For word meanings and explanatory discussion in English click on the tabs marked “Roman” or “Notes”.
Recitation
مرثیہ خواں کہتے ہیں ۔ مُنوّر راناؔ
۱
سر پھرے لوگ ہمیں دشمنِ جاں کہتے ہیں
ہم جو اس ملک کی مِٹّی کو بھی ماں کہتے ہیں
۲
تجھ کو اے خاکِ وطن میرے تیمُّم کی قسم
تو بتا دے جو یہ سجدوں کے نشاں کہتے ہیں
۳
آپ نے کُھل کے محبت نہیں کی ہے ہم سے
آپ بھائی نہیں کہتے ہیں میاں کہتے ہیں
۴
ویسے یہ بات بتانے کی نہیں ہے لیکن
ہم ترے عشق میں برباد ہیں، ہاں کہتے ہیں
۵
شاعری بھی مری رسوائی پہ آمادہ ہے
میں غزل کہتا ہوں سب مرثیہ خواں کہتے ہیں
मर्सिया-ख़्वां कहते हैं – मुनव्वर राना
१
सर-फिरे लोग हमें दुश्मन-ए जां कहते हैं
हम जो इस मुल्क की मिट्टी को भी मां कहते हैं
२
तुझ को अए ख़ाक-ए वतन मेरे तयम्मुम की क़सम
तू बता दे जो ये सज्दौं के निशाँ कहता है
३
आप ने खुल के मोहब्बत नहीं की है हम से
आप भाई नहीं कहते हैं मियाँ कहते हैं
४
वैसे ये बात बताने की नहीं है लैकिन
हम तेरे इश्क़ में बरबाद हैं, हां कहते हैं
५
शा’एरी भी मेरी रुस्वाई पे आमादा है
मैं ग़ज़ल कहता हूं सब मर्सिया-ख़्वां कहते हैं
Click here for background and on any passage for word meanings and explanatory discussion. syed munavvar ali-munavvar raana (1952-2024), raa’e bareili, kolkata, and lukhnau. He was a very popular and dominating presence on the mushaa’era circuit and wrote in hindi as well as urdu, using simple language. His larger family members moved to pakistan but his father chose to stay. He wrote a long book-length nazm called mohaajir-naama which is best understood as sorrow and regret at the differences and loss caused by partition. His bitterness is best understood when after being bestowed the sahitya akademi award for urdu literature in 2014, he returned it in 2015 to protest increasing intolerance. He remained defiant and controversial for the rest of his life.
1
sar-phiray1 loag hameN dushman-e-jaaN2 kahtay haiN
ham jo is mulk3 ki miTTi ko bhi maaN kahtay haiN 1.angry, fanatic 2.enemy of life, life-threatening 3.country, homeland
Fanatic, angry people call us life threatening, a danger to them, we who consider the soil of this to be like our mother.
2
tujh ko aye Khaak1-e vatan2 meray tayammum3 ki qasam4
tu bataa de jo yeh sajdoN5 ke nishaaN6 kahtay haiN 1.soil, earth 2.homeland 3.ritual ablutions done with dry clean clay powder/sand 4.in the name of, swear by 5.prostration, bowing down to the ground 5.marks
Normally vuzu … ritual ablutions before namaaz are done by washing with water. It is also permissible to use clean sand/soil. That is called tayammum, not vuzu. Thus the poet does tayammum with the soil of the homeland and bows his head to the ground. This repeated ‘sajda’ has made a mark on his forehead. He calls upon the soil of the land to tell the world what these marks say/mean.
3
aap ne khul1 ke mohabbat nahiN kii hai ham se
aap bhaaii nahiN kahtay haiN miyaaN2 kahtay haiN 1.with an open heart 2.a derogatory term used for muslims in India
You have not opened your heart to us in love. You don’t call us brother, you call with an abusive epithet – miyaaN.
4
vaisay1 yeh baat bataanay ki nahiN hai laikin
ham teray ishq meN barbaad2 haiN, haaN kahtay haiN 1.roughly translated as an idiom … so to say, normally 2.destroyed, wasted
Normally, this is something we should not talk about, but … we lay wasted in love of you (O motherland), we are forced to say this.
5
shaa’eri bhi meri rusvaaii1 peh aamaada2 hai
maiN Ghazal kahta huN sab marsia-KhwaaN3 kahtay haiN 1.disgrace, dishonour 2.willing, ready 3.elegy singer
Even my poetry is willing/ready to be disgraced. I recite Ghazal and they say it is an elegy. An elegy is normally sorrowful. Here it is implied that people think that the poet is singing the same old lamentation. They don’t believe it is justified.
syed munavvar ali-munavvar raana (1952-2024), raa’e bareili, kolkata, and lukhnau. He was a very popular and dominating presence on the mushaa’era circuit and wrote in hindi as well as urdu, using simple language. His larger family members moved to pakistan but his father chose to stay. He wrote a long book-length nazm called mohaajir-naama which is best understood as sorrow and regret at the differences and loss caused by partition. His bitterness is best understood when after being bestowed the sahitya akademi award for urdu literature in 2014, he returned it in 2015 to protest increasing intolerance. He remained defiant and controversial for the rest of his life.
1
sar-phiray1 loag hameN dushman-e-jaaN2 kahtay haiN
ham jo is mulk3 ki miTTi ko bhi maaN kahtay haiN
1.angry, fanatic 2.enemy of life, life-threatening 3.country, homeland
Fanatic, angry people call us life threatening, a danger to them, we who consider the soil of this to be like our mother.
2
tujh ko aye Khaak1-e vatan2 meray tayammum3 ki qasam4
tu bataa de jo yeh sajdoN5 ke nishaaN6 kahtay haiN
1.soil, earth 2.homeland 3.ritual ablutions done with dry clean clay powder/sand 4.in the name of, swear by 5.prostration, bowing down to the ground 5.marks
Normally vuzu … ritual ablutions before namaaz are done by washing with water. It is also permissible to use clean sand/soil. That is called tayammum, not vuzu. Thus the poet does tayammum with the soil of the homeland and bows his head to the ground. This repeated ‘sajda’ has made a mark on his forehead. He calls upon the soil of the land to tell the world what these marks say/mean.
3
aap ne khul1 ke mohabbat nahiN kii hai ham se
aap bhaaii nahiN kahtay haiN miyaaN2 kahtay haiN
1.with an open heart 2.a derogatory term used for muslims in India
You have not opened your heart to us in love. You don’t call us brother, you call with an abusive epithet – miyaaN.
4
vaisay1 yeh baat bataanay ki nahiN hai laikin
ham teray ishq meN barbaad2 haiN, haaN kahtay haiN
1.roughly translated as an idiom … so to say, normally 2.destroyed, wasted
Normally, this is something we should not talk about, but … we lay wasted in love of you (O motherland), we are forced to say this.
5
shaa’eri bhi meri rusvaaii1 peh aamaada2 hai
maiN Ghazal kahta huN sab marsia-KhwaaN3 kahtay haiN
1.disgrace, dishonour 2.willing, ready 3.elegy singer
Even my poetry is willing/ready to be disgraced. I recite Ghazal and they say it is an elegy. An elegy is normally sorrowful. Here it is implied that people think that the poet is singing the same old lamentation. They don’t believe it is justified.
