Arinimaal
– An enigma?
By Maharaj Krishen Raina
Arinimaal, the poetess wife
of Bhawanidas Kachroo, a Persian poet himself,
was born, as we understand from the available
literature, sometime in 18th century. It is said
that like Lalla Ded and Habba Khatoon, her
family life was unhappy, which was the main
source of inspiration for her poignant poetry.
Ultimately Bhawanidas Kachroo deserted her and
she lived mostly in her father’s home.
Some Muslim writers and critics do nor
subscribe to this story. In their opinion,
Arinimaal never existed. Prominent among them,
Mr. Amin Kamil has this to say (Kuliyat Habba
Khatoon - Published 1995) :
“Alongwith Habba Khatoon, the name of
Arinimaal is often propped up. And comparing the
(literary aspect of) both, Arinimaal is said to
merit above Habba Khatoon. But the fact is that
no ‘Gonmath’ with the name of Arinimaal ever
existed. This, in fact, is the result of a wrong
thinking, and so much has been said and conveyed
of her, that her existence now becomes
undoubtful.”
In a ‘Talk’ broadcasted by Srinagar Radio
in Oct. 1988, Amin Kamil categorically rejected
the existence of a poet of this name. He however
opines, “One could differ with me on this
issue, but it does not mean we must bury our
opinions. If this trend (of not allowing others
to put forth their point of view) continues to
be adopted in literature, it can not flourish
and research will come to a halt”. But in the
same breath, he pronounces his judgement,
“However, the main issue is that, when
Arinimaal did not exist at all, attributing
poems to her or discussing anything related to
her, is just without any meaning."
Does Amin Kamil's statement carry any weight?
What are the views of other writers and scholars
on this account?
According to the 'History of Kashmiri
Literature' by A.K.Rahbar, Arinimaal was born in
1738 A.D. and she passed away in 1778 A.D. Prof.
Hajini refutes this year of her death and says
that she died in 1800 A.D. With this, Prof.
Hajini confirms that the Poetess existed.
In his book 'Gems of Kashmiri Literature',
Shri T.N.Kaul writes, "As was the common
practice during Afghan rule, Arinimaal too was
married in her childhood to Munshi Bhawani Das
Kachru, a renowned Persian poet, scholar and
savant. He belonged to a respectable family
settled in Rainawari, Srinagar and held a
position of honour in the court of Jumma Khan,
who was the Afghan governor of Kashmir from 1788
to 1792." Elaborating about Arinimaal, Shri
Kaul says, "Arnimal was a talented,
sensitive and sophisticated girl, deeply devoted
to her husband. Apparently, she was quite happy
in the new surroundings and had a carefree time
throughout her childhood days before attaining
adolescence. But just before flowering into full
womanhood, she got a feeling that her husband
was too preoccupied with his literary and other
pursuits to pay proper attention to her. She
tried hard to draw him towards her but fate had
planned it otherwise. Munshi Bhawani Das, for
some unknown reasons ignored her, tortured her
and tormented her." About Arinimaal's
compositions, Shri Kaul says, "Arinimaal
excelled in Vatsun, the genre originally evolved
by Habba Khatoon 200 years earlier. Several of
her delectable creations are extant. All that
she had written, has not been retrieved so far.
Only about two dozen lyrics have passed to the
successive generations by word of mouth."
In his book 'Kashmiri Sahitya Ka Itihas'
published by J&K Academy of Art, Culture and
Languages in 1985, Shashi Shekhar Toshakhani, a
well known scholar writes:
"When barbaric Afghan invaders were
trampling the Kashmir valley in the 18th
century, this poetess (Arinimaal) was composing
the 'komal' poems. These poems have a special 'colour'
- a deep anguish and the simplicity &
influence of folk songs which has made an
inherent place in the people's mind. Her husband
Munshi Bhawani Das Kachru was a famous courtier
of the Afghans and also a vetern Persian poet.
