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B.A English Literature
3rd Year 6th Semester
Indian Literatures in English
Unit - 1
1.4 Six Rubaiyaats - Mirza Arif
About Poet:
Mirza Ghulam Hassan Beg Arif (1910-2005) was born in a middle class family in Anantnaag, Kashmir. He was a scientist (MSc Zoology from AMU 1939 ) who wrote poetry as well. He was possibly the closest friend of Poet Dina Nath Naadim. Both studied in the same school.
He was influenced by Iqbal, Chakbast, Faiz, Josh and Prem Chand. In Kashmir, he organized a literary council "BAZM e ADAB" in 1940.
In 1985, He was awarded sahitya academy award for his kashmiri Book “LOL VECHAAR“ or “Love Thoughts .”
Mirza Arif Beg remained a foremost figure of Kashmiri literature for about five decades. His well-known works are Lole Vestar and Rubaiyat-e-Arif. His main concern was more on sociological problems than on religious themes. He popularized ‘rubaiyaat,’ which is a sort of quatrain verse form.
His work has something known as rugged originality that is full of criticism of social and political life in Kashmir. He wrote less on romance and love. He retired as Director sericulture J&K Government.
Poem:
If an old tree-trunk sends out a tender sprout,
Will one who knows give it a different name?
The old order has just been pruned, no more,
An idiot may, perhaps, call it democracy.
Bullets chase a poor fellow; bread eludes his grasp,
Even in freedom helpless, hapless he
Sheeplike must submit to one who kills.
Butcher alone has changed; the cut is as it used to be.
Will Hail, hail and public audiences aught avail?
Will mere bits of raw thread ever dam the wounds?
As long as the knife-blade reaches not the abscess-root
Will the commissions remedy the nation's cancer, ah?
The minister's doggie frolics up the sofa sets,
Some kiss it; some others embrace it.
Behold the labourer, ah, still with the rope on his
shoulder, furrows on his brow,
Belly sunk in, heart aburn, liver heating up.
A cool capitalist you, 0 Chinar!
Green you look in spring, turn bloody in autumn.
The empty-bellied poor you lull to steep.
What fire, then, is it that consumes you within?
This, the Hindus day; that, the Afghans. O!
Different arc the days of Bhagavan and Rahman,
Blessed indeed the day when people say our own day has come.
Arif aspires to see the day of Man adawn.
Summary:
Mirza Arif is angry on seeing the current scenario in the country. After many years of independence from the British rule, no change has come into effect with regard to the lives of the poor people. The rich has become richer; the poor has become poorer. The ruler might have changed. However, the rule of oppression continues to suppress the downtrodden sections of society.
The poem Six Rubaiyaats consists of six quatrains. In the first quatrain, the poet asks if a tender sprout of an old tree trunk carries a different name. In other words, the offshoot of an old order has its own hereditary nature. The old order 41 has just been modified. However, the idiotic people might call it democracy, which is nothing but altered form of colonial rule.
In the second quatrain, he says that a poor man is chased by violence. Poverty is the only remnant to him. Though he enjoys living in democracy, he is helpless in freedom. He becomes a slave like sheep to the sacrificer. The butcher has been changed; but the cut is customary. He says, “Butcher alone has changed; the cut is as it used to be.”
People redressal meetings are of no use, as long as the root of poverty is eradicated. Just as the bits of raw material cannot dress the wounds, people’s problems cannot be solved easily by outward concessions. Abscess-root has to be removed by the knife-blade. Then only wound will get cured. Similarly, the so-called commissions cannot cure the cancer of the nation.
The minister’s dog enjoys the privilege of frolicking in the sofa. The visitors to his house enjoy kissing it and some embrace it. Furrows can to be seen on his brow. His belly has sunk in, his heart is burning and his liver has got heated up. The poet’s comparison of the minister’s dog and the laborer is vivid and picturesque.
In the fifth quatrain, the poet brings out the resolution that both the Hindus and Afghans hail their days as the days of Bhagavan and Rahman respectively. However, Arif hopes that a day will come, when people say that their day has come. Arif wants to see the day of Man soon.
Though the poem does not have any regular rhyme scheme of quatrains, it has half-rhymes and internal rhymes with the poetic device, like alliteration. Mirza Arif comments on the current sociological and political issues, which directly affect the poorer sections of society.
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