recognized a 'Sünni' as his 'Murshid' (monitor). We have it in his own handwriting that he was a disciple of a Phulwari 'Sajjadahnashin.' His letter is still preserved in Phulwari. It is written in his own handwriting, and I had the privilege and permission, while I called at the Phulwari Khanquah' to read it with my own eyes. A copy thereof was also supplied to me which I still possess.

An article on Rásikh' published in the defunct Urdú paper 'Alpunch', published in 1903, says that up to 1221 A. H. (1806 A. D.) Rásikh' passed his life in shifting from one place to another, but in 1222 he returned to Patna not to leave it again till his death. He died at Patna in his 76 years of age on the 26th Jamadi II, 1238 A. H. (February 1823 A. D.) and was buried at Lodi Kutra, where his tomb, though in a dilapidated condition, still exists.

A complete collection of his writings is to be found in the Bankipore Oriental Library, and a small collection of his works was published about twenty-five years ago by one Mirza Imdad Husain of Patna. The latter no doubt betrays a cruel hand of some plagiarists, still the publisher deserves gratitude of the public for giving an access to Rásikh's' writings.

RASIKH AS A POLT.

Rásikh was a born poet. When a striking event occurred or an unusual feeling moved him, his poetic genius was stirred up and burst forth in verses. His poetic flight soar high to the domains of religion, love, heaven, destiny and the world at large. His light is pure, 'dry light' free from the 'humours' of habit, and purged from consecrated usage. While no place and no heart is free from 'love,' Rásikh's heart which bore the Hallmark of it and was wounded and tortured by the treacherous treatment of the world, was a mine of pathos and emotion. His verses carry with them cogent proofs of it.

He lived at a time when there were still to be found, though more or less faint, traces of the Moghul Empire in the country. Till then foreign manners and customs had not

48

no

eclipsed the polish and refinement of the Moghul Courts and the etiquettes of the Muslim Indian Societies. This had an influence over his language which had assimilated the Court polish by the process of conscious imitation but without mimicry. He had exquisite felicity of choice, his dictionary had vulgar word in it, no harsh one, but all culled from the luckiest moods of poets, and with a faint but delicious aroma of association, he had a perfect sense of sound, and one idea without which all the poetic outfit is of little avail-that of combination and arrangement. He had no hesitation in his anxiety to gain his end, even to use pure Hindi words, and he did so with such masterly precision that it imparted to his verses a flavour of its own. I shall quote here two couplets from his writings :

(1) لا کو اسکے متھیر پائے

(۲) لاگ سے اسکے بروگی در کے لوگ

دے گئے گذرے ادھر جو آئے جوگ لینے گئے جوگی ھوئے لوگ

The most striking feature of his verses is that if their met re and rhyme be done away with, they read just like very nicely composed prose.. This proves his complete mastery over the language and composition, e.g:

آشنا تو نہیں بیگانا ہے (۳) تو نے کب دوست کو پہچانا ھے یه توقع نه تھی مجھکو تجھے (۴) مجھکو مشرک سے ملایا تو نے مو منیت پہ ترے شک ھے مجھے ( ه ) شک ھے رزاقی رازق پہ تجھے

He was a happy mixture of originality, elegance, sense and imagination. He wrote with a beauty of design and finish that are of no time. He tried to satisfy not merely some fleeting fancy of the day, but a constant longing and hunger of human He did not tease his words into a fury in order

nature.

(1) I found its victims confounded;

Those that came over this side were done with. (2) By its communion men have parted from themselves; They went to seek union but turned into hermits.

(3) When hast thou recognized a friend?

Thou art not an acquaintance, rather a stranger.

(4) Thou didst introduce me to a mushrik (one who takes a partner for God),

I did not expect this from thee.

(5) Dost thou doubt the power of nourishing of the Providence ?

Then I doubt your momi niet (i.c., your being a Muslim).

heat of his matured

He

to infuse them with the deliberate conception, and strived to replace the rapture of the mind with a fervid intensity of phrase. He was the original man who contrived to be simply natural. His ghazals' bear the stamp of maturity as well as youthful freshness. puts life into the words and retains the attention of the readers. In the main he is more a subjective poet than an objective one. His verses brim over with subjective matters. A large number of them fully indicate that he was brooding over his own internal states and that he owed his success more to his intellectual world than the outside and material one.

For similes and metaphors he has not to travel to regions unknown, but he seizes upon the things around and makes them serve his purpose which gratifies certain known habits of

association, e.g. :

(1) گر نہیں آستان کا تیرے گدا تر سبب کیا که هرتي هي جب شام در پر سیمیں اپنا تب لیکر آتا ھے تیرے ماہ تمام (۲) کاسۂ سیمیں اپنا

(۳) اب ان نے اک گل بازی مجھے بنایا هے یه روسیاه هے اس رنگ در پئے آزار ے پار پایا کو دل (۴) ان آنکھوں کی کیا رسا نظر هے اس برچهي

( 0 ) یوں جہاں اُس مایۂ جاں کا ہے پیرایا هوا روئے معنی پر نقاب لفظ جون چها یا هوا ھے تمہارے دامن مژگاں کا بھر کا یا هوا (۶) کیوں نہ سر کھینچے یہ شعلہ آتش دل کا مری (۷) جوں تخم میں ھو صورت اشجارنه ظاهر تھا علم میں صانع کے نہاں اب جو بنایا

(1) If not a beggar at thy door,

Why then when it gets dark?

(2) With her silver bowl

The full moon comes to thy door,

(3) It (ie., Heaven) has made me a flower of game,

This black-faced is so much bent upon my injary.

(4) How far-reaching is the sight of these eyes!

I found this lance across the heart.

(5) That origin of life is compassing this world in such a way, As the veil of words is covering the face of meaning. (6) Why should not the flame of the fire of my heart rise up ? It has been fanned up with the skirt of thy eyelashes.

(7) As within the seeds the forms of plants are hidden,

So in the knowledge of the Creator was that which has now been created.

In using allusions he does not confine himself solely to those events, stories and persons that play parts in Arabic and Persian literatures, but he draws upon the Hindu traditions and mythology also. In one of his musnavies named 'Husn-o-Ishque ' (Beauty and Love) where he describes the triumph of 'love', he

writes

چھوٹا

نل تیرے سبب : رمان سے چھوٹا روپ آخر

(1) آرام وطن دمن (۲) جو کي بنا کام روپ آخر کھو بیٹھا وہ رنگ دریا رولا یا اسکو (۳) درر یا جس خواب نے فتنہ کو جگایا (۴) خواب ایک ایسا اُ سے دیکھا یا

صحرا

صحرا په را یا

ا سکو

There are many verses in his writings wherein he touches upon the social, moral and economic conditions of his time, e.g. :

(ه) وضع داروں سے سیدی وضع دبے رہتے تھے دخل کیا سفلہ چل محترموں سے بڑھکر

(5) Men of low position used to show respects to those of high position in life, A mean fellow couldn't dare to seek precedence over an honourable

man.

(6) The old order has changed. The contrary exists now,

Villains are better off and the virtuous are in ruin and disgrace. (7). Lowly men are more highly placed than men of respectability, They occupy a higher position than men of birth.

(8) Those that are in reality a disgrace even to the lowest rank, Often occupy the front place in society.

(۱) قابل صدرنشيني هیں مجالس میں جو لوگ

سخت مشکل سے ھے تا صف تعال انکا گزر

(۲) کہاں وہ عہد اب تو زور با زا رسفیہاں ھے

رئيس ایسے بہت کمیاب ھیں جو ھوں نہ دوں پرور

(۳) کیا عہد ھے کہ سچے کو احمق تھے' ہے خلق

دانا رھی ھے اب جو تھے سر بسر دروغ

(۴) د هونده مت اے یار یار با وفا اس عہد میں

سے 2 عنها یار لا کھوں پر وفا نایاب تر

In his verses he has touched on various occasions upon philosophical subjects, too, such as "What was the object of the Creation?" "Everything of the Universe proves God's existence." "This world is alluring but at the same time fickle and transitory", etc., etc. I shall give below some of his verses on the points :

دید کو اپنی یه آئینه آسی در کار نها فقط دیدار تها (0) صدعاء عالم سے اپنا هي اسلئے واضع هوا آئینه اعیان کا (۶) عرض كرنا تها بنوع اسکو اپني شان کا

(۷) کوئي با ني هے بیشک محفل زیباے عالم کا نہو یوں منتظم مجلس نه جبتک مجلس آرا هر پیدا کی رفرماں هے ذهب سے اس کارگہ کے (۸) کوئی در پرده کار ف

(1) Those that deserve the front place in Society,

It is with difficulty that they get even a place in the back seats. (2) Where is olden time? Now the villains are in ascendance,

No Rais' is now to be found who does not favour a mean fellow.

(3) What time is it that men call an honest man a fool?

Now he who tells a lie is considered a wise man.

(4) Do not search for a faithful friend in this age,

There are many friends but a faithful one is more rare than an 'Anka.

(5) The object of the creation was only His own exhibition,

For looking at Him this mirror was needed.

(6) He had in a way to represent His own glory,

Hence He became maker of the mirror of the Universe.

(7) No doubt some one is the organizer of the lively congregation of the world,

Unless there is an organizer, a congregation cannot be so superbly organized.

(8) There is some active soul hidden,

The method of this scene of activities (ie., world) indicates this,