Jo qaail e mehr o wafaai na ho
Posted on: April 28, 2020
This article is written by Sadanand Kamath, a fellow enthusaist 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 other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
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Recently, I came across a very rare song from an unreleased film ‘Rustom Aur Sohrab’ (1940s). The song was uploaded on video sharing platform by Giridharilal Vishwakarma sometime in 2018. Despite an extensive search on the website, I could not get details about the film such as producer, director, actors etc. Probably, this film may have been one among many films that had become the victims of partition in 1947.
The title of the film indicates that it was based on the legendary poem of the same name by the 10th century Persian poet, Firdausi which was a part of his epic, ‘Shahnameh’. I had some exposure to Firdausi in our History classes while covering the Persian Empire. I had also watched the ‘Rustom Sohrab’ (1963) on Doordarshan sometime in the 1980s. But I do not remember details of the story.
Just to recapitulate the details of the story as depicted in the film, a few days back, I watched the full film ‘Rustom Sohrab’ (1963) on VCD and in the process, I enjoyed Sajjad Hussain’s gems which have been well picturised. The surprise from watching the film was that after many years, I realised that the story of Rustom-Sohrab had some similarities with that of a story in a Yakshagana play in Kannada titled ‘Babruvahan Kaalaga’ (Babruvahan’s Battle) which I had watched during my childhood in the late 1950s. Of course. what ever may be the similarities, they are co-incidental.
During my childhood, I used to accompany our family to watch the artists performing Yakshagana which were generally held in the Cosmopolitan Sports Club ground in Matunga, Mumbai. Since it was staged in Kannada, I had difficulties in understanding the poetic renditions and dialogues. But I used to enjoy the dances, the costumes of the artists and the rhythm of ‘Chendu’ – a type of percussion. I can say that during my childhood, I have seen more numbers of Yakshagana performances than the films. A few of my relatives were also pursuing their hobby as Yakshagana artists. Because of this, I had easy access to their make-up and rehearsal rooms when Yakshagana plays were being staged.
Before I come back to the main subject, I need to explain what is Yakshagana Baylata (I guess, the word ‘baylata’ may have been derived from English word ‘Ballet). It is a dance drama, combining the poetic singing by a singer, called ‘Bhagvatar’ accompanied by music with artists dancing with expressions and gestures and thereafter delivering dialogues. The Yakshagana plays are mostly based on the stories from Ramayan and Mahabharat. This form of folk theatre is popular in the west coast of Karnataka from where it originated about 500 years back.
In the story in the Yakshagana play, ‘Babruvahan Kaalaga’ (Babruvahan’s Battle), there is a battle between Arjun and his son, Babruvahan. In the story of ‘Rustom Sohrab’ (1963), there is a battle between Rustom and his son, Sohrab. In both these stories, father and son are not aware of their relations until the battle comes to an end. Let me set out in details some similarities in the story of Arujun-Babruvahan battle versus Rustom-Sohrab battle.
While Pandavas were in exile, Arjun wandered into the kingdom of Manipura and paid a visit to the king who had a beautiful daughter, Chitrangada. During his stay, Arjun fell in love with her and asked the king for his daughter’s hand. King agreed on one condition that the son born after his marriage with Chitrangada would be the future king of Manipura. Arjun agreed and the marriage was solemnised. When Chitrangada was carrying Babruvahan in her womb, Arjun had to leave Manipura. In the intervening period, Arjun had no occasion to visit his wife Chitrangada and the son Babruvahan. Later, Babruvahan succeeded his grandfather as the king of Manipura.
In Rustom-Sohrab story, Rustom, a confident of the king of Iran, on a visit to Samangan, a neighbouring kingdom, rescues the chariot of Princess Tehminia and her entourage from a huge fallen tree by removing the tree by his sheer strength out of her way. The Princess is impressed. Before she could expressed her love for him, Rustom rides on his horse and moves back to Iran. To entice Rustom to come back to her, she arranges stealing of Rustom’s favourite horse. As expected, Rustom comes to Samangan, the Princes kingdom in search of his horse and meets her who reveals the truth behind stealing of his horse. Rustom likes the Princess. Both get married. In the meanwhile, trouble is brewing in Iran and Rustom must go back to Iran to save the kingdom. He leaves the Princess who is carrying Sohrab in her womb. Before leaving for Iran, Rustom gives the Princes a metal armlet with Rustom’s family logo with the instructions that she should put on the arm of their yet to be born offspring. She gives birth to Sohrab who over a period of time becomes as great a warrior as his father.
The trigger for Arjun-Babruvahan battle is the capture by king Babruvahan of the horse as a part of Ashwamedh Yagna. Arjun as the protector must get the horse released by defeating Babruvahan. In the battle, King Babruvahan defeats the army of Arjun and kills him with an arrow which was given to him by Ganga as a boon. When Babruvahan comes to know that Arjun was his father and by his act, he has made his mother widow, he tries to kill himself. But his step-mother Uloopi, using Nagamani (magical stone) as sanjivani, revives Arjun. So, this is a happy ending of father-son dual.
