Arnimal: The Kashmiri Ancient Poetess of Lyricism, love and Optimism

Abstract

The lyrics of Arnimal traverse the entire range of emotions, including protests, love, sorrow and weariness. She has succeeded in transferring her personal trials and tribulations into universal ones. In this way, Arnimal has become one of the leading lights of the Kashmiri Hindu women who are the best examples of self-sacrifice and embodiments of love. A cursory study of her life and lyrics is enough to establish the poetic genius and mastery of technique achieved by that unlettered woman who belonged to the dark age of Afghan rule in Kashmir in the eighteenth century and yet she stands as the leading light of the unhappy period of history in the life of Kashmiri Pandits, both men and women. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the life and main contributions of Arnimal in the development of Kashmiri literature in general and how Arnimal’s poetry was full with the themes of love and optimism. Citation: Abdul Majeed Dar (2019). Arnimal : The Kashmiri Ancient Poetess of Lyricism, love and Optimism. International Journal of Advanced Multidisciplinary Scientific Research (IJAMSR) ISSN:2581-4281, 2 (1), January, 2019, # Art.1122, pp 79-86 International Journal of Advanced Multidisciplinary Scientific Research (IJAMSR) ISSN:2581-4281 Volume 2, Issue 1, January, 2019 IJAMSR 2 (1) www.ijamsr.com CrossRef: https://doi.org/10.31426/ijamsr.2019.2.1.1122 IJAMSR 2(1) www.ijamsr.com January 2019 80 International Journal of Advanced Multidisciplinary Scientific Research (IJAMSR) ISSN:2581-4281 Munshi Bhawani Das kachroo, but before attaining the bloom of her youth, she was deserted by her poet husband for some unknown reasons. The separation from her husband proved painful and tormenting for Arnimal and her emotions were terribly stirred. As a result of this sorrow and unhappiness was born the most melodious poetry full of pathos and grief. Munshi Bhawani Das kachroo, a learned Persian scholar in the court of Jumma Khan, was the Afghan Governor of Kashmir from 1788 to 1792 AD. Arnimal was a talented, sensitive and sophisticated girl, deeply devoted to her husband. Apparently, she was quite happy in the new surroundings and had a carefree time throughout her childhood days before attaining adolescence. But just before flowering into full womanhood, she got a feeling that her husband was too preoccupied with his literary and other pursuits to pay proper attention to her. She tried hard to draw him towards her, but fate had planned it otherwise. Munshi Bhawani Das, for some unknown reasons ignored her, tortured her and tormented her. His husband who was an important person in the Darbar fell into bad company and deserted her. Due to this, Arinimaal’s heart broke and she became dejected and forlorn. Possibly due to this painful separation, she must have taken to poetry. Arinimal sang of love, beauty and sorrow. Her poetry speaks of agony, dejection, pathos and disappointments. Her poetry melts the people’s hearts. Through her poetry, one comes across how she loved her husband. After the separation, she returned to her parents’ house who were kind and sympathetic towards her. After some time, Bhawani Dass realized that he had been unkind to his wife. He decided to be with her again. He proceeded towards her village, and when he reached Palhalan, he saw that she was being carried for cremation. And it was too late. Arnimal as a Lyrical Poetess: Arnimal's lyrics are masterpieces of Kashmiri language. The word pictures of delicate sentiments drawn by her are so vivid, real and charming that very few Kashmiri poets have reached the standard set by her. Most of these lyrics have been set to music and are sung even now by Kashmiris. Arnimal lived during the tyrannical and barbaric rule of Afghans when girls for fear of being lifted away were married off before the onset of puberty. The social structures of that period were very iniquitous and discriminatory. The status of women was worse than what it was in the Mughal rule. Their life and living with in-laws was a woeful and ignominious saga. They were treated as lifeless commodities by a male-dominated society and were fraudulently posed as models of renouncement, patience, piety and love when actually they were subjected to untold oppression and exploitation and were ruthlessly traumatized and rejected. The importance of the love-lyrics written by Arnimal lies in this, that they reflect the sorrow, sufferings, passions and longings of common Pandit women of the valley of Kashmir. Lamenting the absence of her beloved husband, Shri Bhawani Das, Arnimal said : (Owing to the pangs of separation) my complexion "Which was like July jasmine Has assumed the pallor of the yellow rose O, when will he come to let me have A look at his beloved face!" International Journal of Advanced Multidisciplinary Scientific Research (IJAMSR) ISSN:2581-4281 Volume 2, Issue 1, January, 2019 IJAMSR 2 (1) www.ijamsr.com CrossRef: https://doi.org/10.31426/ijamsr.2019.2.1.1122 