z Class 18 5.13.19 § Announcements § Review of last class § Finish lecture on Qawwali, begin intro to Pakistan z Announcements § Keshav Batish senior recital, June 5 – Extra credit § Exam #1 results posted § 2 perfect scores, 25 A’s, 46 B’s, 37 C’s, 17 D and lower § Summer course on Indian rhythm (second session) § Learn tabla and dholak! § Enrollment open now! z Last class review § Qawwali – “Food for the soul” § Sufi devotional poetry set to music § Performed at dargah § ‘Urs z Terms § Mehfil – small, intimate gatherings that involve entertainment of various sorts, including music, poetry, dance etc. z Tum Ek Gorakh Dhandha Ho § “You are a baffling puzzle” § Written by Naz Khialvi (1947-2010) § Pakistani lyricist and radio broadcaster § Popularized by Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (1948-1997) z Tum Ek Gorakh Dhandha Ho kabhi yahaan tumhein dhoonda kabhi wahaan pohancha tumhaari deed ki khaatir kahaan kahaan pohancha ghareeb mit gaye paamaal ho gaye lekin kisi talak na tera aaj tak nishaan pohancha ho bhi naheen aur har ja ho tum ik gorakh dhanda ho At times I searched for you here, at times I traveled there For the sake of seeing You, how far I have come! Similar wanderers wiped away and ruined, but Your sign has still not reached anyone You are not, yet You are everywhere You are a baffling puzzle z Bhar Do Jholi Meri § Traditional song § Popularized in movie “Bajrangi Bhaijaan” (2015) z Bhar Do Jholi Meri Tere Darbaar Mein Dil Thaam Ke Woh Aata Hai Jisko Tu Chaahe Hey Nabi Tu Bhulata Hai Tere Dar Pe Sar Jhukaaye Main Bhi Aaya Hoon Jiski Bigdi Haye Nabi Chaahe Tu Banata Hai Bhar Do Jholi Meri Ya Mohammad Lautkar Main Naa Jaunga Khaali They come into Your court clenching their hearts Those people whom You desire to see , O Prophet! I’ve also come to Your door with my head bowed down You’re the One who can fix broken fates, O Prophet! Please fill my lap, O Prophet! I won’t go back empty handed z Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (1948-1997) § Pakistani vocalist § Sang classical (khyāl) but more famous as a Qawwali singer § Brought classical performance techniques to Qawwali § Visiting artist at University of Washington from 1992-93 § Legacy carried on through his nephew, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan z Introduction to Pakistan Badshahi Mosque, Lahore Built in 1671 by Emperor Aurangzeb z Pakistan § Prominent Bronze Age (3000-1500BCE) settlements of Mohenjo Daro and Harrapa along Indus River Valley § Hinduism widespread during Vedic Age (1500-500BCE) § Ruled by series of Hindu, Buddhist, and eventually Muslim (Persian) dynasties § Islam introduced by Sufi missionaries from 7th to 13th centuries § Ethnically and linguistically diverse z Indus Valley civilization z Pakistan ethnicities z Modern India and Pakistan § By the end of 19th century British rule was in effect over much of old Mughal Empire territory § The Hindu and Muslim divide among this territory was be.

1. z
Class 18
5.13.19
§ Announcements
§ Review of last class
§ Finish lecture on Qawwali, begin intro to Pakistan
z
Announcements
§ Keshav Batish senior recital, June 5 – Extra credit
§ Exam #1 results posted
§ 2 perfect scores, 25 A’s, 46 B’s, 37 C’s, 17 D and lower
§ Summer course on Indian rhythm (second session)
§ Learn tabla and dholak!
§ Enrollment open now!
z
Last class review

2. § Qawwali – “Food for the soul”
§ Sufi devotional poetry set to music
§ Performed at dargah
§ ‘Urs
z
Terms
§ Mehfil – small, intimate gatherings that involve entertainment
of
various sorts, including music, poetry, dance etc.
z
Tum Ek Gorakh Dhandha Ho
§ “You are a baffling puzzle”
§ Written by Naz Khialvi (1947-2010)
§ Pakistani lyricist and radio broadcaster
§ Popularized by Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (1948-1997)
z
Tum Ek Gorakh Dhandha Ho

