ہمالہ
اے ہمالہ! اے فصيل کشور ہندوستاں
چومتا ہے تيري پيشاني کو جھک کر آسماں
تجھ ميں کچھ پيدا نہيں ديرينہ روزي کے نشاں
تو جواں ہے گردش شام و سحر کے درمياں
ايک جلوہ تھا کليم طور سينا کے ليے
تو تجلي ہے سراپا چشم بينا کے ليے
امتحان ديدئہ ظاہر ميں کوہستاں ہے تو
پاسباں اپنا ہے تو ، ديوار ہندستاں ہے تو
مطلع اول فلک جس کا ہو وہ ديواں ہے تو
سوئے خلوت گاہ دل دامن کش انساں ہے تو
برف نے باندھي ہے دستار فضيلت تيرے سر
خندہ زن ہے جو کلاہ مہر عالم تاب پر
تيري عمر رفتہ کي اک آن ہے عہد کہن
واديوں ميں ہيں تري کالي گھٹائيں خيمہ زن
چوٹياں تيري ثريا سے ہيں سرگرم سخن
تو زميں پر اور پہنائے فلک تيرا وطن
چشمہ دامن ترا ئنہ سےال ہے
دامن موج ہوا جس کے ليے رومال ہے
ابر کے ہاتھوں ميں رہوار ہوا کے واسطے
تازيانہ دے ديا برق سر کہسار نے
اے ہمالہ کوئي بازي گاہ ہے تو بھي ، جسے
دست قدرت نے بنايا ہے عناصر کے ليے
ہائے کيا فرط طرب ميں جھومتا جاتا ہے ابر
فيل بے زنجير کي صورت اڑا جاتا ہے ابر
جنبش موج نسيم صبح گہوارہ بني
جھومتي ہے نشہ ہستي ميں ہر گل کي کلي
يوں زبان برگ سے گويا ہے اس کي خامشي
دست گلچيں کي جھٹک ميں نے نہيں ديکھي کبھي
کہہ رہي ہے ميري خاموشي ہي افسانہ مرا
کنج خلوت خانہ قدرت ہے کاشانہ مرا
آتي ہے ندي فراز کوہ سے گاتي ہوئي
کوثر و تسنيم کي موجوں کي شرماتي ہوئي
آئنہ سا شاہد قدرت کو دکھلاتي ہوئي
سنگ رہ سے گاہ بچتي ، گاہ ٹکراتي ہوئي
چھيڑتي جا اس عراق دل نشيں کے ساز کو
اے مسافر دل سمجھتا ہے تري آواز کو
ليلي شب کھولتي ہے آ کے جب زلف رسا
دامن دل کھينچتي ہے آبشاروں کي صدا
وہ خموشي شام کي جس پر تکلم ہو فدا
وہ درختوں پر تفکر کا سماں چھايا ہوا
کانپتا پھرتا ہے کيا رنگ شفق کہسار پر
خوشنما لگتا ہے يہ غازہ ترے رخسار پر
اے ہمالہ! داستاں اس وقت کي کوئي سنا
مسکن آبائے انساں جب بنا دامن ترا
کچھ بتا اس سيدھي سادي زندگي کا ماجرا
داغ جس پر غازئہ رنگ تکلف کا نہ تھا
ہاں دکھا دے اے تصور پھر وہ صبح و شام تو
دوڑ پيچھے کي طرف اے گردش ايام تو
THE HIMALAYAS
This poem belongs to the first period of ‘Allamah Iqbal’s poetic and intellectual evolution, which ended at the time of his departure to Europe in 1905 for higher studies. This period is considered to be the period of ‘Allamah Iqbal’s nature poetry. “Himalah” is the opening poem of Bang-i-Dara. It eulogizes the physical beauty and geographical importance of the Himalayan Range. Though mountains are equated with natural beauty all over the world, and the beauty of many mountain regions has been extolled by poets and other intellectuals alike, the Himalayas stand out as a shining star in the galaxy of the world’s mountain ranges.
