Iqbal's ghazal: Help requested
Ravinder P. Singh
Here's a beautiful ghazal equally beautifully sung by Farida Khanum;
only problem being the last two shers are difficult to understand.
Please help with their meaning.
Thanks.
Ravinder P. Singh
aashiq ke liye yaksaan, qaaba ho ke butkhaana
yeh jalwat-e-jaanana, woh khalwat-e-jaanana
(yaksaan = similar; jalwat = crowd; khalwat = solitude)
har ik ki nigah tujh par har ik ko sukhan tujh se
paida teri mehfil mein afsaane se afsaana
jibreel to adnaasa hai qaidei junoon mera
yazda tahei daamaye aey himmatei mardaana
(jibreel = Angel; Yazda = God; )
"iqbal" nei mimbar par har raaz-e-nihaan khola
naagufta hi uth aaya aspalwatei maikhana.
(mimbar = rostrum of masjid)
ahm...@noka.ub.bw
"Ravinder P. Singh" <srav...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Hello !
>
> Here's a beautiful ghazal equally beautifully sung by Farida Khanum;
> only problem being the last two shers are difficult to understand.
> Please help with their meaning.
>
> Thanks.
>
> Ravinder P. Singh
>
> aashiq ke liye yaksaan, qaaba ho ke butkhaana
> yeh jalwat-e-jaanana, woh khalwat-e-jaanana
> har ik ki nigah tujh par har ik ko sukhan tujh se
> paida teri mehfil mein afsaane se afsaana
>
> jibreel to adnaasa hai qaidei junoon mera
> yazda tahei daamaye aey himmatei mardaana
> "iqbal" nei mimbar par har raaz-e-nihaan khola
> naagufta hi uth aaya aspalwatei maikhana.
A most intriguing ghazal, since Iqbal never wrote it - not in this form and
not in Urdu anyway. When I couldn't find this ghazal among Iqbal's Urdu
works, I looked for it in his Persian books, and was astounded to find the
original there in "Payaam-e-Mashriq".
The original ghazal has 7 couplets. Three of the couplets quoted by Ravinder
Sahib are quite faithful translation of the original. One conveys the exact
meanings, but the words are a bit different. Reading the original along with
the (corrected version of) the translation is quite instructive. Even if one
doesn't know Farsi, the ghazal is quite easy to understand when read with the
translation. Here are the 4 corresponding couplets of the original Farsi
ghazal. If there is interest, I can post the rest of the asha'ar too:
Farqe na nahad aashiq dar kaaba o but-khana
Een jalwat-e-janaana, aan khalwat-e-janaana
[The lover does not differentiate between kaaba and the idol-house.
That is the beloved in crowd, this is the beloved alone]
Har kas nig'he daarad, har kas sukhane daarad
Dar bazm-e-to me-khaizad afsaana za afsaana
[Everyone has a look and everyone has something to say.
In your 'mehfil', story gives rise to story]
Dar dasht-e-junoon-e-man Jibreel zaboon saide Yazdaan ba kumand aavar ai
himmat-e-mardaana [In the desert of my junoon (madness) the archangel
Gabrael is a lowly prey. Oh, my manly courage, get God himself into your
snare.]
Iqbal ba mimber zad raaze keh na baayad guft
Na pukhtah baroon aamad az khalwat-e-maikhana
[Iqbal said from the pulpit the secret that should not be told.
He came out from the solitude of the wine-house, while he was still
immature (na-pukhta)].
-------------
I haven't heard Fareeda Khanum sing the ghazal, but in view of the original
Farsi ghazal, it seems the last two asha'ar quoted by Ravinder Sahib should be
modified to read:
Jibreel to adnaa sa hai qaidi-e-junoon mera
yazdan tahi daam aye ai himmat-e-mardaana
"Iqbal" nei mimbar par har raaz-e-nihaan khola
naapukhta hi uth aaya az khalwat-e-maikhana.
Jamil
-----------== Posted via Deja News, The Discussion Network ==----------
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Birthe & T. S. Kalsi
intriguing.
