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(11) Mukhammas on the Desolation of Shahjahanabad translation and notes by FWP |
== This translation and these annotations are greatly indebted to a set of internal SOAS teaching materials, author(s) unidentified, produced in the 1970's; these were never formally published, but were made available in small booklets for SOAS students. |
NOTE: There's a "script bar" at the bottom of the page. | meter: - = - = / - - = = / - = - = / = = , with the permissible variant of two short syllables replacing the penultimate long syllable |
*modern Urdu page 1* | |
1) Today I said this to Sauda, 'Why
do you wander Tell me, is service sold in heaps, or by weight?' |
== A naukar here would be a military
officer in the service of a noble or mansabdar, for which owning a horse
was a necessary qualification. Nobles were obliged to keep troops for
the service of the state. == The implication of the question seems to be that a good naukarii is so rare that Sauda has never seen it and has no notion of how to get it. |
*modern Urdu page 2* | |
2) Rich nobles used to keep soldiers
in their service He no longer has under his control the jurisdiction of Kol [=Aligarh]. |
== *The Emperor Shah 'Alam, whose kingdom comprised
little more than Delhi and the surrounding areas. During the reign of
Aurangzeb, the Mughal Empire was divided into 22 subahs, or major districts. == Kol is the old name for Aligarh. == A faujdaarii is a 'magistracy' -- the area governed by a faujdaar , one of whose functions was to maintain law and order in the rural districts. |
3) The rebels [mufsid]
are powerful in the land; thus the nobles are weak. The way peasants would become bondsmen in some lord's house. |
== A ;Takaa is worth two pice. == In order to raise money or pay off his debts, a peasant could pledge his services for a period to an overlord. |
4) Thus since the administration in
the country became destroyed to such an extent From which direction the horsemen, who would form a troop and go behind them? |
|
5) Their glory now remained [based]
only on 'Arab drums' [=large bass drums]. Kettle-drums around the necks of the palanquin-bears, in the palanquin
a bass drum. |
== nadaan could also be a vocative: oh fool(s)! |
6) Now what they want from their nobility
is this: Having thoroughly examined the fiber of their temperament. |
|
7) Now the nobles who are wise, this
is their practice: Before them have been set a spitoon and a paan. |
== Reading ba:tnol as tanbol . |
8) If someone would come to their house
in order to meet them, "For the Lord's sake, friend, talk of something else." |
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*modern Urdu page 3* | |
9) If they would be gathered for consultation,
small and great, "On the bamboo tent-poles of the canopy, are the knobs of silver?" |
== The Vazir is wondering whether the knobs are worth stealing. |
10) The ground gaped wide open; it felt
ashamed to swallow them up. Then in their conceit, every single one in his own eyes is a visionary. |
== The word order is: nidaan milkar
ii;N;T kaa ghar maa;Tii kar u;The . |
11) If a [military] task would fall
to them, then having emerged from the trench, If a horse frisks under him, in a dream. |
|
12) Neither does the 'private purse'
function, nor does the public exchequer, Wraps up and gives myrobalan to somebody, and opening-medicine to somebody else. |
== The .sarf-e ;xaa.s is the
Emperor's private purse; the ;xaali.sah is the
public exchequer. |
13) However many were cash-renderss
and holders [man.sabdaar] of estates [jaagiir] Under their arm there's a staff; in their hand, a begging bowl. |
CHECK the word ;damalnaa (?); SOAS says it's a village constable's job |
14) How can I express to you Hazrat's
[=the Emperor's] livelihood? Was sold on the third day of fasting, for a price of cowries [=pennies]." |
== gaa))o-zabaa;N was a kind of
bread like nan, but shaped like a cow's tongue. == ;xuld-makaa;N , literally, 'dwelling in heaven', an honorific way to refer to a deceased elder; the sable was a family heirloom. |
15) If one would go and ask the Steward
the situation of the cattle, If grain is something you want to eat, then say so, and it will be weighed out. |
== modii is a general terms
for a steward, also a grocer, sweet-maker, cornchandler, etc. Here
it presumably refers to the grain merchant in charge of the cattle [davaab]
fodder. The point of the joke is that camels can exist for long periods
without food, and angels eat nothing. |
*modern Urdu page 4* | |
16) "If in the stable there are
some horses, then what's the possibility It's this very thought that stupefies my mind. |
== panj piir kaa thaan was,in several cities, the name for an area where low-class people lived and met. Such areas were frequented by tonga drivers, whose horses were usually in poor condition |
17) "And now for the Master's pride,
the elephant-stable, Whether you would consider him 'sure-footed' or 'easy-paced'. |
== The phrase ;Thor ;Thikaanaa
means 'opportunity', 'reliance on', etc. == paa))il and nijhol are common epithets for kinds of elephants. Sauda's point is that it doesn't matter how you describe them, the elephants are still in a miserable condition. |
18) "From hunger, the servants now
adopt this means of livelihood: If you would say, 'Get up and smooth out the creases in the ground-sheet'. |
== That is, if you ask the cook
for a pulao (a rice dish with expensive ingredients), he will keep the
money or ingredients for himself and send you up inferior food; in this
