110
Q..l};.:£!;.~ _~~_J£
In£luenc8 on litqrature
In the vlords of Dcrsh8l1 Singh Me.ini *: 'In a manner,
the history of Punj~bi PQetry is the history of the Punjabi
l~nguc.ge. ThiG is not surprising, for it is in the nature
of poetry to approach uniquely and organically tho energies
and felicit1es of a languege.' , . The Punjabi li tera.tu~e pe.rt iculc.rly the Punj·Q.bi peetry
Cr>..Il be divided into four categories as under:
t .... Th0 Sufi liter:".ture 2. The Islamic literature
3. The Rom~tic liternture 4. The Modern Punjabi
literp.ture.
Mostly the Sufi snints CQmc to Indin to preach Islom.
Here they were faced with old customs end traditions and
the religious thought s of Buddhism, J.ogis, ~d Vedr..nt.
Besides., th0 victo:ies of IJIuslim :-:.rmies the philosophic
and mentcl victories of Sufi s~ints in India and spread
of Islam through their efforts is to be reckoned with.
Hazrc..t Babe. Fnrid Shclcc.rgc.nj, Hc.zrr..t Do.ta Ganj Bokhsh
Hujeveri end Hczr<'.t Bcilic..uC!.din Znkori a l\1ul t8l1i came to Punj ab
for prenching. They cc..me and learnt the popular ](angu-~e • <
-.-r-.-~-.~.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-. -.-.
* Studies in Punjcbi Poetry (Preface) . . r .
-.~~-.-.-.-.-~-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.~~-.-.-.-. -.-.
111
of the pcoplcrnd then through folklore of the Punjabi
l.:mguc.ge tr:-.vollcd from villc.ge to village too achJ.eve
their goal. To CO!lVCy their thoughts they chos e vlords;
chC'Xnctors :-nd symbols knmvn to common people vlith great
skill.
In the Punjab, well-knovTn cantres were ostablished at
Multo.n, Chachro..n, Lahore, Qo.sur, Bc.tDla, Sirhind and MAler
Kotla. A numbor of Sufi s~ints rund poets lived in the Punjab
such os Sha.h Husflain, Sultnn BoJ:lu,Shnh Imc.m, Shah Shnre..f,
Bulleh Sh.~h, .lui Hnider, Ghulc-m Fc·rid, Shah Iv'JurF.'.d, Shah Lc.tif
Sho.h Boho.r, Shch Vakil, Sho.h H:J.bib nnd Bc.yo.zid Khan.
*'Baba Fariddun Shokrxg~nj settled in Ajodho.n. At his
centre Hindus, particularly 'Hindu Jogis' used to seok
£'.udicnce with gre~.t faith rnd Bnbn. Fz.rid used to converse
with them in 'Hindavi'.
The Sufi literature
In the first category of the Punjnbi literature we have
literature produced by Sufis, 'Jobis' nnd 'Sidhos'. Though
small in quantity, it reveoJ..s tha.t the Punje.bi literc.ture
developed vTcll in this periai. Much of this li terc.ture
-.-. -.-. - . -, -. -. -. -. -. -. -. -. -. -. -. -. -. -. -. -. -. -. -. -. -. -. -. -. * Mohd. Umer Hindustcni T[":hzib Ka Musscl.namo. p[1X' Ase.r
P.20-21 1975 (Publicntions Division,
Govt. of Indic.
-.-.-.-.-.-i-.-.~-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.- .-.-
112
WQ.s lost in the viss issi tudes of time. However, vlhatever \.
is availcble covers six centuries. Specimens of Beba
Ferid ShDki'xg<>.nj I s poetry remained sA.fe in Gur'u Gr<,nth
Sa.hib II vIe do not hrwe ~ny other cnrlier Punj a.bi poet on
record. M'1.Sud Si'.ed Sc.lm."ll. \vrotc 8 Diwr-n \ :Ln Hinde..vi which
is not -e.vailnble 0 "116 c:-~n rightly nr.me this period as Baba
Farid's period as he forms the basis of Punjabi poetry
being the first poet, whose poetry is on record,.
Forid_~'~~lved en idiom whi~ while subsumming . ~ .~'-'
Pers:Lan vo~abu~exy, ret~ined the indigenous Punjabi usage.
It 'vas indeed c.. mystic morric..ge of the two streams of
thought and culture. I Various forms of the Punjabi poetry
specially in folklore developed in this period like Baram-
o.ho.., Sc.t,voxc, Ghori, Chnrkh£<.t Xcii, Siharfi, Chauborga,
Shabad, Sha.lok, etc. The Sufi poets gave Persian colour
and swoetness to the Punj abi language. The poetry of this
period ,.~ hcs thought, mystic ism end rythm. The do .. m-to-e arth
symbols of R~jha, Mnhivnl o.nd Punnu were used for God,
and the soul ,vc.s symbolised by Heer, Sohni and Sassi.
These were the famous lovers of t he love t:Jles of Heer-
Ranjho., Sohni-MnhivH'l.l nnd SC'.ssi-Punnun ~ Sh~ Hussain, Bulleh
Shnh, Ubaidulla, Hashim Shah, M~ulvi Bnkhshn Gnd Bohadur-
shah represent this period.
113
The St;fi s c.ints of tho Punj r:.b liko P0rsi on sufis
"lVrote in the Persionised lcngunge Dnd style. They mainta.i-
ned the structure of the Punj ;J..bi lc.:nguage but their, phrase P.
logy, the simUies and prosody end rhetoric ''lere entireJ...y
PersiDl10 Later on, som€) of them begnn to express their
thoughts in,Urdu, but this aguin was in fact, Persian
dil.uted by tm loccU.. lo.ngunge, ladden by Persic.n vo~nbulc.ry~
Just li~ Persi~ sufis the Punjnbi sufi poets elso went in
quest of God to attain union with - him. The concept of
I Fen a Fillch I or the nnnihilnti. on in God ~Tas clso Persian.,
The Punjabi s£'.int poet lim the Persien sufi called God his
sweethec.rt, with one difference. The beloved who in Persic~
poc-t;ry is both rn[l.Sculine end fem~in~ like Me.jnun o.nd Lailo.~
became solely masculine in the Eunjabi poetryc The soul
of the Punjabi sufi vlnS symbolised by a female separated
from her b= loved (God) by 'maya 1 (illusion) end yearning
for the supreme union. Therefore: the Punjcbi sufi poetry
is replete with songs of sorrow, pr..mgs of love., and ,quest
of the Beloved. Lo.jw."'..nti Rcmakrishna* exo.m:in es the general
chexacteristics of Punjab! sufi poetry as follows:,,-
Having been evolved in the villages , it lacks thnt poin':;
- .... - 0 -. - • - 0 -. -. - ~ -0 ... -. -. -0 -e - It - n - 3 - 0 - • - '0) - • - • - ~ - • -. - ~ - 0 -" -0 ..... (j -~
* Punjabi Sufi pnets 1973 pe10 New Delhi. -. -. -. - 0 - • - 0 - • - • -. - ~ - • - e - e - 0 - :I - JI - 0 - ,,-. -c -. - • - a - 0 - e - ,,- • - ~ - i) - I')
114
of extren.e el.'"'.":)or:->.t:ic'r to whicr.. sufi poets carried other
languc..gGs,. such ['..s Persian cmd Urdu. Mysticism being more
predol!l.int~::"J; then r.:w.terielism in Pnn j r'.b i sufi poets, tempe-
ro..ments, '0..11 ccmploxity of expression, the 0xtficiil and
ornate stylo~ tho jungle of words .~d bombcstic 1nnguoge
is missing from it. The chief effort of the poets wo,s to
give dir~ct expression to their pi0us feo1ings in as brief
c. manner c.s possible. The voc.c-.bulcry, similies end techni-
col terms wore confined to home traders, cottage industries
and the mythological idens and social customs, This should
not, however, indic~te th~t the langUDge is crude and
95 vulgar.
... \ihat the le nrned scholnr hc..s st etc d a.bout the Punjabi
sufi poetry is true about the Persian sufi poetry. In
fe.ct it is the influence of t hli':l Persicn sufi poetry which
has bestOltlCd th3 b0:-,.uty of fundrmcntr~s to the Punjabi
poetry. The main forms of the sufi poetry in the Punjebi
languagc CXeJ K,,£i, B~ nmo.h, .Athvcrc~, Siharfi, 'lis sa, Bait·,
Dohro. ond Var. Fow out of' thClse ~ight forms have the
:Persian names: i.e. Ko..fi (from :Persi.:1ll Kc.fiya, i.e.":- rhyme)
Siharfi, Qisst'_ Lmd bc.it.
1. Kc.:fi..: is genercl1y 0. poem on divine o.t:bributes sung
in clc.ssicr.l*?nd 1ight c1rtssicc.1 Indian music.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.- .. -.-.-.-.-/. .'
*Pun'lIo.bi sufi poets p~11 'The n~e is borroltwd from the Pers,ion Kafiy!::t'me::ming Rhyme. According 1;0 A.G. Qureshi the .term ·:[s .tC'ken from the Arr.bic o.e.wc.fi (p.28 History of Fup.ja.bi language & lit-erf.turo. ) -.-.-.~~-~-.-.-.-.-.-o~,-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-,~.-.~.-.-.-.-
115
2. 3.-r'-m.~,h: is n. n~r.-,ti·f"e of the 12 months of the ye.-:r
c..bo ut the P.:'.!lgs of love -md sep r:r ~.t ion culminC'.ting
in union with God~ '\
3. Sihc.rfi: .An ['.crostic on the :-Qphc.bet is found only
in Punj ~.bi. It c-n be described ~s e collection end
combin.~.tion of short poems. B~,ch couplet str-:rts
with r. letter of "'.ll)hc,bet respectivcly. Generclly
~ letter hns four lines following it. Most of the
Sihcrfis st~t with Persicn ~ph~bets. The subject
me.tter is gen0rr.lly prr.ise of beloved (God).
4. Qissc.: is .gcner~l.y a story of two l·:)vers th '.t ends .
on a trc.gic note. In Punj ['.bi Qissc.s ere composcd on
Sih:::rfi, bni t c.nd mc.snc:'ri for::J.s.
5. B~it : is ~ couplet form of poem. l''lc.iyc, Singh in his ~.
Punj~bi dicti()nr.ry c ~.lls the term br,it the corrupted
I 'br.it'. form of the A:rn.bic "Tord He is not correct.
The term b;,it h.-.s been t~ken fr()m Persinn C'.s it is.
It is not c. corrupted f:il."Tl1 (Jf the lu: ,'t>ic word.
6. Dohrr.: should not be confused with the Hindi Dohc.
It has four rhymed t tukks I, "closely resembling
'chhc.nd' or Persi~ 'Qitr.'.
116
7. Vcr: originclly r. w[",r be.llc..d turned to songs in
prnise of God or 'Gurn' is composad of [". nUQlbar of
st ;;nz<'1.6 c.-llad 'p.-.uris' (steps). The se are sung by
rr.instre :-ls t'.t Shrines lilc Persi c..n Q.-.wvTclis.
Suf"i th0ught r-.nd voc~.buln.ry he.s tromondousl.y influenced,
Punj.::.bi lit6rr..t'lro. *'Thorc wc..s h~xdly nny poet of
renown who rom~incd free from this influence.'
