www.Jasimuddin.org

Selected Nursery of Jasim Uddin

Illustrated by Hashem Khan

CONTENT

  • 1. Introduction
  • 2. Rhymes of Bengal by Jasim Uddin (in bengali)
  • 3. Childen Rhymes by Jasim Uddin (in bengali)
  • 4. Bengali folk rhymes






    I. Introduction



    Jasim Uddin (1903-1976), who became one of the iconic poets of liberated East Pakistan, namely Bangladesh, was also heavily influenced by Prof. Dr. Dinesh Chandra Sen, under whom he worked as Ramtanu Lahiri Assistant Research Fellow from 1931 to 1937, collecting folk literature. His very first book of verse, Rakhali (shepherd) (1927) offered evidence of his passionate love and commitment to rural Bengal as a utopian and lyrical locus. Some of his most famous works were Naksi Kanthar Math (The Field of the Embroidered Quilt) (1929) and Bangalir Hasir Galpa INDIAN FOLKLIFE SERIAL NO.21 APRIL 2006 (Humorous Tales of Bengalis). Again, Jasim Uddin's deep involvement in non-communal socio-political movements championing the cause of Bengali language and literature gives his lyric and folksy poetry a keen edge of commitment and protest. His poems are popular as part of school curricula in West Bengal, India as much as in Bangladesh. Satyajit Ray records in his autobiography that he was taught in school by Jasim Uddin.

    Jasim uddin has written several nursery, poems, plays and songs for the children:

  • Hasu
  • Ek Paisar Bashi
  • Dalimkumar
  • Jamunabati
  • Bangalir Hashir Golpo (1 and II)
  • Asmanir Kabi Bhai
  • Kato Galpo kato Katha
  • Garib Badshajadi
  • Galpo Shalpo
  • Malancho and Madhob
  • Hiramon

    The folk do not transcribe their own rhymes (or tales) nor disseminate them widely in a modern urban world, and thus the reception, recording, and propagation of the rhymes takes many forms.

    Folk rhymes are an important part of the Bengali folklore tradition, which has existed for over a millennium. While folk rhymes in most cultures are seen as secondary to other oral traditions such as folktales and ballads, they are given equal importance in Bengali folklore. Their long history makes discerning origins impossible, but Bengali folk rhyme can be studied in terms of collective creation, variation, social function and dynamism.

  • The folk do not transcribe their own rhymes (or tales) nor disseminate them widely in a modern urban world, and thus the reception, recording, and propagation of the rhymes takes many forms.

    Folk rhymes are an important part of the Bengali folklore tradition, which has existed for over a millennium. While folk rhymes in most cultures are seen as secondary to other oral traditions such as folktales and ballads, they are given equal importance in Bengali folklore. Their long history makes discerning origins impossible, but Bengali folk rhyme can be studied in terms of collective creation, variation, social function and dynamism.

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    2. Rhymes of Bengal by Jasim Uddin (in bengali)

    Jasim Uddin writes (Essays of Jasim Uddin Part II, 2001) :

    doyal

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    3. Childen Rhymes by Jasim Uddin (in bengali)



    shalik

    Amar Bari

    Letter from Hashu

    Paler Nao

    Mamaer Bari (Uncle's House)

    Alap

    Ato Hashi Kothay Pelo

    Khukir Sampati

    Khokar Ghuri

    Kabi o Chashar Meya (Poet and Farmers Daughter)

    Chachar Chelay(Farmer's Son)

    ASMANI

    Jasim Uddin

    If you want to see Asmani*
    Go to Rahimuddin's small house in Rasulpur.

    It is not a house, a bird's nest made with 'venna' leaves
    The slightest rain pours water inside.

    The slightest wind, rocks the house
    Under its roof Asmanis' live all year long.

    She doesn't have a full stomach
    The ribs in her cage are witness to her starving days.

    The bright smile has gone from her sweet face
    wiped out by cruel poverty.

    She wears one hundred stiches on a hundred holes in her dress
    Making a mockery of her golden skin.

    The bee black eyes do not have twinkle of laughter
    Only tears pour down in deluge.

    Her flute like voice is wasted by crying out
    She never had a chance to sing to tune of music.

    Near Asmani's home lies the lotus pond
    Where tadpoles and moss cover the water.

    Mosquitos breed poisonous seeds of malaria germs
    In its water the Asmanis carry on cooking and drinking.

    Her stomach swells with worms, fever accompanies daily
    They have no money to call for a doctor.

    Khosmani* and Asmanis live in two lands
    Tell me my jadu* who will you accept with greater love.

