Akhtar Payami: A House of Mirrors

By Umair Khan

Akhtar Payami is known not only as a progressive poet giving Urdu poems a new identity but
also as an extraordinary journalist with vast knowledge of the ideologies of different political
parties. Born in 1931 in the Indian state of Bihar, he experienced the agony of partition,
dislocation and alienation as a teenager. Payami was associated with progressive student
movements in his early days and later became a member of the Communist Party. He first
migrated to East Pakistan in the 1950s before moving to Karachi in 1972. He was one of those
Biharis who had to undergo the trauma of dislocation twice in their life. He belonged to a group
of people who believe in humanity and dream of a world where human misery is reduced to bare
minimum.
Payamis associates tell us that he started composing poems at the age of seven and never
recorded his verses on paper and memorized his creative writings. This amazing quality of the
poet resulted in impediments in compiling a collection of his writings especially when the poet is
also reluctant in publishing his works. Aiyna Khaanae is published on the insistence of friends
and family of Payami. Libraries of the admirers of Payami were consulted and old literary
magazines were searched in order to find the long lost poems and make this book possible.
Payami belonged to an educated family. He was influenced by the revolutionary fervor of his
times and admired the Marxist ideology of the progressive movement in Urdu literature. He was
a free soul that belonged to a slave society. This contradiction between his nature and his
environment stimulated him to express his feelings in a passionate tone. The medium he chose
was Urdu poem that was representative of progress, liberty and social concern instead of the
traditional form of Urdu ghazal that was synonymous with subjective experience and bounded by
fixed rules.
Payami was well aware of the evolution of political economy in human societies and the kind of
impact it had on social conditions. He closely observed the havoc played by colonial powers with
the colonized world and condemned the way they carved out new states just for their material
benefits completely ignoring the socio-cultural relations among people of a particular region. He
describes this phenomenon in the following words:
(1)
Yeh kin saahiron nay zameen par nishanaat khainchay
Nishanaat behti hui khoon ki nadiyan ban gaey
Nishanaat aatish fishaan ban gaey
We can see the same thoughts expressed by Javed Akhtar, the famous Indian lyricist, in the
following geet:
(2)
Panchhi, nadiya, pawan kay jhonkay
Koi sarhad na inhain raukay
Sarhadain insaanon kay liye hain
Socho tum nay aur mein nay
kia paya insaan ho kay
In his poem Amreki Jholi Mein, Payami highlights the traitors of this land who not only helped
the colonial powers to plunder the material treasures of this country but also sold their culture,
art, and even religion. His passionate words to describe it are:
(3)
Yeh lehlahaaty huay khait, yeh bharay khalayan
Mein inn kay sath he in ki jawaniyan doon ga
Yeh heer ranjha kay qissay, yeh sohni ki katha
Khareed leejiye apni khanaiyan doon ga
Payami, through his poems, inspires to strive for a better future. He does not lose hope in
humanity in general and the common man n particular. There is a feeling of romanticism present
in his poems that bars the reader from getting into despair and disappointment from the problems
of life being discussed. This is one of the reasons that make him a great poet. Despite following
the progressive tradition of literature for life, his literary creations does not reduce to mere
sloganeering; rather they have such novelty of thought and fine craft that makes Payami a
towering literary figure comparable to Faiz, Saahir, Majaaz, and Firaaq. In one of his poems
Mujrim, he writes:
(4)
Hathkari, bairhiyan, zindaan ki salaakhain kia hain
Mere anfaas ki garmi say pighal jaen gi
Rakh sako gay na kabhi rooh-e-baharaan ko aseer
Fasl-e-gul anay to do teeliyan jal jaein gi
The same thoughts can be seen in the words of Faiz:
(5)
Ab toot girain gi zanjeerain, ab zandaanon ki khair nahin
Jo darya jhoom kay uthhay hain, tinkon say na taalay jaein gay
Akhtar Payami gives an interesting message to the followers of literature for the sake of
literature tradition:
(6)
Shama-e-rukhsaar say mitnay ki nahin zulmat-e-shab
Gham-e-dauraan ka madawaa gham-e-janaan to nahin
Payami is also a socialist feminist. He raises the issue of female subjugation in several of his
poems and relates it to the patriarchal values that were a result of feudal societies. He connects
the problem of female deprivation with the poverty of the masses and sees its solution through
socialist ideology. In a poem Bint-e-Mariyam, he writes:
(7)
Mein tere jism ka har taar jaga sakta hoon
Mein teri rooh kay naghmaat nahin gaa sakta
Payami had composed a monumental long poem Tareekh. It is the first tamseeli nazm of Urdu,
preceding Saahir Ludhiyanwis Parchhaiyan, and Ali Sardar Jafris Nayee Duniya Ko
Salaam. This poem is a short history of humanity and the evolution of human civilization as
observed by Adam and Eve on their tour coming from heaven down to the earth across times and
spaces. It describes the ills of the society in detail, yet the poem ends with an optimistic note:
(8)
Agar hai yeh jahaan to aye Khuda-e-do jahaan
Ham is zameen pe apni fikr ke diye jalaayengey
After reading Payamis poems, one can safely say that progressive school of thought in Urdu
literature will survive the test of time and it will emerge again as the leading school. Striving for
a better future is progressivism; therefore, it will carry on for all times to come. Payamis poetry
is even relevant to our problems of today. In Rehbaron kay naam, he writes:
(9)
Duniya badal rahi hay, nigaahain uthhaiye
Iss irtaqaai daur say ankhain milaiye
Aapas kay tafarqon ko abhi bhool jaiye
Mil jul kay subh-e-nau ki sayahi mitaiye
If I have to say a one-liner about Payamis poetry, I will present this verse of Payami:

(10)
Arzaan karay na koi mataa-e-sukhan kay hum
Lafzon ka aitbaar barhaanay ko aaey hain