QATEEL'S WORK ON PROSODY

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Abstract

Qateel was a promenent grammarian, poet & prosodist. Daryā-e-Latāfat is a great joint work by him and Insha Allah Khan, which deals with Urdu grammar and rhetoric. In the early period, beginner poets and students faced major issues such as prosodic complexity & inconsistency; therefore, prosody was included in this book in that context. In this same framework, Qateel made an initial effort to harmonize prosody with the linguistic structure of Urdu and local temperament and to make it more engaging. However, Qateel devised neither a new metrical system parallel to that of Khalil nor introduced any fundamental reform in prosody. Like other prosodists, he followed only the classical Aruz. Nevertheless, alongside the conventional prosodic feet, he attempted some innovation by proposing alternative terminology, but this effort did not prove successful. The objective reality is that, compared to the first part of Daryā-e-Latāfat, its second part is neither reliable nor technically sound and authoritative. Its status in the book is secondary. Urdu critics have regarded the prosodic discussions of Daryā-e-Latāfat, in comparison with its morphological and syntactic discussions, as superficial and unproductive.  However, Qateel’s arguments regarding Sabab-e-saqeel and Fawasil are certainly thought-provoking for scholars & students of prosody; therefore, they deserve careful reflection. Similarly, his practice of classifying the modified metrical forms and rhythms of the basic metres under a single pattern also reflects his prosodic sense. These very prosodic issues have been discussed in this article.