I take a virtual journey in to my ancestral past, by touching a bronze pitcher which belonged to my great-great-grandfather, Maulana Altaf Husain Hali, displayed in an exhibition of artifacts at Panipat, Haryana India.
The Bronze Pitcher
The pitcher was before me
Gleaming bright!
I was on the soil of Panipat,
Not the Panipat of battles,
But the land of my ancestors
My eminent forefathers
Descendents of Ahl-e-Ansar
Who were hosts to Prophet Mohammad
When he migrated from Mecca
To Madina in those troubled days
To seek truth in the 6th century...
And these ancestors came via Hirat
To the kingdom of Sultans
In the thirteenth century India
At the behest of Balban
During the time of Sufi Saints
To save the life of one
Who, ala Mansoor, proclaimed
'An-al-Haque!'- 'I am God!'
But these learned high priests
Gave another interpretation:
He felt so one with God
That he saw God in himself,
And was not guilty of blasphemy,
Therefore, not to be hanged...
These forefathers of mine stayed on
And to them was eventually born,
About five centuries later,
Altaf Husain 'Hali'-
A poet and a scholar,
Critic and social reformer,
Who was my great-great grand father.
Now, the town was celebrating
His 150th anniversary
And here on the stall
In an unique exhibition
Was the bronze pitcher,
With 'Altaf Husain Hali'
Engraved on its belly,
I touched the cool metal
Tracing fingers over the engraving
And felt goose pimples rising
With that strange sensation
That I was actually holding
The hand of my forefather,
Hands that must have held it
Morning and evening
Five times a day
While performing his ebullitions
Just before his prayers...
Author: Zoya Zaidi
Aligarh (UP), India
Copyright ©: Zoya Zaidi
23.12.2008
Inspired by the strange feeling of being one with my great-great grand father Maulana Hali, on touching the bronze pitcher, with his name engraved on it, in an exhibition organized at "Hali Mela" in Panipat on the 22-23rd Nov. 2008, where all his family members were invited, including me, my mother and aunts.
Image of Indian Bronze Pitcher:
http://eronjohnsonantiques.com/images/IG18342-0.jpg
Poetry by Zoya Zaidi
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Written on 2009-03-10 at 17:27
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