Madhushala - Rubaiya 10

sun, kalkal, chhalchhal, madhu-
ghat se girtii pyaalon me haalaa,
sun, runjhhun runjhhun chal
vitaran karti madhu saakibaalaa,
bas aa pahunche, door nahin kuchh,
chaar kadam ab chalnaa hai;
chahak rahe, sun, peenewaale,
singing are, listen, drinkers
fragrant is, here take, madhushala



Bachchan describes the tavern as we get close to it. I choose to interpret this verse to mean that as one pays attention to the "stuff" of life, one can begin to hear it's story, it's tale.



In this verse, the seeker hears the murmur, the splashing sound of wine being poured from jar to cup, the tinkling sounds the jewelry of the bar-girls make. We're nearly there: you can hear the drinkers singing; you can smell the fragrance of the tavern.



Bachchan seems to suggest that life is beautiful, that it is a great gift. Just living it is enough, nothing else is required.

Madhushala - Rubaiya 9

Madira paane kee abhilaashaa
hee ban jaaye jab haalaa
adhharon kee aturtaa mey hee
jab aabhaasit ho pyaalaa,
baney dhhyaan hee karte-karte
jab saakee saakaar, sakhe,
rahey na haalaa, pyaalaa, saakee,
tujhey milegee madhushaalaa


This is a classic verse that restates the age-old saying, "the journey is the destination".


Look at how beautifully Bachchan restates it, though! When the longing for the wine becomes the wine, when the wine-cup shines with the light of the lips' impatience, when the contemplation of the bar-girls and one's friends, in and of itself takes on their form; then the wine, the cup and the bar-girl are left no more; it is then that one attains the madhushala. Wow!! What a beautiful verse!!


Bachchan continues on the theme of having that inner fire to know the truth. When one has that intense need, then that need itself is the salvation! It is a profound thought, and not easily understood, but we can try.

Madhushala - Rubaiya 8

Mukh se tu avirat kehtaa jaa
madhu, madira, maadak haalaa,
hathon me anubhav kartaa jaa
ek lalit kalpit pyala,
dhyaan kiye jaa man me sumadhur,
sukhakar, sundar saaki kaa;
aur badha chal, pathik, na tujhko
door lagegi madhushaalaa


Bachchan says, "Keep your words wine related; your imagination fired up around a beautiful wine-cup; contemplate the happiness the bar-girl brings, and no longer will the tavern seem far away".


This is an optimistic verse, coming immediately after the previous one, where Bachchan shows how the purveyors of different "paths" leave the seeker disillusioned.


All that is required, says Bachchan, are two things. One, as he has already pointed out, is that we must LIVE life; the path or road is not relevant. In this stanza, Bachchan says that we must have an inner flame of curiosity, of an insatiable need to know the truth. I hesitate to use the word "focus"...which implies a sort of forced concentration, that seems alien to the feeling of the whole poem; but this may in fact have been what Bachchan meant.


I prefer the phrase "inner flame of curiosity", or better still, "an appetite for life". When you have an appetite for life, the metaphysical questions of life's meaning seem redundant. The truth does not seem far away when you live life to the full.

Madhushala - Rubaiya 7

chalne hee chalne me kitna
jeevan, hai, bitaa daalaa!
'Door abhee hai', par, kehtaa hai
har path batlaane vaalaa;
himmat hai na badhoon aage ko
saahas hai na-phiroon peechhey;
kinkartavyavimhood mujhe kar
door khadi hai madhushaalaa



This verse took me a while to really understand. On the one hand, it seems sort of obvious - when you go to the movies, it takes really long to get to the movie hall. It always takes longer to get to a place you really want to go to. On the other hand, I don't think Bachchan is talking about that commonplace feeling we've all experienced.


The clue lies in the phrase "door abhi hai", that everyone who wants to show you the path to salvation says. Each guru, master, or whoever, always starts by telling you how difficult it is to achieve salvation, before selling you his "path". (The guru, the master, the teacher is what the "har path batlaane waalaa" means here).


