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Ismaili Arabesque

Ginanic Literature

A treasury of sacred hymns from the Ismaili spiritual tradition

The Ginans are devotional hymns composed by Ismaili Pirs over centuries, expressing themes of divine love, spiritual longing, and the path to inner illumination. Explore the collection below.

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Collection

Browse the Ginans

Select a ginan to read its verses, translation, commentary, and listen to the recitation.

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Pir Shams

Ab Teri Mahobat Laagi

Now the love for You has taken hold of me, O my Lord

10 Verses Audio
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Pir Abdul Nabi

Eji Venati Karu(n) Chhu(n)

O Lord, I make a humble plea to You

10 Verses Audio
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Bibi Imam Begum

Eji Darshan Diyo Mora Naath

Grant me Your vision, O my Master — I am Your maiden

14 Verses Audio

About This Project

Preserving the Ginanic Heritage

This project aims to make the sacred Ginans accessible in a beautiful, readable format — pairing the original text with English translations, scholarly commentary, and audio recitations.

Each Ginan is attributed to one of the great Ismaili Pirs who composed these devotional hymns to illuminate the path of spiritual seeking and divine love.

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Ginanic Literature  ·  Pir Shams

Ab Teri Mahobat Laagi

Now the love for You has taken hold of me, O my Lord

This sacred ginan by Pir Shams expresses the soul's passionate yearning for divine love and the Imam's nazar. Through ten verses, the poet traverses the journey from longing to ecstatic union.

Mishaal Vallyani

Ab Teri Mahobat Laagi

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Ab teri mahobat laagi mere Saheb
Ab teri mahobat laagi
Dil maa(n)he mahobat laagi mere Saheb

Now, O my Lord, love for You has taken hold of me —
this love has taken hold within the very chambers of my heart.

The Ten Verses

1

Neino(n)se nein milaavo mere Saheb
Ab teri mahobat laagi

✦
O my Lord, let Your eyes meet mine — now this love for You has taken hold of me.
The soul implores the Divine to turn His gaze upon it — a recurring mystical motif wherein the murid yearns for the Imam's nazar (glance of grace).
2

Kholo parda, sanmukh dekho
Has has mukh dikhlaavo mere Saheb

✦
Lift the veil, turn Your face toward me, O my Lord — reveal Your countenance to me, smiling.
The parda (veil) is the separation between the manifest and the hidden — the soul pleads for the veil of heedlessness to be lifted so the Divine face may be beheld directly.
3

Teri suratka Pir Shams piyaasa
Darshan daan dilaavo mere Saheb

✦
Pir Shams thirsts for a glimpse of Your form — O my Lord, bestow upon him the gift of Your darshan.
Here the composer identifies himself — Pir Shams — as the one consumed by longing. Darshan (sacred beholding) is the highest gift the murid can receive.
4

Hamsu(n) rees na kariye o piyaara
Hamku(n) sang chalaavo mere Saheb

✦
O Beloved, do not be displeased with me — take me along with You, O my Lord.
A plea of humility — the soul acknowledges its own unworthiness yet begs not to be left behind on the spiritual journey.
5

Juvaani divaani so kuchh na nibhegi
Jyu(n) nadiyu(n)ka nir chalaavo mere Saheb

✦
Wild youth cannot sustain anything of worth — O my Lord, let it pass as rivers flow away.
A meditation on impermanence — youth, like river water, is fleeting. Only devotion to the Divine endures. The soul urges itself to look beyond the intoxication of worldly vitality.
6

Aashak tera, tere saath chalega
Dosti dil bich laavo mere Saheb

✦
I am Your lover — I shall walk only with You. O my Lord, plant Your friendship within my heart.
The declaration of the aashiq (lover-devotee) — total allegiance to the Beloved, asking that divine friendship be rooted not merely in words but within the innermost heart.
7

Chhel chhabila suno albela
Maya tu(n) man bich laavo mere Saheb

✦
O radiant and beautiful One, O carefree Beloved, listen — place Your love deep within my mind, O my Lord.
The Beloved is addressed with attributes of radiance and divine ease (albela — carefree, untouched by worldly concern). The soul asks that divine maya — not illusory attachment but sacred love — take residence within.
8

Chanchal chaala, joban matvaala
Mahobat manme(n) laavo mere Saheb

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Restless is my gait, intoxicated by the bloom of youth — O my Lord, plant Your love within this mind of mine.
The soul confesses its own restlessness and the intoxication of youth, yet turns that very energy toward the Divine — asking that love for God replace the chanchal (wavering) of the worldly mind.
9