I suppose you have inverted the translation of ’een/aan’ versus
’this/that’ to accord with the conventions of English usage, where
’this’ means the latter and ’that’ the former. So that
’jalwat-e-janaana’ refers to ’kaaba’ and ’khalwat-e-janaana’ to
’but-khana’.
Please do post the remaining part of the ghazal. It is interesting to
get a ’peep’ into Iqbal’s Persian works!
Thanks also to Ravinder Sahib for bringing out this beautiful ghazal.
It’s a pity that I haven’t either heard Farida Khanum sing its Urdu
version.
Regards,
Tejjit Singh Kalsi
ahm...@noka.ub.bw
ka...@post4.tele.dk wrote:
> Thanks, Jamil Sahib, for clarifying the whole matter. It was indeed
> intriguing.
>
> I suppose you have inverted the translation of ’een/aan’ versus
> ’this/that’ to accord with the conventions of English usage, where
> ’this’ means the latter and ’that’ the former. So that
> ’jalwat-e-janaana’ refers to ’kaaba’ and ’khalwat-e-janaana’ to
> ’but-khana’.
>
> Please do post the remaining part of the ghazal. It is interesting to
> get a ’peep’ into Iqbal’s Persian works!
>
> Thanks also to Ravinder Sahib for bringing out this beautiful ghazal.
> It’s a pity that I haven’t either heard Farida Khanum sing its Urdu
> version.
>
> Regards,
> Tejjit Singh Kalsi
You are quite right about the translation of 'een' and 'aan'. Since the
words are 'een jalwat-e-janaana, aan khalwat-e-janaana' the translation
should have been 'this is the beloved in crowd and that is the beloved
alone.' However, irrespective of the order in which the words 'ka'aba' and
'but-khaana' appear in the first line, it is obvious that 'jalwat-e-janaana'
refers to 'but-khaana' and 'khalwat-e-janaana' to the ka'aba. The primary
meaning of 'jalwat' is 'to be apparent', or 'noticeable', while 'khalwat'
means being in solitude. In the 'but-khaana', the Beloved is evident and
noticeable, and therefore has 'jalwat'. In Ka'aba, the Beloved is not seen,
and the poet calls this state 'khalwat'.
As an aside, while reading the poem, the thought struck me that normally such
verses of Iqbal are systematically ignored by some people who never tire of
quoting him selectively for their own purpose. It is left to musicians,
singers and other such 'undesirables' to convey his real message of
mysticism, love and universality to us.
Here are the rest of the as'aar of the ghazal:
Shaad-am keh mazaar-e-man dar kooey haram bastand
Raahe ze miyya kaavam az kaaba ba but-khaana
[Main khush hoon keh maira mazaar ka'aba ki gali men banaaya hai
Apni palkon se, kaaba se but-khaana tak, raasta khodoon ga]
Az bazm-e-jahaan khush-tar, az hoor-o-jinaan khush-tar
Yak hamdam-e-farzaana vaz baada do paimaana
[Bazm-e-jahaan se behtar hai, hooron aur jinon se behtar hai (better
than houris and jinn)
aik aqalmand dost, do paimaane ki sharaab (double peg) se achha hai]
Een keest keh bar dil-ha avardah shabe-khoone
Sad shehr-e-tamanna ra yaghma zadah turkaana
[Yeh kaun hai jis ne dilon peh shabkhoon mara hai (carried out a
surprise attack by night)?
(Aur) tamanna ke sau shehron ko turkon ki tarah loot liya hai.
(Plundered like the Turks do.)]
The ash'aar discussed in the earlier post are as follows: The first she'r
below is the matl'a of the ghazal, followed by the 4th, 6th and the 7th she'r
of the original ghazal.
> Farqe na nahad aashiq dar kaaba o but-khana
> Een jalwat-e-janaana, aan khalwat-e-janaana
>
> [The lover does not differentiate between kaaba and the
> idol-house.
> That is the beloved in crowd, this is the beloved alone]
>
> Har kas nig'he daarad, har kas sukhane daarad
> Dar bazm-e-to me-khaizad afsaana za afsaana
>
> [Everyone has a look and everyone has something to say.
