Zer Zabar Paesh is a platform for the study of Urdu poetic tradition by Faraz Ali. It aims to make this tradition accessible to people with a genuine interest in classical and contemporary Urdu verse and its vast apparatus—including approaches to deep reading, poetics, canon and history, criticism and scholarship, etc.
Faraz Ali is an award-winning experiential designer and performing artist practicing in physical, digital, and poetic realms.
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Zer Zabar Paesh is a platform for the study of Urdu poetic tradition by Faraz Ali. It aims to make this tradition accessible to people with a genuine interest in classical and contemporary Urdu verse and its vast apparatus—including approaches to deep reading, poetics, canon and history, criticism and scholarship, etc.
Faraz Ali is an award-winning experiential designer and performing artist practicing in physical, digital, and poetic realms.
Episode 09.
Recitation: Ram, a nazm by Muhammad Iqbal
Poet: Muhammad Iqbal
Recitation by Faraz Ali
Labrez hai sharāb-e-haqīqat se jām-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 meiñ hue haiñ hazāroñ malak-sarisht
mashhūr jinke dam se hai duniyā meiñ nām-e-hind
hai rām ke vajūd pe hindostāñ ko nāz ahle-nazar samajhte haiñ is ko imām-e-hind
ejaaz is charāġh-e-hidāyat kā hai yahī raushan-tar-az-sahar hai zamāne meiñ shām-e-hind
talvār kā dhanī thā shujāat meiñ fard thā pākīzgī meiñ josh-e-mohabbat meiñ fard thā
#urdu
TRANSLATION:
The attempt below is for assistance only and does not intend to capture the poetic excellence.
The cup of Hind overflows with the wine of truth.
Philosophers of the Western world are its devotees.
The mysticism of her philosophers
makes Hind’s star soar above all constellations.
Thousands of angels have descended
to proclaim Hind’s name before the world.
And proud of his existence
the discerning eye sees in Ram, a prophet.
The glow from this lamp of wisdom
makes Hind’s evening more radiant
than the world’s daybreak.
Valorous, brave, a master swordsman!
In purity, in love, Ram, was unmatched
#urdu
Rām, the poem's subject, refers to the Lord Ramā, a Hindu deity and the protagonist of the Ramayana epic. He is a symbol of the triumph of truth over falsehood.
Please read up about him yourself and save us the struggle of misrepresentation.
For Iqbal, Hindustan is a land of sages, seers, scholars and intellectuals; he appreciates the Hindustani mind's search for eternality, knowledge and wisdom.
but
Rām is also a Persian word which means subdued, tamed, submissive — one who is submissive or obedient. And is often used in idiomatic constructions.
i.e here are a few examples:
1. rām-karnā: to win over, tame, make loyal
2. rām-honā or ho-jānā: To be subdued
3. Nafs ko rām kernā -
Lord Ramā and his story are often referenced in idiomatic expressions like:
* rām rām kerna: salute, greet, recite a holy name, seeking protection, to repent
* rām-kahānī sunana: telling a really long story
Celebrating the syncretic tradition, Iqbāl not only uses Lord Rām as the subject of the poem, he also employs the Persian usage in the second line of the first shi'r.
‘sab falsafī haiñ ḳhitta-e-maġhrib ke rām-e-hind’
What do you think the expression 'Rām-i Hind' implies here?
-
Now look at the expression in the fourth shi'r praising Rām as Imām-i Hind.
hai rām ke vajūd pe hindostāñ ko nāz
ahle-nazar samajhte haiñ is ko imām-e-hind
Urdu poetry is replete with references to Lord Ram and the episodes from The Ramayana. There are over 300 Ramayanas written in Urdu, many in Urdu verse known as manzum Ramayanas.
Urdu Poetry and Poetics
Zer Zabar Paesh is a platform for the study of Urdu poetic tradition by Faraz Ali. It aims to make this tradition accessible to people with a genuine interest in classical and contemporary Urdu verse and its vast apparatus—including approaches to deep reading, poetics, canon and history, criticism and scholarship, etc.
Faraz Ali is an award-winning experiential designer and performing artist practicing in physical, digital, and poetic realms.
