Iqbal 101

I am going to begin with a few famous lines from Iqbal (d.1938), for which I could find no simple translations online. I include both the Naskh (نسخ) and the Nasta’līq (نستعلیق), as well as a translation. Because this blog is designed to help relative beginners, I’ve included a rather literal  translation with a glossary.

Naskh:

من کی دولت ہاتھ آتی ہے تو پھر جاتی نہیں

man ki daulat hāth ātī hai to phir jātī nahīn

تن کی دولت چھا‌ؤں ہے آتا ہے دھن جاتا ہے دھن

tan ki daulat chhā’on hai ātā hai dhan jāta hai dhan

من کی دنیا میں نہ پایا میں نے افرنگی کا راج

man ki duniyā main nah pāyā main ne afrangī ka rāj

من کی دنیا میں نہ دیکھے میں نے شیخ و برہمن

man ki  duniyā main nah dekhe shaikh o brahmin

پانی پانی کر گئی مجھ کو قلندر کی یہ بات

pānī pānī kar ga’ī mujh ko qalandar ki yeh bāt

تو جھکا جب غیر کے آگے نہ من تیرا نہ تن

to jukhā jab ghair ke āge nah man terā nah tan

Nasta’līq

My (rather literal) translation:

Once the wealth of the soul is attained, it doesn’t leave

The wealth of the body is a shadow, worldly riches come and go

In the world of the mind, I do not find the kingdom of the foreigner

In the world of the mind, I do not see Shaikh and Brahmin

The word of the Qalandar puts me to shame

So bow neither your body or your mind at the coming of the outsider.

Glossary

من – man – n.m. – mind, heart, soul, spirit, inclination, conscience, attention [a Hindi/Urdu word cf. Prk. मणो; S. मनस्]

دولت – daulat -n.f. – wealth, riches, money, state power, kingdom, empire  [taken from Arabic دولة via Persian]

ہاتھ – hāth- n.m. – hand

ہاتھ آنا – hāth āna – v.i.- come by, come to hand, be got, be gained, be obtained

تن -tan- n.m. – body, person [Persian]

چھا‌ؤں – chhā’on – n.f. – shade

دھن  – dhan – riches, wealth, fortune [Sanskrit root]

افرنگی – n.m. – foreigner, Westerner

پانی پانی کرنا – pānī pānī karnā – v.t. – put (someone) to shame

غیر – ghair – n.m. – outsider, unrelated person, stranger [This word also functions as an adjective meaning: strange, different. Or as an adverb meaning (of a condition): serious, grave.]

For comparison here is a rather looser translation:

Treasure of the soul once won is never lost again:

Treasure gold, a shadow—wealth soon comes and soon takes flight.

In the spirit’s world I have not seen a white man’s Raj,

In that world I have not seen Hindu and Muslim fight.

Shame and shame that hermit’s saying pouted on me—you forfeit

Body and soul alike if once you cringe to another’s might!

from The Mentor Book of Modern Asian Literature, ed Dorothy Blair Shimer, 1969