Piyaa baaj pyaala
Posted on: September 16, 2014
This article is written by Sadanand Kamath, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in sites like lyricstrans.com and ibollywoodsongs.com etc then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
In my younger days, I used to identify Hyderabad with Nizams. For me Hyderabad and Nizamshahi were inseparable in the city’s history, developments and monuments. The establishment of Osmania University is one example among others of the contributions of Nizams in this region. It was only when I visited Hyderabad for the first time on a sightseeing trip in 1989, I became aware of the role of Qutub Shahi (also written as Qutb Shahi) dynasty in the development of Hyderabad. Of the 7 Sultans of Qutub Shahi dynasty that ruled from Golconda and later from Hyderabad, the reign of 5th Sultan, Mohammed Quli Qutub Shah was regarded as the golden period. During his rule, Charminar was constructed and a new capital across Musi River called Bhagnagar and later renamed as Hyderabad was established.
In the interregnum, I had almost forgotten about Mohammed Quli Qutub Shah until a few days back when his name cropped up in an article in The Times of India, dated December 26, 2O13. It was claimed that Mohammed Quli Qutub Shah was the first Deccani Urdu poet and not Wali Mohammed Wali, also called Wali Deccani (1667-17O7) as had been claimed by historians of Urdu literature. I found this information very interesting which led me to know more about the Mohammed Quli Qutub Shah. Fortunately, I got extensive material on the websites about him including a couple of well researched books which are partly available on google books. His life story is very interesting and I can say that it had a potential for making a full length feature film. He was not only a Sultan with a good administrative skill but was also a builder, a lover and a poet.
Mohammed Quli Qutub Shah (C.1565- C.1611) became 5th Sultan of Qutub Shahi in C.1581 and ruled until his death in C.1611. During his teens, he fell in love with Bhagmati, a courtesan from Chichlam village (roughly present day Charminar area of Hyderabad). He wanted to marry her but there was a stiff opposition from royal family as well as his father’s advisers because, apart from being a Hindu, she was from a low class and was much older than him. There are myths and legends associated with his love affair with Bhagmati which I will not go into details here. Suffice it to say that after the death of his father, Mohammed Quli Qutub Shah ascended the throne when he was still in his teen. He eventually got married to Bhagmati after a wait of 11 years and made her the queen.
Mohammed Quli Qutub Shah was a man of vision. Anticipating that Golconda, the Qutub Shahi capital will reach a saturation point, he decided to establish a new capital across the Musi River and started the work with the construction of Charminar. The new capital was named as Bhagnagar in honour of his wife Bhagmati. After a few years, when she got converted as a muslim, her name was changed to Hyder Mahal and the name of the new capital was accordingly changed from Bhagnager to Hyderabad.
Mohammed Quli Qutub Shah was also a man of letter. He was proficient in Persian, Daccani and Telugu. He made Deccani as court language. It may be stated here that Deccani language (also called Dakkani or Deccani Urdu) evolved from the mix of Persian, Hindi, Telugu, Marathi and Kannada words. Unlike Mughal Sultanate which adopted Persian as the official language, the Sultans of South of Vindhya Mountains adopted the local languages and cultures. Over a period of time, a common street language called Deccani was developed which also became a literary language. Mohammed Quli Qutub Shah wrote poems, mostly in ghazal format, in Deccani Urdu. He also wrote poems in Persian and Telugu languages. It is said he wrote nearly 5OOOO couplets during his life time.
In 1922, Maulvi Abdul Haq, an eminent Urdu scholar, found a Diwaan written by Mohammed Quli Qutub Shah in Asafiya Library (now called Central Library) in Hyderabad during his research on Deccani Urdu . However, later on it was found that the Diwaan was missing from the library (probably, it may be roosting somewhere abroad in a house of a collector of antique values). In 194O, Dr Zore reconstructed a part of his Diwaan based on the manuscripts available in Salar Jung Museum. It is through his efforts that we have some access to his ghazals. Unfortunately, very few of his ghazals are available in Roman Urdu. Based on these ghazals, one can say that Mohammed Quli Qutub Shah was mainly a romantic poet. This may have stemmed from his long courtship with Bhagmati. An example of one of his couplets from a love poem:
Main na jaanu kaba o but khana o maikhana koon
Dektha hoon par kahan diktha hai tuj mukh ka safa
[I do not know kaaba, temple or tavern.
I look everywhere but I cannot see a face as clear as yours.]
Some of his love poems are sensual to say the least and barely remain within the boundary of eroticism. A good analysis of his poems is available in a book Mohammed Quli Qutub Shah by Masud Hussain Khan. The links to his Kulliyat and Ghazalliyat in Urdu are available here and here.
One of his very few but most popular ghazals written in Deccani dialects is ‘piyaa baaj pyaala piyaa jaaye na‘ which has been rendered by some prominent ghazal singers of the Indian sub continent like Mallika Pukhraj, Chhaaya Ganguly, Talat Aziz, Iqbal Bano etc. I am presenting the same ghazal sung by Preeti Sagar in NISHAANT (1975). The original ghazal has four she’rs which are in the sound track of the film but in the audio clip, only three she’rs are used. The ghazal is set to music by Vanraj Bhatia. The underlying meaning of the ghazal is not difficult to understand in the context of Mohammed Quli’s love for Bhagmati for which he was persuaded by elders in the family to give up the idea of marrying her. I have given below the translation in English mainly because verses in the ghazal need some explanations and interpretations to the best my understanding because of some unusual words used in the ghazal.
piyaa baaj pyaala piyaa jaaye na
piyaa baaj yak til jiyaa jaaye na
[I cannot drink from the cup without my lover.
