Amrita Pritam

aaj aakhaN Waris Shah nuuN, kitoN kabraaN vichchoN bol,
te aaj kitab-e ishq daa koii aglaa varkaa phol

ik roii sii dhii punjaab dii, tuuN likh likh maare vaen,
aaj lakhaaN dhiiaaN rondiaa, tainuN waris shah nuN kahen

uTh dardmandaaN diaa dardiaa, uth takk apnaa Punjaab
aaj bele lashaaN bichhiaaN te lahu dii bharii chenab

kise ne panjaN paniaN vichch dittii zahar ralaa
te unhaaN paniiaaN dharat nuuN dittaa paanii laa

is zarkhez zamiin de luun luun phuttia zaher
gitth gitth charhiaaN laaliaN fuuT fuuT charhiaa kaher

veh valliissii vha pher, van van vaggii jaa,
ohne har ik vans di vanjhalii ditti naag banaa

pehlaa dang madaariaN, mantar gaye guaach,
dooje dang di lagg gayii, jane khane nuN laag

laagaaN kiile lok muNh, bus phir dang hi dang,
palo palii punjaab de, neele pae gaye ang

gale’oN tutt’e geet phir, takaleon tuttii tand,
trinjanoN tuttiaaN saheliaaN, chaRakhRre ghuukar band

sane sej de beriaaN, luddaN dittiaaN rohr,
sane daliaan peengh aj, piplaaN dittii toR

jitthe vajdii sii phuuk pyaar dii, ve oh vanjhalii gayii guaach
raanjhe de sab veer aaj, bhul gaye uhadii jaach

dhartii te lahoo varsiyaa, kabraaN paiaaN choan,
preet diaaN shaahzaadiaaN, aaj vichch mazaaraaN roan

aaj sabbhe ’Qaido’ ban gaye, husn ishq de chor
aaj kitthoN liaaiye labbh ke waris shah ik hor

aaj aakhaN waris shah nuuN, kitoN kabraan vichchoN bol,
te aaj kitaab-e ishq daa, koii aglaa varkaa phol


Translation

Today, I call Waris Shah, “Speak from inside your grave”
And turn, today, the book of love’s next affectionate page

Once, one daughter of Punjab cried; you wrote a wailing saga
Today, a million daughters, cry to you, Waris Shah

Rise! O’ narrator of the grieving; rise! look at your Punjab
Today, fields are lined with corpses, and blood fills the Chenab

Someone has mixed poison in the five rivers’ flow
Their deadly water is, now, irrigating our lands galore

This fertile land is sprouting, venom from every pore
The sky is turning red from endless cries of gore

The toxic forest wind, screams from inside its wake
Turning each flute’s bamboo-shoot, into a deadly snake

With the first snake-bite; charmers lost their spell
The second bite turned all and sundry, into snakes, as well

Drinking from this deadly stream, filling the land with bane
Slowly, Punjab’s limbs have turned black and blue, with pain

The street-songs have been silenced; cotton threads are snapped
Girls have left their playgroups; the spinning wheels are cracked

Our wedding beds are boats, their logs have cast away
Our hanging swing, the Pipal tree has broken in disarray

Lost is the flute, which once, blew sounds of the heart
Ranjha’s brothers, today, no longer know this art

Blood rained on our shrines; drenching them to the core
Damsels of amour, today, sit crying at their door

Today everyone is, ‘Qaido;’ thieves of beauty and ardor
Where can we find, today, another Warish Shah, once more

Today, I call Waris Shah, “Speak from inside your grave”
And turn, today, the book of love’s next affectionate page

---xxx---


Amrita Pritam (1919 - ) is one of the most prominent female writers and poets of our era. She has published over seventy books - novels, short stories and poems. She has been elected a fellow of the Sahitya Akadme, in India, as one of the twenty-one immortals of literature. She has been honored with the Padma Vibhushan, the Jnanpith Award and the Padma Shree. She also received three D Lit degrees from Delhi, Jabalpur and Vishva Bharti Universities.