    From Ek Poiser Bashi (Flute for a paisa)
    Translated by Hasna Jasimuddin Moudud


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    4. Bengali folk rhymes

    ghugu"Chhelebhulano Chharha," the first in a collection of essays on Bengali folklore entitled Lokashahitya [Folklore], published in 1907 by Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941).(1) Tagore's views on folklore composition as expressed in "Chhelebhulano Chharha" are significant from the perspective of contemporary folklore scholarship. There currently exists no other complete English translation.(2) The essay is followed by a small collection of chharhas (rhymes) compiled by Tagore.

    The poems that Tagore refers to as chhelebhulano chharha can be heard throughout Bengal, and are familiar to most Bengali children. Mothers, grandmothers, and nursemaids frequently recite them to soothe crying children, to distract them into eating, to lull them asleep, and to coax and console them in myriad other ways. Recitation occasions vary from peaceful afternoons and evenings when the mother is alone with her child to stressful mornings when she is trying to calm a screaming toddler as she prepares the afternoon meal. The poems thus express a variety of emotions, ranging from happy musings on the child to the general melancholy and sadness that Bengali women often associate with their own social condition. These poems thus furnish a convenient window to the inner thoughts of their composers, and also alert us to the type of cultural influences that Bengali children are exposed to as they grow up.

    Tagore was aware of the multiform quality of folklore and recognized it as the verbal creation of the community. This being the quality that sets folklore apart from written literature, Tagore emphasized the importance of preserving variants.

    Bengali has a rich tradition of folklore and folk literature. This tradition is the creation of the rural folk, transmitted orally from one generation to the next. In addition to the rhymes that comprise the subject of this article, Bengali folk literature includes such forms as folktales, riddles, proverbs, maxims, and songs. Folk rhymes exist in one form or another in most areas of the world. Examples are the nursery rhymes of Europe, the Mother Goose verse of America, and the warabe uta and komori uta of Japan. The origins of many Bengall folk rhymes are obscure, and are thought to be of considerable antiquity; certainly a large portion of them are known to have existed in the oral tradition for several centuries at least. This is a characteristic they share with the folk rhyme traditions found in most other cultures. Siddiqui quotes the famous folklorist M. Bloomfield as follows:

    There are many popular rhymes which cannot be definitely assigned to any specific moment in history. The very same popular rhyme may have been in existence for decades, each time adopting itself, now to one and now to another manifestation of actual life, and being subjected sometimes to slight, sometimes to very extensive changes. (1963, 203)

    On the basis of the available evidence, Bengali folk rhymes appear to be at least as old as the Buddhist mystic verses carya-pada,(3) the earliest literary work in the Bengali language. If this hypothesis is correct, Bengall folk rhymes share the thousand-year history of the Bengali language itself.

    Like other oral literature, Bengali folk rhymes are anonymous in the sense that once created they become common property (unless recorded and placed in collections that identify the creators). The dynamic and lively nature of the genre leaves room for continuous change, resulting in many variations on a single rhyme.

    Bengal has a rich treasury of folk literature, of which folk rhyme is an integral and important component possessed of its own universe and notable in terms of both quality and quantity. In many languages and cultures folk rhymes are of secondary importance in comparison with folktales, ballads, etc., but in Bengali folk literature rhyme holds a place of equal importance to these other forms. Bengali folk rhyme is not simply an instrument for the amusement of children but a subject worthy of serious study, bearing most of the essential characteristics of folk tradition: anonymous and collective creation, dynamism, textual variation, social function, etc. (Bungi 1977, 101-103). Local culture and folk experience play a dominant role in the composition and variation of these rhymes.

    The origins of most Bengall folk rhymes are obscure, and are thought to be of considerable antiquity, possibly sharing the thousand-year history of the Bengali language itself. Classification of the rhymes is difficult and still in a fluid stage, although certain hypotheses have been advanced. The collection and compilation of Bengali folk rhymes in a systematic way has a history of one century. It was inspired by the worldwide interest in folklore collection on the one hand, and by the rise of Bengall nationalism and cultural consciousness on the other. It may be mentioned here that the early collection of rhymes took place before the study of folklore assumed any organized or institutional shape in Bengal. A few literary journals and a handful of devoted scholars deserve the credit for this early work. As a result, collection came first and discussion afterwards.

    The collection of Bengali folk rhymes was also inextricably linked throughout its history with soclopolitical change in Bengal. The collection process continues, with many of the recorded rhymes still unpublished. The production of a complete anthology, handbook, or dictionary of Bengali folk rhymes remains a task for the future.

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    Last Modified: November 1, 2008

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