Mir Baber Ali Anis: A Living Legend of Urdu Literature

      In the name of Allah (s.w.t) the most Beneficent and Merciful                                    Peace be upon Mohammad e Mustafa and his progeny                                             

Mrs. FARHAT FATIMA

Research Scholar, Department of H & SS

JNTUH, College of Engineering

JNTUH, Kukatpally, Hyderabad-85

E-mail: farhat_fatima5@yahoo.com

Abstract

This paper aims at exploring the world of Urdu poetry in context to the most famous Urdu poet of Awadh, Utter Pradesh Mir Baber Ali Anis.  He is considered one of the most unique and exceptional poets of the Mughal era. Mir Anis has the title Khuda-e-Sukhan, the creator of words. He spent nearly 54 years in composing of Marsias, Salam’s and Rubai’s. His core theme under discussion in his Marsias, Salam’s and Rubai’s is ‘The Battle of Karbala’. Poetry was rooted in the blood of Mir Anis.   Mir Anis used Persian, Hindi, Arabic and Sanskrit words fluently in his poetry and this quality distinguished him from his contemporaries. He is a versatile writer and he applied many styles like Ghazal, Noha, Mukhammas and Munajat in poetry.  He has twenty two poets in his line of succession and their poetry is also remarkable.  His parents took huge interest in his nurturing.   His father ‘Mir Khaliq’ was a celebrated bard of Urdu literature.  His mother had been a cultured and devout lady and she played a major part in determining Mir Anis’s personality as a poet.  He has been well versed in logic, literature, Arabic and Persian scriptures and philosophy. He has an enormous influence on the history of Urdu literature.  On 10^th December 1874 AD he left this world leaving behind his family, friends and admirers behind.

Keywords

Marsia, Noha, Salam, Rubai, Ghazal, Mukhammas and Munajat

Mir Anis is a highly praised and celebrated Urdu poet who is considered the Homer and Virgil of Urdu Literature.  He was considered as the most distinctive and exceptional poets of the Mughal era. Mir Anis was awarded the title Khuda-e-Sukhan, the creator of words. He spent nearly 54 years in composing Marsias, Salam’s and Rubai’s.  As a poet Mir Anis was doubtlessly great and innovative versifier.  He was born in 1802 at Faizabad, Awadh, Uttar Pradesh and expired in 1874.  He used to reside in Lucknow.  Mir Anis was an Indian National and one of the best, outstanding Urdu poets.   Mir Babar Ali Anis, was a Musawi Syed which means he was a descendent of Holy Prophet Mohammad-e-Mustafa’s (peace be upon him) seventh son Moosa-e-Kazim’s son in progeny.  His key theme under discussion in his Marsias, Salam’s and Rubai’s is Battle of Karbala. Poetry was entrenched in the blood of Mir Anis.   Mir Anis used Persian, Hindi, Arabic and Sanskrit words glibly in his poetry and this feature distinguished him from his contemporaries.

He had twenty two poets in his line of succession and their poetry was outstanding.  His great grandfather ‘Mir Hasan’ is also a renowned poet and known for his lyrical composition of a Masnavi (a series of distich’s or couplets in rhymed pairs) titled ‘Sahar-ul Bayan’. (Hussain, Khawateen-e-Karbala 3)  His father ‘Mir Khaliq’, who was a poet, limited himself to the composition of Marsias or elegies.  He is  a fifth generation poet and he has mentioned this fact in the first stanza of his famous marsia “Namak-e-Khwaan-e-Takallum hai Fasaahat meri.”  His parents took huge interest in his upbringing.   His father ‘Mir Khaliq’ is a notable poet of Urdu literature and he took particular interest in educating and rearing of Mir Anis by assigning him good teachers who had a significant place in Urdu literature.  Anis’s mother was a cultured and devout lady and she played a major part in determining Mir Anis’s personality as a poet.  Above all Mir Anis himself was well versed in logic, literature, Arabic and Persian scriptures and philosophy.  

