Kavi Bhushan's 'indra jimi jambh par'
naniwadekar
In March 2001, Surajit Bose had posted the lyrics of Kavi Bhushan's
famous composition 'indra jimi jambh par' on RMIM. Recently I chanced
upon the meaning of the poem on the internet. The four-line poem is
very famous among students of Hindi literature, and also among Marathi
people because Hridaynath Mangeshkar set it to music for Lata.
Curiously, the poet does not use the letter 'sh' ('श') anywhere but
does use 'shh' ( 'ष' ) when he inserts his mudra in the verse. More
about the metre which uses 32 letters per line soon, but first the
meaning.
इंद्र जिमी जम्भ पर, बाड़व सो अम्ब पर,
रावण सदम्भ पर रघुकुलराज हैं १
पौन बरिवाह पर, संभु रतिनाह पर, ज्यो सहसबाह पर रामद्विजराज हैं
२
दावा द्रुम दंड पर, चीता मृग झुंड पर
भूषण बितुंड पर जैसे मृगराज हैं ३
तेज तमअंस पर, कान्ह जिमी कंस पर,
त्यों मलेंच्छ बंस पर सेर सिवराज हैं ४
- कविराज भूषण
As Indra is unto the demon Jambhasur, and (the mythical) Vadavaanal
unto the seas, and Raghukulraj unto the proud Ravan,
wind unto the clouds, Shiv-Shambhu unto Rati's husband Madan, Brahmin-
raam (Parashuram, that is) unto Sahasraarjun,
lightening/forest-fire unto a tree-trunk, a panther unto a flock of
deer, a lion unto an elephant,
a ray of light unto a corner of darkness, Kanhaiya unto Kans,
so unto the mlenchchh race is Nar-sinh Shivaji. He is their
destroyer.
[indra jimi jambha par, baa.Dava so amba par
raavaN sadambha par raghukularaaj hai.n
pavan baarivaah par, sambhu ratinaah par,
jyo.n sahasabaah par raamadvijaraaj hai.n
daavaa dR^ima daNDa par, chiitaa mR^ig jhu.nDa par, bhuuShaNa
vituNDa par jaise mR^igaraaj hai.n
teja tama a.ns par, kaanh jimi ka.ns par
tyo.n male.nchchh ba.ns par ser sivaraaj hai.n
- Kavi Bhushan ]
The song is part of the album ShivaKalyaaNaRaajaa, which I think was
released in 1974 to mark the 300th anniversary of Shivaraajyaabhishhek
when he was anointed 'Chhatrapati Shivaji'.
Another well-known tribute to Shivaji by Kavi Bhushan in the same
metre begins with:
sakra jimi sail par, ark tama phail par
bighan kii rail par lambodar dekhiye
सक्र जिमि सैल पर, अर्क तम फैल पर
बिघन की रैल पर लम्बोदर देखिये
राम दसकंध पर। भीम जरासंध पर। भूषण ज्यो सिंधु पर। कुंभज विसेखिये ॥
हर ज्यो अनंग पर। गरुड ज्यो भूज़ंग पर। कौरवके अंग पर। पारथ ज्यो पेखिये ॥
बाज ज्यो विहंग पर। सिंह ज्यो मतंग पर। म्लेंच्छ चतुरंग पर। सिवराज
देखिये ॥
The word 'mlenchchh' appears in its better-known form here, and is not
split as 'ma_le.nchchh', because it fits in the metre as a two-letter
word. In 'indra jimi jambh par' the metre demands that it be a three-
letter word.
.
- dn
.
naniwadekar
इंद्र जिमि जम्भ पर, बाड़व सुअम्ब पर,
रावण सदम्भ पर रघुकुलराज हैं १
पौन बरिवाह पर, संभु रतिनाह पर,
ज्यो सहसबाह पर रामद्विजराज हैं २
दावा द्रुम दंड पर, चीता मृग झुंड पर
तेज तमअंस पर, कान्ह जिमि कंस पर,
त्यो मलेंच्छ बंस पर सेर सिवराज हैं ४
- कविराज भूषण
I must say that I have major reservations with Hridaynath Mangeshkar's
choice of tune for the song, now that I know its meaning. He has quite
unwisely used the first line as mukhada. In this poem, the singer
should just go straight through the lines, never repeating the non-
existent mukhada even after stanzas 2 and 3, and most certainly not
after 'ser sivaraaj hai.n' where the song reaches its climax. And the
sedate pace is also not well suited to the song but it does not
necessarily mar the experience. Instrumental pieces, while reasonably
sweet (actually, make it 'extremely' sweet and beautiful), are neither
aakramak nor marked with gravitas due to their lightness of touch, and
hence not best suited to the poem. Lata, quite correctly and very
conspicuously, splits 'mle.nchchh' into 'ma~le.nchchh' as the metre
(which deserves a separate post) dictates, but sings raghukularaaj/
mrigaraaj/sivaraaj 'hai' when it should be jaise (not jaisaa) -
mrigaraaj - hai.n. I doubt whether Kavi Bhushan can really have used
'hai' in the poem. Despite these reservations, it is a magnificent
composition (which should have been used for some other words in some
other song), brilliantly sung.