> In your 'mehfil', story gives rise to story]
>
> Dar dasht-e-junoon-e-man Jibreel zaboon saide
> Yazdaan ba kumand aavar ai himmat-e-mardaana
> [In the desert of my junoon (madness) the archangel
> Gabrael is a lowly prey. Oh, manly courage, get
> God himself into your snare.]
> Iqbal ba mimber zad raaze keh na baayad guft
> Na pukhtah baroon aamad az khalwat-e-maikhana
> [Iqbal said from the pulpit the secret that should not be told.
> He came out from the solitude of the wine-house, while he
> was still immature (na-pukhta)].
Jamil
Parul Trivedi
Very interesting and informative thread. I have enjoyed it immensely. Just
wanted to let you know this.
Amit
fuzul...@my-dejanews.com
Excellent job on those two posts. I can't help asking -- the domain name .bw
is not known to me. Where is it? (I'm not a techie that I do DNS lookups and
what not.)
I also can't help pointing out that this ghazal is in the zamin of one of
Rumi's most wonderful ghazals, which has to my knowledge been translated only
once before (in a festschrift for Annemarie Schimmel. I think the
translation was done by a Persian teacher at Columbia U.) Iqbal's influence
by Rumi and Hafiz is problematic. After an early infatuation with Hafiz,
Iqbal disclaimed him and denounced the beauty of his poetry as "too
dangerous". Presumably he thought it would seduce lesser souls away from the
one true path. Yet I can't help but see frequent echoes of Hafiz's
crystalline brilliance in Iqbal's Urdu verse. But this is for greater
critics than me to look at. With Rumi, too, Iqbal grew disenchanted, though
he held Rumi for many years to be his "guide." (Part of Iqbal's extremely
weird personal cosmology. Weird, that is, from the traditional Islamic point
of view.) This is one of Rumi's more famous ghazals, and Iqbal must have had
it in mind.
I'm too lazy to translate this now. I will cross-post it to
alt.fan.jalaludin_rumi in hopes that Ibrahim Gamard may have a translation
ready at hand.
I try to represent the difference between -e (indefinite), -ii (nominal
suffix), and -i (izaafat). As I learned modern Farsi, where some of these
distinctions are not made in sound or script (though for sure, conceptually),
there are places here where I would have fudged my comprehension, but now
cannot. If I err, please correct me.
man mast-u tu devaana, maa-raa ki barad khaana?
sad baar tu-raa guftam, kam khwar du-si paymaana.
dar shahr yake kas-raa hushyaar namebiinam
har yak batar az diigar, shoriida-u devaana.
jaanaa, ba-kharaabaat aay, taa lazzat-i jaan biine
jaan-raa chi khwashii baashad be-suhbat-i jaanaana?
har gosha yake mastii, dast-e zada bar dast-e
z'aan saaqii-yi sar-mast-e, baa saaghar-i shaahaana.
ay luulii-yi barbat-zan, tu masttar-e yaa man?
ay, pesh-i chu tu mast-e, afsuun-i man afsaana.
tu vaqf-i kharaabaat-e, kharj-at may-u dakhl-at may
z'iin dakhl ba-hushyaaraan mas'paar yake daana.
az khaana biruun raftam. mast-e'm ba pesh aamad
dar har nazar-ash muzmar sad gulshan-u kaashaana.
chun kashti-yi be-langar, kazh meshud-u mazh meshud
v'az hasrat-i aan, murda sad aaqil-i farzaana
guftam, "zi kujaa-e tu?" tas'khur zad-u guft, "ay jaan,
niim-em zi turkistaan, niim-em zi farghaana,
niim-em zi aab-u gil, niim-em zi jaan-u dil
niim-em lab-i daryaa, baaqii hama dur-daana
guftam ki "rafiiqii kun baa man ki man-at khwesh-am"
guftaa ki "binash'naasam man khwesh zi begaana."
man be-sar-u dastaar-am, dar khaana-yi khammaar-am
yak siina sukhan daaram, aan sharh diham yaa na?