Flitting from one guru to another, each of us gets more and more disillusioned, while the truth remains out of reach, out of grasp. Yet, we are driven to find out, for that's our nature. Being victims of the purveyors of the "path" sellers, we neither have the courage to go ahead in our search, nor the courage to give up.


We are left uncertain as to what to do, while the tavern remains unattainable.

This is obviously a controversial verse: it seems to suggest that Bachchan decries every guru or master as selling something of the marketplace; that they cannot be giving us the real deal. Some people may argue that Bachchan is saying no such thing; I believe that is exactly what he is saying. Bachchan was an iconoclast; and he was very bold in the Madhushala. As you read the poem, you might find that you disagree with him; but don't let that stop you from enjoying the poem or letting your moral foundations get rocked a little bit! If they are strong, they'll withstand the pressure; if they are not, they weren't moral to begin with!!

Madhushala - Rubaiya 6

Madiraalay jaane ko ghar se
chaltaa hai peenewaalaa,
'kis pathh sey jaaoon' asmanjas
mein hai wah bholaabhaalaa;
alag-alag path batlaate sab
par main yeh batlaata hoon...
'raah pakad tuu ek chala chal
paa jaayega madhusaalaa

The introduction is complete; Bachchan starts the main body of his poem with this verse. Starting with this rubaiya, Bachchan describes the search for the tavern, or if you are so inclined, the search for truth, or the meaning of life.

This is perhaps the most over-analyzed, most quoted verse in the Madhushala. Yet, I would like to think that it is quite a simple verse. Bachchan is giving fair warning to his readers that he is not going to outline a point of view or state a philosophical position.

As a matter of fact, this is what most writers do. They first take a position, and then they proselytize it. As Bachchan repeatedly points out, the attempt to draw a map to the madhushala, or to describe a path to the truth, simply pushes the truth away. "Truth is a pathless land", said Jiddu Krishnamurti.

Bachchan states that the art of good living is not dependent upon choosing the right path to living, but to choose A path and then live it.

I do not like to think that this verse merely suggests that "all roads lead to the tavern". Indeed, this has been the conventional explanation. "All roads lead to God", or whatever. I think that Bachchan says, instead, "WALK; damn the road!!" As he'll show later, salvation lies in the walking, not in the fact that a road was chosen.

The meaning of life cannot be discovered intellectually. It has to be lived if it has to be understood. That is the meaning of this verse.

Madhushala - Rubaiya 5

Rubaiya 5
========

Madhur bhaavnaaon ki sumadhur
nitya banaataa hoon haalaa
bhartaa hoon is madhu se apne
antar kaa pyaasaa pyaalaa;
uthha kalpanaa ke haathon se
svayam use pee jaataa hoon;
apne hee mein hoon main saakee,
peenewaalaa, madhushaalaa

Bachchan establishes his credibility here; after all, he has declared very ambitious intentions - he has said that while being entertaining, he was going to tell the story of life itself.


In this rubaiya, Bachchan says that he constantly examines these questions within himself: without respite. Hence the use of the word "nitya"; he is forever a student of life, and therefore worthy of commenting on it.


The last two lines are extremely beautiful: he says that he is the bar-girl, the drinker, and the tavern, all rolled into one.

Madhushala - Rubaiya 4

Rubaiya 4
=======

Bhauvukta angoor lataa se
kheench kalpanaa ki haalaa,
kavi saaki bankar aayaa hai
bharkar kavitaa kaa pyaalaa;
kabhee na kanh bhar khaalee hogaa,
laakh piyen, do laakh piyen!
paathak ganh hain peenewaale,
pustak meri madhushaalaa



Bachchan, in this verse, tells us that the madhushala is the book itself, the readers are the drinkers. He says he has used the most best grapes from the most impressionable grapevines for his imagination, and comes to the reader as the bar-girl, having filled the glass with the wine of imagination.


Obviously, this wine is not going to run out, even if a hundred thousand (or two) drink!