He abandoned Arinimaal a little time after
marriage. This was a great shock to Arinimaal,
and this made her a poetess. Born in Palhalan
village, about 30 kms. from Srinagar,
Arinimaal's beauty and love meant nothing for
her husband in comparison to his royal
appellations. To attract her husband, this young
poetess did everything possible, to mould
herself in the royal ambience. She learned royal
etiquettes and music, but this had no effect on
her husband. . . . . . In spite of the neglect
and disgrace, she continued to consider her
husband as her beloved, and believed that one
day he would come back to her. And once he did
come, dejected by the superficial glitter of his
courtiership, but it was too late. Having waited
for him all through her life, she died at a
young age of 41 years. This may only be a
hearsay, but the agony of her wounded love, and
the restlessness on account of her desire for
proximity to her lover, became the main theme of
her poetry. . . . Like Habba Khatoon, Arinimaal
was not the beloved of a king, but the beauty
and intensity of her thirst for love and the
painful manifestation of craving in her poetry,
made considerable impact on the people's
mind."
Another writer Jawahar Kaul Ganhar writes
about the Poetess thus:
"It is said that Arinimaal was married
in her childhood to Munshi Bhawani Dass Kachroo.
Bhawani Dass was a respected person in the
Afghan court. Jumma Khan, the Governor of
Kashmir from 1788 to 1792, was less harsh than
other Pathan rulers and he respected scholars
and patronised the men of learning. By dint of
hard work and intelligence, Bhawani Dass
acquired mastery in Persian. Afghan dignitaries
and officials were surprised over his calibre
and erudition. He was a poet in Persian
language. His Persian poems, entitled
“Bahar-i-Tavil” is considered a major
contribution to the Persian language. He wrote
under the pen name of 'Naiku'. The early period
of Arinimaal’s married life was happier one.
But these days did not last long. Her husband
who was an important person in the Darbar fell
into bad company and deserted her. Due to this,
Arinimaal’s heart broke and she became
dejected and forlorn. Possibly due to this
painful separation, she must have taken to
poetry. Arinimaal sang of love, beauty and
sorrow. Her poetry speaks of agony, dejection,
pathos and disappointments. Her poetry melts the
people’s hearts. Through her poetry, one comes
across how she loved her husband. After
separation, she returned to her parents’ house
who were kind and sympathetic towards her. After
some time, Bhawani Dass realised that he had
been unkind to his wife. He decided to be with
her again. He proceeded towards her village, and
when he reached Palhalan, he saw that she was
being carried for cremation. And it was too
late. The people of the village used to cut
jokes at her expense. But it did not change her.
It is said that, at an advanced age, Arinimaal
took to the spinning wheel and spent her days in
the hope that one day her love (husband) will
return."
So much in detail about the Poetess, but Amin
Kamil considers all this a cooked story and
myth. Let us take a look at what another vetern
Muslim poet Abdul Ahad Azad thinks of her. In
the first volume of ‘Kashmiri Zaban aur Shairi’,
Azad introduces the poetess thus:
“Famous Persian writer Munshi Bhawani Das
Kachru was a 'saintly person' and an expert on
politics. His wife 'Arinimaal', whom we call
Mrs. Bhawani Das, happened to be a jovial with a
well balanced temperament. Maiden name of the
poetess was 'Hiyamaal' and that at her in-laws
was 'Arinimaal'."
Equating Arinimaal with Habba Khatoon, Azad
writes, "Like Habba Khatoon, this Hindu
devi was also an expert on Persian music. She
also tuned her Kashmiri verses with the Persian
music. This lady added a second storey to the
building constructed by Habba Khatoon, which
looks stronger, more beautiful and cleaner than
the first storey. Her poems stand at a higher
level than those of Habba Khatoon for the
emotional elegance, clarity of language and
suave usage of idioms, but confined only to her
vexations."
