Doha Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the count ...

is a lyrical verse-format which was extensively used by

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

poets and

bards In Celtic cultures, a bard is a professional story teller, verse-maker, music composer, oral historian and genealogist, employed by a patron (such as a monarch or chieftain) to commemorate one or more of the patron's ancestors and to praise t ...

of North India probably since the beginning of the 6th century AD. Dohas of

Kabir Kabir Das (1398–1518) was a 15th-century Indian mystic poet and saint. His writings influenced Hinduism's Bhakti movement, and his verses are found in Sikhism's scripture Guru Granth Sahib, the Satguru Granth Sahib of Saint Garib Das ...

Tulsidas Tulsidas (; born Rambola Dubey; also known as Goswami Tulsidas; c.1511pp. 23–34.–1623) was a Ramanandi Vaishnava Hindu saint and poet, renowned for his devotion to the deity Rama. He wrote several popular works in Sanskrit and Awadhi, but ...

Raskhan Syed Ibrahim Khan (1548-1628) was an Indian Sufi Muslim poet who became a devotee of the Hindu deity Krishna. He was either born in Pihani (Hardoi) or Amroha, in modern-day Uttar Pradesh, India. His original name was Saiyad Ibrahim and Raskha ...

, Rahim and the dohas of

Nanak Gurū Nānak (15 April 1469 – 22 September 1539; Gurmukhi: ਗੁਰੂ ਨਾਨਕ; pronunciation: , ), also referred to as ('father Nānak'), was the founder of Sikhism and is the first of the ten Sikh Gurus. His birth is celebrated wor ...

called Sakhis are famous.

Satasai The ''Satasai (Satsai)'' or Bihari Satsai (Seven Hundred Verses of Bihari) is a famous work of the early 17th century by the Hindi poet Bihārī, in the Braj Bhasha dialect of Hindi spoken in the Braj region of northern India. It contains Dohas, ...

Hindi Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...

poet, Bihārī, contains many dohas. Dohas are written even now.

Background

is a very old "verse-format" of

Indian poetry Indian poetry and Indian literature in general, has a long history dating back to Vedic times. They were written in various Indian languages such as Vedic Sanskrit, Classical Sanskrit, Tamil, Odia, Maithili, Telugu, Kannada, Bengali, Assamese, ...

. It is an independent verse, a couplet, the meaning of which is complete in itself. As regards its origin,

Hermann Jacobi Hermann Georg Jacobi (11 February 1850 – 19 October 1937) was an eminent German Indologist. Education Jacobi was born in Köln (Cologne) on 11 February 1850. He was educated in the gymnasium of Cologne and then went to the University of Ber ...

had suggested that the origin of ''doha'' can be traced to the Greek Hexametre, that it is an amalgam of two hexametres in one line. This format had found favour with the

Abhiras The Abhira tribe is mentioned in the ancient Indian epic Mahabharata. A historical people of the same name are mentioned in the ''Periplus of the Erythraean Sea''. They are thought to be people who moved in from eastern Iran in the aftermath of ...

or Ahirs who had greatly encouraged its use, the Abhiras belonged to Gandhara region now in Pakistan. Jacobi's theory rests on the premise that the Indians possessed a translation of

Homer Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...

's works as asserted by

Dio of Alexandria Dio of Alexandria (; el, Δίων) was an Academic Skeptic philosopher and a friend of Antiochus of Ascalon who lived in the first century BC. Along with being an Academic Skeptic, Dio was an avid believer in the Greek gods and Titans, specifical ...

. Therefore, for a very long time the Doha verse-format was popularly used in

Gujarati Gujarati may refer to: * something of, from, or related to Gujarat, a state of India * Gujarati people, the major ethnic group of Gujarat * Gujarati language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by them * Gujarati languages, the Western Indo-Aryan sub ...

, Rajasthani (Duha), Maithili, Marathi and

folk and modern literature of

North India North India is a loosely defined region consisting of the northern part of India. The dominant geographical features of North India are the Indo-Gangetic Plain and the Himalayas, which demarcate the region from the Tibetan Plateau and Central ...

and in Sindhi (Doho) literature of

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

. The word ''Doha'' is supposed to have derived from the

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

words ''dogdhaka'', ''dvipadi'', ''dvipathaka'' or ''dodhaka'' that are all Sanskrit couplet forms; it is also known as ''duhaviya'' in Apabhraṃśa to which the earliest reference is in ''Vikramorvashiyam'' of Kalidasa. Dohas have also been found written and cited in a stray manner in older languages such as

Prakrit The Prakrits (; sa, prākṛta; psu, 𑀧𑀸𑀉𑀤, ; pka, ) are a group of vernacular Middle Indo-Aryan languages that were used in the Indian subcontinent from around the 3rd century BCE to the 8th century CE. The term Prakrit is usu ...

and

Pali Pali () is a Middle Indo-Aryan liturgical language native to the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pāli Canon'' or '' Tipiṭaka'' as well as the sacred language of '' Theravāda'' Buddh ...

