I SAY TO WARIS SHAH TODAY

INTRODUCTION

AMRITA PRITAM

Amrita Pritam (31 August 1919 – 31 October 2005) was an Indian novelist, essayist and poet, who wrote in Punjabi and Hindi. A prominent figure in Punjabi literature, she is the recipient of the 1956 Sahitya Akademi Award. Her body of work comprised over 100 books of poetry, fiction, biographies, essays, a collection of Punjabi folk songs and an autobiography that were all translated into several Indian and foreign languages.

Pritam is best remembered for her poignant poem, Ajj aakhaan Waris Shah nu (Today I invoke Waris Shah – "Ode to Waris Shah"), an elegy to the 18th-century Punjabi poet, an expression of her anguish over massacres during the partition of India. As a novelist, her most noted work was Pinjar ("The Skeleton", 1950), in which she created her memorable character, Puro, an epitome of violence against women, loss of humanity and ultimate surrender to existential fate; the novel was made into an award-winning film, Pinjar (2003).

Theme

Amrita Pritam in her 'I Say unto Waris Shah', depicts the effects of partition in Punjab and portrays the bloody chapters of the territorial division of India. The poetess is in a state of extreme sadness. She implores Waris Shah, her muse, to see what is happening in her beloved birthplace.

I SAY TO WARIS SHAH TODAY POEM

I say to Waris Shah today, speak from your grave And add a new page to your book of love
Once one daughter of Punjab wept, and you wrote your long saga; Today thousands weep, calling to you Waris Shah:
Arise, o friend of the afflicted; arise and see the state of Punjab, Corpses strewn on fields, and the Chenaab flowing with much blood.
Someone filled the five rivers with poison, And this same water now irrigates our soil.
Where was lost the flute, where the songs of love sounded? And all Ranjha's brothers forgotten to play the flute.
Blood has rained on the soil, graves are oozing with blood, The princesses of love cry their hearts out in the graveyards.
Today all the Quaido'ns have become the thieves of love and beauty, Where can we find another one like Waris Shah?
Waris Shah! I say to you, speak from your grave And add a new page to your book of love.

Amrita Pritam in her 'I Say unto Waris Shah', depicts the effects of partition in Punjab and portrays the bloody chapters of the territorial division of India. The poetess is in a state of extreme sadness. She implores Waris Shah, her muse, to see what is happening in her beloved birthplace.

SUMMARY

The poetess is in a state of extreme sadness. She implores Waris Shah, her muse(women), to see what is happening in her beloved birth place. Corpses'(dead body) are lying in the fields. Everything she sees has turned into red. The land of Heer–Ranjha is playing holi with human blood. The partition of India is the root cause of all those evils. Humanity is at stake. The message of love and purity of compassion is lost from Punjab. The poetess hopes that the people of Punjab will listen to her lamentation and stop this nonsensical bloodshed.

Amrita Pritam is witnessing the bloodbath happening all around her motherland. The condition of Punjab is hurting her deeply. At this critical moment, she resorts to the poet of love and compassion, Waris Shah. He is no more. The people of Punjab have forgotten his words of pure love. They are now fighting and killing their own country men ruthlessly (cruel). She wants to spread the message of Heer and Ranjha at this chaotic(canfused) moment.

The poetess needs the assistance of Waris Shah badly. She is requesting him to appear again as the moment needs him the most. The people of Punjab have killed enough people that it turned the water of Chenab crimson red. The act of partition has impregnated (filled) evil spirit into the hearts of people. Now the green pastures (field, land) of Punjab have turned into a graveyard. Corpses are lying here and there. Such was the condition of Punjab at the time of partition.

Amrita Pritam thinks that some satanic(evil) force is responsible for all this hurly-burly.(noisy) It has contaminated (stain, infect) the tributaries (small river)of the river Indus with poison. The water is now irrigating the land with poison. It is the poison of “Divide and Rule Policy” which is irrigating the spirit of an Indian. This poison like the diabolic policy is the root cause of what is happening around the poetess.

In this fertile land have sprouted (being to grow, to produce new leaves)

along with the wedding-beds.

The fertile land of Punjab is now giving birth to poisonous saplings.(young tree) Amrita Pritam compares the saplings to hatred of men metaphorically.(image) The hallucination(false perception)of “otherness” is ultimately a threat to the integrity and unity of India.

The poison of revenge has intoxicated the commoners. The beautiful natural landscape of Punjab is now turned into a field of mass-slaughter.(act of killing) That’s why Amrita Pritam writes, “Scarlet-red has turned the horizon/ and sky high has flown the curse./ The poisonous wind,/ that passes through/ every forest,/ has changed the/ bamboo-shoots into cobras.”

This metaphorical cobra is biting the people of Punjab and inserting its venom(posonous liquid) into their bodies. The poetess is pointing here to the selfish political leaders who are trying to destroy love, compassion, and brotherhood from people’s hearts by spreading its venom. Amidst all of this, the daughters of Punjab are the most affected. They have stopped singing. The “spinning wheel”, metaphor of “rural economy”, has stopped its functioning. Girls are running to save their lives. They can’t attend the trinjan(was a Punjabi tradition of women gathering, spinning charkhas, and singing songs) to sing together, to share their sorrows, and to help each other in this critical situation. Even the couples who have married recently to live a happy life, are fleeting to save their lives.

 The swing has snapped

(…)

and turn over a page of the Book of Love.

Partition of India snatched everything away from the innocent people of Punjab. It snapped the invisible thread of love existing among people.

The men of Punjab aren’t in the mood of blowing the flute. They are indulged in fighting and killing each other. Blood is spread everywhere. According to the poetess, even the dead will start weeping after seeing this horrid picture of Punjab.

In utter anguish, the poetess says that the men of Punjab have turned into villains. They have become the “thieves of love and beauty” for the poet. After seeing all this the writer can’t hold her tears. She desperately needs the help of Waris Shah whose words, she thinks, can stop this turbulence. The refrain used at the end of the poem, emphasizes her sincere prayer to the dead poet.

SUMMARY IN SHORT

I ask Waris Shah today to speak up somewhere from the graves
And to turn to a new page of the book of love
Once, when one daughter of Punjab wept, you had hit out by writing
Today a million daughters weep and implore you, Waris Shah:
Arise, O friend of the distressed! Arise, see the plight of your Punjab
Corpses lie strewn in the fields and Chenab is filled with blood
Someone has mixed poison into the waters of the five rivers
And that water is now irrigating the land
This fertile land is sprouting poison,
the horizon has turned scarlet-red and the curses fly to the sky
The poisonous wind that passes through the forest
Has transformed each bamboo-shoot into a cobra
The first snake-bite made the snake-charmer forget his spell
And the subsequent bites have addicted the people
They have been bitten again and again
And in no time, the limbs of Punjab have turned blue
Silenced are the songs in the streets, the thread of the spinning-wheels snapped
The girls have fled the courtyards, the whirr of the spinning wheels halted
The wedding beds and the boats have been thrown away
Today the branch with the swing on the Pipal has broken
The flute through which blew the breath of love is lost
All the brothers of Ranjha today have forgotten this art
Blood rained on the earth and the graves are leaking
And the princesses of love are crying amidst the tombs
All have become Qaidon (2) today, thieves of beauty and love
Today, wherefrom shall we get yet another Warish Shah?
I ask Waris Shah today to speak up somewhere from the graves
And to turn to a new page of the book of love