Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Nazar Wo Hai: Asghar Gondvi

Nazar Wo Hai

[by Asghar Gondvi]

Nazar wo hai ke jo kaun-o-makaan ke paar ho jaaye
Magar jab roo-e-taabaan par pade bekaar ho jaaye

Nazar us husn par thahre to aakhir kis tarah thahre
Kabhi jo phool ban jaaye, kabhi rukhsaar ho jaaye

Chalaa jaata hoon hansta khelta mauj-e-hawaadis se
Agar aasaaniyaan ho zindagi dushwaar ho jaaye...





Asghar Hussain (1884-1938) takes his takhallus from his home district Gonda, in the province of U.P., India, historically part of the Awadh culture. He is less known, but highly regarded for his relatively fewer works.


[Incidentally, the picture in the clip is from a couple of months ago, when I was crossing the border from Italy to Switzerland, passing through the Swiss Alps by train. Somehow felt like using it here...there is something about such pristine beauty. You can see the sky, the mountains, the water, and civilization at the edge, including a church...everything fits...]

9 comments:

Arfi said...

Agar aasaaniyaan ho zindagi dushwaar ho jaaye...

that rings true!

Siyaah said...

It does. For a while, this was the only part of the ghazal I really understood. Now I'm trying to translate the rest as well...there is a depth to the whole thing that I want to capture, but its not easy...

vibhav said...

I'm waiting for your translation! I couldn't find the meanings of some words.

Siyaah said...

vibhav: sorry for the wait...aur bhi gham hain zamane mein...but will get it done eventually.

yes, i really wanted to translate this one because the meanings are difficult to find...most of these ghazals are lost on us these days because of some of the persianized words...it is a process of re-discovering them...

Unknown said...

Hi,

its amzing to find literature on AsGhar GonDvi. i wud reveal a few things abhit this great soofi poet. My Dad, his close friend and jigar Muradabadi used to visit him in Gonda. Jigar and AsGhar's wives were sisters. AsGhar was a very pious person while Jigar was not...he at times consumed alcohol which is forbidden in islam. his wife used to complain to AsGHar [brother in law] about Jigar's dunkenness. Jigar regarded AsGhar as his ustaad in shairi. Asghar asked Jigar to stop drinking or divorce his wife. Jigar agreed to divorce coz he respected AsGhar as his mentor and ustaad. AsGhar, after his wife's death, married Jigar's ex-wife and then Jigar stopped drinking and became more religious, at the time of his death AsGhar asked his wife to re-marry Jigar if sge wisjed coz Higar was now not drinking. and after AsGhar's death, she re-married Jigar and lived happily there after.

my dad's, his buddy from the village and Jigar all consulted AsGhar in writing their poetry. AsGhar used to ask all theree of them to say Ghazals on the pattern of his own and as a result their are several of their ghazals which are very similar and u'll be amazed how well all three of them wrote poetry. my dad did not wish to be famous due to religious convictions while his chum from the village died in a car accident at an early age of 45. he has two three books to his credit, my dad has worth 3 books. we are trying to publish it and distribute it for free. we are doing this coz my dad passed away a long time ago.

i hope the readers will finf my write up a lil interesting

thank you for reading and be happpy...Allah Haafiz

Siyaah said...

Hashmat:
Thanks for visiting and sharing your information. I found it particularly interesting that Ashgar and Jigar were connected and have some similar poetry- hope to recognize that when I see it. Best wishes for publishing your dad's poetry.

s butt said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
s butt said...

ye sun kar bari khushi hovi ke aap ke daddy bhi asghar saab ke dost the....plz asghar saab ki aur poems be upload kakaraan mein sufinpotry ka bht bara fan hoon....shukria

Unknown said...

is there a written volume of asghar sahib poetry. whatever i have read is too good, must be a beautiful person, to get person like jigar involved in his poetry.