🌺THE RAMAYANA IN URDU🌺
🌹JAI SIYA RAM 🌹
♦️More than 300 versions of The Ramayana exist in Urdu; each beautiful and enchanting in its own way…maybe now after the Shila Nyas (Foundation Laying) at Ayodhya we shall soon have Urdu Ram Leela’s again in the tradition of Awadh!
♦️Just discovered this lovely gem by #RakshandaJalil
♦️Shri Ram and Sita, Lakshman and Hanuman…Urdu writers and poets and essayists and playwrights brought an all new eclectic vision to the Greatest Story Ever Told..
♦️This is brilliant!
♦️This is magical!
♦️Why wasn’t I taught this in school?
♦️Just the lines about Shri Ram vanwas EXILE and I feel a shiver down my spine..
“Rukhsat huwa woh baap se lekar khuda ka naam/Raah-e wafa ki manzil-e awwal hui tamaam
“Manzoor jo thha Ma Ki zyarat Ka intzam/Daman se
ashk ponch ke dil se kiya Kalam
♦️And then the soliloquy
“Izhare bekasi se sitam hoga Aur bhi
Dekha hamey udaas toh gam hoga aur bhi”
♦️And here is Mother Kaushalya…
“Jumbish hui labon ko bhari ek sard aah/
Li gosha hai chashm se ashkon ne rukh ki raah
♦️And then refuses to give Ram permission to go to the forest…
“Kis tarah ban mein ankhon ke taare ko bhej duun/Jogi bana ke raj-dulare ko bhej duun “
(#BrijNarainChakbast)
♦️According to a comprehensive study of Ram kathan in Urdu by the late #AliJawadZaidi, there were over 300 such versions, many from the Awadh region alone, and several written in the style of marsiya-goi popularised by #Anees and #Dabeer
♦️The earliest Urdu translation of the Ramayana, by Munshi Jagannath Lal #Khushtar, was published by the Nawal Kishore Press in 1860.
♦️Beginning with ‘Bismillah ir Rehman ir Rahim’, the #KhushtarRamayana, as it came to be called, presents an ankhon dekha haal (an eye-witness account), albeit in a florid style.
♦️The Khushtar Ramayana was followed by Amar Kahani by Jogeshwar Nath ‘#Betab’ Bareilvi and scores of other versions, often known by their author’s name such as Ulfat ki Ramayana or Rahmat ki Ramayana.
♦️Betab Bareilvi’s version, marked by much local colour from the Ganga-Jamuni belt, carries the following description of the ‘shakti baan’:
“Reh reh ke de rehe thhe duhaii huzur ki/Kham ho gayi thii jung mein gardan guroor kii “
♦️The remarkably named #HakimViceraiWahmi, in his Ramayan Manzum, writes:
“Ram ne Sugreev ko aage baitha kar yun kaha/Bharat se badh kar tumhe main chahta hun bhaijan
♦️Then there’s the incredible #YakQafiya Ramayan by #Ufaq, published in 1914, maintaining one rhyme scheme throughout, with every verse ending in noon (the ‘n’ sound):
“Jab khumar aluda dekhi chashm-e mehv-e aasman/ Ram ne bheji barai jung fauj-e jaanistan (When he saw the sky become tinged with pink/Ram sent his army of warriors to engage in battle).
♦️An entire play written in Urdu called Ram Natak, also by #Ufaq, with detailed stage instructions, has lyrical rhyming dialogue about Bharat’s sorrow at being parted from his brother..Kadam as in Shri Ram’s feet..
“Ajodha ko maatam sara kar diya/Bharat ko qadam se juda kar diya”
♦️And an elegy to Shri Ram by the Great #Iqbal himself:
“Labrez hain sharab-e-haqeeqat se jam-e-Hind
sab falsafī haiñ ḳhitta-e-maġhrib ke rām-e-hind
ye hindiyoñ kī fikr-e-falak-ras kā hai asar
rif.at meñ āsmāñ se bhī ūñchā hai bām-e-hind
is des meñ hue haiñ hazāroñ malak-sarisht
mash.hūr jin ke dam se hai duniyā meñ nām-e-hind
hai raam ke vajūd pe hindostāñ ko naaz
ahl-e-nazar samajhte haiñ is ko imām-e-hind
ejaaz is charāġh-e-hidāyat kā hai yahī
raushan-tar-az-sahar hai zamāne meñ shām-e-hind
talvār kā dhanī thā shujā.at meñ fard thā
pākīzgī meñ josh-e-mohabbat meñ fard thā”
♦️Then there’s #ZafarAliKhan declaring:
“Naqsh-e tehzeeb-e hunood ab bhi numaya hain agar/To woh Sita se hain, Lachman se hain aur Ram se hain”
♦️And by #SagharNizami:
“Jis ka dil thha ek shama-e taaq-e aiwan-e hayat/Rooh jis ki aaftab-e subha-e irfan-e hayat../Zindagi ki rooh thha, rohaniyat ki shaan thha/Woh mujassim roop mein insaan ke irfaan thha (He whose heart was like a candle in the niche of life/Whose spirit was like the morning sun seeking knowledge of life/ He was the spirit of life, the pride of spirituality/In the shape of a human he was knowledge incarnate)
♦️JAI SIYA RAM ♦️
