OUR VITASTA: FROM SACRED CHANTS OF RIG VEDA TO THE VERSES OF ALI SARDAR JAFRI

                                                                             

Long before she found her lyrical self-expression in the cadences of Ali Sardar Jafri, the river was revered as Vitastā, a sacred current remembered in the Rig Veda, where she is invoked among the life-giving rivers of the ancient land:

इमं मे गङ्गे यमुने सरस्वति शुतुद्रि स्तोमं सचता परुष्ण्या ।
असिक्न्या मरुद्वृधे वितस्तयाऽर्जीकिये शृणुह्या सुषोमया ॥

imaṃ me gaṅge yamune sarasvati śutudri stomaṃ sacatā paruṣṇyā |
asiknyā marudvṛdhe vitastayā ’rjīkīye śṛṇuhyā suṣomayā ||

In this ancient invocation, Vitastā is not merely a river, but a presence; heard, praised, and entreated as a living force within a sacred landscape.

By the age of the Mahabharata, her waters are woven into the spiritual journeys of humankind:

गङ्गां सरस्वतीं चैव सिन्धुं च यमुनाṁ तथा ।
वितस्तामथ विपाशां च स्नात्वा पापैः प्रमुच्यते ॥

gaṅgāṃ sarasvatīṃ caiva sindhuṃ ca yamunāṃ tathā |
vitastām atha vipāśāṃ ca snātvā pāpaiḥ pramucyate ||

Here, Vitastā becomes a path to purification, her flow a medium through which the burdens of existence are gently washed away.

And in the Nilamata Purana, she emerges as the very soul of Kashmir, born of divine command:

वितस्ता नाम या देवी सर्वपापप्रणाशिनी ।
शिवाज्ञया विनिःसृता लोकानां हितकाम्यया ॥

vitastā nāma yā devī sarvapāpapraṇāśinī |
śivājñayā viniḥsṛtā lokānāṃ hitakāmyayā ||

Thus, at the behest of Shiva, she descends—not merely to flow, but to create, to sustain, to remember. Across these layered traditions, Vitastā flows, ancient yet ever-renewing, known today as the Jhelum River. A witness to myth, memory, and history alike, she is at once scripture, landscape, and song.And when this ancient river, after centuries of being invoked, revered, and remembered, at last finds her modern poetic voice, she speaks through the imagination of Ali Sardar Jafri, becoming not merely a subject of verse, but its speaking self:

Maanind joo-e-zindagi shaam o sahar behtaa huun mein
Har dam ravaan, har dam davaan, har dam jawaan rahtaa huun mein

Like the stream of life, through dusk and dawn I flow;
At every moment moving, striving, forever young, I grow.

Vaadi mein lehraata hua
Sabze se ithlaata hua
Sau pech o kham khaata hua
Hanstaa hua gaata hua

Through the valley I sway and wander,
In the green I preen and ponder,
In a hundred winding turns I glide,
Laughing, singing as I ride.

Maujon ki zufein kholta
Qatron ke moti roltaa
Maashooqa-e-Kashmir ke
Pehloo mein itraata hua

I loosen the tresses of my waves,
I scatter pearls my spray engraves,
Beside my beloved ( Kashmir) , I remain,
Adorned with grace, with tender refrain.

Kheiton ke daaman mein yahaan
Baagon ke saaye mein vahaan
Apni sharaab-e-naab ke
Sagar ko chhalkaata hua

In the lap of fields I linger here,
In orchards’ shade I reappear,
The pure wine of my being I pour,
A brimming, life-bestowing store.

Maanind joo-e-zindagi shaam o sahar behtaa huun mein
Har dam ravaan, har dam davaan, har dam jawaan rahtaa huun mein

Like the stream of life, through dusk and dawn I flow;
At every moment moving, striving,forever young I grow.

Thus, from the sacred utterance of the Rig Veda to the epic memory of the Mahabharata, from the living myth of the Nilamata Purana to the lyrical self-expression of Ali Sardar Jafri, the river endures, Vitastā, Jhelum, speaking at last in her own voice:

I flow. I remember. I become…

 

(Avtar Mota )

CHINAR SHADE by Autarmota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License.
Based on a work at http:\\autarmota.blogspot.com\.