Gore dekhey, kale dekhey,
Sangeeney aur bhaaley dekhey,
Band bajaney waaley dekhey.
Daali mein narangi dekhi,
Mehfil mein sarangi dekhi,
Bairangi baarangi dekhi,
Dahar ki ranga-rangi dekhi.
Achchhe-achchhon ko bhatka dekha,
Bheed mein khaatey jhhatka dekha,
Munh ko agarchey latka dekha,
Dil darbar se atka dekha.
Auj British Raj ka dekha
Partav takht-o-taj ka dekha,
Rangey zamana aaj ka dekha,
Rukh Curzon Maharaj ka dekha.
I saw the absolute peak of luxurious commerce.
I too went and beheld Delhi,
And everything I saw was grand.
I saw the river Yamuna’s bank
And its clean, lofty embankments.
I saw the most exalted Lord,
His Highness the Duke of Connaught.
I saw processions and flags,
White skins and coloured,
Bayonets and lances,
And musicians of the bands.
I saw oranges on the boughs
And saarangis in the gatherings,
Things well matched and ill,
Brilliant temporary hues.
I saw sensible people strayed
Pushed and jostled by the crowds.
Although their faces seemed downcast (yet)
Drawn irresistibly to the Delhi Durbar.
I beheld the grandeur of the British Empire,
The shadow of the Mughal throne,
The colour of this present age,
The face of King Curzon.
‘Sur kahan ke, saaz kaisa, kaisi bazm-e-saamai? Josh-e-dil kaafi hai, Akbar, taan udane ke liye’: What (strange) tunes, what instruments, what a strange audience! O Akbar, the heart’s enthusiasm is quite enough to let fly a few trills!
Akbar’s poem ‘Barq-e-Kilisa’ (Lightning in church):
Zulf-e-penchan mein wah sajdhaj, ki balayein bhi mureed.
Qadey-rana mein wah chamkham ki qayamat bhi shaheed.
Ankhein wah fitnayey-dauran ki gunahgaar karein,
Gaal wah subahey-darakhshan ki malaq pyar karein,
Garm taqdeer jisey sunney ko shola lapkey . . .
Dilkash awaaz ki sunkar jisey bulbul jhhapkey . . .
Dilkash chaal mein aisi ki sitarey ruk jaayein
Sarkashi naaz mein aisi ki governor jhuk jaayein
Aatishey husn se taqwey ko jalaaney wali,
Bijliyan lutf-e-tabassum se giraney wali.
Her curled locks so ornamental as to entrap even the calamities,
Her attractive stature so regal that even the day of doom might be martyred,
Her eyes enough to vex the world, make sinners of us.
Her cheeks like the shining morn that angels might adore.
Fortunate destiny that embers might leap to know . . .
Her charming voice which might lull the bulbuls.
Her gait so attractive that stars might stop in their tracks
Her haughty affectation such that governors might bow . . .
She, the flame of whose beauty, can burn up (a man’s) austerity.
Whose art of smiling can call down the lightning
‘Khush naseeb aaj yahan kaun hai, Gauhar ke siwa? / Sab kuchh Allah ne de rakha hai shauhar ke siwa!’: Who is fortunate here save only Gauhar? Whom God has granted everything save only a husband.
‘Yun toh Gauhar ko mayassar hain hazaron shauhar / Par pasand usko nahin koi bhi Akbar ke siwa!’: Although Gauhar can take her pick from thousands of husbands, she likes none save only Akbar.
Chapter 17
gusal-khana: bathroom
rok-token: gold coin gifted by the bride’s family to the groom as a pact of engagement
muta marriage: a temporary marriage for a stipulated length of time as distinct from a nikah
‘Yeh jalsa taajposhi ka, mubarak ho, mubarak ho!’: On this coronation celebration, felicitations, felicitations!
Bachchon ki Parwarish: How to rear children
Hidayat Timardari: Suggestions on nursing
Tandarusti: Health
Chapter 18
walima: wedding reception at the groom’s house to celebrate the coming of the bride
izzat: honour
‘Hamare nabi aaj dulha bane’: My Holy One is become a bridegroom today.
