Playing the Ney in front of a buffalo

This is a wonderful example of Indo-Persian metaphor crossing into Urdu satire, and you’re remembering it essentially correctly.

👤 Who was

Akbar Allahabadi

?

Akbar Allahabadi (1846–1921), born Syed Akbar Husain in Allahabad (now Prayagraj), was:

• One of the greatest satirical poets in Urdu

• A sharp critic of:

  
  

  • blind Westernization

  • hollow modern education

  • social pretension

  • religious hypocrisy

• 
  

• Deeply rooted in Persian–Urdu literary culture, but not a Sufi poet in the strict sense

He wrote in:

• ghazal

• nazm

• epigrammatic couplets (ashʿār)

His tone is often humorous on the surface and philosophically biting underneath.

🐃 “Playing the bīn/ney before a buffalo”

The proverb he invokes

In Indo-Persian culture there is a long-standing saying:

“Bhains ke āge bīn bajānā”

(To play the bīn before a buffalo)

Meaning:

• Addressing subtle beauty, wisdom, or refinement

• To someone incapable of appreciating it

This is exactly parallel to the English:

“Casting pearls before swine.”

Akbar Allahabadi uses this proverb ironically and socially, not mystically.

🎵 What is a

bīn

(also spelled

been

,

biin

)?

Bīn / Been (بین / بیٖن)

• A wind instrument used in South Asia

• Often identified with the pungi (snake-charmer’s flute)

• Related symbolically to the Persian ney, though:

  
  

  • the ney is more refined and Sufi-associated

  • the bīn is more folk-based and earthy

• 
  

In poetry:

• Bīn / ney = subtle sound, refined meaning, spiritual or aesthetic depth

• Buffalo = dullness, materialism, lack of perception

So the image is intentionally comic:

A profound melody wasted on an uncomprehending listener.

📜 Akbar Allahabadi’s Use of This Image

Akbar uses this proverb (or allusions to it) in satirical couplets criticizing:

• speaking wisdom to the uneducated elite

• moral advice given to corrupt officials

• refined culture presented to shallow imitators of the West

While different manuscripts and recensions vary, the core idea appears in lines that can be paraphrased faithfully as:

“Why waste the melody of the bīn

when the listener is a buffalo?”

or:

“What use is subtle speech

when the ear itself is untrained?”

The power lies not in the exact wording but in the cultural shorthand — every Urdu reader immediately understands the insult.

🧠 How Akbar’s Use Differs from Rumi’s

Ney

This contrast is important.

In Rumi:

• The ney awakens souls

• It tears away veils (perde)

• The listener is assumed to have potential receptivity

In Akbar Allahabadi:

• The bīn exposes the listener

• It highlights incapacity, not awakening

• The problem is not veils — it is lack of inner faculty

So:

Poet

Instrument

Listener

Meaning

Rumi

Ney

Seeker

Sound unveils truth

Akbar

Bīn

Buffalo

Sound is wasted

Akbar’s move is anti-romantic and anti-mystical, intentionally so.

🧩 Why Akbar Chose This Image

Because it compresses:

• Persian musical symbolism

• Indian folk proverb

• Social satire

• Philosophical pessimism

Into one vivid, humorous line.

That’s Akbar’s genius.

🧭 Summary

• Akbar Allahabadi was a major Urdu satirical poet

• He used the proverb “playing the bīn before a buffalo”

• It means the same as “casting pearls before swine”

• Bīn is a reed/wind instrument, related symbolically to the ney

• Unlike Rumi, Akbar uses music to show futility, not awakening

If you like, next we can:

• Compare Akbar’s satire with Ghalib’s irony

• Trace this proverb back into Persian and Sanskrit parallels

• Or look at specific Urdu couplets line-by-line with transliteration

Just say where you want to go next.