Yours,
Fuzuli
In article <77hq4q$adr$1...@nnrp1.dejanews.com>,
Padmanabhan Srinagesh
South Africa, and I believe it is one of the nicest places in Africa to
live in.
Nagesh
fuzul...@my-dejanews.com
sad baar tu-raa guftam, kam khwar du-si paymaana.
dar shahr yake kas-raa hushyaar namebiinam
har yak batar az diigar, shoriida-u devaana.
jaanaa, ba-kharaabaat aay, taa lazzat-i jaan biine
jaan-raa chi khwashii baashad be-suhbat-i jaanaana?
har gosha yake mastii, dast-e zada bar dast-e
z'aan saaqii-yi sar-mast-e, baa saaghar-i shaahaana.
ay luulii-yi barbat-zan, tu masttar-e yaa man?
ay, pesh-i chu tu mast-e, afsuun-i man afsaana.
tu vaqf-i kharaabaat-e, kharj-at may-u dakhl-at may
z'iin dakhl ba-hushyaaraan mas'paar yake daana.
az khaana biruun raftam. mast-e'm ba pesh aamad
dar har nazar-ash muzmar sad gulshan-u kaashaana.
chun kashtii-yi be-langar, kazh meshud-u mazh meshud
v'az hasrat-i aan, murda sad aaqil-i farzaana
guftam, "zi kujaa-e tu?" tas'khur zad-u guft, "ay jaan,
niim-em zi turkistaan, niim-em zi farghaana,
niim-em zi aab-u gil, niim-em zi jaan-u dil
niim-em lab-i daryaa, baaqii hama dur-daana."
guftam ki "rafiiqii kun baa man ki man-at khwesh-am"
guftaa ki "binash'naasam man khwesh zi begaana."
man be-sar-u dastaar-am, dar khaana-yi khammaar-am
yak siina sukhan daaram, aan sharh diham yaa na?
-----------== Posted via Deja News, The Discussion Network ==----------
Ibrahim Gamard
As-salâmu `alaykum,
The Rumi ghazal you asked about is no. 2309 in Faruzanfar's edition, which is
based on the earliest manuscripts. There are differences with the text which you
transliterated. The ghazal has 3 final lines (after 12. man bę-del-o dastâr-am...),
which you omitted: (13) dar halqa-yé...; (14) sar-mast-é...; (15) Shamsu 'Haqq-é
Tabrîzî...
For your information, the ghazal in Faruzanfar's edition (Vol. 5) begins:
man bę-khwad-o tô bę-khwad,* mâ-râ kî bar-ad khâna?!
man chand to-râ goft-am kam khwor dô-se paymâna?!
--------------------------------------
*one of his MS has "man mast-o tô dęwâna" in the first line
I (am) ecstatic and you (are) ecstatic; who can take us home?!
-------------------------------------
*I (am) drunk and you (are) crazy; who can...
-----------------------------------------------------
This ghazal was translated by Nader Kalîlî in a popular and informal manner. He
skips several lines, including the last three which you also did not include in
your transliteration.
YOU ARE DRUNK
and i'm intoxicated
no one is around
showing us the way home
again and again
i told you
drink less
a cup or two
i know in this city
no one is sober
one is worse than the other
one is frenzied and
the other gone mad
come on my friend
step into the tavern of ruins
taste the sweetness of life
in the company of another friend
here you'll see
at every corner
someone intoxicated
and the cup-bearer
makes her rounds
i went out of my house
a drunkard came to me
someone whose glance
uncovered a hundred
houses in paradise
rocking and rolling
he was a sail
with no anchor but
he was the envy of all those sober ones
remaining on the shore
where are you from i asked
he smiled in mockery and said
one half from the east
one half from the west
one half made of water and earth
one half made of heart and soul
one half staying at the shores and
one half nesting in a pearl
i begged
take me as your friend
i am your next of kin
he said i recognize no kin
among strangers
i left my belongings and
entered this tavern
i only have a chest
full of words
but can't utter
a single one
"RUMI, Fountain of Fire," p. 41-42, ghazal number 2309,
translated 22 September 1991 by Nader Khalili,
Burning Gate Press, Los Angeles, 1994.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
By the way, I am not academically trained in classical Persian, but mostly
self-taught. Am tring to provide more accurate information about Rumi (on
alt.fan.jalaludin_rumi) than is generally available.
