Aaj Rung Hai

Aaj Rung Hai

I came across this Urdu poem and the story of its origin
while looking into the background of an article I read in
New Straits Times - Persekutuan,Malaysia, titled "Pakistani colour and couture" on or before October 24, 2005. Unfortunately I can no longer locate the article I read. But, if you click on the title here, you will
get to the page that is the source of the material below and also that contains
links to two audio files of the poem.


Aaj rung hai maan
Aaj rung hai hey maan rung hai ri
Moray mehboob kay ghar rang hai ri
Sajan milaavra, sajan milaavra,
Sajan milaavra moray aangan ko
Aaj rung hai........
Mohay pir paayo Nijamudin aulia
Nijamudin aulia mohay pir payoo
Des bades mein dhoondh phiree hoon
Toraa rung man bhayo ri......,
Jag ujiyaaro, jagat ujiyaaro,
Main to aiso rang aur nahin dekhi ray
Main to jab dekhun moray sung hai,
Aaj rung hai hey maan rung hai ri.

(It is almost impossible to translate the word rung into English. It is not colour, hue or anything like that. May be something like glow or brilliance or gorgeousness may come close to it. There are many different legends explaining the use of this word in the qawwali. Most of them point to the fact that [the great Sufi and writer in both Persian and Urdu] Amir Khusrau sang these line ecstatically when he came back to his mother after meeting Nizamuddin Aulia [his Sufi master] for the first time, after a long search for an ideal sufi master [this being] reason why the lines are addressed to the mother.)

What a glow everywhere I see, Oh mother, what a glow;
Ive found the beloved, yes I found him,
In my courtyard;
I have found my pir Nizamuddin Aulia.
I roamed around the entire world,
looking for an ideal beloved;
And finally this face has enchanted my heart.
The whole world has been opened for me,
Never seen a glow like this before.
Whenever I see now, he is with me,
Oh beloved, please dye me in yourself;
Dye me in the colour of the spring, beloved;
What a glow, Oh, what a glow.