Poetry
The Call of the Marching Bell
بانگِ درا
Muhammad Iqbal · 1924
Synopsis
Muhammad Iqbal's first collection of poems in Urdu, gathering twenty years of writing in three parts. Before 1905, poems for children, nature pieces and patriotic songs, including the "Tarana-e-Hindi", the song of India; from 1905 to 1908, the poems of his stay in Europe, which salute Western reason but denounce its materialism; after 1908, the call for the revival and unity of Muslims, with "Shikwa", the complaint addressed to God, and "Jawab-i-Shikwa", its answer.
Context
The collection appeared in 1924; its title evokes the bell that announces a caravan's departure. Iqbal left out lines he judged unworthy and had an unauthorised edition published the year before destroyed. The book breaks with the traditional love poetry of Urdu without giving up the art of verse. Under the name "Saare Jahan Se Achha", his patriotic poem on India is played at Indian national celebrations. M. A. K. Khalil translated it into English in 1997 as The Call of the Marching Bell.
Who it is for
For following, through twenty years of poems, Iqbal's path from Indian patriotism to the dream of a Muslim brotherhood without borders.
Prizes and reception
Its success was immediate: at least thirty-six authorised editions appeared in Pakistan up to 1979, followed by a host of reprints.