While in Rustom-Sohrab battle, just like in Arjun-Babruvahan battle, Rustom and Sohrab were unaware of their relations as father and son at the time of their fight. It is only when Rustom fatally injures Sohrab during the fight, and sees the armlet on the arm of Sohrab, he comes to know that he had fatally injured his own son and he repents. Sohrab dies in the arms of his father, Rustom. Thus, the story has a tragic end.
In both the stories, the killing of father by Babruvahan and killing of son by Rustom is to avenge the killings of the son of King Afsayed of Turanak by Rustom and killing of Bhishma, the son of Ganga by Arjun in Kurukshetra war. For instance, after the son of King Afsayed of Turanak is killed by Rustom while rescuing the King of Iran from their captivity in Turanak, Afsayed takes a vow that he would kill Rustom’s son. In the process, he comes to know that Sohrab is the son of Rustom. Having failed to kill Sohrab because he is as strong a warrior as his father, he lures him to fight Rustom on behalf of the Kingdom of Turanak so that in the fight, Sohrab will get killed by Rustom. In the case of Arjun, it is an arrow given as a boon by Ganga to Babruvahan to kill Arjun to avenge his killing of her son, Bhishma by deceit.
It is also interesting to note that in both the stories, a horse is captured albeit for different reasons.
‘Rustom Aur Sohrab’ the unreleased film of the 1940s had 6 songs. I am presenting the first song from the film ‘jo qaail-e-mahr-o-wafaa hi na ho’ which is sung by Nazira Begum. The name of the lyricist is not known. The song is set to music by Master Mohan which, I guess, is the same person as Mohan Junior who was the music director for film ‘Ajamil (1948) and ‘Dana Paani’ (1953). There was a music director, Master Mohan who has composed music for films during 1931-36.
The song is written in a ghazal format with high sounding Urdu words. From the wordings of the ghazal, I feel that this song fits well in a situation in the film equivalent to the situation of the song “ye kaisi ajab daastan ho gayi hai” in the film ‘Rustom Sohrab’ (1963).
Audio Clip:
Song-Jo qaail e mehr o wafaai na ho (Rustom Aur Sohrab)(1948) Singer-Nazira Begam, MD-Master Mohan
Lyrics
jo qaail-e-mahr-o-wafaai na ho
jo qaail-e-mahr-o-wafaai na ho
waade ka nibhaana kya jaane
waade ka nibhaana kya jaane
jo munkar-e-dard-ae-ulfat ho
jo munkar-e-dard-ae-ulfat ho
wo dil ka lagaana kya jaane
wo dil ka lagaana
kis tarah teer mohabbat ka
kis tarah teer mohobbat ka
pae wast(?) jigar mein hota hai
pae wast(?) jigar mein hota hai
iss raaz ko koi kya samajhe
iss raaz ko koi kya samajhe
ik dukh ko zamaana kya jaane
ik dukh ko zamaana kya jaane
ummeed kaa daaman chhoot gaya
ummeed kaa daaman chhoot gaya
aasaar bure hain furqat mein
aasaar bure hain furqat mein
ye aag lagaayi hai jisne
ye aag lagaayi hai jisne
wo isko bujhhaana kya jaane
wo isko bujhhaana
wo dil jo kabhi toota hi na ho
wo dil jo kabhi toota hi na ho
wo chot ki lajjat kya jaane
wo chot ki lajjat kya jaane
jis haath mein khanjar sajta ho
jis haath mein khanjar sajta ho
marham ka lagaana kya jaane
marham ka lagaana kya jaane
jo qaail-e-mahr-o-wafaai na ho
jo qaail-e-mahr-o-wafaai na ho
waade ka nibhaana kya jaane
waade ka nibhaana
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
April 28, 2020 at 6:38 am
Sir,
You have found a rare gem, sweet sounding rendition.
Jo qaayil e mehr o wafaai na ho waade ka nibhana kya jaane
Jo munkar e dard e ulfat ho wo dil ka lagaana kya jaane
“Qaayil” – convinced or agreed with
Opposite word is munkar – in denial or disagreement
Jis tarah teer muhobbat ka paewast jigar mein hotaa hai
Iss raaz ko koyi kya samjhe iss dukh ko zamaana kya jaane
Paewast – enters or digs inside
The word is of persian origin, but common enough in urdu.
Hai ummeed kaa daaman chhoot gaya aasaar bure hain furqat mein
ye aag lagaayi hai jisne wo iss ko bujhaana kya jaane
wo dil jo kabhi toota hi na ho wo chot ki lazzat kya jaane
jis haath mein khanjar sajta ho marham ka lagaana kya jaane
Lazzat – taste or “swaad”
This Shair is talking of “chot” and “Marham”, the injury and the antidote.
Thank you for presenting this textbook example of how a ghazal should be constructed and why there is no art form more appealing to the “Sense and sensibility” than Urdu poetry. I will not be surprised if this turns out to be written by one the big names of urdu poetry.
Regards.
Mrs. Nahm
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April 28, 2020 at 9:37 am
Nahm ji,
Thanks for elucidations of some Urdu words and corrections in lyrics.
After listening to the matla she’r with high sounding Urdu words,I also felt that this ghazal may have been written by a shaayar of repute. But I could not find this ghazal in Rekhta and other websites on Urdu shaayari.
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