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Recitation

منصبِ  منصور  ہر  کسی  کے  لیے  ۔  گوپال  مِتّل

۱

ہر  ایک  بات  بجا  ہے  تری  مگر  ناصح

وفا  کو  کون  کرے  ترک  زندگی  کے  لیے

۲

شراب  اپنے  لہو  سے  کشید  کرتے  ہیں

جواز  چاہیے  کیا  اور  میکشی  کے  لیے

۳

پڑے  ہیں  راہِ  تمنّا  میں  گرد  کی  مانند

بہ  زعمِ  خویش  جو  اُٹّھے  تھے  رہبری  کے  لیے

۴

اجارہ  دار  تھے  جو  مشعلِ  ہدایت  کے

اب  اپنے  گھر  میں  ترستے  ہیں  روشنی  کے  لیے

۵

کب  اتنا  سہل  ہے  تاراجِ  گلستاں  گلچیں

ہم  اپنا  خون  بہا  دیں  گے  ہر  کلی  کے  لیے

۶

بقدرِ  ظرف  ہے  جرمِ  وفا  کی  بھی  تعزیر

نہیں  ہے  منصبِ  منصور  ہر  کسی  کے  لیے

मन्सब-ए मंसूर हर किसी के लिए – गोपाल मित्तल

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Click here for background and on any passage for word meanings and explanatory discussion. gopal mittal (1901-1993), maaler koTla, punjab. College in lahore. Later, lived in dehli as a poet, writer and editor of literary magazine. His usual style is to write intellectual, agnostic and irreverant Ghazal/nazm.

gopal mittal (1901-1993), maaler koTla, punjab.  College in lahore.  Later, lived in dehli as a poet, writer and editor of literary magazine.  His usual style is to write intellectual, agnostic and irreverant Ghazal/nazm.

1.appropriate, acceptable 2.but 3.advisor, preacher, censor 4.promise, commitment, fidelity 5.give up, quit, turn away from

This is a bold declaration that the poet/rebel is willing to lay down his life to keep his word/promise/commitment.  O advisor, everything you say (about the value of life and about preseving it) is acceptable, but who can turn away from their commitment just to save one’s life i.e., personal integrity is placed above mere survival.

1.blood 2.brew, distill 3.justification 4.drinking wine

Here ‘wine’ is symbolic of the wine of universal love and ‘maikashi’ is done at the liberal accepting space provided by the tavern.  The maikada (tavern) and maikashi (drinking) symbolize an unconventional, inclusive space, often celebrated in urdu poetry as a place of acceptance and liberation; unlike rigid religious or societal spaces, the tavern represents freedom, where human divisions dissolve, and love is celebrated. It is this space where the poet’s love, distilled with his own essence, finds expression.  The poet/rebel distills this wine of love with his own blood, suggesting that this love or spiritual elixir is not something merely enjoyed but something personally, even sacrificially, crafted.  What more justification is needed for drinking wine.

1.lay fallen 2.path 3.desire 4.dust 5.like, similar to 6.with self-declared confidence/arrogance 7.leadership, showing the way

There were those who rose to be leaders with self-declared confidence akin to arrogance.  But they seem to have met their just ends.  They lie on the path of desire/aspiration like dust.

1.monopolist, custodian 2.torch 3.teaching, showing 4.thirst, long

This is similar in theme to the previous she’r where leaders with self-declared confidence lie like dust on the path of progress.  They also thought that they had monopoly over guidance/instruction; that they were custodians of the torch of knowledge.  Now they thirst for light in their own houses.  I am not sure if he is talking about a specific group of leaders who, in his eyes, are discredited.  I do not know the historical context of this she’r.

1.easy 2.destruction, desolation 3.garden 4.flower-picker

In urdu poetic tradition the ‘flower-picker’ is the tyrant (just like the birdcatcher) who picks roses and separates lovers (gul o bulbul … the rose and nightingale).  O flower-picker, is the desolation of the garden ever that easy.  We are prepared to shed every drop of our blood for each bud (that you intend to pick).  This is probably about politicians to try to sow discord between communities i.e., try to separate lovers.  This could be in the light of partition and/or inciting communal riots in India.

1.in proportion to 2.capacity, capability 3.crime 4.fidelity 5.punishment 6.rank, status 7.mansuur-al-hallaaj

mansuur-al-hallaaj (858-922) was a sufi mystic who travelled extensively including India.  Upon his return to baGhdaad he declared and explicated ‘an-al-haqq – I am the Truth’ considered to be equivalent to ‘aham brahmasmi’.  He was sentenced to die but given a chance to recant.  He refused and chose to be executed.  He is considered a high symbol of courage and fidelity of being true to his convictions.  In the first she’r the poet has already declared his willingness to die for his convictions.  Punishment for the crime of fidelity is meted out in proportion to the capacity to bear/tolerate the punishment.  Not everyone reaches the high rank of mansuur.  Only the courageous like mansuur choose to die.  I am not sure if this is an expression of the poet’s humility saying that he himself does not have that courage or once again a re-affirmation of his willingness to die.

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