Radha-Kanhayya ka Qissa by Nawab Wajid Ali Shah (1822 –1887)
Translated by Ayesha Irfan
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11407515
Abstract:
Wajid Ali Shah, the last king of Avadh, was a great patron of the arts. He is known for the passionate personal interest in promoting the arts, aesthetics, culture and architecture. Literature, aesthetics and performing arts were the ruling passions of his life and he was a talented writer himself. Under the pen name ‘Akhtar,’ he published some six-collection of ghazals, three volumes of maṡnavīs and qaṣīdās, besides a treatise of music called, Sant-e-Mubārak (holy greetings). His passion for dance and drama is evident in the patronage he offered to dancers and musicians and the great pains he took to master these arts. Wajid Ali Shah’s play Rādhā Kanḥayyā kā Qiṣṣā was first written 1843,is in the first volume of Rizvi’s book and Amanat’s Indar Sabhā is incorporated in the second volume. It was Professor Rizvi’s research on Wajid Ali Shah that unravelled not only this play but the history of Urdu theatre.
Works Cited
Adeeb, Syed Masud Hasan Rizvi, Urdu Drama Aur Stage, Vol I and II. (Lucknow Ka Shahi
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Hansen, Kathryn. Grounds For Play: The Nautanki Theatre of North India. Berkley:
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Shah, Wajid Ali, Bani. Calcutta: Matba Sultani, 1875.
Shah, Wajid Ali, Ishq Nama (Book of Love). Lucknow: Matba Sultani, 1849-50.
Shah, Wajid Ali, Soutul Mubarak (Blessed Soul). Lucknow: Matba Sultani, 1853.
Saroor, Rajab Ali Baig. in Fasana-e-Ajaib (he has compared the court of Wajid Ali Shah to
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Radha-Kanhayya ka Qissa by Nawab Wajid Ali Shah (1822 –1887) by Ayesha Irfan is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0
