Raivaru and Dhivehi literature: poetry of the islands

Raivaru (ރައިވަރު) is sung poetry. A poem is built from stanzas of either three lines or six lines, and it is meant to be recited to a melody rather than read silently. For centuries it was the form people reached for when they wanted to record an event, praise a ruler, tell a story or simply say how they felt.

The ethnomusicologist Garrett Field of Ohio University, who has written the main English-language studies of the form, describes raivaru as the most popular Dhivehi poetry before the 20th century. Collections published by Maldivian heritage bodies describe the old raivaru as verses the ancestors composed to express their feelings. It was not only court poetry.

If you are new to the language, start with our short guide to Dhivehi and the Thaana script. It helps to know that Dhivehi is written right to left, and that much of this poetry circulated first in handwritten copies.

Raivaru has rules, and poets work hard inside them. Field’s research, published in the *Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society* (2025) and *Anthropological Linguistics* (2019), sets out the main ones.

The scrambled syllables

The most unusual part of raivaru is *bas olhuvun*, which literally means “word scrambling”. To make a line fit the rhyme, the sounds and the count, a poet may shuffle syllables, either within a single word or across a longer stretch of the line. Field identifies six poetic constraints that push poets to scramble, and suggests that the melody used for reciting can shape the choices too.

This means a printed raivaru can look like a puzzle. Readers and commentators “unscramble” the syllables to recover the plain sense. Because so much rests on sound, raivaru loses a great deal in translation: English can carry the story, but not the music.

One of the best-known raivaru is a travel poem. In 1804 Sultan Muhammad Mueenuddeen I sailed with his royal fleet from Malé to Ari Atoll. A courtier who went along, Bandeyri Hassan Manikufaanu (1745–1807), recorded the journey in 171 verses, and presented the poem to the sultan three days after the fleet came home.

The poem, known as *Dhivehi Arumaadhu Raivaru*, covers boat building, court music, navigation, royal flags and seamanship. Field’s 2025 study treats it as largely factual, a rare first-hand picture of life at sea in the Maldives two centuries ago, even if it flatters the sultan in places. The same poet also wrote a fictional raivaru about two royal sisters, *Dhiyoage Raivaru*, around 1805.

The voyage poem survived in manuscripts that nobles passed around and recopied when the ink faded. It was printed with a commentary in 1943, and a detailed Dhivehi commentary followed in 2003. Maldivian heritage catalogues describe Bandeyri Hassan Manikufaanu as one of the finest Maldivian poets.

For the wider background to this period, see our history of the Maldives and the guide to Ari Atoll.

Poetry was also a tool for learning. In 1890 the Maldivian judge and poet Sheikh Muhammad Jamaluddin (about 1844–1907), then in exile on the island of Fehendhoo, wrote a description of how to write Dhivehi in Thaana. In the same year he wrote *Taqwīm al-Lisān*, a 34-stanza poem in raivaru form explaining ideas from Arabic grammar. Field’s study of his work (*Modern Asian Studies*, 2022) shows how he used Dhivehi verse as evidence of correct usage, treating poetry as a record of the language itself.

In 1913 a Maldivian Islamic scholar, Maulavi Huiy Ali Didi (1874–1932), introduced a new genre of Dhivehi poetry called *lhen*. According to Field’s research presented at the University of California, Los Angeles in 2025, Ali Didi drew on the structures of Arabic verse: his first composition was set out in couplets, and each line followed the long and short syllable rhythm of the Arabic *rajaz* metre.

The 20th century brought print, prose fiction and new public writing.

• Early fiction. Hussein Salahuddeen, the scholar who printed the 1804 voyage poem, also wrote the novel *Rivaayathu Nu’maan wa Maryam* in 1934.
• The national anthem. The words of the Maldivian national anthem, *Qaumee Salaam*, were written in 1948 by the poet Mohamed Jameel Didi. More in our guide to the Maldives flag and national symbols.
• Ibrahim Shihab. The orator and poet Ibrahim Shihab is regarded as one of the most prolific figures in Maldivian literature, and National Poets’ Day honours his legacy.

National Poets’ Day

National Poets’ Day, Lhenveringe Dhuvas, falls every year on 15 January and has been marked since 1989, PSM News reports. Each year the Dhivehi Language Academy (Dhivehi Bahuge Academy) honours a distinguished poet or linguist. If you are in the Maldives in mid-January, look out for readings and events in the national news. Our Maldives in January guide covers the rest of the month.

The National Library

The National Library of the Maldives traces its roots to a bookshelf set up by Chief Justice Sheikh Hussain Salahuddin in the early 1940s. According to the library’s official history, it opened on 12 July 1945 as the State Library, was renamed in 1948, and took the name National Library on 1 June 1982, when it began working as both a national and a public lending library. Since 2018 it has been a department of the culture ministry. It is in Malé; see our Malé guide for getting around the capital.

In February 2024 the President announced plans to open a National Library branch on every inhabited island, as The Edition reported.

Printed collections of raivaru

Maldivian heritage bodies have published old raivaru in a numbered series of small books, each called *100 Raivaru* (the first hundred, the second hundred and so on). The second volume, for example, was published in Malé in 1997 by the national centre for linguistic and historical research. These books are listed in an international register of intangible cultural heritage publications, contributed by the National Centre for Cultural Heritage, as records of the Maldives’ oral tradition.

Sound recordings

Raivaru is meant to be heard, so recordings matter. Field notes that the British Library’s Sound Archive holds a recording of *Salaamathi*, the court music played at royal occasions such as the 1804 fleet’s departure.

You do not need to speak Dhivehi to appreciate this tradition, but a little effort goes a long way.

• Learn a few words. Our Dhivehi phrases for travellers will help you say hello and thank you, and people notice.
• Ask, gently. On a local island, older residents may know verses by heart. Ask politely, and don’t record anyone without their permission.
• Listen to the music. Sung verse and drumming sit side by side in island life. See our guide to boduberu.
• Respect the context. Much Dhivehi poetry touches on faith, history and national pride. Treat it with the same respect you would show a hymn or a national song at home.

On Dhiffushi, as on other local islands, evenings are when people gather, talk and share stories. Our guide to Dhiffushi history and island life gives a feel for the rhythm of the day, and the wider guide to Maldives culture, people and language puts it all in context.