Some critics do not consider 'åríní rang gòm
shràvan híyè' as that of Arinimaal. They say
that it has not been a custom to write one’s
pen name at the start of a poem, as the practice
in ‘East’ has been to write it at the end.
Pt. Jia Lal Kaul is of the opinion that (by
writing her pen name first) she weaves a
delicate imagery out of her own name. Kamil does
not agree with him. He says, word ‘åríní’
has so many times and in so many ways been used
in the Kashmiri poetry.
Commenting on Azad's repeated reference to
the poetess as ‘Mrs. Bhawani Das’ (and not
Arinimaal), and titling a chapter on her with
the same name in his book 'Kashmiri Zaban aur
Shairi' Vol: 2, Mohd Yousuf Teng, the then
Secretary, J&K Akademy of Art, Culture and
Languages, Srinagar says, "Azad has titled
this chapter as 'Mrs. Bhawani Das'. Since
Arinimaal was famous by her own name and also
used the same in her verses, there is no reason
that she should not be remembered with that name
like we do for Lal Ded and Habba Khatoon.' Teng
even changes the title of the chapter from 'Mrs.
Bhawani Das' to 'Arinimaal'. But Kamil has a
different view. He comments, “Teng Sahib does
not know that till 1946, ‘Arinimaal’ name
had not commanded that amount of fame, which it
commanded in 1960.” Kamil gets confused with
his own story. Here, he does not refute her
existence, but only advocates that Azad Sahib
was right in naming her Mrs. Bhawani Das as
against Arinimaal because this name had not been
very famous.
To add more weight to his argument, Kamil
says, "Abdul Ahad Azad refers to her eleven
times as Mrs. Bhawani Das and four times as
Arinimaal. It seems that he has straightway
taken her name and biodata, even the word 'Mrs'
from Kaul Sahib. Even dissimilarity in the style
of writing 'Arinimaal' clearly points out that
this name had not made any impact till 1946,
when Azad's book was published."
As we know, there was no standardised script
for Kashmiri language earlier. This was also
reflected by Azad himself when he recorded,
"Non-conforming standard of the present
script is responsible for the under development
of Kashmiri language. The script in the present
form can not represent the 'sur and awaz' of the
language".
Government constituted Script Committees in
1951 and 1954. Amin Kamil himself writes in
'Kashmiri Zabaan aur Shairi' Volume 1 published
in 1959: "Now the script for Kashmiri
language has been developed, which is becoming
very popular. So there should be no problem on
this account".
Kamil is basically not comfortable with Azad
projecting the Poetess's names (Hiya Mal and
Arinimaal), saying these names were not repeated
in the second volume of the book. This itself is
contrary to the facts. It is correct that Azad
had titled the chapter as 'Mrs. Bhawani Das',
which eventually Mr. Teng changed. But Azad has
at the start of this chapter noted, "About
200 years after Malika Habba Khatoon, a Pandit
devi poetess was born with high intellect in
Palhalan, 19 miles to the west of Srinagar. Her
real name was Arinimaal." Azad continues
further, "Some of the writings of Arinimaal
have been lost. Some of it has transferred from
generation to generation by the word of mouth,
like that of Habba Khatoon. Since this poetess
also possessed tremendous expertise in music,
she has been able to preserve some of her
writings in various meters and rhymes of music.
Kamil's conclusion is that Azad wrote only
what was conveyed to him. This in turn means
that a person like Azad gave place to myths and
fabricated statements in his book and did not do
anything on his own!
Let us consider what Kamil himself has to say
about Azad (Kashmiri Zaban aur Shairi, Volume
2):
"Considering that Azad was not highly
qualified, his evaluation of reason, politeness
in writing, extent of thought and vision, and
scholarly ways tell us all about his great
personality and wisdom. It is correct that some
times you come across tautology, conflict of
views and inconsistent way of deriving
conclusions in his work, but in spite of all
this, you will accept it as a historical
achievement."