He had been the most splendid of Urdu poets with a significant style.  He has an enormous influence on the history of Urdu literature.  In the following marsia or elegy he praises the eyes of Hussain Ibn Ali {(Alaihis Salaam), Grandson of Prophet Mohammad.}  His pouring of words is like a brook; who ever reads them is full of admiration. 

 AIN-E-HUSSAIN (Eyes of Hussain)

{‘Hussain’ is the grandson of Holy Prophet (peace be upon him and his progeny)}

آنکهون  کو  کہیے  عین  تو عینے خطا ہے یہ

پردے نہ کیوں ہو ساتهہ کے نورے خُدا ہے یہ

سب کو ہے چشمہ دشت کے عینے عطا ہے یہ

بیمار  خود  پہ  سب  کے مرض کی دوا ہے یہ
     گیا   سر خو ٔش   ہے  جام  ان کی  جوالفت  کا  پی 

    دیکها   نگاہِ   لُطف   سے  جسکو  وہ  جی  گیا 

Transliteration

Aankho KO kahiye ain to ain-e-khata hai ye

Parde Na kyon ho saat ke noor-e-Khuda hai ye
Sab KO hai chashmdasht ke ain-e-ata hai ye
Beemaar khud pa sab ke maraz ki dawa hai ye
    Sarkhush Hain jaam inki Jo ulfat ka pee gaya
   Dekha nigaah-e-lutf se jisko wo jee gaya (Hussain, Anis ke Marsiye 474)

  

If you call them eyes than they are the eyes in which we can be lost

Why will they not be seven curtains as he is the light of God?

Everyone has the knowledge that these eyes bestow boons

Though these eyes are themselves ailing but they are the medicine for ailments

      Whoever has tasted with love the wine of these beautiful eyes?

      If these eyes look at you with love you will live (i.e., be blessed) forever (Translated by Fatima, 
      Farhat)

Mirza Dabir was a peer and contemporary of Mir Anis and an illustrious rhymester.  Both Mir Anis and Mirza Dabir had an authority over the arrangement of words to such an extent that they could knit any kind of thought, topic, condition to captivate people to sigh, giggle, or make them distraught and astounded. If Mir Anis had  articulacy in his verses along with splendor of portrayal and delight of Idioms than Dabir had innovation in themes, high flight of depiction and richness in words.

‘Josh Maliahabadi’ a prominent Urdu poet has paid a rich reverence to Mir Anis in his poetry.  He says in this Urdu couplet

تیری ہرموجِ نفس روح الامین کی جاں ہے   

تومیری  اردو  زبان  کا  بولتا  قُرآن  ہے

Transliteration

Teri Har Mauj-e Nafas Rooh-ul Ameen Ki Jaan Hai,
Tu Meri Urdu Zubaan Ka Bolta Quran Hai (Maliahabadi, The Lucknow Observer)

Your every spiritual impulse is the spirit of Gabriel

You are the Quran of my Urdu Language (Translated by Fatima, Farhat)

In the above lines Josh Maliahabadi addresses Mir Anis and praises His contribution to Urdu language.  He praises the fabulous authority and religious participation of Mir Anis by saying that he is the divine impulse of Rooh-ul-Amin i.e., Gabriel (the arch angel).  According to Josh Maliahabadi Mir Anis is accountable for glittering and refining the Urdu language and satisfying his work of art with unusual magic, elegance and twinkle.  The lexicon at his command was huge and he used language with massive deliberation and sophistication. He supplemented a lot of new terminology.

The poetry of Anis is a bright illustration of the Ganga-Jamuni Tehzeeb of Lucknow. Mir Anis started writing poetry known as Ghazal fairly early in life and adopted Takhallus i.e., pen name as Hazin or Treasurer.  He went to a Mushairah (a gathering where poetry is recited) and recited his ghazal which was praised a lot.  Word came to his father that Mir Anis has the talent of his forefathers.  His father heard his ghazal and precisely counseled Mir Anis to be a composer of Marsias which being a service to their faith was measured a nobler deed.  Being a compliant son Mir Anis from than onwards started writing marsias. The length of his marsias was from Thirty five or forty to fifty stanzas. It was on the guidance of Ustad ‘Nasikh’, a renowned rhymester attached to the court who recommended Mir Anis to modify his pseudonym from Hazin to Anis.

