Harf
Script shown with the Urdu

نہ تو کارواں کی تلاش ہے نہ تو رہبر کی تلاش ہے Na To Karwan Ki Talash Hai Na To Rahbar Ki Talash Hai — Not The Caravan, Not The Guide

Sahir Ludhianvi

1921– 1980

Qawwali

Barsaat Ki Raat came out in 1960, and the qawwali at the centre of it starts about as small as a song can. A man says he is not looking for the caravan and not looking for a guide. What he wants is the particular stretch of road one person happens to walk down. Three couplets of that, and then it stops being about him at all.

What follows is an argument delivered at volume, and there was nothing like it in a Hindi film up to then. Twelve sections ahead. The refrain holding them together, ye ishq ishq hai, is a line most of the subcontinent can finish without being asked.

01  — na to karwan ki talash hai na to rahbar ki talash hai Matla · the opening

نہ تو کارواں کی تلاش ہے نہ تو رہبر کی تلاش ہے
مرے شوقِ خانہ خراب کو تری رہ گزر کی تلاش ہے

न तो कारवाँ की तलाश है न तो राहबर की तलाश है
मेरे शौक़-ए-ख़ाना-ख़राब को तेरी रह-गुज़र की तलाश है

na to karwan ki talash hai na to rahbar ki talash hai
mere shauq-e-khana-kharab ko teri rah-guzar ki talash hai

I'm not looking for the caravan and I'm not looking for a guide. This ruinous longing of mine is looking for one thing: the road you walk down.

Khana-kharab means house-wrecked, said of a person whose home is in ruins, and Urdu uses it as an affectionate insult, the way English says good-for-nothing. Attaching it to his own longing makes the longing the vandal. He turns down the two things a traveller needs, company and direction, because neither of them goes past the one street he wants.

کارواں karwan
a caravan; the company you cross a desert with
رہبر rahbar
a guide, the one who knows the way
خانہ خراب khana-kharab
house-ruined; a wrecker, said half fondly
رہ گزر rah-guzar
a path, the road someone passes along

02  — mere na-murad junoon ka hai ilaj koi to maut hai

مرے نامراد جنوں کا ہے علاج کوئی تو موت ہے
جو دوا کے نام پہ زہر دے اسی چارہ گر کی تلاش ہے

मेरे ना-मुराद जुनून का है 'इलाज कोई तो मौत है
जो दवा के नाम पे ज़हर दे उसी चारा-गर की तलाश है

mere na-murad junoon ka hai ilaj koi to maut hai
jo dava ke naam pe zahar de usi chara-gar ki talash hai

If this hopeless madness of mine has a cure at all, the cure is death. So the healer I want is the one who hands me poison and calls it medicine.

Na-murad is without murad, without the thing you asked for, so the madness has already been refused. The couplet is a job advertisement with one requirement. He is not asking to be killed. He is asking to be killed by somebody willing to keep up the pretence of treating him.

نامراد na-murad
denied what it wanted; hopeless
چارہ گر chara-gar
the one who provides a remedy; a healer

03  — tera ishq hai meri aarzu tera ishq hai meri aabru

ترا عشق ہے مری آرزو ترا عشق ہے مری آبرو
ترا عشق میں کیسے چھوڑ دوں مری عمر بھر کی تلاش ہے

तेरा 'इश्क़ है मेरी आरज़ू तेरा 'इश्क़ है मेरी आबरू
तेरा 'इश्क़ मैं कैसे छोड़ दूँ मेरी 'उम्र भर की तलाश है

tera ishq hai meri aarzu tera ishq hai meri aabru
tera ishq main kaise chhod dun meri umr bhar ki talash hai

Loving you is what I want and loving you is my good name. How am I supposed to give it up? It is what I have been looking for my whole life.

Aarzu and aabru sit a letter apart and mean opposite kinds of thing. One is private appetite, the other is public standing, the reputation you would lose everything else to keep. Putting them in the same slot in the same line says the two have collapsed into one, and this is the last section before the poem leaves the private register for good.

آرزو aarzu
longing, what you want
آبرو aabru
honour, reputation, standing in front of others

04  — dil ishq jism ishq hai aur jaan ishq hai

دل عشق جسم عشق ہے اور جان عشق ہے
ایمان کی جو پوچھو تو ایمان عشق ہے

दिल 'इश्क़ जिस्म 'इश्क़ है और जान 'इश्क़ है
ईमान की जो पूछो तो ईमान 'इश्क़ है

dil ishq jism ishq hai aur jaan ishq hai
iman ki jo poochho to iman ishq hai

The heart is love. The body is love. Life is love. And if you're asking about faith, then faith is love as well.