. They are quotations of worldly wisdom. In ''Duhasuktavali'' it is said that doha should be quoted where talented persons have gathered. ''

'' ('' Apabhraṃśa'') is a particular kind of Apabhraṃśa metre of popular origin that was cultivated by many Apabhraṃśa saints – poets and bards owing to its lyrical qualities, and who gave birth to the Doha – sahitya i.e. Doha-literature. Dohas in Sant literature are known as Sakhis.A doha has two lines, each having 13+11 morae (6+4+3) + (6+4+1) and with its last words ending in a rhyme; it is one of the shortest quantitative metres of Hindi literature. This format has been employed freely since 6th century AD and are seen quoted by Svayambhudeva (circa 800 AD) in his ''Paumachariu'' and ''Harivamshapurana'' and by Hemchandra (1088–1172) of Patan (Gujarat) in his ''Siddhahema shabdanushashna'', a work on grammar of

and Apabhraṃśa. The great saint-poet Gorakhnath (809–849) for his ''Gorakh-bani'' and the great poet Pushpadanta (959–972) of

Manyakheta Malkhed originally known as Manyakheta (IAST: Mānyakheṭa, Prakrit: "Mannakheḍa"), and also known as Malkhed,Village code= 311400 Malkhed (J), Gulbarga, Karnataka is a town in Karnataka, India. It is located on the banks of Kagina river i ...

for his epics ''Mahapurana'', ''Nayakumara-chariu'', ''Adipurana'', ''Jaisahara-chariu'' and ''Uttarapurana'' chose this particular format.

Compositions

There was a tradition of composing stray verses in Doha metre, more popular in North India it was popularised through contributions made by the Jainas, the

Brahmins Brahmin (; sa, ब्राह्मण, brāhmaṇa) is a varna as well as a caste within Hindu society. The Brahmins are designated as the priestly class as they serve as priests ( purohit, pandit, or pujari) and religious teachers (guru ...

and the

Muslims Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

as is seen in epic, rasa and didactic type of literature. Topics in this literature include eroticism, valour, quietude, morality, common life, eventful scenes, of nature, sayings and proverbs. Some main literary works of the period from the 8th to 13th centuries are ''Sarasvatikanthabharana'' and ''Shringaraprakasha'' of

Bhoja Bhoja (reigned c. 1010–1055 CE) was an Indian king from the Paramara dynasty. His kingdom was centered around the Malwa region in central India, where his capital Dhara-nagara (modern Dhar) was located. Bhoja fought wars with nearly all ...

, ''Kavyalankara'' of Rudrta, ''Prakritavyakrana'' of Hemchandra, ''Prakritapaingalam'' and ''Neminathachariu'' of

Haribhadra Aacharya Haribhadra Suri was a Svetambara mendicant Jain leader, philosopher , doxographer, and author. There are multiple contradictory dates assigned to his birth. According to tradition, he lived c. 459–529 CE. However, in 1919, a Jain m ...

, ''Kumarapalapratibodha'' of Somaprabha, ''Prabandhachintamani'' of Merutanga, ''Sandeshrasaka'' of Abdul Rahman. Religious doha-literature was composed by Buddhists, Jainas and Shaivas which was both, spiritual and moralist. The spiritual doha-literature is devoid of artificial style and is mystico-religious in which symbols are employed and importance of teacher-preacher is emphasised; its authors were saints first and poets afterwards. Its poetic value though not high was sincere in feelings and emotions.

Natha Nath, also called Natha, are a Shaiva sub-tradition within Hinduism in India and Nepal. A medieval movement, it combined ideas from Buddhism, Shaivism and Yoga traditions in India.Sahajiya Sahaja ( pra, সহজ sa, सहज ) means spontaneous enlightenment in Indian and Tibetan Buddhist spirituality. Sahaja practices first arose in Bengal during the 8th century among yogis called Sahajiya siddhas. Ananda Coomaraswamy describ ...

and

Vaishnava Vaishnavism ( sa, वैष्णवसम्प्रदायः, Vaiṣṇavasampradāyaḥ) is one of the major Hindu denominations along with Shaivism, Shaktism, and Smartism. It is also called Vishnuism since it considers Vishnu as the ...

schools were then very popular.

Buddhist contribution

It is traditionally held that Bauddha-dohas were composed by the eighty-four Bauddha Siddhas. Buddhist or bauddha-dohas of Sarahapa (760–806), Sabarapa, Luipa, Darikapa, Kanhapa and Śāntipa, all belonging to the period from the 8th to 12th centuries, are of two types – a) that which establishes and explains sectarian teachings and philosophy, and b) that which criticises

Rituals A ritual is a sequence of activities involving gestures, words, actions, or objects, performed according to a set sequence. Rituals may be prescribed by the traditions of a community, including a religious community. Rituals are characterized, b ...

, tantricism and mantravada; both represent two modes viz., ''

Vajrayana Vajrayāna ( sa, वज्रयान, "thunderbolt vehicle", "diamond vehicle", or "indestructible vehicle"), along with Mantrayāna, Guhyamantrayāna, Tantrayāna, Secret Mantra, Tantric Buddhism, and Esoteric Buddhism, are names referring t ...

