Sami Hafiq
Garmi ka roz-e-jang ki kyon kar karoon bayan/Dar hai ke masl-e-shama na jalne lage zabaan/woh loo, ke alhazar! woh haraarat, ke alamaan/ran ki zameen to surkh thi aur zard aasmaan. "How do I narrate the agony of the battle of Karhala?/I fear my tongue may start to burn like a candle/That heat wave, God have mercy! That fever, God have mercy!/The battle field was red and the sky pale.
This couplet by Urdu poet Anis evokes the agony and suffering of the martyrs at Karbala. Moharrum is a time for mourning for Muslims. The martyrdom and suffering of Imam Hasan and Husain and the entire family of the Prophet at the hands of the Abbasid ruler Yazid, is rendered through marsiyas or elegies. The marsiya may have originated in arabia before the advent of Islam, but after the martyrdom of Hussain it became a channel for remembering the events at Karbala. These marsiyas, which are sung in gatherings called majlis move listeners to tears by evoking the traumatic events of that day. There is an attempt to universalize individual sorrow through the marsiya.
Our country has a tradition of spiritual lessons about death. Once a grieving mother approached Mahatma Buddha, begging him to bring to life a daughter who had died. Mahatma Buddha asked the mother to fetch a fistful of grain from a house where there had never been any death. Naturally, there was none, for death conquers all, great and small. Today in fact, we also mourn the death of Mahatma Gandhi, the cause of whose is perfectly known to us all, alas.
Marsiyas, nohas or elegies have been a literary genre in themselves and have conveyed more than the events at Karbala. They reveal how martyrdom was not merely a physical event but a spiritual and mystical one of the soul's suffering and sacrifice for the love of God. To date Karbala as part of the marsiya is to situate it in bereavement, struggle, revolution, catharsis and social change. Karbala is thus a powerful metaphor for spiritual sacrifice.
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The views expressed in the Article above are Author’s personal views and kashmiribhatta.in is not in any way responsible for the opinions expressed in the above article. The article belongs to its respective owner or owners and this site does not claim any right over it. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing."
Courtesy: Times of India: The Speaking Tree:
Sami Hafiq
Garmi ka roz-e-jang ki kyon kar karoon bayan/Dar hai ke masl-e-shama na jalne lage zabaan/woh loo, ke alhazar! woh haraarat, ke alamaan/ran ki zameen to surkh thi aur zard aasmaan. "How do I narrate the agony of the battle of Karhala?/I fear my tongue may start to burn like a candle/That heat wave, God have mercy! That fever, God have mercy!/The battle field was red and the sky pale.
This couplet by Urdu poet Anis evokes the agony and suffering of the martyrs at Karbala. Moharrum is a time for mourning for Muslims. The martyrdom and suffering of Imam Hasan and Husain and the entire family of the Prophet at the hands of the Abbasid ruler Yazid, is rendered through marsiyas or elegies. The marsiya may have originated in arabia before the advent of Islam, but after the martyrdom of Hussain it became a channel for remembering the events at Karbala. These marsiyas, which are sung in gatherings called majlis move listeners to tears by evoking the traumatic events of that day. There is an attempt to universalize individual sorrow through the marsiya.
Our country has a tradition of spiritual lessons about death. Once a grieving mother approached Mahatma Buddha, begging him to bring to life a daughter who had died. Mahatma Buddha asked the mother to fetch a fistful of grain from a house where there had never been any death. Naturally, there was none, for death conquers all, great and small. Today in fact, we also mourn the death of Mahatma Gandhi, the cause of whose is perfectly known to us all, alas.
Marsiyas, nohas or elegies have been a literary genre in themselves and have conveyed more than the events at Karbala. They reveal how martyrdom was not merely a physical event but a spiritual and mystical one of the soul's suffering and sacrifice for the love of God. To date Karbala as part of the marsiya is to situate it in bereavement, struggle, revolution, catharsis and social change. Karbala is thus a powerful metaphor for spiritual sacrifice.
DISCLAIMER
The views expressed in the Article above are Author’s personal views and kashmiribhatta.in is not in any way responsible for the opinions expressed in the above article. The article belongs to its respective owner or owners and this site does not claim any right over it. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing."
Courtesy: Times of India: The Speaking Tree: