Kashmiri Marsiya

The Kashmiri Marsiya (Kạ̄shir Marsī کٲشِر مَرثی) is a commemorative and devotional literary genre that closely resembles an elegiac poem, which is primarily used to mourn the martyrdom of Husayn ibn Ali at the Battle of Karbala. Marsiya is a loan word in the Kashmiri language, borrowed from the Persian word marsiya (مَرْثِیَه), which is itself derived from the Arabic word rithā’ (رثاء). Unlike the Arabic and Persian marsiya, the Kashmiri marsiya goes beyond the constraints and conventions of an elegiac poem. In its classical form, the marsiya assumes the shape of an elaborate prose that imitates the rhythmic prose associated with the Quran. The writer of a marsiya is referred to as an author (musanif) rather than a poet ("shair").
The oldest trace of a marsiya in Kashmiri language dates to the 15th century CE and comprises a short, loose elegy composed on the death of a Sufi, Nund Rishi (d. 842AH/ 1438CE), by his women disciple, Sham Bibi (d. 1446). The first elegies written in Kashmiri to commemorate Husyan's martyrdom also date from the same period in works composed between the 15th and 16th centuries. These include marsiya written by two poets from the Musavi family, Qasim bin Yusuf Din Shah, and his nephew Hakim Din Shah in and around 811- 850 AH (1409-1446CE), during the Shahmiri Sultanate (1339-1561CE). Another work that survives is of Ahmad, a poet who hailed from Ahmadpora, a Shia centre of learning in medieval Kashmir.
Modern researchers have characterised this period commencing with the rule of Sultan Sikandar (r. 1389-1413 CE) and ending with the demise of the short-lived Shia Chak Sultanate (1561-1586 CE), as the first stage in the development of Kashmiri marsiya. Significantly contemporary medieval texts originating from within Kashmiri Shia circles make no mention of Muharram assemblies to commemorate the martyrdom of Husayn ibn Ali, or of traditions linked with the writing of marsiya in Kashmiri. This includes both hagiographical works (tazkira's) as well as political histories (tarikh's) of the region authored by Shia writers.
Aside from a few anonymous works, the names of the following poets who composed marsiya in this period survive:
The development of the Kashmiri marsiya coincides with Mughal (1586-1753 CE) and Afghan rule (1753-1819 CE) in Kashmir. This period saw the consolidation of Persian, both as the court language, as well as the preferred language of the urban elite, completely eclipsing native Kashmiri. Many Persian poets who arrived at the Mughal court from Persianate lands, made Kashmir their home, settling down in the capital city, Srinagar. Some, including two poet laureates ( malik-u shoura) at the imperial court are buried in the cemetery of poets (Kashmiri: Mazar-i Shoura or Mazar-e-Shura) located on the foothills of Takht-i Suleiman, Srinagar. With the official promotion of Persian, the vernacular Kashmiri went through a period of steady decline. This is also witnessed in the marsiya written during this time. Ahmadpora in North Kashmir served as a major nucleus for marsiya writing during this period, with many sayyids from the Rizvi family following this tradition. Some of the prominent poets who composed marsiya during this time include:
The beginning of the nineteenth century CE marked the revival of the Kashmiri language, though Persian continued as a court language till 1889 CE. During the late eighteenth century through the nineteenth century CE, a new form of writing marsiya in Kashmiri emerged, signifying a major evolutionary phase in this literary genre. Literary critics refer to this period as the age of classical marsiya writing or muqam bandh marsiya (مقام بند مرثیہ). The marsiya that emerged during this period is structured around four fixed stations known as muqam, which define the thematic content. Each muqam, in turn, completes a stanza—chyir ( چھیر)with a parallel internal structure.
Two writers from North Kashmir are credited with this innovation: Qazi Ahmad Ali (d. 1800 approx.) and Khwaja Hasan Mir (d. 1826 CE). Qazi Ahmad Ali, originally a Sunni from Varmul (Baramulla), converted to Shi’ism and formalized the muqams within the marsiya. He was a senior contemporary of Khwaja Husayn Mir, a cultivator residing in the village of Habak. Husayn Mir, popularly known as Hussi Boii (حُسی بوئ), significantly popularized the new form of marsiya among the urban elite of Srinagar. He also made innovations to the internal structure of the marsiya. Additionally, he introduced the poets of the Mulla family in Srinagar, who were accustomed to composing in Persian, to this new form of Kashmiri marsiya. Over the next two generations, the Mulla family produced successive marsiya writers.
The earliest composers of Kashmiri marsiya in the Mulla family include Mulla Hakim Muhammad Azim(1803-1852CE), Mulla Munshi Muhammad Yusuf(1798-1885 CE) and Mulla Munshi Shah Muhammad (d. 1850 approx.). Hakim Azim and Munshi Yusuf played pivotal roles in enhancing the poetic beauty of marsiya, transcending the constraints of its elegiac form. In an epistle written to Khan Bahadur Sayyid Rajib Ali Khan (d. 1869), Azim highlights how he envisaged Marsiya as a symbol of Shia identity, and also his own role in reshaping the literary contours of this genre:
During the nineteenth century, alongside Srinagar, another notable centre for marsiya writing emerged in the village of Gund Khwaja Qasim, under the stewardship of Khwaja Muhammad Baqir Gundi (d.~1834CE). The tradition was greatly advanced by his son, Khawja Abdullah, and a student Mirza Aboul Qasim (d. ~ 1853CE). The works of Mirza Aboul Qasim would achieve great public acclaim, and he remains the most prolific and popular marsiya writer to date.
