"Indian Song" (1904, before his European stay)
taraanah-e
hindii
Published in baa;Ng-e daraa (The
Sound of the Bell) (1924)
From: kulliyaat-e iqbaal urduu (Lahore:
Shaikh Ghulam 'Ali and Sons Publishers, 1973 (and later reprints), p. 83
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1)
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saare jahaa;N se achchaa hinduusitaa;N hamaaraa
ham bulbule;N hai;N us kii vuh gulsitaa;N hamaaraa |
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1) better than
the whole world, our Hindustan
2) we are its nightingales, it [is] our garden |
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Here it's to
be pronounced not 'gu-lis-taa;N' as usual, but 'gul-si-taa;N', to suit
the meter.
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2)
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;Gurbat me;N ho;N agar ham , rahtaa hai dil va:tan me;N
samjho vuhii;N hame;N bhii dil ho jahaa;N hamaaraa |
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1) if we would
be in 'an alien place', the heart remains in the homeland
2) consider us too [to be] right there where our heart would be |
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;Gariib can mean either 'poor', or 'strange' (as in ((ajiib-o-;Gariib ); thus ;Gurbat
is a state of foreignness, not merely living abroad but with an extra
sense of alienation thrown in.
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3)
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parbat vuh sab se uu;Nchaa , hamsaayah aasmaa;N kaa
vuh santarii hamaaraa , vuh paasbaa;N hamaaraa |
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1) that
tallest mountain, a neighbor [=shade-sharer] of the sky
2) that [is] our sentry, that [is] our door-guard |
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The English
'sentry' and the Persian paasbaa;N form an
enjoyably balanced pair.
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4)
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godii me;N kheltii hai;N us kii hazaaro;N nadiyaa;N
gulshan hai jin ke dam se rashk-e janaa;N hamaaraa |
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1) in [her]
lap play all her thousands of rivers
2) thanks to which our garden is the envy of Paradise |
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The word order of the second line: jin ke dam se hamaaraa gulshan rashk-e janaa;N hai . |
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5)
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ay aab-ruud-e gangaa ! vuh din hai;N yaad tujh ko ?
utaraa tire kinaare jab kaaravaa;N hamaaraa |
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1) oh river
[=water-flowing] Ganges! do you remember those days?
2) when our caravan descended on your bank |
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The first line
could also be read as a question, or an exclamation; it's nicely
phrased so that it can appeal to almost any Indian's historical vision.
In the second line, tire kinaare is oblique
because there's really a 'ghostposition' par
that's been colloquially omitted but still has its effect. And it's tire instead of tere as a
permissible spelling change, to suit the meter.
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6)
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ma;zhab nahii;N sikhaataa aapas me;N bair rakhnaa
hindii hai;N ham , va:tan hai hinduusitaa;N hamaaraa |
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1) religion
does not teach [us] to keep enmity with each other
2) we are Indian, our homeland is Hindustan |
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Until very
recently, historically speaking, hindii was much
more likely to mean 'pertaining to Hind' in general-- and thus
'Indian'-- than to refer to a particular modern language.
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7)
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yuunaan-o-mi.sr-o-romaa sab mi;T ga))e jahaa;N se
ab tak magar hai baaqii naam-o-nishaa;N hamaaraa |
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1) Greece and
Egypt and Byzantium all became erased from the world
2) but until now our identity [=name and sign] lives on |
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Since mi;Tnaa is an intransitive verb, there's no agent
involved, and thus no indication of how they became erased.
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8)
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kuchh baat hai kih hastii mi;Ttii nahii;N hamaarii
.sadiyo;N rahaa hai dushman daur-e zamaa;N hamaaraa |
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1) there's
something, that our existence does not become erased
2) [for] centuries the cycle of time has remained our enemy |
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There's
another 'ghostposition' after .sadiyo;N , which
explains its oblique plural form. It's here pronounced '.sad-yo;N', for
the meter.
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9)
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iqbaal ! ko))ii ma;hram apnaa nahii;N jahaa;N me;N
ma((luum kyaa kisii ko dard-e nihaa;N hamaaraa ! |
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1) Iqbal,
there is no [intimate] friend of ours in the world
2) what does anyone know of our hidden pain? |
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The
closing-verse of a ghazal often contains the poet's pen-name, and thus
has occasion to reflect on the rest of the poem, but still, after this
very upbeat ghazal, the sudden bleakness comes as a shock.
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