- dn
agileajay@valtech
[इंद्र जिमि जम्भ पर]
जसा इंद्र जम्भासुरावर (माझलेल्या हथ्थी रूपात),
[बाड़व सुअम्ब पर]
जस वादळ आकाशावर
[रावण सदम्भ पर रघुकुलराज हैं]
जसा राम माझलेल्या दिडशहाण्या रावाणावर ||१||
[पौन बरिवाह पर]
जसा वारा पावसाने भरलेल्या ढगांवर,
[संभु रतिनाह पर]
जसा शंभू रतीच्या पतीवर (मदनावर)
[ज्यो सहसबाह पर रामद्विजराज हैं]
जसा परशुराम सहस्त्र क्षत्रियांवर ||२||
[दावा द्रुम दंड पर]
जशी विज झाडाच्या कठोर बुंद्यावर,
[चीता मृग झुंड पर]
जसा चीता हरणाच्या कळपावर तुटून पडतो,
[भूषण वितुंड पर जैसे भृघराज हैं]
जश्या भल्या मोठ्या हथ्थिवर सिंह हल्ला करतो ||३||
[तेज तमअंस पर]
जसा प्रकाशाचा किरण काळ्या अंधाराच नाश करतो,
[कान्ह जिमि कंस पर]
कृष्ण कंसाचा नाश करतो,
[त्योम म्ल्लेंछ बंस पर सेर सिवराज हैं ]
तसा हे शिवाजी राजा या म्ल्लेंछ वंशाचे कपटी
(मोघल, आदिलशाह, निजामशाह, सिद्धि, हब्शी, पोर्तुगीज) यांचा नाश करणारा
वाघ आहेस.
naniwadekar
> इंद्र जिमि जम्भ पर ... (indra jimi jambh par)
> - कविराज भूषण
>
इंद्र जिमि जम्भ पर, बाड़व सुअम्ब पर,
रावण सदम्भ पर रघुकुलराज हैं
I have split the single line over two lines because the interface is
not guaranteed to format the long single line properly. But I strongly
feel that one unit of a chhandabaddha or akshara-gaNa-vrutta-baddha
poem should be quoted on one single line, a practice sometimes
violated in books on poetry, much to my chagrin.
Here is the information supplied to me about the metre of the
composition 'indra jimi jambh par' by Sushil Sharma, our Resident
Pandit.
"The chhanda (the meter, as you already know, is "kavitta", also
called manaharaNa, kabitta, or ghanaaksharii - 31 varna per line with
yati after 16th, last varna has to be guru, no other particular guru/
laghu restriction on rest of the varNas, except that arrangement of
varNa should be conducive to smooth flow or "gati" in reciting - one
of the most popular meters for 17th/18th century Braj/Hindi poetry),
is one of the most popular samples of Bhushan's poetry."
I have so far come across only two examples of मनहरण / घनाक्षरी /
कवित्त which have already been quoted in the thread and based on them,
though there may not be any rule explicitly stating so, the yati
(pause/nyaas) has invariably been placed on/after the 8th and 24th
letter/varna of the line as well, in addition to the 16th varNa.
- dn
Vinay
> > इंद्र जिमि जम्भ पर ... (indra jimi jambh par)
> > - कविराज भूषण
>
You are right, the yatis are placed at varNa 8, 16, 24, 31 for the
flow of reading.
As Sushil ji says, kavitt was a very popular chhand during 'riitikaal'
of Hindi poetry and you can find plenty of examples to test/understand
the rules. I am quoting below some from a rather unusual quarter. They
are written by the wonderfully versatile writer-poet Ibne Insha.