Ibrahim Gamard
fuzul...@my-dejanews.com
Salaam bar shomaa-ham.
Thank you very much for providing that colloquial translation (FYI, it is not
the one I have seen before.) I have consulted Foruzanfar and see that you
are right. The version popular in Iran is however as I have quoted it (I'm
not quibbling, just explaining why Nader and I have both used the same
version.) Certainly, this is the version given in "Ghazal-e faarsii", one in
a series of books (called, I think, "Adabiyyaat-e faarsii" or something like
that) that children read in Iran as introductions to the classics.
Unfortunately, I cannot give you a better name as I have long since given the
whole series to some destitute Tajik friends in India. Also, Thackston uses
this version in his _Millenium of Classical Persian Poetry_ and as I recall,
this is the version that Shaamluu recites on his recording. Anyhow. Go
figure.
Peace to all, and should I not post before then, Eid mubaarak!
Fuzuli
fuzul...@my-dejanews.com
I get some spare time in the next couple of days, I will try to do the whole
thing. Or if Jamil Sahib is inspired, maybe he can produce an Urdu
translation :-), since his previous efforts were so successful.
Fuzuli
ahm...@noka.ub.bw
fuzul...@my-dejanews.com wrote:
> man mast-u tu devaana, maa-raa ki barad khaana?
> sad baar tu-raa guftam, kam khwar du-si paymaana.
>
> dar shahr yake kas-raa hushyaar namebiinam
> har yak batar az diigar, shoriida-u devaana.
>
> jaanaa, ba-kharaabaat aay, taa lazzat-i jaan biine
> jaan-raa chi khwashii baashad be-suhbat-i jaanaana?
>
> har gosha yake mastii, dast-e zada bar dast-e
> z'aan saaqii-yi sar-mast-e, baa saaghar-i shaahaana.
>
> ay luulii-yi barbat-zan, tu masttar-e yaa man?
> ay, pesh-i chu tu mast-e, afsuun-i man afsaana.
>
> tu vaqf-i kharaabaat-e, kharj-at may-u dakhl-at may
> z'iin dakhl ba-hushyaaraan mas'paar yake daana.
>
> az khaana biruun raftam. mast-e'm ba pesh aamad
> dar har nazar-ash muzmar sad gulshan-u kaashaana.
>
> v'az hasrat-i aan, murda sad aaqil-i farzaana
>
> guftam, "zi kujaa-e tu?" tas'khur zad-u guft, "ay jaan,
> niim-em zi turkistaan, niim-em zi farghaana,
>
> niim-em zi aab-u gil, niim-em zi jaan-u dil
>
> guftam ki "rafiiqii kun baa man ki man-at khwesh-am"
> guftaa ki "binash'naasam man khwesh zi begaana."
>
> man be-sar-u dastaar-am, dar khaana-yi khammaar-am
> yak siina sukhan daaram, aan sharh diham yaa na?
>
Fuzuli Sahib:
I have the same version in a volume called "Ghazaliaat-e-Shoor Angeez Shams
Tabrizi", edited by Fareedoon Kaar and published in Tehran in 1343 (Hijri
Shamsi), but it has three ash'aar in the end that Ibrahim Gamard Sahib has
referred to. Some of the words are beyond my vocabulary, and I may have
written them wrong. The couplets are:
Dar khaana-e-langaani me-baayad langidan
Een pand beh nashunidi az Khaaja-e-gharghaana
Sar mast chunnan khoobi ke kam bood az choobi
Bar khaast faghaan aakhir az astane hannaana
Shamsul-Haq Tabrizi az fitna cheh parhezi
aknoon keh dar afkandi sad fitnae fattana.