Mir Anis was a versatile poet, he inscribed many style of cantos like Marsia, Rubai, Ghazal, Noha, Salam, Mukhammas and Munajat. The ‘Marsia’, is an elegiac poem penned down to honour the martyrdom and valour of Husain Ibn Ali {(Alaihis Salaam means 'peace be upon him'), The Grandson of Prophet Mohammad} and his comrades at the Battle of Karbala. The utterance ‘Marsia’ is derivative from the Arabic word ‘Risa’ that implies a huge calamity or howling for a deceased spirit.   It was a common word used for one and all.  But subsequent to the enormous tragedy of Karbala, when on the 10^th of Moharram, Hussain Ibn Ali {(Alaihis Salaam), the younger grandson of Prophet Mohammad} was martyred, famished and parched along with his 71 relatives and companions by the disorderly and hard-hearted hoards of the oppressor ruler Yazid, Marsia became an expression used wholly to portray the proceedings of Karbala and the catastrophe of Hussain Ibn Ali (Alaihis Salaam). In its structure the marsia normally consists of six-line units or sestet, with a rhyming quatrain, and a couplet on a different rhyme.  The rhyming pattern is aaaabb.  It is called Musaddas in Urdu.  Each Marsia has one hundred and fifty or even longer than two hundred stanzas or bunds.  This type found an especially congenial soil in Lucknow mainly because it was the centre of Shia Muslim community, which regarded it an act of faithfulness and holy commitment to eulogise and lament the martyrs of the battle of Karbala. The sub-parts of marsia are called noha and soz which means lamentation and burning of (heart) respectively. It is usually a poem of grief.

The subsequent is a Marsiya of Hazrat Abbas {Brother of Hussain Ibn Ali (Alaihis Salaam)} in Urdu:

روکے ہمیں نکل کے جوطاقت  کسی  میں ہو

لے  تیغ میان سے، جو شجاعت کسی  میں ہو

گرمائے رخش کو،جو حرارت  کسی  میں ہو

آ ئے جوحرب ضربب کی قدرت کسی میں ہو

               دو ہاتهہ میں علئی کے پسر،  وار پار ہیں

               دریا  نہیں  کہ  رُک  گیا، ہم  ذوالفقار ہیں

Transliteration

Roke humein nikal ke jo taaqat  kisi mein ho
Le taigh miyaan se jo shajaa’at  kisi mein ho
Garmaaye rakhsh ko jo haraarat kisi mein ho
Aaye jo harb o zarb ki qudrat  kisi mein ho
   Do haath mein Ali ke pisar waar paar hain
   Darya nahi jo ruk gaya, hum Zulfiqaar hain (Hussain, Anis ke Marsiye 65)

Stop me by coming out (in the battlefield) if anyone has the strength

Take the sword out of its scabbard if anyone has the valour

Warm your muscles if anyone has the heat in them

Come out (in the battlefield) if anyone has the chivalry of battle in them

In two strokes this son of Ali will overcome them

This is not the sea to stop but is Sword Zulfiqaar (Translated by Fatima, Farhat)

In the above lines Ali is the cousin and son-in-law of Prophet Mohammad and Zulfiqaar was a special double-edged sword which had magical powers and it had descended on Ali Ibn Abi Talib from heaven.

The above lines of marsia or sestet of poet Mir Anis exemplify the courage, bravery and superior strength of Abbas Ibn Ali {(Alaihis Salaam), the youngest step brother of Hussain Ibn Ali.}  Abbas shouts at the Yazid’s army and informs them that he is going to fetch water for the thirsty children from river Euphrates if anyone is courageous enough to fight with him can come forward against him.