The grammar changes here and the poem changes with it. No verbs to speak of, no speaker, just nouns being equated one after another. Iman is not belief in general but the specific creed a Muslim professes, and putting it at the end of that list, after the body, is the moment the piece takes its first real risk.

جسم jism
the body
ایمان iman
faith; the creed a believer professes

05  — vahshat-e-dil rasan-o-daar se roki na gai

وحشتِ دل رسن و دار سے روکی نہ گئی
کسی خنجر کسی تلوار سے روکی نہ گئی
عشق مجنوں کی وہ آواز ہے جس کے آگے
کوئی لیلیٰ کسی دیوار سے روکی نہ گئی

वहशत-ए-दिल रसन-ओ-दार से रोकी न गई
किसी ख़ंजर किसी तलवार से रोकी न गई
'इश्क़ मजनूँ की वो आवाज़ है जिस के आगे
कोई लैला किसी दीवार से रोकी न गई

vahshat-e-dil rasan-o-daar se roki na gai
kisi khanjar kisi talvar se roki na gai
ishq majnoon ki vo aavaz hai jis ke aage
koi laila kisi deewar se roki na gai

The rope and the gallows could not stop the wildness of the heart. Neither could any dagger, or any sword. Love is that call of Majnun's, and no wall ever managed to keep a Laila from answering it.

Rasan-o-daar, rope and scaffold, is the standing shorthand in this poetry for what the state does to people who say the wrong thing, and it turns up again two sections later with two real names attached. Laila and Majnun are the desert lovers everybody in the audience knows, kept apart by her family. The line does not say she escaped. It says no wall was ever equal to the job.

وحشت vahshat
wildness; the frenzy of something that will not be kept indoors
رسن و دار rasan-o-daar
the rope and the gallows

06  — vo hans ke agar maange to ham jaan bhi de den

وہ ہنس کے اگر مانگے تو ہم جان بھی دے دیں
یہ جان تو کیا چیز ہے ایمان بھی دے دیں

वो हँस के अगर माँगे तो हम जान भी दे दें
ये जान तो क्या चीज़ है ईमान भी दे दें

vo hans ke agar maange to ham jaan bhi de den
ye jaan to kya cheez hai iman bhi de den

If she asked with a smile, we would hand over our life. And what is a life? We would hand over our faith as well.

A bidding war with only one bidder. Life goes first because life is the expensive thing, and then the second line waves it away as small change to make room for something worth more. The condition attached is the lightest part of the couplet. Not a demand, not a plea. A smile.

ایمان iman
faith; what a person holds as true

07  — ishq azad hai hindu na musalman hai ishq

عشق آزاد ہے ہندو نہ مسلمان ہے عشق
آپ ہی دھرم ہے آپ ہی ایمان ہے عشق
جس سے آگاہ نہیں شیخ و برہمن دونوں
اس حقیقت کا گرجتا ہوا اعلان ہے عشق

'इश्क़ आज़ाद है हिंदू न मुसलमान है 'इश्क़
आप ही धर्म है आप ही ईमान है 'इश्क़
जिस से आगाह नहीं शैख़-ओ-बरहमन दोनों
उस हक़ीक़त का गरजता हुआ ए'लान है 'इश्क़

ishq azad hai hindu na musalman hai ishq
aap hi dharm hai aap hi iman hai ishq
jis se aagah nahin shaikh-o-barhman donon
us haqeeqat ka garajta hua elan hai ishq

Love is free. Love is not Hindu and not Muslim. It is its own dharma and its own creed. There is a reality that the shaikh and the brahmin are both equally ignorant of, and love is that reality announcing itself in thunder.

Dharm and iman placed side by side, one word from each tradition, both handed to the same subject. Then the third line does the thing that makes this Sahir rather than a hymn. He does not balance the two clergies against each other. He puts them together on the far side of the wall from what they are supposed to be experts in.