There are a few anomalies in the statement of
various writers locating Arinimaal’s paternal
home. Azad says she belonged to Palhalan. Avtar
Krishen Rehbar also refers to her as ‘palhàlanûch
rångìn tåbíyat gàmû kùr’. Kamil says
that he did not find mention of ‘palhàlan màlyún
chhúy’ in any of the poems he collected and
compiled into a book titled ‘lòlû nagmû’
as late as 1965. Obviously, he had not included
Azad’s poem in the collection. However,
according to Jia Lal Kaul (Studies in Kashmiri),
Arinimaal was born and brought up in a house in
Srinagar.
Was Arinimaal born in Srinagar or at Palhalan?
The statements are at variance. But this
variation only shows that much work has not been
done to collect correct and authentic
information about the poetess. This however,
does not provide a proof that the Poetess did
not exist at all. Kamil makes his own
conclusions, “Habba Khatoon was, but Arinimaal
was invented. The former was given a colourful
appearance to make her a ‘Afsana’ but the
latter was casted as a poetess by attaching
commendable poetry to her name”. He does not
indicate who tried to make Habba Khatoon a
‘Afsana’ and why?
For a comparison, let us study the phenomena
of varied statements in respect of the great
poetess Habba Khatoon:
Regarding birth place of the Poetess, Birbal
Kachroo & Mohi-ud-Din Foq say that she was
born at Tsandahar village. Gulistan-e-Shahi
tells us that she was brought up at Tsandahar
(It does not mention her place of birth).
Masnavi Habba Khatoon gives her birth place as
China while Malla Habib of Hajin claims it to be
Gurez.
Regarding Habba Khatoon's first marriage and
subsequent divorce, Birbal Kachroo says that she
was married to one from her own clan. Her
in-laws were against her passion for singing, so
she was divorced. Hassan Khoihami says that she
was married to a vile-natured and pauper
person’. She got in conflict with her in-laws
because of the vicious character of her husband,
and finally the divorce took place. Anees Qazimi,
quoting from ‘Gulistane Shahi’ writes that
Habba Khatoon, on her mother’s death was
brought up by Abdi Rather of Tsandhar and he got
her married to Kamaal-ud-Din of Jamalata, her
maternal cousin. According to Hanfi (Masnavi
Habba Khatoon) Malik Darob, the king of China
gifted his daughter (Habba Khatoon) to Khoja
Hayaband, a businessman of Srinagar, in exchange
of 3300 Mohars, which Malik Darob owed him but
was not able to pay. Hayaband brought Habba
Khatoon to Kashmir, where he got her married to
his son Khoja Lal. After an intriguing drama of
events, Khoja Lal pinned the ‘divorce paper’
to her robe while she was asleep upon his knee
at Pantachhan. Another writer Malla Habib has a
yet different version. According to him, a
‘Boutta Raja’ of Gurez owed one ‘manut’
(one and a half seer) of gold to Khoja Hayaband
and his son Habba Lala of Lalahom village. Not
in a position to pay, he handed his daughter (Habba
Khatoon) to them and they brought her to their
village. Hayaband got his son married to Habba
Khatoon, but they could not pull on because
Habba Khatoon's in-laws considered her poetry
very offensive. Once, on their return from the
city, Habba Khatoon and her husband rested a
while at Athwajan, where Habba Khatoon fell
asleep. Habba Lala pinned the ‘letter’ to
her robe and left.
Regarding Habba Khatoon's union with Yusuf
Shah Chak, different people have given different
versions. Abdul Wahab Shayaq writes that when
Yusuf Shah was coronated, he had a high calibre
saint-poetess named Habiba (in his court!).
Birbal Kachroo says that after desertion by her
in-laws, she was spotted by Yusuf Shah’s men.
Fascinated by her beauty and voice, they took
her to the prince (Yusuf Shah). He was highly
impressed by her beauty, so he married her.
