CHAPTER 6
Language of Lal Ded's Poetry
by Dr. Roop Krishen Bhat
 Sir Richard Temple in his book "The Word of Lalla" says : "The
vaakhs of Laleshwari have become part of day to day conversation in
Kashmiri households. Her religion is not bookish. Her religion is a mix of
people, hopes and miseries. Her vaakhs are of high standard, spiritual,
brief, to the point, sweet, full of hope, lively and representative of the
status of a common man". In their context, the vaakhs represent
human brotherhood, harmony, goodness, service to mankind. The proverbial and
idiomatic significance of vaakhs make these popular even after 600 years
of their existence.
Sir Richard Grierson says in 'Lal Vaakyani' : "There would hardly be a
language in the world which would match the popularity of sayings of saint-poets
or poetesses to those of Lal Ded in Kashmiri."
Such is the power of the Lal Ded's poetry that even after 600 years of
history, full of political, social and economic upheavals, its language has not
undergone any major change. It is as intelligible today as it was originally
when the vaakhs were composed. Let us now make an attempt to analyse the
language used in Lal Ded's uaakhs.
The language of the vaakhs does not only indicate the diction of the
poetess or the terminology in vogue at that time but a reflection and
representation of the socio-cultural and political life of that period. The
diction also reflects the shades of the personal life of the great
saint-poetess.
It is an established fact that idiolects differ from person to person.
However, there is resemblance and similarity at the dialectical level. That is
the reason why no one could match the quality and the standard, either of the
language or the content of Lal Ded's vaakhs though numerous attempts were
made by various poets to imitate them. To understand the language of the vaakhs,
one has to go back to the 14th century AD and to understand the
socio-political background of those times. The language of 14th century Kashmir
as used in the vaakhs is of Indo-Aryan sub-stock of languages spoken by
the immigrants of that time who had crossed over to the Valley from the Northern
range of mountains several thousand years earlier. Till the 14th century, or
till Lal Ded's time, Kashmiris had borrowed and assimilated numerous words from
Hindu, Shaiva and Buddhist religious vocabulary into their language, but had
still retained the sentence-structure and sound system of proto-Kashmiri.
Vocabulary keeps on changing but usually the sound- system and
sentence-structure is not easily affected. The language of Lal vaakhs is an
authentic example of proto-Kashmiri form of language. The language of the vaakhs
is the language of the common people or colloquial and not the kind of
classical language used by scholars. The common man's language does not absorb
the rigidity or conservativeness of borrowed words but instead changes the form
of such words to suit its system and usage. That is why a lot many words of
Sanskrit which were borrowed into Kashmiri became part of the core-vocabulary of
Kashmiri and are no more strange to us.
Some of the words which could be attributed to proto-Kashmiri and were part
of Kashmiri even before the Sanskrit influence and used frequently in Lal Ded's vaakhs
are:
|
nov |
new |
nas |
nose |
and |
end |
| lot |
light |
pod |
footstep |
nangu |
naked |
|
achh |
eye |
dand |
tooth |
domb |
womb |
These words are common in all Aryan languages. However, the words or vocables
which are related to rituals or customs are usually from Pali or Sanskrit,
because Shaivism and Buddhism remained the religions of Kashmiris for hundreds
of years. Some examples:
i.
deshi ayas dashi deshi tsalith
tsalith tsotum shuni adu vav
shivuy dyunthum shayi shayi milith
she tu tre trupurmas tu shivuy drav
I roamed the ten directions and pierced the wind and the void. I closed the
nine gates of the body and shut out the thirty-six, Wherever I looked I found
the Lord.
ii.
shiv chhuy thali thali rozan
mo
zan batu to musalman
truk
hay chhukh tu pan praznav
sway
chhay sahibas suuty zan
Shiva abides in all that is, everywhere. Then do not discriminate between a
Hindu and a Musalman. If you are wise, know yourself, that is true knowledge of
the Lord.
Lal Ded has nowhere used the word Hindu but batu since Hindu, the
modified form of the word. "Sindhu", came into use much after Lal
Ded's period. With an exception of Shitikanth's "Mahanayprakash" we do
not have many written manuscripts or Kashmiri language of pre-Lal Ded period.
Hence her vaakhs assume the distinction of being the first extant sample
of the Kashmiri language, and, to use Prof Jaya Lal Kaul's words, "Lal Ded
is more significantly, the maker of modem Kashmiri language as well as
literature".
Kashmiri words of Sanskrit and Pali origin had undergone many phonological
and morphological changes till the time of Lal Ded. Like religious preachers,
Lal Ded moved and lived with the common man and used the common man's language
in her discourses.
