Dastangoi returns home to Lucknow

Long before the advent of films and television, one of the most popular sources of mass entertainment was Dastangoi — the 16th century Urdu art of oral storytelling which ferried you into the world of fantasy and sorcery.
In the 18th century, Dastangoi made its way from Delhi to Lucknow and it was here that it reached its zenith. However, the city once considered the seat of the enthralling art today stands bereft of dastangos or storytellers.The distinctive art died a slow death and got lost into oblivion after the death of Lucknow’s last Dastango Sheikh Tassaduq Hussain in 1918. Urdu poet Saqib Lakhnavi seems to have aptly described the virtual death of this art in his couplet, “badey shauq se sun raha tha zamana. Hum hi so gae dastan kehte-kehte”. To create awareness about Dastangoi and to mark the 103rd birth anniversary of renowned Urdu poet of Lucknow Asrar-ul-Haq Majaz (popularly known as Majaz Lakhnawi), a group of friends named ‘Bewajah’ organized ‘Dastan-e-Majaz’ on Saturday.
The Dastangoi event was a recreation of the life of Majaz, his progressive thoughts and his culturally and historically rich hometown of Lucknow. Aditi Yadav, a government officer said, “Excellently put up. It was a treat to watch Dastangoi on Majaz Lakhnavi. Through the eyes of Majaz, I saw the beautiful Lucknow of yesteryears,” she adds. Gaurav Awasthi, a professional said after the show, “Hats off to Himanshu and Ankit. They did a commendable job by reviving the lost art of dastangoi. Such cultural events celebrate the real meaning of Lucknow. It was a mesmerising Shaam-e-Awadh”.
Though attempts to revive the art have been made earlier, it is after nearly a century that Lucknow has produced a Dastango. Himanshu Bajpai, the first modern dastango, entertains the audience with his originality and dwells on contemporary issues like corruption, women empowerment and communalism. Though Dastangois have been organised in Lucknow earlier too, this was the first time that a premiere of a new story happened in the city. After painstaking rehearsals for two years, Bajpai, currently pursuing PhD on Munshi Naval Kishore from Wardha University, says, “My love for Urdu poetry and the passion to memorize couplets is what has helped me become a storyteller”. On his first encounter with Dastangoi, he says, “Being an avid reader of Urdu fiction, my encounter with Dastangoi was when I saw my ustad Mehmood Farooqui’s mesmerizing performance in Delhi”. Concerned about the urgent revival of the art form, Bewajah plans to host a series of Dastangoi events and organize workshops to train others. BOX What is Dastangoi? Dastangoi is a 16th century Urdu storytelling art form in which the narrator or dastango uses nothing other than his voice as an artistic tool to create a dastan (story). Dastangoi is a Persian word. Dastan means a ‘tale’ and goi means ‘to tell a tale’. What’s the Lucknow connection? It was from 1882 to 1920 when the art of Dastangoi was for the first time preserved in written form. The Naval Kishore Press in Lucknow is the first publishing house where 46 volumes of the most famous Dastan-e-Amir-Hamzah were documented.
The most popular Dastangos of the country hail from Lucknow: • Syed Hussain Jah • Ahmad Hussain Qamar • Amba Prasad Rasa • Sheikh Tassaduq Hussain The death of Sheikh Tassaduq Hussain in 1918 and Mir Baqar Ali (from Delhi) in 1928 sounded the death knell of this great art. Earlier, Dastangoi themes revolved only around two aspects of love and warfare. It was Lucknow which added the new dimensions of tilism (magic) and aiyyari (trickery). Most dastans centre around Amir Hamza (supposedly the uncle of Prophet Mohommad), his progenies and their adventures. All five volumes of Tilism-e-Hoshruba (one of the earliest accounts of the most popular magical arts practiced in the Islamic world) were published in Lucknow between 1883 and 1893. From 1928 to 2005, there was no mention of this art form.