Today, India that is Bharat will celebrate Ramanavami, the birth of Rama, the seventh avatar of Vishnu. The festival celebrates the descent of Vishnu as the Rama avatar, through his birth to King Dasharatha and Queen Kausalya in Ayodhya, the capital of Kosala. For centuries, this momentous occasion has been celebrated in verse and in spirit by the Urdu poet, the true upholder of a mili-juli tehzeeb. Here’s a description of the birth of Ram in Ayodhya Nagri in one of the many Urdu manzum (verse) Ramayanas:
Dhoom dhaam thii chaaron taraf duniya mein Kaushal desh ki
Jiska raqba thha bahut, thhi jiski aaabadi badi
Thhi Ayoydhya rajdhani jiski mashhoor-e-jahan
Karti thhi sairab jisko sarsabz sarju nadi
(The name and fame of the kingdom of Kaushal were spread all over the spread
Its territories were large, and its population big
Its capital, Ayodhya, was famous all over the world
It was watered and made fertile by the river Sarju
The fierce bow and arrow-wielding Ram of recent times has been described by Saaghar Nizami, thus:
Zindagi ki rooh thha roohaniyat ki shaan thha
Woh mujassam roop mein insaan ke irfan thha
(He was the spirit of life and pride of spirituality
In his entire human form, he was knowledge incarnate
And by Muhammad Iqbal as:
Talwar ka dhani tha shujaat mein fard tha
Pakeezgi mein josh-e-mohabbat mein fard tha
(An expert with the sword and exceptional in bravery
He was exceptional in purity and the ardour of love)