During the first half of the 19th century, many Kashmiri Marsiya writers left for Faizabad and Lucknow, seeking patronage at the court of the Shia rulers of Awadh. These include Munshi Qasim, Munshi Shah Muhammad, Khwaja Abdullah, Munshi Safdar and Mirza Aboul Qasim. Oral traditions preserved amongst the Kashmiri Shia community maintain that Munshi Safdar was a close confidante of the last king of Awadh, Wajid Ali Shah(r. 1847-1856), and was poisoned due to court intrigue.
Some of the main marsiya writers from this period are:
In the post-Independence period, the tradition of writing marsiya was greatly reduced, with most poets engaging in composing in the easier, shorter genre of nauha. Some writers who have produced marsiya that are recited publicly include, Sayyid Aboul Hassan Zigum, Sayyid Anis Kazmi and Sayyid Muhammad Chatergami.
The main writers from this time are:
According to Hakim Ghulam Safdar Hamdani, Kashmiri marsiya evolved from a native tradition used to mourn the death of a family member, known as vān (وان). Expressed in the vernacular, vān in its original form does not assume a poetic structure, nor does it seem to have been consigned to text. This is a view generally held by most writers who have looked into the evolution of marsiya. The arrival of Muslim preachers in Kashmir during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries resulted in the gradual introduction of practices and traditions prevalent in the Islamic world into Kashmiri society, including that of marsiya. A surviving marsiya from this period starts with a verse in Persian followed by its translation in Kashmiri in the same meter.
In its classical form, the marsiya is divided into four thematic sections: hamd (حمد), na’at (نعت), madah or maqabat (منقبت), and dard (درد). Sometimes, a marsiya may also include a small section of supplications (dua), but this is very rare. The elegiac content is limited to the last section, dard. While hamd and na’at are based on a single chyir (stanza), madah sometimes includes multiple chyir. The dard section of the marsiya comprises twelve to fourteen chyir, though this can sometimes extend up to nineteen. Each chyir is further divided into verses of varying length, based on the nature of sound: ascending or descending in which they are recited. This recital quality of the verse also defines its metrical pattern, wazn (Kashmiri: وزن ). Based on the wazn, verses in each chyir are classified as barkhast, dounbala, gat, kreikh, puot-gat and nishast. Each component retains a different qafiya (rhyming pattern) and radif (refrain word) which gets repeated in subsequent chyir.
Unlike marsiya in Arabic, Persian or Urdu, the classical Kashmiri marsiya is nearer to the tradition of masnavi, with each marsiya composed under a specific title (Kashmiri: unwan). The title of a marsiya, dictates the writer's choice and selection of words, phrases, metaphors, and other literary devices. Similarly, much like in Persian masnavi, the initial section of a Kashmiri marsiya includes introductory and body paragraphs (chyir) in praise of Allah (hamd), in praise of Prophet Muhammad (na’at), his family the Ahl-i Bayt (madah) before proceeding to the elegiac section (dard). In his marsiya with the title 'Dar' (The Door), Hakim Azim starts by invoking Allah in these verse:
A marsiya is composed keeping in consideration the title (unwan), which is adopted for it. The unwan serves as the framed plot for the marsiya which is then elaborated in the various thematic sections of the work. Some major titles under which marsiya have been composed include:
The grammatical structure of Kashmiri language; the heavy dependence on idiomatic expressions and the contextual nuances with multiple layers of meaning that form the essence of a successful Kashmiri marsiya are invariably lost in attempts at translation even in languages such as Urdu. Still, there have been attempts with limited success at translation in Urdu, starting with the 1960s and 1970s. An English translation of the marsiya, Kitab (The Book), seeks to capture the spirit of some of the main verses:
So far around five hundred marsiya written during the nineteenth century have been collected and published. These have been mapped from manuscripts, known as biyaz, which have been copied in not only Kashmir but also in major cities of colonial India, including Amritsar, Lucknow, Faizabad, Calcutta and in far-off Kabul (Afghanistan). According to Shafi Shauq, Kashmiri marsiya literature is the oldest genre within Kashmiri literature that has been consigned to a preserved written form:
The oldest compilation of marsiya literature in Kashmir in a manuscript form (biyaz) dates back to 1725, when Kashmir was under Mughal rule. Other biyaz compiled during the 18th century include those written in 1769 and 1794. Of the marsiya written, more than a hundred are still recited in public mourning ceremonies across Kashmir.
Marsiya in Kashmir manifests as public performances, primarily recited during mourning assemblies [Kashmiri: majlis ] held within an imambada. After composing a marsiya, the musanif hands it over to the zakir, whose responsibility is to recite it in the public. Historically, the musanif refrains from reciting his work, this is the role of the zakir. The role of a zakir is hereditary, with the right to recite any assigned marsiya being passed down from father to son.
Within the imambada, both men and women collectively recite the marsiya. Typically, the imambada is a two-story space, with women occupying the upper floor, physically and visually separated from the men by latticework screens or curtains. This follows the Muslim practice of women's seclusion (purdah), which is rigorously followed in a majlis. The primary reciter, known as a zakir, receives assistance from a group of 7 or 12 men sitting in a circle called the daireh. These men are referred to as paskhwans.
The congregation forms multiple concentric circles, radiating outward from the daireh, with the zakir moving from one end of the congregation to another. The same practice is followed in marsiya performed at homes. A jug of water and soil of Karbala (Kashmiri: khak, or khak-i shifa) is kept in the middle of the daireh on a cloth spread. One of the earliest descriptions of the performance of a Kashmiri marsiya is recorded in Sughra Humayun Mirza's travelogue about Kashmir in 1928. The travelogue describes the performance in the main imambada of Srinagar, Marak, in these words: