taza hava bahar ki....
Ali Minai
ghazal `tAza havA bahAr kI...'. Well, here are the lines
from the version Mehdi Hasan sang. I am sure the ghazal is
longer, but unfortunately I only have Aziz Hamid Madni's
third collection, `naKHl-e gumAN', and this ghazal must be
from one of the two earlier nes, `daSHt-e imkAN' and
`CHaSHm-e nigarAN'.
tAza havA bahAr kI dil ka malAl lE gayI.
pA-E junUN sE se halqa-E gardiSH-e hAl lE gayI.
jur'at-E SHaOq kE sivA KHalvatiyAn-e KHAs kO
ik tere GHam ki AgahI tA-ba-savAl lE gayI.
tEz havA ki CHAp sE tIra banON meN laO uThI;
rUh-e taGHayyur-E jahAN Ag se fAl lE gayI.
nAfa-E Ahu-E tatAr zaKHm-e numUd kA SHikAr;
daSHt se zindigI ki raO Ek misAl lE gayI.
Like most of Madni's poetry, this is untranslatable in the
sense that the essential meaning resides in the ineffable
effect of the terms and meter rather than in the literal
interpretation. As I wrote earlier, Madni comes closer than
any Urdu poet to the verbal surrealism achieved by Dylan
Thomas in English. Nevertheless, the lines do have literal
meaning which I give below, while also trying to convey
some of the `feeling'. One aspect of Madni's poetry that
should be kept in mind is that he draws very heavily on
the reader's emotional response to images from Persian
and Arabic poetry --- just as Iqbal did. Unlike Iqbal,
however, Madni was a strong rationalist-humanist, as might
be apparent from some of his lines. Also, Madni is very
fond of creating new compounds (tarAkIb), which can sometimes
be difficult to interpret.
Anyway, here is my attempt at translation:
The fresh breeze of spring took away the heart's regrets,
removing the chain of misfortune from the feet of passion.
It was not just the courage of desire that moved your special ones
to question, but also their understanding of their love for you.
The wind's footfall ignited a flame in dark forests,
and the Spirit of the World's Transformation took its omen from this fire.
The navel of the Tatar musk deer, captive of appearance's wound:
The current of Life took away an image from the desert.
The last she'r is the most obscure. I read it as saying that the
musk's urge for becoming apparent (`numUd') is what led to the deer's
being injured and taken captive, and in this there is a metaphor for
human life as well. Others may interpret this differently. This she'r
illustrates Madni's highly telegraphic, idiosyncratic, and imagistic
style. Indeed, the richness of his imagery is apparent throughout the
ghazal.
Here is another ghazal by him that I like very much:
dam-E sahar na kiyA vA lab-E suKHan ham nE;
bujhA ke dil meN rakhI SHam'-e anjuman ham nE.
hazAr CHaSHma-e haEvAN ki AbrU dE dI
tirE savAd-e biyAbAN ko aE vatan ham nE.
vahI ma'Arif-e pESHIN abhI haeN mehv-e furOGH:
lab-E sanam se sunI KHU-e barhaman ham nE.
gayA jo kAm se dast-E junUN, balA se gayA!
tujhE bhi dEkh liyA zulf-e pur-SHikan ham nE!
kabhI kabhI kaf-e mAr-E siyah meN dEkhA haE
junUN ki ANkh se ik barg-e yAsman ham nE.
durUn-e KHAna tirE KHAl-o KHat ki raO AyI:
jalAyi SHam'-e sarA-parda-E suKHan ham nE.
matA'-e dId, terI burqa'-afganI pe nisAr;
ufuq pe dEkh li ik vaqt kI kiran ham ne.
navA ke jurm-o sazA Ap KHud thi apne liyE:
rag-E gulU meN rakhA halqa-E rasan ham nE.
zamIn-e haSHr, CHhipA kar rakhI hae tErE liyE
jo bE-dayAr thi, voh na'SH-e bE-kafan ham nE.
Here is another one:
piCHhlE paher jo tEri hikAyat sabA se thI;
dastak si dar pe Ek barAbar havA se thI.
aOrON meN jA ke ramz-e mohabbat na bhUltI:
yeh bhI umId ik nigah-E ASHnA se thI.
AKHir mujhE junUN bhi nahIN, hamrahAn-e KHAm!
kyUN nA-KHudA se hO jo SHikAyat KHudA se thI?
voh din kahAN gayE ke mohabbat ke nAm sE
paEdA hazAr ruKH ki iSHArat havA se thI.
faryAd kE sivA sar-e gul saOt-e `andalIb
hadyA sa ik qabIla-e KHUnIN-navA se thI.
Ali Minai
-----------------------------------------------------------
hikAyat-E husn-e yAr likhnA, hadIs-e mInA-o jAm kehnA:
abhI vahI kAr-e `ASHiqAN haE, sukUt-e GHam kO kalAm kehnA.
Aziz Hamid Madni
-----------------------------------------------------------
--
Ali Minai
Padmanabhan Srinagesh
>
> I had promised earlier that I would post the words for the
> ghazal `tAza havA bahAr kI...'. Well, here are the lines
> from the version Mehdi Hasan sang. I am sure the ghazal is
> longer, but unfortunately I only have Aziz Hamid Madni's
> third collection, `naKHl-e gumAN', and this ghazal must be
> from one of the two earlier nes, `daSHt-e imkAN' and
> `CHaSHm-e nigarAN'.
>
> tAza havA bahAr kI dil ka malAl lE gayI.
> pA-E junUN sE se halqa-E gardiSH-e hAl lE gayI.
>
> jur'at-E SHaOq kE sivA KHalvatiyAn-e KHAs kO
> ik tere GHam ki AgahI tA-ba-savAl lE gayI.
>
> tEz havA ki CHAp sE tIra banON meN laO uThI;
> rUh-e taGHayyur-E jahAN Ag se fAl lE gayI.
>
> nAfa-E Ahu-E tatAr zaKHm-e numUd kA SHikAr;
> daSHt se zindigI ki raO Ek misAl lE gayI.
>
Ali Minai Sahib:
Many, many thanks! I have heard Mahdi Hassan sing this song a million
times and something about his rendition has drawn me back to his
rendition repeatedly. Let me say that his rendition of this song is
utterly captivating, even to those who do not understand a single word
of Urdu.
As my initial posting must have made clear, I just could not understand
the words. Your transliteration and the explanation you gave have
convinced me that Aziz Hamid Madni is a poet that I will read with great
interest.
I was struck by the names of the three collections. Nakhl is the date
tree, and is associated with both Mariam and Moosa, two fundamental
religous figures who inspire faith. "Nakhl-e-gumAN" is an intriguing
title, suggesting that a date tree is also associated with suspicion and
doubt (or maybe Doubt). Is there a historical or religious association I
should recognize?
Dasht-e-imkaan (the desert of potential existence?) also suggests an
extreme degree of cynicism.
Chashm-e-nigarAN (the eyes of the guard?) also suggests a negative
attitude, in which the eyes of the beloved do not cast a spell, but
instead ensure that her will is done.
I'll try to get my hands on Madni's work. He sounds most interesting.
Once again, my thanks.
Nagesh
Ali Minai
Padmanabhan Srinagesh <nr...@pacbell.net> wrote:
>Ali Minai wrote:
>>
>> I had promised earlier that I would post the words for the
>> ghazal `tAza havA bahAr kI...'. Well, here are the lines
>> from the version Mehdi Hasan sang. I am sure the ghazal is
>> longer, but unfortunately I only have Aziz Hamid Madni's
>> third collection, `naKHl-e gumAN', and this ghazal must be
>> from one of the two earlier nes, `daSHt-e imkAN' and
>> `CHaSHm-e nigarAN'.
>>
>> tAza havA bahAr kI dil ka malAl lE gayI.
>> pA-E junUN sE se halqa-E gardiSH-e hAl lE gayI.
>>
>> jur'at-E SHaOq kE sivA KHalvatiyAn-e KHAs kO
>> ik tere GHam ki AgahI tA-ba-savAl lE gayI.
>>
>> tEz havA ki CHAp sE tIra banON meN laO uThI;
>> rUh-e taGHayyur-E jahAN Ag se fAl lE gayI.
>>
>> nAfa-E Ahu-E tatAr zaKHm-e numUd kA SHikAr;
>> daSHt se zindigI ki raO Ek misAl lE gayI.
>>
>> Ali Minai
>
>Ali Minai Sahib:
>
>Many, many thanks! I have heard Mahdi Hassan sing this song a million
>times and something about his rendition has drawn me back to his
>rendition repeatedly. Let me say that his rendition of this song is
>utterly captivating, even to those who do not understand a single word
>of Urdu.
Yes, I also like Mehdi Hasan's rendition of this ghazal very much. Also,
the meter used by Madni (a variant of rajaz) is one that I have always
found irresistable. Iqbal and Faiz used it with great success too, but
the classic in this meter is the famous ghazal by Qurat-ul `aEn tAhireh,
the Baha'i poetess who was excuted for her heresy:
gar be-to uftadam nazar CHehre be-CHehre, rU be-rU
SHarh-e GHam-E vafA konam, nokte be-nokte, mU be-mU.
(If I should come upon thee, eye to eye, face to face,
I would describe the pain of my love, point by point, jot by jot).
Iqbal, who admired tAhireh for her independence of mind, quoted this
ghazal in Javid Nameh when he placed tAhireh with Nietzsche and Ghalib
as the three noble souls who were too independent to accept the gift of
paradise. I think some researchers have suggested that the ghazal might
not be by tAhireh at all!
Iqbal used this meter for his masterpiece, zaOq-o SHaOq, and for one of
his greatst ghazals, `gEsu-e tAbdAr kO aOr bhi tAbdAr kar'. Faiz, of course,
wrote `SHAm-e firAq, ab na pUCHh, Ayi aor A ke Tal gayI' --- again, one
of his finest ghazals --- in this meter. It is the kind of beat that is
very hard to get out of your head once it settles in.
>...
>I was struck by the names of the three collections. Nakhl is the date
>tree, and is associated with both Mariam and Moosa, two fundamental
>religous figures who inspire faith. "Nakhl-e-gumAN" is an intriguing
>title, suggesting that a date tree is also associated with suspicion and
>doubt (or maybe Doubt). Is there a historical or religious association I
>should recognize?
The date tree is not traditionally associated with doubt, nor is
`naKHl-e gumAN' a classical tarkIb. On the other hand, it is not
`GHarIb' (strange, ungainly). `gumAN' does not only mean `doubt';
it also means `imagination'. Thus, `naKHl-e gumAN' is the `Tree of
Imagination' (on which the fruit of certainty is borne.) While `naKHL'
in Arabic signifies a date tree, in Urdu its usage is looser, and is
generic for `tree'.
If you read more of AHM's poetry, you will see that a central thesis
of his philosophy --- and one at odds with much of recent dogma among
the Muslim neo-orthodox --- is that `doubt', `imagination', and
`conjecture' (gumAN) are, in some sense, nobler and richer than `faith'
and `certainty' (yaqIn). To us, raised in the scientific method, this
is obvious, but to the orthodox, it is anathema. Madni was very well-read
in Western philosophy and literature, and his poetry is full of modernist
--- and even post-modernist --- ideas. The best expression of this idea,
though, was by Salim Ahmad --- another thoughtful poet --- when he said:
yaqIN kI bAt mEN kuCHh bhI nahIN thA;
nayE pehlU huE paEdA gumAN sE.
This is from a fantastic ghazal which I'll post separately.
>Dasht-e-imkaan (the desert of potential existence?) also suggests an
>extreme degree of cynicism.
On the contrary, `daSht' (desert, wilderness) is quite a positive image
in classical Farsi and Urdu, since that is where those drunk on the
sublime wine of Love, etc., tended to go. Also, the `daSHt' --- unlike
places of human habitation --- is vast, reflecting the immensity of
possibility, of nature, and of God. The term `daSHt-e imkAN' is
from GHalib's famous SHe'r:
haE kahAN tamannA kA dUsrA qadam, yArab?
ham ne daSHt-e imkAN kO Ek naqSH-e pA pAyA!
`daSht-e imkAN' means `the wilderness of possibility', and is a very
powerful image.
I could go on about this topic, but suffice it to say that the image
of the `daSHt' is one of those which Farsi and Urdu inherited from
classical Arabic poetry, and it carries an emotive significance which
is difficult to capture in dry prose. It is inextricably tied with
the romance of caravans, ancient ruins, tales of Layla and Majnun,
the oasis, the desert wind, wild poppies, wild deer, the vast starry
sky over the vast silent desert.... It is connected in a million
ways with a world of mystery and romance which is implicit in all
classical Farsi and Urdu poetry.
>Chashm-e-nigarAN (the eyes of the guard?) also suggests a negative
>attitude, in which the eyes of the beloved do not cast a spell, but
>instead ensure that her will is done.
`CHaSHm-e nigarAN' means `the watchful eye' or `the perceptive eye'.
Again, I do not find this a negative image at all. In any case, I
do not think the `eye' is that of the Beloved. It is the eye of a
poet looking at the richness of the universe rather than just the
beauty of some human beloved. Or it is the watchful eye of some
abstract universal being (God?) who misses nothing. To be sure,
`nigarAN' can also mean `worried', but I don't think that is what
the poet intends here. `CHaSHm-e nigarAN' is a classical tarkIb,
and refers to the `unsleeping eye' that watches everything.
Ali
-------------------------------------------------------------------
khulA ye dil pe ke ta'mIr-e bAm-o dar hae farEb;
bagUle qAlib-e dIvAr-o dar meN hOtE haEN! Aziz Hamid Madni
-------------------------------------------------------------------
--
Ali Minai
Padmanabhan Srinagesh
>
> I could go on about this topic, but suffice it to say that the image
> of the `daSHt' is one of those which Farsi and Urdu inherited from
> classical Arabic poetry, and it carries an emotive significance which
> is difficult to capture in dry prose. It is inextricably tied with
> the romance of caravans, ancient ruins, tales of Layla and Majnun,
> the oasis, the desert wind, wild poppies, wild deer, the vast starry
> sky over the vast silent desert.... It is connected in a million
> ways with a world of mystery and romance which is implicit in all
> classical Farsi and Urdu poetry.
>
>
>
> khulA ye dil pe ke ta'mIr-e bAm-o dar hae farEb;
> bagUle qAlib-e dIvAr-o dar meN hOtE haEN! Aziz Hamid Madni
> -------------------------------------------------------------------
> --
> Ali Minai
Thanks again for the education! And I mean that most sincerely. I
heard Mehdi Hassan's rendition again as soon as I read your post, and my
enjoyment was far greater than it had been before.
In my reply characterising AMH's titles, I used the word "negative"
unwisely. Your description far better captures the spirit of my
reaction. I guess I was looking for the opposite of "unquestioning",
and picked on words like cycnical and negative instead.
Regards,
Nagesh