Amrita Pritam was born into a Sikh family of Gujranwala. She was the only child of a school teacher and a poet. Her mother died when she was eleven. Amrita married at the age of 16, and divorced in 1960, at the age of 41.

At the time of Partition, in 1947, Amrita migrated to Delhi. After migration, she started writing primarily in Hindi, instead of her native Punjabi. She has authored two autobiographies, titled, “Rasidi Ticket,” and, “Aksharon kay Saayee.” Her novel, “Pinjar” (Skeleton), about the agonies of Partition riots, was recently turned into a famous movie by director Chandra Prakash Dwivedi. The French translation of this novel received the La Route des Indes Literary Prize in France, while its film adaption received the Screen and Zee Telefilms Award.

In 1966, Amrita started the monthly Punjabi journal called, “Nagmani.” Many future Punjabi writers were published in this journal, which eventually closed down in 2003, after 36 years of publication.

Outside the above-mentioned achievements and accolades, to Punjabi speakers, readers and writers, Amrita’s claim to fame is her impromptu capturing of the condition of Punjab at the time of partition in her, “Ode to Waris Shah.” Legend has it that Amrita authored this poem, on her migratory train ride, from Gujranwala to Delhi, in 1947, while observing the violence in the surrounding area.

“Ode to Waris Shah,” is a call to the legendary Punjabi poet, Waris Shah - with whom Amrita shares a common birthplace of the area surrounding Gujranwala – in such an intense, painful and descriptive manner that Waris Shah would have been proud to have claimed this work as his own. The Punjabi similes, analogies, hyperboles and metaphors used in tying the situation at hand, with the village culture of Punjab and the literary work of Waris Shah rival the best verses of the legendary Punjabi Sufi poets.

The translation of this poem has been an interesting six month journey through the Punjabi language and Punjabi culture; starting from the fact that it was impossible to find an Urdu/Persian text of the original poem, despite efforts in India, Pakistan and Canada. In addition, many of the words and terms used in the poem are part of the, “pure,” vocabulary of Punjabi, which has now, unfortunately, been replaced by its slang street version in Pakistan’s Punjab. This makes it even more difficult to translate the already, “untranslatable” Punjabi phrases. In addition, the cultural and agricultural similes are based on village customs, thereby making them quite difficult to unravel and comprehend.

Indeed, some of the analogies used in this poem rival the best Urdu works of Mirza Ghalib – the grandmaster of analogies, similes and metaphors.

The references to Waris Shah’s work are simple and obvious. Waris Shah’s (1722 – 1798) Heer is considered the Bible of Punjabi poetry. It is believed to be based on the tragic, but true, story of two 16th century lovers – Heer and Ranjha. Legend has it that Waris Shah subtly interleaved, into his interpretation of this classic, his own love for a girl named Bhag Bhari.

Amrita Pritam’s, “Ode to Warish Shah” is filled with allusions to Waris Shah’s legendary work. She refers to Heer as the, “daughter of Punjab” (dhii Punjab di), and symbolizes Waris Shah’s rendition of Heer’s story as a depiction of a tragedy, written as a result of Heer’s wailing grief; asking Waris Shah to step out of his grave and hear the Partition cries of a million Heers. The poem references many of the main characters and symbols of the Heer legend – Ranjha, his flute, his brothers, and Qaido (the villainous Uncle), comparing the attitudes of the Punjabis at the time of Partition, to the evil acts of later. The poem ends with the poet pondering whether another Waris Shah will ever appear to handle the situation at hand.

While the analogies to Heer are quite easy to decipher, not so obvious, and thus difficult to understand, are the references made to local Punjabi village customs and culture. These start from the sixth couplet and continue till the twelfth. Anyone interested in understanding the Punjabi language, its poetry, and its linkages with the land would be well-advised to go through the struggles of translating these verses.

Amrita Pritam is still alive and lives in New Delhi.