سئیں Saiyyan — Beloved, My Lord

Kailash Kher and Naresh Kamath

Geet

A bride has been married, and the whole world is offering her things, and she is refusing all of them in one sentence. Not diamonds, not pearls. I want only union with you, she says. The song is the bride's vow, and it is also the devotee's, because in the poetry of this region the two are the same person.

Kailash Kher and Naresh Kamath wrote it for their band Kailasa, from the album Jhoomo Re, and it became the song that weddings and Sufi gatherings both claim. Four passages ahead, and they move from the vow to the worship, with the bride's veil lifted somewhere in between.

01 — main toh chaahu sangam tera

میں تو چاہوں سنگم تیرا
میں تو تیری سئیں تو ہے میرا
سئیں سئیں تو جو چھو لے پیار سے
آرام سے مر جاون
آجا چاندہ باہوں میں
تجھ میں ہی گم ہو جاون میں
تیرے نام میں کھو جاون سئیں سئیں

मैं तो चाहूँ संगम तेरा
मैं तो तेरी सैयाँ तू है मेरा
सैयाँ सैयाँ तू जो छू ले प्यार से
आराम से मर जाऊँ
आजा चाँदा बाहों में
तुझ में ही गुम हो जाऊँ मैं
तेरे नाम में खो जाऊँ सैयाँ सैयाँ

main toh chaahu sangam tera
main toh teri saiya tu hai mera
saiya saiya tu jo chhu le pyaar se
aaram se mar jaun
aaja chaanda baahon mein
tujhmein hi gum ho jaun main
tere naam mein kho jaun saiya saiya

I want only your union. I am yours, beloved, and you are mine. Beloved, beloved, if you touch me with love, I would die in peace. Come into my arms, my moon. Let me dissolve in you. Let me be lost in your name, beloved, beloved.

The vow, in its full form. Sangam is union, the meeting of two into one, and the word is used of rivers joining as well as lovers. The song's central death is in the fourth line: aaram se mar jaun, I would die in peace, the death that the mystics call the only safe one. Then the two verbs of the Sufi path, gum ho jaana and kho jaana, to be dissolved and to be lost, and both of them are volunteered to the beloved.

سنگم sangam: union; the meeting of two into one
سئیں saiya: beloved; lord; the husband in the wedding song
گم gum: lost, dissolved

02 — mere dil khushi se jhoome gaayen raatein

میرے دل خوشی سے جھومے گائیں راتیں
پل پل مجھ کو ڈبویں آتے جاتے
تجھے جیت جیت ہاروں یہ پران پران واروں
ہے ایسے میں نہاروں تیری آرتی میں اتاروں
تیرے نام سے جڑے ہیں سارے ناتے سئیں سئیں

मिरे दिल ख़ुशी से झूमे गाएँ रातें
पल पल मुझको डुबोएँ आते जाते
तुझे जीत जीत हारूँ ये प्राण प्राण वारूँ
हाय ऐसे मैं निहारूँ तेरी आरती में उतारूँ
तेरे नाम से जुड़े हैं सारे नाते सैयाँ सैयाँ

mere dil khushi se jhoome gaayen raatein
pal-pal mujhko duboen aate-jaate
tujhe jeet jeet haaru ye praan praan vaaru
haye aise main nihaaru teri aarti main utaaru
tere naam se jude hain saare naate saiya saiya

My heart sways with joy and the nights sing. Moment by moment they drown me, coming and going. I keep losing to you, over and over, and I offer my life, breath by breath. I gaze at you like this, I perform your aarti. All my ties are tied to your name, beloved, beloved.

The worship passage, and it moves from the body to the altar. Jeet jeet haaru: I win and win and lose, the devotee's paradox, in which defeat is the only victory that counts. The line that follows raises the stakes to the maximum: praan praan vaaru, I offer my life, breath by breath. And then the act that changes everything: teri aarti main utaaru. The aarti is the lamp circled before the deity, and the beloved is now standing where the idol stands.

پران praan: life, the vital breath
آرتی aarti: the circling of the lamp before a deity
ناتا naata: a tie, a bond

03 — ye naram naram nasha hai badhta jaaye

یہ نرم نرم نشہ ہے بڑھتا جائے
کوئی پیار سے گھونگھٹ ڈالے اٹھائے
اب باؤنرا ہوا من جگ ہو گیا ہے روشن
یہ نئی نئی سہاگن ہو گئی ہے تیری جوگن
کوئی پریم کی پجارن مندر سجائے سئیں سئیں

ये नरम नरम नशा है बढ़ता जाए
कोई प्यार से घूँघट डाले उठाए
अब बावरा हुआ मन जग हो गया है रोशन
ये नई नई सुहागन हो गई है तेरी जोगन
कोई प्रेम की पूजारन मंदिर सजाए सैयाँ सैयाँ

ye naram naram nasha hai badhta jaaye
koi pyaar se ghunghat daale uthaaye
ab baanwra hua mann jag ho gaya hai roshan
ye nayi nayi suhaagan ho gayi hai teri jogan
koi prem ki pujaaran mandir sajaaye saiya saiya

This soft, soft intoxication keeps rising. Someone, lovingly, lowers the veil and lifts it. The heart has gone wild, and the world has lit up. This fresh, new bride has become your ascetic. Someone is decorating the temple of love, beloved, beloved.

