Monday, June 16, 2008

ਸੱਚ / Truth

Initially I posted only the original poem in Gurmukhi script. For those friends who know Punjabi but cannot read the script, I am transliterating it in Roman. I have dared try a working translation. Hope it makes some sense. There was some problem in spacing. So, I just ended up giving different colours to the three segments.

ਇਹ ਝੂਠ ਹੈ
ਕਿ
ਸੀਤਾ
ਅਗਨ ਪਰੀਖਿਆ ਮਗਰੋਂ
ਜ਼ਿੰਦਾ ਬਚ ਗਈ ਸੀ ।

ਸੱਚ ਤਾਂ ਇਹ ਹੈ
ਕਿ
ਹਰ ਯੁਗ
ਹਰ ਜਨਮ
ਹਰ ਵਾਰ
ਅੱਗ ਦੀਆਂ ਲਾਟਾਂ ਵਿੱਚ
ਸੀਤਾ ਦੀ ਰੂਹ
ਸੜ ਜਾਂਦੀ ਰਹੀ ਏ;
ਸੀਤਾ ਦਾ ਦਿਲ
ਫਟ ਜਾਂਦਾ ਰਿਹੈ;
ਸੀਤਾ ਦਾ ਮਨ
ਮਰ ਜਾਂਦਾ ਰਿਹੈ;
ਸੀਤਾ ਦਾ ਮਾਣ
ਟੁੱਟ ਜਾਂਦਾ ਰਿਹੈ ।

ਹਰ ਯੁਗ
ਹਰ ਜਨਮ
ਹਰ ਵਾਰ
ਸਿਰਫ਼
ਸੀਤਾ ਦਾ ਜਿਸਮ
ਅੱਗ ਵਿੱਚੋਂ ਸਲਾਮਤ ਨਿੱਕਲ਼ਦਾ
ਵਿਖਾਈ ਪੈਂਦਾ ਰਿਹੈ –

ਸੀਤਾ ਦੀ
ਮਿੱਧੀ, ਸੜੀ, ਮੁਰਦਾ ਰੂਹ ਦਾ ਮਾਲਕ,
ਹਰ ਯੁਗ
ਹਰ ਜਨਮ
ਹਰ ਵਾਰ
ਮਰਿਆਦਾ ਪੁਰਸ਼ੋਤਮ ਅਖਵਾਉਂਦਾ ਰਿਹੈ ।

For those who know Punjabi but can't read Gurmukhi:

Eh Jhooth hai
ke
Sita
Agan Parikheya magro'n,
Zinda bachh gayee si.

Sach ta eh hai
ke
Har yug
Har Janam
Har vaar
Agg dian laatta'n wich
Sita di rooh
sarrh jandi rahi ey;
Sita da dil
fatt janda reha ey;
Sita da mann
marr janda reha ey;
Sita da maan'h
tutt janda reha ey.

Har yug
Har janam
Har vaar
sirf
Sita da jism
agg wicho'n salaamat nikkalda
wikhayee painda reha ey –

Sita di
middhi, sar'hi, murdaa rooh da maalik
Har yug
Har janam
Har vaar
Maryada Puroshottam akhwaonda reha ey.


Says who?
that
Sita
survived the Agni Pariksha

The truth is
that during
Each era
Each birth
Each time
In the flames of fire
Sita's soul
burns to ashes;
Sita's heart
tears open;
Sita's mind
dies a hundred deaths;
Sita's pride
suffers a thousand cracks.

Each era
Each birth
Each time
saw
emerging alive out of fire
only
Sita's body.

The owner
of
Sita's crushed, burnt, dead soul
in
Each era
Each birth
Each time
has been known as
Maryada Purushottam.

31 comments:

oceanic mirages said...

a nice cosy blog:-)
thanx for stopping by at mine.
wish u had posted a translation of this one, cant read punjabi :-(

Sidhusaaheb said...

