Click here for background and on any passage for word meanings and explanatory discussion.    sahir ludhianavi (1921-1980) progressive poet writing in chaste yet relatively easily understood urdu. He brought the quality of urdu nazm to movie songs and raised the standards to a high level. Supported labour movements. This is his tribute to the labour and craftsmanship that went into creating the taj mahal. My own translations are rather pedestrian and utilitarian. Whenever available, I attach poetic translations too. In this case, Badri Raina’s translation is attached. Of course, Badri Raina has also helped with translations in many other places throughout this website.

1
taj tere liye ek mazhar¹ e ulfat² hi sahi
tujh ko is vaadi e rangiN³ se aqeedat⁴ hi sahi
meri mahboob kaheeN aur mila kar mujh se1.expression 2.love 3.colourful valley 4.faith/belief
O! my beloved, the Taj may be a symbol of love for you, you may have faith in this beautiful valley. (But it signifies something else for me), Oh, my beloved, let us meet somewhere else!

2
bazm e shahi⁵ meN GhariboN ka guzar⁶ kya maani
sabt⁷ jis rah pe hoN sitwat e shahi⁸ ke nishaN
us pe ulfat bhari roohon⁹ ka safar¹⁰ kya maani5.royal assembly 6.passage 7.stamped/engraved 8.royal grandeur 9.loving soul 10.sojourn
How can the halls of royalty be a soujourn of the poor. Symbols of grandeur engraved on these pathways, how can loving souls tread here.

3
meri mahboob pas e parda¹¹ e tashhir¹² e vafa¹³
tu ne sitwat¹⁴ ke nishaanon ko to dekha hota
murda shahon ke maqabar¹⁵ se bahalne vaali¹⁶
apne tareek¹⁷ makaanon ko to dekha hota11.behind the veil 12.advertisement 13.faith/love 14.grandeur 15.graves 16.one who gets consoled, mollified 17.dark O my beloved, behind the veil of declaration of love, don’t you see the display of royal pomp. Mollified by the tombs of dead kings, don’t you see the darkness of our own hovels.

4
an ginat¹⁸ logoN ne duniya meN mohabbat ki hai
kaun kahta hai ke sadiq¹⁹ na the jazbe²⁰ unke
laikin unke liye tashhir²¹ ka saman nahiN
kyuNke vo log bhi apni hi tarah muflis²² the18.countless 19.sincere/truthful 20.sentiments 21.display, declare, announce 22.pauper Countless people in this world have loved. Who says that their love was not true. But they did not have the means to advertize it, because they were paupers like us.

5
ye imaraat²³ o maqaabir²⁴, ye fasileN ye hisaar²⁵
mutlaq ul hukm²⁶ shahanshahoN ki azmat²⁷ ke sutoon²⁸
seena e dahr²⁹ ke nasoor³⁰ hain kuhna³¹ nasoor
jazb³² hai in men tere aur mere ajdad³³ ka Khoon23.buildings 24.graves 25. boundary walls, parapets 26.absolute power 27.greatness 28.columns 29.world, earth 30.sores/tumors 31.ancient 32.absorbed 33.forebears
These buildings, tombs and parapets, are the pillars of the grandeur of absolute monarchs. Sores, cancerous sores on the bosom of this earth, colored with the blood of our forebears.

6
meri mahboob unheN bhi to mohabbat hogi
jinki sannai³⁴ ne baKhshi³⁵ hai ise shakl e jamil³⁶
unke pyaroN ke maqabir rahe be naam o numood³⁷
aaj tak unpe jalaai na kisi ne qindeel³⁸ 34.craftsmanship 35.bestowed 36.beautiful face 37.name or marker 38.lamp
O! my beloved, they too must have loved, whose craft has granted this its beautiful shape. The graves of their loved ones remain unmarked and unknown. No one lights a lamp to commemorate their love.

7
ye chaman zaar, ye Jamna ka kinaara, ye mahal
ye munaqqash³⁹ dar o divar⁴⁰ ye mehrab⁴¹ ye taaq⁴²
ek shahanshah ne daulat ka sahara⁴³ le kar
hum GariboN ki mohabbat ka uRaya hai mazaaq39.carved/engraved 40.doors and walls 41.central arch 42.alcove 43.support
These lush lawns, the bank of the Jamna, this palace, these engraved walls and doors, arches and alcoves – an emperor’s use of his wealth is an arrogant taunt since we, the poor, are no less capable of love.

8
meri mahboob kaheeN aur mila kar mujh seOh, my beloved, let us meet somewhere else!

Taj Mahal – Sahir Ludhianawi
Translated by Badri Raina

I do not care
If the Taj means to you
The great symbol of love;
I do not care
If perchance
You should bear
Towards its aura of colourful romance
A reverence deep and true:
Love, not here, not here
But elsewhere
Must be our rendezvous.

What sense does it make
For the poor to be
Frequenting
These haunts of royalty?
What sense does it make
For soulful lovers
To traverse
A pathway
So rudely dense
With the imprint of an imperial day?

Past the trappings
And the frill work of romance
You must have peeped, ah Love,
And noticed how
Behind the elaborate song and dance
Lie evidences of less lovely things.
Into the dark and cheerless interiors
Of our own houses
You must have looked—
You whom
The icy tombs
Of dead kings
Divert to ecstasy.
Countless are the people
Who have loved;
Nor were their vows contracted
With less faith,
Less intensity.
All that they lacked
Were the instruments of pomp,
Because like you and I
They too were underlings.

These awesome monuments,
These tombs,
These ramparts,
These fortifications—
Testimonies to the grandeur of willful emperors—
Oh, what are they
But festering ulcers
In the rotten womb of time?
And into these have poured
The common sweat and blood
Of our common ancestors.

Even they must have loved, ah Love,
Whose deft fingerwork
Has given to the Taj
Its beautiful splendour:
Yet
Their nameless loves lie buried
Under nameless graves,
And no one did ever light a lamp
Upon their rough and jagged headstones.

These lush lawns,
This pensive river bank,
And the palace fair,
These filligreed walls and arches
Soaring high,
These shapely minarets
And these squares of subtle art—
Oh, in all these
I can hear the monstrous laughter
Of a wanton emperor
Reverberating with a monstrous insult
Full in the face of our forlorn loves.
This is no place for us, ah Love,
This cannot be our rendezvous;
Elsewhere must we go,
Elsewhere remove.