3. kabhi yahaan tumhein dhoonda
kabhi wahaan pohancha
tumhaari deed ki khaatir kahaan
kahaan pohancha
ghareeb mit gaye paamaal ho
gaye lekin
kisi talak na tera aaj tak nishaan
pohancha
ho bhi naheen aur har ja ho
tum ik gorakh dhanda ho
At times I searched for you here,
at times I traveled there
For the sake of seeing You, how
far I have come!
Similar wanderers wiped away
and ruined, but
Your sign has still not reached
anyone
You are not, yet You are
everywhere
You are a baffling puzzle
z
Bhar Do Jholi Meri
§ Traditional song
§ Popularized in movie “Bajrangi Bhaijaan” (2015)

4. z
Bhar Do Jholi Meri
Tere Darbaar Mein
Dil Thaam Ke Woh Aata Hai
Jisko Tu Chaahe
Hey Nabi Tu Bhulata Hai
Tere Dar Pe Sar Jhukaaye
Main Bhi Aaya Hoon
Jiski Bigdi Haye
Nabi Chaahe Tu Banata Hai
Bhar Do Jholi Meri Ya Mohammad
Lautkar Main Naa Jaunga Khaali
They come into Your court
clenching their hearts
Those people whom You desire to
see , O Prophet!
I’ve also come to Your door with
my head bowed down
You’re the One who can fix
broken fates, O Prophet!
Please fill my lap, O Prophet!
I won’t go back empty handed
z
Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
(1948-1997)
§ Pakistani vocalist

5. § Sang classical (khyāl) but more famous as a Qawwali singer
§ Brought classical performance techniques to Qawwali
§ Visiting artist at University of Washington from 1992-93
§ Legacy carried on through his nephew, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan
z
Introduction to Pakistan
Badshahi Mosque, Lahore
Built in 1671 by Emperor Aurangzeb
z
Pakistan
§ Prominent Bronze Age (3000-1500BCE) settlements of
Mohenjo
Daro and Harrapa along Indus River Valley
§ Hinduism widespread during Vedic Age (1500-500BCE)
§ Ruled by series of Hindu, Buddhist, and eventually Muslim
(Persian) dynasties
§ Islam introduced by Sufi missionaries from 7th to 13th
centuries
§ Ethnically and linguistically diverse

6. z
Indus Valley civilization
z
Pakistan ethnicities
z
Modern India and Pakistan
§ By the end of 19th century British rule was in effect over
much of
old Mughal Empire territory
§ The Hindu and Muslim divide among this territory was
becoming
more strained
§ Each faction began its own intellectual movement, which
eventually
formed a body politic
§ All-India Muslim League established in 1906 to counter the
Hindu
Renaissance that was occurring in Bengal
§ Proponent of two-nation theory

7. z
Partition
§ Partition with India – August 14, 1947
§ Est. 200,000-2,000,000 people killed
§ Roughly 11 million people uprooted and expelled
§ Sikhs, Hindus, and Muslims
§ Panjab
z
Panjab
z
East and West Pakistan
§ Because of the large majority of Muslims in the present-day
area
of Bangladesh, the territory was initially ceded as a province of
Pakistan
§ East Pakistan
§ Pakistan surrendered in 1971; Bangladesh independence
z

8. East and West Pakistan
z
Modern Pakistan
§ Unlike the independence movement in India, music was not
part
of a national identity in a post-Partition Pakistan
§ Music was a predicament for Islamic religious reform
movements in
the late 19th and early 20th centuries
§ Ambivalent status of music and musicians in Islamic culture
§ “As a new nation in search of cultural self-definition,
Pakistan
was guided by two paradigms: the negation of anything
identified with India, and the affirmation of a Muslim
identity…This identity is social and cultural as well as
religious.”
–Regula Qureshi
z
Modern Pakistan
§ In India, musical culture modernized from its feudal roots
§ Music colleges established
§ Music appreciation societies created

9. § Patronage shifted to public sector (concerts)
§ Radio stations
§ In Pakistan, the modernization of musical culture was not as
extensive as it was in India
§ No music colleges
§ Low public interest for learning and performing music
z
Modern Pakistan
§ The Islamicization policies of 1980’s caused art music to
decline
further in popularity
§ Artists left Pakistan because of the hostile environments
created
for them (dance)
§ “Pakistani” music were those genres that had a clear
connection
to an Indo-Islamic heritage
§ Ghazal, Qawwali
z
Modern Pakistan
§ Musicians remain under threat by extremism in Pakistan

