Tracing and reading Mughal Royal leisure scenes through selective Seethnes from Nadirat-i-shahi a poetic text composed by Mughal emperor Shah Alam II

Abstract

Nadirat-i-Shahi is a collection of Urdu, Persian, Hindi and Punjabi poetry of Abul Muzaffer Jalaluddin Mohammad Shah Alam II in 1797.This work of Emperor Shah Alam II includes certain folk forms of poetry that is somewhat extinct now. Such as Seethnes, Dohra and Kabat. Seethnes are folk songs that women use to sing on occasions of wedding. They were very explicit erotic expressions suggestive of sexual dalliances between the father of the groom and the mother of the bride and father of the bride and the mother of the groom. The script of this literary work is in Devanagari and Urdu both.
Seethnes are a treat to seekers of leisure readings of the royals. The entire text consists of around twenty-six Seethnes.The analysis here would be of selective six Seethnes that reflect the mood and aim of the entire text i.e. leisure moments laced with sexually explicit literature. What makes this work unique is that it traces moments of humour, uncensored dialogue in a royal household.
The exclusiveness of this work is that there is an exchange of sexual humour reflected in a Mughal household. The article would explore this explicit scenario within the Mughal household through analyses and exploring selective Seethnes that provides a window to this text of treasure to leisure times of Mughal household. Just to give an example of the kind of literary composition this work talks about .
समधन मालिक ज़मानी ने कहवे रात पूकार
समधी बस कर अब मुझे फुि गेंदवा न मार
These Seethnes would be interpreted in both urdu and hindi and discussed to reflect the theme of this edited book ie delights and disquiets of leisure .The article would trace the emperors imagery through these compositions and most importantly the text as its called Nadirat-iShahi which in Arabic origin means something different or unique would reflect the uniquenessof the content of Seethnes in this particular text keeping in mind the theme of leisure of the said book .