[Reader-list] Talk by C. M. Naim on 'Zafar Omar: The Man Who Invented Bahram Daku'

[Praveen Rai]

Centre for the Study of Developing Societies

invites you to a Talk



*'**Zafar Omar: The Man Who Invented Bahram Daku'*

by *C. M. Naim*



Wednesday, 12 March 2014, 4 pm

CSDS Seminar Hall,

29 Rajpur Road, Delhi 110054





Zafar Omar was among the pioneers of mystery fiction in Urdu, and his
book *Nili
Chhatri* (1916) was a huge bestseller. It also introduced an extraordinary
character named Bahram, who soon became a household name. Within a short
time more than fifty other novels appeared in Urdu by other authors
allegedly of Bahram's further adventures. For many, even as late as the
1940s, Bahram was a real figure, like Sultana, though with boundless
legends about him. My essay is a part of a work on the first fifty years of
Urdu mystery fiction.



*C. M. Naim* studied at Lucknow University, Deccan College, and the
University of California, Berkeley. He taught Urdu language and literature
and the cultural history of Muslim South Asia in the Dept. of South Asian
Languages & Civilizations, Univ. of Chicago, for forty years, retiring in
2001.



Among his publications are: *Urdu Texts & Contexts*; *Zikr-e Mir: The
Autobiography of Mir Taqi Mir*; and *Ambiguities of Heritage* (polemical
essays). He was a co-founder of the *Journal of South Asian Literature* and
the founding editor of the *Annual of Urdu Studies. *

Praveen Rai
Academic Secretary
Centre for the Study of Developing Societies
29, Rajpur Road
Delhi - 110054
Phone: 91-11-23942199
Fax: 91-11-23943450
www.csds.in