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In the literatures of South Asia, this is a narrative genre in prose (*Urdu) or in poetry (*Sindhi). Dastan is usually epic and romantic in spirit and is reminiscent of imitation early epic poetry. Dastan, as a genre, originated in Iran and was disseminated by folk storytellers. It was assimilated by individual authors. Dastan's plots are based both on folklore and classical literary subjects. Dastan was particularly popular in *Urdu literature, typologically close to other narrative genres in Eastern literatures, such as Persian *masnawi, *Punjabi qissa, *Sindhi waqayati bait, etc, and also reminiscent of the European novel. The oldest known Urdu dastans are Dastan-i-Amir Hamra, recorded in the early seventeenth century, and the extinct Bustan-iKhayal ('The Garden of Imagination' or 'The Garden of Khayal') by Mir Taqi Khayal (d. 1760). Most of the narrative dastans were recorded in the early nineteenth century, representing contaminations of 'wandering', motifs borrowed from the folklore of the Middle East, central Asia and northern India. These include Bagh-oBahar ('The Garden and Spring') by Mir Amman, Mazhab-i-Lshq (The Religion of Love) by Nihalchand Lahori, Araish-i-Mahfil ('The Adornment of the Assembly') by Hyderbakhsh Hyderi, Gulzar-i-Chin ('The Flower Bed of Chin') by Khalil Ali Khan Ashq, and the smaller dastans.

The category of Urdu dastan sometimes includes literary treatments of Sanskrit novels, e.g. Indian Virtue by Husayni, Parrot's Tales by Hyder, and also certain original works, such as Rani Ketki ki Kahani ('The Story of Rani Ketki') by Insha, and The Story of Miracles by Surur. Dastans are written in rhymed (sa}) or metred (murassa) prose with verse inclusion . Dastan has always been considered a low genre and was not included in the genre hierarchy of standard poetry. Dastan represents a typical medieval poetic form abounding in standard turns of phrases, repetitions, figurative cliches and stereotyped introductions and endings. The style of the dastan is characterized by rich embellishments, euphemism, abundance of parallelisms, and attention to detail of everyday life. The style relies on a combination of fantasy and adventure with naive realism. Dastan provided a good foundation for the genre of the novel in Urdu literature. Several smaller dastans have been translated into European languages, including Russian.


WORKS: 'Dastan-i-Amir Hamza', Lucknow, 1960; 'Talism-iHoshruba (The Magic that is Enchanting the Mind), Karachi, 1967.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: A.S. Sukhochev, 'From Dastan to the Novel', Moscow, 1971 (in Russian); A.A. Dekhtyar, 'Poetics of the Dastan Urdu', Moscow, 1979 (in Russian); Wakar Azim,
'Hamari Dastanen' (Our Dastans), Rampur, 1968; Jain Gyanchand, 'Urdu ki Nasri Dastanen' (Dastan Urdu in Prose), Karachi, 1954; F. Pritchett, 'Marvellous Encounters:
Folk Romance in Urdu and Hindi', Chicago, 1985.