Some naively say it means female firefly. Jugnu is presumably a male firefly, but why do girls end up being named Jugnu? This meaning is not good at explaining a genre of singing. Jugni is a presiding genius of sorts. But what explains its peripatetic or wandering nature?
Many of the songs contain the phrase, ‘ja wari’ (entered). You have ‘jugni ja wari Jalundhar’, ‘jugni ja wari Multan’, and even ‘jugni ja wari kalkattay’. Jugni travels, no doubt, and she seems to be bound to a travel itinerary.
One very interesting account explains this peripatetic genius of jugni. In 1889, India went through the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Queen of England’s rule. It was called jubilee celebration and it was a grassroots thing.
From reports, there was a flame that travelled. It was put in a big gold utensil and was taken to all the districts. It was called jugni from the ‘jgn’ root meaning light. This is the first sign of the meaning of jugni as ‘shining’. The travelling jubilee light was accompanied by police and army bands, by parading officials and zaildars, and the local elite. Jubilee was widely pronounced as ‘jubli’ which may have got its final shape as jugni when the singers started their routine.
Karamjit Singh Aujla writing in the Punjabi Tribune (September 24, 2005) had propounded the above theory about jugni as a tappa genre of singing. Was it taken from jubilee or the jubilee flame? The ‘jg’ root in Hindi stands for shining, burning and waking. The word for the ‘living’ planet is ‘jag’ (prjug) but there is also the ‘jug’ meaning ‘age’ or era.
If you take it to mean age or era, then jugni becomes the genius of the age or zeitgeist. The singer makes reference, not to a girl, but to the spirit of the times as also the spirit of the mystic that dominates the genius of Punjab.
Legend has it that two singers, Manda (Muslim) Bishna (Sikh), sang jugni during the Jubilee celebration in Gujranwala but the content of their jugni was treasonable and they were both killed by the police.
Pakistan’s authority on culture Uxi Mufti says (Daily Times, March 7, 2011) jugni is a song of mystical devotion which began in 1889 during the Jubilee celebrations in India. And jugni was the rebellious parallel to official occasion. One can revert to the etymology of the waking up sense (jaagna) contained in jugni and say that the name could be derived from the sense of making people wake up.
Or one can take the jug part as referring to the ages, there being four: Krita, or Satya, Treta, Dwapara and Kali. It is also pronounced yug. In this sense, jugni is the spirit of the times. Indian filmstar couple Ajay Devgan and Kajol have named their new born son Yug. It is taken from the Sanskrit word ‘yug’, meaning life or being. It also means eternity or era.
The ‘living’ planet earth is called ‘jag’. It is a strange reference in Sanskrit to a place which contains life. In Persian, ‘zamin’ means solid as opposed to the sea which is liquid. In Arabic, ‘barr’ (earth) means a safe place as opposed to the sea which is not safe. When you are let off by a court you are ‘barri’.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 23rd, 2011.
COMMENTS (18)
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In Hindko lang we used word Jogan for some kind of witch who travel like shows up and disapeare quickely so may be Jugni is some kind of witch.....
@raj: Yes, it could also be a derivation of yogini/jogan feminine forms of yogi.
Jugni comes from the punjabi jogi deriving from Sanskrit yogi. A jogi/yogi in Punjabi literature does refer to peripatetic holy men - recall Gorakhnath in all our childhood stories.
@Homa: You are welcome Homa
@Tahira Naqvi: "Alam Lohar is the writer or introducer of this term from reading Baba Bulleh Shahs writing, in a spiritual sufi theme.” No doubt Alam Lohar is undisputed King of Jugni, but you must read the history behind it. Alam Lohar did not coin this term. I and my friends follow NBA playoffs every year and we write own NBA Jugni. This does not mean that we created this term. Here is a stanza of our NBA Jugni:
Jugni Ja Warhi Philadelphia Othe Ditta Bian Halfia Kehdi Motoumbu Nu Main Dhaayo Cup Jit Ke L.A. Jayoo Veer Merya Ve Jugni Laker Hai Oh Yaara Di Care Taker Hai
Regards,
@Abba jee Khalid sahab did not write why they got killed???????????? anger against opression
@Tahira Naqvi: I apologize. I did not realize it was your own explanation, the quotes threw me off. You write really well.Thanks for sharing.