case, a poor kind of gruel cooked with lentils or barley. == pardah faash karnaa , literally 'to split the curtain open', id often used in the sense of 'to let out a secret'. The double meaning is obvious here. == The farraash would wreak vengeance on anyone who expected him to do his proper duty. |
19) "These days, this is the aspect/appearance
of the servants in the palace: The runners are not at all strong enough to get up and move themselves. From hunger, the aspect of the doorkeepers' faces is Like that of an old she-elephant, whose cheeks are sunken. |
== a kashmiirnii is a female servant, not necessarily from Kashmir. CHECK THE THIRD LINE, RUNNERS not mentioned in my text CHECK VOCAB ON LAST LINE |
20) The Princes have created such a turmoil
of lamentation, Then poison ought to be given to all of us.'" |
== .salaa:tiino;N is an unusual
oblique plural of salaa:tiin , itself the plural
of sul:taan . The salaa:tiin
were the relatives of the royal family. |
21) The point of this speech of mine
is this: Would set his face toward Isfahan or Istanbul. |
== This contrasts with former times when people flocked from Persia and Turkey to seek their fortune at the Mughal court. |
22) If there is [military] service under
the blue-colored wheel [of the sky], The moment anyone gets a headache, the bailiffs come running. |
== sar-saam is literally 'a swelling
in the head' (Platts). == Houses of plague victims were apparently seized by the ruling authority. |
*modern Urdu page 5* | |
23) So is this the 'service' in which
life passes? Who has bound on all the 'five weapons'-- and the sixth, a pistol. |
== roz-e maujuudaat : the day
of muster for an army, when the troops and their equipment are reviewed. ==The nobles expect their soldiers to come for muster not only with the five traditional weapons, but also with the newly imported, hard to obtain 'pistol'. |
24) Now, that servant whom the master
would always recognize [and value], Whether nowadays it's made square, or round. |
== Sixteen annas make up a rupee. |
25) In short, when someone would receive
even half a pound of coarse flour, "Seeing the times, we've laid down our arms." |
== chuu;N is coarsely ground pulse
or flour -- a poor food, but preferable to working for nothing. == There seem to be some textual problems in the third and fourth lines, and the grammar is not entirely clear. == Both baa;Ndhnaa , to 'tie' [into a verse], and ma.zmuun , 'theme' [of a verse], are common literary terms. |
26) If I would begin to do speech/poetry
[su;xan] about the desolation of the city, There's no lamp there, except the 'lamp of the ghoul'. |
== An owl naturally inhabits
desolate places, but even that bird would be driven out of its senses
if it heard of the desolation of Delhi. == When disaster threatened a house, a woman would sit in front of the 'lamp of the ghoul' and go into a trance in order to commune with or to drive away the evil spirit [;Guul]. |
27) In no one's house does a grinding-wheel
or even so much as a stove remain, Where in the spring we used to sit and here the hindol [raga]. |
== The idea is that the one lighted house has a 'wound'
of grief that is burning like fire; this burning quality of wounds is
well established in Urdu poetic convention. |
28) They are ruined, those buildings--
what can I say to you?-- Here a pillar lies fallen, there an archway lies. |
== This use of paas instead of
se is obsolete. == In the second line the present text has udaas , but pyaas is surely the correct reading. |
29) Whose [evil-eye] gaze has 'eaten'
this garden? There's no knowing. Where nightingales used to frolic with the roses. |
== zuquum is the name of a tree said to grow in hell. |
*modern Urdu page 6* | |
30) They used to place on their heads [in
reverent admiration] the surrounding countryside, In the wells are corpses; there's neither rope, nor bucket. |
== The corpses would be of those who threw themselves into the well as a form of suicide, probably to avoid some kind of disgrace. |
31) When did Jahanabad deserve this
oppression? From the dust of which all the people used to sift out pearls. |
== If the city was once the heart of some lover, that
would explain, in terms of poetic convention, its ruined condition. == motii rolnaa : to separate pearls from sand and grime. |
32) Not even a lamp is lit there, in
a place where there was a chandelier, They didn't get an ordinary palanquin-- they who used to be possessors of fancy litters. |
== A mirror-chamber is a room set with hundreds of
small fragments of mirror on the walls and ceiling, so that they catch
the glimmer of a lamp most effectively; they were common in palaces.
== The correct reading at the end of the second line is surely naamuus
, not maayuus . The 'pride/honor of mirror-chambers'
might refer to the chandeliers that illumined them, or to the beauty
of the chambers themselves. |
33) Daughters of noble
families have this practice, nowadays, "It's prayer-beads made from the pure soil [of Karbala]-- take it, give whatever price you will." |
== ;husn-:talab , 'the fine art of beggary', is a refined, euphemistic way of describing it. |
34) If a devoted friend would hear, then having
heard this name, They would go on, having said under their breath, "God forbid!" |
== The first line would scan if there were a kar after sun . |
35) In short, what can I say, friends,
having seen this disaster? Would keep on baling the water out of their houses. |
== mardum is a wonderful word to use here, since it can mean either 'sophisticated, humane' or 'cruel, rapacious'. |
36) Enough-- now be silent, Sauda; there's
no strength for going further, That each age is of its own kind. Speak no more. |
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