SAHIR LUDHIANVI – A Romantic Magician of Words
Dr. Naresh Raj
Sahir
Ludhianvi, (8 March 1921 – 25 October 1980) I hold was not merely
a romantic poet but true to his pen name he was a magician of words. He
employed romanticism in a subtle manner to bring out the agony of the
distressed vividly. The only son of a Jagirdar, he could have lived in affluence
and luxury but his father a typical feudal lord, did not believe that women too
were human beings and deserved respect like any other man. Thus Abdul Hyee
(Sahir’s real name) had to choose, as a child, between his rich father and the
poor but self- respecting mother. Even an ordinary child would choose his
mother given the difficult choice. Sahir had a poet's sensibility. He adored
his mother also made every sacrifice, like selling her jewelry to educate her
son. Thus early in life Sahir was brought face to face with the realities of
life and was able to feel, at first hand, the troubles and turmoil’s of the
struggling humanity. He saw fellow- sufferers among the afflicted. Like them he
sincerely hoped and believed that the value of sorrows which the life of common
people, in poor, enslaved lndia could be converted into an earthly paradise.
All around him he saw darkness, despondency and misery, he wrote;
"Na koi
Jagah, na Manzil, na roshani, na suragh
Bhatak rahi hai Khalaon main Zindgi meri,
Bhatak rahi hai Khalaon main Zindgi meri,
Inhi Khalaon
main reh Jaunga Kahbi Kho Kar
Main janta hun mei ham nafas magar yoon hi
Kabhi Kabhi mere dil main khyal aata hai'
Main janta hun mei ham nafas magar yoon hi
Kabhi Kabhi mere dil main khyal aata hai'
(I see no
light, no destination, all my life goes
round and round, in emptiness, one day to be swallowed by endless time, And yet
there are moments when I hope and yearn.)
As a student
of Government College, Ludhiana in 1943 he fell in love with a HINDU Girl and
was expelled from the College. As he humorously put it many years later, when
he was honoured by his old college:-
“Go yan kee
nahin
Yan ke nikale huay to hain"
(I don’t belong
here. Yet having been expelled from here, I still can claim a relationship)
Like Adam
expelled from the garden of Eden the memory and the hurt remained with the poet
throughout his life. In one of his poems
he petulantly complained to his beloved:
'Tujhko
Khabar Nahin magar
ek sada loh
ka Barbad kar diya tere do din ke pyar ne"
But love was not only problem in his life. He
had to earn for himself and his loving and beloved mother. Poverty has blasted
mannerless hearts and Sahir expresses the fact in his beautiful manner:-
"Main
aur tumse tarke-mohabat ke aazoo
Diwana kar diya hai ghame rozgar ne"
Diwana kar diya hai ghame rozgar ne"
"ls it convincible
that I should think of forgetting you, But the sorrows of the world have driven
me mad'.
He edited
the famous Urdu Magazines 'ADAB-l-LATlF" and "Shakar". After the
partition of the country he migrated to Lahore he edited the famous urdu bimonthly
"Savera" One of the editorials criticizing the Government so
infuriated the authorities that warrants for his arrest were issued. He fled to
lndia, reaching Delhi were he stayed for a year. Then he moved to Bombay where
the film world was waiting to be conquered by him. His mother who had been left
in Pakistan was brought to lndia by his friend Parkash Pandit. Licentiousness
of his sad as well as violently opposed to the established order.
He could feel
the privations and humiliation a suffered by countless millions through out the
world. The bitterness of his mind flowed in painful yet exquisite songs. That
is why his first collection of poems bore the title "TALKHAIAN"
(Bitter moods).
His poem like
"TAJ MAHAL’ MADAM’' and "CHAKLEY (BROTHELS) will make the self-satisfied
sit and ponder whether we are all not responsible for most of suffering in the
world. The question will continue to ring in the ears of those who have a heart
to feel for the unhappy and the unfortunate. One day their conscience may urge
them to a tone for the sins committed by them and their forefathers. A day
might dawn when the privileged and the advantage will seriously try to bring
about social justice, Then and then only will Sahir's dream of a world of
brotherhood and fellow feeling materialize. He hoped for an age:
Daulat ke
liye jab aurat ki kismet na becha jayegi
Chahat ko na
kuchla jayega,
Ghairat ko
na becha jayega
Apni kali
kartooton par jab ye dunia Sharmayagi
woH subah
kabi to ayagi,
("When
women will not be sold for a handful of silver coins.
Nor love sacrificed at the altar of Mammon
Nor self respect be made a commodity,
And the masters of the world will tremble over their sins
Such a morning will come, surely one day)
Nor love sacrificed at the altar of Mammon
Nor self respect be made a commodity,
And the masters of the world will tremble over their sins
Such a morning will come, surely one day)
Sahir wanted
to see faces of young and children glowing with bubbling joy. He did not
recognize distinctions of caste, creed and religions. He dreamt of a world free
from exploitation, aggression and arrogance. His poems like "Jagir and
Chikley' 'bear ample witness to his feelings. He was disconsolate on seeing
human beings enslaved in the name of race and the innocent being exploited by the
self-acclaimed patriots. ln his composition "JASHNE GHALIB" he lambasts
the so called lovers of pottery in ' the following manner:-
'Yeh jashan,
Yeh hangame, dilchasp khitone hain Kuchh logon ki koshish kai kuchh log bahe jayen.
"The
commemoration of poet is nothing but source of entertainment Arranged by the cunning to distract the bored."
Sahir's humanity is not confined to the
nation's borders only. He suffers with the Africans, the Hispanics as well as
with the Vietnamese opposed to the high handedness of the mighty. He believed
in the freedom of all, big and small.
On the Republic day, he asks the rulers of the
country.
"Ayo ke
aaj ghaur kare iss sawaal pr
Dekhna tha hamne hasin khwab kya huya,
Daulat badhi
to mulk main aflas kyon badha,
Kushhaliye awam ke asbab kya huye,
Har kucha sholasar
hai,
har shahar
katalgah
Yak-jah tiye
hayaat kai aadab kya huye
(Let us sit
and think calmly about the fate of our dream,
why is it that the country progresses,
yet the poor gain not a bit?
What about the facilities for the common folk?
For I find out streets burning and cities flow with human blood
ls this the fraternity and civilisation we so much boast of?)
why is it that the country progresses,
yet the poor gain not a bit?
What about the facilities for the common folk?
For I find out streets burning and cities flow with human blood
ls this the fraternity and civilisation we so much boast of?)
Sahir was aware of the sins of masters of
the world and with pen he too was
fighting in the fron t ranks of those who stood for human dignity. As long as
the spark of freedom glows in the human breast Sahir will live in peoples
memories.
2 comments:
अच्छी पोस्ट है साहिर पे
Sahir Ludhianvi nazm collection
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