دھرم dharm
dharma; right order, religion, duty
آگاہ aagah
aware of, informed about
برہمن barhman
brahmin
گرجتا garajta
thundering, roaring

08  — ishq na puchhe deen dharm nun ishq na puchhe zaatan

عشق نہ پچھے دین دھرم نوں عشق نہ پچھے ذاتاں
عشق دے ہتھوں گرم لہو وچ ڈبیاں لکھ براتاں

'इश्क़ न पूछे दीन धर्म नूँ 'इश्क़ न पूछे ज़ाताँ
'इश्क़ दे हथ्थों गर्म लहू विच डुबियाँ लख बराताँ

ishq na puchhe deen dharm nun ishq na puchhe zaatan
ishq de hatthon garm lahu vich dubiyan lakh baraatan

Love does not ask your religion and love does not ask your caste. A hundred thousand wedding processions have drowned in warm blood at love's hands.

The language changes to Punjabi here and the whole texture drops out of the court and into the village. The second line is the darkest in the piece. A baraat is the groom's procession, the most public and joyful thing a family does, and the image is of those processions going under in blood that has not yet cooled. Anyone from Punjab hearing this in 1960 had somewhere to put that.

ذات zaat
caste, birth-group
برات baraat
the groom's wedding procession
لکھ lakh
a hundred thousand; in speech, countless

09  — jab jab krishn ki bansi baaji nikli radha ghar se

جب جب کرشن کی بنسی باجی نکلی رادھا گھر سے
جان انجان کا بھید بھلا کے لوک لاج کو تج کے
بن بن ڈولی جنک دلاری پہن کے پریم کی مالا
درشن جل کی پیاسی میرا پی گئی وش کا پیالہ

जब जब कृष्ण की बंसी बाजी निकली राधा घर से
जान अनजान का भेद भुला के लोक लाज को तज के
बन बन डोली जनक दुलारी पहन के प्रेम की माला
दर्शन जल की प्यासी मीरा पी गई विष का प्याला

jab jab krishn ki bansi baaji nikli radha ghar se
jaan anjaan ka bhed bhula ke lok laaj ko taj ke
ban ban doli janak dulari pahan ke prem ki mala
darshan jal ki pyasi meera pi gai vish ka pyala

Every time Krishna's flute sounded, Radha walked out of her house, forgetting who was known to her and who was not, throwing away what people would say. Janak's daughter wandered forest to forest wearing the garland of love. And Mira, thirsty for the sight of him, drank down the cup of poison.

The vocabulary turns almost entirely Sanskritic for four lines, which is Sahir writing across the aisle. Three women, each one leaving something that was supposed to hold her. Radha leaves the house. Janak's daughter, meaning Sita, leaves the palace for the forest. Mira, the sixteenth-century poet whose in-laws are said to have sent her poison, drinks it because she is thirsty for something else. Lok laaj, what the world will say, is named and discarded in the second line, and none of the three ever looks back at it.

بنسی bansi
the bamboo flute Krishna plays
لوک لاج lok laaj
shame before the world; what people will say
جنک دلاری janak dulari
Janak's beloved daughter, meaning Sita
درشن darshan
the sight of the divine; being allowed to look

10  — allah aur rasool ka farman ishq hai

اللہ اور رسول کا فرمان عشق ہے
یعنی حدیث عشق ہے قرآن عشق ہے
گوتم کا اور مسیحا کا ارمان عشق ہے
یہ کائنات عشق ہے اور جان عشق ہے

अल्लाह और रसूल का फ़रमान 'इश्क़ है
या'नी हदीस 'इश्क़ है क़ुरआन 'इश्क़ है
गौतम का और मसीहा का अरमान 'इश्क़ है
ये काइनात 'इश्क़ है और जान 'इश्क़ है

allah aur rasool ka farman ishq hai
yani hadees ishq hai quran ishq hai
gautam ka aur maseeha ka arman ishq hai
ye kaayenat ishq hai aur jaan ishq hai

What God and His Prophet commanded is love. Which is to say, the hadith is love and the Quran is love. What the Buddha longed for and what Christ longed for is love. The universe is love, and so is the life in you.

Four lines, four traditions, one predicate. The second line is the one that would have taken nerve, because hadith and Quran are not metaphors and yani, meaning that is to say, presents the equation as a clarification rather than a claim. Then Gautam and the Maseeha are set down beside them without a word of transition, as though nobody could possibly object.

