If you haven’t yet read parts 1 and 2 of this series on the renowned poet and lyricist Sahir Ludhianvi, check them out now!

In this next poem I’ll share with you, Ludhianvi once again manages to upend a traditional concept and transform it into an entirely different meditation on justice, the rights of the oppressed and the corruption of those in power. The following poem, titled “26 January/२६ जनवरी/جنوری ۲۶,” refers to India’s Republic Day, which is one of the holidays that celebrates India’s Independence from the British Empire in 1947 (the other days are India’s Independence Day on August 15th and Gandhi Jayanti/गांधी जयंती, celebrating Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday, on October 2nd). Specifically, India’s Republic Day commemorates 26 January 1950, the day on which the Constitution of Independent India was put into effect; this day marks the occasion on which the newly-formed country promulgated and instituted its own independent governing document to replace the British “Government of India Act” (1935) that had previously been in place. Additionally, on this day in 1930, the Indian National Congress declared Indian Independence (Purna Swaraj/पूर्ण स्वराज) from the British, although this declaration would not go into formal effect until 17 years later.

Image by McKay Savage on Flickr; A floor decoration for Gandhi Jayanti. The decoration, known as “rangoli,” can be made from colored rice, flour, flower petals, sand and other materials.

Ludhianvi’s poem, instead of an unquestioning celebration of India’s victory in obtaining independence and asserting the validity of its own democratic status, critiques and calls into question the values of the society evolving during the time of India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru/जवाहरलाल नेहरू. He speaks with disillusionment and sadness of how people continue to employ religion to brutally divide themselves from others and with disappointment of the golden promises of an independent future that have not been fulfilled in a post-Independence India ridden with the exploitation of the poor and the hypocrisy of the powerful. While reading this poem, you will notice it is not in a couplet style as was Ludhianvi’s “Taj Mahal/ताज महल/تاج محل”; while “Taj Mahal” is in a “ghazal” (ग़ज़ल) style of Urdu poetry (made up of rhyming couplets of the same meter and a refrain: “मेरी महबूब, कहीं और मिलाकर मुझसे”), “26 January” is a nazm (नज़्म) or, in this case, a 20-line poem with an alternating rhyme scheme and a rhyming couplet at the end. However, there are many different types of nazms with differing rhyme schemes.

Image by U.S. Embassy New Delhi; John F. Kennedy meeting with Jawaharlal Nehru.

Image by Adam Wyles on Flickr