Hassan Khoihami has this to say, “She (after
divorce from her first husband) was sighted by
Yusuf Shah while she was reciting a Kashmiri
poem. Yusuf Shah could not control himself and
the next day he presented lot of wealth to her
parents and married her”. Mohd. Din Foq says,
“One day, while singing in her fields, she was
spotted by Yusuf Shah. He got attracted to her.
He summoned her husband and paid him five
thousand Dirhams to divorce her. Then Yusuf Shah
married her”. Masnavi Habba Khatoon has
another story to relate. It says, “Yusuf Shah
dreamed that a beautiful woman (after being
divorced by Khoja Lala) got drowned in the river
at Pantachhan. He left for the place on a horse
and also sent his Darbari poet Mulla Salman in a
‘Parand’ to rescue her. They came to know of
her abilities while she pointed our certain
discrepancies in the musical notes of Mulla
Salman. Yusuf Shah brought her to his palace and
kept her, not as his wife, but as a counsellor
and advisor”.
What do the above variations indicate? Do
they provide a proof that the stories were
cooked and that there was no Habba Khatoon?
Arinimaal’s poem ‘mê shòkû yàrû sûndí
bårímas pyàlû tû, àlav dìtòsè’
appeared in the Pratap Magazine (1936 Silver
Jubilee Issue) among ten of the ‘Prachlit Geet’,
not attributed to any author. The same poem had
already appeared in the book ‘Studies in
Kashmiri’ authored by Jia Lal Kaul, where it
was attributed to Arinimaal. Akhtar Mohi-ud-Din
has an objection, not for showing this poem
later as a ‘Prachlit Geet’, but for having
it previously attributed to Arinimaal?
There can be lapses while compiling and
editing volumes. If the relevant poem was
falsely attributed to Arinimaal (as Mr. Akhtar
seems to communicate) in his book by Mr. Kaul
way back in 1968, it is strange that no body
pointed out to this anomaly till August 1978.
Regarding lapses in publication, Mr. Kamil
has already come across such a situation. He
corroborates, “I was able to get seven
‘bands’ of ‘dòlkì shàr’ written by
Nunda Dar Katheel from Qadeem Shah of Sadrabal.
I handed over two of them to Hajini for
inclusion in the book ‘käshír shäyírì’.
Instead of giving any reference to Qadeem Shah,
Hajini referred to them as ‘zabaani revayath’.
Contrary to the doubts expressed by learned
writers regarding her existence, Arinimaal
continued to be popular among the masses. Azad
says, "Had the charismatic narration of
Habba Khatoon and Mrs. Bhawani Das not
maintained this exclusiveness (of love poetry),
most of their verse would have not found place
in the literal and universal congregations.
Since the verses were sweet and melodious, and
very popular with the public in general, other
poets also followed this trend."
Above statement cannot be termed as a casual
statement by Azad. He must have been witness to
the popularity of Arinimaal's verses. And if
there was no Arinimaal, there would be none of
her verses and thus no popularity. Now, where
did Azad find her verses popular with the
public? Did he travel extensively to know the
facts. This is what Mohd. Yusuf Teng has to say
in this regard: "This work of Azad
(Kashmiri Zabaan aur Shairi) is the first memoir
of Kashmiri language and literature, as also its
first history and almost first critical
appreciation. Azad is the first Kashmiri
researcher who travelled through length and
breadth of Kashmir to study the genealogy of
poets and trace their poetry. He met their
relatives and friends, and faced their frowns
and refrains. But he continued with his
mission."
Jia Lal Kaul’s book ‘Kashmiri Lyrics’
(1945) changes the name of the Poetess from
‘Rani’ to ‘Mrs. Bhawani Das - Arinimaal’.
Mr Kamil considers this a clever move to make
the name more receptive (in the public).
