UPHESC Assistant Professor Urdu 2025 PYQs

Concept: Firaq's collection of "shringar ras" rubaiyat, Roop, is dedicated to his friend and contemporary Josh Malihabadi.

1. Roop presents the Indian ideal of feminine beauty in the rubai form.
2. Josh, himself a master of rubai, was Firaq's close friend.

Short trick: Rubai master friend → Josh.

Concept: Khari Boli (and all Western Hindi dialects) developed from Shauraseni Apabhramsha.

1. Ardhamagadhi Apabhramsha → Eastern Hindi (Awadhi etc.); Magadhi → Bihari, Bengali; Maharashtri → Marathi.

Short trick: Shurasena = Mathura region = Western Hindi.

Concept: Aadmi Nama is written in stanzas of five lines — a mukhammas.

1. Each stanza: five lines ending "…so hai woh bhi aadmi", e.g. "Duniya mein badshah hai so hai woh bhi aadmi…".
2. Musaddus = 6 lines (e.g. Hali's Musaddus), murabba = 4, musallas = 3.

Short trick: Mukhammas = khams = 5.

Concept: In this couplet (from Ghalib's qasida) the rising sun is called "nigar-e-atishin rukh" — a fiery-faced beloved — but the sun itself is never named.

1. When only the thing compared-to (mushabbah-bih) is stated and the real subject (mushabbah, the sun) is dropped, the figure is istiara (metaphor), not tashbeeh; tashbeeh needs both sides (and usually a particle like "jaisa").
2. Kinaya (hinting at a meaning through its accompaniment) and majaz-e-mursal (a non-resemblance relation such as part–whole) do not fit; tajnees is a figure of sound belonging to ilm-e-badi, not ilm-e-bayan.
3. The correct answer, istiara, is not among the options, so no option is right as printed — the question is treated as a bonus.

Short trick: Both sides present → tashbeeh; only the image, subject hidden → istiara.

Concept: Kaghazi Pairahan (1955) is the first poetry collection of Khalilur Rahman Azmi.

1. His other collections: Naya Ahd Nama, Zindagi Ae Zindagi.
2. Shahryar: Ism-e-Azam, Khwab ka Dar Band Hai; N.M. Rashid: Mavara, Iran mein Ajnabi.

Short trick: Kaghazi Pairahan → Azmi (Aligarh).

Concept: The couplet "Faza tabassum-e-subh-e-bahar thi lekin / pahunch ke manzil-e-janan pe aankh bhar aai" is by Firaq Gorakhpuri (it is listed under Firaq on Rekhta).

1. The contrast — the whole atmosphere smiling like a spring morning, yet tears on reaching the beloved's door — is typical of Firaq's subtle, inward ghazal.
2. Jazbi, Faiz and Shahryar are progressive/modern poets of a different idiom; the couplet is not theirs.

Short trick: Joy outside, tears inside at the beloved's door → Firaq.

Concept: Ahmad Hamesh (1940–2013) belonged to Jadeediyat (modernism); he is regarded as a pioneer of the Urdu prose poem (nasri nazm).

1. His poem "Makhi" (1962) is cited as an early Urdu prose poem.
2. He edited the magazine Tashkeel.

Short trick: Prose-poem pioneer → modernism.

Concept: Halqa-e-Arbab-e-Zauq began in Lahore (1939) as "Bazm-e-Dastan Goyan", founded by Syed Naseer Ahmad Jami and friends.

1. It was renamed Halqa-e-Arbab-e-Zauq soon after; Miraji became its leading figure.
2. It stood for art and form against the Progressives' emphasis on ideology.

Short trick: Bazm + Dastan + Goyan.

Concept: Makhdoom Mohiuddin's first collection Surkh Savera was published in 1944.

1. Later: Gul-e-Tar (1961) and the collected Bisat-e-Raqs (1966, Sahitya Akademi award).

Short trick: Surkh Savera 1944 → Gul-e-Tar 1961 → Bisat-e-Raqs 1966.

Concept: Hali's Musaddus "Madd-o-Jazr-e-Islam" (Ebb and Flow of Islam) was written in 1879, at Sir Syed's suggestion.

1. A supplement (zameema) was added in 1886.
2. Sir Syed said it would be his answer if asked on Judgement Day what he had done.

Short trick: Musaddus 1879 — Muqaddima-e-Sher-o-Shairi 1893.