Meeraji’s poetry features prominently in my debut novel “Blasphear”. As part of my research for this novel, I studied his poetry and read, among others, Nasir Abbas Nayyar’s book Uss ko ik shaks samajhna tau munasib hi nahi. The following is part one of my essay that summarizes my research into the theme of void in Meeraji’s poetry.
Meeraji is one of the foremost modern Urdu poets. A significant theme in his poetry is spiritual void – or emptiness or hollowness. Nayyar[1] argues that Meeraji was the first among Urdu poets to focus attention to this void encountered by the modern man and is, thus, a truly modern poet. The concept of spiritual void can be attributed to Carl Jung[2]. In European societies, this void resulted mainly from the inability of religion to provide solace. Jung[2] writes:
How totally different did the world appear to medieval man! For him the earth was eternally fixed and at rest in the centre of the universe…Men were all children of God under the loving care of the Most High, who prepared them for eternal blessedness; and all knew exactly what they should do and how they should conduct themselves in order to rise from a corruptible world to an incorruptible and joyous existence. Such a life no longer seems real to us, even in our dreams.
How did the modern man lose his blissful existence? But before we answer this question, we must define a modern man. According to Jung[2], only the man who is conscious of the present can be called modern. To Jung[2], the average man lives “almost as unconsciously as primitive races”. And only the modern man is conscious of the changes which have occurred in the “last few centuries”. Nayyar[1] elaborates that this consciousness can be defined on three levels: cerebral or thought level; perceptive or feelings level; and imaginative level. It means that man must be modern on all three levels to be called modern. Jung’s[2] emphasis on the present suggests that man should be able to detach the present from the past. Thus, being modern is to refute historical, past or established traditions and dogmas; because all these dogmas were in fact man-made but endorsed or sanctified using a religious stamp. In Jung’s[2] words, man “… has become unhistorical in the deepest sense and has estranged himself from the mass of men who live entirely within the bounds of tradition …”. To be “unhistorical” is to the masses “the Promethean sin” and thus a “higher level of consciousness is like a burden of guilt”.
So what were the events or changes that the modern man became aware of, those that robbed him of his paradise of bliss – in a manner reminiscent of Adam’s and Eve’s eviction from Eden? The scientific discoveries of Galileo, among others, that Jung[2] alludes to – revealing that humans are not at the center of the universe – were certainly among the major ones. Probably, Darwin’s theory of natural selection and the emerging dictum of survival of the fittest, by dealing a stunning blow to the moralist standpoint, created the deepest feeling of disillusionment. The onset of Industrialization further relegated man to one cog in the great machines or merely a statistical parameter in a scientific analysis within an urbanized society in which people desperately looking for work left small towns and thronged into big cities. This type of existence resulted in insecure individuals. The two world wars and the rise of totalitarian states in the West (primarily the USSR) constituted some more shattering experiences for the Western man.
It is worth mentioning that the Western experiences and thus their sources of void may be different from those of the rest of the world. In colonized societies, another type of void was created by the subjugation to an imperialistic country – probably it was the same void that engendered the lonesome generations alluded to by Hussian in his famous novel[3]. This subjugation was not merely a political one; it also exposed the local culture, traditions, and ideas to an invading set of culture and traditions. Since Britishers assumed themselves to be a superior society, embracing even the fruitful aspects of their living – science, for example – meant for the local Indians an acceptance of the cultural superiority of the imperialistic invaders. Enslaved communities such as those in Africa suffered even deeper spiritual wounds. It is also pertinent to conjecture what are the sources of void in the present era. In our recent history, the East Pakistan debacle left a void in more than one way. On a global level, the clash between Islam and the West may be one. Neo-colonialism, globalization, spread of misinformation, hybrid warfare and the likes have deepened the sense of uncertainty and displacement. The emergence of Artificial Intelligence could replay what Industrialization did a few centuries ago, though on an unprecedentedly larger scale.
Nayyar[1] posits that in Urdu poetry this spiritual void was first addressed by Meeraji. This essay discusses such themes as spiritual void as well as use and subversion of myths in Meeraji’s poetry. Interwoven within these themes are those of eroticism, duality of personality, and how Meeraji sought to handle the discovery of void within himself. We mainly try to summarize Nayyar’s[1] discussion on Meeraji poetry, while citing other prominent and relevant works on Meeraji.
An important poem by Meeraji is Silsila-e-roz-o-shab (Succession of days and nights):
Khuda ne alao jalaya hua hai.
Usse kuchh dikhai nahi de raha hai.
Hur ik simt uss ke khala hi khala hai.
Simatte huay, dil mein wo sochta hai
Taajjub ke nur-e-azal mit chuka hai
Buhat dur insaan thithka hua hai.
Usse ik shola nazar aa raha hai.
Magar uss ke har simt bhi ik khala hai.
Takhayyul ne yun uss ko dokha diya hai.
Azal aik pal mein abad ban gaya hai.
Adum iss tasavvur pe jhunjhala raha hai.
Nafas dau nafas ka bahana bana hai.