The Himalayas form an extensive mountain range which stretches across the northern side of the Indian sub-continent from Kashmar to Assam, between the valleys of the Indus and Brahamaputra Rivers. It is bout 2,400 km. long and 160-240 km. wide and joins the Karakorums and the Hindu Kush Ranges. It is the highest mountain range in the world and includes some of the world’s highest peaks, viz. Everest (8,847 m.), Kanchenjunga (8,579 m.), Nanga Parbat (8,126 m.) Annapurna (8,078 m.), and Nanda Devi (7, 817 m.).
The word “Himalaya” is derived from the Sanskrit word “Himachal”, meaning the “Abode of Snow”. The name reflects the long range of permanently snow covered peaks, which are among the highest in the world and form a continuous wall of shimmering silver. Words cannot describe the beauty of this mountain range. It must be seen to be appreciated. “A hundred divine epochs would not suffice to describe the marvels of the Himalayas”, says a Sanskrit proverb.
‘Allamah Iqbal, a native of the Indo-Pakistan sub-continent was of Kashmar origin. Kashmar , which is a part of the Himalayan Range, and in itself is beauty par excellence, must have inspired him with a special love. However, his object in writing this poem was not merely to sing the praises of this mountain tract. Being an ‘arif, the beauty of God’s countenance as reflected in His creation had become manifest to his insight. He was moved by the beauty and the grandeur of the Himalayas. To him the Himalayas were one of the innumerable master pieces of the Creative Power and Artistry of God. To him it was one of the shuhuds of God’s artistry, and a way of witnessing His Tajalla-i-Sura. This feeling bursts out in verse 3. I myself had the good fortune of living and working in the sylvan beauty of the Himalayas for about twenty years of my life and of sharing the feelings of Sa‘da, when he says:
(158) The leaves of green trees in the wise man’s perception
Every leaf is an encyclopedia of the Creator’s cognition
Modern knowledge of the anatomy and physiology of the plant leaf attests to these attributes.
The Himalayas (English)
O Himalah! O rampart of the realm of India!
Bowing down, the sky kisses your forehead
Your condition does not show any signs of old age
You are young in the midst of day and night’s alternation (Ref 1)
The Kalam of tur Sana witnessed but one Effulgence
For the discerning eye you are an embodiment of Effulgence
To the outward eye you are a mere mountain range
In reality you are our sentinel, you are India’s rampart
You are the diwan (Ref 2) whose opening verse is the sky
You lead Man to the solitudes of his heart’s retreat
Snow has endowed you with the turban of honour (Ref 3)
Which scoffs at the crown of the world-illuminating sun
Antiquity is but a moment of your bygone age
Dark clouds are encamped in your valleys
Your peaks are matching with the pleiades in elegance
Though you are standing on earth your abode is sky’s expanse
The stream in your flank is a fast flowing mirror
For which the breeze is working like a kerchief
The mountain top’s lightning has given a whip
In the hands of cloud for the ambling horse
O Himalah! Are you like a theater stage
Which nature’s hand has made for its elements?
Ah! How the cloud is swaying in excessive joy
The cloud like an unchained elephant is speeding
Gentle movement of the morning zephyr is acting like a cradle
Every flower bud is swinging with intoxication of existence
The flower bud’s silence with the petal’s tongue is saying
“I have never experienced the jerk of the florist’s hand
Silence itself is relating the tale of mine
The corner of nature’s solitude is the abode of mine”
The brook is melodiously descending from the high land
Putting the waves of Kawthar and Tasnam (Ref 4) to embarrassment
As if showing the mirror to Nature’s beauty
Now evading now rowing against the rock in its way
Play in passing this orchestra of beautiful music
O wayfarer! The heart comprehends your music
When the night’s Lailah unfurls her long hair
The sound of water-falls allures the heart
That silence of the night whose beauty surpasses speech
That state of silent meditation overshadowing the trees
That dusk’s beauty which shivers along the mountain range
Very beautiful looks this rouge on your cheeks
O Himalah! Do relate to us some stories of the time
When your valleys became abode of Man’s ancestors (Ref 5)
Relate something of the life without sophistication
Which had not been stained by the rouge of sophistication
O Imagination! Bring back that period
O Vicissitudes of Time speed backwards (Ref 6)
Reference Details
- The alternation of the day and night is what produces time. This verse also alludes to the relative recentness of the Himalayas in terms of geological ages. This range came into existence 5-10 million years ago in the Pliocene epoch.
