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

presented here will make you stop and think. They will lift your spirits, prodding you to be aware of the entirety of your being and your potential to go beyond the typically exhausting and mundane concerns of life.

In Part II of the book, we shall employ textual, objective, and scientific approach while looking at Mir’s poetic work. We shall challenge the conventional view that Mir was a simple, one-dimensional poet. He did use conversational idiom with a touch of the colloquial that might appear simple, but his simplicity was deceptive. Mir had a good command of Persian, and he blended it so well with the raw earthly idiom that his language became the standard for poets that followed him.

Firaq Gorakhpuri, the great progressive Urdu poet, played an essential role in reviving interest in Mir’s poetry several years before partition. He found the elements of sringara rasa (the flavour of romantic love, also called the mother of all flavours in ancient Indian tradition) in Mir’s poetry inspiring. He maintained that Mir’s poetry echoed the voice of humankind. He wrote, ‘When Mir puts his hand on his heart, we get the feeling that he has placed his hand on the heart of all humanity. Our Mir thus becomes Mir of the whole world.’1 But the real revival of Mir’s poetry occurred after partition. With massive killings, great devastation, and large-scale uprooting of people, in some ways, the pillage and ruination of Mir’s Dilli was repeated many times over. Nasir Kazmi, an iconic poet, maintained that the night of Mir’s lifetime had stretched itself and had become one with the dark night of our time. The undercurrent of deep pain, anguish, despondency, and suffering of Mir’s poetry thus found a new voice among poets of the younger generation in both India and Pakistan. Two great singers of our time—Lata Mangeshkar and Mehdi Hasan—have sung Mir’s masterpiece ghazals which are included here.

Every great Urdu poet, including Ghalib, has written a couplet honouring Mir as a pioneer and a trailblazer. Here is a couplet by Zauq, Ghalib’s contemporary and the court poet of the last Mughal king Bahadur Shah Zafar:

n hua par n hua Mir ka andaaz nasiib

Zauq yaaron ne bahut zor ghazal mein maara

We tried but were never able to capture Mir’s voice,

although Zauq and his friends achieved much

in the field of ghazal writing.1

chalte ho to chaman ko chaliye kahte hain k bahaaraan hai

paat hare hain phuul khile hain kam kam baad o baaraan hai

Let’s go to the garden,

they say spring is here.

Leaves have turned green.

Flowers are blooming.

There is a whiff of breeze

and some drizzle.

rang hava se yuun tapke hai jaise sharaab chuvaate hain

aage ho maikhaane ke niklo a’hd-e baada gusaaraan hai

Gentle breeze is dripping colour,

just as wine is distilled.

Let us leave the tavern behind us;

and we should drink hard and long.

i’shq ke maidaan daaron mein bhi marne ka hai vasf bahut

yaa’ni musiibat aisi uthaana kaar-e kaar guzaaraan hai

Those who are engaged in the struggle of love

have the quality of dying readily.

Inviting self-annihilation with dignity

is the work of those who are brave hearts.

dil hai daagh jigar hai tukre aansu saare khuun hue

lohu paani ek kare y i’shq-e laala azaaraan hai

My heart is reduced to a scar

broken into pieces.

My tears have turned into drops of blood.

This is what falling in love

with those tulip-faced beauties does to you.

It obliterates the distinction between

blood and tears.

kohkan o majnun ki khaatir dasht o koh mein ham n gaye

i’shq mein ham ko Mir nihaayat paas-e izzat daaraan hai

Keeping in mind Farhad and Majnun,

I have avoided the barren lands and mountains.

In the realm of love, Mir has shown regard

to lovers who are worthy of great honour

and he has chosen a different path.2

aaj hamaare ghar aaya to kya hai yaan jo nisaar karein

illa khench baghal mein tujh ko der talak ham pyaar karein

What a surprise that you have come

to visit me today in my home,

but I don’t know what I can offer you.

I want to hold you in my arms

and express my love for a long time.

khaak hue barbaad hue paamaal hue sab mahv hue

aur shadaa-yid i’shq ki rah ke kaise ham hamvaar karein

I was reduced to dust and ruined.

I was trampled underfoot and

my being was destroyed.

How else I could have endured

the hardships that my love gave me!

sheva apna be-parvaaii nau-miidi se thahra hai

kuchh bhi vo maghruur dabe to mannat ham sau baar karein

Faced with utter desperation,

I have become indifferent to things.

I wish I knew how to confront

her haughtiness a little bit,

then I would bow before her

a hundred times.

ham to faqiir hain khaak baraabar aa baithe to lutf kya

nang-e jahaan lagta ho un ko vaan ve aisi aa’r karein

I am a mendicant

and my worth is no more than a pile of dust.

I come and sit here if it is your pleasure.

If your dignity is hurt in such situations,

feel free to tell me so.

patta patta gulshan ka to haal hamaara jaane hai

aur kahe to jis se ai gul be-bargi izhaar karein

Every leaf in the garden knows my state of mind.

Who should I tell my condition, O rose,

if not the greenery of this garden?

Mir ji hain ge ek jo aaye kya ham un se dard kahein

kuchh bhi jo sun paavein to y majlis mein bistaar karein

Mir is the one who comes to meet me,

but what can I tell him about my pain?

Even if he hears a little bit of what I have to say,

he will broadcast my tale of love in some detail.3

arz o sama mein i’shq hai saari chaaron or bhara hai i’shq

ham hain janaab i’shq ke bande nazdik apne khuda hai i’shq

Love is in the earth and the sky.

All four directions are full of love.

Sir, I am a humble servant,

i’shq for me is no different than God.

zaahir o baatin avval o aakhir paaien baala i’shq hai sab

nuur o zulmat maa’ni o suurat sab kuchh aap hi hua hai i’shq

Visible and invisible, first and last,

below and above—

there is nothing else except i’shq.

Light and darkness, hidden and manifest—

i’shq embraces everything.

ek taraf jabriil aata hai ek taraf laata hai kitaab

ek taraf pinhaan hai dilon mein