Diwan-e-Nasir Ali Sirhindi

About this text

Introductory notes

Sirhindi (d.1697) was renowned in India in his time, having travelled widely before settling in Sirhind. His patrons were the governor Saif Khān Badakhshī and the Amīr al-Umarāʾ Zu’l-Fikār Khān. Sirhindi’s main literary achievement was the Persian narrative poem based on the love story of Madhumalat and Manūhar, originally written in Hindī by Shaikh Zammān. Sirhindi also wrote a short Sufi mathnawī and a description of Kashmīr. His lyrical poetry or Dīwān was collected by his friends after his death; it consists of ghazals, some sākī-nāmas and poems in praise of the Ḳalandar darvishes.

1.

Dar boota-e- faqr khush ba sāzam kardand / sad rang-e- hawas sarf-e- gudāzam kardand.
Kashkol-e- gadāi am dami bāz nagasht / himmat dādand –o- be neyāzam kardand.

2.

They made me too happy in the wilderness of my Poverty;
And my begging bowl was never empty;
They gave me forbearance, and made me indifferent towards everything.

3.

Ze jism-e- lāgharam chu sham’a fānus ast jān paidā /
barooye dāgh-e- man chun panbah bāshad ustukhwān paidā.

4.

My body is as thin as a candle of the chandelier, bright and full of life.
And all my bones can be seen as seeds in the cotton wool.

This text is an English-language translation of the original version:
Original

This is a selection from the original text

Keywords

begging, body, bowl, fortitude, mettle, physiognomy, poverty, seeds, thin

Source text

Title: Diwan-e-Nasir Ali Sirhindi

Author: Nasir Ali Sirhindi

Publication date: 2016

Original compiled c.1650-1697

Edition: 1st Edition

Place of publication: Kanpur

Provenance/location: Original compiled c.1650-1697

Digital edition

Original author(s): Nasir Ali Sirhindi

Original editor(s): Md. Ehteshamuddin Institute of Persian Research, Aligarh Muslim University , Azarmi Dukht Safavi Institute of Persian Research, Aligarh Muslim University

Language: English

Responsibility:

Texts collected by: Ayesha Mukherjee, Amlan Das Gupta, Azarmi Dukht Safavi

Texts transcribed by: Muhammad Irshad Alam, Bonisha Bhattacharya, Arshdeep Singh Brar, Muhammad Ehteshamuddin, Kahkashan Khalil, Sarbajit Mitra

Texts encoded by: Bonisha Bhattacharya, Shreya Bose, Lucy Corley, Kinshuk Das, Bedbyas Datta, Arshdeep Singh Brar, Sarbajit Mitra, Josh Monk, Reesoom Pal

Encoding checking by: Hannah Petrie, Gary Stringer, Charlotte Tupman

Genre: India > poetry

For more information about the project, contact Dr Ayesha Mukherjee at the University of Exeter.

Acknowledgements