Faiz's Heart Attack
Padmanabhan Srinagesh
translation by Shiv Kumar may be of interest to all of you. It has been
recited by Zia Mohyeddin in a cassette of Faiz's poetry. I find Shiv
Kumar's book to be of very high quality, and this particular excerpt,
brief though it is, serves to make the point that translations can be
very effective. I'm waiting for Bly's translation of Ghalib to hit the
shelves. In the meantime:
"Aur jab yAd ki bujhti hui shammeN men nazar AyA kahiN
Ek pal Akhri lamha teri dildAri kA
Dard itnA thA ke us se bhi guzarna chAhA
Hamne chAhA bhi, magar dil na ThaharnA chAhA"
"And when, in memory's fading lights,
there emerged somewhere before the eye,
one last moment of your love's kindness -
the pain was so lacerating
it ventured to overstep the moment.
I too willed to hold on to it,
but the heart would not agree."
The first part of the poem is also very powerful.
Nagesh
ahm...@noka.ub.bw
I rank this poem as one of the most striking that Faiz has written. Only
Faiz could describe an actual, physical heart attack in terms that have long
been used by Urdu poets to describe heartache of the emotional kind. In the
lines just preceding the ones quoted by Nagesh Sahib, powerful classical
metaphors are used, in which the poet describes what happens to the
'veeraana' of his body:
Maire veeraana-e-tan men goyaa
saare dukhte huey reshon ki tanaaben khul kar
silsala-vaar pataa dene lageen
rukhsat-e-qaafila-e-shauq ki tayyari ka.
I haven't come across many examples in Urdu poetry where a poem written in
free verse was so evocative as this one.
Nagesh Sahib, could you please post the whole translation by Shiv Kumar?
Thanks.
Jamil
-----------== Posted via Deja News, The Discussion Network ==----------
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Padmanabhan Srinagesh
>
>
> Nagesh Sahib, could you please post the whole translation by Shiv Kumar?
> Thanks.
>
> Jamil
>
> -----------== Posted via Deja News, The Discussion Network ==----------
Here it is:
Heart Attack
"Dard itna Tha ki us raat dil vahshi ne
Har rag-jaan se ulajhna chaahaa
Har ban mo se tapakna chaahaa
Aur kahin door tere sehn-e-chaman mein dhul kar
Husn-e-mahtaab se aazurda nazar aane laga
Mere veeran tan mein goya
saare dukhte hue raishon ke tanaben khul kar
Silsile vaar pata dene lagee
Rukhsat qafile-shoq ke tayyaari ka
Aur jab yAd ki bujhti hui shammeN men nazar AyA kahiN
Ek pal Akhri lamha teri dildAri kA
Dard itnA thA ke us se bhi guzarna chAhA
Hamne chAhA bhi, magar dil na ThaharnA chAhA"
"Pain so intense that night, my savagae heart
wanted to grapple with every artery,
and drip from every pore.
and out there, as though in your courtyard,
each leaf, bathed in my despondent blood,
began to look pare in the moonlight.
In my body's desert places, it seemed
as if, all teh fibres of my wincing veings, undone,
began shooting out signals, ceaselessly -
prepareations for hte departure of love's caravan.
ahm...@noka.ub.bw
nr...@pacbell.net wrote:
> ahm...@noka.ub.bw wrote:
> >
>
> >
> > Nagesh Sahib, could you please post the whole translation by Shiv Kumar?
> > Thanks.
>
>
> Heart Attack
>
> Mere veeran tan mein goya
> saare dukhte hue raishon ke tanaben khul kar
> Silsile vaar pata dene lagee
> Rukhsat qafile-shoq ke tayyaari ka
>
> In my body's desert places, it seemed
> as if, all teh fibres of my wincing veings, undone,
> began shooting out signals, ceaselessly -
> prepareations for hte departure of love's caravan.
The translation is excellent, and Shiv Kumar retains many of the similies and
metaphors of the original poem - not an easy task. In the lines above,
however, he lost the best metaphor of the poem, and it's the one which I have
found particularly appealing. The poet refers to the aching fibers of his
body as the cords or ropes of the tents being untied in preparation for the
caravan packing up and leaving the wasteland of the body.
Also, in the first line above, there is an izaafat; the phrase is
veeraan-e-tan, the deset or the wasteland of the body.
Thanks for posting the translation.
Jamil
-----------== Posted via Deja News, The Discussion Network ==----------
Padmanabhan Srinagesh
it out, I am surprised that it did not strike me at once. Of course,
when I go camping now, there are no fibres that are pulled out in
preparation of departure. Modern tents are designed for those without
any knowledge of ropes and knots.
Nagesh
Nagesh
ahm...@noka.ub.bw
ahm...@noka.ub.bw wrote:
> In article <372DB2...@pacbell.net>,
> nr...@pacbell.net wrote:
> >...
> > Mere veeran tan mein goya
> > saare dukhte hue raishon ke tanaben khul kar
> > Silsile vaar pata dene lagee
> > Rukhsat qafile-shoq ke tayyaari ka
> >
...