In addition to being a master of the marsia Mir Anis was a expert of the Rubai.  Rubai is an independent stanza composed of four lines or a quartrain.  Lines one, two and four all rhyme in rubai. It is considered to be shortest complete poem in Urdu.  Rubai is an Urdu Persian poetic form.  Rubai is such that the poets uses metaphors and similes in first three lines but has to all of a sudden conclude the meaning in line four.  In Persian each rubai was regarded as a poem in its own right.  Mir Anis had a remarkable aptitude for rubais.  He hugely improved the contents of rubai by making them complex and livelier.  As in Marsia he also introduced the tragedy of Karbala in his rubais.  The insertion of Tragedy of Karbala added blossoming and predominance in the Urdu rubai.   With adoration of Ahle Baith(The progeny of Holy Prophet)  and lamentation for the unkind treatment meted out to them, a multiplicity of novel topics such as valor, endurance, determination, strength of mind, admiration, antagonism, faithfulness, genuineness, overhauling, forfeiting, uprightness, sincerity, compliance, modesty, tactfulness, selflessness, persistence, contemplation and many themes of kindred temperament cropped up.  These virtues got a place in the spectrum of rubai.  Numerous complementary vices such as insensitivity, aspiration for supremacy and power, cowardice, skepticism, disbelief etc were condemned.  For Mir Anis rubai was a work-out of a focused and effective medium for perpetuation and promoting ethical values of living.

The following is a beautiful rubai in Urdu by Mir Anis:

نا  کام   بهی   کامیاب  ہو   جاتا  ہے

بے   قدر  فلک  جناب  ہو  جاتا   ہے

گر ایک  نظر مہر سے  دیکهے حیدر 

ذرا    بهی    آفتاب    ہو   جاتا   ہے

Transliteration

Nakaam bhi kaamiyab ho jaata hai

Beqadar falak Janab ho jaata hai

Gar ek nazar mehr se dekhein Hyder

Zarra bhi aftaab ho jaata hai  (Anis, Quloos-e-Anis 2;  Abedi  249)

An unsuccessful person will become successful

A person who is not respected will become a respectful person

If Hyder sees us with one glance of kindness

A speck will become the Sun (Translated by  Fatima, Farhat)     

       

In the above rubai we find that verses one, two and four rhyme in same pattern.   This rubai is written in the praise of Hyder {The cousin & Son-in-law of Prophet Mohammad. He is also named as Ali (Alaihis Salaam)}  Anis is all praises for Hyder. He laments that if a glance of kindness is bestowed on a person from Hyder than that person elevates in the eyes of the world and humanity in general.  From an unsuccessful person he becomes successful.  He becomes a respectful person in the eyes of society as if he was a speck and blazes with the brightness of the sun.

Apart from marsia and rubai Mir Anis also wrote Ghazal which is a lyrical form. The structural necessities of the ghazal are analogous in severity to those of the Petrarchan sonnet. Dr. Arshad Jamaal in his long essay in Hindi known as ‘Ghazal Kya hai’ extracted from the book known as "Aaina-e-ghazal" defined  Ghazal in short, as a collection of two line poems called Sher which follows the rules of ‘Matla’, ‘Radif’, ‘Maqta’, ‘Beher’ and ‘Kaafiyaa’.  ‘Matla’ is the first Sher in the Ghazal. ‘Radif’ means all second lines of the Sher end with the same word.   The ‘Matla’ must have ‘Radif’ in its both lines. 'Maqta' means a Shayar or poet usually has an alias i.e. ‘Takhallus’ There is a Sher in a Ghazal, the last one, which has the Shayar’s or poet’s ‘takhallus’ in it. ‘Beher’ is meter or length of Sher and 'Kaafiyaa’ is the rhyming pattern which all the words before 'Radif' must have.

The following is a Ghazal of Mir Anis in Urdu:

کوئی   انیس     کوئی   آشنا   نہیں   رکهتے

کسی  کی   آس   بغیراز  خدا   نہیں  رکهتے

        کسی  کو کیا ہودلون کی  شکستگی کی  خبر

       کی  ٹوٹنے مہں  یہ شیشے صدا  نہیں رکهتے

انیس   بیچ   کے   جاں  اپنی  ہند  سے  نکلو 

جو  توشہ   سفر  اے   کربلا   نہیں   رکهتے

Transliteration

Ko.ii  ‘Anis’  ko.ii  aashna  nahii.n   rakhte

Kisii ki aas bagair az Khuda nahii.n   rakhte

  Kisi ko Kya ho dilon ki shikastagii ki khabar

  Ki tuutne mein ye shishe sada nahii.n rakhte

Anis’ bech ke jaan apnii hind se niklo

Jo tosha-e-safar-e Karbala nahii.n rakhte (Razvi, 222-223;  Anis, Rekhta)

Anis never keeps any acquaintances

He never depends on anyone except God

How will anyone know the breakage of heart?