10. § Sufi shrines and musicians attacked
§ 2010 – Sufi shrine of Abdullah Shah Ghazi in Karachi hit by
suicide
bombers
§ 2016 – Amjad Sabri killed by Taliban in Karachi
z
Modern Pakistan
§ Music has retained a neofuedal character in Pakistan
§ Patronized by wealthy, private individuals
§ Mehfil (also called baithak)
z
Modern Pakistan
§ For classical musicians born in Pakistan before Partition
(1947),
the decision to settle in Pakistan or India was critical for the
continuity of their livelihoods
§ Bade Ghulam Ali Khan
§ Rais Khan

11. z
Bade Ghulam Ali Khan
1902-1968
§ Born in Qasur (near Lahore in Pakistani Panjab)
§ Trained in Patiala gharana vocal style
§ Relocated to Pakistan after Partition, then applied for and was
granted Indian citizenship
§ Moved back to India to continue an illustrious career as a
classical
musician
z
Rais Khan
(1939-2017)
§ Once regarded as one the best sitar players of all time
§ Born in Indore (central India) but moved to Pakistan in 1980’s
§ Career as a musician fell into decline and obscurity
z
Class 19
5.15.19

12. § Announcements
§ Review of last class
§ Lecture on ghazal
z
Announcements
§ Keshav Batish senior recital, June 5 – Extra credit
§ Summer course on Indian rhythm (second session)
§ Learn tabla and dholak!
§ Enrollment open now!
z
Last class review
§ Pakistan
§ Formed during the Partition of India, 1947
§ Music not a part of modern nation building
§ Retains “neo-feudal” character
§ Indo-Islamic traditions favored over Indo-Hindu traditions
§ Ghazal and Qawwali

13. z
Terms
§ Ghazal – an Arabic poetic form, consisting of rhyming
couplets
§ Laggi/Dhun – instrumental interlude played between verses in
a
ghazal
z
Ghazal
§ Originally an Arabic form of poetry
§ Adapted to many Central and South Asian languages
§ Farsi, Urdu, Hindi, Pashto, Gujarati
§ Rhyming couplets (AA, BA, CA, DA…)
§ Popular in Afghanistan and Pakistan
§ Poetry contains themes related to Sufism
z
Ghazal
§ Light-classical genre

14. § Contains elements of elite and non-elite music genres
§ Verses of ghazal separated by a musical interlude known as a
laggi or dhun
§ Often played in double the original tempo, and after its
conclusion
returns to the original tempo
§ In more ”popular” ghazal-s the laggi or dhun is omitted or
shortened
z
Ghazal
§ Similar to Thumri, Ghazal poetry discusses the pain of
separation
§ However, the consummation of love in ghazal is thwarted, and
the lover is driven to madness
§ The only method through which the lover will meet the
beloved
(God) is through their death
z
Ghazal
§ Ghazal
§ Written from the perspective of a man

15. § The man’s beloved is traditionally also male (God or one’s
teacher/guide
§ Is a poetic form first and song form second (Thumri is always
sung)
§ Originally an elite genre of music, though it has become
popularized
z
Ghazal
§ Ghazal poetry has two primary figures, the lover and the
beloved
§ Lover is male
§ Beloved is male, can be female
§ The beloved is often portrayed as non-responsive and
sometimes cruel, disdainful, and heartless
z
Islam and representation
§ Islam prohibits idolatry
§ Worship of idols/cult images (representations of God)
§ God is typically depicted only by immaterial attributes
§ “Holy,” “Gracious,” or “Merciful”

16. § God is not represented in a human form
z
Ghazal and the Sublime
§ Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)
§ German philosopher famous for his works on epistemology,
moral
ethics, and aesthetics
§ The concept of the Sublime
z
Kant’s Sublime
§ “The paradox of the Sublime is as follows: in principle, the
gap separating ...
empirical objects of experience from the Thing-in-itself is
insurmountable—that
is, no empirical object, no representation of it can adequately
present the Thing;
§ “But the Sublime is an object in which we can experience this
very impossibility,
this permanent failure of the representation to reach after the
Thing.
§ “Thus, by means of the very failure of representation, we can
have a
presentiment of the true dimension of the Thing.

