Dastangoi is a 13th century Urduoral storytellingart form. The Persian style of dastan evolved in 16th century. One of the earliest references in print to dastangoi is a 19th-century text containing 46 volumes of the adventures of Amir Hamza titled Dastan e Amir Hamza. The art form reached its in the Indian sub-continent in the 19th century and is said to have died with the demise of Mir Baqar Ali in 1928. Dastangoi was revived by historian, author and director Mahmood Farooqui in 2005. At the centre of dastangoi is the dastango, or storyteller, whose voice is his main artistic tool in orally recreating the dastan or the story. Notable 19th-century dastangos included Amba Prasad Rasa, Mir Ahmad Ali Rampuri, Muhammad Amir Khan, Syed Husain Jah, and Ghulam Raza. " while the audience sits around her, 1911 , the common title for Indian oral storytellers, reciting epics among villagers, 1913 reciting the Dastan-e-Amir Khusrau''
Etymology
Dastangoi has its origin in the Persian language. Dastan means a tale; the suffix -goi makes the word mean "to tell a tale".
History
Indian urban anthropologist Ghaus Ansari ascribed the origin of dastangoi to Pre-Islamic Arabia, and detailed how the eastward spread of Islam carried dastangoi to Iran and then to Delhi in India. From Delhi, dastangoi made its way to Lucknow in the 18th century, aided by the Indian Rebellion of 1857, during which several artists, writers and dastangos moved from Delhi to Lucknow. In Lucknow, dastangoi was popular across all classes, and was regularly performed at diverse locations including chowks, private households, and afeem khana. "It became so popular among opium addicts that they made listening to stories an important element of their gatherings," wrote Ansari. "The prolonged intoxication and prolonged stories narrated by professional story-tellers was mostly combined. Each afeem khana had its own story-teller to entertain the clients; whereas, among the rich, every household used to appoint a dastango as a member of its staff." According to Abdul Halim Sharar, the noted author and historian of nineteenth century Lucknow, the Art of dastangoi, was divided under the following headings:"War", "Pleasure, "Beauty", "Love" and "Deception". File:Mahmood farooqi.jpg|thumb|Dastangoi was revivedDastangoi#cite%20note-6| by Mahmood Farooqui in 2005. Since then, he has performed thousands of shows across the world. The early dastango's told tales of magic, war and adventure, and borrowed freely from other stories such as the Arabian Nights, storytellers such as Rumi, and storytelling traditions such as the Panchatantra. From the 14th century, Persian dastangois started focusing on the life and adventures of Amir Hamza, the paternal uncle of the prophet Muhammad. The Indian stream of dastangoi added storytelling elements such as aiyyari to these tales.
in Kolkata published an Urdu version of the dastaan of Amir Hamza in the beginning of the 19th century. Munshi Nawal Kishore, a publisher in Lucknow, began publishing the dastaans by the 1850s. A few publications were also done in Persian.
In 1881, Nawal Kishore commissioned the print edition of the entire Hamza dastaan from three dastangos, Mohammed Husain Jah, Ahmed Husain Qamar, and Sheikh Tasadduq Husain. Over a period of twenty five years, the trio produced a collection of 46 volumes. Each volume could be read individually or as a part of the complete work.
Dastan-e-Hind, is a collection of dastan's and Indian folklore, has been performed successfully by many artist around the globe, by Syed Sahil Agha. 2010.
Toh Hazireen Hua Yun... Dastan-e-Ankit Chadha - A collection of dastans woven, by Ankit Chadha. 2019.
Dastangoi-2 is a sequel to earlier book. It contains the collection of modern dastans written and adapted, by Mahmood Farooqui. 2019.