'' (thunder-bolt) describing spiritual states and experiences, and ''

Sahaja Sahaja ( pra, সহজ sa, सहज ) means spontaneous enlightenment in Indian and Tibetan Buddhist spirituality. Sahaja practices first arose in Bengal during the 8th century among yogis called Sahajiya siddhas. Ananda Coomaraswamy describe ...

yana'' (natural and easy) preaching purification of life and criticise Hindu and Jaina practices,

Jaina contribution

Jaina doha-literature mainly deals with spiritualism and the supreme self, internal purification, control of the mind and the senses and opposes external ritualism, charms, tantricism, worship of deities and scriptures. Some important Jaina works are ''Pramatamaprakasha'' and ''Yogasara'' of Joindu Yogindra, ''Prabhritadoha'' of Ramasimha, ''Vairagyasara'' of Suprabhacharya and ''Dohaprabhrita'' of Muni Mahachandra. Didactic dohas of Jainas preach the need to raise the moral standard of life, lay stress on duties and obligations, charity etc., ''Shavakadharmadoha'' of Devasena of

Dhar Dhar is a city located in Dhar district of the Malwa region in the state of Madhya Pradesh, India. The city is the administrative headquarters of the Dhar district. Before Indian independence from Great Britain, it was the capital of the Dh ...

(9th century AD) and ''Sanjama-manjari'' of Maheshvarasuri belong to this kind.

Brahmanical contribution

Brahmanical doha-literature is available in ''Tantrasara'' and ''Pratrimshikavrriti'' of

Abhinavagupta Abhinavagupta (c. 950 – 1016 CE) was a philosopher, mystic and aesthetician from Kashmir. He was also considered an influential musician, poet, dramatist, exegete, theologian, and logicianRe-accessing Abhinavagupta, Navjivan Rastogi, ...

which are Sanskrit texts on Kashmiri Shaivism.

Hindi dohas

Hindi doha is ''matrik-ardha-sama-chhanda'' metre and have odd and even feet of the same rhythm but the attempt to find a proper identification of the rhythm is evident in all works from ''Chhandamala'' of Keshavdas (1557–1637) to ''Chhanda-prabhakara'' of Jagannathprasad Bhanu (1859–1945). Hindi doha-literature is marked by ''Pahur-doha'' of the Jain-muni Ram Singh, ''Bhaviayatt-kaha'' of Dhanapala, ''Sandesha-rasaka'' of Abdul Rahman and '' Prithviraj Raso'' of

Chand Bardai Chand Bardai was an Indian poet who composed ''Prithviraj Raso'', an epic poem in Brajbhasa about the life of the Chahamana king Prithviraj Chauhan. The poem presents him as a court poet of Prithviraj. According to it, after Prithviraj was def ...

, and later by works of Khusro,

Dadu Dayal Dadu Dayal Ji ( hi, संत दादूदयाल , 1544—1603) was a poet- sant from Gujarat, India, a religious reformer who spoke against formalism and priestcraft. Etymology "Dadu" means brother, and "Dayal" means "the compassiona ...

, Malukdas,

Malik Mohammad Jayasi Malik Muhammad Jayasi (1477– 1542) was an Indian Sufi poet and pir. He wrote in the Awadhi language, and in the Persian Nastaʿlīq script. His best known work is the epic poem ''Padmavat'' (1540). Biography Much of the information abou ...

and Abdul Rahim Khan-I-Khana. Kabir and Tulsidas used the Maithili doha metre, and the great Chishti Sufi shaykh of the thirteenth century Baba Farid (Farid ud Din Ganj-i Shakar; d. 1265) is widely remembered today for his Punjabi dohas.

Sindhi dohos

Doha or Doho is an important part of

Sindhi literature Sindhi literature ( sd, سنڌي ادب), is the composition of oral and written scripts and texts in the Sindhi language in the form of prose: (romantic tales, and epic stores) and poetry: (Ghazal, Wai and Nazm). The Sindhi language of the provin ...

. M.Jotwani had traced the Arabic two-lined ''

Beit A Beit (also spelled bait, ar, بيت , literally "a house") is a metrical unit of Arabic, Iranian, Urdu and Sindhi poetry. It corresponds to a line, though sometimes improperly renderered as " couplet" since each ''beit'' is divided int ...

'' to the likes of ''doha'', ''baro doha soratha'' and ''tunveri duho''. The main strain of Sindhi literature has been Sufi-

Vedantic ''Vedanta'' (; sa, वेदान्त, ), also ''Uttara Mīmāṃsā'', is one of the six (''āstika'') schools of Hindu philosophy. Literally meaning "end of the Vedas", Vedanta reflects ideas that emerged from, or were aligned with, t ...

poetry in the form of ''doha'' or ''beit'' that could be sung.

References

{{reflist Indian literature Hindi-language literature Sindhi literature