17. § “This is also why an object evoking in us the feeling of
Sublimity gives us
simultaneous pleasure and displeasure: it gives us displeasure
because of its
inadequacy to the Thing-Idea, but precisely through this
inadequacy it gives us
pleasure by indicating the true, incomparable greatness of the
Thing, surpassing
every possible empirical experience” (Zizek, p. 203)
z
The experience of the
inadequacy of representation
z
Idolatry and representation
§ “Perhaps there is no more sublime passage in the Jewish Law
than the commandment; Thou shalt not make unto thee any
graven images, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven or
on earth, or under the earth, and so forth.” –Kant
z
Idolatry and representation
§ Because idol worship is prohibited in Islam, God becomes an
unapproachable, transcendent figure

18. § That which cannot be represented
§ That which cannot be seen/approached
§ This prohibition motivates the desire for proximity, which
elicits
scenes of death
§ In cultural context of ghazal such scenes are joyful
possibilities of
union
z
What happens when you
gaze upon the divine?
z
Idolatry and representation
§ The burden and joy of the Sublime
§ In Indic and Islamic traditions, experiencing one’s inadequacy
is the
joyous goal of apprenticeship—the teacher brings you closer not
to
the actual divine, but to that rapturous experience of the gap
that
stands between oneself and the divine
§ ”But the Sublime is an object in which we can experience this
very impossibility, this permanent failure of the representation

19. to
reach after the Thing.”
§ “Thus, by means of the very failure of representation, we can
have a presentiment of the true dimension of the Thing.”
z
Metaphorical world of the ghazal
Lover Beloved
Author/speaker/singer
Male
Student
Heart
Pool of blood
Cupbearer
Bird
Condemned man
Addressee
Male (at times coded as female)
Arrow
Lantern
Eyes
Drinking/wine cup
Wind/breeze
Weapon (sword, arrow)
Bird catcher
Executioner
z
Iqbal Bano

20. 1935-2009
§ Highly acclaimed Pakistani ghazal singer
§ Born in Delhi; later moved to Multan (Pakistan)
§ Trained in classical and light classical forms
§ Prominent radio performer in Pakistan
§ Known for her renditions of the ghazals of Faiz Ahmed
Faiz (1911-1984)
z
Dasht-e Tanhā-ī Maiṇ
The wilderness of loneliness
Dasht-e tanhā’ī maiṇ ae jān-e jahāṇ larazāṇ
haiṇ
Terī āvāz ke sā’e tere hoṭoṇ ke sarāb
Dasht-e tanhā’ī maiṇ durī ke ḳhas-o ḳhāk tale
Khil rahe haiṇ tere pahalu ke saman aur gulāb
Ūṭh rahī hai kahīṇ qurbat se terī sāṇs kī ānch
Apnī ḳhushbū maiṇ sulagtī hu’ī madham
madham
Dor ufaq pār chamaktī hu’ī qatra qatra
Gir rahī hai terī dildār nazr kī shabnam
Is qadr pīyār se ae jān-e jahāṇ rakhā hai
Dil ke raḳhsār pe is vaqt terī yād ne hāth
Yuṇ gumāṇ hotā hai garche hai abhī sub’-e
firāq
Ḍahil gayā hijr kā din ābhī ga’ī vasl kī rāt
In the wilderness of loneliness, darling,

21. shivering,
The shadows of your voice, the mirage of
your lips
In the wilderness of loneliness, under the
separation of straw and dust
The flower of your body is blossoming
From somewhere this intimacy is awakening,
the heat of your breath,
Smoldering in its own scent, like honey
On the far horizon glittering, drop by drop
Like dew, your captivating glances falling
Darling, out of love
Your memory has now placed its hand on the
face of my heart
Though this is the morning of separation, it
seems that this
Day of separation has fled, and now is the
night of union
Translation: Iris Yellum
z
Shām-e Firāq
The night of separation
Shām-e firāq ab na pūchh ā’ī aur ā ke ṭal ga’ī
Dil thā ke phir bahal gayā jāṇ thī ki phir
sanbhal ga’ī
Bazm-e ḳhayāl maiṇ tere husan kī sham‘a jal
ga’ī