Teri ramzka piya mei(n) hu(n) divaana
Ishk akal bhulaavo mere Saheb

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O Beloved, I am mad with longing for Your mystic secret — let this love make me forget all worldly reason, O my Lord.
Ramz — the hidden, esoteric secret of the Divine. The soul desires such total immersion in divine love (ishk) that rational calculation (akal) dissolves entirely — a classical Sufi theme of annihilation in the Beloved.
10

Mukhda dekhiya, tab man harakhiya
Pir Shams kanthi suñaaya mere Saheb

✦
When I beheld Your face, then my heart rejoiced — O my Lord, Pir Shams has sung this from the throat of his soul.
The closing verse — the journey is complete. The darshan has been granted; the heart rejoices. Pir Shams signs the ginan with his name and declares this to be a singing of the innermost self, not merely of the lips.
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Ginanic Literature  ·  Pir Abdul Nabi

Eji Venati Karu(n) Chhu(n)

I offer my heartfelt supplication before You, O my Master

A ginan of supplication by Pir Abdul Nabi, tracing the soul's journey from vulnerable petition through honest confession of unworthiness to the ecstatic experience of divine union and the fulfilment of hope.

Farhad Budhani

Eji Venati Karu(n) Chhu(n)

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The Ten Verses

1

Eji Venati karu(n) chhu(n) Saheb mora ne
hasine saamu(n) juvo ji
Hasi bolaavo maara hansaaji-na raaja
Sharam hamaari Ya Aly toye ji

✦
I offer my heartfelt supplication before You, O my Master — look upon me with a smile. Call me with joy and warmth, O Sovereign of my joyful soul. My honour and dignity rest entirely in Your keeping, O Aly.
The opening establishes the ginan's bhav (feeling/mood) — the murid stands before the Imam in complete vulnerability, asking not for grand gifts but simply to be seen, smiled upon, called by name. The phrase "sharam hamaari" signals that the seeker's self-worth is wholly vested in the Imam's grace.
2

Eji Kar jodine em maa(n)gu(n) ho Saheb
Aash hamaari Ya Aly puro ji
Hame goonegaari bando dosaari maaro
Jivdo chhe tamaare hajoor ji

✦
With hands joined in reverence, I make this petition, O Master — fulfil my deepest hope, O Aly. I am a sinful and blameworthy servant, yet my entire life-force stands present before You.
The bodily gesture of joined hands (kar jodine) is not merely ceremonial — it is the physical enactment of spiritual surrender. The seeker does not deny his unworthiness; he presents it honestly alongside his petition. "Jivdo chhe tamaare hajoor" — the soul itself is the offering laid at the Imam's threshold.
3

Eji Vaacha paalo mora Kaayam Sami ame
Aavya chhu(n) tamaare sharañe ji
Ati aadheen thai paayaj laagu(n) to
Paap hamaara Ya Aly parharo

✦
Honour Your promise to me, O Ever-Living Lord and Master, for I have come seeking refuge in You. In the deepest humility I cling to Your feet — remove all my sins, O Aly.
"Vaacha paalo" — fulfil Your word — is a remarkable invocation. The murid reminds the Imam of the covenant (misaq) between Imam and mumin: a relationship of mutual obligation, not merely one-directional plea. "Sharañe" (refuge) echoes the concept of seeking divine shelter, while "paayaj laagu(n)" — clinging to the feet — is the classic gesture of complete surrender in the ginanic tradition.
4

Eji Paap parhari Saheb bhetiya ne
Hetesu(n) haido maaro harakhiyo
Moro man baandho aapña alakh saathe
Ami mahaaras bhirakhiya ji

✦
With sins removed, I have truly met my Master — my heart overflows with loving joy. My mind is now anchored to the Unfathomable Lord, and I have tasted the nectar of supreme Bliss.
This verse marks a turning point — a shift from petition to experience. "Alakh" (the Imperceptible/Unfathomable One) is a term shared with the Nath yogic tradition, absorbed into Ismaili ginanic vocabulary to denote the transcendent divine. "Mahaaras" (the great nectar/bliss) evokes the mystical experience of union — described as something consumed, internalized.
5

Eji Bhai re moman tame bhaave aaraadho ne
Hetesu(n) Hari-ne aaj ji
Jeñe ek manthi aapña Saheb sreviya te
Paamiya avichal raaj ji

