ماۓ نی ماۓمیرے، گیتاں دے نیناں وچ، برہوں دی رڑک پوے
ادھی ادھی راتی اٹھ، رون موہے متراں نوں، ماۓ سانوں نیند نہ پوے
ماۓ نی ماۓ
بہہ بہہ شوگندھیاں اچ، بنا پہ چاننڑی دے، تاوی ساڈی پیڑ نہ سہوے
کوسے کوسے ساہناں دی میں، کراں جے ٹکور ماۓ، سگوں سانوں کھانڑ نو ں پوے
ماۓ نی ماۓ
آپے نی میں بالڑی ہاں، ہالے آپے متاں جوگی، مت کہڑا ایس نو دوے
آکھ سو نی ماۓ جی نوں، رو وے بھل چت کے نی، جگ کتھے سن نہ لوے
ماۓ نی ماۓ
آکھ سو نی کھا ۓ ٹک، ہجراں دا پکیا، لیکھاں دے نے پٹھرے توے
چٹ لے تریل نو وی، غماں دے گلاب توں ای، کالجے نوں حوصلہ رہوے
ماۓ نی ماۓ
کیڑھیاں سپیریاں توں، منگاں کونج میل دی میں، میل دی کوئی کونج دوے
کیڑھا اناں غماں دیاں، روگیاں دے دراں اتے، وانگ کھڑا جوگیاں رہوے
ماۓ نی ماۓ
پیڑے نی پیڑے اے، پیار ایسی تتلی ہے، جیڑھی سدا سول تے بہوے
، لکھاں کوہاں دور ہی رہوے پیار ایسا بوہڑ ہے نی، جیدھے کولوں آشنا وی
ماۓ نی ماۓ
پیار اوہ محل ہے نی، جیدھے وچ پنکھواں دے، بعج کجھ ہور نہ رہوے
پیار ایسا آنگنا ہے، جیدھے وچ وسلاں دا، رتڑاں نہ پلنگ دوے
ماۓ نی ماۓ
آکھ ماۓ ادھی ادھی، راتی موہے متراں دے، اچی اچی نام نہ لوے
متے ساڈے مونیاں پچھوں، جگ اہ شریکڑا وی، گیتاں نوں وی چندرا کہے
ماۓ نی ماۓ
Maye ni maye, mere geetaaN de nainaaN vich, birhooN di raRak pavey.......!
Mother, O Mother, the eyes of My (mourning) Songs sore with pangs of separation!
Adhi adhi raateiN uth, roan moyee mitraaN nu, Maye sanuu neeNd na pavey......!
They (songs) wake up in the middle of the night and weep for my dead Love, O! Mother, I cannot sleep!
Maaye Ni Maaye
Pehe Pehe sugaNdheyaaN ‘ich, baNhaaN pehe chaanani de, TaaveeN saaDi peeR na savye......!
Soaked in perfume, I bind them( weep) in the moon light; even then, do not share my pain.
Kosey kosey saahaaN di MaiN karaaN je takoor Maye, sagoN sanu khaan nu pavey....!
Even if, I console the song(s) with warm sighs, O Mother, even then start biting me ferociously.
Maaye Ni Maaye
Aape ni maiN baalaRi haN, haaley aap mattaaN jogi, Mat kihRa eys nu davey.....!
I am still young, and need guidance myself, who can teach it (not to tease me)!
Aakh su ni maaye enu .. rovey buhl chith ke ni, Jaag kitey sun na lavey......!
O Mother, tell it to weep with clench his lips, so that the people may not hear it crying!
Maaye Ni Maaye
Aakh su ni khaye Tuk hijaraaN da pakkiya, LekhaaN de ni puTHeRey tavey...!
Tell it to ingest the bread of separation, my destiny is fated to mourn.
Chat lay tarail looni - GhamaaN de gulaab toN ni, Kaalaje nu hausala ravey....!
Lick the salty dew (tears) on the roses of sorrow, (my cheeks) so that your heart is solaced
Maaye Ni Maaye
KihRiyaaN saperiyaaN toN maNgaaN kuNj mel di maeN, Mel di koi kuNj davey,
Who are those snake handlers who can find me the matching skin?
KihRa enaN dammaN diyaaN lobhiyaaN de daraaN uhte, VaaNg khaRa jogiyaaN ravey!
How one can stand like Yogis at the doorstep of these greedy mourning songs.
Maaye Ni Maaye
PeeRey ni peeRey eh, piyaar aesi titali hae, JihRi sada sool te bavey!
O my pain, the Love is that butterfly which always sits on the thorn!
Piyaar esa bhaur hae ni - Jide koloN vaashna vi, LakhaaN kohaaN door hi ravey!
(O mother) Love is that bee from which even the desire stays thousands of miles away.
Maaye Ni Maaye
Piyaar oh mahal hae ni, jidey ‘ch paNkheruaanN de baajh kujh hor na ravey ...!
(O mother) Love is that palace where nothing except for the birds live.
Piyaar aesa aaNgana hae Jide ‘ch ni vasalaaN da rataRa na palaNgh Davvey..!
Love is that yard where the colored-bridal-bed cannot be spread,
Maaye Ni Maaye
Aakh maae adhi adhi raateeN Moye mitraaN de Uhchi uhchi naaN na lavey!