It has been customary for Kashmiri Pandits to
give their brides a new formal name as also a
pet name. This pet name has always been used by
one and all in a family, with a touch of love
and respect. Hiyamal became Arinimaal for the
world and 'Rani' for the inmates. Referring to
her as Rani, does not restrain anybody from
referring her as Arinimaal.
One point needs attention and analysis. About
Azad's work, Mohd. Yusuf Teng writes on
12.11.81:
"Manuscripts of the Ab. Ahad Azad's book
'Kashmiri Zabaan aur Shairi' were divided into
three parts. First part consisted of general
studies of the language and literature, critical
appreciation and comments. The committee which
compiled the manuscripts for this part comprised
Mr. Mohd. Amin Kamil, Prof. Shakeel-ul-Rehman
and Dr. Padam Nath Ganju. And this part was
published in 1959."
One fails to understand that Mr. Kamil, who
was a member of the above Committee had no
objection whatsoever to the content of Azad's
manuscripts. In fact, the content was compiled
and okayed by the said committee before it was
printed in 1959. Why did he have to wait till
1988 to express his modified view point on air,
or till he edited the book on 'Habba Khatoon' in
the year 1995? It is important to note that
Abdul Ahad Azad died in the year 1948 and was
not alive to counter Kamil's theory.
Professor Margoob Banihali states in the 15th
Edition of Anhar, Volume 12 (1989) that
Arinimaal gave birth to two children, but they
did not live. Because of this, her in-laws
developed hate for her.” Kamil does not accept
this theory. He doubts Banihali's statement.
Kamil says, “It was said that Arinimaal
returned to her paternal home immediately after
her marriage (without any issue). But on
learning from ‘Tawareekhe Hasan’ that Birbal
Dhar was married to Munshi Bhawani Das’s
daughter, Rehbar Sahib (Avtar Krishen Rehbar),
in order to save the situation from going out of
hands, conceived a novel idea that possibly
Bhawani Das had married twice”.
There is every possibility of Rehbar's
statement being correct. There are so many
instances to show that Pandits till recent past,
married more than once. And one thing is not
clear. Instead coming to conclusion that
Arinimaal’s childless theory was wrong, Kamil
is bent upon proving that the woman did not
exist at all.
Akhtar Mohi-ud-Din, in a letter to Kamil
says, “There is some difference in the texts
of ‘mê shòkû yàrû sûndí bårímas pyàlû
tû’ as given in Jia Lal Kaul’s ‘Studies
in Kashmiri’, and that given in the
‘Pratap’ Magazine by the same compiler. Some
times I doubt whether the wife of Bhawani Das
Kachroo was a poet at all? If she was, was she
named Arinimaal?”
There are numerous instances to show that
verses of various poets have been recorded
differently at different places. Even Amin Kamil
accepts this in the Chapter 4 of his book
‘Kulyat Habba Khatoon’. He records, “Our
old poetry has passed from one generation to
another through word of mouth only. So some was
lost and some was saved. Some reached us in the
original form, and some lost its shape.” 'Kulyat
Habba Khatoon' stands testimony to this fact, as
the author has painstakingly recorded the
changed versions (or the original versions?) in
the margins. If Mr Kaul has recorded two forms
of the same verse at two different places, only
he is to take blame. This however does not
nullify very existence of the author.
Kamil Sahib refers to ‘Bahare Gulshan
Kashmir’, a collection of poems of Kashmiri
Persian writers, published in two volumes in
1931, which, according to him, also contained
Kashmiri poems of Lalla Ded and Ropa Bhawani as
examples. “Had there been an Arinimaal, she
would not have been ignored by its compilers”,
he says. Kamil Sahib does not mention if Habba
Khatoon was included? If she also did not figure
in the said collection, does it mean that there
was no Habba Khatoon?
At another place, Kamil writes, “Let us not
forget that Mahmud Gaami is a historical fact
and Arinimaal a conceived character.” All this
to show that the poem ‘åríní rang gom shràvan
híyè’ is that of Mehmud Gaami and not that
of Arinimaal.
