Requiem in Raga Janki

by Neelum Saran Gaur

  keertan: communal hymn singing

  dholak: two-faced drum

  Great Maata: folk name for small pox, imagined as a horrific avatar of the goddess

  suhaag: husband’s life or a state of being married

  maata: pox

  chaukhat: threshold

  Chapter 6

  alaap, gat, jod and jhala: the four accelerating rhythm patterns that mark the progress of a raga

  banna: traditional wedding folk song sung in honour of the groom

  maati-mili: colloquial term of abuse meaning ‘made of mud’

  mubarak: congratulations

  Chapter 7

  gharana: hereditary school of music centred on particular maestros and styles and named after the place of its location

  Inshallah: as Allah wills

  shagird: student

  murshid: master, teacher

  taalim: training

  Chapter 8

  kulhar: earthen tumbler

  rudraveena: rare string instrument

  rasa: temper, indwelling mood

  ashtha-disha: the eight directions

  Chapter 9

  rajaji: my king, said ironically. Common apostrophe in mujra songs.

  chik: a slatted screen made of thin cane or bamboo strips

  patang-baaz: ace kite-flyer

  chunri: headcloth, stole

  ‘Holi hai’: popular street cry meaning ‘It’s Holi!’

  ‘Bura na mano, Holi hai’: popular street cry playfully uttered during the spring festival of Holi when colour is sprayed on friends and strangers with the words: Please don’t mind—it’s Holi.

  ‘Aaj Braj mein ho rahi Hori’: In Braj-country it’s Holi today.

  ‘Mo pe daar gayo sare rang ki gagar’: He (meaning Krishna) emptied the entire potful of colour on me.

  ‘Hori machi hai saiyaan ki nagariya’: In my lover’s city Holi’s being (wildly) celebrated.

  baraat: procession of wedding guests accompanying the groom

  gudiya: doll

  ‘Khub khushrang bana hai yeh banna praj ki raat!’: How colourful is this groom on the night he’s to become a husband.

  ‘Laddoo, peda, balushahi tikia tumhe khilobain / Toshak, takia, lal palangiya tumhe sulaubain’: ‘Laddoos, pedas, balushahis, tikia will I feed thee / On mattress, pillow, red bedstead shall I lull thee to sleep.’ Traditional wedding folk song.

  Chapter 10

  achkan: long tunic

  Gaddi Pujan: throne-worship ceremony

  shisham: teak

  bandish: composition

  praharas: watches

  taaseer: bloom

  pushpahar: a necklace in a floral design crafted in gold.

  ‘Rangraliyan kaliyan sang bhanwar karat gunjar / Bolat mor, koyal ki kook sun hook utthi’: Flower buds make merry with buzzing bees, peacocks cry, when I heard the cuckoo’s coo a pang rose (in my heart).

  tanpura: string instrument used as background accompaniment

  Chapter 11

  gilloris: cones

  gari-khana: carriage shed

  bawarchi-khanas: cook houses

  Mallika-e-Hind: Queen of India

  ‘Naghma-sarai ke siwa kehti hai sher Janki / Ahle-kamal dekh lein uska hunar alag-alag’: Other than sing lyrics, Janki writes poetry too / See this marvel, her various gifts. (One of Janki’s verses.)

  shauq: interest

  ‘Hathwa laagat kumhailai ho rama, juhi ki kaliyan’: The touch of a hand is enough to wither the jasmine buds.

  ‘Rum-jhum badarwa barse’: Clouds rain like anklet bells.

  sozkhwani: song of lamentation mourning the martyrdom of Hazrat Ali

  ‘Janki Bai ke kantha-swara mein misri ki dalia ghuli hui hai’: Janki Bai’s voice is soaked in sweetness. (Literally, a lump of crystal sugar lies dissolved in her voice.)

  murshid: teacher, guide

  Chapter 12

  gariwan: coachman

  khansama: keeper of stores

  hazirnama: proof of presence

  ‘Sheikhji gharse na nikle aur yeh farma diya / Aap BA pass hain, banda Bibi pass hai’: Sheikh Sahib did not emerge from his house but sent word: ‘(Sir), you are a BA but I am with my B-B’. Visiting cards often had the educational qualifications of the owner appended and B-B is a play on BA and Bibi. One of Akbar Ilahabadi’s most well-known light couplets.

