UPHESC Assistant Professor Urdu 2025 PYQs

Concept: Grierson (Linguistic Survey of India) divides Western Hindi into five dialects.

1. Khari Boli (Hindustani/Kauravi), Bangaru (Haryanvi), Braj Bhasha, Kannauji and Bundeli.
2. Urdu grew out of Khari Boli, one of these five.
3. Awadhi, Bagheli and Chhattisgarhi belong to Eastern Hindi, not Western Hindi.

Short trick: Western Hindi = 5 dialects: Khari-Bangaru-Braj-Kannauji-Bundeli ("KBBKB").

Concept: Urdu is a composite language: Indo-Aryan base with Persian, Arabic, Turkish, Sanskrit and English vocabulary.

1. Assertion: Urdu is widely regarded as an important and sweet (shireen) language — true.
2. Reason: its vocabulary includes words carrying sounds of many languages (e.g. q, kh, gh, z from Arabic-Persian; retroflex t, d, r from Indic) — true.
3. Both statements are correct.

Short trick: Urdu = "lashkari" mixed language — many languages, many sounds.

Concept: Delhi College was established in 1825 from the old Madrasa Ghaziuddin (Ajmeri Gate).

1. The East India Company reorganised the madrasa as Delhi College in 1825.
2. An English section was added in 1828; the Vernacular Translation Society came in 1841–43.
3. Teachers/students: Master Ramchandra, Nazir Ahmad, Muhammad Husain Azad, Zakaullah.

Short trick: Delhi College 1825 — 25 years after Fort William College (1800).

Concept: Hafiz Mahmood Sherani, in "Punjab Mein Urdu" (1928), argued that Urdu was born in Punjab.

1. He held that Muslims who lived in Punjab for about two centuries (Ghaznavid period) carried the language to Delhi.
2. Muhammad Husain Azad derived Urdu from Braj Bhasha; Masood Husain Khan from Haryanvi; Nasiruddin Hashmi from the Deccan.
3. Jamil Jalibi wrote the history of Urdu literature, not this theory.

Short trick: "Punjab Mein Urdu" = Sherani.

Concept: Kannauji is one of the five dialects of Western Hindi.

1. Western Hindi: Khari Boli, Bangaru, Braj, Kannauji, Bundeli.
2. Awadhi is Eastern Hindi; Magadhi is a Bihari/Eastern language; Paishachi is an old Prakrit.

Short trick: Kannauj lies between Braj and Awadh — still on the Western side.

Concept: Nasiruddin Hashmi, in "Dakan Mein Urdu" (1923), called the Deccan the birthplace of Urdu.

1. He pointed to the early literary use of Urdu (Dakhni) in the Bahmani, Qutb Shahi and Adil Shahi courts.
2. Punjab = Sherani; Sindh = Sulaiman Nadvi; Delhi/Haryana region = Masood Husain Khan and others.

Short trick: "Dakan Mein Urdu" = Hashmi.

Concept: Syed Sulaiman Nadvi (Nuqoosh-e-Sulaimani) linked the beginning of Urdu to Sindh.

1. Arabs reached Sindh in 712 CE (Muhammad bin Qasim); Nadvi argued the mixing of Arabic with the local speech began there.
2. Sherani = Punjab; Masood Husain Khan = Haryanvi/Delhi region; Azad = Braj Bhasha.

Short trick: Sindh — first Arab contact (712) — Sulaiman Nadvi.

Concept: Gulzar-e-Naseem (1838) is the masnavi of Pandit Daya Shankar Kaul Naseem of Lucknow.

1. Sehr-ul-Bayan is by Mir Hasan, not Hashmi.
2. Zahr-e-Ishq is by Nawab Mirza Shauq, not Muqimi.
3. Nusrati wrote Gulshan-e-Ishq (and Ali Nama), not "Gulzar-e-Ishq".

Short trick: Gulzar-e-Naseem → Naseem (title carries the poet's takhallus).

Concept: Kadam Rao Padam Rao by Fakhruddin Nizami is the earliest known Dakhni masnavi, written in the Bahmani period.

1. Composed during the reign of Ahmad Shah Wali Bahmani (1421–1435).
2. Adil Shahi (Bijapur) and Qutb Shahi (Golconda) periods came later.

Short trick: Oldest Dakhni masnavi → oldest Deccan dynasty (Bahmani).

Concept: Nusrati, the poet-laureate of Bijapur, was brought up and educated in the royal palace along with Ali Adil Shah II.