✦
O brother believer, worship and adore the Lord today with sincere devotion and love. Those who have served their Master with undivided singleness of heart have attained the Everlasting Kingdom.
The voice shifts from personal supplication to communal instruction — "bhai re moman" (O brother believer). "Ek manthi" (from one/with singleness) denotes the undivided, undistracted devotion that the ginanic tradition consistently privileges over ritual multiplicity. "Avichal raaj" (the immovable/eternal kingdom) points toward the spiritual sovereignty that is the fruit of that devotion.
6

Eji Kaayam Sami Shah Kahek maa(n)he betha ne
Aly roope avtaar ji
Paatr sitoter Imam chaalis
Partak Shah Nizar ji

✦
The Ever-Living Lord and Master is seated in the city of Kahak, manifested in the form of Aly. He is the seventy-seventh vessel and the fortieth Imam, made fully manifest as Hazrat Shah Nizar.
The ginan's key historical-theological verse. Kahak is a town in the Qazvin region of Iran where Imam Shah Nizar resided. "Paatr sitoter" (vessel seventy-seven) and "Imam chaalis" (fortieth Imam) are numerological designations rooted in Ismaili imamate succession theology. The Imam is identified with the eternal "Aly roope" — the light of Aly perpetually manifest.
7

Eji Shah Nizar jene bhetiya teni
Kaaya avichal thaay ji
Paap jaave sarve bhav taña pachhe
Dehi teni nirmal thaay ji

✦
Those who have attained the presence of Hazrat Shah Nizar — their physical form becomes immortal and steadfast. The sins accumulated across all their existences are dissolved, and their body becomes wholly purified.
"Kaaya avichal" (the body becoming immovable/immortal) reflects the ginanic doctrine that didar — the direct vision of the living Imam — is itself transformative at a physical level, not merely spiritual. "Sarve bhav taña paap" (sins of all existences/lifetimes) acknowledges the weight of karma across multiple cycles of birth, all of which are annulled through this singular encounter.
8

Eji Pop parmal dehi chhe nirmal
Sahejethi satpanth dhyaavo ji
Hira-ne vira tame parkhine lejo nahika
Fokat khaaysho fera ji

✦
The body, purified, becomes fragrant like a flower in bloom — so contemplate the True Path with effortless ease. But O brother, examine the diamond carefully before you acquire it, lest you waste your existence in futile cycles of return.
The "hira" (diamond) is the Imam — the living Guide — who must be recognized and tested before commitment, because mistaking a false guide for the true one condemns the seeker to "fera" (cycles of return, rebirth). "Sahejethi" (with ease, naturally, effortlessly) is a term from Sahajiya traditions, pointing to the non-strained, organically arising devotion that characterizes the mature mumin.
9

Eji Aash puri Sahebe uñiya-chaarini
Shah Nizar Shahni vaar ji
Umed dharta aashaj pahonchi ne
Bhetiya tantav didaar ji

✦
The Master has fulfilled the hopes of even His imperfect and stumbling devotee — for this is the age of Hazrat Shah Nizar. Through the sustaining of hope alone, all expectations have been met, and the true Vision (didar) of Reality has been experienced.
"Uñiya-chaarini" is a poignant self-description — literally one who walks crookedly or imperfectly — the flawed, stumbling seeker who is nonetheless met by the Imam's grace. "Tantav didaar" (the realized vision/didar) marks the consummation of the spiritual journey that began in Verse 1 with a simple request to be looked upon with a smile. The arc is complete: from longing for a glance to receiving full vision.
10

Eji Aap pirsaade Sahebe ardaas saambhli amne
Kidha te jooga joogna daas ji
Bhañe Pir Abdul Nabi haathidu(n) dejo aasha
Kaljoog vikhdo so(n)saar ji

✦
By His own grace, the Master has heard my supplication and accepted me as His servant across age upon age. Pir Abdul Nabi says: I beg You, O Lord, hold my hand and give me hope — for the world of Kaliyuga is filled with venom and deceit.
The closing bhanit (signature verse) identifies the composer as Pir Abdul Nabi. The final plea — "haathidu(n) dejo" (give me Your hand) — returns to the ginan's governing image of physical contact with the divine: feet clung to in Verse 3, hands joined in Verse 2, and now the Imam's hand reaching down to hold the seeker's. "Kaljoog vikhdo so(n)saar" (the poisonous world of Kaliyuga) situates this ginan within the classical Indic eschatological framework — the present age as the darkest era, making the Imam's guidance existentially necessary.
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Ginanic Literature  ·  Bibi Imam Begum

Eji Darshan Diyo Mora Naath

Grant me Your vision, O my Master — I am Your maiden

A ginan of longing and devotion by Bibi Imam Begum — one of the rare female voices in the ginanic corpus. Through fourteen verses the daasi (maiden) moves from personal longing through divine immanence, historical testimony, eschatological vision, and final supplication.

