The Hidden Garden, Gopi Narang [cheapest way to read ebooks txt] 📗

out of date? His language is amazingly flexible. It shuns all sort of rigidity and rules do not bound it. It is soft, free, and supple. It meets the ever-changing needs of lyrical creativity. This is just the opposite of what Nasikh did to Urdu, to stem the flow and mellowness, for which a derogatory adage Hindi ki Chindi Karna (cleansing the language to such an extent that it loses its liveliness and freshness) is a stark reminder.

Mir’s freshness is not ordinary by any means. It can be compared to the vim and vigour of blood seeping and flowing from a cut, or the melting of gold in a jeweller’s forge or dewdrops settled on the petals of a newly opened flower that shiver mildly in the breeze. If Mir’s lyrical language had lacked this freshness, it would not have gained prominence in several informal and creative writing ways that were revived after independence by poets like Nasir Kazmi and his contemporaries. It is not just a question of popularity. Mir’s language despite its archaic elements, is not archaic itself. It is very close to the free flow and freshness of the spoken language of today. It has a deep connection with the flexible basic structure, ground realities, and the colloquial and conversational idiom of Urdu or Braj and Khari Hindi that never goes out of date. Mir’s words are thus fresh today, and they will remain eternally fresh.

Rhythm and Lyricism

jo jo zulm kiye hain tum ne so so ham ne uthaaye hain

daagh jigar p jalaaye hain chhati p jaraahat khaaye hain

All your afflictions of pain

I have borne gladly—

the scars burnt on my heart

and incisions on my chest.

Mir’s lyricism and its rhythmic quality are deeply rooted in the soil of the land. It is said that he creates musical effects through his careful selection of qaafiyas (rhyme) and bahur (lyrical meters, plural of bahr). He also selects radiifs (the last repeated word or words of each ghazal) that are long and varied, including his use of Hindi verbal radiifs that are different from those used in Arabic and Persian. According to Syed Abdullah, ‘Mir used all available bahurs while composing his ghazals, but the reader draws maximum pleasure from those ghazals that have a long bahur. Such ghazals mirror subtle feelings and emotions. Mir also has a prominent role in the endeavour of preserving older Hindi lyrics (giits). Mir’s ghazals have a delightful flavour of Prakrit Hindi giit, including the expression of personal pain and unfulfilled desires. The selection of a suitable bahur does the trick.’2

Let us look at some couplets:

tab the sipaahi ab hain jogi aah javaani yuun kaati

aisi thori raat mein ham ne kya kya svaang rachaaye hain

I was a soldier before I became a yogi.

Alas! How I spent my youth.

The night was short,

but I had to play many roles

in this short-lived cycles

of day and night.

mera shor sun ke jo logon ne kaha puuchhna to kahe hai kya

jise Mir kahte hain saahibo! yah vohi to khaana kharaab hai

When people heard my lyrical voice,

they inquired about my art.

O revered sirs, the person you call Mir—

he is this ruined and derelict fellow.

kabhu lutf se n sukhan kiya kabhu baat kah n laga liya

yahi lahza lahza khitaab hai vohi lamha lamha itaab hai

No time to say something in a relaxed manner,

or to engage in a sweet talk.

Every moment the same way of addressing,

every moment the same annoyance to endure.

In Mir’s lyricism and rhythmical versification long vowels play an important role. He sometimes pluralizes the nominal and verbal to create new word formations. This is made possible by his repeated use of nuun-ghunnah for nasal sounds. Let us look at the following couplets:

jafaaein dekh liyaan be vafaaiyaan dekhiin

bhala hua k teri sab buraaiyaan dekhiin

I have seen your loyalties

and I have seen your breaches of trust.

Thank goodness,

I have seen all your limitations.

dil ne hazaar rang sukhan sar kiya vale

dil se gayiin n baatein teri pyaari pyaariyaan

My words attained all the colours that were available,

but my heart could not forget your alluring conversation

filled with so much sugary sweetness.

kab se nazar lagi thi darvaaza-e haram se

pardah utha to lariyaan aankhein hamaari ham se

My gaze had been fixed

on the sanctuary’s door

for a very long time.

When the veil was lifted,

my eyes found no one

other than me.

Folk Speech

With the passage of time, we have lost sight of all the otherworldly modes that Mir used, but there are few things that stand out as his unique innovations, and this includes the use of ordinary spoken language, which has been transformed into highly expressive and poetic language. Several of these usages will not meet today’s accepted grammatical norms, but this does not diminish the importance of his creativity that is linked to natural speech, such as voh chale hai, voh chalein hain, mast ho pariyaan, suuratein dikhaaiyaan, aave hai, jaave hai, bove ga, sove ga; or in place of tuut gaya, tuuta gaya, phuuta gaya; jigar aave, hunar aave; or dhaae kar, khaae kar in place of kha kar, etc. All these show associations with folk speech and elongation of long vowels that render the speech mellow, soft and sweet. As opposed to Ghalib, Mir uses fewer izafats (ellipsis of ka, ke, ki), but Mir has his colloquial way of ellipsis of post-positions, such as mujh paas, ham paas, bulbul kane, dil saath, der roya kiye, dil tere kuuche se aane kahe, instead of aane ko, jane ko. Mir has his own mode of dropping of ne, such as, puchha jo main nishaan, ham qiyaas kiya, baas kiya which are dialectical and have their mellowness and flexibility. The underlined words in the couplets below show the influence of folk speech:

haram ko jaaiye ya dair mein basar kariye

teri talaash mein ik dil kidhar kidhar kariye

We can spend our life in a mosque or a temple.

There is only one heart.

How can I divide it into fragments

while I’m engaged in your search?

tuk tumhaare honth ke hilne se yaan hota hai kaam

itni utni baat jo hove to maana kiijiye

Things are done right