The celebration of the state, and the passage's strangest image is the bride becoming the jogan. The suhaagan, the married woman whose husband is alive, is the most auspicious figure in the household's vocabulary, and the jogan is the renunciate who has left the household. The song fuses them: the new bride has renounced the world for him, which makes her marriage and her renunciation the same event. The temple of love being decorated, prem ki pujaaran mandir sajaaye, is the whole passage's verdict on what has happened.

گھونگھٹ ghunghat: the bridal veil
سہاگن suhaagan: a bride; a married woman whose husband is alive
جوگن jogan: a female ascetic, a renunciate
پوجارن pujaaran: a female worshipper

04 — heere moti main na chaahu

ہیرے موتی میں نہ چاہوں
میں تو چاہوں سنگم تیرا
میں نہ جانوں تو ہی جانے
میں تو تیری تو ہے میرا

हीरे मोती मैं ना चाहूँ
मैं तो चाहूँ संगम तेरा
मैं ना जानूँ तू ही जाने
मैं तो तेरी तू है मेरा

heere moti main na chaahu
main toh chaahu sangam tera
main na jaanu tu hi jaane
main toh teri tu hai mera

I do not want diamonds and pearls. I want only your union. I do not know the way, you know it. I am yours, and you are mine.

The renunciation, and the song's answer to the world. Heere moti, diamonds and pearls, the entire dowry of the world's offers, refused in five words. The second line repeats the vow of the first passage, and the third gives away the last thing a person keeps, the claim to know: main na jaanu, tu hi jaane. I do not know, you know. It is the total surrender of the devotee, and the closing line, main toh teri, tu hai mera, is the marriage vow and the mystic's claim in the same words.

ہیرا heera: a diamond
موتی moti: a pearl

Reading it whole

The word the whole song is built on is saiya, the beloved, and it carries both its houses at once. In the wedding song it is the husband; in the devotional song it is the Lord, and the song never once chooses, which is the whole tradition's method. The bride says main toh teri: I am yours. The devotee says the same sentence, and both of them mean it completely. The first passage does the whole work in its opening lines: I want only your union, I am yours, and you are mine.

The first passage also contains the song's most quoted line: tu jo chhu le pyaar se, aaram se mar jaun. If you touch me with love, I would die in peace. It is the devotional death, the death that is not an ending, and the bride and the mystic are both saying it. Then the request that follows: come into my arms, let me dissolve in you, let me be lost in your name. Tujhmein gum ho jaun and tere naam mein kho jaun are the two great verbs of the Sufi path, absorption and disappearance, and the song uses them as a love letter.

The second passage is the worship, and it goes further than the first. Her heart sways with joy and the nights sing. Tujhe jeet jeet haaru: I keep losing to you, over and over. It is the paradox of the devotee, who counts defeat as the only victory. And then the line that moves the whole song onto the plane of the temple: teri aarti main utaaru. I will perform your aarti, the lamp's circling before the deity. The beloved has been promoted to the altar, and the closing line of the passage, tere naam se jude hain saare naate, all my ties are tied to your name, makes the promotion permanent.

The third passage is the celebration of the state. This soft, soft intoxication keeps rising, and someone, lovingly, lifts the veil, ghunghat uthaaye. The heart has gone wild, baanwra, and the world has lit up, jag ho gaya roshan. And the passage's strangest image: the new bride, the fresh suhaagan, has become his jogan, his female ascetic, the one who has renounced everything else for him. The temple of love is being decorated, the song says, and the decorator is the bride herself.

The last passage is the renunciation, and it is the song's answer to the world. Heere moti main na chaahu: I do not want diamonds and pearls. I want only your union, and I do not know the way, you know it. The bride closes the song the way she opened it, refusing everything except the one thing, and the last line returns to the sentence the whole song has been: I am yours, and you are mine. Kailash Kher's voice made it one of the defining devotional love songs of its time, and the 4K official video is the recording people mean.

Recordings

Kailash Kher

The official video by the band Kailasa, from the album Jhoomo Re.

Text and rights

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

The song is from the album Jhoomo Re by the band Kailasa, written by Kailash Kher and Naresh Kamath. The refrain returns between passages in the recording, more often than it is printed here.

The writers are alive and the song is recent work. It is quoted here as the subject of Harf's own criticism: the translation, the reading of each passage 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.