Because while breaking we don’t keep glasses

      Anis sell your life and leave India

      If you don’t have tiffin for the voyage of Karbala (Translated by Fatima, Farhat)

The above lines of the Ghazal are full of connotation and they gush like a fresh water rivulet with its tremble, purity and power.  Anis expresses in the above two lines of Ghazal that he never tries to befriend anyone because he depends on only the lord almighty.  In the third and fourth lines of Ghazal he says ‘How will anyone know the breakage of heart because they don’t deal with glasses”.  In the last lines he conveys to himself in the Ghazal ‘Anis sell yourself if possible and leave if you do not have money to travel to Karbala’.  A Ghazal may contain a poetic expression that has both the soreness of defeat or separation and the beauty of love in spite of that hurt.

Mir Anis used to carve heart depicting Noha’s. ‘Noha’ or dirge is a short poem mourning the martyrdom of Hussain Ibn Ali {(Alaihis Salaam), the younger grandson of Prophet Mohammad.} Themes of separation, loneliness and grief exemplify a noha.   The sun in mourning divides into two, the wind grumbles in distress beyond words; blood seeps out beneath the anguished stones.  The world is gloomy and all appears erroneous. The orator amasses the heartache of the family members of Hussain, their remorseful situation.  In the following noha of Mir Baber Ali Anis, the Urdu poet expresses the grief of Hussain Ibn Ali.  {(Alaihis Salaam ), grandson of Prophet Mohammad}

The following is a famous noha of Mir Anis in Urdu

اے    سکینہ   الفراق، اے   پیاری   بیٹی   الفراق

فاقہ   کش    تشںنہ    دہن،   مظلوم   دقتر  الوادع

آ  ذرا   لگ جا    گلے،  اپنے  مسافر  باپ   سے

اے  میری   لدڈون   کی    پالی،  ناز پرور الوادع

       خاک  اڑاکر صبح سر پر، کرے اب رخصت مجهے

       اے  انیس   دردو   غم،   بانوئے   مضطر  الوادع

Transliteration

Aai  Sakina  Al Firaq,  Aai  Pyari  Beti Al Firaq

Faqakash Tashnadahan, Mazloom duqtar Al vida

Aa  zara  lagja  gale, Apne  musafir  baap  se

Aai  meri  ladoan  ki paali, Naz  parvar Al vida

  Qaak udakar Subha sarpar, Karein ab ruqsat mujhe

  Aai  Anis  dard -o- gham,  Bano -e- muztar  Alvida (Anis, Nauha 96)

Oh! Sakina the separation, Oh lovely daughter the separation

Starved & Thirsty, victimized daughter good-bye

Come and embrace your traveler father

Oh! my pampered one, taken care of with affection-good bye

    Throw ash this morning on your head and say goodbye to me

    Oh! Anis the pain and sorrow I feel, Bano the anxious – good bye (Translated by Fatima, Farhat)

The above Noha or dirge of Mir Anis is one of the world’s best gloomy songs, generally recited as the last farewell of Hussain Ibn Ali {(Alaihis Salaam), the grandson of Prophet Mohammad} with his three year old daughter Sakina (peace be upon her), portraying the grief of Hussain (Alaihis Salaam), whilst parting with his daughter and wife Bano.  Sorrowfully he handed them in the supervision of his sister Zainab (peace be upon her.)  He knew very well about the unethical and the disorderly forces of Yazid’s army standing on the banks of the Euphrates. Waiting to ransack the tents of Hussain Ibn Ali’s (Alaihis Salaam), household subsequent to Hussain's (Alaihis Salaam),  martyrdom.

