LALLA VAAK …….ECHOES FROM PANDRETHAN….
By Prof Tej Raina ( Born 1942 )
Year of publication 2016..
Contact …rainatej@yahoo.co. in....
‘I was born cotton
carder made me fiber.
Spinner spun me.
Weaver wove.
Washer smeared me with soap- nuts.
Pounded me on the stone.
Tailor cut me.
I am the pure self..’
(Lal Ded)
Lal Ded’s philosophy , poetic message
and the austerities of her personal
life have created an ineffaceable image in the minds of every Kashmiri
that remains beyond compare to this day.
“
Lal Ded is the
tallest representative ofpiety and graciousness of washmiri Woman
. Our history has not brought forward any other pious woman who could
match her thought and personality .This is the reason why Kashmiris across the
religious divide adore and respect her . It is a fact that we have failed
to give her a proper place . We have failed to locate her on ground at a place
where she was born and where spent the most period of her life. ”
This is what M Y Taing ,former Secretary Jammu And Kashmir Academy of
Art , Culture and Languages said in a book release function in Jammu in
2015.
She remains a spiritual giant and a poetic gem of Kashmir.
Her poetic presentation of the universal message of Kashmir’s Shaiva Darshana
,Trika and dynamic humanism remains beyond compare . And through
her verses , she is responsible for shaping the contours of Kashmiri language and
literature as well. The
enormous humanism of her Vaakhs is a dynamic force that has withstood the
test of the time and transcended all man-made barriers . These Vaakhs are like
the fresh fragrant air that can be universally experienced . Like the rays of
the sun that warm up every particle on this planet or like the midsummer
shower that gives relief to every creature from the scorching heat.
With many books on this great
saint poetess , it is not surprising to find one more refreshing addition to
this field. This new book by Prof Tej Raina follows a different but focussed trajectory
of evaluating Lal Ded’s work in
the light of Trika and Shaiv Darshana alone. It is apparent that the author has
put enormous labour in compilation of this book. His
study of Kashmiri language especially
its phonetics, verbs and vowels is profound. Not that alone ,
he has also traced and trailed their usage over a period of time in
arriving at correct words of some Vaakhs. These words , for sure , have got
mutilated and distorted by oral usage spread over many centuries .I do not find
any previous author of Lal Ded’s work going for this type of labour .Add
to that , Prof Tej Raina studied fundamentals of Trika and Kashmir’s glorious
Shaiv Darshana from some original texts. This exercise has proved of immense
help to him in selecting Vaahks which could safely be assigned to Lal Ded or Lalleshawari . The author believes that many words in
original Vaakhs of Lalleshwari stand corrupted with the gradual change in
spoken language and influence of other languages .According to him , all these
Vaakhs have been preserved by oral tradition only. The author has added a 38
page chapter at the end titled ‘Deliberations’ wherein
he has ably justified each and every change that he was constrained to
undertake . Say for example in Vaakh 106 , he has changed the word Heund
( Hindu ) to Bataah . He believes that Bataah is the word that Lalleshwari
has been using to address a Kashmiri Pandit. Again , in Vaakh 7 , he has changed the word Lalith
and replaced it with Loaluth derived from sanskrit word Loluptava
meaning greed. Similarly in Vaakh 41 , he has changed the words Saat
and Muss ( Persian origin word meaning wine ) to Satas
( Satya or truth ) and Madh ( Wine ) . There are some more
minor changes in some Vakkhs . In fact all these minor
changes have added clarity and focus to the Shaiva Darshana
or Trika message contained in the existing Vaakhs .
According to the author :
"* Out of about 258 Vaakhs that
circulate in the name of Lal Ded and occur in various collections, Prof Jay Lal
Kaul selected 138 Vaakhs for his Book and even their authenticity he is not
prepared to " vouch for". People have clubbed some verses of Rupa
Bhawani with Lal Vaakhs.There are 35 verses that occur both in the collections
of Lal Ded's verses , and in Noornamaas and Reshinamaas of Sheikh Noor ud
Din or Nund Rishi, which include his Shrukhs. Three quatrains of
Azizullah Khan ,a Kashmiri poet of early 19th century have also been ascribed
to Lalleshwari by Rev J Hinton Knowles. Interestingly, one of these quatrains
has been translated by the great Indian translator A K Ramanujan in the name of
Lal Ded , and quoted as such by K Sachchidanandan (Ex Secretary ,Sahitya
Akademi) in one of his papers on women poets of India."
The focus of the author has been a
qualitative pursuit in the light of Shaiva Darshana and Trika and not a
quantitative compilation and presentation of whatsoever is attributed to
the saint poetess that has often diluted her core message .He has
selected only 127 Vaakhs which he feels convey her core message . Others
may not belong to Lal Ded . That is what he feels and I have no reason to
disagree. Even Moti Lal Saqi would say so .His litmus test in selection of the
Vaakhs is nothing less than perfect. A reader of this book can say
this line of Samad Mir’s poem “ Zugg ta pro’nn kodun
faelli falley “ or “he separated chaff from the grain “ for
Tej Raina’s efforts in selection of Vaakhs for this book.