On the controversy regarding this poem, Azad
has this to say, "We often find such
lamentation in the verses of Arinimaal. ... This
poem has been published in the name of Mehmud
Gaami, but the circumstantial evidence and
peculiarity of the ode tell us that it reflects
the emotions of Mrs. Bhawani Das."
T.N.Kaul in his book 'Gems of Kashmiri
Literature' writes: "It will not be out of
place to mention here that some cussed and
overzealous literary critics have wrongly
attributed one of Arinimaal's most pathetic
ditties - 'åríní rang gom shràvan híyè',
to her contemporary, Mahmud Gami
(1765-1855)." T.N.Kaul further
writes:"However a 90 year old descendant of
the Kachru family told this author (Kaul
himself) in an exclusive interview in Srinagar
in 1987 that Arinimaal had herself also recorded
a large number of her poems while she remained
separated from her beloved at Palhalan village.
After her death, these creations were handed
over to the old man's ancestors who kept them in
safe custody. But in view of the atrocities
perpetrated by the Afghans in the closing years
of their rule on the civilian population and the
consequent risk of damage to the invaluable
poems, the Kachrus were obliged to deposit this
treasure in a 'Chah' (dry well) near the Hari
Parbat hill.
Shashi Shekhar Toshakhani, in his book
'Kashmiri Sahitya ka Itihas' clarifies further.
He writes: "This is one of the most popular
Kashmiri songs, because of its melody and
compassion. It is so popular that Mehmud Gaami,
a famous poet has also used its few lines in one
of his poems. Because of this, some critics like
Ghulam Nabi Khayal consider it to be originally
of Mehmud Gaami. But by detailed analysis and
comparison, Autar Krishen Rehbar has proved that
the basic lines are that of Arinimaal only.
Rehbar has clearly shown that these are two
different poems, only its refrain, 'åríní
rang gom shràvan híyè' is common in
both."
There are several instances where verse of
one poet has wrongly (may be inadvertently) been
attributed to other. This is amply clarified by
the following instance:
Commenting on the confusion regarding year of
birth of Mehmud Gaami, Naji Munawar writes,
"After going through the manuscripts titled
'Yakh Hakayath' and 'Ponpuri' we can come to the
conclusion that either the Mehmud's era has
wrongly been calculated ..... or, there has been
another poet named Mehmud, whose verse has got
messed up with that of Mehmud Gaami, like, some
of Maqbool Amritsari's poetry was being printed
in the name of Maqbool Kralawari."
Kamil does not stop here. Regarding ‘kävi
víhínúm aríníní ...’ poem, he says,
“This is said to have been attributed to
Arinimaal only because it contained the word ‘Arini’.
It is clear that this poem was not attached to
her as late as 1946." Azad, on the other
hand assumes the poem to be that of Munshi
Bhawani Das. In another twist to the issue,
Kamil feels pleasure in putting this poem in the
basket of Habba Khatoon. He says, “This poem
is also said to be that of Habba Khatoon. And
genuinely so, because she has, during her royal
times, composed some poems with twisted words (lafzû
gyúnd kåríth). This poem also contains the
same twist.” Kamil does not mention who told
him so and with what proof?
Another point of contention has been the
verse 'tarvûní margû tû vasvûní bàlò',
in the poem 'mê shòkû yàrû sûndí bårímas
pyàlay', as it appeared in the Pratap Magazine
edited by Jia Lal Kaul in the year 1936. Amin
Kamil, as also Akhtar Mohi-ud-Din are of the
view that the verse should read 'khasvûní margû
tu vasvûní bàlò'. They use it as a proof of
bungling by Mr. Kaul.
Literary, a 'marg' is the plain area at the
top of a mountain or between the mountains,
which can only be crossed and not ascended.
Hence, 'tarvûní margû' is more authentic.
Source: Milchar
|