“Benaras is forever Spring”

The discovery of Chiragh-e-Dair(The Temple Lamp) a long Persian poem by Delhi’s poet Mirza Ghalib, has left me amazed at the range of hi vision and in the integrity of his intellect. Ghalib’s modern Indian biographer, Pavan Verma, has produce a competent English translation:

May Heaven keep the grandeur of Benaras
Arbour of this meadow of joy;
For oft-returning souls-their journey’s end.
In this weary Temple land of world,
Safe from the whirlwind of Time,
Benaras is forever Spring.

This poem was written when Ghalib broke his journey to Calcutta at Benaras and resided in Benaras for a month or so, imbibing the temporal and spiritual beauties of this ancient city.

This 19th century masnavi symbolically cites Kashi as Kaaba-e-Hindustan, sometimes that clerics in India and Pakistan would not tolerate in the 21st century.

The Kaaba of Hind;
This conch blowers’ dell;
Its icons and idols are made of Light,
That once flashed on Mount Sinai
These radiant naiads,
Set the pious Brahmins afire, when their face glow
Like moving lamps…on the Ganges banks.

It is incredible that a Muslim poet who prided himself on his Turkic ancestry and invoked the “warrior” past in his day-to-day conversation (through his letters) could compare the divine light at Mount Sinai to the lamps at Benaras.

Morning and Moonrise,
My lady Kashi,
Picks up the Ganga mirror
To see her gracious beauty,
Glimmer and shine.

For a Muslim poet to compose this was phenomenal. I wonder if today such lyricism and cultural inclusiveness is even remotely achievable by any (Urdu/Persian) poet of the subcontinent. Admittedly Ghalib’s unconventional views were not fully shared by many Muslims. However, if there were lack of tolerance, it would have been impossible for Ghalib to loudly proclaim his views and retain his immense following. Such times can only be imagined like the long-lost tales from a Never-never-land. This age fractures what was created by a millennium of cultural accords and understanding.