Habba Khatoon

Habba Khatoon, a unique love poet from Medieval Kashmiri, was born in 1580.She was the queen of Sultan Yousuf Shah Chak. She liberated the lyric from its mystic preoccupations and made it a vehicle of personal feelings. She used the common vocabulary to express her down-to-earth emotions. Very early in life she was married to someone who had no poetic sensibility. Sultan Yousuf Shah happened to see her accidentally and fell in love with her and married her. Later when Akbar got him arrested she is said to have lived in exile in Bihar. For all the pain she endured, she has left us poems like the following:


Don't you tell me we shall not meet again

I will search for you down the meandering brooks:
don't you tell me we shall not meet again.
the wild yellow rose has blossomed
the iris buds are eager to bloom
let my eyes see your figure, Oh,
don't you tell me we shall not meet again!


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I am a maiden gathering flowers

Sweet pearls are dropping from my brow
I am a maiden gathering flowers

I fill my cups of wine at Shalimar
and I weave flowers into garlands
jumping with joy to hear he is coming:
I am a maiden gathering flowers

Filling goblets of wine at Ishabar
braiding my hair and stringing garlands
with flowers for him who is coming
I am a maiden gathering flowers.

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Away from you, I waste away!

I adore you so much
I offer you my life of dreams
shall we join in the dance
to gather the roses of life
unable to sleep or rest, my eyes
keep looking at your path, Oh,
let me see you once again!


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I cannot live with my in-laws

I cannot live with my in-laws:
O my parents, save me please!

as I was bringing water down
the pot slipped and got broken
it is just a pot for a pot:
O my parents, pay the price

my blooming youth is in decline
how difficult it is to climb the heights!
one of the pieces cut my feet
with sprinkled salt the wound gave pain

at the spinning wheel I dozed off
and so the handle broke loose
my hair was grabbed by mother-in-law:
Oh, it is worse than death!

I yearn for someone that cares for me
as my eyes are overflowing:
to her beloved parents hereby
Habba Khatoon drops a hint

I cannot live with my in-laws
O my parents save me please!