Also, in my version in the 8th she'r there is 'aaqil o farzaana', instead of
'aaqil-i farzaana'. The second line of the 10th she'r according to my version
should be:
niim-em lab-i daryaa, NEEME hama dur-daana
but that seems to be a misprint. 'Baaqi' makes much more sense than 'neeme'.
ahm...@noka.ub.bw
fuzul...@my-dejanews.com wrote:
> Jamil sahib,
>
> Excellent job on those two posts. I can't help asking -- the domain name .bw
> is not known to me. Where is it? (I'm not a techie that I do DNS lookups and
> what not.)
>
> I also can't help pointing out that this ghazal is in the zamin of one of
> Rumi's most wonderful ghazals, which has to my knowledge been translated only
> once before (in a festschrift for Annemarie Schimmel. I think the
> translation was done by a Persian teacher at Columbia U.) Iqbal's influence
> by Rumi and Hafiz is problematic. After an early infatuation with Hafiz,
> Iqbal disclaimed him and denounced the beauty of his poetry as "too
> dangerous". Presumably he thought it would seduce lesser souls away from the
> one true path. Yet I can't help but see frequent echoes of Hafiz's
> crystalline brilliance in Iqbal's Urdu verse. But this is for greater
> critics than me to look at. With Rumi, too, Iqbal grew disenchanted, though
> he held Rumi for many years to be his "guide." (Part of Iqbal's
extremely
> weird personal cosmology. Weird, that is, from the traditional Islamic point
> of view.) This is one of Rumi's more famous ghazals, and Iqbal must have had
> it in mind.
...
>Yours,
>Fuzuli
Fuzuli Sahib:
A very illuminating post. Nagesh Sahib has correctly identified bw as
pertaining to Botswana. I teach chemistry here at the university. I can
also confirm what Nagesh Sahib has said about Botswana being a pleasant place
to live in; though without the internet, it would be a cultural desert at
least as far as Urdu poetry is concerned.
I was not aware that Iqbal got disenchanched with Rumi. Did he say anything
in his prose or poetry to that effect? I don't know when Jaaved Naama was
written, but it is one of his later books, and in that the poet describes his
journey through heavens with Rumi as his guide. If you could throw more
light on the matter, I would be grateful.
Rumi has written another ghazal in the same zameen. I quote it below and
translate it into Urdu. This one is much shorter than the one you have
quoted.
Tanhaa na man-am jaana az behr-e-to deewaana
Deewaana base daarad zulf-e-to ba-har khaana
[Ai jaan, tanhaa main hi nahin hoon jo teri wajah se deewaana hai
Teri zulf ke deewaane har ghar men bahut hain]
Ai chashm o chiraagh-e-dil, roshan ze-to shud manzil
To sham'-e-hamah mehfil, man sokhta parvaana
[Ai chashm o chiraagh-e-dil, tujh se ghar roshan ho gaya hai
Tu har mehfil ki shama hai, main jala hua parvaana hoon]
Roshan shud-ash har dam choon rooe to ra beenad
Az shauqe chanaan roo'e deewaana shawad ya na
[Har nafas (aadmi) jab tera chehra dekhta hai to roshan ho jaata hai Aise
chehre (nazzare) se chaahe deewaana ho ya na]
To rooe nihaan kardah man shefta-e-rooy-at
Laikan ba-saraa pardah majnoon shudah deewaana
[Tu ne chehra chhupa diya hai, main tere chehre (nazzare) ka aashiq
hoon
Laikan khaime men majnoon deewaana ho gaya hai]
Paivasta mara boode tasbeeh o musallaa'e
Barbaad shudah taqwa, aknoon man o paimaana
[Maire saath tasbeeh aur musalla paivasta the. (I was always with
prayer beeds and prayer mat)
Ab maira taqwa (piety) barbaad ho gaya hai; ab main hoon aur
(sharaab ka) jaam hai].
I am not satisfied with my translation of the last but one she'r. Maybe I did
not understand it correctly; I would appreciate any correction in this or any
other she'r. Thanks.