Although this could actually antagonise a lot of zealots, as it happened when a rock formation was sought to dredged between the stretch of sea-water that separates India from Sri Lanka, the fact of the matter is that I read in my school history books, published by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) that a set of people, known as Aryans, came to India somewhere around 1500 B.C. and among the books they brought along was one that was called the Ramayana and another that was called the Mahabharata. There was no mention of any evidence ever having been found about these books being based on real events or people.

I am not sure whether the history books that students studying the curricula set by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) still read the same contents, in history books published by the NCERT.

Interestingly, a representation made by the government of India before the honourable Supreme Court was along the same lines, but had to be withdrawn soon thereafter, following a 'suggestion' from the Congress president, which, in turn, came after some political parties sought to gain political mileage out of the issue.

Another point that comes to mind is that the youngest religion i.e. Sikhism, which you and I follow, sought to derive and combine all that was good in the major religions prevalent in India at the point of its inception i.e. Hinduism and Islam. Sikhism does not seek to promote inequalities on any basis.

Mampi said...

OcMi: Thanks for your comments. Translation unfortunately was not possible when the emotion was felt. Will do it perhaps at a later stage.
SS: While I appreciate your point and agree with it as far as equality expounded by Sikhism is concerned, Sita or Ram here in this poem are not historical personages. They are symbols. And the poem was supposed to show what woman undergoes in society - irrespective of religion.

Anonymous said...

translate pl!! i cant read gurumukhi!!:(

~nm said...

beautiful one!

Pinku said...

dear manpreet,

thank you so much for both the translation and the transliteration.

your thoughts are beautiful....and u r right each one of us who is born a woman has a bit of Sita somewhere within us and we continue to face the agnipariksha even in the 21st century.

Its time Sita took custody both of her soul and body back from Maryada Purushottam, firmly into her own hands.

churningthewordmill said...

thanks fr taking the effort to translate the poem.
iam glad i was able to read it. it was a really beautiful one.

Life Begins said...

Tooooo goood...i am still trying to get the crux and essence..
lovely.

Thanks for stopping by and motivating me:)

Anonymous said...

Sach of ' SITA ' is sach of woman folk of every era.

Its absolutely true feeling.

I may add here that the root cause behind the Agnipreeksha was a said 'RAVAN'.He remained there in every era and he is still alive till today, thats why Sita of every era had to under go such type of physical, mental and emotional tests.

RAM and RAVAN - names are of same Raashi,isn't?

Poem written by you has a deep concern of woman's agony- an appreciable effort to give words of masses' feelings.

I wish, your collection of poems, come out in Book form at the earliest,for wide range of readers.

God bless you!

Dhindsa

Gurinderjit Singh (Guri@Khalsa.com) said...

œ‘reat effort to reach out to the wider audience

Anonymous said...

As I see it, this story is going to be repeated in every yuga.

ThoughtSafari said...

Thanks for the transliteration :-) Loved the poem!! Wish I could read gurmukhi too!

Mampi said...

~nm - Thanks for dropping by.

Pinku & Lazybug - Our weakness is that we go on loving our tormentors. And it will go on happening till Sita willingly walks the fire. That 'martyr' psyche has to be done with. And it is the hardest to do it.

Mandira- You are most welcome.

Mama - I feel that more than Ravan, it was the Puroshottam's refusal to test his wife that was responsible for the agni pariksha.

Life Begins - Thanks for dropping by. Your blog is very good and I found some very common factors. Do keep visiting.

SMART - The transliteration of Nimakh is long due. I m glad you could read this in Punjabi, albeit not in Gurmukhi.

Monika said...

lovely poem... its the age old tradition and ways of life though things to be on the improvement side in a genration like us who are the educated internet savy but more or less its still the same and trust me its not only the ram who is to be blames its the sita too who agreed for the agni pariksha in the first place

oceanic mirages said...

oh my god
lady u rock...
i love the poem nd i know punjabi, its just that i cant read the gurmukhi script, translation is not bad either but the original is so sensitive, a naked truth, a mirror for the patriarchal society that stares in its own face...
wonderful jonb done eh...
assi twade kayal ho ge haan...