@Tahira Naqvi: Awesome info. Could you please provide the reference/source for this excerpted passage? Thanks in advance.
@Abba Jee: Thank you for sharing apna.org. I was delighted to discover it. It looks like a great resource for punjabi culture. Lots of interesting stuff for playing around with and exploring. I appreciate it.
I offer this definition and explanation to my students and like it the best. Jugni appears to be a subversive narrative whereby a great deal can be said without incurring personal involvement. What a great tool.
"Jugni is an age-old narrative device used in Punjabi folk music and sung at Punjabi weddings in India, US, Canada, Australia and UK. The word literally means 'Female Firefly', in folk music it stands in for the poet-writer who uses Jugni as an innocent observer to make incisive, often humorous, sometimes sad but always touching observations. In spiritual poetry Jugni means the spirit of life, or essence of life. The late Legendary Alam Lohar (Punjab, Pakistan) and late Singer & Humorist Asa Singh Mastana (Punjab, India) are credited with popularizing this poetry from early sufi spiritual writings and then subsequently later on it was transformed by other singers as a female girl just like prefixes like Preeto. Much of early Jugni writing is spiritual in nature and relates to one's understanding of the world and one's relationship with God. Many poet philosophers have used the Jugni device, which is in the public domain, to make social, political or philosophical, often mildly subversive, commentary. Jugni is cross religious and depending on the writer, invokes the name of God (often using the word "Saeen", the vernacular word for Lord), Ali or the Gurus. A kernel of truth is an essential and integral part of every Jugni composition. The narrative style relies on Jugni landing up unexpectedly in diverse places and, wide-eyed, learning something new. Jugni makes her comments in three or four well wrought verses which may or may not rhyme but can always be sung in a rudimentary Punjabi folk style. The object could be a city, a state, a market place, a school, a religious place or a saloon, Jugni's non-malicious commentary catches the essence of the place and produces in the listener a chuckle and sometimes a lump in the throat. Alam Lohar is the writer or introducer of this term from reading Baba Bulleh Shahs writing, in a spiritual sufi theme."
Jugni is the corrupted variation of word Jubilee. I am glad author brought the historical facts about this folk song other wise Arif Lohar is claiming that his father Alam Lohar coined this term, Jugni. Thank you sir. Here is the copy of the original article. http://www.apnaorg.com/research-papers/jugni/
Superb!
Basically Jugni means torch and is referred to the golden jubilee celebrations of Queen Victoria in Sub-continent where the golden jubilee torch traveled the whole East Indian Colony. Poets used it as a symbol in inquiring into the condition of the different parts of the colony.
masterful as usual...You should write in Urdu papers....! urdu columnist have nothing to offer to the public..!
Great exposition of Jugni and its relationship to Jubilee and incipient movement and Homa's enlightening comment and our unconscious relationship to the hoary past of subcontinents languages a tie that can not be cut .
Jag, short for jagat.
Jagmag jugnu = glowing firefly
Very interesting. Jugnu, jugni (glowing, shining) may be related to agni (fire). Agni and gny/jna /jgn (gyan/jnan//gnosis/knowledge) may be related (the fire of knowledge). Indoeuropean sanskrit people considered sacred fire synonymous with pure knowledge, or pure spirit. In greek, the word agni means pure. Loved your exposition of jugni as zeitgeist or the spirit or genius of the times. Bravo. Yug and jag as cosmic cycle and living planet respectively, both time and space sprouting out of the same cosmic seed mirrored in the linguistic etymon. Something about your writing tends to take me back to our most ancient collective genetic memory of the human race and to the magically alluring dawn of time itself. You are a modern rishi.