By Fazal Amin Beg
It was the second week of October 2017 that Prince Aly Muhammad Aga Khan, the youngest son of His Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan,arrived in the Nortehrn Pakistan for the purpose of a field visit to see an overall global climate change impract on the natural setting and the vulnerable mountain communities.The young Aly Aga Khan spent a couple of days in Gilgit-Baltistan and went to different valleys of the region such as Hunza and Ghizer districts where the poor community members were en face de face with the natural cum human-led disasters.
It was thus in connection with the visit of Prince Aly Muhammad Aga Khan, a poetry sharply emerged in my mind at night after I awoke spontaneously . I composed it quickly before the dawn of October 11, 2017 when the Prince was leaving for Chipursan valley of Hunza district.After capturing the Wakhi lyrics in written form, I then translated it in English. When Prince Aly Aga Khan returned from Chipursan valley in the evening, I was waiting in the Serena Hotel, Gilgit in order to present this simple and humble expression to him but unfortunately the Vice President of the National Council for Pakistan (Mr. Hafiz Sher Ali) and the President of the Regional Council for Gilgit (Mr. Naeem Khan) offered their diplomatically unfriendly reaction and de fecto a disabling environment for a visually disabled person like me. Consequently, I could not meet His Highness Prince Aly Aga Khan in person despite the fact I waited for couples of hours. In the meanwhile, people were standing before me where I could feel, hear his sweet voice and observe the situation when he crossed us in the lounge and walked towards his room before meeting different delegates including Mr. Hafiz-ur Rahman, the then Chief Minister of Gilgit-Baltistan. I thus returned home disappointedly at night. However, I didn’t lose my heart and managed to hand over this small contribution as an expression of love and affection, to Prince Aly Aga Khan through an important and senior official of Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) who had accompanied him in the tour from Islamabad. He reportedly handed it over to him at the Islambad Airport when the Prince was leaving Pakistan.
Before concluding this small piece, I think it pertinent to mention an important point. Though, the COVID-19 emerged as a huge disaster to the entire humanity, it also brought an opportunity for them, especially for the persons like me to effectively enter in the social media and initiate for a YouTube Channel where in adition to my formal website (www.fazalamin.com) I could and should share the interesting videos of my extensively carried out fieldwork in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and China around the diverse topics and thematic areas in the contexts of anthropology, linguistics, literature and overall development.
Today, it becomes five years for the visit of Prince Aly Aga Khan to Gilgit-Baltistan Region and I consider this day as a great opportunity and a good omen to publish and present the Wakhi poetry and transcription with English translation in a video form (audio cum pictorial) on the EaglesWorld channel. Although, the textual form of poetry on Prince Aly Aga Khan I had already published on this website, I’m going to publish it again along with this small write-up in English in order for the audience to know about the importance and background of the poetry.
I hope the contribution in poetic and prose form will be attractive to the concerned audience and viewers in addition to seriously pondering over the words in the poetry in the malodius voice of Maria Ali of Ghulkin, Hunza.
Finally, I am thus going to present the related poetry in Wakhi along with its transcription and English translation as follows here.
Panjtan-e Yi Nũr (A Light of Panjtan)
Fazal Amin Beg
Panjatan-e pok en lup mihmoni g̃hẽtetk
Ali Muhammad Ogho Khoni g̃hẽtetk
A highly esteemed guest from the holy Panjtan has come,
Aly Muhammad Aga Khan has come.
Car’nes̃h shũkrat k̃hũ khũshbakhtig̃her makhluq
Shahzoda-e Nũr-e zamoni g̃hẽtetk
The peoples/creatures are happy for being blessed with their good fortune,
That the Prince of the Light of the Time has come.
Me dishit k̃hat chiz dono dam-e pũrũt
Dono’v-e donoyig̃h-e shoni g̃hẽtetk
Be cautious of becoming overconfident in portraying yourselves something wise before him,
A high honor of wisdom of the wises has come.
Sivandiev ce skem shet gharib et nochor
Yav-e haten mũshkil osoni g̃hẽtetk
Those who are poor and helpless (exploited) on the earth,
For the sake of their relief from hardship, a Messiah has come.
Nũsetkev ce k̃hũ vẽdek da tirichig̃h
Yaver ajab moh-e toboni g̃hẽtetk
Those who have lost their path in the darkness,
For them, incredibly a glowing moon has come.
Chand̃ kuhbarisht ce bitob yupk-e haten
Yaver wudhg rahmat-e boroni g̃hẽtetk
The bared mountains and deserts that are restless for water,
For them, the rain of blessing has come.
Fazal Amin! het̃ ko car k̃hũ pũzũv-e bar
Tirich zindon’veri ya nũroni g̃hẽtetk
Hey Fazal Amin! Open the door of your heart,
For the dark prisons, blessing of the lighting has come.
Acknowledgement
My special gratitude to Ms. Maria Ali of Ghulkin for melodiously singing the lyrics despite the fact she had got throat issue due to the tonsils.My ever thanks to Naveed Karim, a Biomedical Engineer in the Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH) for his overall support and felicitation, especially in editing of the videos wherever necessary before publishing them on the EaglesWorld. I owe my sincere indebtedness to my family members, especially my brother Ghulam Amin Beg and family, for the sustained support that has enabled me to contribute productively despite the fact I’ve been going through various tides of life difficulties in the society and denial of my employment for being a visually disabled as a punishment. Similarly, I’ grateful to all my friends and well-wishers for their kind appreciation as well as support and facilitation in different forms.
Note: The published Wakhi poetry in video along with its transcription and English translation in the subtitle could be accessed on the following link of EaglesWorld:
Recommended Related Videos:
In the aftermath of his visit, a short documentary of Prince Ali Aga Khan about the climate Change impacts on the mountain communities of Northern Pakistan was published and it could be watched on the following link of AKDN’s official channel:
Prince Ali Muhammad speech on world partnership walk Toronto canada 17th june 2018. Watch it on the following link:
In addition, glimps of his visit to the Northern Pakistan are seen to have been published on different social media forums. Some of them on the YouTube channels are available and could be watched on the following links:
Chipursan TV:
Nazim Ullah Baig:
Amin Master:
Wakhi Poetry composition and transcription plus English translation: Fazal Amin Beg on July 11, 2022
Vocal: Maria Hamid Ali of Ghulkin, Hunza
Editing and pictorial: Naveed Karim, Engineer, Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi
Photo credits: www.akdn.org www.ismaili.net
Production, presentation and copyright: EaglesWorld 2022
Website: www.fazalamin.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/fazalaminbeg
FB Page: www.facebook.com/eaglesworld
FaceBook: www.facebook.com/fazalaminbeg
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