Anonymous said...

i checked..my emails works!!

Mampi said...

Guri -Thanks for your visit.

Monika - Grateful that u came and left comments on some posts. Keep visiting. Yes, I hold both responsible but somehow the Sita's get caught in the vicious cycle of abuse - psychological or physical, thru such agni parikshas.

OcMi- I m glad you liked it. You made the task of transliteration worth the effort.

Mandira - I will try to email and check again.

Gazal said...

i wish i could understand the orignal poem....but the translation does capture the pain and the ethos...

thanx for stopping by the blog....

drop in again

Anonymous said...

Well I cant quite understand punjabi but frm the little I do, I know its a feminist poem :)

Indian Home Maker said...

Oh my God!!! This is superb! Absolutely awesome. You summed it up.

And I totally agree with Pinku, "Its time Sita took custody both of her soul and body back from Maryada Purushottam, firmly into her own hands."

Mampi said...

Gazal- Your blog was awesome. I read almost all the posts of 2008 and will read the 2007 posts today or tomorrow. I did leave some comments too.
I m glad you liked this poem, though I dont think the translation did justice to the intensity of my punjabi original.

Maverick - Well, calling it feminism would be packaging it neatly. Life is not that neat, it has its rough edges. But I appreciate because as reader, you have your right to interpretation.

IHM - Do you think we can take back ourselves?? As I said on your post "separated", the pain doesnt allow us. When you are bitter, it is perhaps easier. What do you do when you are not even bitter? What do you do when the pain dissolves inside?

Unknown said...

Every word and every line is true, a harsh truth though.It is difficult to comment on this poem. Not because that i myself am a man ,but rather think when will the tests of Sita( every woman) culminate? When the Man(me and others)will understand that he is trying to belittle those(woman)whom he should be adoring if not worshiping. I want to give one message to all- woman needs to go through no tests, only thing which is needed is to change mens psyche.I could write atleast 4 pages to air my views about this topic, but i stop here lest i may sound bombastic.
M.I.Singh

Ramanujam said...

This is a splendid post, Manpreet! The translation is awesome!

Gazal said...

translations can never capture the spirit.....

but sometimes a common language can help to get the message across.

you did a wonderful job.

thanks a lot for all the comments.

Mampi said...

Mahesh - Okay, I will react in person.

Ramanujam - Thank you so much. Though now I wish you all could read Gurmukhi for my sake. But I appreciate the encouragement.

Gazal - Since you have managed to encourage my translation too, so be prepared for more such endeavors. Well, dont worry, its only once in a while that I go in this sad mode. I m glad I could convey through the crude translation.

UL said...

you did well on this...really nice flow of thoughts and i was so glad to see you did a traslation...very nice.

Anonymous said...

love it............i actually find it very true dta once a woman's character is questioned she may live buh she dies inside coz da only person dat means the world to her was so gullable engrossed in wht every1 said he forgot her n lost her.............kindda true


love ya

Mampi said...

UL-I m not sure I did a good translation. I could perhaps translate someone else's thought better than mine own. Ironic. But I wish you could read Gurmukhi.

Avna-To everyone their own crosses. But amazing, how many crosses a woman travels with and how less a man.

Anonymous said...

well in india da only cross a guy faces is responsibility jidda v oho saari umaar ehsaan jationda rehnda ahi dat i cater to da needs of dis family no matter hw imp his wifes job is if wanted she has to sacrifise her carear n evenrything wht ahppend long bck is happenin hun v da only diff is its mre educated now das all

Manish Raj said...

Hi Mampi

You are a wonderful writer.

I have just added your blogs as my favorite.

Have you read poems of Hindi writer - "Maithilisharan Gupta" ?

Iya said...

hey Mampi...this is so beautifully written... i can't read the Gurmukhi script but i do understand punjabi...loved this one...i am still finding my way in your blog..and i am liking what i read here...