Now a derogatory term, Meeraasi was once a highly noble profession.
Pakistani Sufi and Folk music artist, Arieb Azhar shed light on the evolution of the term Meeraasi into a derogatory term in a session titled ‘Proud to be a Merassi’ during Lahore Music Meet (LMM) 2016.
Meeraasi is derived from the Arabic word Meeraas, which means ‘heritage’. So Meeraasi is a heritage keeper.
“In Vedic era of the subcontinent, all knowledge was transferred orally. The Meeraasis used to memorise the knowledge, interpret it and also tell it to people. The Meeraasis (bards) were the keepers of the histories, stories, genealogies, poetry and music of Northern India,” Arieb told the audience, “So all our epic stories (Heer Ranjha, Sassi punnu etc) are with us because of the Meeraasis.”
Many were also linked with sufi khankahs (shrines), he said.
The most famous Meeraasi, Arieb said, is Hazrat Ameer Khusro. He was a student of Hazrat Nizamudin Aulia. Although he was not related to a Meeraasi family, he spent time in the company of these people and this is where he learned the art.
“Then we have folk wisdom. For example, while farming, to make it easier, people used to sing communally. All the laborious work was used to be done while singing collectively.”
Tufail Niazi was a renowned Punjabi singer. He used to go to villages, listen to other singers’ work, and then embellish them. People started to think that it was his own music.
“Meeraasis were also referred to as Nasab khwan. The word Khwan Sahab was derived from that.”
Sufi poets, Bulleh Shah, Rehman Baba etc were all Meeraasis. Their dastanain (stories) have been told from ancient times. They just recreated them in a more beautiful manner, Arieb said.
Saif-ul-Muluk is an ancient story. When Mian Muhammad Baksh took the story, he told it with beauty and elegance. He also put some moral elements into it.
Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai not only reinterpreted the stories in their regional languages, he also invented new raagas (scales) and saaz (instruments). It is said about Amir Khusru that he invented Qawali, Sitar, Tabla and many raagas.
At the time when Meeraasis were highly respected people, they also earned bread and butter through their profession. They got patronage in courts and in Sufi shrines. Their job was to compose music, poetry, learn old stories and to present them in the most beautiful way possible.
They made their own Gharanas (households). “In Pakistan few Gharanas remain. Patiala, Shaam Chauraasi and hyderabadi etc,” Arieb said. “Even instruments had their own Gharanas. Anyone who had been doing the same work for 3-4 generations had the right to name his Gharana.”
How did a noble profession become a derogatory epithet?
Arieb said that there are many reasons for it. It all started with change in the political and social climate of the subcontinent, the first one being the invasion of the British.
“British didn’t understand our music. When they came to the subcontinent and heard our music, in the letters that the East India Company had sent back to England they had written, “Over here lives a primitive generation with primitive music. If you listen to it, it is as if cats are fighting,” Arieb said.
When their scholars learned the local languages they said that it’s a highly evolved culture. “But the British priority was not to strengthen the culture. Their priority was to rule without letting the culture strengthen. So their patronage became less and less.”
However, in small, isolated pockets, these gharanaas kept flourishing.
And then came the partition. When Pakistan Muslim League came, there was no cultural vision. There were conflicts immediately about what the culture of Pakistan should. Since Muslims were not getting their rights they said that there should be a new country where everyone can practice their religion freely.
A second vision, which started to become more prominent after the death of Jinnah was that anything that didn’t come out of Islamic history or Islamic sphere is not Pakistan’s culture.
“Although Hazrat Ameer Khusru, I believe, comes in the Islamic sphere, he wasn’t considered to be. If we look at Northern Indian Music, it is very much like our modern classical music. It is said to come from Ameer Khusru’s era. But they didn’t discriminate among religions, they were inclusive.”
The school of thought that was initially against the Pakistan movement eventually prevailed. United India’s Jamat-e-Islami was against Pakistan as they thought that it would become a secular state. They wanted to impose their interpretation of Shariat. “That vision tried to hijack our culture and we are still suffering from it.”
The thought that since these things have no basis in puritan Islam, they should not become part of Pakistan won out, unfortunately. Gradually the Meeraasi word started to lose its lustre and then negative connotations started to be associated with it. And when the word started to degrade, even meeraasis started to dissociate from it.
“Contemporary musicians who belong to Meeraasi families or gharanas, don’t call themselves meerassi because they live in an environment in which they are considered inferior.”
Our culture, poetry, even our history, have reached us through Meeraasis, Arieb kept emphasising.
He also talked about the word Kanjar. He said that the word initially referred to the nation, Kanjira. The nation lost a war in which their men were killed and their women became slaves. From that the derogatory term Kanjar came out. “I don’t know why they combined it with meeraasi. It has got nothing to do with it,” he said.
Arieb also praised the tradition of training and hard work in Meersaasis: “Meeraasis have a very rigorous training. I haven’t seen anything similar in any music school.”
Arieb wrapped up the session by suggesting that this part of our history should be a part of Pakistan Studies. “Pakistan Studies is about Pakistan. History of our raagas, and poets should be part of the curriculum. Our generation should know what our Sufi poets said, they should know where our poetry and our stories came from,” he said.
Until this part of history is not included in our curriculum, we will keep forgetting it. “This is not just poetry or music. Our entire world view and way of life is linked to it. If we keep distancing from it we will remain vulnerable to things that are not always in our control,” Arieb said. “Like the incident that we saw recently at D-Chowk Islamabad.”