  ‘Kya kahoon isko main bad-bakhtiyar nation ke siwa / Usko aata nahin ab kuchh imitation ke siwa’: What shall I call it except the misfortune of a country, that it knows nothing now apart from imitation. (One of Akbar’s couplets.)

  nasamajh: not sensible, lacking in perception

  nadaan: naive

  mushaira: poetic soirée, often marked by competitive recitals and spontaneous exchanges in verse

  ‘Kyon koi aaj hari ka naam japay? Kyon riyazat ka jeth sar pe tapay? Kaam wah hai jo ho governmenti. Naam wah hai jo Pioneer mein chhapay’: What need is there to chant the name of God? What need is there to (submit one’s head) to the (scorching summer) sun of toil and practice? Only that work is worthwhile which has the government’s approval. Only that name is worthy that is printed in the Pioneer. (One of Akbar’s quatrains. The Pioneer was not a government paper but it was the mouthpiece of British opinion.)

  ‘Taalim ladkiyon ki zaroori to hai magar / Khatoon-e-khana hon wah sabha ki pari na hon’: By all means, give girls an education, but (bear in mind) that they turn into women of the home, not into fairies of the gathering. (One of Akbar’s verses.)

  ‘Barkh ke lamp se ankhon ko bachaye Allah / Roshni aati hai aur noor chala jaata hai’: God protect us from (these) electric lamps. Light comes from them and light leaves our eyes. (One of Akbar’s couplets.)

  Janki’s verse and its translation:

  Nala dile majzoon ka rasa ho nahin sakta, yeh kaam bajuz hukme Khuda ho nahin sakta,

  Ulfat teri dil se mere ja hi nahin sakti, nakhoon se bhi gosht juda ho nahin sakta.

  Hai khana-e-dil mazhare ansare ilahi—rutbe mein koi usse siwa ho nahin sakta,

  Zahir mein alag dono hain batin mein mile hain, mashookh se ashiq to juda ho nahin sakta.

  Uljha hai kisi kakule pencha mein mera dil, yeh murghe giraftar riha ho nahin sakta.

  Ai Janki khaliq ki paristish hai badi cheez,

  Patthar ka jo but hai wah Khuda ho nahin sakta.

  The grief-stricken heart’s cry cannot be uttered until God wills it,

  My love for you cannot be taken out of my heart

  As the flesh cannot be separated from the fingernail.

  Nothing exceeds the grandeur of this

  That the mansion of my heart is aflame with light,

  Both seem apart but are one within.

  Beloved and lover cannot be severed.

  My heart is entangled in someone’s curled ringlets,

  This captive bird can never be freed.

  O Janki, worship of God is an immense thing.

  A stone idol can never be turned into God.

  Akbar’s verse:

  Mazhab kabhi science ko sajda na karega,

  Insan uray bhi to Khuda ho nahin sakte.

  Azrahe-ta-alluq koi jora kare rishta,

  Angrez to native ke chacha ho nahin sakte.

  Native nahin ho sakte jo gore to hain kya gham,

  Gore bhi to bande se Khuda ho nahin sakte.

  Hum hon jo collector to wah ho jaye commissioner,

  Hum unse kabhi ohdaabra ho nahin sakte.

  Religion shall never bow down before science.

  Were a man to fly he still cannot turn into God.

  Someone might make connections or relationships

  (But) a European can never turn uncle to a native.

  Never turn native, being white, so what regret?

  Even those who’re white can’t change from human to divine!

  If we become collector, they’re sure to become commissioner.

  We cannot (ever hope to) excel or surpass.

  ‘Aaye badra kare kare’: Clouds approa
ch, dark with rain.

  ‘Ummeede-chashme-murowwat kahan rahi baqi / Zariya baaton ka jab sirf teleephon hua’: What becomes of the gentle speech of the eyes, when the only communication is through the telephone? (One of Akbar’s couplets.)

  Chapter 13

  farishtas: prophets, angels

  rooh: soul

  karkhanas: factories

  thali: platter

  cheez: brief musical composition

  ‘Rakabiyon ne rapat likhwai hai ja ja ke thane mein / Ki Akbar naam leta hai Khuda ka is zamane mein!’: My enemies have lodged complaints, running to the police station again and again, that this Akbar dares to utter the name of God in this day and age. (A couplet by Akbar.)

  ‘Kiski jurrat ki Judge Sahib ko koi giraftar kare? Jinki zabaan se har daroga, har thanedar dare’: Who dares to presume to arrest Judge Sahib, whose voice strikes terror in every (petty) police sub-inspector and inspector?

  ‘Itwar ko dus baje aapke aane ki muhurat hai, Baiji Janki jinki door-door tak shohrat hai’: Ten o’clock on Sunday is the hour of your coming, Madam Janki, whose name is applauded far and wide.