I cannot live for a moment without my lover.
Note: The poet has used a homonym word ‘piyaa’ for lover
as well as for drink. The word ‘yak’ is a deccani pronunciation of ‘ek’.
I guess the meaning of ‘til’ is ‘pal’ in Hindi or ‘moment’ .]
kahite piyaa bin saburi karoon
kahiyya jaaye amma kiyaa jaaye na
[It is said (I should) have some patient for the absence of my lover.
O my mother, it is easier said than done.
Note: The word ‘saburi’ may be the Deccani pronunciation of
the Persian word ‘sabr’ (to wait, to have patient). I have heard
the use of the word ‘sabur’ in the interior Maharashtra.
My guess is that the word ‘amma’ may been used in the
context of the advice from an elderly person.]
nahin ishq jis do badaa kodh hai
kadhi us se milkar besiyaa jaaye na
[He who does not love is insensitive.
I can never have the company with such a person.
Note: ‘Kadhi’ is a Marathi word which means ‘when’, ‘never’, ‘sometime’
depending upon the context in which the word is used.
‘Kodh’=Leprosy. Here the word is used to denote insensitivity.]
Qutub Shah na de mujh deewaane ko pand
deewaane ko kuchh pand diyaa jaaye na
[O Qutub Shah, do not counsel a mad man like me.
A lunatic cannot be counselled.
Note: pand= Advice, counsel. I feel that Qutub Shah, the poet himself is counselling Qutub Shah, the lover. Alternatively, Qutub Shah may also refer to his father Ibrahim Qutub Shah.]
As mentioned earlier, I could not locate the video clip of the song on the internet but the song is there in the sound track of the film. While the song in the audio clip is accompanied with orchestration, in the film, the song has been rendered without orchestration but interfaced with dialogues. The full song can be viewed in the movie clip from 2:13:O7. In fact, both the song and the film end simultaneously.
The simplicity, both of expressions in the ghazal as well as in the rendition by Preeti Sagar, is the hallmark of this song. I personally liked her rendition in the movie soundtrack without orchestration despite obstruction in the continuity of the song due to interface of dialogues with the song picturisation.
Audio
Video
Song-Piyaa baaj pyaala piyaa jaaye na (Nishaant)(1975) Singer-Preeti Sagar, Lyrics-Mohammad Quli Qutub Shah, MD-Vanraj Bhatia
Lyrics (From audio)
piyaa baaj pyaala aa
piyaa jaaye na aa
piyaa baaj pyaala
piyaa jaaye na aa aa
piyaa baaj yak til
jiyaa jaaye na aa aa
jiyaa jaaye na aa aa
jiyaa jaaye na
kaise main piyaa bin saburi karoon
kaise main piyaa bin saburi karoon
kahiyya jaaye amma
kiyaa jaaye na aa aa
piyaa baaj yak til
jiyaa jaaye na aa
jiyaa jaaye na aa aa
jiyaa jaaye na
Qutub Shah na de mujh deewaane ko pand
Qutub Shah na de mujh deewaane ko pand
deewaane ko kuchh pand diyaa jaaye na aa
piyaa baaj yak til jiyaa jaaye na aa aa
jiyaa jaaye na aa aa
jiyaa jaaye na
jiyaa jaaye naaaa
———————————————-
Extra sher in the sound track of the film
———————————————-
nahin ishq jis do badaa kodh hai
kadhi us se milkar besiyaa jaaye na aa
piyaa baaj yak til jiyaa jaaye na aa aa
jiyaa jaaye na aa aa
jiyaa jaaye na
12 Responses to "Piyaa baaj pyaala"
September 17, 2014 at 11:06 am
Vanraj Bhatia also offered music in Manthan, Junoon, Bhumika, Mammo, Tamas, Escape from Taliban, Kaliyug, Kondra, Hari Bhari, Mandi, Halla Bol, Tarang, Hip Hip Hurray, Sardari Begum and Bharat Ki Khoj(TV)
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September 21, 2014 at 5:42 pm
Superb rendition by Preeti Sagar. Thank you Vanraj Bhatia-ji for superb music. Thank you Sadanand-ji for posting this song
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September 21, 2014 at 8:03 pm
Agree with Sheshadriji. Even during my preteen period I loved this melody. Thank you Sadanandji. 🙂
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February 26, 2021 at 2:54 pm
Amma means but not mother. This is Farsi word. Also if you go to Lukhnow you will often hear amma nahi yaar
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December 19, 2023 at 5:31 pm
Hi Sadanand Ji,
I have come across this post today, almost 9 years after it was posted.
Knowing more about Quli Qutub Shah was very satisfying. I had heard about the King while I was in my teens, when we had gone on a picnic to the Quli Qutub Shahi Tombs and had hired a guide.
Thank You for once again for providing excellent information about the founder of my hometown – Hyderabad!!!
Cheers
Satyajit Rajurkar
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December 19, 2023 at 8:10 pm
Satyajit ji,
Thanks for bumping into my article.
It also gave me an opportunity to go through my own article after 9 years.
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
September 16, 2014 at 7:30 pm
I am expecting this one from many days.
Thanks Sadanandji for the superb song.
I am yet to read the post fully, But in excitement I am writing this one, because this song is my all time favourite.
Thanks again
Regards
Prakash
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September 24, 2014 at 10:41 pm
Got the video link:
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September 25, 2014 at 7:13 am
Thanks.
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