Library of Urdu Classics

اردو

OUR STORY TREE

In the days before the written word, stories germinating in human imagination grew with each retelling, and flourished with each new generation of storytellers, until whole orchards of story trees had sprung up. Storytellers tended them well, with time adding the written word to their branches. The story trees grew and spread. Their canopies merged and the branches intertwined. In time, it became difficult to tell where one story tree ended and the other began.

Through our many story trees we are connected to a Story Tree that grew at the beginning of time, and which is our link to other civilizations. To lose this link is to lose our common human inheritance.

The story tree of Urdu language is the collection of tales composed in the qissa, dastan, and masnavi genres. These stories were invented by storytellers, or retold from the oral and written literature of the Indo-Pak subcontinent. These absorbing, joyous, colorful tales are full of marvelous characters, the happy and tragic play of fate, and adventures in earthly and magical lands.

The Library of Urdu Classics offers modern editions of Urdu language's beloved texts and their English language translations to introduce a new generation of readers to this literary heritage. Each year twelve titles, comprising six Urdu classical texts and their English language translations, will be published in the series.

Series Editor:
Musharraf Ali Farooqi

Advisory Board:
Tehsin Firaqi
Abdur Rasheed
Ahmad Mahfooz
Afzal Ahmed Syed
Rafaqat Ali Shahid
Aftab Ahmad