PirRani’s Purpose

I came across the idea of wanting to learn the meaning of ginans because I was curious about the messages being conveyed during the recitation of ginans. I would hear ginans in their native context and I would not know what they are talking about. For what good is a piece of literary work if you cannot understand the meaning? I would hear them in a different language and would have to go find the translations for them on my own. Also, reading the translation on my own was taking away the poetic feel while listening to the original version was not allowing me to understand its meaning.

The purpose of PirRani is to share devotional poetry and to convert ginans from different languages into English hymns in order to share their meaning and bring awareness to its readers and listeners during recitation.

Once I found the translations on Ismaili.net, I was intrigued by what I was reading. Yet, It felt to me like there was a piece missing. I thought to myself: why not have translations in English that can be recited in the same way as their original form. In order to restore a verbal poetic feel, translations of select ginans were used to formulate a sequence of poetic verses with their original meaning and rhythm—in English.

It is important to understand the content and to also enjoy the raag for the purpose it was originally composed. The English verses of select ginans can be recited with the same if not similar raag as the one from its native language for which they were intended.