Y agana might be one of the most important poets of Urdu ghazal in the early and mid-20th Century, paving the way for a new style of Urdu ghazal alongside the likes of Firaq Gorakhpuri and Fani Badayuni, as some critics argue. However, his claim to fame nowadays is less concerned with the poetry he composed and more with the essays he wrote in opposition to Ghalib, who is considered the greatest Urdu poet by many. It was somewhat natural for this reviewer, who is enamoured with Ghalib, to develop a dislike for Yagana without having read much of his work, simply because Yagana is perhaps the most significant Ghalib-Shikan (intent on destroying Ghalib’s reputation as a great Urdu poet) in the tradition of Urdu literature.
Nevertheless, the curiosity to understand Yagana’s arguments against Ghalib persisted. Perhaps there was some substance in his criticism – after all; one might argue for instance that Ghalib is not among the greatest poets due to the pervasive incomprehensibility in his works. In one of its two newly published books on Ghalib, the Idara Yadgar-i-Ghalib has provided an opportunity for readers interested in Ghalib to catch a glimpse of what Yagana and some other critics of Ghalib had to say against him.
The book, Muhmilaat-i-Ghalib (Meaninglessness in Ghalib’s work), has brought to the fore a literary battle that was fought across several issues of the periodical Shabab-i-Urdu in 1921 and 1922. The battle was triggered by an essay by Muhammad Abdul Malik.