Lord Gautama Buddha and Urdu Literature
By: Ghulam Mohammed Ansari
While Lord Ram, Shri Krishna, Guru Nanak and other great personalities of the world are mentioned in Urdu literature, beautiful poems and instructive stories can also be seen in relation to Lord Gautama Buddha.
As for Lord Gautama Buddha, he is also known as Buddha and Buddha. His real name was Siddharth. He was born in 563 BC or 480 BC. His father was the king of a kingdom, but the Buddha, suffering from spiritual conflict, renounced government and power and sought “Gyan” for his own spiritual satisfaction and understanding of the pain of the people.
Buddha’s real name was Siddhartha and his family name was Gautama. Gautam’s father was a king and he was living a very luxurious life. There is an incident that a great sage of that time, Asita, saw Gautama and predicted that he would become a Mahatma or a great man. Then after that he said that this child will give up the luxuries of the world and lay the foundation of a new dharma and it will become a means of salvation for humans, so that prediction came true and Buddha Dharma came into being.
Gautama Buddha suffered various hardships in spreading the Buddha Dharma. At the age of 29, Gautama Buddha left his home and set out in search of “Gyan” i.e. knowledge. At the age of 35, Gautama Buddha attained “Gyan”. He endured hunger and thirst and lived his life in search of truth and preached morality, love and good deeds.
Gautama Buddha taught reciprocity, compassion and love. He taught to love humans as well as animals. Gautama Buddha used to make others’ sorrows his own. The light of hidden truth in his teachings had profound effects on human thought.Gautama Buddha’s popularity in large parts of the world made him the greatest figure in India.
Lord Buddha did very hard austerities in this regard. In this religion, every human being is asked to reform himself. The belief in rebirth (avagawan) is common in Buddhism as in Hinduism. And the only way to get Shakti from this cycle of births is karma (good deeds). Gautama Buddha founded Buddhism on these principles.
Buddhism is divided into three parts in Urdu literature.
I. An exposition of the Buddha’s thoughts and ideas. II Translations of religious scriptures and III Biographical poems on Lord Buddha.
AllamaIqbal is probably the first poet among the poets who understood the message of Buddha in Urdu.
Today the world has forgotten these teachings. And the words of love and tolerance have been lost somewhere in the books. Iqbal is very sad that we did not value our diamond. As a tree is unaware of the sweetness of its fruit. Similarly, we are still ignorant of the original message of the Buddha.
Qaum ne paigham-e-Gautamkizaraparwahnaki
Qadrpahechaninaapnegauhar-e-yak-danaki
Aah! Badqismatrahe, awaza-e-haq se bekhabar
Ghafilapnephalkishirini se hotahaishajar
Aashkarusnekiyajozindagikaraaztha
Hind kolekinkhayaliphalsafe par naaztha
(People did not care about Gautama’s message.
They did not recognize the value of their precious grain.
Alas, we are unlucky not to recognize this personality
Just as a tree is oblivious to the sweetness of its fruit
He revealed what was the secret of life
But Indians was fond of imaginary philosophy)
AllamaSeemabAkbarabadi called Gautama Buddha the first mystic (Irfani-e-auwal) of India. In this regard, see a few lines of an interesting poem by him.
Barf zaraonkotereanfasnegarmadiya
Tereistaghna ne takht-e-salatanatthukradiya
Yaadteriaajbhi Hindustan meintazahai
Cheen, japan aurtibbattakteraawazahai
Roshnijiskinahogimaand who mash-al haitu
Sarzamine-e Hind ka “Irfani-e-auwal” haitu
(Your teachings have melted even the mountains of snow
You have rejected even the throne of the kingdom
Your memory is still fresh in India
You are popular in China, Japan and Tibet
You are a torch whose light will never fade
You are the first Sufi of India)
Raj Narayan Raz was a famous Urdu poet. According to one of his poems, Gautama Buddha wants to come back to this world. The poet said that Lord Buddha is sad that he is worshiped in the world but his philosophy is not properly understood. See a few lines of the poem.
Lekin ye insaankaisehain?
Apneaapmein gum rahtehain
Inkopatakabiskahaikuchh
Jisjaahainmeritaswirein
Sajesajayehain but mere
Aurkitabeinjinmeinlikhihain
Bateinmeri, merigatha
Merizaatkiekkiranbhi
In meinnaheinhai, in meinnaheinhai.
(But how are these humans?
Who are lost in themselves
People don’t know anything about that
Where my pictures are,
My idols are decorated.
And the books, in which it is written.
My words, my story
Even a ray of my self
Not in them.
Not in them.)
In the poems written on Lord Gautama, special interest is taken in the story of his leaving home. Apart from this, poems describing their living conditions and important events in their life can also be seen.
FazlurRahman has described the situation of leaving Gautam Buddha’s house as follows. See..
Niklawohkaeebaar, palatayakaeebaar
Bazimeindil-o-deen, kabhijeetkabhihaar
Phirdilmeinkaha, bhaagkalikkhanaheintalta
insaankemathekanavishtanaheintalta
Vidyakatalabgaar, ahinsakapujari
banbanmeinkhudagaahphira ban kebhikari
(He left many times, returned many times
Heart and religion in the game, sometimes win sometimes lose
Then he said in his heart that what is written in destiny does not change
What is written on one’s forehead is not erased
Seeker of Vidya, priest of Ahimsa
Wandered self-consciously in the forest, becoming a beggar)
“Kainat-e-Dil” is a collection of poems by MunauwarLakhnavi. In this collection, he has written a poem titled “Tasweer-e-Haqiqat”. In this poem, the effect on the heart of Gautama Buddha after seeing the funeral of a man. That situation has been described.
Janazadekhnakiskeliyeikdars-e-ibrattha
Ma’aal-e-zindagi se dardpaidahogayasarmein
(For whom watching the funeral was a lesson,
(Having a headache after seeing the end of life)
Taluk Chand Mehrum has narrated the same incident in his book “Ganj Mani” and Lord Gautama Buddha has advised his family members not to shed tears on my parting.
Rukhsataimaanbaapbiwi, rukhsataiahl-e-dayar
Dekhnamerijudaee par nahonaashkbaar
(Goodbye parents and wife, Goodbye family
Do not be saddened by my separation)
SagharNizami in one of his poems describes the attributes of Lord Buddha and says that..
Teri talimaat par Hindustan konaazhai,
Hind kokyanaazhai, sarejahankonaazhai.
(India is proud of your teachings
And along with India, the whole world is also proud.)
However, Urdu literature has expressed its devotion to Lord Gautama Buddha in poems, songs and stories, which can be called unparalleled. Apart from this, translations of Buddhist books in Urdu can also be found.
Dhampada, an important book of Buddhism, was translated into Urdu by Bisheshwar Prasad ManauwarLucknowi which proved to be a memorable translation.
Thus, it would not be wrong to say that serious poets and writers of Urdu were greatly influenced by the teachings of Lord Gautama Buddha. At the same time, it can be strongly felt that there is still a lot of work to be done in Urdu literature on the personality of Lord Gautama Buddha, his teachings and his thoughts.
The writer is Assistant Editor ‘Asasa’ an Urdu Quarterly. He is also a member of Screen Writers Association, Mumbai. [email protected]
