Perso-Arabic script on Pakistani Vessel. Urdu?

Kashigar wrote:   Unfortunately, I can't quite seem to make out your written translations on the image.  It might well be my old/aging computer screen or perhaps it would be possible to upload a slightly larger file image size - in so that your red text translation is a bit more legible?   No hurry at all, at your convenience.

I think the size got distorted while uploading/downloading/using Paint. I'm not very tech-efficient ;)

Kashigar wrote:   Hi Chrysalis,   Googling some of the translations/words/phrases you gave me - I came up with following find. Could it be (in part) a ghazal from the Hafiz e Shiraz? Persian:  Hungam e naubahar gul az bostan juda               Ya Rab mabaad heech kus az doostan juda

You hit the nail on the head!

It most certainly is this verse. I can now make out words that I couldn't before. Such as 'dostan' and 'heech'. What I read as 'bhaij' is actually 'heej'. The words are fitting into the puzzle. Good job!

Will try to upload the image today if i can.






Edited by Chrysalis - 05 December 2010 at 9:45pm

Hi Chrysalis,

Thank you so very much for this translation!!!! You will need to find a third party host to upload the edited picture to .... then you can load it via the software on this thread .... or you can send it to me and I can post it(disregard the brackets and fill in @ for at & . for dot:

Now to answer your questions. First of all why am I interested in what it says?

You would think I would have been satisfied alone with the beautiful blend of flora & calligraphy in hues of cobalt & copper oxides. However curiosity killed the cat & there's always a chance of a tidbit of provenance/identification when so much script is present.

Those words simple say 'school of' in the arabic script. Why would they use an english phrase? might not be that old after all. Its not very common to mix english words in classical poetry. Strange.

I don't think so strange. These pots were almost always commissioned by travellers, mostly Britishers. They saw the beautiful calligraphy on the tombs & monuments and they wanted a momento of similar artistic content. Sometimes they would write down what they wanted in english - to have it translated & written into Perso-Arabic script, sometimes they wanted poetry, sometimes Quran passages, sometimes they left it up to kashigar who would then have to pass it onto the calligrapher. 

　

Unfortunately not alot is written or known about early years of this glazed ornamental pottery, an industry that really only came to be as function of the Great Exhibition of 1851, subsequent exhibitions & the onset of the British Raj.

Oh sure, the glazed tile industries flourished in Multan & Sindh, in particular, for centuries before - but the ornamental surahis & plates, & bowls etc. were mostly a newer creation(post 1851) made for export to London etc. or for those tourists who wished a memory of the subcontinent ... and in the process ressurected the glazing technique which had been somewhat dormant for several decades.

Edited by Kashigar - 06 December 2010 at 4:26am

While I could read/comprehend some words. I have no clue what it is saying.

Urdu can be ruled out.

It could be Pashto, Persian OR Saraiki. All have same script and some common vocabulary.

They do look a lot like poetic verses. From the choice of words it seems like a lovelorn poetry of some sort.

"Ya Ilaahi" Oh Lord. (used only for God)

"Sang dil" - stone-hearted/ hard-hearted/  "Mahboob" - beloved/loved one

"Pareshan" - anxious/worried

"Mom dil" - soft hearted. (Mom literally means candle-wax hence heart as soft as candle-wax. It is also used sometimes to say, my heart melted (with sympathy or love). Mom-dil is the antonym of Sang-dil. Maybe author is comparing himself to his cruel beloved....lol.

"Shams" - sun.

"Khuda khwahi" - Khuda is God in persian but don't know how to explain full word. It may mean 'spirituality'. One who turns to God.

"Khush" - happy

"Masjid guzaari" - Masjid - mosque. Full word could mean, spending time in the Mosque OR frequenting the mosque.

"Naubahar Gul" - is definitely a name. Sounds like a Pashtun/Pathhan name. Of a female I think. (means everblooming flower. However even men may be called 'Gul' flower.)

"Ya Rabb" - Oh God.

"Bhaij" - send

"Tayyar shud" - ready (manufactured, made)

"school of" - Those words simple say 'school of' in the arabic script. Why would they use an english phrase? might not be that old after all. Its not very common to mix english words in classical poetry. Strange.

"Judda" - separate.

Hope that helps. Btw just curious, why are you interested in what it says?









Edited by Chrysalis - 02 December 2010 at 10:01pm