‘Hari ka bhed na paayo Rama! Kudrat teri rang-birangi, tu kudrat ka wali!’: No one has understood the mystery of God, O Rama. All nature (that Thou hast created) is varicoloured and Thou art the Master Artist.
Chapter 20
Assalaamoalaikum: Peace be with you
khankhwa: shelter
daira: place associated with a saint
sajjadanasheen: one who looks after a sufi daira, literally one who sits on the prayer mat
ganja: a form of cannabis
Chapter 21
mirasans: professional women singers specializing in folk songs at weddings and childbirths
kangan: heavy bangles
jhoomar: a sideways hanging forehead pendant
sahibzade: son of a sahib
bagiya: garden
‘Sakhi-ri, main chali thi neer pachhore’: Friend, I went trying to winnow the waters (of the river).
‘Sri Ram kripalu’: Lord Rama, the merciful.
Chapter 22
sakshi: witness
Usase kuchh mera bhi zikare dile nashad rahe: some mention of my unfortunate heart must be made to that one.
Jui ka fulva hathva lagat: the jasmine is within reach of my hand
swaras: notes
Jabki khamosh hui bulbul bustane husain: When in Hussain’s garden the bulbul fell silent.
Hari bin morey kaun khabar le?: Who, other than God, comes asking after me?
Dil sahabe aulad se insaaf talab hai: The heart seeks justice from the Master, the Father.
Chapter 23
panchnama: legal procedure whereby five witnesses testify to the presence of a dead body
Acknowledgements
Grateful thanks are due to Madhuvrat Rai, without whose very substantial help to me in gathering primary material this book might never have reached its present form. My research was enriched by the writings of many people, chief among them being Kailash Gautam, Kumar Prasad Mukherji, Sulochana Yajurvedi, Acharya Brihaspati, Amaranatha Jha, Shamsur Rahman Faruqi, R. Gopal Krishna, Rafiq Zakaria, Pran Nevile and Vikram Sampat. I am also indebted to the January–February 1992 Volume 1–2 issue of the journal Sangeet, the April 1994 Volume 14 issue of the Journal of the Society of Indian Record Collectors, and the detailed discography of Janki Bai’s records put together by Michael Kinnear. I thank Syed Irshad Haider and Ehsan Hasan for helping me translate Diwan-e-Janki from the original Urdu into English and Saleha Rashid for helping out with Persian. Many of the bandishes that appear in these pages are part of my father’s collection. Some like ‘Every mercy my Maula confers upon me’, ‘I asked the black one on the mango bough’ and ‘Main moorakh teri, Prabhuji more’ are composed by me as are the handful of verses in English fictionally attributed to Akbar Ilahabadi. The Urdu verses, translated in the Notes, are original to Akbar, as is the rest of the poetry original to Janki.
Thanks are due to H.S. Saxena, Kusum and Raja Zutshi, Amresh and Neeta Mathur, Akshat Srivastava, Samina Naqvi, Kishwar Nasreen and Rafat Ullah for the various ways in which they facilitated my progress. The Can Serrat Art Residency, Barcelona, provided an ideal environment for intensive work. The strong support I received from my publishers Penguin Random House India, my editors Ranjana Sengupta and Cibani Premkumar, and the indefatigable Kanishka Gupta has gone a long way towards making this book’s unfolding journey such a memorable one.
Finally I mention with gratitude my family’s perennial contribution to keeping me grounded, their willingness to come to my help, whether with tech issues or with tracking down references, and their effortless accommodat
ion of this extra member, Janki Bai Ilahabadi, who came to take up residence in our family space, invisible but insistent, making her presence felt for almost a decade while this book sought out the lineaments of her story.
THE BEGINNING
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This collection published 2018
Copyright © Neelum Saran Gour 2018
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Jacket images © Ahlawat Gunjan
ISBN: 978-0-670-09114-0
This digital edition published in 2018.
e-ISBN: 978-9-353-05106-8
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Requiem in Raga Janki Page 33