22. Dard kā chānd bujh gayā hijr kī rāt ḍahil ga’ī
Jab tujhe yād kar liyā subah mahek mahek
aṭhī
Jab terī ġham jagā liyā rāt machal machal ga’ī
Dil se har ek m‘āmla kar ke chale the sāf ham
Kehne maiṇ un ke sāmne bāt badal badal ga’ī
Āḳhrī shab ke ham safr Faiz na jāne kiyā hu’e
Rah ga’ī kis jaga sabā subah kidhr nikal ga’ī
Don’t ask me now about the night of
separation
My heart was diverted, I was taking care of
my life
The beauty of the candle was burning in your
imagination
The pain has been extinguished and the night
of separation has passed
When I remember you my morning becomes
fragrant
When I wake up the night is stubborn
Having made every matter leave my heart and
Speaking in front of this, this thing changed
completely
The travelers of last night, Faiz, I don’t know
what happened to them

23. Where did the morning and the morning
breeze go
Translation: Iris Yellum
z
Class 19
5.17.19
§ Announcements
§ Review of last class
§ Finish lecture on ghazal
z
Announcements
§ Keshav Batish senior recital, June 5 – Extra credit
§ Summer course on Indian rhythm (second session)
§ Learn tabla and dholak!
§ Enrollment open now!
z
Last class review

24. § Ghazal
§ Rhyming couplets
§ Poetry discusses pain of separation
§ Lover: male
§ Beloved: male (God)
§ Union is thwarted
§ Nature of the divine = Kant’s Sublime
z
Maiṇ nazr se pī rahā hūṇ
Drinking from your glances
Maiṇ nazr se pī rahā hūṇ ye samāṇ
badal na jā’e
Na jhukāo tum nigā haiṇ kahīṇ rāt
ḍhal na jā’e
Abhī rāt kuchh hai bāqī na ūṭhā
niqāb ae sāqī
Tera rind girte girte kahīṇ phir
sambhal na jā’e
Tere ashk bhī haiṇ is maiṇ ye
sharāb ban na jā’e
Merā jām chhūnevāle tera hāth jal
na jā’e
Merī zindagī ke mālik mere dil pe
hāth rakh de

25. Tere āne kī ḳhushī maiṇ kahīṇ dam
nikal na jā’e
This affair of drinking from your
glances should not end
Don’t close your eyes lest the night
should end
O beloved, there is still night yet
remaining, don’t lift your veil
Unless you take care you will fall
Your tears are also in this wine,
you would become intoxicated
If you touch the wineglass you
would be burned
Master of my life, put your hand on
my heart
Otherwise I will die out of the
happiness of your coming
Translation: Iris Yellum
z
The beauty of the beloved
§ Overpowering beauty
§ Cruelly and fatally beautiful
§ Leads to the pain and suffering of the lover
§ They wish for death or die

26. z
Na ganvao navak-e-neem kash
–Faiz
Na ganvao navak-e-neem kash, dil-
e-reza reza ganva dia
Jo bachay hain sang samet lo, tan-
e-dagh dagh luta dia
Mere charagar ko naveed ho, saf-e-
dushmana ko khabar karo
Woh jo qarz rakhtay thay jaan par,
woh hisab aaj chuka dia
Don‘t waste the half-drawn arrow, I
have already lost every fragment of
my (broken) heart
Save the leftover stones, my injured
body is already wasted
Let my health giver know, let the
procession of foes know
He whose soul was indebted, has
settled his dues today
z
Na ganvao navak-e-neem kash
–Faiz
Na ganvao navak-e-neem kash, dil-
e-reza reza ganva dia
Jo bachay hain sang samet lo, tan-
e-dagh dagh luta dia
Mere charagar ko naveed ho, saf-e-
dushmana ko khabar karo
Woh jo qarz rakhtay thay jaan par,

