Damodar Gulati

Damodar Gulati
Native name	ਦਮੋਦਰ ਦਾਸ ਅਰੋੜਾ
Born	16th century Sultanpur, Jhang
Occupation	Punjabi poet
Language	Punjabi
Period	16th century
Genre	Tragedy
Notable works	Heer Ranjha

Damodar Gulati[a] (Punjabi: [dəmoːdəɾ gʊlaːʈi]; c. 16th century – 17th century) also known as Damodar Das Arora, was a Punjabi Hindu poet, of the 16th and 17th centuries, hailing from Jhang. He is widely celebrated for his poetic narration of the romance tragedy, Heer Ranjha, on the preexisting Punjabi oral legend; his tradition continued to be adapted throughout centuries in Punjabi literature.[1][2][3][4] He lived during the reign of Mughal king Akbar.

Biography

Heer and Ranjha

He wrote the qissa Heer and Ranjha (ہیر رانجھے دا قصہ) and was the first to put the story to pen, adapted from a preexisting and circulating legend.[5][6][1] He claims to be the eye witness of this tale. His Qissa (story) is deemed the oldest and the first Heer Ranjha in Punjabi literature.[1] He states in the poem that he is from Jhang—the home of Heer, one of the poem's two main characters.[7] He wrote his rendition and the original tale of Heer Ranjha in the dialect of Sandal Bar, despite this fact after the lapse of five hundred years the language used in the story is nearer to modern Majhi dialect. An analysis by Najam Hussain Syed led him to believe that Damodar Gulati was not actually an eyewitness to the tale but rather he was using a storytelling technique that was misinterpreted as meaning he was simply an eyewitness.[1] In reality, Gulati's position to the characters in the tale is similar to that of Sanjaya of the Mahabharata epic, who used paranormal powers to see what was happening at the battle of Kurukshetra.[1]

Religious identity

On the matter of his religious identity, the majority of scholars describe him as a Punjabi Hindu. Amaresh Dutta, chief editor of the Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature, mentioned that Gulati was influenced by Sufi and Sikh thought.[8][2][3][4]

The Hindu poet Damodar, as far as we know, was the first person to compose an epic-length Punjabi text of Hir Ranjha.

— Farina Mir, Punjab Reconsidered: History, Culture, and Practice (Oxford University Press)

Style

He does have also a peculiar style, at the end of a quaternary he repeats Aakkh Damodar means "Say Damodar":

آکھ دمودر میں اکھی ڈٹھا لگی ہون لڑائی

Aakkh Damodar mein Akkhi ditha laggi hon Ladai

(Say Damodar I witnessed with my eyes the battle started )

نک تے کن تنہاں دا وڈھیئے جو چوری یاری کریندے

دوجا نک تنہاں دا وڈھیئےجو حق پرایا لیندے

تیجا نک تنہاں دا وڈھیئے جو کوئی وڈھی کھاندے

آکھ دمودر جنہاں سچ سنجھاتے سے بہشتی جاندے

Nak tey kan tinhan da wadhaiy jo chori, yari karaindey

Doja nak tinhan da wadhaiy jo haq pariaya lendey

Teja nak tinhan da wadhaiy jo koi wadhi khandey

Aakkh Damodar jinha sach sanjhatey sey bhashti jandey

(Amputate the ears and nose of those who commit theft and have extra marital affairs,

Second chop off the nose of those who usurp the right of others,

Third hack off the nose of those who accept bribe,

Say Damodar only those will go to paradise who recognize the truth)

توں کیوں زوری کرناں ایں قاضی ڈرے خدا توں ناہیں

میرا حق رانجھیٹا ایہو سنیاں سبھ لوکائی

لے کے وڈھی حق گنوائیں کڈھ کتاب وکھائی

آکھ دمودر ہیر آکھے قاضی سبھ شرع تکائی

Toun keyoun zori karna ain qazi dery Khuda tu naheen

Mera haq Ranjheeta ay,ho suneya subh lokai

ley key wadhi haq ganvain kadh kitab vakkhai

Aakkh Damodar Heer Akkhey qazi subh Sharah (shariah) takai.