Words like Gt~dc.i Np.shin, S2.jjad~. N[".shin, Murshid', Murid,
Pir, Khr-lifa nnd Urs [".Te quita common in Punjabi. The
Sufi concept of love crossed r..ll religious and socinl
barriers ['net penetr:--ted into the Punjf'..bi liter::--..ture in
entire:t;y Besides, the 'decepti'n 1f illusion r..nd inst~.bi-
lity of crection' bec;me r. prxt r:-..nd pnxcel of the·Punje.bi
liter~.ture •
Poets of Sufi Peri~
1. B:"'.b: .... Fo.rid
Bnb [1. Fnrid 1 s gr ~ndf~_ther Q[".zi Shur:.ib, c.ccomp C'..nied by his
three sons migrc..tcd from Kc..bul to Lt'.hor~ sometime in
AD 1157. He ''Io..s 2.ppointcd the C'i.r:o.zi of Khotwnl in Multr.>..ll
distri ct of the PUl j:lob. '-There he spent the rast of his life
. .--.-.-.-.-~-,.,~.-~-.~.-.~.~.~.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
* .Punj~.bi Sufi poets by Le>.jwr-nt Remc.krishnc. p.18 - •. - ........ .,.. .... • .:w .• ~ • - • - • ~ •. ~ • ~. -. •. -:' • - • - .• -.- ...... -; • - • - • - • - • - • ~ • - • - • - • -
117
Farid's fe.ther Jamal-ud-Din ."as married in Khotwal t.
Qarsum Bibi, daughter of Shaikh Wajih-ud-Din Khnjendi.
Balvlant Singh Ancmd names* him as Waj ibuddin .,lhich may
be ascribed- -';0 Printer's devil. **They had three sons,
Izzuddin, Fa:ic! i'Iasud and l~ajibuddin. Farid Masud was
born in 1173. As a saint and third head of Chishti
'silsila' he came to be knewn as Shaikh Fariduddin Ganj-
i-Shakar. The honorific Fariduddin was given to him
after t:re Persian sufi saint Fariduddin Attar. The
Persian title Ganj-i-Shakar, the treasury ~ sugar, was
confered on him because of some miracles ."hich he himself
was sup~ose~ to have performed. These have been dealt
vIi th in det ail by Prof. K. A. :';iz 8.o'1li in his treatise I Life
and Times of Farid I. All these miracles about sugar,
however, point to one thing i.e., the sweet words C'
Farid. Bairam Khan, Khan, -e-Khanan composed the following
couplet
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-* Baba Farid p .14 Sahi tya Akademi NevI Delhi 1975.
** Baba Farid by Balvlant Singh Anand p.25
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
118
• According t"l Nirza Vla..'rliduddfn Beg, author of I The Big
Five of India in Sufism (p.51) this couplet refers to a
miracle of' Bz.ba Farid. as stated in Tazkaratul Ashiqin and
Khazinatul Asfi~. It is said that a trader was taking
a caravan of camels laden with bags of sugar from Multan
to Delhi. vlhen he vIas passing through Ajodhan, Baba Farid
enquired casually about the contoo ts. The trader said
that it \vas salt. vlhen he reached Delhi he found that all
sugar l,oad haC!. turned into salt. He rushed back to Baba
Farid and apol~gised. Baba Farid turned it again to
sugar.
'*Farid received his early schooling in Khotwal where he
learnt Persian, Arabic and elementary principles of Quranic
study. I Later in rvIultan he studied Quran, Jurisprudence,
and theology. His absorption and trance in prayers made
people give him the nickname of 'Qazi .Bacha Diwana'.
Besides 'Ganj-i-Sh:J<:ar' vThich is a Persien compound, his
nickname is also Persian meaning orazy child of Qazi. He
opted for Kh,',aja r~utbuddin Bakhtif'..r Kaki as his guide and
teacher.
-.-.-.-.-.-~~.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-. -.-.-
*' Balwant ~ingh Anand in Baba Farid p. 15
-.-.-.-.-.-.~.-.-.-.-.-~-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
119
After completing his studies in Hultan he went to
Qandhar where he studied for five years. Then he travelled
to Iran, Iraq. Khurasan and the holy Necca, tr'avelling being
an essential part aL the life of a sllfi. He also lived at
the 'Khanqah' of Kh'il~ja Quthuddin Bakhtiar Kaki. Bakhtiyar'
Kaki 's guide and the founder of Chisti 'Silsila in India
Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti also blessed him there.
On complet ion of training as a ~iyst ic he set up a
Missionary cen.!;re at Hansi in District Hiss ax. Farid spent
t'tTO decades in Hansi. There he become very popular. Men
of different faiths loved him. *Amri Hasen Sijzi records
in the Fawaid-ul-Fua.d th.').t once F2.rid l'las offered a pair of
scissors. "Gi ve me a needle II Farid suid, "I sew I do not
cut". He wanted. to bring pe ople nearer, closer through an
understanding pf each other's faith and not bring discord
and hatred am~ng them on the basis of the superiority of ene
religion OV0r the other. TLis rewinds us ... f the proverbial
verse of the great sufi poet of Persian Maulana Jalaluddin
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.~.~.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-. -.-.-
*Baba Farid b~ Balw<mt Singh Anand p.25
-·-·-·-·"-·-te -.·-. - ....... -.-'.-.-.-.:--.-. -.-.-. -. -. -.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
120
On the demise '~f Bakhtiar Kaki, Farid 'lIas declared the
head C:L ·~r,;.~ ~~~"'.~..J~ . . :~;.. Silsilc),o La;t~~ ~:: ' ::':'-1; Delhi and Hansi
and in quest of attuining union (Vs8l) he settled in Ajodhan
later c clle d Pc..k:P att 9-Y1. (Holy Ferry) in Montgomery District
(now Sahiwal in Pakistan). There he merried and reared a
family. He died on the 15th Oct., 1265 AD.
Farid I S languege is Hindawi the e :;rly Punjabi or
Siraiki or fJlul tani Punj abi, ,·,hich may also be an early
form of Urdu. Farid is the first poet "Tho sang the songs
of spiritual quest in the language of the masses. He \Olas
a scholar and a teachero ~re identified himself with the
Indi an masses and indi ... ·anised Sufism 0 His te achings are
based on the Persian Sufi Principles of Godls love, minds
purety and detachment from the material ,-rorld. His verses
in Punjabi remembered by he:u·t travelled orGlly from gene
ration to generation till Sri Guru Nanak Dev preserved them
along .. Ti th his O'.·rn vlri tings 9 The se \OTere passe d on to the
second Guru ~ad~ vlhen in AD 1604 Guru Arjun-Dev (1563-
1606) cor:tpiled the Adi Granthr he incorpora.ted them entitled
'Shloke Shai:<h Farid Ke l • Guru !';anak is said to have
visited Pakpattan twice and me"t Shaikh Ibrah.im, a successor
of Farid. and heard him recite these verses. Guru Nanak got
121
these verses from him and preserved them f~r posterity.
M.A. ~acauliffe in his 2istory of the Sikh religion
started a contr:"lversy stating that IJuru Hanak 'Nho was born
in A.D. 1469 uould not have met the nriginal Farid. The
suocessor of :Babe. Farid , w:1.ose name vlas Shaikh Ibrahim and
,,"h~ vlas kmo'\'Tn as F2..ricl SCJ.:i recited these couplets to Gur~
Nanak.
This oaused a c~ntroversy amung the scholars of the
P\.lnj abi literature whether Baba Farid or Farid Sani was the
autual a~thor.
Prof. K.A. I"Tizami opines th2.t linguistio analysis of
these shlokas reveals that they ~ontain idioms and expre-
ssions of a much later date, and, therefore, the poet is
F2...rid Sani. HOVTever, he has not sup-)orted ~lis st atement
- by examples.
Laj,\,lanti Rc..\r.l~krishna confirms the vie,,, of Macauliffe
and supports it by one S}:1~oka found in the Gre.nth Sahib as
a shloka of Faria.. * It
(0 Shaikh no ~ife in this world is stationary. The seat
on vlhich I am, se 8.ted has be cn occupied by many).
Ii
-·-·-·-·-·-·~/W.~,-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-. -.-.-
* Adi Granth ~sa Shaikh Farid Shlok 5.
-. -. - . - ......... ,;.;-- . :.. - .~ ':'" _. - . - . - , ~ ;~ .. - . - . - . - . - . - . -. - . - . -. -. - . - . -. -. -:
122
From the mea.11.ings of the second line she deduces tha.t
it '-las Farid Sa..."li because he T,Tas a descendant.
J3elwfl.nt Singh A..11.and in his book B::..oa F:::.rid comments
on Laj"lanti Ramakrishna's conclusion;'-
*"This is an amazing conclusion. The shlnka merely
speaks of the impermanence of life and points out the
passing away of the ancestors of Shaikh Farid. Even Baba
Farid had tvTO spiritual ancestors, :i3akhtiyar Kaki E'nd
Muin-un-Din Chistti;..i. And the ancestory of Farid has been
traced to Umar FaruQ.. It is difficult to agree vlith Laj-
wanti Ramakrishna because such an imp.rtant issue cannot be
decided by the intcrprct'.i:ion of one single shloka and
that too, in our opinion errone .·~s ene".
Looking to the passage Gf a long time when Baba Farid's
verses were transElitted orally from generation to generation,
alterC".tions and modifications of language are b~und to creep
in when the verses vlere written there may have been some
more modifinations to make them up-to-date. However, the
content nnd st~Tle remains to be the s 2me • The thought and
rythm hardly chenee. Nult2..ni vocanu18xies mixed vlith
Persian words arc evident in the verses. Folk music and
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
* Baba F~'id P.36 8nd 42
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-,~.-.'~.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.- .-.-.-
123
the rural scone of Punjab provide the tunes and similies.
The verses also represent the culture of the IIDple of
Nultan end Montgomery. There exists a co-relo.tion betv/'cen
the life of Farid ~~d his verses.
vie agree with B~H.:'.nt Singh An811d "Tho has ably tackled
-this question. He concludes th&t *these verses "Tere written
by Baba Farid Ganj Shakar. II
There are 130 shlokas ascribed to Baba Farid in Guru
Granth Sahib but 18 of these are shlokas of varicus gurus,
which come as comments ::>n s orne verses. r!loreover, not all
the verses of Farid Here includ8d in the Adi Granth as Guru
Arjan Dev incorporatod only selections of 'bhagats'. Perhaps,
he 'vanted to maintain auth3nticity. There too he left cut
many prominent bhcgats 0",~.:.:J. Tulsi Dass, ?I.1~"i : . b_. If
the verses be10nged to Farid Sani, it would have been clearly
indicated in the A.di Gr::-nt:1. as is the !!>a.6e of all other
verses written by Gur~,s and bhagets to "Thorn these are
ascribed clearly. Farid Sani was th0 title of Shaikh
Ibrahim. The verses are not ascribed to Shaikh Ibrahim.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-**Bab a Farid p .36 and 42
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-. -.-.-.-
124
125
Shah i>Iiran....ii
IShamsul Ush".c~' Shell Hirc.nji (d.902 AII) \"ns a great seint.
