WE POOR EASTERNERS HAVE BEEN ENTANGLED IN THE WEST
Translation
We
poor Easterners have been entangled in the West
All crystal decanters are there, only an old earthen jar is here
All will be annihilated in this age except the one
Who established in his ways and firm in his thought is
O Shaikh and Brahman do you listen to what people with insight
say?
Heaven from great heights has thrown down those nations
Who formerly had assemblies of affection with firm love
Now under discussion is Urdu and Hindi or Dhib� and Jhatk�
1
Explanatory Notes
1.
Dhib� - is the Muslim way of killing an animal for food, in which
the name of God is invoked as a mark of dedication of the food to Him. Jhatk�
is the Sikh way of doing the same in which the animal is killed with one stroke,
separating the head from the body. The Sikhs were and still are so adamantly
against Dhib� that they would not eat the meat of an animal killed with
that process. The mention of these controversies is no exaggeration. They did
rise in the serious political parleys between Muslims and Hindus in the
twenties and thirties. The name of the India�s national language was so
controversial that Hindus insisted that it should be Hindi though Urdu
had been the official language of the Indian sub-continent during the two
hundred years of British rule. Even in the discussions during the proceedings of
the commission appointed by Mr. M.K. Gandhi for drafting the educational policy
of independent India, known as the �W�rdh� Scheme� this name was under hot
discussion. Even Mr. Gandhi�s modest suggestion of using the term �Hindust�n��
was rejected by the Hindu members. This happened in spite of the great reverence
in which Hindus held Mr. Gandhi. The partition of India and its aftermath could
have been avoided with a little toleration and understanding. This matter has
been discussed earlier also.