From elegy to devotional art

Can a linked genre of literature, music and devotion bring about community catharsis? Yes. If one goes by the Muslim tradition of reciting marsiya during Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar. Etymologically derived from the Arabic word risa, meaning mourning for a beloved, the marsiya is a distinctive elegiac tradition of poetry dedicated to the martyrdom of Hussein and the Prophet's families at Karbala.

And who better to talk about this than the Rizvi family, one of the oldest legatees of the marsiyago (recital) and marsiyanigari (writing) in Mumbai, who have done this for seven generations. Patriarch Javed Rizvi and his cousin Rushaid underline how the 1,337-year-old battle has been etched in Islamic history. "Muharram is a lament for the cruelty and barbarism against the righteous. It is also a reminder of how the final day of judgement will see perpetrators punished and good prevail over evil," says Javed.

The origin

When Caliph Muawiyah I died in 680 AD, Hussain (the son of Prophet Mohammed's cousin and son-in-law Ali Ib Abi Talib) rebelled against his son and successor, Yazid I. On word from residents of Kufa region who promised to join him, Hussain set out from Mecca with his family only to find the residents renege. His caravan was waylaid by Yazid I's army on October 10, 680AD. Hussain was tortured, killed and beheaded along with most of his family and companions, including his six-month-old son Ali al-Asghar.

Among the women and children taken captive was Sayyeda Zainab, the Prophet's niece and Ali's daughter who wailed and lamented the death of her brother with congregations. This prompted Yazid I to release her.

"Mourning then became part of the tradition from which marsiya evolved," says Rizvi. "(It is) Usually six-lined stanzas with the rhyming aab," Rushaid explains, "This extends to even 150-200 stanzas."

"Most mourning congregations or majlis begin with soz-khwani (soulful chanting) followed by recitation of the full-length marsiya. Mourners recite nauha (a shorter marsiya) and end with maatam (self-flagellation)," he adds.
Marsiya, in its journey from the Arabian peninsula to the Indian subcontinent, changed both character and tone. It not only moved from Arabic and Persian into Urdu and Dakhni but also picked up Awadhi and Brijbhasha as it then moved north, borrowing musicality and soulfulness from Sufism which had deep roots in this land.

"Unlike extreme Wahabism, this found resonance in India as it spoke of love and compassion," point out the Rizvi cousins who credit Mirza Salaamat Ali Dabeer, Mir Babar Ali Anis, Mir Moonis and Mir Zameer Ali Haider Tabatabai for this process. "The former duo (in the early 19th century ) have composed the best marsiyas between them," says Rizvi.

Syncretic legacy

In the 1680s, a Hindu Gulbarga-resident Ram Rao, who went by his pen name Shaiva, found patronage in Adil Shah's Bijapur court. He went on to become the first original Hindu marsiya writer. Later, as the cultural capital shifted to Awadh under Nawabs of Lucknow, many Hindu marsiya poets emerged. Prominent among them was Munshi Channu Lal Lakhnavi.

Roop Kanwar Kumari, a Kashmiri Pandit who had settled in Agra, was the first Hindu woman to compose marsiyas through 1920-30. Her blending of Bhakti terminology ('Najaf hamare liye Haridwar-au-Kashi Hai') saw her refer to Hazrat Ali as a rishi/maharaj. Suspicious that the references of good vanquishing evil in his marsiyas referred to them, the British had the Bhumihar prince of Benares, Raja Balwan Singh externed.

Contemporary callings

Marsiya was used to enthuse mutineers in the 1857 Uprising and then during the Khilafat and Non-Cooperation movements, which saw Mahatma Gandhi invite several marsiyagos to prayer meetings. This poetic legacy has been carried on by greats like Josh Malihabadi and Muhammad Iqbal. In fact, the great poet-lyricist Kaifi Azmi also composed marsiyas. Other exponents of this genre include Gauhar Jaan, Mohammed Rafi, Lata Mangeshkar and more recently Shreya Ghoshal. The latter is amazed at the popularity of a marsiya she sang for Muzaffar Ali's Jaanisaar (2015). "I remember this was recorded without any pre-composition. Muzaffar Ali saab briefed me to concentrate on the emotions of the lines."

The late shehnai maestro, Ustad Bismillah Khan, would not only refuse any concert during the holy month of Muharram but join the procession in Benares singing and performing marsiyas on his shehnai. Soma Ghosh, his adopted daughter and thumri exponent, sings, "Pardes mein bahen ko chale kis par chhodkar/ Bhaiya Hussain jate ho kyun muh ko modkar/ Dhasad tumhi se thi aur tumhara tha aasra / Tum jaa rahe ho rishtaye ulfat ko todkar."

p_yogesh@dnaindia.net, @powerofyogesh