As Urdu Bazaar fades away, bookshop owners mourn the slow decline of heritage

Urdu Bazaar in Chandni Chowk, Delhi, struggles to preserve its rich literary heritage amid declining interest in Urdu.

Nestled in Chandni Chowk, one of the city’s oldest and busiest markets, the Urdu Bazaar seems like a fading relic of Delhi’s rich cultural heritage. The bazaar dedicated to Urdu literature, which once bustled with scholars, poets, and book lovers, is now in decline, mirroring the waning interest in the language itself.

With food stalls replacing the bookstores here, the customers who now throng the market come looking for a quick bite rather than Urdu books. As a bookshop owner quips, “The place has turned into a khaana (food) Bazaar.”

Sitting behind a wooden counter in the dimly lit Maktaba Jamia bookshop, Ali Khusro Zaidi recalled the golden days of Urdu Bazaar. “This place used to be the pride of Urdu literature. Scholars, poets, and students would seek out our shops. Books would fly off the shelves. But now, it feels like we are fighting a losing battle.”

The dusty bookshelves in the bazaar, which once featured a variety of books on poetry, prose, and philosophy, among others,

are now stocked mostly with Islamic texts and books on learning Urdu. Mr. Zaidi said, “We really only sell religious books or those on exams because only such volumes make a profit. There aren’t many takers for Urdu literature books.”

He showed a collection of rare manuscripts, their leather-bound covers worn out with time. “These are from before the Partition,” he said. “But the younger generation is moving away from the language. They prefer to communicate only in English or Hindi.” In fact, Maktaba Jamia sells Hindi versions of many texts that were originally written in Urdu to appeal to newer clientele.

“Urdu is not just a language. It’s our heritage,” Mr. Zaidi said. “As long as there are people who value our culture, there is hope for the language.”