Features of early Urdu prose in Balochistan in the books of Hattu Ram.

Abstract

Hattu Ram served under the English Government attached with the administration relating to political and executive matters of Balochistan and South Punjab in the early 70s of the nineteenth century. The Head office of that administrative body was in Dera Ghazi Khan. Hattu Ram was at home in Urdu, Balochi, Persian and English. Due to this, he was admired by English Government and ranked as historian. With this objective he visited

various parts of Balochistan, described state of affairs of the region in Urdu prose. His first book, Gul Bahar was published in 1871 which unfolded and elucidated Baloch lineage. His second book Balochi Nama was published in 1875 (Farsi). It was Balochi to Persian dictionary encompassing not only Persian alternates but also Urdu substitutes. It also took help from Urdu sentences for this purpose. For the collection of required material to compile the dictionary , his visits of different parts of Balochstan made earlier while writing Gul Bahar, assisted him. Hattu Ram's third book named Tarekh-e-Balochistan was published in 1907. The book records the history of Baloch nations in Urdu. This book was written while serving in Balochistan. The subject matter of all the three books is Balochistan, written in Urdu and Persian in Balochistan and as such, it is considered an asset of early Urdu prose in Balochistan.