For the author of the book , the
personality of Lalleshwari emerges only from her vaakhs and he believes the
rest to be only intentional or unintentional myths woven by people
without any supportive historical , documentary or other authentic evidence. He
feels no need to comment on these issues in the book .
Another reason why this book
is different from all previous books is that all the 127 Vaakhs
have been presented in Kashmiri both in Devnagri and Nastalik script.
There is also an apt and to the point Hindi translation by the Author .
He comes up as a perfect translator . This rendition into Hindi verses by the
author is the essence of this work . Add to that the crisp and brief
interpretation of each Vaakh in the light of Trika and Shaiva Darshana is
spectacular. I quote five Vaakhs dealt in the book and translated
beautifully by the author into Hindi ……
(1)
Gagan ti chhukh tsei bhootal
chhukh tsei
Tsei chhukh raath ta dya’n Tsei pawan
Aragh tsandun tsei posh
poe’n tsei
Tsei soruaai kyaah kath laagan
Hindi rendering by the author ..
Tum gagan tum hi dharaatal
Raat din tum, tum marru
Aragh chandan tum kusum jal
Kis ko kyaa arpan karuun
(2)
Shiv va keeshiv va ajan va
Kamalaj
naath naav dharaan yuuh
Me abal kaastan bhav varj va
Su va, su va, su va, soo…
Hindi rendering by the author ..
Voh shiv keshav voh nitya ajan
Voh kamalaj nath ka Sanghya-dhar
Mujh abla ko bhav varj hare
Bus voh, bus voh ,voh eik, voh har
(3)
Deev vatta tai divvar vatta
Heiri ta
bo’na chhuyi ikkwaath
Pooz kath karakh ha’tta
bataah
Kar manas ta pawanas
sanghaath
Hindi rendering by the author ..
Dev shila , deewar shila ki
Opper neeche ekaa eikk
Kis ko
pooj raha hai pandit
Mun
aur pawan ko kar na eikk
(4)
Kuss ma’ri tai
kassu maarey
Ma’ri kuss ta maaran kass
Har har traavith ghar ghar
ka’rey
Adh’a
suyi ma’ri ta
maaran tass..
Hindi rendering by the author ..
Kaun maregaa aur kis-ka
Maarey kaun kissey maarey
Har har
chhorr ke ghar ghar phirey
Vahi
marey ouss ko maarey ..
(5)
Niyam
kar’yoth garbhaa
Tseituss peyyi
karbaa
Maran’a bron’thaai mar baa
Zinda zuvaai ta’r baa
Hindi rendering by the author ..
Garbhaashay mein thaan liyaa thaa
Kaise bhoole yaad karo
Marne se pehle
hi mar jaa
Jeete ji hi paar taro
Spread in about 350 pages , the author
has also annexed pronunciation key for vowels in 10 pages at the
beginning , a 29 page scholarly preface
and an illuminatingly worded 9 page prelude. The appendix at the end carries
images of pages from manuscripts like Lallavakya Bhashaya , hand written
Lala-Vaakhs prepared by Pt Amar Nath Handoo and 138 verses transcribed in Roman
script ( used by Prof Jaya Lal Kaul ). Tej Raina’s focus has been to
convey Trika and Shaiva philosophy of Lalleshwari. This is in line with B N
Parimoo , S S Toshakhani and Jay
Lal Kaul’s approach to Lala -Vaakhs.
The cover page for the book (in black
colour ) has been designed by the author.For the author, who
is also an artist , black conveys the profoundness of Shaiv
Darshana’s Shunyata , a concept of ‘Nothingness’ that Lal Ded gave
to the Kashmiri poetry . From this Nothingness alone emerges something profound
, timeless and unique that holds this Universe . Reading the
explanatory notes given against each Vaakh by the author, one becomes
familiar with some basic concepts of Trika and Shaiv Darshana by knowing the meaining of the concepts like MAYA , PURUSA , PRKARITI ,ANTAKARNAS,
BIMBA , PRATIBIMBA , PARA ,PARAMASIVA, VAIKHARI STATE ,KAALA, NIYATI,
JAGADANANDA,PANCH ,PRANA ,SAMVIT , UDANA , SAMANA ,APANA ,SASIKALA
,MULADHAARA CHAKRA and TURYA STATE .
Unique
in all aspects, the book is refreshingly engrossing for every lover of
Lal Ded’s philosophy and poetic genius . A work that enthuses , touches
and knocks the mind. Lala the sufferer , Lala the Guru and Lala the philosopher
come alive in three segments of the book titled UNFOLDING , FRAGRANCE OF THE
BLOOM and DELIBERATIONS . I recommend the book to all.
( Avtar Mota.. )
.