A£ter completing his bo.sic educ:-:.tion he \-Ient ,.,n pilgrimage.
He sta.yed in Nedina for tWE:lve ~rec..rs. He returned to
South India,'Decczn end settled outside the rompart &f the
city of Bijcpur. lie beccme 2 desciple of Khwaja Kamalu-
ddin Biabani who was considered to be 'Khalifa' ef Hazrat
Banda Nawaz Gaisoo Daraz Khvl~ja Syed N.,hammad Hussaini.
He vIas a Chishi:i.sufi. He is burried vn I Shahpur Teela'.
on the outskirts of Bijcpur. Ther~ fu a dome built over
the grave. Every year ~ lursl is held there.
His werks
1. Rasala !Chush Nama 1068 AI-! (1&57 A\). ). Poetry en
Hasnm·ri Pc..ttorn
2. Rase.J..a Khush l'!c,ghz contains 72 couplets divided under
3. Ras~a Shchadc.tul"Haqiq.'J.t. This Resala c~nta!.ns 563
coup:lets in sufi strnin. Besides therd arc t,'fO tracts' in
prose entitled III Jcltcxang ' and 'GUlb~1 discussing sufi e
subjects.
126
The extent of Persi:->n inf'luence on Sh~:.h Mir.-.n,ji' s 'vorks . is notevlOrthy from ·thE.; t i tlQS which 2Xe ::-~l Pers ion
except t\-10 Gl.'lbn.s .::nd Jn1.t~..r['.ng. In one of these two
also the Persian word Gul (flow0r) is there. Some of'
his verses ~e given belew ~d the Persi~n words are ,
underlined therein :
128
Not a single couplet is free from Persian "tlords.
3. Shc..-:':':';:.:-:: ": ':'r, Farid Soni li .... rod bo+'~'T6en AD 1450 and
1575 n According to Lajwanti RomDkrishna* he "tTas the . . eleventh deGcendont of Fariduddin. ·Quoting 'Gulzar-e-
Faridi' she gives thv following genealogical order:-
1 e Hazrat Bc.ba. Fnriduddin Ganj-i-Shakar
2 o' Diwan Badruddin Sulaiman
3" Diw:m. J:..la.uddin f:1auj -i-Dorya
4.,DhlanMuizzuddin
5. Fir Fazluddin
6 0 Khwaja DhlCl1 MUnmT8r Shah
70 ?ir DhU3n Bahauddin Rerun
8 e Fir Shaikh Ahmad Shoh
9" P ir At aul.l c..h
10" IGn'1l.:!.ja. Shaikh Mohammad
11 ~ Shaikh Ibrahim S~i~
'A.ccording to I~1aulena \A/'ahid Ahmed Masood*f Mirza ~ilahidudin: ***
~~*** and Abdul GhafGor Qureshi, Farid Sani was the twelfth
-.-~-.-u-c-·-·-.-.-o-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-~
i(. Punj ~bi Sufi Poets p" 22
** Razrat B&ba Fariduddin Ganj Shaker (Urdu) Pok Academy Karachi 1965
***The Big Five of India. in Sufism p.78
**** Punjabi ~abc.n :Ja Adb Te Torikh (Punjab) P!97
o - 0 - U - 0 ._'. - n - • - Q - • - • - C - D - • - • - • - • - • - • - • - • - • - • - • - • - • - • - • - • - • - • -
129
, Saj j ada N ashin' of' B c.b D. Farid' s 'g ruidi '. 'The ·la-tcr_.
giVGs·thc f'ollowing ordcr:-
1. Sh~ikh B.~ruddin Sulei~an
2. Khwaja Diwon Pir Allc.uddin 1~D.uje Darya
3. KhHajo. Dhran fJIoizzuddin
4. Khwaja Diwnn Nohd. Pir Fazl
5. Khwaja MunaNGr Shah
6. Shaikh Nuruddin
7. Shaikh B ahaw al uddin Harun
8. Divlan Yunus
9. Dil-l an Shaikh Ahmed Shah
10. Diwan Pir Attaullo.h
11 • Kh,.,aja Shaikh Mohd.
12. Shaikh Ibrahim Forid Soni.
Farid Sani remainod rSajjada Nashin' f'or 42 years. He died
in 959 AH 0551 A~.). He wrote shlokas in Punjabi with a
larger content in Lohnda Multani dialect. Besides he wrote
kafis and a Nasih?t Nama. *A manuscript of' Nasihat N81lla is
in the Punjab University' Library Lnhorc (Pckistan). He too
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
'* Punj'J.bi Adn.b P.35 by )iohd. SqrVP.r ICrechi -.-.-~-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-~-.-.-.-.-.-. -.-.-.-
-.-~-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.- -.~.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.~.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-,
* Confusion persists among scholars about the authenticity
of the couplets whether the se belcng to Be-be. Farid or
;;Shoikh Ibrc.him. The controversy however :hc.rd.l.y 'affects . -.. ..-our topic. ' -. -. -. - ~ -. -. -. -. -. -. -. -. -.. - . - . - . -. - . - . - . - . -. - . -. ...;. .;- . -. - . -. -
131
Besides tho use nf P~rsicn vocabulary and the mystic
thought it is no::be'tlorthy thC'.t mont of the c ou,plets ~pen
, .. ith FD..rid::~ which is an originnl. use of Persian vocative
Alif, Farina mG~ing 0, F~..rid.
Darshrul Singh lI-laini also rakes the doubt about the
identity of tho origincl Fnridwho lived about 300 years
before Guru Nanak and states:
* I It is nOvl an est ablishe d fact (If Sikh ScripturaJ.
scholarship that Farid whom Gur\l Nanok, founder of Sikh
faith, is supposed to havd met was not the originaJ. Farid,
whe lived some three hundre~ years before him.'
Naturally enough, he met Farid Sani who passed on the
shlokas, of the originaJ. Farid to him. Such transference
of memorised verses of religious significance is not
unknown to the Eastern mind. For instance sacred Vedas and
the holy Korc.n too reached the pf'sterity initiaJ.ly through
memory
-.. -. -. -. -. -.. -. -. -. -. - . -. -. - . - . -. - . - . -. -. -. -. -. -. -. -. -. -. -:- .'-* Studies in Punjabi poetry p .12
-.-. -. -. - i -. -. -. -. -. - • -. - • -. -. -. -. -. -. - .- • -. -. -. - .... -. -. - .• -.
o
132
*4. Shah Burhanuddin Janam
He was ShCl.h ftlirDllji Bijapuri's son as \'lOl1. as 'KhaJ.ifa ' ,.
HG 'lIas educa.ted by his fc.thor. He was a great sufi. He
wrote ['.. m,;lmber of mystic ·cracts, Dohre:.s, KhD¥aJ. and many
small and simple poems.
He died in 990 Ali ( ). He was buried at' his
fath~r IS tomb at Bij:;:.pur. His poems have Arabic titles
like Wasiatul Hadis ~\Tasimul Klam Ramoozulwasilin,
Bosharatulzikr, Irshad Nama, etc. So far as the thought
and content of his compositions arc concerned these indioate
* In 'Irmaghan-e-Mclik' pro Waheed Qureshi objects that
some Punjabi historians of literatur~. ha.ve included him
in the list of Punj 3bi poets where8.s ,Je.nam \'Ies a Deccan
poet. The le arncd _f?ch~c.r has overlooked the fact tJ::lat
his langu~e 'is ;,punj a.bi. Geographic distance cannot be ( ,
a valid re~son not to include Janem in the list of
Punj c.bi poets.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-~-.-,-.-.-.-.-~-.-.~ : \J
133
Beside~ he has often uscd Pcrsi~ words l~k: J,. t" ~_ -AP-I ~ _ r I - ..tJ Lt>. -- ~ -\7_ (\: - !f'! - / t:; \ ~ U J tY ( ~ ,
~ -~~ -ft. " In his longost poem Irsh"..d Ncuna writt~n in 990 AH ( \S8~~~ as he himself st~tcs in ~is Punjabi couplet using P~~sian
words for numer~~s. \.!JL .~)~;{ ~J ,
l:)b ~ ~\:~L:;,.JI ... .$
5. Madho Lal. Shah Huss ain
His fathcr becc.me muslim in th3 reign of Humayun and
acquired the muslim name Shaikh Usman, in place of Hindu
name Kalasrai. He belonged to Rajput Dhadha community and
stayed in Lahore.
:fI'Iadho Lal Sheb Huss ain W£1.S born in 945 AH (AD 1539)
and died in 1008 AH (At> IS"~~) at the age of 6B. A state-
, Bakhshi Ram Singh author of I Sat Sit are' writes that he was
born in AD 1570. He met Guru Arjan Dcv at Lahore. Actually
134
Guru Arjan Dev had requested e number of Saints, Sufis,
Dervishes and bhegats to s'_\bmit their composition for'
selection and inclusion in Guru Granth Sahib. Madho LaL
Shah Hussain met him and recited his poetry. However, Guru
Arjan Dev rejected his compositions.
He got his education, at Naulavi Abu .Bakr's school
situated on the b-ank of Ravi outside Taksali Gate Lahore.
At the age t:'f sixteen he was well known as Lal Hussain. He
wore saffron coloured clothes and led en ascetic's life.
Then he became a disciple of Shaikh Bahlol Deryai. Later
he spent 26 ye are in worship at the tomb of Dat a Ge.njbakhsh.
After serving as 'Nujc.vir' of his mentor's tomb he died and
\-Ias buried by his si:le. Mc..dholol h<:'..d sixteen Khclifas after
him. His verse iG \-Tritten in simple: Punjabi slightly over-
laid with Persicn ~~d Arabic words. His poetry is written
in Kafi ond Sih::\X'fi form. It is s\'TCet and warm. The Persian
mystic influel1ce on him and his com::>osi.tion is prominent.
Here we give specimens of his poetry und~rlining the Persian
w('lrds.
U~I J-' ~~ II) ~-' ~
136
*Lajwanti R~olcrishna writes: liThe following two traits of
his charo.cter affirm the influence of Persio.nism".
IThe first trait ,,,as his 2.ciciiction to liquor.
Needless to sc.y, "rine drinkinG Dnd C',oncing in the winehouse
" became a part of his saintly profession. And when, drunk,
he ...,10uld dcnce~ sing his O...,ln poems, and preach t., the
crowds ,.,rho g::,.thered round him. 'The Indi~ystic in generaJ..
o.nd the PUl'1jabi sufi in particular avoided wine o.nd led
simple lives, but the sufis of Persia \..rere often pleasure-
loving pe ople • It does not mean tho.t they all indulged in
drinking~ but some of them did truste the material wine
which had a .ymbolic meaning in their poetry.
The second obviously Persian trait was his love of a
youth •••••••••• The idea of loving a youth, originally Greek
was borrowed by the iVIuslims of Islamic countries, especially
of :Persia. I
The author has not, however, authenticated her sweeping
statement by specific examples. She has bo.sed her claim on
exception rather than rule.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-~-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-~~.-
* Punjabi Sufi poets p.39
-. -. - . - . -. -. -. -. -. -. - . - . - . - . - . - . -. -. -. - . -. -. -. - . - . - . - . - . - .-.