Yasmin Rayani

Eji Darshan Diyo Mora Naath

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The Fourteen Verses

1

Eji Darshan diyo mora naath daasi chhu(n) teri
Daasi teri Shaami tere dar ubhi
Araj kare chhe jodi haath

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Grant me Your vision, O my Master — I am Your maiden. Your maiden stands at Your door, O Lord, petitioning You with hands joined together.
The opening image is one of threshold-standing — the daasi does not presume entry but positions herself at the door, which in ginanic devotional language carries immense weight. "Darshan" (the auspicious vision of the divine) is not merely sight but transformative encounter. The joining of hands (jodi haath) recurs throughout the ginan as its bodily leitmotif — and notably reappears in the final verse, creating a structural embrace around the entire composition.
2

Eji Haath jodine Shaami araj karu(n) chhu(n)
Hardam rahejo more saath

✦
With hands joined, O Lord, I make my supplication: remain with me at every breath, my Master.
"Hardam" (at every breath, always, every moment) is a word of extraordinary density in the ginanic tradition. It does not ask for divine presence in moments of crisis or ritual — it asks for an unbroken, breath-by-breath companionship. This is the intimacy of sohbet (constant companionship), not the formality of occasional worship.
3

Eji Hardam Shaami maara reeda maa(n)he rahejo
Alga ma thaajo ek saas

✦
Be present always, O Lord, within my very heart. Do not become distant from me even for a single breath.
"Reeda" (the innermost heart, the seat of the soul) deepens the request of Verse 2 — not merely with me, but within me, in the innermost chamber of being. "Alga ma thaajo ek saas" — do not separate yourself even for one breath — is among the most poignant lines in this ginan. The unit of measurement is a single breath: the smallest possible unit of lived time.
4

Eji Shaami alga nathi toone alga kari nav jaañu(n)
Aa ghato-ghat bolo chho mora naath

✦
You are not distant, O Lord — I do not perceive You as being far. I feel You speaking to me in every fibre, in every vessel of my being.
This verse performs a remarkable reversal: having just pleaded for the Lord not to be distant, the daasi immediately affirms that He is, in truth, never distant at all. "Ghato-ghat" (in every vessel, every atom, every particle of existence) is a term with deep Sufi and Indic resonances — the divine as the inner content of every apparently separate container of being. This is the ginan's theological heart.
5

Eji Shaami tere antko ant, tu(n)hij jaañe
Shaami maara mota chho samarath

✦
Only You, O Lord, know the measure of Your own boundlessness. You are my Great Protector, my All-Powerful Master.
"Antko ant" (the limit of the limitless, the end of the endless) is a paradoxical construction: the daasi acknowledges that the Imam's nature exceeds all cognitive grasp — only He can know the extent of His own being. "Mota samarath" (the Great, the All-Capable) is not merely a honorific but a statement of refuge — the seeker's smallness finding safety precisely in the enormity of the divine.
6

Eji Jooga joog Shaami maara bhagat ugaariya
Utam sada chhe Satpanth

✦
Age after age, my Master has redeemed His devoted ones. The path of Satpanth is eternally and supremely radiant.
The ginan now pivots from intimate personal devotion to historical testimony — grounding subjective longing in the objective record of divine faithfulness across time. "Jooga joog" (age after age) establishes a pattern: the Imam's salvific action is not exceptional but habitual, not occasional but structural to the nature of reality. "Satpanth" (the True Path) is declared "utam sada" — always supreme.
7

Eji Dhruv Pahelaaj Rukh-mugat raaja
Bhagat kamla dhan saath

✦
Dhruv, Prahlad, and Rukhmugat the king — all saved together through devout Kamladhan.
Three figures from the Puranic-ginanic tradition are invoked as witnesses to divine redemption. Dhruv is the child devotee whose unwavering meditation elevated him to immortal stellar status. Prahlad (Pahelaaj) is the son of the demon king Hiranyakashipu, whose devotion survived every persecution. Kamladhan is the bhagat whose meritorious faith extended salvation to those around her — individual devotion carrying communal redemptive weight.
8

