definition, which rests on specific sociological description and pessimistic mood, and declare that poems outside this group are not 'sahr-a^obs. Jur'at's poem would thus become a hajw which imitates a few sahr-asob conventions. Nazeer1s poem would thus become a muxammas, with no further descriptive category available. (Jeffrey Donaghue of the University of Minnesota argues that Nazeer may have been influenced in this poem by the "ultl ban!" of Kabir.0) Alternatively, we could loosen the definition of Sahr-asob to include the general category of poems using "world turned upside down" imagery. This definition would gain in comprehensiveness, but lose in precision. Perhaps readers of the Annual would like to comment on how we can best clarify our sometimes anomalous use of the term "sahr-asob," Notes Annual of Urdu Studies, 3(1983), pp. 1-9. annual of Urdu Studies, 3(1983), pp. 11-16. Na' 1m Ahmad. Sahr-A^sob. New Delhi: Maktabah Jamia, 1968. Fritz Lehman, "Urdu Literature and Mughal Decline," in Journal of South Asian Literature, 6:2-3 (1970), pp. 125-131. P. 127. Samlm Ahmad. Asnaf-e Suxan aur Se'rT Hai^ateN. Bhopal: India Book Emporium, 1981. P. 97. Peter Burke. Popular Culture in Early Modern Europe. New York; Harper Torchbooks, 1978. Pp. 188-189. 7 Burke, p. 189. p Personal letter, 1 April 1984. Jeffrey Donaghue has been working on a dissertation on Nazeer Akbarabadi. 41