Second
Part
The story of Yusuf and
Julekha was also popular theme in
Persian literature. A number of Persian poets composed
‘masnavis’ or poems depicting love between Yusuf and
Julaikha.
The earliest available version was of Firdousi but the tale of this
love was most interesting version composed by Mollah
Jami. The story of Yusuf and Julaikha also earned tremendous
popularity among the readers of medieval Bengal literature,
where we find at least three versions composed by Shah
Muhammed Sagir (16th century) Abdul Hakim (17th century) and
Garibullah (1753). Even in the 19th century, there were two
different versions of 'Yusuf - Julekha' one composed by Abdul Halim (1874)
and the other by Majibullah (1882). He named his narrative poem as
Mahabbatnama
or poem of love. Shah Muhammed Sagir did not mention any
name as the origin, but it seems that he composed his verse with
the help of both Firdousi and Jami. His adaptation may be termed
as composite one. In Sagir's verse, when Yusuf was thrown in the
well, the ‘Firista' as divine-Angel saved his life and later
the tiger as a witness proved his innocence. Here, Sagir
followed Firdousi and this episode is absent in Jami. In another
episode, Yusuf arrived in the capital and on seeing him, there
were hue and cry in
the city. One old lady came with bundle of thread to have a
glimpse of Yusuf.This episode is absent in Ferdousi. To add some local colour, Sagir named
the traders chief as ‘Maniru’ in stead of ‘Malik’.
Abdul Hakim’s
'Yusuf - Julekha' was a faithful
version of Jami. It is not diffcult to find passages where
Hakim translated Jami's verbatim. In most cases Hakim followed the
stream of events, sequence after sequence, according to Jami.
Garibullah’s version was just a free adaptation of Jami.
Nijami
Ganiabhi's ‘Half Paikar’ was also very
popular in Bengal. Alaol, a great Bengali poet of the 17th
century, translated this verse. Later, Shah-Pari's tale; an
episode of Hafl-Paikar became the subject of some
romantic poems, i.e. ‘Shah-Pari's Kichcha’ of Paragal,
‘Shah-Pari Malik Ada' of Muhammad Ali.
It can be assumed that, along with these great writers,
like Ferdousi, Jami and Nizami, Persian Romantic tales, written
by minor poets, were also popular in Bengal. One such tale is 'Saiful-Mulk-Badiuzzamal'
having two versions in Bengali, of which one is rendered by
Alaol and the other by Dona Gazi. The poets have not mentioned
the name of its origin, though Alaol acknowledged that, this
tale was very old from Persia. Muhammed Akbar’s 'Jable-Mulk
Shamarokh' (1674) is also leased on a Persian tale, origin
of which has not yet been traced. There are also some other tales
in Bengali, ‘Azar Sha Shamarukh’ of Muhammed Jiban,'
Lalmoti Saiful Mulk' of Abdul Hakim.' Saiful Mulk Lalbanu'
etc. adopted either from unknown Persian sources, or
from different episodes, are currently in Persian tales and tables.
Like Persian literature, Hindi-Abadhi literature of
Eastern India are also greatly influenced by the medieval Bengali
romantic poetry. The first Hindi influence on the medieval
Bengali literature came through Vidyapati, the great Maithili
poet of the 14th century. Vidyapati's love songs depicted love of Radha and Krishan, as an allegory of the
relation between the soul and God. A tradition was developed
where' Vaishnava Padas' were written in the style of Vidyapati.
Even a new literary diction known as Brajabuli was used for these love songs.
In medieval Hindi literature a large number of poems
based on ‘sufi’ thoughts were also written along with the Ramvvaktidhara,
Krihnavaktidhara and other devotional poetry
of the same line. These ‘sufi’
ideas came to India from Persia,
where Fariduddin Altar, Nijami,
Rumi and Jami had exerted great influence on Persian poetry and
philosophy. The poets had there influence also on medieval
Hindi poetry. In this regard we can mention the names of Mollah
Dawood, Gadhana, Kutuban, Malik Muhammad Jaisi and Manjhana.
They composed their epic verse in the Persian Masnavi style and
their depiction of love had also spiritual overtones. But, the stories they depicted were
,of course, influenced by local and
social conditions, behavior and habits.
more in next
issue.....