137
6. Sultan B~
"-Sultan Bohu '1TaS born at; village Awan, District Jhang in
1039 AH (AD 1630). His father's name was Sultan Bayazid
lVIohemmad. He had a mystic bent of mind from his childhood.
Shah Habib B8&hdedi guided him to renounce the world. He
was a Sar\-Tari Qederi Sufi saint. He died in 1102AH (AD 1691).
He was buried at Qehrgan near Jhang. He was a writer and
poet of Persian and Punjabilil His style in poetry is some-
what comparable to the Persian style of Maulana Rumi the
great Persian mystic.
His Persian works: It._ is said that Sultan Bahu "Trote 140
mystic books. Among them were Shamsul Arifin; Ivliftahul
Uifin; Mohkamulfaqr; Ainul Faqr; Aql-e ... Bedar, and Diwan-
e-Bahu.
His Punjabi collection;- Abiyat-e-Bahu is a collection of
his Punjabi verses, Almost all his Punjabi couplets end
with 'Hoo'. His complets axe popular with Qa\-lwaJ.s.
He being a Persian as '-lell as Punjabi writer and poet,
Fersian influence on his Punjabi poetry and language is
m,re than evident as in the following couplets~ The Persian
words are underlined.
138
139
~yed Ali Haider J.VIultan=i:,
His father's name was Shaikh Mohammad Amin. He was born on
the 1 st Shab con 1101 (AD 1690).;-t Kazia' or' Chauntra, Dist.
f<lul tan. 1-1e vras a Gilani Sye d. His "{uido \'ras I{h\'raja
Fakhruddin Dehlavi. A sufi saint, he .,ras a good scholar of
Persian and Arabic. He died in 1199 AH (AD 1785). He
wrote Si Harfi; Bara Mah. and Kafis. His collection is
entitled 'Kalam-o-Abiyat-e Ali Hyder' (Published in 1325 Ali
(Ab. \C1o/ ). Majmooa-eAbyat Ali Haider was published
by Malik Fazal Din of Lahore. His verses \-rere very popular
among sufi saints. His five 'si harfis' are of great
literarYI1'e.l.UQ as bp.sides ..Love he has painted the picture
of sorrows of his period.
*In the opinion of Maulana Wa~ar Ambalavi 'his style
resembles that of Habib Qaani so far as ar~angement of words
and beauty of lnngur'.ee is concerned, but for his descript ion
and expresoion he resembus Hafiz'.
Baba Budh Singh also compared Haider \vith Hafiz of
Shiraz. We quote from his verses on Nadirshah's invasion
to demonstrate Persian influence on his language. Persian
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.~.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-. -.-.-.-
*~unjabi Sufi Poets p.95
(Hans Kag p.181 (as ~uoted i~ P~njabi Sufi poets p.95)
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-~-.-.-.-.-.-~-.-.-.-~-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-. -.-.-.
140
words have been undcrlil1.c~ L'L/ .,- / " uJV_' ~ ~~'~ ~ ~ U/ WJ.V:/US~ d. U) u ~ 1/; J( bf u) ul--:JULii ~~'l{
"",'" ....1
uj V ~L,-yu~/t; d.-J! 0 -i.> vtv>f L-Jjf --- ~I~
4 ~
Uty~0~;' ;'~-?0.JJ j ~ <!:--.) U~j? G~ , /' ./ ./,/ L ~ u) u~ k' J L!-Y ~ L-:Y Wu;\!JU ~ £
/ .
<.J} u~b.J <JLJlcl ,: o./:,,_~IU~L ?u~;1 ~ ( v.. Y '-
-"'I
U j U ~ ~ U \J I), 10/ d- u -L;-.l-i J u ~~:} j " J- -If ~ /
-i-U_~y' V_~ ~I U~u \f; u ~2 u \j'~ u l; I . (
I :J l~ \ I:. '" /, \)/ / U3 cJ..: U.U~-d-~· ~ ~- ~ J~:> U ~ -.,...J ) . ..0.-':' _ _0 __
v) u ~ 0 I u~c0 u li I u 1.1 ~ ~ u Y I '"'" ,
141
In the third line Farsi an e..nd Khoros ani an refer
to Nadirshah and his troops. In the 2nd line 'Tooranion'
refers to :'Ti:uomulmulk "Tho joined Nc.,dir Shah. Persian words
8. Allama Ghulom Qadir Sh£ili ~c.talvi
He was the. successor son of Shaikh Fazil Batalvi. His
title was 'Ahl-Allo..h' and his pen nome \tTas Ghulam. He
\-Trote poetry in Punjabi; Persian and Arc.bic. He used
Perso-Arabic su:fi ~erms in his poetry. He died in 1176 AH
( p.. t \ V6 ~)). He wrote Sifo.ul Mirc.t ;:;nd Ramzul Ashiqin.
R3I!lZul Ashiqin is in the Persi~n masno.wi form. His Punjabi
collection is entitled 'Mo.jr.lOoa-e··Q.acliri'. Ramzul Ashiqin
is olso included in it. To demons-tro.te the extent ~f
Persian influence on his langu 8.ge \tTe quote and underline
...
-
142 \
0) \ J~ ~~~,J -;"'J L' -
.. *Syed Buileh Shah Qadri' . Qas~r{ t sanccstr~ hjme was a
village 'Uch Gilanian t in nehawalpur. 'Tarikhn ASfia t
.connects his lineage to Shaikh Abdul Qadir Jila.rii. while
Tarikh-e-Uch written by Maule.na fl10hanunad Hafizur Rehman
BohawQlpuri connects him to Shaikh Abdul Qadir Jilanits son
Abdul '~o.heb. His kafis nre very popul£lrt These arG sung by
singers 2l".(l. rt:'"1tJ~·T.:-l.s. This Punj::~bi ::ui'i enjoys such a great
reputation th<:.t in the Hords or: Laj'o1Dl1ti Rmnakrishna 'he, is
one of tho gre?tcst sufis ~f the world and his thought equals
that of JaJ...olnddin Rumi and Shoms Tabriz of Porsia l , Buileh
Shah's poetry revives and represents the strong and pious
Pun j o,bi c harc.cter and no.t urG •
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-~-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.- ... -.~-* Kulliat-e- Bulleh Shah by Dr. Faqir Mohammad
Faqir Amritsar edition - • - • - ............. --. • -. - • - • - ~ -' '. j ..... . ,-.- .-.-.-.-.-.-,-.-.-
~ -'-.-.-.-.-.-.~.
143
Bulleh Sh':'1.h lfT;;.8 born in the village P~doki of Kasur
in tho Lahore diotrict in the y02.r 1,680 AD~ His f.::l.ther' s
name ewes Sel-;:hi Shc.h FIoh2.IT1mud lJ:....rv()S,h. Bullesh Shah bec2ll1e
a disciple of Arc.in Inayat Shc:..h much to the displeasure of
his fomily bocB.usc Inrwat Shah \;e.s a g.:>xdener. Bullesh Shah
has of ton n~cd and ~r~sed hi~ guide in his verses such as ~
in this ~ ~ /0 > o~t;,dZ
,~ i~ ~~ ~}fuii -~~ o~h/ ,J/::
..I ~ <::::- \J~ ()' t !.
(Listen to the tale of Bullesh Shsh, he has caught hold of a ,
guide who \iill guide. ~1y master Shah Inayat will get me
sclvation. ) ~
Shall. Inayat 'irote in Persian, and n£',.d tremendous influence?
on Bullesh Shah. A manuscript of 'Dasturul Am?~' .. written
" by Inayat Shdh is in the possession of his successors in
Lahore. The trc,ct decls with ancient Hindu methods of att-
aining salve.tion. ,)' !!
~ 'The follo\Ti!).g arc his Persian works' nOvT in the possession
of his Khalifa descend~t Shaikh Siraj uddin:-
Islahul iunal; Lo.teif-e-Ghaibiya; Irshadul Talibin and
Notes on JawsJ:lir KhcmsD. 0" rllohd. Ghaus of Gwalior. ~
( Shell
-.-.-~-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.~.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-~-.
*. PunjabiSufi Poets p.66 . """ _ • _~ • ~ ~ __ .~ _ • _ e. _ • ~ • _ • - • _ • _ .- _ .- _ • _ •. _ • _ • - • _ 0. __ • _ . _ . _ . _ • -:- . _ . _ . -- .-_ . -_ • _-- -~
144
Inayat was his spiritual desc€)ndD-'1.t).
Hullcsh Sha'l1. broke away fr~m his fronily and became
independcnt. Far. thiry ye ars he se:!:'v€)d as 'G~ina.shin' ~~
of Sho,h Inayat and, di€)d in 1758 AD.
Bullcsh Shah's Poctry
Sufis o·f Punjab gCl1Gre.'lly borrm"e(~ from Persian the terms
describing various parts of the Beloved. Th€) rose-g~rden
and 'bulbul.'; characteristic of Persian poetry were, freely
borrowed •. However, Bullesh Shch wrote straight and simple
poetry. He was the one who diGcnrded convention and tra-
dition. Vie d 0 not notice f.:::.ntc.stic description of· eyes~
nose, checks and tresses of'the Be~ovcd in his verses. His
poetry is natural with a natural appeal. His verses are
divine. vie give ro 10-1 specimens of his "poetry eoni::aining
Persian terms "Ihieh wc; have underlined •
• , J.~ 0> L-, J\".~.\ u' -'z' ./ - .,... " . ..r-
--------.~~.~ ~
-? I J >--:'" (. ,J->-"'~~; ()) ~ - ~. I ~ ~ ":-' \ -.:.. ~ (j y '-' ~ L.-10~ 0/fi' \.b\) y.!.. - ""'-I <..J>.~":::"- J~ <;' ,..('../,
145
10. A.bdi \-Tas 2. sufi-saint in. A.urangz~b .Al.amgir's period. , He died in AD 1707~ A few I Do Barga.: f and 'Dobras' written
~
by him are ava:il able. All contain ~rsian words. A specimen ,
of his Dobarga and Dohra:s is given t2low and the Persian . terms in these are underlined:-
~._._._._._._._._'_'_._._~_.-'-.-.-'-.-.-.-.~.~d~.-'-' -.-.-0, • ~ "... 0 -
* Foem. starting with 'Uth .;rag Ghul"are filar Nah:i:nf
-.-.-.-.-.~.-.-.-.-.-.-.-~-.-.-.- ... -~-.-.-.-.-.-.~.-.-~-.-.-~
146
I
147
11. Shailfh Nc .. sj.ru+~ HnSl
~He '11:'..5 0. disciple of ~h~il:h Abulf:1Xj Fr-.zil .. C\.din Shr-,h
Br-.. tclf'.vi. He ',;roto Persi.-n <'.nd Punj ..... bi- poetry under the c
nom-de-plume I NC1.&iir I. He h;"'..d .:-. sufistic bent of mind.