It may be kept in mind that her vaakhs were transmitted orally from
generation to generation and have therefore been subjected to linguistic change.
Some of the words of Sanskrit origin used in the vaakhs are:
| Kashmiri |
Sanskrit |
Meaning |
| abudi |
abuddhi |
without wisdom |
| atugath |
agatah+gatah |
to come and go (rebirth) |
| artsun |
archana |
worship |
| ahar |
ahara |
food |
| prakrath |
prakriti |
nature |
| div |
deva |
deity |
| swakh |
sukha |
comfort |
|
swayam |
svayam |
oneself |
|
kalpan |
kalpana |
imagination |
|
sadbav |
sadbhava |
good faith |
|
kalesh |
klesha |
difference |
| ma rg |
ma rga |
path |
| va kh |
va k |
speech, utterance |
| yendriy |
indriya |
the senses |
Let us now analyse the vaakhs at different linguistic levels i.e.
phonological, morphological, syntactic and semantic, and note the Kashmiri
features of the language or changes if any.
I. Phonological level
At phonological level many of the proto-Kashmiri features have been preserved
in the vaakhs. For example
i) Use of low-back vowel ‘wa' instead of high back vowel `u'.
| dwarlab |
durlabh |
rare, difficult to attain |
| akwal |
akul |
transcendent non-familial |
| amwal |
amulya |
invaluable |
| swarag |
swaraga |
heaven |
| wopdish |
upadesh |
sermon |
ii) Use of central-mid vowel `aa'
| baajbath |
participation, partnership |
| paajy |
preserved, brought up |
|
kraaj (mas) |
potter-woman |
iii) Use of 'z' instead of ‘j'
| zagath |
jagat |
world |
| zal |
jala |
water |
| zanum |
janma |
birth |
iv) Use of 'ts' instead of 'ch'
| artsun |
archana |
worship |
| tseth |
chitta |
mind, consciousness |
| tsenun |
chintan |
to realise, to know |
v) Use of palatalization
| kamy |
who |
| akaaly |
untimely |
| bavuky |
full of feeling/emotion |
II. Morphological level
i) Pronominalization is a very important characteristic of Kashmiri
morphology, i.e. the subject and object markers attached to the
verb get inflected for number and gender. Look at these vaakhs of Lal Ded
where such forms are widely used:
tanu manu gayas bu tas kuni
buzum satuch gant a vazan
tath jayi dhamayi dharan rotum
akash tu prakash korum saru
Note the pronominal forms in this vaakh.
gayas [I(f) went], buzum [I heard] rotum [I caught], korum
[I did]
b) parun polum aporuy porum
kesari vanu volum ratith shal
paras pornam tu panas polum
adu gom molum tu zinim hal
the pronominal forms used are;
polum [I practiced], porum [t read] volum [I brought down],
pornam [he read out to me] gom [happened to me], zinim [I
earned]
ii) Use of emphatic particle 'iy' / ‘ay' which is used with the subject noun
/ pronoun:
asiy aasy tu asiy asav
asi dor kar patuvath
shivas sori nu zyon tu marun
ravas sori nu atugath
Observe the emphatic forms,
iy [only we], asiy [we alone].
iii) The use of ablative case without postpositions
a)
gwaran vonunam kunuy vatsun
nebru dopnam andar atsun
(nebru
(pyathu) dopnam andar .atsun ) [(from) outside]
b) gwaru kath hridyas manzbag ratum gangu zalu naavum tan tay man
{gangu zalu (suuty) naavum tan tay man}
[(with) Ganga water]
c) ami panu sodras navi chhas laman
[ami panu (suuty) sodras navi chhas
laman] [(with) a loose spun thread]
iv) Usage of modal verbs along with main verb
atshyan
ayi taygatshun gatshe [should go]
pakun gatshe dyan kyoho rath
[should walk]
yo
ray ayi tu tury gatshun gatshe [should go]
Note the use of gatshe modal verb form with MV gatshuu [to go].
