Definition
Sir Syed Ahmed Khan was born about six years after his elder brother Syed Muhammad Khan; since no other child had been born to their parents in that long gap, his arrival brought them immense joy.
His family's spiritual mentor, Shah Ghulam Ali Sahib, requested that the newborn be named 'Ahmed' after him — the family lovingly addressed Shah Sahib as 'Dada Hazrat', and Sir Syed later said Shah Sahib loved them all exactly as a real grandfather loves his grandchildren.
He was nursed and raised by Man Bi, an old, devoted family servant, whom he loved dearly; he was only five years old when she died, and he recalled clearly all his life that a few hours before her death she had given him falsa-fruit sherbet to drink.
Definition
In the courtyard and on the rooftops of Khwaja Farid's mansion, where boys his own age lived, he and his companions mostly played running games such as gend-billa (bat-and-ball), kabaddi, guitay (a stone-tossing game), aankh-micholi (blind man's buff), and cheel-jhapatta. Although respectable families generally frowned on playing guitay, the elders allowed the brothers to play it among themselves.
Definition
Sir Syed learned archery from his father. On one occasion, his arrow landed skilfully on its mark, and his delighted father remarked, 'Who need teach a fish's offspring to swim?' — meaning the talent came naturally since he came from a family of skilled archers.
During Akbar Shah's reign, his father used to receive an annual khil'at (a ceremonial robe of five garments and jewellery of three kinds) at the royal anniversary celebration. As his father grew older and visited court less, he arranged for young Sir Syed to receive the khil'at instead — the king personally placed jewelled ornaments on Sir Syed's hands with great affection and, learning whose son he was, called him 'khana-zad' (one born into royal service), a mark of special favour. Sir Syed was only eight years and nine months old at the time.
Definition
This lesson is an extract from 'Hayat-e-Jawed', Maulana Altaf Hussain Hali's biography of Sir Syed. The scholar Shibli Nomani regarded Hali as the founder of a new, natural school of Urdu biography-writing, who freed it from the old habit of empty praise and exaggerated eulogy, presenting his subjects truthfully in plain language — including their ordinary and even unflattering details. This is exactly reflected in the extract: Hali records Sir Syed's mundane childhood games and openly states that Sir Syed showed no exceptional brilliance as a child, without any embellishment, giving the account real, believable character rather than an idealized portrait.
By his own account, Sir Syed showed no dazzling brilliance in childhood — no sign of the sharpness some children display from the start; rather, he gradually built up his mental faculties through steady mental exercise and sustained reflection. Read closely, this pattern of patient, gradual self-cultivation foreshadows the disciplined reformer and institution-builder (of Aligarh college and the Scientific Society) he later became.
Definition
Terms from this lesson now rarely used in everyday modern Urdu include: diwan-khana (a formal men's reception room); zanana/mardana (the separate women's and men's quarters of a traditional household); khana-zad (one born into a household's/royal court's service); dada hazrat (a reverential term for an honorary grandfather); khil'at (a ceremonial robe of honour bestowed by a ruler); howdar/hodar (a palanquin-type carriage seat); urs (the death-anniversary gathering at a saint's shrine).
Example 1 — using vocabulary in sentences
Use the following words in your own sentences: aqeedat (devotion), fil-waqe (in fact), jismani sehat (physical health), mutaddid (numerous), taqseer (fault).
- Think of a natural context where each word's specific meaning fits.
- Build a simple, clear sentence for each.
Answer: aqeedat: He visits the shrine every year out of deep aqeedat for the saint. fil-waqe: He looks calm, but fil-waqe he is very worried. jismani sehat: Regular exercise is essential for good jismani sehat. mutaddid: He has written mutaddid books on history. taqseer: He apologised, admitting his taqseer openly.
Quick Recap
- ●Born ~6 years after elder brother Syed Muhammad Khan; named 'Ahmed' at Shah Ghulam Ali's request; raised lovingly by servant Man Bi
- ●Childhood games at Khwaja Farid's mansion: gend-billa, kabaddi, guitay, aankh-micholi
- ●Learned archery from his father ('who need teach a fish's offspring to swim?'); received the royal khil'at from Akbar Shah at age 8 years 9 months, called 'khana-zad'
- ●Lesson from Hali's 'Hayat-e-Jawed' — Shibli Nomani praised Hali's plain, truthful biography style, reflected in this extract's honest, unembellished detail
- ●No childhood brilliance shown — mental faculties built gradually, foreshadowing the disciplined reformer he became
- ●Vocabulary: several now-obsolete household/courtly terms (diwan-khana, zanana/mardana, khana-zad, khil'at, urs)