Persirn influence is evident fro~ the str~ins and terms o~
(, / hj;s poetry as in his j.ol10T'T~ verse~: - , .. L ~j ~)i)Jt3 t/~U .J·k ~~» ~ <.3 J IJ 0' V. \,~ ~~I d ~ ~-'" ::
. . -.' --t!)I!if.G-i}if~I,))l;0/' ~ 0)u.-! .f~~J'u~~~':':'~
12, Mohd. Ibrrllim Khushd~
His f.:--.. ther Q("..zi Ziaul H("..q· migrc-.. ted from Ircn ;",m settled . in Garhi Shr-..hu, L':--.hore. Mc-.u'lnvi Noor Ahmed Chishti, c.uthor
of Tc..hQ.iq2.t-e-Chishti 'Y::-.dg:"'.r-e-Chishti r; Tohfr.-e-Chi.shti
Chishti fcmily IS mc .. sterpiece is the compilc.tion 'of ~ • -., . ·1
'RoZn2mchc.' of IvI['llc.rr-.jc. RC'.l1jit Singh in 22 volumes.
* 'Khushdil died. in' 1201 Ali ( p\ \> ~? e-b) according to Abdul \.
Ghc.£oor Qureshi I s ~tc.tement but occording to r·T::,.hqiqc..t~-
Chish~i I ~ .die d in
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-. -.-. -.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-~.-.-.-.~ -.--*Pu'njc.bi~ Zcb'c.ll d't-. Ad.-:-.b to. Ti'rikh p .134 - • - • - • - • - ,. - . - . - . - • - . - . - • - . - .'1- • - • -. - ... -. - . - _ - _ - --. -
148
1195 AH ( ~D \ '7 8'{ ) .
Shah Habib is said to have existed in 12th century AH
( ~ S>, \ ~ 1'5) .. Beyond trhis nothing is known abo~t him ' ) I ~ , ~ •
Dr. flIohan Singh Diwana has given specimens 0'£ ~s 'poetry .~ . ,. .
J..n nJ..S book ,,' Soofian de Kalam'. We quote'here some lines
149
Shah JI'Iur,.d'~ to:nb is situated in Landa Chand near Dera "
Ismael Khc.n.. He is said to have been in 12th century An
( I % ~GL~J,~~ • Det'2.ils of' his life are not correctly known; .
It is said thp.t he H['.S a disciple 6f sultan Bahu, pu1:; he' ~
Nas a. 'Khalifo.' of Sult2.n NCt.urang Shah. His '/lorks Abyat-e-
Shc.h Murad and 'Charkha r ere availa.ble. 'Persian ryhmes and
words are
150
He also wrote 'Rekhta/ .. . _.' early form of Urdu poetry_ *AbdUl
Ghaf.oor Qu,reshi, ha:s includ~d 13 couplets in' this strain
151
, ., "
Hot much is knm-ln a.bout this se.int..:.poet. In History of
Punjabi l~gu~~c and literature (Punjabi) Abdul Ghafeor
-Qureshi introdu'ces him in these few sentences' on page 149.,
'He was a s aint-pcet, "a I Si-HC1xfi ~ of his is found",
publishe d ,-lith I Shutur N ema Shz.ra.f r • A laree nUlJlbe,r of
Arabic and Pcrsi.::m "lords 2..rC found in his langu8g0. His . . 'Abiyat-e-Sain Gauhar has be~ome rare';
His thought and vocabulru-y is undar the influence .e Persian mystics and language in entirety. A large number
of Pers'ian w~rds are found in his verses such "as the under-1
152
Almost nothirlg is knOl.,rn about Syed Kar81Tl Ali Shah whose I
poetry has" Y'Gctc'hed·us·'thro·ugn singing f'uqirs and minstrels.
*Laj,,, anti Ramakrishna, however, m2.de some rese arch about
the poet 2nd found a 'slightly worn-eaten and forgotten C0PY'
of his book 'Khayal ' in ]\lr. Edi. z-ur-Rehman's librory. The
m8Xluscript is copied by Moh.d. Ni,,,o.z 'dno attests that it was
the',: 'work ot', his master Syed Karam Ali Shah. From the
verses it o.~pe ers .th.:;~t the poet met his ,'m urs hid r at l'faler-
(In J:.ialerkotla Pir Hussain showed his be autiful face to
Ksr~ Ali 1. St~.ck :t9:th~~~eloV."ed).
It seems thc .... t his ':9ir', per'mal'l.ant'ly st~ed 'at Batala. in
c!-. t}'.V ~ J-l' V / (Karam Ali come on to Ba~ala people are worrying my life).
According to the orcl evidence of minstrels he. lived .~ in ~he
reign of Maha.r2..jc. Ranjit Singh. r.I~ be he was born in the
reign of Maharaja Ranjit Singh but died under the British.
rule.
~' • 't ._ . •
-. -. - • - • -;..~-... - •. - • - e. 7 • ~ ~~!~: "'. ~ · - • ~ · - ~ - ,;- · - · -.~ - · - 1 - ., - • -. -. - • - • - • .. ,.
* Punjabi. Sufi Poet~ p .124 {footnote)
.... ~ • - • ~ • - • - • -:- .' - • ~ • - .... - • - • - • - • - • - • ~ ... - • - • - • - • - • - • - • - • - • - • - • -:! • ~ • -",<>' ') ~ i < ,
153
(Karamali go to the city of Batal.a, embarking the train
going to Fhilla'u.-r).
The existence 0= trcin while m lived in Punj ab le ads us to
our above conclus-ion. The rail\vay to Dnd fro .. from Philla:ur
started in 1870 AD.
His poetry is the usual po~try ~f popular sufi school.
Islemic t.hought is predomihent .in it but it contains ideas
of various -schools of religion. ",In a po-em he praises Lord \
Krishrla playirlg vii th 'Gopies', ~d calls himself a 'gopi'.
In another verse the ho~y prophet Mohammad is p,raised as the
'best prophet. ' Like Persian sufis he sang of 'Hadi' ari'Q:)
" yearned for union, with God.
The 'Khayal' form of music.is 'Kafi' sung in different
tunes in Punjabi. 'Khayal' in Persian means 'thought'.
Usually Kafis were different versif'ied thoughts of the poets.
The collection of Kara.me~i \vas, therefore" named Khayal.
The manuscript consists of 80 Kafi9" 17 ghazals, 12 'lories'
2 Dohras,' KD.r.l!!I.!!l~i is perhaps the first ?un~ abi poet who
,wrote ghazals on the pattern 'af Persian g,hazals. The poems , .
have faults of' prosody but are musical. We can' notice the~
poetic bE! z.uty-, . Persian sufi thought and the Persian words
in them. For e~amples~
, (The end has come,' Dovll1stairs there is the. message of de ['.th; . ,.
~
Let' us. -go I{;e..ram. Shah, All t,roubles will be over)
155
o·
17. Khwaj'a 'Ghult>m Fari.£.
He was bo~n at Chachran in the Bahavla.lpur state in 1841.
His father's name was Maulana Khud.a ,Bakhsh. v-Then he was
only eight years old his father died., Hl.s elder bro,ther
. .' KhvlajaFekhruddin b~ought him up ~d became his teacher
and spiritual guide~ Ghulam Far.id \·I,.:.S an established sufi . . ,
s-aint with thousands of follmvcrs ;i.n Sindl, Baluchistan, ,
Bahawalpur ,and Rajputana. He w+,ote in Persian, Urdu,. Hind,i
and Multani. His Nultani Ka:fis. ~d Dohas ·are very pop-ular.
He is considered to be the greatest poet of the Multani
dialect of Punjabi. Abdul Gh2.foor Qureshi in his History
of the Punjabi languoge 'and literature (p.15S) places him
in. the line of the spiritual. Sindhi bard Shah Abdul Latif
Bhit~i "and Waris Shah of Heer. f.ame. He goes further ·to claim
the.t Ghulam F,9Xid' s. vers.es are more popular than Waris Shah's
'Heer r. We qannot ascri be to this vie·w wh..ich is overzealous.
It is -an este.blisl1cd £'"act that a book of ' verse :is still to
-seethe,.light of dG\t to overshadow Heer by vlaris in popularity.
156
However, Ghulom Farid' s verses arc a vcUuable part of the
Punjabi folklo~e now sung by Qawals. He has written the
largest "n'umber of' 'Kciis' in Punjc.bi. Under the pe.tronage I
of' the ruling~family of' Bc.ha'l'lalpur Fx:-id's 'Kafis' were
published under the nCJIle 'Asrar-e -Faridi' alias lli'wan-e-, '"
Faridi' '" He experienced 'iith new metres in Kc::Lfi with
success. He died in 1900 AD., His tomb is in Mithan Kot.
. -His poetry is simple, fluent and ballad like. The local
. languageand culture is prominent in his poetry. He has
used Persian words, in his poetry und here they are in proo,f
of ~ersian influence. For inst2nce:
./ , ? ) C) • .1 ~~....,-.b (' . ./J l..: --" ------
I' < ~ \... . .Uj-J -~~U· --_._---
" -\ 0.N./{ 2- .0.5.) .
u l,) ~ ~ uL~:~ d <..:f .......
157·
b . . b '--"..... "----'..I ..... ,
~
158
§ome lesser !.r:noHn s.J,.1.fl:..J2..Q.£ts _qf. I-.. y'!!jc.bi __ @A Pe~ian i~fluence on their po~t:r_y>
"-Sufi litorc.turc proQ.u.ced~"l by many other poctsDnd writers
is available o.t v2Xious librories, :.)orsonal collections
c-nd f2Illily :J.rchivos of the Punjab. HOvlOVOT, not much is
kno'''n a.bout these litoratupres. vie have to re~or-t to the
litera-ture itself to ascor~ain tho names end' places 'of the
(!J writers and composers. While confess~ng helplessness in
.digging out details in this respect vlO do state tho.:t a .gre at !
deal' of Persian influence on the thought and language of
these lesser known poets is evident and inevita,le. We
underline the Persian \-lords '-lhi.le quot ing Punj abi poe=try of
various poet s.
18. Khaki Shah &pet ails not known) _. U· ')W
. .,. (. ,
/ ,
) -According to Abdul Ghafoor Qureshi he vias the gui.de and
teacher of Shaikh Mohd. Faziluddin Shah Batalavi. He was
a saint. Nothing m~r~ is "known about him. He too has
u.sed Persian vlords as they appecx in the specimens of his
poetry·as underlined
20. Sh::'.hSh£:£.c.f Bat p~ nvi.
His gro.ndfather. was a '.Qanunge" (Court assessor) in Bat ole
(Punjc.b). He '\"Cl,S a 'Kha.tri' HindU of 'Puri' caste.' He
embr8.ced Isla.m. Shc.h: Shard wns born in 1659 AD and died
in 1725 AD. His grcve if:; in Lo.hore. He left his home. after ,
a quarrel with his' wife, went to Lo.hore and be6cme a discipl~
of 'Shaikh Shcrd'. Some of his "Kafis' in Sufi strain are available. He frequently ~ses 'Persian words •. A 'Shutur.no.mp'
In his Kafi s 'Persian '"lords
J-f!{}
...
r? , .. '
~_I .. . " ..
160
J- )~ \J b -C;)LY
) u./'-' -' ..... /
-~?
r~" are noticed.
He di0d in 1137 AH (PrlS t'1ot ~ ). He belonged to
Lahore. Dr. Mohan Singh DivTana has given a specimen of his
poetry in Sufi poetry. He wrote' 'Barah Mah' and 'Chaubargas'. . .
