RUSTIC songs and lullabies are not just songs sung to please oneself or someone else, but they are a voice from the heart.
One of the hidden or unintentional purposes that rustic songs and lullabies serve is to preserve the old and rustic language and pass on the traditional knowledge and local culture to the next generations. Rustic songs getting much popularity become folk songs. Folk songs and lullabies also convey rites, rituals, beliefs and folklore, hence represent the cultural identity.
When it comes to Urdu, the language preserved in centuries-old rustic songs and lullabies is invaluable data for those working on dialects, historical linguistics and sociolinguistics. These songs often have words, idioms and phrases that most of our dictionaries do not record. With the exception of S.W. Fallon and, to some extent, Urdu Dictionary Board’s 22-volume Urdu-Urdu dictionary, rarely, if ever, the rustic words or idioms are found in any dictionary of Urdu. John T. Platts occasionally mentions rustic pronunciation of certain Urdu words in his Urdu-English dictionary, but he often labels them as “vulgar”. The words used in rustic songs are, however, not vulgar; they are, from linguistic point of view, just a variety of the same language.
It is a fact that rustic songs and lullabies are looked down upon because of their unvarnished expressions and a vocabulary that sometimes sounds raw. But they do not deserve this scorn. Lullabies can trace the kind of worldview mothers instil in the little minds. Rustic songs record the ecstasies and agonies of the lives of villagers. Strangely enough, most of Urdu’s rustic and folk songs reflect women’s sentiments. The tradition is handed down to Urdu, perhaps, from early Hindi literature wherein poetic expressions are often recorded in a woman’s parlance. In many instance, in early Hindi poetry, the expression comes from a woman, usually spoken in the first person.
Folk songs depict common people’s heartfelt sentiments and common folks do not or cannot care much about language and literary style and just want to express what they feel. These feelings are often preserved as the songs which resonate in the minds of common people and often sung at festivities. Whether it is a wedding or childbirth, the turn of the season or harvest time, rustic songs capture its true colours.
But when it comes to the history of rustic songs and lullabies in Urdu, we are slightly disappointed: not much has been written on the history of such songs, neither are these songs and lullabies properly recorded, except for a few instances. Some rare information on Urdu’s “dehaati geet”, or rustic songs, is given by Qazi Nazim Sevharvi and according to him, the earliest poet composing poetry in rustic Urdu language was Munawwar Khan Dilmeer Meruthi. He composed a ‘qaseeda’, or panegyric ode, in rustic language and recited it in the court of Bahadur Shah Zafar who much appreciated it. Munawwar Khan had compiled an entire divan in rustic language in 1864.
Maulana Syed Abdul Hye in his Gel-i-Ra’ana wrote that Matro Lal Attar, too, had composed a story in rustic Urdu in 1900 and Maula Bakhsh Shauqeen of district Bijnor had composed a long poem in rustic parlance.
As for the critical evaluation of Urdu songs, a number of articles were written by Hayatullah Ansari, Devendra Satyarthi, Qaiseri Begum, Shahid Ahmed Dehlvi and Zeenat Sajida. A few research dissertations have been also written. Begum Bismillah Niaz wrote Urdu Geet, published from both India and Pakistan. Qaiser Jahan’s book was published from India with a similar title. In recent times Nafees Iqbal’s thesis on Urdu ‘geet’ (song) has been published from Lahore.
On the other hand, some scholars have done a good job by collecting all kinds of Urdu songs, including love songs and rustic songs. Some such works include Urdu Ke Muntakhab Geet by Qaiser Jahan, Uttar Pradesh Ke Lok Geet by Azhar Ali Farooqi, Kokan Aur Mumbai Ke Urdu Lok Geet by Maimoona Dalvi and Dehaati Geet by A’azam Kurevi.
Though Urdu and Hindi’s rustic songs as well as lullabies seem, apparently, unrefined and express feelings in raw but natural language, they voice deep-felt emotions and reflect especially upon the problems the women face in our male-dominated and somewhat suppressive society. Dehaati Geet, or rustic songs, a slim volume by Dr A’azam Kurevi published from Delhi in 1939 records some of Urdu’s such songs. Most of these songs are written in the first person by a woman and many of them are heart-breaking as they describe the tough life of a woman, oppressed by either husband or mother-in-law, or both.
But lullabies have largely been ignored and a few collections of Urdu lullabies can be traced. For example, Muhammadi Begum, the editor of Tehzeeb-i-Niswan, had compiled a collection of Urdu lullabies. Syed Muhammad Hussain’s book Balak Loriyan was published from Hyderabad Deccan in 1924. In 1980s, Lok Virsa had published a collection of Punjabi lullabies translated into Urdu by Raja Risalu.
Those working on women’s lives must study Urdu’s rustic songs to have some glimpses of life of women in rural areas about a century ago.
Published in Dawn, April 14th, 2020
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