Love’s Bewilderment: Siraj Aurangabadi’s Verse of Mystic Love

Sayyid Sirajuddin Husaini, better known as Siraj Aurangabadi (1715 - 1763) was a poet from the Deccan region. An 18th century travelogue of Aurangabad mentions his name as a saint and his tomb as a place of pilgrimage, neither of which survive now. As part of a Sufi order, religion formed a central part of his life as well as his art.

It is often said that he took to writing poetry naturally, and that it came to him as an expression of spontaneous love, not as conscious composition. Interestingly, he compiled his poems in 1738 and stopped writing poetry when he was twenty-four. This decision was a conscious choice on the advice of his pir, his Sufi master. In his quest to further his proximity to the divine beloved, he was told to abandon his art and focus on his eventual goal. Most of his legacy was oral, lending itself to song and eventually put together by his friends.

Siraj began to display mystical tendencies in his youth – he sought periods of recluse and had moments overwhelming emotional frenzy. It is no wonder then, that his poetry displays much of his life. One particular ghazal, “Khabar-e-Tahayyur-e Ishq” has been put to song by many prominent voices across generations and genres.

Khabar-e-tahayyur-e-ishq sun na junoon  raha na pari rahi
Na to tu rahaa na to main raha, jo rahi so bekhabari rahi

//

Hear news of love’s bewilderment:

no beauty remains, no feverish madness

No you remains, no I remains—

all that remains is unself-consciousness

It is interesting to listen to its fluid beauty but also to notice the invocations to crucial symbols of Sufi thought. Concepts of being and nothingness; the state of bewilderment in love; metaphors of being shorn of material possessions; pain in the path towards love; and eventual fearlessness – the poem takes you through these stages of an elevated consciousness on the path of love.

Much has been speculated about his romantic life including various theses about a love affair with a boy, which led him onto a path of spiritual growth. Siraj eventually renounced material life, never married or fathered children, instead choosing the lifestyle of an isolated ascetic.

Khabar-e Tahayyur-e Ishq

Khabar-e-tahayyur-e-ishq sun na junoon  raha na pari rahi
Na to tu rahaa na to main raha, jo rahi so bekhabari rahi

Shah-e-bekhudi ne ata kiya mujhe ab libaas-e-barahanagi
Na khirad ki bakhiyagari rahi na junoon ki pardadari rahi

Chali simt-e-gaib se ik hava ki chaman zahoor ka jal gaya
Magar ek shaakh-e-nihaal-e-gham, jise dil kahen so hari rahi

Nazar-e-tagaful-e-yaar kaa gila kis zabaan son bayan karun

Ki sharaab-e-sad-qadaah aarazu khum-e-dil mein thi so bhari rahi

Woh ajab ghadi thi main jis ghadi liya dars-e-nuskha-e-ishq ka
Ki kitaab-e-aql ki taaq men jyon dhari thi yun hi dhari rahi

Tere josh-e-hairat-e-husn ka asar is qadar son yahaan hua
Ki na aaine mein rahi jilaa na pari kun jalvaa-garii rahii

Kiya khaak aatish-e-ishq ne dil-e-benavaa-e-"Siraj" kon
na khatar
rahaa na hazar rahaa magar ek bekhatari rahi

//

News of Love’s Bewilderment

Hear news of love’s bewilderment:

no beauty remains, no feverish madness

No you remains, no I remains—

all that remains is unself-consciousness

A wind blew in from the unseen world,

scorching the garden of appearances

On pain’s bare branch, just one bud—

call it the heart—remains in greenness

Just now, the king of oblivion has bestowed

upon me nakedness’s royal robe

No stitch of discernment’s propriety remains,

no veil-rending insanity’s lewdness

With what tongue can I express complaint

against my beloved’s negligent gaze?

Take from my heart’s wine-vat a hundred cups—

it remains brimming in fullness

Your beauty’s power stirs up bewildering

tumult here to such extent that

The mirror reflects no charred devotee,

no idol—its face remains imageless

An amazing moment it was, when I

first learned from passion’s pages

Ever since, reason’s tome stood on the shelf

and remains right there, readerless

Passion’s flames reduced to ash

Siraj’s uncomplaining, speechless heart

No caution remains, no second thought—

all that remains is fearlessness”

Excerpt from: Scott A. Kugle. “When Sun Meets Moon”