(Why do you compel me, O,qazi don't you have fear of God,

Ranjheeta is mine, all the people know

You (qazi) have accepted bribe, infringed my right,showing the book (shariah)

Say Damodar, Heer tells qazi showed her the whole Shariah.

— Damodar Gulati

Waris Shah later adapted Heer and Ranjha.[9]

Particular importance is placed on finer details in the storytelling of Gulati's works.[10]

Legacy

The Heer and Ranjha renditions of Waris Shah, Muqbal, and Charag Awan were all based on Damodar Gulati's original version.[1]

Notes

1. Gurmukhi: ਦਮੋਦਰ ਦਾਸ ਅਰੋੜਾ, Shahmukhi: دمودر داس اروڑا

References

1. Soofi, Mushtaq (7 June 2013). "Damodar Gulati: poet who immortalised Heer and Ranjha — Part I". Dawn. Archived from the original on 2023-07-01.
2. Singh, Nikky-Guninder (30 January 2012). Of Sacred and Secular Desire: An Anthology of Lyrical Writings from the Punjab. I.B, Tauris. ISBN 9780857730985. It is in the context of multidimensional love that Waris Shah frames his qissa. Emperor Akbar's Hindu courtier, Damodar Gulati, had popularized the story of Heer and Ranjha at the beginning of the seventeenth century.
3. Gaur, ID (July 2008). Martyr as a Bridegroom. Anthem Press. p. 28-29. ISBN 9781843313489. Damodar, a Punjabi 'Hindu', picked up the legend of a Punjabi 'Muslim' girl who is said to have rebelled against the social and religious patriarchs of her community during the first and second quarters of the fifteenth century.
4. Mir, Farina (2012-02-21). "Genre and Devotion in Punjabi Popular Narratives: Rethinking Cultural and Religious Syncretism". In Malhotra, Anshu (ed.). Punjab Reconsidered: History, Culture, and Practice. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-908877-5. The Hindu poet Damodar, as far as we know, was the first person to compose an epic-length Punjabi text of Hir Ranjha.
5. Ray, Bharati (2009). Different Types of History. Pearson Education India. p. 204. ISBN 978-81-317-1818-6.
6. Gaur, I. D. (2008). Martyr as Bridegroom: A Folk Representation of Bhagat Singh. Anthem Press. p. 29. ISBN 978-81-905835-0-3.
7. Davis, Geoffrey V. (2017-07-05). Performing Identities: Celebrating Indigeneity in the Arts. Routledge. p. 51. ISBN 978-1-351-55462-6.
8. Datta, Amaresh, ed. (1949). Encyclopædia of Indian Literature. Vol. 3. New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi. p. 2418.
9. Shah, Waris (1959). "Heer-Ranjha". Medieval Indian Literature: An Anthology. Vol. 3. Translated by Kanda, K. C. New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi. p. 1090.
10. Soofi, Mushtaq (14 June 2013). "Damodar Gulati: poet who immortalised Heer and Ranjha – Part II". The Dawn (republished by the Academy of the Punjab in North America). For Damodar small things suggest meanings, enhancing the impact of the whole if placed in a perspective. And this is what he does. He misses out on nothing. Whenever he creates a scene, like a sensitive film-maker he takes care of everything; the background, the foreground, the getup, movement of the actors, the body language and the gestures making the overall expression expressing the unexpressed. With the socio-cultural and psychological details woven into fabric of the story, he reminds us of the Great Russian classical novelists.

Further reading

• Gulati, Damodar (1959). "Heer". Medieval Indian Literature: An Anthology. Vol. 3. Translated by Neki, J. R. New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi. pp. 988–996. Selections from Gulati's Heer and Ranjha.