He vias a disciple . of Shah Amanat re longing to 'Noshahia"
sect of sufis. Haji Noshah vTho died in 1103 Ali ( )
.was the founder of. this sect. Faqirulle.h composed a masnavi
'Dur-e-Maknun I in Sufi st;re.in cont.c.ining ove.r one thou,sand
couplet s. This masnavi '"las written in 1-204 AH ( -I: •
Faqirullah I s language is 2. mixture of Punj abi, Hindi and
.Persian. We quote here a fevl coup~ets conta.ining Persian
~ords (underline~)
)
. ,/ ~
No'dej;ails arc kno\"Tn about him. His masnavi Shirin Farhad
is -in mystic style.. His laxlgUagc is sim'ilar to Bhasha
24, Naim
No det ails arc know'n •
. £2..L Sain Lane.t.~,,§: ,
Details 'not known'
162
Det ails not known
27, Sain VTe.ris
HG belonged ti village Nakhial in District Rawalpindi. C • • • ~
Ho wrotG Barahmah, GhazaJ. and Bait. The.sG are included
in tho book Sils,tile. Naqshhandi compi10d by him. His poetry
is m~stio poetry. Persian words abound in his versos:-
. ~I J I-~ ::..-? u VU'JJ ~r - ,,':' Lf 0\:F I~ UJ,~ ~ LI 0.> YI~~IZJ~'0-u'lt':?~~ )<'--~~ ll~-=~~~-'
.. {\ .
v-...
0~~1'~)~1~ .---... -
0~!'~'Uy 'I:; 1-
163
28. Umar Bruchsh Dervesh ---------No dot nils arc· knovTn. He ,,,rotc? Siharfis and Ponjoai t as.
, .
29. Syed AMear. Shah
A mystic poet of Nult::-.ni dialect of the Punjabi lenguagc
~~ wrote Knfis and the love-tale of Sassi-Funun. He also, wrote
tQisa r'Iisrit. It was published in 1910 &D.' This book is full
164
of' Pcrsi8Xl i'1ords. There is a. . rof'ercnce to the
date of" the composition of' the Qi,ssa.
1(1)7 A· M
r;'JI,' oU:/..:! ~ d1: u '" ~
(~~;. L It~ ~·V C~· , ~'.J:J ) d C/ ) ..-...- ." - '~ ,-- -
/Various Persian words f'orm fRadif'f(last sy.llabic word
of' his poetry such r~/- e;- (~.-. {- (' '- f ~ ~o 0-; - 0. U'-'"
He writes about himself' in'Qissa Misri:-
In one of' his Ka.f'is st c.rting with ' .. _\ I /;, :> ~ _ f$) ::>" ) .,/./\/' U ~SO:> ') ,/ v ~ . ) Y "_lIl .7·A ~.-'
..... -.Ji: "
165
Various }!e'X'sicn rhymes of "che Y2X are used by him. For
He vTas the author of e. book with Pers:ir.an title 'Romooz-e-
o Nihani ' • It contains the t alq of Hir-Rcnjha in question-
ansVT0r form ~ H0 ~so wrote Kafis :ind Siharfis. No other
details are knovln about him. ' Persian \-lords in his Punjabi
166
More Persian word1;3 are noticed in these' ~o<rses of
31. Noor Ali Lahori -,,--No dot ails are known. Some of h'is Si -Ho.rfi s ~and Deor ahs
are ~avai~.=.ble •. These conte.in Persian words:;" 0
0' ~J -':::'".:1 O" ~-f: J \.4.\/ l;~: l ~-u W ~ 0- ~ ({ () G i:, • ) "" .. ,~ _ ":". __ • __ n., .., ......... ' -----
U ~ 1.;../ J \. J. ~ J7'...J J l> .'" '": ~ ,:/,»5 ,;P...;--J Ly <'f, ? ' ~~'
.' 0 ~ J<.I ~J -' u jl; LJ)~;;>J i . .c-. )~) .d~)·~ f. oj .J)~ .,,;..~- ~ \,' -" - -", r ~~., ~ . .
. c.v , ~ Ba~u!: Shah
No dot ails arC known. HO\vev;8r,' his poem entitled -
. Il?o..pgalan Nalna is ave.ilablG \-Thieh is composed .in sufistic
"
He was a resident of Mul tan. A collection of his Kafis
under the PGrs:im title B,e.hr-G-Firaq \vas publ:is hed 'in 1885 AD • .
All his' Kafis are set in Indian Regas. He ~so wrote Fard,.
R~baiand Ghazal. Persian is frequently used to advantage
In addition to these ot~:cr PGr5L~ "Tords ~rcquently used
by him are:- .- J.> -'- . J~
as in .. >.}:-
In another couplet he uscs 'Yar', and 'Shukrguzar", both'
Persian wo.rds LJ. U~(~';J~~kt,-,fo; . ,;. -, ,~/c. ..... '
~ Uf--'ct\ r J._'~2~~~ 34. Miran Shah Jullundari. , ~azre,t r.'Iir:m Shah> JUllundori , .. as a sufi 'saint of dl1:1.~~:1. Chisht
. . Sabiri family. Thc' HCe'.d of the fe:mily Wc:'.S Nast rul Shah who
was born in Kabul. and later settled in Delhi. His father's'
n~e was v[ali Mohammad •. His t'omb i8 sit.uated in Jul~undor.
Miran Shcll's boo~f verse was pub;:L:iBhcd under the title
'Guldasta' Miro.nShah'. It cont::1ins Pun.ie·.bi Kafis, Siharfis, ~
MuJ,.la NOO1a and a 'Shajra" of the Chislittt Sabi.'ri dynasty. It
also conta;i.ris Urdu Ghaz·als .•
t ' Mi~an ShGh , .. rites verses apout Kh"lajc riloinuddin Chis~!f,
~ , . K1:lwaj a Qutbuddin, Farid r Hc,zr at NizClIl\lddin Aulie" cmd Shaikh
Abdul Qudoos Gangohi. _ Persian' thought ";"'d voc b l' . _ _ c::; .... ~ a u ar~cs . . _ ... For example arc there in his mystic PUDJ'pb; poetry.
. j:t --'" j/" .,,:::,~ ~l';; \:> .• ? L. ,.~I " (,J..,. ~ ~-, -. U..y. S' , . .-:--- ./~. .-
(j,:/(..(J ~'!/::-'2/ j, 1:. ~J J :> ~ ~.~.Sk _ '" ..,.. De ..
a 0.J;7-;. C-J G -1/t '-:;J\;.I~ V!~ ~ ,/ / - . - .
0/d:2.,~~'6.~:r ~)j ~ke·:J ~J/~ - .
0. ~.~ ;..2 oj ~~ s?~. lS~ u~ u ~) f 7- 0'<: .c.! ;;.lat~ /:f> J -..J J ~ I~ I > T. y' ~ ... ~./ WyLl~
\ ~ -J I ",' 't' 4. I. / ...... L \ '" J. './ .. . , ~. : ~~. -J.!: ( !.~ i: 0~ ::. r-: ~ ?- 0) L-I ;y
. ~ ~ - ~
35.' Rahim Bakhsh J<:..urianVTe.la
He- belcnged ,to ~rillogc Ja.urionwal~. Bistt. Siolkot. His
No deta.ils are __ kno~n .. / A specimen' of his Punjabi 'Kafi' will
r-evcal the
He belonged t9 Lchorc ond ',-ras a disciple of Pir Fatehulloh Chish·
ti.Jkl.s'ti •. (He wr'ot'e the trz.gic~ l.oTe tale of 'Sassi Punun in_ , -
. 1192 Ali -( ) which contain~ 550 couplets • '<
His langue..gc
171
A De~visn poet of old times whose det~ils ere not
2.2. Ivlo os Q:
" ,. ~ ~' 1-', ~ )' A Dbrvish poet of the twelfth century AH ( \ ~!~ .... , '~"
. '/~\)
- -No other dct ails about his life are a.vail,able. A 'ManC'~jat'
composed by him is available. It is in praise of He.zrat .
,Ghaus-ul-Aazam. It cOY.>:t sins. a number of .Pcrsipn words c?.s
\
~,/
. MiDn Mohd. h2.S "l'lri ttbn'a yorse on him in his 'Sni£ul
Muluk l ' from ",hcJ..'e We come to knovi ,tha,t ho belonged .,to a
viil c.ge r. [:me d
I
(There ho,s bCC::ln e. person .Obcddullcl1 >-Iho hns composed good
'dohre.s I ena, "be,its'. .He' iSe not ,£~;c',: ·.-li th booKs) .• , i
His books, include t chha.rian I and ';:'Ieer I. A specimen of
'his Hcer i~ given
u) /)~)~pi'JjJ~:! - 'L ......
~1. MD.ulvi :j3akhsha'
.A sufil?t ic .wo'rk I Joginanfa I' 'wri ttbn by him is ava.ilable.
Persic.'n .. ,ords" arc used in; his verses 'vii th 9'onvenience such
o.s the
.. r:.
"
..
Di-dDr Bnkhsh , Hc b8iongcd to Kh£'xian, Distt •. Gfr,bt .•
. " No othcr details'
£'.bout him -...rc' ~. . H' __ . .e. nO\'1n •. ~s 'VerS(;3S'c-.re full
174
M8.ul vi Shah Din Qureshi "1 as connected \vi tli the sufis of
Qadiri Sc.rvr·,ri SE:ct. Dr. Gop ~l Singh D;:-xdi says t l;l.<tt he
belonged to Sialkot but c.ccording to Abdul Gha:foor Qureshi
he O2lDe from Rangpur Distt. GurdaGpur. He W(?,S a poet c£
Punjo,bi, and a scholer of Persi[)n. (~.
following Porsi;:-n works:-
1 • Dhlm1-e-Hc.fiz
2. Di,~ <m -e -R umi
3. Diwan-e-Bo.hu
4. Boo-Ali-qlandar
5. Shams Tabriz
6. Haz-rat Ghausul Aazam
7. Masnavi Attar ,~
8. Divr D.J'l-e-Mo.hmo od
9. Mo.snavi C::-~ist::. Chishti
Ho transl~ted tho
He wrote Akraffi-e-Mustafo. in Punjabi. His ~unjabi transia-
tion of Diwan-e-Hafiz is of a. high st2ndord. Maulvi Shah
Din enriched the Punjahi ie.ngU~!ge ,.~d litc.rq.ture with his
translation of Per-sit"l1 ",orks. He died at t he age of sixty.
We illustrate Persian inf.luence on 'his langungo by
Q.uoting p;iec'0s of his trr-nslation Me.snawi Boo-Ali Shnh
Qalnnd::r
176
~ Baba vlazid ,Khan
A Po.than Darvish who c:?'mc to Punjab und.er the Sikh rule,
B9be We.zid Khan le c.rrit Pun j :'.bi ['nd mastored it • His poetry
" contains satire which does not sp~e even God. In the ,
opin>i.on of Abdul. Ghafoor Qureshi *, the \iri tor of 'J?unj abi'
Liter~turc Mohd. Sl1rvrar hes ascribed his poetry to another
poeOt Hafiz BClXkburd~U' vlhich is a. 'grcD.t mistake'. :
. \
A specimen of his poctry shows the.t thocre is not' mu: h
Persi2n in his vcrses. He; however, cc~not do without
Persian which appears hcre ~nd there in the form.f voc~-
----------------,----
.--. - • - • - • - , - • - -. ~..j,.~.,. • - • - • - • - . - • - • - • - • - • - • - • - • - • - • - ~- • - • - • -. -* History of P~~j'~abi language 'and litcrature p.19~ - • - • - •. ~,. .... - i -: .~:'" .~- , .. _-! ,- • - .' - • -. -. - • -. - • - • - • - • - • - • - • - . - • - • - • -: • -.
