Hyderabad, TELANGANA :
Hyderabad:
Five years after the death of Prof Fatima Begum Parveen in 2021, the Urdu literary world in Hyderabad continues to feel the weight of her absence. A tribute by senior journalist JS Ifthekhar, published in Siasat, captures the depth of that loss with the authority of one who witnessed her in action across numerous literary gatherings over the years.
Prof Parveen was no ordinary academic. Associated with the Department of Urdu at Osmania University, she was simultaneously a teacher, critic, poet, researcher and translator. Her literary output extended to 23 books covering classical, Deccani and modern Urdu literature. Her works included Deccani Adab Ka Mutaliya, Zaviya-e-Nigah and Nanhi Nazmein, her Urdu translation of Prof N Gopi’s celebrated Telugu poetry collection. Her critical studies of Ghavasi, the poet laureate of the Qutb Shahi kingdom, and progressive poet Akhtar Ansari occupy a significant place in Urdu scholarship.
What set her apart, Ifthekhar notes, was not scholarship alone. Her oratory was rooted in years of study and teaching. She spoke on classical poets, Deccani literature and the evolution of Urdu poetry with a command that drew audiences at literary events across the country. Her delivery moved effortlessly from scholarly analysis to personal anecdote, from literary criticism to emotional resonance, without once resorting to academic jargon.
She earned the affectionate title Bulbul-e-Deccan for precisely this rare combination of scholarship, warmth and oratorical force. Dr Taqi Abedi, the Hyderabad-born Canadian physician, poet and Urdu scholar, described her death as an irreparable loss, saying the vacuum she left is hard to fill.
Her academic journey itself held an unlikely beginning. She first studied science, completing a BSc and gaining admission to an MSc programme in Warangal. After her family relocated to Hyderabad, she enrolled for an MA in Urdu at Osmania University in 1975, becoming the only science graduate among 49 students in her class to do so. Encouraged by Prof Mughni Tabassum, then head of the Urdu department, she went on to secure two gold medals.
At the time of her death, Prof Parveen was compiling the poetic works of Mir Osman Ali Khan, the seventh Nizam of Hyderabad, a project that now remains unfinished.
She passed away a few days before Teachers’ Day, following complications from a Covid infection. The Bulbul-e-Deccan has fallen silent, but her books, her students and the memory of her voice endure.
source: http://www.radiancenews.com / Radiance News / Home> Latest News> Markers of Excellence> Opinion>Urdu / by Radiance News Bureau / September 06th, 2026