Megh (Monsoon Clouds)

अषाढ़ उच्चारं, मेघ मल्हारं, बनी बहारं, जलधारं,

दादुर दकारं, मयूर पुकारं, तडीतातारं, विस्तारं…

The advent of the month of Asaadh (June/July of English calendar) reminds every Gujarati literature lover the above ‘chhand’ (a type of poetry with particular number of letters and maatras) (in music we call it the ‘metre’) which he/she has been hearing from his childhood. It says thus,

“When the month of Asaadh is spoken about, it reminds us of the thundering of the clouds, the clouds condensing and falling down as rain. The frog and the peocock start calling out their mates, and the thin wires of lightening covers all the sky.”

Many poets have written about rains. Rains signify new growth. Rains signify germination. Rains signify toil. Rains signify coolness. Rains signify energy, enthusiasm and verve.

As the great poet Rumi says :

“Raise your words, not your voice. It is the rain that grows flowers and not thunder.”

Today, wanna talk about 12 types of clouds/rains which are mentioned in the Gujarati literature as follows:

1. ફરફર – फरफर (Farfar) Rain which just stimulates and wettens our hair on the skin. Very Romantic and mind boggling.

2. છાંટા – छांटा ( Chhanta) Rain drops which is a little more then described above, yet less.

3. ફોરા – फोरा (Fora) Rain having drops of size that can wet an area of radius 1 inch on the ground.

4. કરા – करा (Karaa) Rain falling down as ice. We call them hail. Better to stay indoors when it hails.

5. પછેડીયો / પછેડીવા – पछेडियो / पछेडीवा (Pacchediyo – Pacchediva) – Rain from which we can protect ourselves only if we have an umbrella or a covering.

6. નેવાધાર – नेवाधार (Nevadhaar) Rain which will not only wetten the clay roof tiles, but also drip through it.

7. મોલીયો – मोलीयो (Moliyo) Rain which is beneficial to the crops to be grown. This rain is absolutely essential for a farmer.

8. ઢેફા ભાંગ – ढेफा भांग (Dhefaa Bhaang) Rain which will break the pieces of soil formed during the year so that the soil becomes ready for sowing.

9. મુશળધાર – मुशळधार (Musaldhaar) Rain which falls in form of torrents. It prickles us like a pin, when it falls.

10. અનરાધાર – अनराधार (Anaraadhaar) Rain which falls continuously. Drops cannot be seen. It seems as if water is falling like that from a tap.

11. સાંબેલાધાર – सांबेलाधार(Saambeladhaar) Rains cats and dogs. Very heavy rains.

12. હેલી – हेली (Hely) It is a mixture of any of the above mentioned rains which goes on continuously for a week.

The above rains explain to us the life of a devotee. The ‘Farfar’ means the love a devotee experiences when he just starts believing in God. ‘Chhanta’ is when his mind and body start wetting up due to his experiences. When a devotee starts understanding that whatever he does is because of the blessings of the God, it is like the ‘Fora’. It is a small start towards the oneness experience. ‘Karaa’ means experiencing the wrath of God during the whole process. The next ‘Pacchediyo/Pacchediva’ is nothing but the guiding our actions towards truth or attainment of truth, ‘satkarma’.

Later, as we move up the steps of evolution, our lives need to be transparent enough so that the rain of love for God / devotion seeps in and starts transforming our life. So the next would be a combination of both ‘Nevadhaar’ and ‘Dhefa bhaang’. We should be able to break the vices in our lives due to the experience of love of God, so that love seeps inside and makes the ‘kshetra’ moist. Then rains the ‘Moliyo’. We now need to sow the values to build up a God loving character.

The last four “Musaldhaar”, “Anaraadhaar”, “Saambeladhaar” and “Heli” are experiences of moving towards God and becoming one with God. That is the ultimate goal of life of any human being. To merge into Him is another experience which cannot be described by me as I still tread on the path. And I urge you my reader to gain your own experience.

Some of the above mentioned rains may sound the same but this is the beauty of our language. It has words for different types of rain. Let us all try and collect such different words in our own mother tongues. Till then let us all enjoy a cup of tea and ‘Bhajiya’ in these Mumbai rains and reminisce the things shared.