- - I ~ ,
177
He transl2..ted DhTan-e-H::.i'iz int'o l'unja:bi and gave it - " ~ " . • t •
the'l'ers L-,l'1 0 ti tlc 'Tohfa~e-Benazir'. It is considered to
be. 8. su.cce3s:f.ul ctr"l1s1'n.tion •.
. " ,- ... . ~. . '
, . , .
. 46. M-iDn Bakhsh
He was a good poet of :the Mul tani di~lect of the
.l'unjo.bi l:?l1guage. ·His Kafis 2Xe in s~fi style. He fre-, ., ~ .'
178
J' In" ", 'I ' '/./ • • I
) • J /o/A I ,," I " "I I",,:; .. I I " , "-
J' '~'f- p---,.d- \ ,},/ V '.!:# ~ ~, '..Ai ,--,..7 \ __ -_ . ./ ,r r.: .... , / L_. ~ '" _ . __ ._-" .... __ " "/''' J " ') - . 'i
" '( (" r . .:...7 _ ~ t( ,~. " ~",j.J > -:"J ")" '" ".) \ .. /1 ~ . \ J " .~y ':::f -( "". ':~-.:-'.,,:J:-::- ~:J_ ~/ ~~ :,/ ~) ..i! ~ "
47. Ka.r~mu+l2.h Ashiq . "r - - !
"tras di vine Dni-vcsh." He
belonged to" Gujran~,ala. H e died' C);t the p;gc o:f 68- on
18th Shaaban 1362 AH ( ) - . • ,Specimens o:f his
poetry \-rere published in th . . . c maga~ine 'Punjabi' Lahore
(Oct.52· ) , ~sSU'G 7 idi te d by Dr. Fa~ir ".l\~e>hd! Faqir, Persian
abounds in Ashiq' s verses
. ,
•
179
Some
*In her book "Punj£l.bi' 'Sufi POCl!)ts I L2,jvlonti Rr'.makri~hna , , ,
." introduces s )mc more sufi p~ets under the title 'some minor
poets'. Thcq.e nrq Karim B2.khSh; Be.hadur; and-F.lX} unknown
,f t ':poe.
48. Kar im B akh§.h,
The le 8.rned vTri torQ found e. Punj o.bi manuscript in the
librc-.ry of'Dr. Hifzur Rehman. It is the work of Karim _
Punj 8.bi ;t;ransle.t,i on of Abul Hassan's 'Tc.frihul,· Azkia fil
. -Ambia' • He caso st e.tcs 'th2..t Abul Hass an /vlas c_ disciple
of Shah Abdul' Aziz MUho.ddis Dehlc.vi., ThePunjabititle af
the translation is 'Tazkire.tul Ambia' In the end is
attached iBex-a. N~a Mohamm,"'di'. To quote the learned a.uthor f'
** , Although we tri,cd t 0 discover- the l:i,.fc history of Karim
Bclrhsh we vlere unsu,cccssful. vie only lenow th2.t his takha-"
\ "lbader' '. . . •• He _ wa,.s, a sufi. llus Q[' nom-de-pluni'C we..s
, ", ~ ~ ,
. ·~Bc.had ur
The second m~ntioned poet 'Bo.hadur' \-/e have already \ -
discusseq as Bahc.:.dur Shah at S.No.15. Lajvlc.nti'RamG.krishna . '
places this poet 'somchher~ bet\-/o0n .the ye ars 1750 und ~ 0 ~ ,.
o 0 c ~ n _._._._._._._._._.~.~~_._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._. _._ • . , " * Chapter ,9 p .134 ~
** Ibid p. 135
- • -. -, ,-. -~ •. -:, .... - • - •. ~ !.. - • - • - • - • - • - • - • -. - • - .• - • ,- • - • - • - • - • - • - • - • - • , .
180
1850 AD. HO'llTevori it, is. 2. "I:l,de gue.ss covering e. -' ,
century -,.,rhich 1e ",.ds us nO'llThere.
50. The unknovl~2.£!
Regarding tho unkno,"Tn poet L<;>.jw?nti RGl!lo.krishnn informs ,
th::.,t she c::-:.mc upon on cxto.nt manusc:fipt conta,ining poems " .
lin the PU!ljabi l::-.:nBU~'.gc, as it is~spoken in the south, \
.cast Pu~jcb, vlith Hindi 2..nd Persic.n ''lords. ' She me....~es
8Iloj;hor ,.,ride: guoss thz.t the menuscript ';H?.6 written in the
18th centur ~ ~ . Her guess is not suppor:t ed by any evidence.
She.: has bc..sed it merely on the style' o'f . writing.
Now, to spe c..k of Pors ian influence" on /<nrim Bakhsh,
We do not find much. On the contrary there is more of ,
Hindi and Avadhi influence. 'His Bare. Mah Muhammadi quoted
in Punjabi sufi p.oets (p.135) has sOll?-e.Persien or Perso-
ArE~ic words lik
. .t,; f . V/ -'"
• • Q
\~fc'-\ ~~:.? ~~ -U.J ~ , J I.!> .. '"'"
>V -- '-J ';
, ,
181
The poems of the unknown poet exPound pu:fi princJ.p..Les as
The
the mysteries> of I ,Jagrnt; sup'an; s akhupad; . and. ~~ayapad. ".~ ,
-' - ' ~ -' ..,.. ~-
Je.gr£'.t state is, NUtsut; fJIalkut stands ,for supan, sakhupat - .... ~ ~ .. .. I>
Now
for J abrut 'and t er aya.p ad ,for Lc.hut). The unknown poet of
Punjabi also '·speaks af IF~a-:fill·f;'..h' and 'Ana.l Haqf 'in his
182
"(Keep tp:;'1;;ruth in yo ur mind, 'th~t ~l.s, put t he truth into
-truth. '.- One t>lho docs this and concentrates on the truth
he be~omes God and)i~ merged into Gqd.)
Some more sufi" poet:::; .';:xe introduced in Punja.bi su'fi
poets' (p .145) \-Tho 'c"xisted in. the nineteent1;:l ·centur,y •.
According to the author of t1;:le b60k ihey:wereo~ 'm6diocre
t81ent.' • In fact these poets should -hardl'y1:B celled
sufi ~poets. 'It \-las not their "fJ:!.uJ:t. ~ither. The politi"a1.·· ,
upheavals end corr~ption of ,.'Gaddi-Nashina' the whole
outlook of life and society/ changed. Mciliaraja Ran~it S~ngh
bQ~nnE! the ruler of Punjab in ,1801. AD and he rem·ained so
til;L. 18~9 AD. 'In tre carl. y~ period of his reign he remained . ,engaged in ,-lars. He po.troniscd arts e.nd literature',towo.rdR
the end of his ru10 end life. I Anarchy prevG.iled after his . \
cIeath in· 1839 AD. Cdnfusion and' wo.r:.s put Punjab' undG'r ,the - I .
British ,rule in 1~48 AD. "Sufism yi'elC!:ed p;Lnce to practicci
socio-economic c..nd politic~l, 'consid8rationf,l, ,~=.rid fell int'o
the corrupt hands of vc.rious disho:nest 'go,ddinashins' who , '
made it a meD:ns o£ earn:i.;:lg their liyelihood. The CUIlassod J
weolth"corrupte<;l mld· -theI:\. d.egcmcrnted th~m. The lower 'bnd .
. ~ackward'classes were the only refuse of suirituAlism •. T'i ~ - " .
them' a few dogme..s con~titute'd div~nity., From such uneducated,
cLLa-sscs . rOSG pO'ets., " som~ of , .. hom are mentioned here. " ,\ '
51. :Mc~hmum
Gh,ulQlll Musto.f[,: Mbghmum i.[8,S horn in tre 'middle of thc'1,9th
centu;ry. . The collect ior.. of riis Punj:::.bi verses has the
PersiO.l1 title I Sho.n-e-Is'hq I. '*The poet has introduced'
himself in Pcrsicn giving his rfc.me and :r;e n-n~e as well as
his village Maul voni on the b cnk of 0. river in Distt,. Lycllpur.\ '. of,
The languF-GeL'Shc.m-e-Ishq" brims \-lith PersiM vocc.bularies ,
and phl?Q.Ses·. The collection is divided into thr~e chapters •
• (i) Kafis 'end ghazals (ii) Siharfis and (iii) Women's sayings,
Kafis and ghazals. To quot e Lajwent i Ramakris,hna**: - _
'The poems of th~ first' "1'1 ch:=-,pter are full of Persianism.
The poet in the convention al vlf'o.;y of thc.t language, sings of .'"
'bulbul'" the 'nt'xgis' ,<'.n,d wine. These poems, to confess the
truth, are beyond the comprehension of a Punjabi: knowing his '-own mother-tongue ond the ordinary Urdu~' The poems of ·the
ere full of Persian Nords. In the -t'-hird. 'bab' the poet "speDks . . ('If his ~eiove~.ii:ke a P~njb.bi woman. There arc very few
Persj:anisms in this che.pter.
Me.ghmum seems to have e. good knovlledge of Persian. We
. quot13 'specimens of his °po~try from th~ Pun5abi' sufi poets.
The Persian words' are underlined. '. . 'b '
lJl?./j L- 3' La? U -' ~ .. <y.f-' ~~ u:-' ...,....U·~· ~ 'l ~, ... J l!> ~ ~" ~ Ld) ',..} p.?-) . '- u";' - ~ .,) l., """ . 01, '
• ! , ~ '"
-.-.-.-.~.-.-.-.-.-~h.-.~.-~-.-~-.-.-.~.-.-.-.-.-.-.~.-.-.-
* Sham-e-Is~q IVIs.p ,1:
** Punj8.bi·Sufi Po,~ts '9)'148 .'1.1 • \ '
-. -. - • -. - ....... -.~ ,... .•. ~ ,.; ...... ~. - • -,~ r"f. - • - • -:- • -=-.• - • - • - • - • - • - • - • - • - • - ,e - • - .- - •
184
These few' lines are from ShDJIl-de-Ish.q chapter three p .59.
According to the learned "author of Pun~n.bi sufi poets t,p.ese
conto..in 'no ,Persian Nords'. She has chosen these verses on . ' . . that very basis • , . Ho"revcr, even these verses cont;:-.in the
.t>" • • #
following Pers ic..n words ..
V-'J lP V ~ J _\~1 -U_)
Wh2.t to spec:: .. k of his Pers' anised verses. Here is another , specimen of his Fun,jo,b.i verse which o.ccording to the lea.rned
author
-
It is not understood how the Pers1cn words
)3.' -.tp -(' .C?J" \ ~and last but not the leo£t
" her notice.
