Gham diye mustaqil
Posted on: February 19, 2009
Much like how Radio Ceylon would play a K L Saigal song at the stroke of 8 AM every morning, I too am posting a K L Saigal song as the first song every day. 😉
In this series, here is another K L Saigal classic from “Shahjahan”. It is “gham ki ye diye mushtaqil, kitna nazuk hai dil”.
Much of the lyrics, including the word “mustaqil” goes over my head, but considering that Majrooh Sultanpuri is the lyricist, I am sure he would use his words after careful thoughts and these words must definitely mean something important.
Even without understanding many of the words, the lyrics sound interesting and sophisticated. K L Saigal makes light of the heavy words and sings this song with effortless ease.
PS-I am thankful for the erudite discussions among nahm, atiullah and Arunkumar Deshmukh about the lyrics of this song that have helped enrich our understanding of Urdu vocabulary substantially.
Song-Gham diye mustaqil (Shahjahan) (1946) Singer-K L Saigal, Lyrics-Majrooh Sultanpuri, MD-Naushad
Lyrics
gham diye mustaqil,
kitnaa naazuk hai dil, ye na jaanaa
haay haay ye zaalim zamaanaa
de uthe daag lau unse ai maah-e-nau kah sunanaa
haay haay ye zaalim zamaanaa
dil ke haathon se daaman chhudaakar
gham ki nazaron se nazaren bachaakar
dil ke haathon se daaman chhudaakar
gham ki nazaron se nazaren bachaakar
uthke wo chal diye,
kahte hi rah gaye ham fasaanaa
haay haay ye zaalim zamaanaa
koyi meri ye roodaad dekhe,
ye mohabbat ki bedaad dekhe
koyi meri ye roodaad dekhe,
ye mohabbat ki bedaad dekhe
phunk rahaa hai jigar,
pad rahaa hai magar muskuraanaa
haay haay ye zaalim zamaanaa
gham diye mustaqil,
kitnaa naazuk hai dil,
ye na jaanaa
haay haay ye zaalim zamaanaa
30 Responses to "Gham diye mustaqil"
February 19, 2009 at 3:55 am
I was also one who disliked these songs. Now I realise that these songs are timeless, whereas many “new” songs of those days have been forgotten.
April 6, 2009 at 6:49 am
hi
i managed to find the meaning of the word mushtakil—
it means a tenant.
i just realised that listening to these songs over and over again will make us proficient in urdu. think we shd have more of the older songs of majrooh. what say we might learn chaste hindi and hindustani as it used to be called
March 7, 2010 at 9:54 pm
Fantastic to know the meaning of “Mustakil” The entire sequence falls in place. Hats off to late Majrooh Sultanpuri. Feels as if after 400 years he has brought out the feelings of Shensha Shahjahan after the sad demise of Mumtaz Mahal. Shahjahan left Taj Mahal and Malrooh left this song.
Also thanks to Peevsie’mom for having made the effort to find the meaning of this vital word Mustaki.l
March 8, 2010 at 6:55 am
Indeed, knowing the meaning of such esoteric words enhances our appreciation and enjoyment of such songs.
June 13, 2010 at 12:04 pm
its GHAM DIYE MUSTAQIL not “kiye”
meaning of some difficult urdu words in this song.
MUSTAQIL :continuously/unstopped/lagataar
MAAH E NAU :the new moon
ROODAAD : story
BEDAAD : injustice/na insafi
October 21, 2010 at 10:19 am
de uthe daag lau unse ai maah-e-nau kah sunanaa what does these words togeteher mean?
June 8, 2011 at 4:19 pm
DE UTHE DAAG LAU : HERE ” LAU” MEANS FLAME ,YAHAN SHAYAR KAHNA CHAHTA HAI KI “DIL KE ZAKHM JO BHAR CHUKE THHE AUR “DAAG” KI SHAQL MEIN HI BACHE THHE,AB WOH PHIR SE HARE HO GAYE HAIN,YAANI UNSE PHIR “AAG”/LAU NIKALNE LAGI HAI !!
MAAH E NAU : MAAH means MOON and NAU means NEW .MAAH E NAU MEANS “THE NEW MOON”
“de uthe daag lau,unse ae maah e nau kah sunaana” : yahan shayar /singer chaand se baat kar raha hai aur kah raha hai ki “ae naye chaand ,mere mehboob ko ye jaa kar bata dena ki uski mohabbat ke zakhm jo bhar chuke thhe aur dil par daag ki shaql mein hi bache the ab unmein phir “aag” lag gayi hai,yaani “lau” nikalne lagi hai…………yaani muhabbat ke zakhm phir se hare ho gaye hain.”
June 8, 2011 at 4:26 pm
and please atul ji plz do change the title of the song as “gham diye mustaqil”
its not gham kiye mustakil as you mentioned (it does not have any meaning)
June 8, 2011 at 6:27 pm
Atulji/atiullahji
I am sorry,but the word MUSTAQIL means fixed or immovable as an adjective,while as a verb eg. MUSTAQIL RAHNA it means to be firm or to insist(on something).
Therefore,the title of the song is correct. GHAM KIYE MUSTAQIL-which means due to the death of mumtaz,his heart is full of sorrow,now it is fixed with sorrow.
There is no such word as MUSHTAKIL in Urdu,hence Tenant cannot be the meaning.
