City of Lyrics: Ordinary Poets and Islamicate Popular Culture in Early Modern Delhi

by Nathan L. M. Tabor

Overview

For centuries, Urdu-speaking poets and their audiences have gathered for mushāʿirahs, literary competitions for spoken-word verse. Today the mushāʿirah is a global phenomenon, as audiences in the millions convene in person and online for hours of poetic performance. Tracing these modern gatherings back to their origins, Nathan L. M. Tabor introduces readers to the popular emergence of the mushāʿirah in eighteenth-century Delhi. Scores of poets composed two-line lyric poems, called ġhazals, that they muttered, sang, shouted, and spat out in contentious salon spaces across India’s largest metropolis. Delhi’s mushāʿirahs circulated lyrics, satires, and songs for both common and elite poets, who traded and assessed words as an urban commodity that defined hierarchy, taste, and notions of delight.

Via poets' verse exchanges and their histories of Dehli’s literary scene, City of Lyrics reconstructs the social networks the mushāʿirahs produced. By understanding the roots of this uniquely Islamic literary practice, readers will gain insight into global popular culture today, which increasingly takes shape according to the tastes and values of the Muslim world yet is enjoyed by wide audiences of Muslims and non-Muslims alike.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781469688299
Publisher:	The University of North Carolina Press
Publication date:	10/07/2025
Series:	Islamic Civilization and Muslim Networks
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	354

About the Author

Nathan L. M. Tabor is assistant professor of history at Western Michigan University.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“There’s a party going on between these book covers, teeming with distinguished, cheeky, and ribald poets. This age of Persian/Urdu poetic history has never been narrated with such clarity and liveliness.” —Pasha M. Khan, chair in Urdu language and culture at McGill University

“This lively book captures the emotional vigor of Urdu poetry and offers a very persuasive argument about the breadth of literary networks across the Persianate world.”—Purnima Dhavan, University of Washington

“This magnificent tell-all of Delhi’s tumultuous poetry scene presents the best picture yet of how literature shaped everyday life in late Mughal India, all while leaving readers crying with laughter.” —Daniel Majchrowicz, Northwestern University

“This book unlocks the secrets of Delhi, one of the world’s most beautiful and enigmatic cities. Through the magical key of poetry gatherings (mushāʿirahs), Nathan Tabor reveals the city’s hidden splendors and illustrious treasures.” —Afsar Mohammad, author of Remaking History: 1948 Police Action and the Muslims of Hyderabad

“This brilliant book presents an exciting new way of writing the history of Urdu literature, foregrounding its social aspects. Nathan Tabor insightfully links early modern Delhi with the vibrant contemporary mushāʿirah scene, making the book a must for the many lovers of Rekhta/Urdu poetry throughout the world.” —Heidi Pauwels, University of Washington

“In spite of communal tensions, the Hindi-Urdu language divide, and literary elitism, mushāʿirah culture has, for centuries, cultivated a public space where all are welcome to appreciate the Urdu ghazal. City of Lyrics offers a well documented and perceptive history of the mushāʿirah.” —Timsal Masud, Columbia University