A real example of synthesis

A lot spurious examples have been offered lately of this so-called synthesis between Hindu and Muslim cultural traditions in India. Music is an arena where this syncretism has found some of its highest forms of expression. Here is a poem that I was listening to earlier this evening, that illustrates the melding of mutually-contradictory themes into a beautiful whole that the so-called synthesis takes when it is done well.

This is a poem by Hazrat Shah Niaz about Holi, the quintessentially Hindu festival. In typical Sufi style (which would be considered heretical by the Wahhabi-Deobandi types) he imagines Mohammad and his family playing Holi. Apart from the poetic license that Sufi poets regularly took in depicting God and his Prophet, this poem also illustrates how Muslims used to actively participate in the festivities of the Hindu holiday of Holi. This poem has been rendered beautifully by Adiba Parveen in her album Raqs-e-Bismil ("dance of the wounded").

Sufi poems usually have a lot of Persian and Arabic words. This one is somewhat unusual in that respect; most of the words here are Sanskrit-derived Urdu words. Another poet -- or the same poet in another context -- might not have used the words dwaar, rang, khilaar, pukaar, chatur, sansaar, etc.

holi hOye rahI hai ahmad jiyO kE dwAr
They are playing Holi now at the the door to Prophet Mohammad's house.
hazrat ali kA rang banO hai hasan husain khilAr
(His cousin and son-in-law) Ali has mixed the colors and Ali's sons Hassan and Hussain are playing with them.
aisO hOlI kI dhUm machI hai chahUn Or parI hai pukAr
What a bustling scene of Holi this is! People are calling to each other in all directions.
aiso anOkho chatur khilAdi rang dIyOn sansAr
What unique and clever players! It's as if they doused the whole world in color.
"Niaz" piAra bhar bhar chidkE Ek hi rang sahas pichkAr
Niaz (the poet) sprinkles bowlfuls of color all around, the same color that comes out of thousands of pichkaaris.

The poem can also be interpreted as referring to god playing Holi with the whole world and dousing it in color, with references to "anOkho chatur khilAri" (uniquely wise players) and "Ek hi rang, sahas pichkAr" (one color, a thousand hoses).

Abida Parveen sang this poem this beautifully, but I am unable to post is as it is not yet 7 days since I created this handle. The song is available on Youtube under the title "ji chahe to sheesha ban ja". The first two-and-a-half minutes is the poem by Niaz. The rest is a sufi ghazal by Baba Zaheen Shah Taji; in classic sufi tradition, it has strong overtones from the Hindu tradition as well.

PS: Most regular speakers of Standard Hindi would find it difficult to understand these verses. This is because the poem is not in Standard Hindi or Hindi-Urdu or Hindustani. Another interesting point to note -- that Hindi-Urdu was not the exclusive linguistic means for this syncretism.

The ghazal by Baba Zaheen Shan Taji was translated very well by Sublime a while ago on old CH. Here is her translation.

Ji chahe to sheesha ban ja, ji chahe paimana ban ja
Sheesha paimana kya banna, mai ban ja maikhana ban ja..
If you wish, become the glass, or the chalice
But why choose, when you can become the wine and the tavern

Mai ban kar, maikhana ban kar masti ka afsana ban ja
Masti ka afsana bankar hasti se begaana ban ja
By becoming the wine and the tavern, become the tale of intoxication
By becoming the tale of intoxication, become a stranger to life (interpretation: lose yourself in the lust of devotion)

Hasti se bagaana hona, masti ka afsana banna
Is hone se is banne se achha hai, deewana ban ja
Becoming a tale, becoming a stranger to being,
Better than these, however, is to become a madman.

Deewana ban jane se, deewana hona achha hai
Deewana hone se achha, khak e dar e jaanana ban ja
Better than becoming a madman is to be a madman
Better than being a madman is to become dust at the door of a beloved

Khak e dar e jaanana kya hai, ahle dil ki annkh ka surma
Shama ke dil ki thandak ban ja, noor e dil e parwana ban ja
What is dust, but kohl in the eyes of the people of the heart
Become the coolness at the heart of a candle, become the moth illuminating the heart

Seekh Zaheen ke dil se jalna, kahe ko har shamma par jalna
Apni aag mein khud jal jaye, tu aisa parwana ban ja
Learn, Zaheen (Intelligent One), to burn from the heart
Why burn for every flame. Become that moth that burns in its own fire

good translation by .|Sublime|.

i wouldn't have understood all of it had it not been for her translation. like her choice of words too. :-)