1. He wrote Gulshan-e-Ishq, Ali Nama and Tarikh-e-Iskandari.
2. Hasan Shauqi was an earlier Bijapur poet; Bajan belonged to Gujarat; Bahri was a later Deccani Sufi poet.

Short trick: Ali Adil Shah II + childhood companion = Nusrati (who later wrote "Ali Nama").

Concept: This celebrated Sufi ghazal is by Siraj Aurangabadi (1715–1763).

1. Its radif "rahi" and the theme of self-annihilation in love (be-khabari) are his hallmark.
2. Wali Dakani and Wajhi are earlier; Mir is a Delhi poet with a different idiom.

Short trick: "Khabar-e-tahayyur-e-ishq sun" = Siraj — "the lamp" of Aurangabad.

Concept: Mulla Wajhi, poet of the Qutb Shahi court of Golconda, wrote both.

1. Qutb Mushtari (1609) — masnavi on the love of Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah.
2. Sab Ras (1635) — allegorical prose, the first literary prose book of Urdu (Dakhni).
3. Ghawwasi wrote Saif-ul-Mulook o Badi-ul-Jamal and Tuti Nama.

Short trick: Wajhi = one masnavi (Qutb Mushtari) + one prose (Sab Ras).

Concept: Wajhi's masnavi Qutb Mushtari was completed, by the poet's own closing verse, in 1018 AH ("sana yak hazar aur athara"), in twelve days.

1. 1018 AH began on 6 April 1609 and ended in March 1610, so the work dates to 1609 CE — the year standard histories of Urdu literature give.
2. 1608 (D) is a year too early; 1611 is the year of Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah's death; 1655/1659 are far too late (Wajhi's Sab Ras itself is of 1635).
3. Since the correct year, 1609, is not among the options, no option is right as printed — the question is treated as a bonus.

Short trick: Qutb Mushtari = 1018 AH = 1609 CE; Sab Ras = 1635.

Concept: Khoob Tarang (1578) by Shaikh Khoob Muhammad Chishti of Ahmedabad is a Sufi masnavi in Gujri.

1. It explains mystic ideas in rhymed couplets — the masnavi form.
2. It is one of the main works of early Gujri (Gujarati Urdu).

Short trick: Long narrative/teaching poem in couplets = masnavi.

Concept: Chiragh-e-Dair is Ghalib's Persian masnavi (108 couplets) in praise of Banaras; its Urdu verse translation is credited to the Banaras Ghalib-scholar Prof. Hanif Naqvi.

1. Ghalib wrote it in 1827 while staying in Banaras on his way to Calcutta.
2. Hanif Naqvi (BHU) is known for his research on Ghalib (e.g. "Ghalib: Ahwal-o-Aasaar").
3. The other professors are known as critics, not for this translation.

Short trick: Banaras poem → Banaras scholar (Hanif Naqvi).

Concept: Mir Hasan's Sehr-ul-Bayan (1785) is called the "crown" of Urdu masnavis.

1. Story of Prince Benazir and Badr-e-Munir; natural language, vivid scenes of Awadh society.
2. Critics (Azad, Hali) ranked it above all other masnavis.

Short trick: "Sehr-ul-Bayan" = magic of expression = sartaj.

Concept: Fort William College, Calcutta, was founded in 1800 by Lord Wellesley.

1. Purpose: to teach Indian languages to East India Company officers.
2. John Gilchrist headed the Hindustani department; Mir Amman, Hyder Bakhsh Haidari, Sher Ali Afsos etc. wrote simple Urdu prose there.

Short trick: Fort William = 1800 = start of the 19th century of Urdu prose.

Concept: Abru is the pen-name of Najmuddin Shah Mubarak (d. 1733), a leading poet of the iham (pun) school of Delhi.

1. He was popularly known as Shah Mubarak.
2. Mirza Nausha is Ghalib's nickname; "Mirza Khan" is Daagh's name (Nawab Mirza Khan).

Short trick: Abru = Shah Mubarak; Ghalib = Mirza Nausha.

Concept: Governor-General Lord Wellesley founded Fort William College (1800).

1. Gilchrist ran its Hindustani department but did not found the college.
2. Garcin de Tassy was a French orientalist; Bentinck came later (1828–35).

Short trick: Founder = Wellesley; Urdu work = Gilchrist.

Concept: Insha Allah Khan Insha wrote Rani Ketki ki Kahani deliberately without any Arabic-Persian (or foreign) word.

1. He announced that the tale would use "theth Hindi" only — no Arabic, Persian or Turkish words.
2. Sab Ras, Phool Ban and Karbal Katha freely use Persian-Arabic vocabulary.

Short trick: Insha's experiment = pure Hindavi tale.