Saquib Saleem

India has always been a country of diverse religions yet one culture. Though in present times people may not believe, it’s a fact that for centuries Indian writers have been writing in praise of supposedly ‘other’ religions reflecting the syncretic culture of the land. Muslim poets like Iqbal, Hasrat Mohani, Hafeez Jalandhari, Meeraji, Nazeer Akbarabadi etc., are some names that come to mind immediately for their eulogies of ‘Hindu’ gods. 

This Maha Shivratri I want readers to revisit an Urdu poem written by Nazeer Akbarabadi in praise of Lord Shiva. Nazeer Akbarabadi, a Muslim by faith, is one of the earliest Urdu poets to write in praise of Shiva, who, for Hindus, is part of the trinity that created and runs the Universe.  Nazeer predates Ghalib and lived in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

Moreover, though Allama Iqbal compared ‘New India’ to a temple of Shiva in one of his poems, Mohammad Sanaullah ‘Meeraji’ finds Shiva and Parvati a perfect loving couple, and many other Muslim poets have used Lord Shiva as a metaphor, I find no other Urdu poet as devoted to Shiva as Nazeer.    

Nazeer Akbarabadi in a poem titled Mahadev-ji ka Byah (Wedding ceremony of Lord Mahadev, another name of Shiva) writes:

pahle naañv ganesh kaa, lījiye siis navā.e

jā se kāraj sidh hoñ, sadā mahūrat laa.e

First of all, recite the name of Ganesha with a bowed head

Which brings an auspicious time for all the works

As I read these lines today, one would be amazed to know that a Muslim was asking his readers to recite the name of Lord Ganesha before the start of this story. The growing tribe of orthodox of the present times will instinctively call for the head of such a writer while two centuries ago Nazeer Akrabarabadi was a celebrated poet. Below is the poem and its English translation:

bol bachan ānand ke, prem, piit aur chaah

sun lo yāro, dhyān dhar, mahādev kā byaah

Utter the words of joy, love, affection and attachment

My friends, attentively listen to the story of the wedding of Mahadev

jogī jañgam se sunā, vo bhī kiyā bayān

aur kathā meñ jo sunā, us kā bhī parmān  

Those who listened from hermits narrated it

And those who listened as the story also certify

sunñe vaale bhī raheñ hañsī ḳhushī din rain

aur paḌheñ jo yaad kar, un ko bhī sukh chain

Those who listen remain cheerful day and night

Those who read and memorize are also happy

aur jis ne is byaah kii, mahimā kahī banā.e

us ke bhī har haal meñ, shiv-jī raheñ suhā.e

Whoever narrates the glory of this wedding

Lord Shiva remains happy with him

ḳhushī rahe din raat vo, kabhī na ho dil-gīr

mahimā us kī bhī rahe jis kā naam 'nazīr'

This exercise brings the happiness that one doesn’t feel sad

Glory to the narrator whose name is ‘Nazeer’

As a historian, I read this poem with the context that the current friction between Hindus and Muslims is a gradual development brought with the British colonial rule in the 19th and 20th centuries. No wonder, Nazeer writing much before 1857(the first war of India’s independence) was not aware of the Hinduness of Lord Shiva like the present times.

A devoted Muslim could write in praise of a ‘Hindu’ God because the demarcation between the two religions was not rigid; in watertight compartments. Moreover, Indian festivals and rituals were seen more as cultural markers. It is interesting to note that though the tradition of writing in praise of Lord Shiva survives but with time the passion among Muslim poets has decreased. Ali Mardan Khan in the 17th century or Nazeer in the 18th century were writing Stutis (eulogy) that were replaced by admiration by Meeraji in the 20th century.