Abstract
The mid-nineteenth century seems to have been an awkward time for the Muslims of Delhi: The rise of the British Raj loomed large and the city residents tumbled forth into a new reality, still blinking away memories of the Mughal past. But the nineteenth century would also prove to be a time of great excitement and commotion as India broke into a new age of intellectual and literary ferment. In fact, it was early as 1813 that the British East India Company had given voice to its ambition for a grander agenda – “A sum of not less than one lac of rupees [Rs. 100,000] in each year shall be set apart and applied to the revival and improvement of literature, and the encouragement of the learned natives of India.” 1 At the time, this had been a mere ploy to legitimate direct involvement in India through the East India Company. It had been suggested that “nothing could guarantee their [the natives’] welfare, in this life and the next, better than British culture.” 2 The 1857 ‘War of Independence’ (as the event was dubbed by the Indians themselves) caused a great shift. Flushed with victory and now the official rulers of India, the British hastened to churn such reform into reality. Nearly a decade later in 1868, cash prizes of up to rs. 1000 were offered with the aim of promoting “useful compositions in Hindi or Urdu” 3 pertaining to either a branch of the sciences or of literature. It was only in the following year, that the first Urdu best-seller, Mirat ul Arus, made its entry into the world.