Salaam is a poetic greeting. It is another form of elegiac canto which is generally composed of two lines. Mir Anis has written considerable salaam’s in his poetic career.  It is generally delivered as a prologue to marsia as homage of gesture to the Ahle Bait i.e., family of Prophet Mohammad.

The following is a Salam by Mir Anis in Urdu:

پُکاری     سکینہ     دُہائی    ہے    بابا

ستمگر   میری   بالیان    کهیچتے   ہیں

کٹی  جاتی  ہے  گردننین   یبی یون  کی

رسن  کو  جو  ایزا روان  کهینچتے  ہیں

Transliteration

Pukaarien  Sakina   duhaai   hai   baba
Sitamgar  meri  baaliyaa’n khenchte hain

Kati  jaatein  hain  gardanein Bibiyon ki
Rasanko jo eezarawaa'n khenchte hain (Naqvi, 1976)

Lamented Sakina (daughter of Hussain) oh! Father come to my help

These tyrants are snatching my earrings

Our women folk’s necks are being bruised 

When these cruel people are pulling the ropes tied around their necks (Translated  by Fatima, Farhat) 

In the above Salam the four years old daughter of Hussain Ibn Ali {(Alaihis Salaam), grandson of Prophet Mohammad, peace be upon him and his progeny.} after his martyrdom, when she and her household is taken as captives laments, Oh! Father come to our rescue these cruel people are snatching my earrings and also pulling the ropes of our women folks which is tied around their necks. Mir Anis has phrased the couplets in such a beautiful and aesthetic way that each word touches our hearts.

Mukhammas is a different kind of poetry which was created by Mir Anis.  It encompasses five line stanzas which follow the Persian or Urdu cinquain or pentastich with Sufi connections based on a pentameter.  A recurring subject of the Mukhammas is to eulogize Ali Ibn Abi Talib {(Alaihis Salaam), Cousin and later son-in-law of Prophet Mohammad.}  The Mukhammas embodies a stanza of two distiches and hemistich in monorhyme.  Apart from Mir Baber Ali Anis the other authors who wrote Mukhammas are Zauq, Mirza Ghalib, Wali Mohammad Wali and Bahadur Shah Zafar.

The following is a Manqabat in Mukhammas format by Mir Anis in Urdu:

انیس  اِن   چند  بندون  کا   صلہ   ہے،   گالشنِ   جنت

نہ گهبرا  اِس مرض  سے،   بعد  ہے  آزار  کی  راحت 

نئ طاقت بهی  دینگے، اِنکو  ہے  ہر  طرح  کی  قدرت

عئلی فرحت،    عئلی نصرت، عئلی شوکت، عئلی حشمت

عئلی حکمت،    عئلی صحت،  عئلی  دارو، عئلی  درمان

Transliteration(

Anis in chand bandoan ka sila’h hai, Gulshane Jannat

Na Ghabra is maraz se, baad hai aazaar ki rahat

Nai taaqat bhi denge, inko hai; har tarha’ ki qudrat

Ali Farhat, Ali Nusrat, Ali Shouket, Ali Hashmath

Ali Hikhmath, Ali Sayhath, Ali Daro, Ali Darma  (Anis, Mukhammas)

Anis for these few couplets you will be conferred the garden of paradise

Don’t worry by your ailment, for afterwards your pain will vanish

He will bestow you with new strength, for he has the power to do so

Ali is happiness, Ali is supporter, Ali is overwhelming and Ali is awe-inspiring 

Ali is intellectual, Ali is health, Ali is remedy and Ali is cure.(Translated by Fatima, Farhat)

In the above Mukhammas, Mir Anis praises Ali Ibn Abi Talib {(Alaihis Salaam), Cousin and later Son-in-law of Prophet Mohammad.} The poet is speaking to himself and tells that not to worry as Ali will grant him paradise in favour of the couplets which he has written.  In no time his ailment will perish and he will be given new strength for Ali has the power to do so. As Ali (Alaihis Salaam), have many virtues like bestowing happiness, health, and cure. Mir Anis’s language is very elegant, attractive, superb and rhyming.  