27. woh hisab aaj chuka dia
Don‘t waste the half-drawn arrow, I
have already lost every fragment of
my (broken) heart
Save the leftover stones, my injured
body is already wasted
Let my health giver know, let the
procession of foes know
He whose soul was indebted, has
settled his dues today
• The beauty of the beloved has slain the lover
• God’s beauty is a dangerous weapon (arrow)
z
Qafas mein hun gar achchha bhi na
jaanen mere shewan ko
–Mirza Ghalib (1797-1869)
Qafas meiñ hūñ gar achchhā bhī na
jāneñ mere shevan ko mirā honā
burā kyā hai navā-sanjān-e-gulshan
ko
abhī ham qatl-gah kā dekhnā āsāñ
samajhte haiñ
nahīñ dekhā shanāvar jū-e-ḳhūñ
meñ tere tausan ko
Why should my warbling mates take
exception to my wails?
My being doesn’t disrupt their
peace, for I lie encaged.

28. I still think it will be easy to see the
killing-ground,
I haven’t seen your horse swimming
in a river blood
z
Qafas meiñ hūñ gar achchhā bhī na
jāneñ mere shevan ko
–Mirza Ghalib (1797-1869)
Qafas meiñ hūñ gar achchhā bhī na
jāneñ mere shevan ko
Mirā honā burā kyā hai navā-sanjān-
e-gulshan ko
Abhī ham qatl-gah kā dekhnā āsāñ
samajhte haiñ
Nahīñ dekhā shanāvar jū-e-ḳhūñ
meñ tere tausan ko
Why should my warbling mates take
exception to my wails?
My being doesn’t disrupt their
peace, for I lie encaged.
I still think it will be easy to see the
killing-ground,
I haven’t seen your horse swimming
in a river blood
•The lover depicts himself as emotionally naïve and unprepared
•Lover underestimates the ordeals ahead of him
•He expects to die for love, at the beloved‘s command and that
it will be
pure joy

29. •He does not realize the grueling pain that awaits him
•The carnage will be almost unimaginable
•Blood will flow in the streets
•The beloved‘s horse will swim in it
z
Mirza Ghalib
(1797-1869)
§ Born in Agra
§ Prominent Urdu and Persian poet during the final years of the
Mughal Empire
§ Court poet for Bahadur Shah Zafar II, last Mughal emperor
(r. 1837-1857)
§ Prolific ghazal writer
§ Poems remain popular today among musicians and literary
critics
z
Cheshm-e Mast-’Ajabe
–Amir Khusro
Chasm-e-maste ‘ajabe zulf taraze ‘ajabe
Maiparaste ‘ajabe fitna taraze ‘ajabe
Bahr-e-qatlam chu kashad tegh nehman sar

30. basujud
U banaze 'ajabe man banyaze ‘ajabe
Waqt-e-bismil shudanam chashm baruyash
baz ast
Meherbane ‘ajabe bandanawaze ‘ajabe
Turk taze ‘ajabe shoba babaze ‘ajabe
Kajkulahe ‘ajabe ‘arbada saze ‘ajabe
Haq mago kalma-e-kufr ast dar in ja Khusrau
Razdane ‘ajabesahib-e-raz-e-‘ajabe
O wondrous ecstatic eyes, o wondrous long
locks
O wondrous wine worshipper, o wondrous
mischievous sweetheart
As he draws the sword, I bow my head in
prostration so as to be killed,
O wondrous is his beneficence, o wondrous my
submission
In the spasm of being killed my eyes beheld
your face:
O wondrous benevolence, o wondrous
guidance and protection
O wondrous amorous teasing, o wondrous
beguiling
O wondrous tilted cap (symbol of beauty), o
wondrous tormentor
Do not reveal the Truth; in this world
blasphemy prevails, Khusrau
O wondrous source of mystery, o wondrous
Knower of secrets
z
Cheshm-e Mast-’Ajabe

31. –Amir Khusro
§ The beloved
§ Symbolized by his eyes, locks of hair
§ Lover admits his submission to the beloved, prostrates himself
to
be killed by the beloved, executioner-style
§ The beloved wields a sword
§ But before the lover dies, he gazes upon the face of the
beloved
z
Sarv-e sīmīnā bah ṣaḥrā mī ravī
Sa’dī Shīrāzī (c. 1200-1290)
Sarv-e sīmīnā bah ṣaḥrā mī ravī
Nek bad’ahdi kih bī mā mī ravī
Oh silver cypress, going to stroll in
the countryside
You’re a true false-promiser, that
you’re going without me!
z
Sarv-e sīmīnā bah ṣaḥrā mī ravī
Sa’dī Shīrāzī (c. 1200-1290)
Sarv-e sīmīnā bah ṣaḥrā mī ravī

