, she not only solves her personal issues but also handles everything around her perfectly.
Though the novel deals with girls only, it doesn’t discourage men from doing something different. The laws of hardworking, education and modesty are equally pivotal in men’s lives. The basic theme of the novel is to convey to its readers the importance of women’s education rather than the importance of any wealth that a woman’s family may possess. In those days, dowry was in vogue but so were the sufferings of women. Money lasted for a year or two. After that, women would suffer from the oppression their in-laws would subject them to. Education, however, lasted forever and an educated girl knew how to handle herself better.
The story goes through a few twists to show and describe the experiences of life lived by the two characters of Akbari and Asghari at various stages of their respective lives and the consequent effects on their life experiences mainly due to their upbringing and educational background. Miratul Uroos was adapted for a television serial by PTV (Pakistan Television) under the same title.
Advertisement