Eji Harischandr Taara Raañi ku(n)var Rohidaas-ji
Vachne vechaaña haathoi haath

✦
Harischandra, Queen Tara, and Prince Rohidas — true to their vow, they were sold from hand to hand.
Harischandra is the paradigmatic figure of absolute truthfulness — a king who, to honour a vow, was reduced to slavery. Taara Raañi is his queen, who endured equal humiliation without breaking faith. Rohidas is their son. "Vachne vechaaña haathoi haath" — sold hand to hand for the sake of their vow — is a devastating image of faith tested to its absolute limit. These figures testify that the Satpanth is a path of costly, total commitment.
9

Eji Paanch Paandav Maata Koonta-ji kahiye-ji
Sati Draupadi chhe saath

✦
The five Pandavas and Mother Kunti, we should say, together with the righteous and steadfast Draupadi.
The Mahabharata's central figures are absorbed into the ginanic pantheon of divine protection. Kunti and Draupadi are foregrounded alongside the five brothers — a conscious centring of female faithfulness. "Sati Draupadi" is particularly significant given the ginan's own female authorship: Bibi Imam Begum places herself in a lineage of women whose devotion constituted the moral backbone of their era.
10

Eji Pir Sadardin bujarag kahiye
Baar karodna kanth

✦
Pir Sadardin the venerable — let us acknowledge him — the Lord and liberator of twelve crores of souls.
Pir Sadardin (14th–15th century) is one of the most consequential figures in Ismaili ginanic history, credited with initiating twelve crore (120 million) souls into the Satpanth. "Bujarag" (the elder, the venerable one) is a term of deep reverence. His appearance connects the intimate personal devotion of the early verses to the vast spiritual heritage within which the daasi stands.
11

Eji Añat karod Pir Kabirdin saathe ji
Tenu(n) var didhu(n) Niklanki naath

✦
Pir Hasan Kabirdin, saviour of infinite crores — to whom the tenth manifestation, Naklanki, gave His own hand.
Pir Hasan Kabirdin was the son of Pir Sadardin and among the most prolific composers in the ginanic tradition. "Añat karod" (innumerable crores) — his salvific reach is described as literally uncountable. "Niklanki naath" (the Spotless Lord, the tenth avatara) — in the ginanic synthesis of Vaishnava and Ismaili cosmology, the Imam is identified with the Kalki avatara. "Var didhun" (gave His hand) echoes the daasi's own plea, creating thematic symmetry.
12

Eji Nar Naklanki jaare navsha thaashe
Thaayshe te visav ku(n)vaarino kanth

✦
When the male manifestation Naklanki comes as the bridegroom, He will become the consort of the maiden earth.
The ginan's great eschatological vision. "Nar Naklanki" arriving as navsha (bridegroom) and taking the "visav ku(n)vaari" (the maiden earth) as his bride — this is the consummation of cosmic history as a divine wedding. The daasi persona now reveals its deepest layer: every individual "maiden" who has maintained devotion is a microcosm of the maiden earth awaiting the Bridegroom. Personal longing and cosmic eschatology are the same story at different scales.
13

Eji Te din Shaami moone paas tedaavjo
Pakdi lejo maaro haath

✦
On that day, O Lord, summon me to Your side. Be certain, O Lord, to take my hand firmly in Yours.
"Te din" (that day) is the eschatological horizon toward which all the preceding historical testimony has been building. The daasi's request is perfectly calibrated: not to be spared or rewarded, but simply to be called — "tedaavjo" (summon me) — and to have her hand held. The same joined-hands image from Verse 1 is here inverted: in Verse 1 she holds her own hands together in supplication; in Verse 13, she asks Him to hold her hand. The movement from self-enclosure to divine embrace is the ginan's spiritual trajectory made visible.
14

Eji Kahet Imam Begam soono mora Shaamiji
Etlu(n) maa(n)gu(n) chhu(n) mora naath

✦
Says Bibi Imam Begum: Listen, O my Lord — this much, and only this much, do I ask of You, my Master.
The closing bhanit (composer's signature verse) is a masterpiece of restraint. After cosmological vision, historical testimony spanning multiple yugas, and the grand eschatological wedding of Verse 12 — the entire ginan is gathered into "etlu(n) maa(n)gu(n) chhu(n)" — this much is all I ask. Bibi Imam Begum does not ask for liberation, kingdom, or cosmic standing — she asks to be summoned and held. It is, in its simplicity, one of the most profound closing lines in the ginanic canon.