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.