-AD
June 9, 2011 at 11:36 am
yes “mustaqil ” means permanent in english,and it can also means unstopped (something which has no end can also be called permanent) .i am 101 % sure that it is gham “diye” mustaqil .
secondly in this song (which is picturised on k l sehgal sahab ) the actor is not himself “shah jehan” nor he is remembering mumtaaaz here. actually he is a” poet ” in this movie who is singing this for her beloved named “roohi” in this movie.
so the mukhda means : O the cruel world !,You have given sorrows upon sorrows (on my heart),without realising that my heart is so tender (that it will not able to bear so much sorrow )
June 8, 2011 at 10:42 pm
I have heard this song after a very long time today. It sounds very much like “Ghum diye mustaqil”. This is how i read it :
ghum diye mustaqil,
kitna nazuk hai dil,
yeh na jaana,
haay haay yeh zaalim zamaana
mustaqil – constantly, always, without respite, permanently , steadfast
Meaning : Lamenting that the world(society) has always given me ‘ghum’ without knowing(or giving a thought to) how fragile my heart is.
bedaad : unappreciated
“mohabbat ki bedaad dekhe”
Meaning : Look how the love is unappreciated.
Hope this will help.
September 16, 2011 at 3:00 pm
Bedaad means injustice…..not unappreciated….though if we fragment the word it appears as un-aprreciated as in be-daad….but the meaning is injustice.
And yes the ttile is “gham diye mustaqil…”
June 9, 2011 at 9:31 am
Dear Nahm ji,
Now that you have mentioned it, I have gone an extra mile in checking the original lyric everywhere I could possibly put my fingers on,and I find that without exception,everywhere it is ‘Ghum DIYE mustaqil’.
If we take the word as DIYE,still it makes a sense: the poet is,perhaps, trying to say that the death of mumtaz has given him so much sorrow that his heart is now full so much that it has become heavy(immovable). (destiny) has not realised that the heart is very fragile and cannot bear so much sorrow.However,the cruel society is not bothered about it.
On second thoughts,I too feel,it should be DIYE and not Kiye.
-AD
June 9, 2011 at 10:45 pm
Now I have changed the one word with the appropriate word.
Thanks for the interesting discussion on the words like “mustakil” and even “kiye”/”diye”. It has all been quite informative.
July 24, 2011 at 5:00 pm
The word is definately “diye” not kiye. And “mustaqil” means “continuously”. So “gham diye musteqil” means “giving me sorrow continuously”.
Sarwar Naqvi
July 24, 2011 at 9:23 pm
I like this song very much because my late father was always sing this song when he was free with his official work at home.
July 27, 2011 at 3:39 am
@atul ji,still the title of this song is wrong ,please change it to : “GHAM DIYE MUSTAQIL “
July 24, 2012 at 8:21 pm
we shoul than atiulla etc for clarifying meanings of this song sply the of the words “mah nau” and “de uthe dage lau” etc.But i feel BEDAD means INSULT of Love. while first ROOH DAD, means INJURED SOUL. the line means :LET SOMEONE SEE MY INJURED SOUL AND THIS INSULT OF LOVE. ..PLS CORRECT ME IF I AM WRONG.
July 26, 2012 at 10:28 am
“bedaad” is an urdu word of persian origin ,which means “injustice” . “muhabbat ki bedaad” means the injustice of love or cruelity of love.
August 3, 2012 at 6:00 am
please someone write the luric/song in hindi, not in english, so that one who wants to sing this song can do so witho with correct pronounciation. has anybody s the insrumental of this song, so please upload that. thanksI
August 3, 2012 at 6:58 am
I and my contributors have invested time and effort in presenting the full and accurate lyrics in roman script. If someone decides to sing this song then all he has to do is to listen to the song once or twice following the lyrics and then note down the lyrics in Hindi (or any other language he is familiar with). If I (or my contributors) can listen to the song several times in the process of getting the lyrics right then I am sure that an aspiring singer is expected to be able to exert at least this much.
Since you want me to have lyrics in Hindi script, I request you (or any other volunteers) to send me the lyrics in Hindi script and then I will incorporate it in the write up.
December 30, 2012 at 8:23 am
I had during my visit to India, picked up from railway station book shops , old time song books, written in hindi/sanskrut alphabets. I mean written in these languages, the pronounciatins are fixed. English language does not have this advantage. That is why I like the song written in Hindi/Sanskrut alphabets.
December 15, 2012 at 3:13 pm
thanks attiullah sahab for the translation. bhaut babhu dhanyawad.
November 17, 2013 at 8:41 pm
Thanks Atiullah ji for your kind inputs,the song has become more meaningful,thanks a lot
February 3, 2014 at 9:45 pm
Atiullah sahab n others , I m a middle aged Amateur Singer and sing songs in a group with live orchestra , mostly drawn from the Industry.
Please accept my thanks on translating the words. My Father being a Hindu Gujarati Civil Engg. used to sing all of Sehgal.Mullick n other’s songs.He could also read , write in Arabic Script.
I was missing him a lot (he is no more ).
I wanted to sing this song for our Gathering as Naushad is a theme and having sung his other nos. i wanted to sing Ghum diye Mustaqil.
Thanks
October 15, 2014 at 11:34 am
good and healthy discussion. could someone sum up and present the edited correct version of the whole lyrics of this song. i shall be obliged. if in hindi will be still better.
December 7, 2014 at 11:30 pm
It is a very nice&heart touching song. Thanks it’s listeners & Mr.K.L.Saigal
February 19, 2009 at 2:50 am
My mother used to say that all things go around, but I never imagined that after making fun of all the old songs that she and my dad used to sing and listen to and talk about, I would now be listening to those same songs and appreciating them! Mom, wherever you are, are you laughing at me?
In spite of the simple settings and lack of all the different background and orchestral sounds, these songs seem to speak straight from the heart. What a difference from the songs of today! Thanks Atul for finding these songs and presenting them.