- Diwan- A book containing the poetical work especially ghazals , of a poet.
- The successful completion of education in the institutions of higher learning in the Muslim world culminates in a turban being conferred on the scholar as an insignia of his academic degree. It corresponds with the cap and academic hood in the Western world.
- Kawthar and Tasnam- They are two fountains in Paradise. The name includes their streams also.
- This refers to the antiquity of the Himalayas in archaeological times. Kashmir was an inhabited area at the time of the Indus Valley civilization in the third millennium B.C. It also alludes to the tradition that the Hindu sages wrote the Vedas in the Himalayas under the inspiration of its beauty.
- This is an outpouring of the poet’s heart in which he yearns for the revival of the Islamic civilization, of which the Asian civilization was a precursor and a part.
Ae Hamalaya (In Roman)
ae hamala! ae faseel e kishwar e hindustan
choomta ha teri paishani ko jhuk ker aasman
tujh mein kuch paida nahin derina rozee ke nishan
tu jawan hai gardish e sham o saher ke darmiyan
aik jalwa tha kaleem e toor e sina ke liye
tu tajali hai sarapa chasm e beena ke liye
imtihan e didah zahir mein kohistan hai tu
pasban apna hai tu, dewar e hindustan hai tu
matla e awwal falak jis ka ho vo diwan hai tu
suay khilwat gah e dil daman kash e insan hai tu
barf ne bandhi hai dastar e fazilat tere sar
khanda zan hai kalah e meher e aalam taab par
teri umar e rafta ki ek aan hai ehad e kuhan
wadiyon mein hain teri kali ghataen khema zan
chotiyan teri surayya se hain sargaram e sukhan
tu zameen per aur pehna e falak tera watan
chasma e daman tera aaeena siyyal hai
daman e mouj e hawa jis ke liye rumal hai
abar ke hathon mein rahwar e hawa ke waste
taziyana de diya barq e sar e kohsar ne
Ae hamala koi bazi gah hai tu bhi, jise
dast e qudrat ne banaya hai aanasir ke liye
haye kya firat e tarab mein jhoomta jata hai abar
feel e be zanjeer ki surat ura jata hai abar
junbish e mouj e naseem e subah gehwara bani
jhoomti hai nasha e husti mein har gul ki kali
yun zuban e berg se goya hai iss ke khamshi
dast e gulcheen ki jhatak mein ne nahin dekhi kabhi
keh rahi hai meri khamoshi hi afsana mera
kunj e khalwat khana e qudrat hai kashana mera
aati hai nadi faraz e koh se gati huwi
kausar o tasneem ki moujon ko sharmati huwi
aaeena sa shahid e qudrat ko dikhlati huwi
sang e reh se gah bachti gah takrati huwi
chairti ja iss iraq e dil nasheen ke saaz ko
ae musafir dil samjhta hai teri awaz ko
laila e shab kholti hai aa ke jab zulf e rasa
daman e dil khenchti hai aabsharon ke sada
vo khamoshi sham ki jis per takalum ho fida
vo darkhton per tafakkur ka saman chaya huwa
kanpta phirta hai kya rang e shafaq kohsar per
khushnuma lagta hai ye ghazah tere rukhsar per
ae hamala! dastan uss waqt ki koi suna
maskan e aabaay insan jab bana daman tera
kuch bata uss seedhi sadi zindagi ka majra
dagh jis par ghaza rang e takalluf ka na tha
Haan dikha de ae tasawwar phir woh subah o sham tu
dorh piche ki taraf ae ghardish e ayyam tu
Allama Iqbal