  Diwan-e-Khaas and Diwan-e-Aam: The Mughal Emperor’s two audience chambers, the former for the nobility, the latter for the common people. ‘Aam’ means mango. The usage employs a pun on the word ‘aam’.

  khaas and aam: For the elite and for the common reader

  ‘Mere hal zaar ki ai buto tumhein kya kisi ko khabar nahin’: Of my condition, O worshipped one, neither you nor anyone else has any idea.

  ‘Chubh gayi jiyabeech pyari chhab tihari’: To the depths of my heart has pierced your adorable image.

  ‘Janeman jo nazara na hoga’: Dearest, if I do not have a vision of you.

  ‘Ram kare kahin naina na uljhe’: God willing my eyes may not tangle with yours.

  Dutt sultana, na Hindu na Mussalmana: The Dutta are kingly, neither Muslims nor Hindus.

  kavya guru: master of poetry

  ‘Gori sowai sej par / Mukh par daarey kes / Chal Khusrau ghar aapney / Raine bhayi chahundes’: The beauty lies sleeping on her bed of roses, her face covered by her tresses. O Khusrau, it is time for you to return to your home, for night has fallen over the four corners of the land.

  turushkapriya: inclined in favour of Muslims, Islamicate

  bhajananandi: like Hindu hymn music

  navarasas: composition demonstrating the nine emotional states

  Chapter 14

  sozkhwani: songs of lamentation mourning the death of Ali, Hassan and Hussain

  majlis: Shia gathering during Mohorrum

  tazia: model of the catafalque of the martyrs, carried in a funeral procession by Shias and ceremonially buried

  ‘Mazhabi bahas mainey ki hi nahin / Faltu aql mujhmein thi hi nahin!’: I never did engage in religious wrangling, I never had useless intelligence to waste. (A couplet by Akbar.)

  kalma: Islamic declaration of submission to the only God, Allah, and His Prophet, Muhammad. Uttered during conversion to Islam.

  likely to stand beneath this stole soon: reference to the Shia marriage ceremony

  gopis: cowgirls

  aswattha, nyagrodha, chuta, palash, bakula, bilva, kadamba: names of trees

  lila: enchanted illusion

  dharma: righteous law

  bodhi: intelligence

  batashas: sugar pellets offered as worship and as prasad

  tapas: diligent effort

  kriti: composition, creation, here a hymn

  naada, the srutis, the jatis and the talas: sound, semitones, categories and rhythms

  ‘Dheerey baho nadia’: Flow softly, O river. (A medieval song.)

  ‘Balam naiyya dagmag doley’: O Beloved, my boat rocks this way and that. (A song.)

  mazaar: monument over a tomb

  naat: devotional song

  ‘Raghubar aaj raho more pyare’: Hindu devotional song

  ‘Madina mein mor piya vala hai re’: Islamic devotional song

  ‘Balake ban mein jo sograka naamabar aaya’: soz

  Chapter 15

  ‘Main kaise rakhoon praan shyam madhuban gailona’: How should I hold on to my life, my Krishna has gone to the honey-bowers?

  ‘Ab kaise jobna dikhaoongi’: How should I now my blooming youth show?

  ‘Rukh-e-gulshan ki dekhi bahar’: I saw the flower garden of His face in springtime glory.

  Pyare Ahmed-e-Mukhtar, Tumpar Allah Ka Hai Pyar: O beloved, lauded high one, on thee rests the favour of Allah.

  ‘Ek Kaffir par tabiyat aa gayi’: I am grown infatuated with an idolater

  ‘Hamne to jaantak na pyari ki, Kanha na kar mosey raar’: I didn’t even seek to preserve my life, O Krishna, do not quarrel with me.

  ‘Dar kharabat-e-mughan noor-e-Khuda mee beenam’: Even in the tavern I behold the radiance of God.

  ‘Ek Kaffir par tabiyat aa gayi.

  Parsai par phir aafat aa gayi.

  Humdum, isko dillagi samjha hai tu?

  Dil nahin aaya, museebat aa gayi.

  Yaad karke tumko ai jaan ro diye,

  Saamne jab achchhi surat aa gayi.

  Chupke-chupke ro rahe ho kyon samad,

  Sach kaho kis par tabiyat aa gayi?’

  I was taken with an idolater.

  Then all hell descended on this purist-pretender.

  Friend, do not imagine I am jesting,

  It wasn’t an infatuation, it was sheer misfortune.

  Remembering you, O my life, I wept.

  When your alluring face came before me.

  Why do you weep in secret, O excellent one,

  Tell me the truth, who is it you’re taken with?

  farmaish: request for a song

  ‘Phadkan laagat mori ankhiyan’: My eyelids begin fluttering (with a tic in the presence of the beloved).