Haqeeqat ka aina toota hua hai.
Tau phir koi keh de, yeh kaya hai wo kaya hai.
Khala hi khala hai, Khala hi khala hai.
God has lit a flame.
He cannot see anything.
All around him is just a void.
He shrinks into himself and thinks.
He’s surprised that the eternity has faded into darkness.
Far away, man sits scared.
He can see a flame too.
Around him is a void too.
His imagination has deceived him.
Eternity has transformed in a moment into the finale.
The void is confused at this imagining.
It’s just a matter of a breath or two.
Reality is like a broken mirror.
Then who is to say, what’s this what’s that.
All around is a void, everywhere is just a void.
When he says khala hi khala hai (all around is a void), Meeraji might be talking about the sort of spiritual void that we discussed above in the Introduction. According to Nayyar[1], one possible interpretation of the scenario depicted in the poem is that the flame lit by man is that of human-centered awareness – an awareness such as that of Adam’s and Eve’s. Therefore, the poem seems to narrate the modern concept of creation of universe or more specifically the advent of man on earth. The flame that man lit was not possible without divorcing himself from god’s flame. This awareness is accompanied by a fear and a sense of insecurity because prior to this awareness, man relied on god(s) for protection, solace and nearly anything that he needs to sustain life. Now, he realizes that he is on his own; that this life is a fight for survival in which he is alone. This awareness is achieved by what is termed as a modern man and it leads to discovery of a void within him. But this is not merely the story of that first awareness; every time man takes the modernist’s road, he must light this flame. Another poem by Meeraji Mein darta hoon mussarrat se (I’m scared of bliss) is relevant to this discussion. It starts with:
Mein darta hoon mussarat se
Kahin yeh meri hasti ko
Bhula kar talkhiyan saari
Bana de dewataon saa.
Tau phir mein khawab hi ban kar guzarun ga
Zamana apni hasti ka.
I’m scared of bliss.
Lest it makes me forget all bitterness
And transforms my existence
Into something like gods’.
Then I will have to live my life
Like a dream.
Here, Meeraji explains why he does not subscribe to the god-centered life or spiritual connection, which he calls bliss – in other words, why he chooses to be modern (and resorts to human-centered awareness). That’s because this bliss ecstasy alienates him from worldly realities and hardships. For example, the concept that everything is ordained by Allah gives one solace but makes one forget to take responsibility of the worldly problems, and resultantly intoxicates him with determinism. This bliss is not only a spiritual ascendency but it also cuts man off from his roots. Bliss is in fact an escapist approach. When the modern man discovers the spiritual void in himself, he seeks to divorce himself from the god-centered life. Another interpretation which is essentially similar is that when bliss engulfs life, the labored process of growth and evolution stops.
We note that the poem Silsala-e-roz-o-shab employs a mythical milieu, in that it tells a story reminiscent of ancient myths. Thus, it is paradoxical that the modernist poet employs a myth despite departure from a mythical past. Let us now investigate why and how Meeraji resorts to the use of myth. It is well known that most myths were created by poets – Iliad and odyssey by Homer and Ramayan, for example. It can be said that myths are based on an interpretation of the realities – the realities that the poet or artist perceives. Naturally, the perception of reality depends upon the historical experience that the poet has undergone. We know that Meeraji lived nearly all his life in a colonized India and perceived tumultuous periods of freedom movements, advent of new scientific concepts, two world wars etc. He never participated in political or literary movements but arrived at his own interpretation of the said experiences. We note that Meeraji’s experiential world was not practical but conceptual, imaginative, and knowledge-based. Let us now see how this experience led Meeraji towards myths.
The colonized era presented the Western culture as a superior one and a precursor of modern ideals of liberty, arts, science, and philosophy. The west claimed to be the fountainhead of all the modern knowledge and concepts, while the rest of the world was the recipient (or consumer) of the product called knowledge. Meeraji knew that this concept of a monolithic modernity of the West was flawed and that modernity has its many localized flavors – not only the English modernity will be different from the Indian one, but it may also be different from, say, Spanish, French or German ones too. As a creator, a nationalist, and a modernist he could not reconcile with the Western dominance. Nor did he want to copy the English modernity, as many minds of that era did and were severed from their local roots. Failing to accept the intellectual barrenness of India, he began to rummage the Indian past for intellectual riches which he could call indigenous. In his Mashrik-o-maghrib ke naghme (Songs of East and West)[4,5], he says, “Those minor things that we think have come to us from West were in fact coined by ancient Indians.” (Author’s translation). In such an approach, he risked being akin to the Islamic scholars who claimed Islam to be originator of all new scientific discoveries; for example, many people try to look for clues to astronomical science, among others, in the Quran.
However, Meeraji did not extend that mistake. He proceeded to find samples of indigenous modernity in Indian history. In this search, he was especially interested in the eleventh century Vishnu poets, including Chandidas who wrote Srikrishna Kirtan that is a Bengalized rendition of erotic love between Krishna and Radha, and Vidyapati. These poets were modern in the sense that they talked of love for humanity beyond religious boundaries, employed eroticism for the purpose of symbolism, and used the local dialects as against the elitist Sanskrit diction. Inspired by the Vishnu poets, Meeraji started a modernism in Urdu using mythology.