(v) The simple verb forms used by Lal Ded are now usually substituted by
compound verbs in present Kashmiri
artsun - piza kariny
[to worship]
vatsun - kath kariny
(to express]
zayun - khatum karun
[to destroy]
shrarnun- jazub gatshun
[to get absorbed]
larun - haasil sapdun (to gain]
tshandun - phirith yun
[to wander]
sandarun - thakavath dur kariny
[to take rest]
vage - kobuhas manz
[under control]
pushrun - havalu karun
[to hand over]
trupun - mutmayin gatshun
(to be contended]
III. Syntactic level
Syntactically the language of vaakhs is very much closer to today's
Kashmiri. From the syntactic structure of vaakhs it could be concluded
that despite large scale borrowings from the Sanskrit at word level, Kashmiri
has retained its basic sentence structure which is different from other
IndoAryan languages and closer to European languages. Kashmiri is a SVO
(subject-verb-object) language while as other Indo-Aryan languages are SOV
(subject-object-verb) type. Secondly, the finite verb form is used immediately
after the verb.
For example:
day chhu kunuy magarnav chhis lachha (God is one but has a thousand
names)*
Most of the vaakhs are in simple sentences comprising of subject +
verb phrase or vice versa or subject, verb and object in a row. Some of the vaakhs
are in a question and answer form.
For example:
kus mari to kasu maran
man kus tu maran kas
yus haru haru traavith garu garu kare
adu suy mare tu maran tas
Who dies? Who is slain?
He who forsakes God's name and gets involved in worldly cares.
It is he who dies. It is he who is slain.
The question words used are :
ha manshi kyazi chhukh vuthan seki lavar
[Why?]
ha tsetu kavu chhuy logmut par mas
(Why?)
kavu goy apzis pazyuk bronth [How?]
kya bodakh
ma bavu saru daray (What?)
kya karu pantsan dahan tu kahan
(What?)
Stress, intonation and pause are very much relevant in vaakhs and play
important role syntactically as well as semantically for better utterance and
understanding. Hence reciting or reading of vaakhs should be done
carefully.
IV. Semantic level
Almost every vaakh is semantically independent and hardly overflows
into another one. Each line completes the sense and has the compactness
and pointed ness of a proverb. Many Kashmiri idioms and proverbs have their
origin either in Lal Ded's vaakhs or in her life and have become an
integral part of Kashmiri language. Lal Ded has used the diction of common
people connected with various occupations, like the potter, farmer, weaver,
shepherd etc, and the similes are also chosen according)
Let us now look at some of the proverbs and idioms which are very much in use
today and owe their origin to Lal Ded.
Proverb:
i)
hond maarytan kinu kath
lali niluvath tsali nu
zanh
(Whether they kill, a ram or sheep, it is all the same for Lalleshwari.
She has always a stone in her plate of food)
ii) ami panu sodras navi chhas larnun
(To row a boat across the sea with loose-spun thread.)
iii) yinu manduchhokh nu chanu kyazi chhukh manduchhan
(Not to be ashamed of taking birth but to hesitate from sucking milk)
iv) kahan gav ravuny
(Too many cooks spoil the broth. Disunity in a household.)
v) seki
shathas byol vavun
(To sow seeds in a desert (a wasteful effort))
vi) komy yajyan
til ravrun
(To waste oil on a dish of bran (a wasteful effort))
vii) rajas baaj
yemy kartal paaj
(He who wields the sword a kingdom gains.)
viii) mudas gyanuch kath vanuny
(To impart knowledge to a
fool.)
Idioms:
tar dyun
[to ferry across]
loh langar
[worldly affairs]
abakh chhan
[an untrained carpenter]
zuvbramun
[to long for something]
pahli ros khyol
[a shepherdless flock]
dumatas rinz
[to have no effect]
k aras gor dyun
[to feed jaggery to an ass]
vakh tu vatsun
[to heed a precept]
ravan tyol
[the pain of loosing]
varzan vav
[a storm]
kal ganuny
[to remember badly]
achh talavas laguny
[to long for some one, to yearn]
Conclusion
It could be concluded that the language of Lal Ded's poetry on one the hand
preserves the proto-Kashmir characteristics despite very large borrowings from
Sanskrit and on the other hand shares many linguistic features with modern
Kashmiri.
To end this presentation, I would reiterate that there is certainly something
great, rather spiritual in Lal Ded's poetry that it has withstood the onslaught
of history and has become a part of the life of every Kashmiri speaking person
today, as it was some 600 years back.
REFERENCES
1. Geeru, Jia Lal, Lal Ded (Urdu), Gulshan Publications, Gav Kadal,
Srinagar, Kashmir, 1983.
2. Grierson, Sir George, Lallavaakyani, Vol. XVII, London, 1920
3. Kaul, Jaya Lal, Lal Ded, Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi, 1973
4. Kosher Samachar, Lal Ded Number, Kashmir Bhawan, Lajpat Nagar, New
Delhi, 1971.
5. Temple. Sir Richard. The Word of Lalla, (CUR). 1924
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