A Chronicle of Terror: (Mapping Fear in the Letters and Poetry of Mirza Ghalib after the 1857 Uprising)

خوف کی تاریخ ( ٫۱۸۵۷ کی جنگ ِ آزادی اور غالبؔ کا متن )

Abstract

The History of Emotions offers a powerful theoretical lens for cultural, historical, and literary analysis. Although generating significant criticism in Western scholarship, the practical application of it remains a critical lacuna in the Urdu language and literature. This article addresses this gap by undertaking a pioneering application of this theory to the selected epistolary and poetic texts of Mirza Ghalib (1797–1869). We focus specifically on the expression and cultural configuration of 'fear' during the immediate aftermath of the Indian Rebellion of 1857. Analyzing merely as a psychological state but as a historically situated emotion, emotion study provides an in-depth exploration of Ghalib's writings during this period of catastrophe. ​This research establishes the first practical engagement with the History of Emotions in Urdu scholarship, offering a foundational methodological precedent for future emotional and cultural analysis within South Asian literary history.