New Delhi, July 7: The two-day international seminar titled ‘Pandit Ratan Nath Sarshar: Person, Era, and Creative Dimensions’ organized by the Ghalib Institute concluded here Saturday. The second day of the seminar featured four literary sessions.
The first session was presided over by Professor Yaqub Yawar, former head of the Urdu Department at Banaras Hindu University. In his presidential address, he appreciated the focus on textual analysis rather than merely critical statements, especially in an era where interest in books is dwindling. During this session, Professor Khalid Ashraf presented a paper on ‘The Era of Sarshar’, Professor Muhammad Kazim discussed ‘Ratan Nath Sarshar’s Contemporary Nawab Syed Muhammad Azad’, and Dr. Sajid Zaki Fahmi presented ‘Kamini and Indian Culture: An Analysis’.
The second session was chaired by Professor Khalid Mahmood, former head of the Urdu department at Jamia Millia Islamia. He emphasized that Sarshar’s novels are a treasure of Urdu literature that highlights the nuances of the language and the significance of culture. He noted that no major fiction writer has remained uninfluenced by Sarshar.
Papers presented in this session included Dr. Khalid Alvi’s ‘Sarshar’s Writing Style and His Vocabulary’, Professor Aslam Jamshedpuri’s ‘An Analysis of Ratan Nath Sarshar’s Novel Writing with a Special Reference to “Pi Kahan”, and Dr. Sadiqa Nawab Sahar’s ‘Fasana-e-Azad Yesterday and Today’.
The third session was conducted online and chaired by Professor Shafey Kidwai, Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at AMU. In his presidential speech, he highlighted that the character of Khoji reflects not just a particular region but human psychology as a whole. He explained that Khoji exemplifies how ridiculous people can become when they imitate what they are not. This session included papers by Dr. Tabassum Kashmiri, Professor Asghar Nadeem Syed, and Professor Nasir Naeem.
The fourth and final session was presided over by Dr. Khalid Alvi. He remarked that Sarshar not only used creative language but also coined many new phrases, some modeled on English structures, and used many words whose meanings are not found even in Lucknow dictionaries, necessitating interpretation from context. He expressed satisfaction that this seminar by the Ghalib Institute brought many such issues to light that require further work. Papers in this session included Professor Yaqub Yawar’s ‘The Creative Mind of Ratan Nath Sarshar’, Professor Ghazanfar’s ‘Pointing Out an Important Aspect’, and Dr. Safeena Begum’s ‘An Analytical Study of Pandit Ratan Nath Sarshar’s Novel Kadam Dham’.
The seminar saw a large attendance of notable figures in the fields of knowledge and literature, as well as a significant number of students.