Mother, tell him not to call out the name of my dead love so loudly in the middle of the night.
Matey saadey moyaaN piCHoN, Jahg eh shareekaRa ni, GeetaaN nu vi chaNdara kavey.
I fear, when I am died, this malicious world, may not say that my SONGS were evil.
Maaye ni maaye Mere geetaaN de nainaaN vich BirhoN di raRak pavey!
Mother, O Mother, the eyes of My Songs sore with pangs of separation!
Adhi adhi raateiN uth, roan moyee mitraaN nu, Maye sanu neeNd na pavey!
The songs wake up in the middle of the night and weep for my dead Love, O! Mother, I cannot sleep!
Maaye ni maaye,
Mother, O Mother,
Shiv Kumar Batalvi, was a very versatile and supremely gifted poet and the young man of barely 20 years of age, rose to challenge and redefines the established boundaries of Punjabi poetry. Living a short and intense life that was devoted to writing deeply profound, passionate and enchantingly lyrical poetic expressions of the pathos of his time, and dying young at the age of 36, a fate that he had predicted and romanticized throughout his poetry.
His poetry includes poems written on many different subjects and a variety of styles. He could write traditional Punjabi folks songs, as well as, poems in post-modern diction and in many other verse forms. The only labels that may properly apply to Shiv’s poetry are human-ism and Punjabi-ism. The deep pain and sorrow of some of his poetry can best be understood in the larger context of a Punjabi’s reaction to the crisis of human identity in modern times.
He articulated the tragedy of breakdown of Punjab’s traditional society under the onslaught of modernization. He had lived his childhood in a traditional village social set up that offered the poise, equilibrium, stability, tranquillity and self-assurance of Punjabi culture. Early in his adolescence, he experienced the sudden death of this centuries old way of living. For a large part of his versatile poetry, Shiv embraced the identity of a Punjabi folk storyteller and viewed the massive disruptions around him from the historical perspective of someone deeply immersed in Punjabi folklore.
He became the passionate voice of millions of others who were, and still are, going through the same crisis. His poetry became a vast treasure of the fond memories of sights, sounds and symbols of the way of living and the scenery of rural Punjab, never so beautifully recorded in such breathtaking details except by the Great Master of Punjabi poetry, Waris Shah. Ultimately, his permanent place among great Punjabi poets is affirmed by his ever-growing popularity.
The great Shiv Kumar Batalavi the exponent punjabi poet. It is a big agony that Batalavi left us at very early age a great loss for the Punjabi literature & Punjabi people not only in the Indian diaspora but worldwide.
بخدا فرق جاننا مشکل ہے کہ یہ بندہ انسان تھا یا اوتار ۔ صرف 35 سال کی عمر میں عالم ِ ارضی کو داغ مفارقت دے جانے والا یہ عجیب و غریب صلاحیتوں کا مالک نوجوان کہتا ہے
’’میں بھی بھاگنا چاہتا ہوں‘‘
’’کہاں بھاگنا چاہتے ہیں؟‘‘
’’اپنے آپ سے دُور‘‘
’’پر کیوں؟‘‘
’’کیا ہے؟۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔زندگی، میرا خیال ہے کہ، ہم سب لوگ نا! ۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔ ایک سلو سویسائیڈ، ایک آرام سے موت مر رہے لوگ ہیں۔ تو وہی بات ہے۔ اور یہ ہر انٹلکچول کے ساتھ ہو گا۔ جو بھی بودھک ہے، اُس کے ساتھ یہ تو ٹریجڈی رہے گی، یہ دخانت رہیگا۔ وہ مر رہا ہے ہر پل, میرا خیال ہے جواب پورا تھا؟
شو کمار بٹالوی
The poetry and the video (to be released soon) describes
"The mental condition of a daughter whose Love died on the marriage day. She gets up at nights and hugs her mother to share the anguish and agony. She tells her mother that, in his separation, she is tormented, weeps day and night and cannot sleep. She requests her mother to ask these MOURNING SONGS of separation to stop torturing her at nights, so that she could sleep in peace. She serenades sad mourning songs outside in the moonlit nights to solace her heart, but without fail. She does not find any console even after weeping and lamenting. She remembers the time when she was being prepared for her marriage".
"The mental condition of a daughter whose Love died on the marriage day. She gets up at nights and hugs her mother to share the anguish and agony. She tells her mother that, in his separation, she is tormented, weeps day and night and cannot sleep. She requests her mother to ask these MOURNING SONGS of separation to stop torturing her at nights, so that she could sleep in peace. She serenades sad mourning songs outside in the moonlit nights to solace her heart, but without fail. She does not find any console even after weeping and lamenting. She remembers the time when she was being prepared for her marriage".
This marvellous poetry is written by the great Punjabi poet Shiv Kumar Batalvi. It is not easy to translate it as lot of metaphors have been used in each verse. Anybody can take different meanings of these words. I have tried to translate it the way I feel and understand it..
This song has been sung by countless singers, including Jagjit Singh, Surinder Kaur, Hasraj Hans, but Nusrat Fateh Ali’s rendition, I feel, is supreme. He has sung it from his soul.