IJAMSR 2(1) www.ijamsr.com January 2019 81 International Journal of Advanced Multidisciplinary Scientific Research (IJAMSR) ISSN:2581-4281 The animal thinks that people, devoid of fine feelings and sensibilities, cracked jokes at her expense. She has become the object of taunts. But all this does not change her mind. The intensity of feelings made her complaints deeply touching. She continues to long for her beloved husband with great devotion and love. She says: I have filled cups on cups for love Go and cry out to him Across hillsides and meadows green I send him tender thoughts Like deer he roams the woods afar And leaves me here to grieve Go and cry out to him Arnimal's lyrics are musical; it has melodious music with its musical rhymes and ever-recurring refrains, its alliterations and its assonances that come most spontaneously from the depth of her heart. All her songs deal with human emotions and are intensely subjective. Arnimal uses images and settings most familiar to her. "Arnimal" for instance, literally interpreted, means in Kashmiri "the garland of Arni rose," the wild pale rose common in the country side. She weaves a delicate imagery out of her own name when she says: A summer jasmine I had bloomed But now have turned a yellow rose When will my love come unto me? All her songs have been set to music and their imagery and pathos are moving to the extreme. The music and pathos in the following lines are very touching: When will thy feet touch lay courtyard I will place them on my head, O come! For love I left my home and hearth And tore the veil, O come! Again she says May Love, my jasmine, I long for thee Come O come, I long for thee I plighted when young my troth to thee Why didst thou break thy plighted troth? O sweet, O dear, I long for thee Genuine love is abiding and perennial; it can never die or disappear; it knows neither dismay nor frustration. The sole desire of the lover is that the beloved may be happy wherever he is. The hope that both will be reunited sustains Arnimal through thick and thin. The thought of such future re-union gives her joy and courage to endure the mocks of friends and sneers of foes. She says : "My rivals are throwing taunts at me Since the beloved has ceased to talk to me Won't he come for a short while and show me His face, so that I should offer My arterial blood as sacrifice for his safety? The poetry of Arnimal is devoid of the mystic touch and of religious experiences. It speaks of the heart of the human soul. After separating from her husband, the spinning wheel became her constant companion and she composed her songs in tune with the sound of the revolving wheel. Its sound could not but remind her of the tragic story of her own life. She sang: International Journal of Advanced Multidisciplinary Scientific Research (IJAMSR) ISSN:2581-4281 Volume 2, Issue 1, January, 2019 IJAMSR 2 (1) www.ijamsr.com CrossRef: https://doi.org/10.31426/ijamsr.2019.2.1.1122 IJAMSR 2(1) www.ijamsr.com January 2019 82 International Journal of Advanced Multidisciplinary Scientific Research (IJAMSR) ISSN:2581-4281 Murmur not my spinning wheel, Thy straw-rings I will oil From under the sod, O Hyacinth, Raise thy stately form For look, the narcissus is waiting With cups of wine for you The jasmine will not bloom again When once it fades away Arnimal's songs are poignant in their pathos, helplessness and resignation to one's fate but there is no malice found anywhere in them. There is an undercurrent of quiet fortitude which is characteristic of the age-old suffering of a Kashmiri Pandit woman, especially when she is unhappily married or due to ill luck separated from her beloved husband. There seems to be little doubt that Arnimal, deserted and maltreated by her husband, lived at her father's home for long spells of time. In most of her songs, therefore, she expresses frustration. She always craved for the nearness of her husband. She pleaded him with all sweet things in life, but he always duped her. She pleads: I treated him to candy sweet He took my heart and I was duped Now he is gone, and I am made A laughing stock for an to see Will no one tell him what I feel? Let us arise at early dawn And seek my love On hills and mountains high I wait and wait expectantly, When will my love come unto me? Besides fortitude and resignation, these lyrics breathe a note of dissatisfaction if not revolt against the age-old custom which condemned the Hindu woman of Kashmir if she experienced unhappy marriage and unfaithful love. Thus her lyrics give voice to many voiceless Kashmiri women of her time and these lend the same musical and spontaneous voice to all such women who suffer silently in all ages. Composition of songs became a spontaneous mode of expression with Arnimal. Gradually she acquired mastery over words and invented a unique style of expression. Some of these lyrics have become classics in Kashmiri language. She surpasses some of the most talented English poets in the use of alliteration and imagery. Just