32. Nek bad’ahdi kih bī mā mī ravī
Oh silver cypress, going to stroll in
the countryside
You’re a true false-promiser, that
you’re going without me!
• The beloved is a cypress tree
• Tall, slender and straight, like the trunk of a cypress
• He sways gracefully while walking, like a cypress in the wind
• The cypress is strolling in the countryside because the cypress
is an
evergreen, immune to the changing of seasons
• The beloved is a free, independent being
• Not anchored to one spot but can move around at will, and
likely to follow its own pleasure rather than that of another
z
Āvāragān-e ‘ishq kā pūchhā jo maiñ nishāñ
–Mir (1723-1810)
Āvāragān-e ‘ishq kā pūchhā jo maiñ
nishāñ
Musht-e ghubār le ke ṣabā ne uṛā
diyā
When I asked for a sign of the
wanderers of love,
The breeze took a handful of dust
and flung it into the air

33. z
Āvāragān-e ‘ishq kā pūchhā jo maiñ nishāñ
–Mir (1723-1810)
Āvāragān-e ‘ishq kā pūchhā jo maiñ
nishāñ
Musht-e ghubār le ke ṣabā ne uṛā
diyā
When I asked for a sign of the
wanderers of love,
The breeze took a handful of dust
and flung it into the air
• The breeze implies that the wanderers of love…
• End up as mere handfuls of dust after their deaths
• Are nameless and unknown as handfuls of dust
• Are perpetual wanderers, as restless as handfuls of dust
OR
• The breeze is uninterested, merely flings dust into the air
instead of
responding
• The breeze may be flinging dust on its own head as a sign that
its
grief for the wanderers of love is beyond words
z

34. Talḳhī-e furqat thī jo beḥad
nah hargiz khā sakā
–Sitvat Lakhnavī
Talḳhī-e furqat thī jo beḥad nah
hargiz khā sakā
Haḍḍiyān merī sag-e jānāñ chabā
kar rah gayā
The bitterness of separation was so
extreme that he couldn’t possibly eat
them
The beloved’s dog merely gnawed a
bit on my bones, the left them.
z
Talḳhī-e furqat thī jo beḥad
nah hargiz khā sakā
–Sitvat Lakhnavī
Talḳhī-e furqat thī jo beḥad nah
hargiz khā sakā
Haḍḍiyān merī sag-e jānāñ chabā
kar rah gayā
The bitterness of separation was so
extreme that he couldn’t possibly eat
them
The beloved’s dog merely gnawed a
bit on my bones, the left them.
• The beloved’s dog is a privileged creature

35. • The lover has the pleasure of dying in the beloved’s courtyard
• The dog finds the body OR the beloved tosses the body to the
dog
• But the bones are bitter (talḳhi) in taste and in spirit
• The dog refuses to eat the bones and leaves them
z
Mujh par bhī to yih ‘uqdah tū khol ṣabā bare
–Khwaja Mir Dard (1720-1785)
Mujh par bhī to yih ‘uqdah tū khol
ṣabā bare
Ẓulfoñ ne kise bhejā yih nāmah-e
pechīdah
For me, too, open this knot at last,
oh breeze!
The curls have sent this convoluted
letter–to whom?
z
Mujh par bhī to yih ‘uqdah tū khol ṣabā bare
–Khwaja Mir Dard (1720-1785)
Mujh par bhī to yih ‘uqdah tū khol
ṣabā bare
Ẓulfoñ ne kise bhejā yih nāmah-e
pechīdah
For me, too, open this knot at last,

36. oh breeze!
The curls have sent this convoluted
letter–to whom?
• The breeze is carrying the scent of the beloved‘s curls
• The breeze has carried the scent from afar
• Implying that it has passed by many people
• What is the message?
• Who was it intended for?
• To “open a knot” is an image for unraveling a knotty problem
• It also evokes the act of loosening tied-up curls of hair
• The letter sent by the curls is “pechidah,” twisted, and
therefore hard
to understand
• This convoluted letter is sent not even by the beloved but by
the
curls themselves