Interestingly, Meeraji does not employ myths in the conventional way. Whenever he does use one, he does not let it dominate the meaning of the poem. In Nayyar’s[1] words, he establishes an interlocutory relationship between the myth and his poem; while the myth throws light on Meeraji’s poem, the reverse may also be true. In his book, Nayyar[1] provides several examples of this relationship from Meeraji’s poetry. In Sanjog (Union), Meeraji employs a myth consisting of Krishna, Radha, and Brindaban but brings it into the real world of stars, moon, Venus, and jungle.
Yeh chanda Krishna, sitare hain jhurmat Brinda ki sakhion ka
Aur Zuhra mandal ki Radha ban kar kyun aayi hai?
Kaya Radha ki sundarta chand Bihari ke mann ko bhaye gi?
This moon is Krishna, stars are the friends of Brinda
And why does Venus appear as Radha of the sky
Would her beauty enamor moon, the Krishna?
We note that the mythical characters are not used in the conventional sense but are employed to enhance an earthly love – a love of this very world. According to Dr. Rizvi[5], it is interesting to note that Hinduism as a religion is earthlier as compared to Islam which embodies loftier ideals.
Let us look at another example using the following few lines from Ajanta ke ghaar (Ajanta caves).
Aam sheerini se amrit ka maza dete hain
Aur kanwal jalwa dikhate hi har ek baat bhula dete hain.
Mangoes’ sweetness tastes like a panacea
While the lotus, when you see it, makes you forget everything.
Here, lotus conveys the image of an esoteric, godly greatness and subliminal feelings, while mango, being earthlier and commonplace, conveys the sense of pleasure. Meeraji assigns the attributes of amrit (panacea) to mango juice, while the lotus is manifested as a charade. Here, the conventional symbolism is outright subverted.
Relevant to this discussion is the one of rasa, such as the extract or juice of mango in the aforementioned poem. The meaning of rasa in Hindi mythology and literature has evolved, over many centuries, from the extract of fruits to spiritual ebullience/delight to sexual ecstasy. Thus, rasa may be said to constitute a wide range of sentiments and emotional states – and this is important – triggered by an external agency. In this context, let us consider this poem by Meeraji titled Russ ki anokhi lehren (The curious waves of rasa), which begins thus:
Mein bethi hui hoon
Dupatta mere sar se dhalka hua hai
Mujhe dhayan aata nahin hai mere ghesuun ko koi dekh lai ga
Musarrat ka ghera simatta chala ja raha hai
Bus ab aur koi nai cheez mere musarrat ke ghere mein na aane paye.
As I sit here
My head’s covering slips off.
I forget that someone will espy my tresses.
The pleasure is surrounding me
I do not want anything to trespass this circle of pleasure.
In this poem, the word musarrat is used in the sense of rasa, and as we can see it is an earthly and bodily rasa rather than a spiritual ecstasy. Thus, like Vishnu poets, Meeraji underscores the earthly and human sentiments and feelings. It can be gauged that in the above two samples of his poetry Meeraji alludes to themes similar to the one that he speaks of in Mein darta hoon musarrat se discussed above– in the poem Ajanta ke ghaar discussed above, the godly lotus severs one from the humaneness while mango is more dependable, and in Russ ki anokhi lehren, the emphasis on sensory pleasure is noticeable. (continued)
Works Cited
- Nayyar, Nasir Abbas, Uss ko ik shaks samajhna tau munasib hi nahi, Oxford University Press, 2017. (https://a.co/d/elRqFqT).
- Jung, Carl, Modern Man in Search of a Soul. (Translated by W. S. Dell and Cary F. Baynes), A Harvest Book. Harcourt Inc., New York, 1933. (https://www.amazon.com/Modern-man-search-soul-Jung/dp/B00087SQBK)
- Hussain, Abdullah, “Udaas Naslain”, Sang-e-Meel Publications, 1963. (https://www.amazon.com/Udaas-Naslain-Urdu-Abdullah-Hussain/dp/9693500733)
- Jalibi, Dr. Jameel, “Meeraji ko samajhne ke liye”, Meeraji: Aik Mutalya, Ed. Dr Jameel Jalibi, Sang-e-Meel Publications, Lahore, 2009. (https://sangemeel.shop/products/meera-ji-aik-mutalia)
- Rizvi, Dr. Sajjad Baqir, “Meeraji ke geet”, Meeraji: Aik Mutalya, Ed. Dr Jameel Jalibi, Sang-e-Meel Publications, Lahore, 2009. (https://sangemeel.shop/products/meera-ji-aik-mutalia)
- Kazmi, Nasir, “Shaks aur Aks”, Meeraji: Aik Mutalya, Ed. Dr Jameel Jalibi, Sang-e-Meel Publications, Lahore, 2009. (https://sangemeel.shop/products/meera-ji-aik-mutalia)