  ‘Mumkin nahin ke teri mohabbat ki bu nahin’: It isn’t possible that your love hasn’t a (telltale) fragrance.

  ‘Jabse us zaalim se ulfat ho gayi’: Ever since I fell in love with that cruel one.

  ‘Dil ek hi se laga, hazaron khade’: The heart chose only one out of the thousands who vied.

  ‘Kaffire ishkam Mussalmani mara darkar nist’: My love has turned me into an infidel, I have nothing to do with being a believer.

  ‘Tum hi kufr ho aur iman tumhi ho’: You are my idolatry and you my honour.

  ‘Gham raha jabtak ke dam mein dam raha’: As long as there was grief, there was strength in my breath.

  tat: bank

  mehmil: women’s tent on the camel’s back

  ‘Allah bachaey marz-e-ishq se dil ko, suntey hain ki yeh aariza achchha nahin hota’: God save us from this illness called love, I hear this disease isn’t good (for us). (One of Akbar’s verses.)

  ‘Bahut raha hai kabhi lutf-e-yaar hum par bhi, guzar chuki hai yeh fasl-e-bahar hum par bhi’: The joy of loving someone has been with me once, over me has passed too the harvest season of spring. (A verse by Akbar.)

  tokra: basket

  Chapter 16

  nok-jhonk: musical repartee

  dangal: contest in singing

  Fransisi: French

  la haula wa la kuwate: exclamation of disgust. Literally ‘There is no power except God!’ (Presumably uttered to ward off evil.)

  irshad: a conventional granting of assent to a poet to recite his verse

  ‘Exhibition ki shaan anokhi / Har shai umda, har shai chokhi / Okhlidas ki naapi-jokhi / Man bhar sone ki laagat dekhi’: The exhibition is uniquely grand, everything excellent, everything appropriate. Everything geometrically measured and mapped, Maunds of gold invested I saw. (A verse by Akbar.)

  ‘Jab chhod chale Lucknow’ and ‘Babul mora naihar chhuto jaye’: ‘When we left Lucknow forever’ and ‘My father, my ancestral home is fast lost to me’. Two of Wajid Ali Shah’s own compositions, mourning the loss of his kingdom.

  gat: rhythm

  mash-e-Allah: wonderful. Literally, may God protect from blight.

  piya: beloved of. Used as pen name by ghazal wri
ters in the nineteenth and early twentieth century.

  Subhan Allah: Glory be to God!

  ‘Gaye sharbat ke din yaaron ke aage ab toh ai Akbar / Kabhi soda, kabhi lemonade, kabhi whiskey, kabhi tea hai!’: The days of sherbet are gone, friends, for in the days ahead, O Akbar, it’ll be sometimes soda, sometimes lemonade, sometimes whiskey, sometimes tea! (A verse by Akbar.)

  Thay cake ki fikr mein, so roti bhi gayi,

  Chaahi thi shay badi, so chhoti bhi gayi,

  Wayiz ki naseehatein na maneen aakhir,

  Patloon ki taak mein langoti bhi gayi.

  We hankered after cake and (in the process) lost our bread too,

  We hankered after big things and (in the process) lost the small ones too,

  We ignored the sermons of our teachers and finally,

  In hankering after trousers lost our loincloths too!

  (A verse by Akbar.)

  Bepurdah kal jo aayeen nazar chand bibiyan,

  Akbar zameen mein ghairat-qaumi sed gad gaya.

  Poochha jo unse aapka purdah wo kya hua?

  Kehne lageen ki aql pe mardon ki pad gaya.

  When yesterday there appeared before the eyes some unveiled ladies

  Akbar sank into the ground in utter confusion.

  When he asked them: ‘What’s become of your veils?’

  They answered: ‘They now cover the wits of men!’

  ‘Wah mutrib aur wah saaz, wah gaana badal gaya. Neendein badal gayeen, wah fasana badal gaya. / Rangey-rukhey-bahar ki zeenat hui nayee, gulshan mein bulbulon ka tarana badal gaya.’: Those accompanists, that music, that song has changed. Our sleep has changed, and our story too. The look and colour of springtime has a different beauty. The song of the bulbuls in the garden has a different trill. (A verse by Akbar.)

  Akbar’s poem, ‘Jalwa-e-Durbar-e-Dehli’, on the Delhi Durbar:

  Sar mein shauq ka sauda dekha,

  Dehli ko humne ja dekha,

  Jo kuchh dekha achchha dekha.

  Jamunaji ke paat ko dekha,

  Achchhe suthre ghat ko dekha,

  Sab se unche laat ko dekha,

  Hazrat Duke Canaat ko dekha.

  Paltan aur risale dekhey,