فرمان farman
a command, a decree issued from above
حدیث hadees
the recorded sayings of the Prophet
مسیحا maseeha
the Messiah, Christ; also, in Urdu, any healer
کائنات kaayenat
the created universe, everything there is

11  — ishq sarmad ishq hi mansoor hai

عشق سرمد عشق ہی منصور ہے
عشق موسیٰ عشق کوہِ نور ہے

'इश्क़ सरमद 'इश्क़ ही मंसूर है
'इश्क़ मूसा 'इश्क़ कोह-ए-नूर है

ishq sarmad ishq hi mansoor hai
ishq moosa ishq koh-e-noor hai

Love is Sarmad and love is Mansur. Love is Moses, and love is the mountain of light he saw it on.

Four names and two of them were executed. Mansur al-Hallaj said he was the Truth and was killed in Baghdad for it. Sarmad, a Persian-speaking mystic, was beheaded in Delhi under Aurangzeb. Then Moses on the mountain, and the mountain itself, so love is the man who asked to see God and also the ground that could not survive the answer.

سرمد sarmad
Sarmad Kashani, the mystic executed in Delhi in the seventeenth century
منصور mansoor
Mansur al-Hallaj, killed in Baghdad for saying 'I am the Truth'
کوہِ نور koh-e-noor
the mountain of light; where Moses asked to see God

12  — khaak ko but aur but ko devta karta hai ishq

خاک کو بت اور بت کو دیوتا کرتا ہے عشق
انتہا یہ ہے کہ بندے کو خدا کرتا ہے عشق

ख़ाक को बुत और बुत को देवता करता है 'इश्क़
इंतिहा ये है कि बंदे को ख़ुदा करता है 'इश्क़

khaak ko but aur but ko devta karta hai ishq
intiha ye hai ki bande ko khuda karta hai ishq

Love takes dust and makes an idol of it, and takes the idol and makes it a god. And the far end of it is this: love takes a servant and makes him God.

A staircase with one step too many, and that step is where the poem has been heading. Dust to idol to god is a sequence anyone could accept as a figure of speech. Then intiha, the limit, the furthest point, announces that the next line is going past what is permitted. Banda is a servant, and specifically God's servant, the word a Muslim uses for himself when speaking of his own smallness. This is where Mansur ended up.

خاک khaak
dust, earth; what a person is made of
بت but
an idol; in poetry, also the beloved
انتہا intiha
the limit, the furthest point a thing goes
بندہ banda
a servant; what a believer calls himself before God

Reading it whole

The argument here is that every religion anybody holds is a translation of the same thing, and that the thing is love. Sahir does not make it gently. He builds a list and puts on it, side by side and all taking the same predicate: the command of God and His Prophet, the hadith, the Quran, what the Buddha longed for, what Christ longed for, Krishna's flute pulling Radha out of her house, Sita walking forest to forest, Mira drinking down the poison, and two mystics who were executed for what they said out loud.

That list reached Indian screens thirteen years after Partition, written by a poet who had walked from Ludhiana to Lahore and back and never treated the two countries as separate literatures. The claim is not that all religions are lovely. It is that the shaikh and the brahmin are equally ignorant of what sits underneath their own, and that love is that thing announcing itself in thunder.

One passage leaves Urdu altogether and drops into Punjabi. Love does not ask your religion, love does not ask your caste, and a hundred thousand wedding processions have drowned in warm blood at its hands. The vowels broaden, the register falls out of the court and into the village, and it lands harder than anything around it because it stops sounding literary. Anyone from Punjab hearing that in 1960 had somewhere to put it.

The final couplet steps past everything before it. Love takes dust and makes an idol, takes the idol and makes a god, and then, having come that far, takes a servant and makes him God. That is close to the sentence Mansur was killed for, arriving at the end of a film song, sung by five people in turn.

Roshan set all of it as a qawwali contest, with Manna Dey, Mohammad Rafi, Asha Bhosle, Sudha Malhotra and S. D. Batish passing the argument between them. It runs past twelve minutes, and the length is what lets five voices take the argument in turns.

Recordings

Read next

All 128 poems, A to Z

Text and rights

Devanagari text supplied and checked by a reader who knows the language. The Urdu script and the transliteration follow that reading.

From Barsaat Ki Raat, released in 1960, composed by Roshan.

The supplied text read 'jank dulari' in the ninth section. It is corrected here to 'janak dulari', Janak's daughter, which is Sita.

This is a selection. The filmed qawwali runs past twelve minutes and repeats the refrain far more often than it is printed here.

Sahir Ludhianvi died in 1980, so this poem is still in copyright. It is quoted here as the subject of Harf's own criticism: the translation, the reading of each section and the essay around them are original work written for this page. If you hold the rights and would like something changed, tell us on Instagram.