>
> Also, in the first line above, there is an izaafat; the phrase is
> veeraan-e-tan, the deset or the wasteland of the body.
>
>
Sorry, I should have written "veeraana-e-tan" (wasteland of the body) rather
than "veeraan-e-tan".
Also, if this message gets poted twice, my apologies. Third world, you know!
Ashok
>
>
>Also, in the first line above, there is an izaafat; the phrase is
>veeraan-e-tan, the deset or the wasteland of the body.
>
>
>Jamil
It's me again, with an izaafat-relaed question. "tanu" is body
in Sanskrit, leading to Hinidi-zed "tan". (Similarly, "tanuman"
becomes "tan_man", for body and mind.)
The word "man" exists in Persian, but means something other
than "mind"; actually "I".
What about "tan"? Does it mean "body" in Persian (also)?
Ashok
ahm...@noka.ub.bw
ADhar...@WorldBank.Org (Ashok) wrote:
>
> It's me again, with an izaafat-relaed question. "tanu" is body
> in Sanskrit, leading to Hinidi-zed "tan". (Similarly, "tanuman"
> becomes "tan_man", for body and mind.)
>
> The word "man" exists in Persian, but means something other
> than "mind"; actually "I".
>
> What about "tan"? Does it mean "body" in Persian (also)?
>
> Ashok
>
Yes, "tan" in Persian also means body. It is used in many compound words that
are also current in Urdu, such as tan-darusti (health), tan-aasaan
(leisure-seeking), tan-aavar (large bodied), tan-dahi (effort, hard work),
tan-parvar (self-indulgent) and several others.
Of course the word is also used in many phrases in conjuction with the
(exclusively) Hindi words "man" and "dhan", as in "tan man dhan vaarna" (to
sacrifice everything), tan man se (with full effort).
Iqbal has used these words to great effect in one of his ghazals:
apne man men doob kar paa jaa suraagh-e-zindagi
tu agar maira nahin banta na ban, apnaa to ban
man ki duniyaa? man ki duniyaa, soz-o-mastee jazb-o-shauq
tan ki duniyaa? tan ki duniyaa, sood-o-saudaa makr-o-fan
man ki daulat haath aati hai to phir jaati nahin
tan ki daulat chhaa'on hai! aata hai dhan, jaata hai dhan.
man ki duniyaa men na paaya main ne afrangi ka raaj
man ki duniyaa men na dekhe main ne shaikh-o-barhaman
paani paani kar ga'ee mujh ko qalandar ki yeh baat
tu jhukaa jab ghair ke aage, na tan taira na man.
Raj Kumar Pathria
> It's me again, with an izaafat-related question. "tanu" is body
> in Sanskrit, leading to Hinidi-zed "tan". (Similarly, "tanuman"
> becomes "tan_man", for body and mind.)
>
> The word "man" exists in Persian, but means something other
> than "mind"; actually "I".
>
> What about "tan"? Does it mean "body" in Persian (also)?
First of all, this question is NOT izaafat-related. An izaafat arises
only when two words are connected by an -e- or by an -o-, not when they
are simply connected by a hyphen. Thus, the terms tan-man, dhan-daulat,
dukh-sukh, dawaa-daaroo, .... are word combinations, with no izaafat
involved.
Yes, the word 'tan' is indeed a Persian word as well, meaning 'jism'.
Note, for instance, the Persian terms
tan-durust (commonly pronounced as tand-rust, meaning healthy),
tan-dihi (tan-dihi se kaam karna = to apply all your body to a given
task, to work diligently),
tan-aavar (= tanaavar, meaning stout), .....
I hope this helps.
khair-andesh, Raj Kumar
Ashok
>
>Ashok wrote:
>
>> It's me again, with an izaafat-related question. "tanu" is body
>> in Sanskrit, leading to Hinidi-zed "tan". (Similarly, "tanuman"
>> becomes "tan_man", for body and mind.)
>>
>> The word "man" exists in Persian, but means something other
>> than "mind"; actually "I".
>>
>> What about "tan"? Does it mean "body" in Persian (also)?
>
>First of all, this question is NOT izaafat-related.
>khair-andesh, Raj Kumar
It is. Looks like you didn't see the quoted sentence in my post:
>>Also, in the first line above, there is an izaafat; the phrase is
>>veeraan-e-tan, the deset or the wasteland of the body.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I was checking that "veeraan-e-tan" is legit!
Ashok
Raj Kumar Pathria
>
> In article <373428...@sciborg.uwaterloo.ca>, rpat...@sciborg.uwaterloo.ca says...
> >
> >Ashok wrote:
> >
> >> It's me again, with an izaafat-related question. "tanu" is body
> >> in Sanskrit, leading to Hinidi-zed "tan". (Similarly, "tanuman"
> >> becomes "tan_man", for body and mind.)
> >>
> >> The word "man" exists in Persian, but means something other
> >> than "mind"; actually "I".
> >>
> >> What about "tan"? Does it mean "body" in Persian (also)?
> >
> >First of all, this question is NOT izaafat-related.