जले तो जलाओ गोरी, पीत का अलाव गोरी
अभी न बुझाओ गोरी, अभी से बुझाओ ना।
पीत में बिजोग भी है, कामना का सोग भी है
पीत बुरा रोग भी है, लगे तो लगाओ ना।।
गेसुओं की नागिनों से, बैरिनों अभागिनों से
जोगिनों बिरागिनों से, खेलती ही जाओ ना।
आशिकों का हाल पूछो, करो तो ख़याल पूछो
एक-दो सवाल पूछो, बात जो बढ़ाओ ना।
रात को उदास देखें, चाँद को निरास देखें
तुम्हें न जो पास देखें, आओ पास आओ ना।
रूप-रंग मान दे दें, जी का ये मकान दे दें
कहो तुम्हें जान दे दें, माँग लो लजाओ ना।।
और भी हज़ार होंगे, जो कि दावेदार होंगे
आप पे निसार होंगे, कभी आज़माओ ना ।
शे'र में 'नज़ीर' ठहरे, जोग में 'कबीर' ठहरे
कोई ये फ़क़ीर ठहरे, और जी लगाओ ना ।।
The above have been 'giit-ified' and sung by Nayyara Noor (if someone
is wondering of the RMIM relevance), but I would advise you against
making any effort to find that.
Vinay
naniwadekar
>
> You are right, the yatis are placed at varNa 8, 16, 24, 31 for the
> flow of reading.
>
The nyaas on the last varna is automatic and I have not read it
described as 'yati' anywhere. I do not know the formal definition of
yati; but i would just say the yati is after 8, 16, 24 letters. Since
Sushil did not mention any yati after 8th and 24th varna, I am
guessing that those two yati-s may be popularly used but not a
requirement. By the way, there are tons of examples of poets running
complete word through the expected yati, thus forcing the reader to
use it most subtly if and when possible in the uchcharan. Since most
of such examples known to me are from Marathi, I will move on to the
next point, and discuss the point in detail on a Marathi forum.
One difference that I immediately noted between 'indra jimi' and 'jale
to jalaao gorii' is that each segment has 10 maatraa-s in Bhushan's
composition but the first segment of 'jale to jalaao gorii' has 14
maatraa-s, and the tightly packed laghu varna-s (8 letters yielding
only 10 maatraa-s) make for a lovelier flow, but even with 14 maatraas
the flow is quite nice.
>
> जले तो जलाओ गोरी, पीत का अलाव गोरी
>
> The above have been 'giit-ified' and sung by Nayyara Noor (if someone
> is wondering of the RMIM relevance), but I would advise you against
> making any effort to find that.
>
I am not into Nayyara Noor at all. My gut reaction about ghazal
singing/singers is along the lines of 'show me a person who likes
ghazals and I will show you a fool', but several people whose views
I respect and who are otherwise quite sane like to listen to ghazals.
So what do I know?
- dn
UVR
>
> I am not into Nayyara Noor at all. My gut reaction about ghazal
> singing/singers is along the lines of 'show me a person who likes
> ghazals and I will show you a fool', but several people whose views
> I respect and who are otherwise quite sane like to listen to ghazals.
> So what do I know?
>
> - dn
Well, since you ask, evidently, on the topic of Ghazals at least,
nothing :-)
-UVR.
PS: This is not to say that Nayyara's "jale to jalaao gori" is worth
listening to, but that's not Nayyara's fault. I say the
responsibility for it lies squarely at the music compos[t]er's
doorstep. Better singers than Nayyara would have failed to inject any
redeeming quality into that piece of crap [tune].
naniwadekar
>
> PS: This is not to say that Nayyara's "jale to jalaao gori" is worth
> listening to, but that's not Nayyara's fault. I say the
> responsibility for it lies squarely at the music compos[t]er's
> doorstep. Better singers than Nayyara would have failed to inject any
> redeeming quality into that piece of crap [tune].
>
Anybody has any idea who the composer is?
- dn
yc00...@gmail.com
yog...@gmail.com
[ज्यो सहसबाह पर रामद्विजराज हैं]
जसा परशुराम सहस्त्र क्षत्रियांवर ||२||
here it should be
जसा परशुराम सहस्त्रबाहू वर.....
सहस्त्रबाहू एक राजा होता ज्याने सर्व युद्धे जिंकली पण तो फ़क़्त परशुराम बरोबर हरला.
siddhesh....@gmail.com
surajpa...@gmail.com
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