punjabi by nature - Fantasy Girl Jugni G

punjabi by nature - Fantasy Girl Jugni G

TODAY, JUGNI is still as popular in Punjab as ever -- she comes up in modern renditions of folk songs and in pop music. She has been a part of Punjabi folklore right since the very beginning. But who is Jugni? Khushwant Singh searches for this mystery woman

“S omewhere in the heartland of Punjab resides a pretty woman whose eternal name is Jugni.“ This was the first line of a book that I had started writing a few years ago.
I don't know why I wrote this line since I did not even have the faintest idea what Jugni essentially stood for.
But having said this, there is no denying the fact there was this mystery surrounding this name ever since my childhood. Perhaps it was folk singer Hazara Singh Ramta who was responsible for creating this image. His Jugni, “Fashion di matwali“, whereby he takes Jugni to Karnal where she is seen driving a Fiat car and playing tennis with two plaits perhaps sowed the first seeds of this fantasy about Jugni being a girl. Late Alam Lohar, who is attributed with popularising Jugni, gave it the charisma.

The damn quest to find more about this mystery woman and move forward with my half completed manuscript was re-ignited last fortnight when I heard Alam Lohar's son Arif Lohar sing live. He was performing in Chandigarh at former bureaucrat Gurnihal Singh Pirzada's daughter's wedding sangeet.

A great performer, Arif who has gained new confidence after the success of musical programme Coke Studio, left the audience mesmerised with his modern hip-hop Jugni, singing it at least six times.

Unable to resist my quest to know more about Jugni, I marched up to him to ask the origin of Jugni. “Eh spiritual eh,“ he replied in chaste Lahori Punjabi. “My father used to say it is neither male nor female. It belongs to Allah Tallah which is aptly reflected in the lyrics of the song,“ he said.

Ae way Allah waliyan di Jugni ji (The spirit of all the messengers who brought His message to this earth)

Ae way nabbi pak di Jugni ji (The spirit of Holy Prophet)

Ae way Maula Ali wali Jugni ji (The spirit of Ali and his followers)

Ae way meray pir di Jugni ji (The spirit of my saint) Ae way saaray sabaz di Jugni ji (The spirit of all his words)

But where was the woman? Jugni for me had always remained a prototype of a Punjabi girl trying to break free.
Suggesting it as spirit came across merely as an eye wash for a woman of substance who was trying to find her way through the maze of male dominance.

Singer, Rabbi Shergill who has given revolutionary symbolism to his version of the Jugni during an interaction once mentioned that Jugni meant an ornament. According to him, it was a piece of jewel worn around the neck by women in rural Punjab.

However, the real meaning perhaps lies in the following description, glimpses of which can be heard in all the Jugnis being composed -be it Lohar's, Ramta's, Shergill's or Jazzy B's.

Jugni music, they say, took birth in 1907. It was in all probability created accidentally by two folk singers Bishna (Sikh) and Manda (Muslim). Both of them hailed from Majha and sang Mirza and tappe, dhadi style. In 1907, the British, to commemorate 50 years or the Jubilee year of complete rule over India (post 1857 mutiny), took a “Jubilee torch“ to every Indian city. The torch which was placed in torch which was placed in a gold utensil was taken through every district headquarter.

Bishan and Manda who were of a revolutionary mindset sang against British oppression when the Jubilee torch passed through various Majha towns. They reportedly put their stages close by from where the Jubilee torch passed and sang their own version about the Jubilee. However, what they did was, they kept mispronouncing the word Jubilee as Jugni.

Jugni jaa varhi Majithe, Koi rann na chakki peethe, Putt gabhru mulak vich mare, Rovan akhiyan par bulh si seete, Pir mereya oye Jugni ayi aa, Ehnan kehrhi jot jagaee aa.

It is because of Bishan and Manda that whenever we hear a Jugni verse it is always linked with some city or village. My Jugni is however still elusive and my manuscript, incomplete.

`Punjabi by nature' is a fortnightly column. The columnist is a Punjab-based author and journalist.

singhkhushwant@hotmail.com