Harf
Script shown with the Urdu

رانجھا رانجھا کر دی نی میں آپے رانجھا ہوئی Ranjha Ranjha Kardi Ni Main Aape Ranjha Hoi — Saying Ranjha, Ranjha, I Became Ranjha

Bulleh Shah

1680– 1757

Kafi

A woman has said a man's name so many times that she has turned into him. She is not being poetic about it. She states it flatly in the first line, as a result rather than a feeling: saying Ranjha, Ranjha, I have myself become Ranjha.

Bulleh Shah is speaking as Heer, from the Punjabi love story every listener knew the way you know a fairy tale. Three stanzas ahead, and they are very short. One thing to know before them: in that story it is Ranjha who puts on a disguise to be near Heer. Here it runs the other way.

01  — ranjha ranjha kardi ni main aape ranjha hoi

رانجھا رانجھا کر دی نی میں آپے رانجھا ہوئی
سدو نی مینوں دھیدو رانجھا ہیر نا آکھو کوئی

राँझा राँझा करदी नी मैं आपे राँझा होई
सद्दो नी मैनूँ धीदो राँझा हीर ना आखो कोई

ranjha ranjha kardi ni main aape ranjha hoi
saddo ni mainun dhido ranjha hiir na aakho koi

Saying Ranjha, Ranjha, I have myself become Ranjha. Call me Dhido Ranjha — let nobody call me Heer.

Zikr is the practice of repeating a name until the one repeating it gives way, and the first line reports that it worked. Then the second line refuses her own name, which in her world carries her family, her caste and her marriage, and asks for his given name, Dhido, the one only someone close to him would use.

رانجھا ranjha
Ranjha, the hero of the Punjabi love story
دھیدو dhido
Dhido, Ranjha's given name
ہیر hiir
Heer, the heroine — and the name she is refusing

02  — ranjha main vichch main ranjhe vichh hor khayal na koi

رانجھا میں وچ میں رانجے وچ ہور خیال نا کوئی
میں نہیں اہ آپ ہے آپنی آپ کرے دلجوئی
رانجھا رانجھا کر دی نی میں آپے رانجھا ہوئی

राँझा मैं विच्च मैं रांझे विच्च होर ख़याल ना कोई
मैं नहीं उह आप है आपनी आप करे दिल-जोई
राँझा राँझा करदी नी मैं आपे राँझा होई

ranjha main vichch main ranjhe vichh hor khayal na koi
main nahin uh aap hai aapni aap kare dil-joi
ranjha ranjha kardi ni main aape ranjha hoi

Ranjha is in me, I am in Ranjha, there is no other thought at all. I am not; he himself is; and it is his own self he is consoling.

The sentence gives way as you read it. It starts with two people in a relation, then denies that one of them exists, then finds that the comfort being offered has nowhere to travel to, because there is only one party left. This is fana, annihilation in the beloved, written as a breakdown in grammar rather than as an argument.

وچ vichch
in, inside
دل جوئی dil-joi
consoling, winning over the heart

03  — hath khundi mere agge mangu modhe bhura loi

ہتھ کھنڈی میرے اگے منگو موڈھے بھورا لوئی
بلہاؔ ہیر سلوٹی ویکھو کتھے جا کھلوئی
رانجھا رانجھا کر دی نی میں آپے رانجھا ہوئی
سدو نی مینوں دھیدو رانجھا ہیر نا آکھو کوئی

हथ खूंडी मेरे अग्गे मंगू मोढे भूरा लोई
'बुल्ल्हा' हीर सलेटी वेखो कित्थे जा खलोई
राँझा राँझा करदी नी मैं आपे राँझा होई
सद्दो नी मैनूँ धीदो राँझा हीर ना आखो कोई

hath khundi mere agge mangu modhe bhura loi
bullaha hiir saleti vekho kitthe ja khaloi
ranjha ranjha kardi ni main aape ranjha hoi
saddo ni mainun dhido ranjha hiir na aakho koi

A herdsman's staff in my hand, the cattle before me, the rough brown blanket over my shoulder. Bulleh Shah — look where Heer Syal has gone and taken her stand.

The transformation stops being interior and becomes clothing. In the story Ranjha disguises himself as a cowherd to get near Heer. Here Heer is carrying the staff and wearing the blanket, so the disguise has changed hands. Then Bulleh Shah addresses himself by name and uses the last line to point at her rather than to explain.

کھنڈی khundi
a herdsman's crooked staff
بھورا لوئی bhura loi
a coarse brown woollen blanket
سیالی saleti
of the Syal clan — Heer's family name

Reading it whole

What is being described is a religious practice rather than a figure of speech. Zikr is the repeating of a name, over and over, until the person doing the repeating thins out and something else occupies the room. Heer is not claiming she loves him so much that it feels like this. She is reporting an outcome.

Then she asks to be called by his name, and forbids anybody to use her own. In a culture where a woman's name carries her family, her caste and her marriage prospects, that is no romantic flourish. It is a refusal of every claim anybody has on her. And the name she asks for is Dhido, Ranjha's given name rather than his clan name, which is what somebody close to him would use.

The second stanza is where the sentence comes apart, and it is meant to. He is in me, I am in him, there is no other thought at all. I am not; he himself is; and it is his own self he is consoling. Once the two of them are one thing there is nobody left for the sentence to be about, and Bulleh Shah lets it collapse rather than tidying it up. That is fana, annihilation in the beloved, written as broken grammar instead of as an argument.

The last stanza makes it physical and turns the story inside out. In the tale, Ranjha dresses as a cowherd to get close to Heer. Here Heer has the staff in her hand, the herd in front of her, the rough brown blanket over her shoulder. She has taken his clothes and his work. Then Bulleh Shah steps in, addresses himself by name, and tells himself to look at where Heer Syal has ended up standing. He gives himself the last line and spends it pointing.

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's qawwali reading carried the kafi far past Punjabi listeners. Abida Parveen leans on the second stanza, which is the right place to lean.

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 Shahmukhi and the transliteration follow that reading.

Kafis circulate in many versions, and stanza order and wording vary between singers and printed collections.

Bulleh Shah died in 1757, so the poem itself is out of copyright everywhere. The translation, the reading of each stanza and the essay around them are original work written for Harf.