Urdu poet compiles Mirabai's hymns into Urdu anthology

Urdu poet Hashim Raza Jalalpuri translated Hindi poet Mirabai's 209 hymns into an Urdu anthology. Jalalpuri aims to translate the couplets written by Kabir into Urdu poetry.

New Delhi:Setting another example of the Ganga-Jamuni culture of India, a young Urdu poet Hashim Raza Jalalpuri has converted Mirabai's Hindi book containing 209 verses into Urdu, naming the book Nagma-ae-Ishq-o-Wafa.

Talking to ETV Bharat, Hashim said, "I have translated the 209 verses (hymns) of Meerabai into Urdu Shayari (poetry) which have 1510 Ashra (shayari) and it took me five years."

Lord Krishna's ardent devotee, Mirabai wrote her poems in Rajasthani, Braj, Awadhi, Gujarati, Urdu and had used around 14 languages including Arabic, Persian.

During the course of these five years, Hashim Raza Jalalpuri faced many challenges. He continued to write while working in various places like Bareilly, Aligarh, South Korea's Gwangju and New Delhi for livelihood.

Jalalpuri said that he had to read dozens of books to understand the personality of Meerabai in order to mold it into Urdu poetry. He held discussions with many scholars for effectively translating the poems. He added that he has kept the language simple in his Urdu book so that no one needs a dictionary to read and understand it and people can easily read and understand Mirabai's posts.

He faced the ire of trolls on social media when he released the poster of the anthology. However, it did not keep from going forward to release the book.

Talking about the book he quoted a verse: "Kabhi sitara, kabhi kehkashan banati hai, yahi zameen hume aasman banati hai, anekta mei ekta ke phool ki khushbu humare mulk ko hindutsan banati hai. (The unity and diversity is what makes India one united nation)"

Jalalpuri aims to translate the couplets written by Kabir into Urdu poetry. He says the book will be released in mid-2021.