Bachchan continues to establish the relationship between the poet and the reader. I particularly love the use of the word "paathak" here. In the context of the rubaiya, "paathak" means "a reader, particularly of sacred texts". However, "paathak" also means "teacher", and Bachchan seems to imply that his readers are the source of his learning: that humanity is the real teacher; he is merely translating what the story of mankind teaches into the substance of his poem.

Madhushala - Rubaiya 3

Rubaiya 3


=======



Priyatam, tu meri haala hai,

main teraa pyaasaa pyaalaa,

apne ko mujhme bharkar tu

bantaa hai peene waalaa;

main tujhko chhak chhalkaa kartaa,

mast mujhe pee tu hotaa;

ek doosre ko hum dono

aaj paraspar madhushaalaa





Bachchan assures the reader that the story he is about to tell is the story of humanity, the story of the drinker. He tells him that the poet is only the medium through which the story of the drinker is told; as he tells it, the poet is the listener also.





Bachchan emphasizes the symbiotic interrelationship between the poet and his listener, that one cannot "exist" without the other.





Bachchan increases the mystery here; we are impatient - we want him to get to the point. "Tell us, tell us", we cry.

Madhushala - Rubaiya 2

I got some feedback after I published my post on Rubaiya 1. Each of them sought to remind me that the words "haala", "pyala", "saaki" and "madhushala" were symbols of something else, like, life, or knowledge, or whatever.



Of course they are, but to my mind, that is not the point. Poetry must be felt, first. You have to get into the mood of the verse. You have to let the words sink in, and let the meter dance for you. When that has happened, the symbolism will become obvious anyway, but you'll have also gained a lot more than just understanding the poem intellectually.



Rubaiya 2

=======



Pyaas tujhe to, vishwa tapaakar

poorna nikaaloonga haala,

ek paon se saaki bankar

naachoonga lekar pyaala;

jeevan ki madhuta to tere

upar kab kaa vaar chukaa

aaj nichhaavar kar doonga main

tujh par jag ki madhushaala



This is a very ambitious verse. Bachchan tells his reader that if he is willing to listen, then he'll distill the wisdom of the world and give him that truth. He promises to be entertaining and comprehensive at the same time.



Bachchan is clear at the very outset that this no ordinary poem. He is clear in his intent: he is going for the big one - he is going to talk about the meaning of life, and he's not going to be wary of trying to answer complex questions.



As readers, we can be sure that we are going to be served a feast; we look forward to the rest of the poem with bated breath; we expect to be sated; we expect to find the answers to all the questions of life. There are no half-measures here.

Madhushala - Rubaiya 1

I have always wanted to write a complete thesis on Harivansh Rai Bachchan's immortal poem, "Madhushala".

This is my attempt to do that.

I am not going to write a conventional thesis in that I'm not going to research it. I am going to plunge right in, go through the poem stanza by stanza, and write my impressions and observations. So, this is really a blog of my own reflections, and I simply use "Madhushala" as a vehicle to do so.

So without any further preamble, let me go straight to the first stanza of this poem.

Stanza 1
======

Mridu bhavon ke angooron ki
aaj banaa laayaa halaa,
priyatam, apne hee haton se
aaj pilaaoonga pyala;
pehle bhog lagaa loon tujhko
phir prasaad jag paayega;
sabse pehle tera swaagat karti meri madhushaalaa

In my mind, Bachchan is making the entire poem personal; he wants the reader to get the impression that he is the only one that matters; that this is not just a poem for general consumption. He seeks that one on one relationship with every reader.

This is important. In life, we tend to treat others in a general lump "out there", forgetting that everyone else is a human being just like you and I are. Personal relationship is important, for it is the only thing that endures. If people in power and position can understand this well, they will be more successful: they will not then treat others as tools to get things done, but as members of a team with a collective goal.

Bachchan makes the entire tone soft and gentle, by starting with the phrase "mridu bhavon ke angooron se", and sets the tone for a deep, personal, conversation.

Beautiful.