                                                                                                                          Munajat is a six line verse.  This is usually sung as a call for help from the godly personality.  Mir Baber Ali Anis’s Munajat’s or hymns are generally addressed to Ali Ibn Abi Talib  { (Alaihis Salaam), Cousin and later son-in-law of Prophet Mohammad.}  Munajat’s are lyrical cantos which express the attitude of the reciter towards the divine personality. They are uncomplicated, melodious in form, authentically poignant, elegiac, legendary in manner, pious in excellence and in its thoughts, so straight and so immediately understandable as to unite a congregation at the same time as singing.

The following are the lines of a Munajat written in Urdu:

دُکهہ  تو یہ، اور ہم نفس  کوئ نہیی 

دیکهتا  ہوں  پیشوا  پاس  کوئ نہیی 

میں  تنے  تنہا  ہوں  بس  کوئ نہیی

آپ   ہیں   فریاد   رس   کوئ  نہیی

             اب مد د کیجئے  دمِ  امداد  ہے 

             یا    امیرالمو ینین    فریاد  ہے

Transliteration

Dukh toah ye, aur hum nafas koi nahin

Dekhta  hoon  peshwa pas Ko.ii nahin

Mein tane’,Tanhaa’n hoon, bus koi nahin

Aap  hain  faryad  ras,  koi  nahin

         Ab madad kijiye Dame imdad hain

        Ya Amirul momeinein faryad hain (Anis, Munajat 37; Quloos-e-Anis 4))  

Sorrow of such an extent and my associate is no one

And I see there is no one for me as a leader

I am all alone and there is no one for me

You are the one who listens to requests and no one else

           Help me now as I have sorrow and need your help

           Oh! Leader of the people, it’s my request (Translated by Fatima, Farhat)

Mir Anis very skillfully frames the words in the form of an elegiac rosary.  They articulate the poet’s solitude at the time of need and his invocation for help from Ali Ibn Abi Talib (Alaihis Salaam), who is leader of the pious people. Mir Anis implores Ali Ibn Abi Talib (Alaihis Salaam), to come for help as he is alone and in need of help.  Thus, when it comes to Urdu poetry very few writers can be on par with Mir Anis.  As long as Lucknow remained normal Mir Anis never went out of Lucknow as he felt that only this town knew the worth, subtlety of his poetry.  After the sack of Lucknow and when the last king of Awadh and Mughal era, ‘Wajid Ali Shah’ was removed from power (and went to Calcutta now Kolkata) Mir Anis accepted royal patronage and went to Azeemabad (Patna in 1859), to Banaras in 1860 and to Hyderabad in 1870 to recite his marsias.  People from all walks of life thronged to hear his poetry in huge numbers. 

In 1862 Mir Anis purchased a home in ‘Chaubdari Mohalla’, Sabzi Mandi (Chowk area of old Lucknow). He lived there for the rest of his life.   When Mir Anis was critically ill, many people came to meet him.  One of them asked Mir Anis in Urdu verse form,

کہیے میان انیس طبیعت بقیرہے

Transliteration 

Kahiye Miyan Anis Tabiyat Bakhair Hai  

Tell me Mr. Anis are you feeling well?  (Translated by Fatima, Farhat)

Mir Anis was very seriously ill but he could not keep his tongue quiet. He replied by reciting this stanza in Urdu,

اخر  ہے  عمر  زیست سے  اب  دل  بھی  سیر ہے

پیمانہ بهر چکا ہے چهلکنے کی دیر ہے

Transliteration

Aakhir Hai Umar Zist  Se  Ab  Dil  Bhi Sair Hai,

Paimana Bhar Chuka Hai Chhalakne Ki Dair Hai  (Dilawari, 19)

Life is at its end and now My heart is bored with it.