>
> >khair-andesh, Raj Kumar
>
> It is. Looks like you didn't see the quoted sentence in my post:
> >>Also, in the first line above, there is an izaafat; the phrase is
> >>veeraan-e-tan, the desert or the wasteland of the body.
-----------
Ashok Sahib:
The sentence you are quoting now wasn't alluded to in the message that I
was responding to. So I thought you were wondering about the phrase
'tan-man' only. Now I see that this sentence had, in fact, appeared in
an earlier post of yours or of Jamil Sahib's --- which I didn't relate
to at the time. I hope that clarifies the basis of my comment, which
doesn't apply any more.
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
> I was checking that "veeraan-e-tan" is legit!
>
By now, I believe, it has been mentioned (by Jamil Sahib himself) that
the correct term here is 'veeraana-e-tan', not 'veeraan-e-tan'. Please
note.
khair-andesh, Raj Kumar
Ali Minai
Ashok <ADhar...@WorldBank.Org> wrote:
>
>It's me again, with an izaafat-relaed question. "tanu" is body
>in Sanskrit, leading to Hinidi-zed "tan". (Similarly, "tanuman"
>becomes "tan_man", for body and mind.)
>
>The word "man" exists in Persian, but means something other
>than "mind"; actually "I".
>
>What about "tan"? Does it mean "body" in Persian (also)?
Yes, `tan' means `body' in Persian, and is used in such compounds
as `zIb-e tan' (gracing the body --- refers to garments), `tanUmand'
(well-built), `pIl-tan' (elephant-bodied --- appellation of the famous
warrior, Rostam).
Ali Minai
---------------------------------------------------------------------
man ki duniyA, man ki duniyA, sOz-o mastI, jazb-o SHaOq!
tan ki duniyA, tan ki duniyA, sUd-o saOdA, makr-o fan!
man ki duniyA mEN na pAyA maEN ne afrangI ka rAj;
man ki duniyA mEN na dEkhE maEN ne SHaEKH-O barhaman.
man ki daOlat hAth AtI haE to phir jAtI nahIN;
tan ki daOlat CHhAoN haE, Ata hae dhan, jAtA hae dhan.
pAni pAnI kar gayI mujh kO qalandar kI ye bAt:
tU jhukA jab GHaEr kE AgE, na man tErA na tan. Iqbal
---------------------------------------------------------------------
--
Ali Minai
Ashok
>
>Yes, `tan' means `body' in Persian,
>Ali Minai
>
>man ki duniyA mEN na dEkhE maEN ne SHaEKH-O barhaman.
>
>Ali Minai
And "barhaman" is Persian for Brahmin?
(Just like Brahmin is English for "braahmaNa",
I suppose.)
Do Persian speakers know the word? :)
Ashok
Raj Kumar Pathria
>
> In article <7h89fb$a5b$1...@news.ececs.uc.edu>, ami...@holmes.ececs.uc.edu says...
> >
> >
> >Ali Minai
>
> And "barhaman" is Persian for Brahmin?
> (Just like Brahmin is English for "braahmaNa",
> I suppose.)
>
> Do Persian speakers know the word? :)
>
> Ashok
---------
It is difficult to say how many Persian-speaking people know the word
bar'haman but the Persian dictionaries have it and the Persian scholars
know it. If this were not the case, the word-combination
"shaikh-o-bar'haman" could not be legit! And certainly Iqbal wouldn't
have used it.
In fact, Urdu poets, in their kalaam, have used both braahman and
bar'haman. Here are two good examples:
1. dekhiye, paate hain ushshaaq butoN se kya faiz
ik braahman ne kahaa hai ke yeh saal achhchha hai ... Ghalib
(ushshaaq = the plural of aashiq, lovers; faiz paana = to gain
something)
2. yaaN zauq-e-deed bhi hai ibaadat ke saath saath
jaaye ga dair chhorh ke ab bar'haman kahaaN? ... Haali
(zauq-e-deed = darshanoN ki abhilaasha; dair = mandir)
khair-andesh, Raj Kumar
Ali Minai
Ashok <ADhar...@WorldBank.Org> wrote:
>In article <7h89fb$a5b$1...@news.ececs.uc.edu>, ami...@holmes.ececs.uc.edu says...
>>
>
>>Ali Minai
>>
>>
>>Ali Minai
>
>And "barhaman" is Persian for Brahmin?
>(Just like Brahmin is English for "braahmaNa",
>I suppose.)
>
>Do Persian speakers know the word? :)
Indeed, `barhaman' and `barehman' are the Urdu/Persian versions
of Brahmin. I doubt if Iranians used the word in poetry, but I am
not certain. Persian poets writing in India did use the word, and
since KHusraO at least was widely read in Iran, Iranians probably
did know the word. It does show up in my Persian dictionary, which
was published in Iran.
Ali
------------------------------------------------------------------
harf-e harfam dar mizAq-E fitne jA KH(w)Ahad gerift;
dastgAh-E nAz-e SHeiKH-O barhaman KH(w)Ahad SHudan. Ghalib
------------------------------------------------------------------
--
Ali Minai