The goblet of my life is full to the rim and anytime it will overflow (Translated by Fatima, Farhat)

On 10^th December 1874 AD Mir Anis expired leaving his family, friends and admirers behind. His body was taken to ‘Imambara Ghufran Maab’ and buried at the ‘Maqbara-e-Anees’. (Ali Hussain. The Munsif Daily)  The cemetery of Mir Anis is famous as “Mir Anis Ki Baghiya”.   Thus a dazzling blinking ray joined the hazel galaxy of stars.  An ardent admirer of the family of Prophet Mohammad, peace be upon him and his Ahle bait (family), especially Hussain Ibn Ali { (Alaihis Salaam), grandson of Prophet Mohammed } joined this galaxy of stars and still after so many years his Marsias, Noha’s, Salam’s Makhannas and Munajat’s dazzle the world of poetry and poets.  Mir Anis through his poetry was able to spread the fragrance of serenity, sacrifice, reality, faithfulness and endurance to every bend and crevice of the humanity.  His verse is measured the best in the anthologies of Urdu Literature.

References

1. Hussain, Saleha Abid Khawateen-e-Karbala, Kalaam Anis ke Aayine mein (1973) Ajmal Printing Press, Delhi, January 3 Print

2. Hussain, Saleha Abid Anis ke Marsiye  2^nd Edition Taraqui Urdu Bureau (1980)      474 Print

3. Hanif, Atif The Lucknow Observer (2014) Shayar-e-Azam ed. Malihabadi, Josh   Print

4.  Hussain, Saleha Abid Anis ke Marsiye  2^nd Edition Taraqui Urdu Bureau (1980) 65 Print

5. Anis, Mir Quloos-e-Anis Nafees Kutub Ghar, Hyderabad 2 Print

6. Abedi, Dr. Syed Taghi Deewan e Rubaiiyat e Anis Shaheed Publications, New Delhi (ISBN 978 93-80279-42-8) 249 Print

7. Comp. Sani, Dr. Zareena & Waikar, Dr. Vinay Aaina e Ghazal Article by Jamal, Dr. Arshad Ghazal Kya Hain (1983) Fifth (rev) Edition Print  

8. Razvi, Syed Masood ul Hasan Rooh e Anees (1981) Kitabnager, Deen Dayal Road, Lucknow, 222-223 Print

9. Anis, Mir http://rekhta.org/ghazals/koii-aniis-koii-aashnaa-nahiin-rakhte-meer-anees-ghazals 20/03/2016 Web

10. Anis, Mir Baber Ali, Nauha, Kehte thay Zainab se ro kar aaj Sarvar Alvida 96 Print

11. Comp. Naqvi, Syed Sagheer Hasan Guldasta-e-Anis, Majmooa-e-Salam Hai Anis, Salam Shabeeh-e-Imam-e-Zamaa’n Khaichte hain (1976) Urdu Publishers, Tilak Marg, Lucknow, 84 Print

12.  Anis, Mir Mukhammas (Manqabat), Ali Fakhre Bani Adam  Print

13. Anis, Mir Baber Ali Maqbool Faryadi Nauhe wa Munajat Salman Book Depot, Hyderabad pg, 37 Print

14.  Anis, Mir Quloos-e-Anis Nafees Kutub Ghar, Hyderabad 4 Print

15. Dilawari, Sadiq Ali Jawahar e Anis, Mir Anis Ke Maqbool-e-Aam Marasi Ka Intequab (1992) Sheik Ghulam Ali and Sons (Private) Limited Publishers, Lahore pg.19 Print

16. Ali Hussain, Syed  Mir Anis aur inki marsia goa.ii The Munsif Daily, Hyderabad

Thursday 14/11/2013 Print

English translation and transliteration is done by Farhat Fatima, Research scholar, JNTUH, Kukatpally-Hyderabad.

This paper has been published in THE COMMON WEALTH REVIEW (a bi-annual journal devoted to the new literatures in English) Special Issue: Indian & Comparative Literature, ISCS (Indian Society for Commonwealth Studies) Volume No: XXIV Issue No. 1 (2014) Pg.No. 41  ISSN:0974-0473 Editors: R.K.Dhawan and Sumita Puri E-mail id: iscstudies@gmail.com

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This paper has also been published in Indian and Comparative Literature by Editors R.K.Dhawan and Sumita Puri pg.41-52 Prestige Books International, New Delhi-2016 (ISBN: 978-93-82186-78-6)., Department of H & S S. E-mail id: rkdhawan@gmail.com or balasuman@yahoo.com