Persic.n
52. Ghulcm" Husscin Kelianwcla
\
18.5
\
A nineteenth century poe t about whom no det ail is avcilable
except froni his n:::une thc.t he belonge d to a place Kelinnwo.la. . whi'ch is situo.ted on "the bnnks of the river ChenD.b.
He hcs two works to his crcdit:! '
1.. Siho..rfll. Hir " .,
Theseare'a.s populix ~.s folklore in the villc..ges of Punjab. -~
'These are printed on cheo.p p~per und ore freely available in
the Pu~jnb. He ho.s sen.sitivity in his style. A specilll3n of
his poetry _ tr.Jcen fro~ Siho.rfi Heer ~ teken from Punjabi Sufi , /.
. ( ) I ..... \ }.;/ ..A "",,' 1> / .b . .1
poet~. , pr14eiJ .. 0 C,~"'<...J.':>'01 C·~ ~ ~,~. r " I " - . ., f l?, .J .:- liN;:- b~u~ (<.fJ ~ ~~ ~ G J ~ ~ if cJ-"1 .• ( • ") ~ - ~ It _ • ___ ,
- \,
186
In the second line ;:~bove the vlord 'Sif':: .. t' seems to have
been copi"cd ,.rroncously. It should read in alignment with
"-other rhymes" Vchp.', Utho., (l.nd Soma. The :Persian words have
been underlined.
53. Mohammed Din
Mohd. Din "las . .::. ~isciple o:f Mir8. Shah buriii in Lc.kkhan,waJ.,
Gujro.t and' a 'dev~tee of' ShC'~ikh Ali Hclchdum Huj .weri. To
his crc'dit ere "Sih~.rf'i'., 'BGr8Inuha'-cnd 'o.thwora'. These . .....
f'orm the c onten ts of' Po m:muscript in thelibr.::.ry of Dr. Hif'zur
Lo.jwc.nti RomDlcrishna introduce~~ t'-lO more minorp'oets of' the . .
~----- ~--n·ine·teent-h- century. ~." c
.55., H~dC' .. it Ullr..~h.
The f'ormer died, ,h.::.ying lost his heclth ~n n yenr-long
'chille.' ~ fIis Bc.r['J!Juhu cont c"insc, some :Pers:i.2!l worq.s.
-187
- - ~ H-~d-D.i tuJ:lahwas born at La,hore - in the middle of the 19th
ce:r:tury l".nd died in 'the t",cnties of the twentieth century.
He speaks of the twentieth century. He 'sparks of sufi . .
beliefs in~his verses.
-- f I
THE ISLANIC LIT:B;RATURE
188
In Indif:'., Punjr-,b W(lS -~> \ "- 1;'
the first province to come under -
the Islo.mic infl1-P nee. While the Muslim ormies brought
victories to Islam through w~~f~e the muslim divines ~d
scholars went from village to vfllo~e to,pre~ch Isl~. To ~
preach end populerise I~lam among the' m~sses of' the 'Punjab
they versified the fund3ffiento~s of religion, Nomaz and Roza. <
They wrote booklets contc.;ining small and easy I>,oems so ,th<.t
tho followers could'memorise these. The se .. scholo.rs ""'i::~ d ...
wielded tremendous 'religious influenc~ on the.Punjabi l~~nget
oDuring the reign of the Moghul Emperor Akbr-x Mnulona
Abdullc.h .s!.l'ld Abdul~ itlnh0b, \'lrote poems ,~.bo ut 'Fiqh'. In the o
reign of Aur::ngzeb the Punjnbi lnngun,ge Wc.s ndopted for
preaching Islnm. The scholcrs wrote interpretctions of ''tl, I'
various -chapters of Qurcn in Pun 3D-bi ,and transl'o.ted .books on
'Hadis I. Mcny pc.mphlets '.vere wr±tten' on the life of t he holy'
prophet. Ec.rly educc.tion stc,rted in Pun·jc.bi. Books lile
'Pakki Roti I; l\1issi Roti.; Mithi. Roti ,.,c.re written in the ,
Arcbic style but in the Punj~bi languege.
Mc.ulr~vi Abdullc.h wrote religious Clnd Islc.mic verses. ';"-
-Books like I,zad Bc.r·i.,Allr>.h Bcri, Ri:.1.ziq Bnri, til cilid :aori ~d
Sifnt B<.'Xi \ver·e \.,ritten :!on this period of Punjo.bi litero.tUre.
Islo.m:i6 books lile .f Ahvc.l. ul Akhirc.t' Mc.sc.el-e-He:.j, Hidayatul
189
'Is~em ; Darwo.za-e-Behisht, !VI['~yyat' Nama, Hid:ayatulll\~8~i'mi'n,
Siraj";;:;e-MolH:.mmadi' She.zna.~-Moho..mmedl:, Gulzarsm, Akrem-e-
. Muste.:fa, Siro.tul, Habib 1 etc'. ,\.,er~ written in th~ Is~am»··
·~:i:terature •
< Maulavi Ghul€llll Moh:i:-uddin, Me.ulo.vi Khuda Bakhsh J?~aw-
a~p~ri, Mau~e.vi Noar ,Mohammad, Maula.vl: tI0h~ad Nabi, Mien I
Mohammad, Mau~avi Roshnn Din,. Mau;Lono. Moh3ll1mad MUI?~ims ,I'" . ,) . \
Mohammad Shah Din and: Ch.audhri Faz~-e-H.o.'ct were in the fore-
front· of the e..uthors of Islamic' ~iter:;"ture. In addi-ti~n'
Ma\ollavi Ab.du~ Qo.ri, Mo.ulavi Mohommad lrsmail, Moh~. Din '"""Fazil
Shahpuri Glld Khairuddin are t he n~es' to reckon with ir.. 'the ----. - .
field of religious ~it'ero.ture'. < The 'fiqli' subject wo.s
, yersified into easy Punjabi by poets ~ike Khwaja Fard Faqir,
ShElh Bahar and Bakhsh Faqir. The Funjc.bi ·soholars cUso
tr~slated the :Persian ond Arabic li'tera'1;\U'e into Punjab:l
verse. The pr omin~nt among t m m are I!p.cm Shah who translo.ted
and interpreted Masnni.vi Maulana aumi,. Hafiz Moizuddin who .. '. j '"
trans~ated Qasida Amali and Chaudhri Fazl-e-Haq who inter':' /' {
pret,ed, Sura~Allah As-Samad. The Punjabi translations" of . . 'lVIadarajul Nabuvvat and Ma~aju~ l,Iabuvat are. sUso avai~able.
-,-In the religio"ls l-iterature;, the traditional :fqrms' of Punjabi
p.,etry 'like Sihar~i and "'Baramah that were used to express
e.u:fistio, t2l:ldught w.ere· putt o;-use for eulogising Allah and the , ,- 9
h01y Prophet ~ ~fi~ ··friartyrdoms of Imams were elso versified. \
190
Shahadatnamea and Jangnamas were composed. Similarly, a
number of marsiasand IlJ"aats "Tere written. In Pakistan
the Islamic literat\J.re· in Punjabi' e.xceeds Islamic literature
in any other language. vie introduce belCXrl some of the I
prominent writers and their. , .. or ks i·n Islamic studies: ./
1 '0 Maulana Abdullah
He belonged to a village named Hons in Distt. Montgomery,
His father's name Nas Jan Mohammad;' In young age Abdullah
used to take ou~'the goats for gr~zing. He grew to be a
pious and.rtoble man. He memorised the holy Quran. He left
his village and settled in Lahore. He spe nt Dll 'his time
in preaching Islam arid reciting Quran. He earned his live-
6:
lihood by grinding grain. Hi.s book 'Bara Anva' deal'S with
reiigious problems,. Maulana Abdullah died in Lahore,
- -,
1. 'Resala !<,Iehndi' written in 997 A:i (pa:." \ '588. ) . 2 ... 'Ne,ssul Faraiz' written in 1032 Ali (p..}), \ b:(~ ) regarding
" ablution, prayers, bath etc.
3. 'Anva-e-Ulum' A treatise written in 1044 AH (~'D l"b0L, )
. I Sir a j'i"' , . The Punjabi translation of a well-known Arabic
book completed in 1058 AH (~D \ b t, 8 )
191
6. 'Tohfatul Fiqh I 'cont a,:!-ning information about saj'da and ,
Namaz. Completed in 106~AH (AD 165''1 ),.
7. tHisarul Imam' contains relig~ous problems.
8. I KhairUl Ashiq.uin' r , ....
. . 9. 'Maarfat-e-Il ahie 'eulog;i.s ation of God 1055 AH (A t> 16 !1~l',;
, . ,/
10. 'RasaJ.a Fiqh-e-Hin'di·" inthl? form of Bara Anva contains
. minor problems,.' Since Maulana Abdi was a pious musl.im ~
~d a soho1ar ~f Fiqh and Hadis, he dedioated whole life . . "-Q
t. these twe Islamic subjects. Therefore, it was natural ~~-,.~.,- l' ~-~'~--'----'-~'-' '- --- . ~ --~ .. - ~. ~---- ,---------.-
that Persian Emd Arabio wo rds shou:Ld 'oome in his lan~ age. " , -
Wereproduoe some of his verses and illustrate Persian . .
192
He belonged" to Maghyana Distt. Jh~g. He wrote Meyarul
Imen; Najatul Iman; and Najatul Momi?in. He himself has
given'us the year of compositionaf Najatui Mominin., ~
(J \~"/'~ j" '-;:-' -l ~j~ ,) ;;, ~ L"./ ~ 1'- 0 \> ~ y~ f ~ . ..J J;z ~'I ~£ -........ ~); > ~ ~
I '/cgl A H (A'D Ib75"~ .
~I eJ U-J'/j' Y d;:' L ~ -O~'; c;-~l ~~ I u::Y1 ~ If r Ii: ): - ,t' \ J'. ./ , ",,'" < \' ...
(:I~ ~.JZLJ~"'U lye): \/- ~0~G-";> .YJ'-"'u:'2 .--- - "
3. Hafiz Moeszudin . -
He was the Imam of, Sabhrawan Mosq'ue Lahore. He was blind.·
KJ:1an Saadulah 'Khan was tl1.e minister of the Mughal King
Shah.jahan in those days., His son had constructed a palat'ial v
house well. knm.,n as Pathran Wali Haveli in 'Lahore. The
minister used to come and stay there. Hafiz Moezzuddin came' .
in his contact the~e. The minister was impre~sed by his
. ...- . knowledge. H~ asked Hafiz to. translate Qaaida Ameli into
H;i:ndi. In those daYs Punjabi was 'called Hindi. Haftl,z.
6. Maulavi Habibullah 0
He lived in the village Chaudhvral Distt. Gujrat. By
prof'ession be was'"a ta.ilor. In addition he used to 'impart ,
Quranic end Islamic instruction to chil·dren of' the village..
il .
He wrote a book.entitled 'AkhbGrul Akhirat' on the
su'bject of' 'Qiamat' (Resurrection). It consisted of sixteen
thousand verses. ·According t'o A.G. Qureshi ....... : thi's book . . \ .
':1 as written in 1104 AH ( A 1> I b 9 ~:~) during the r~ ign of'
i,
194
However, the le nrneqd scholar se =ms to have been mist"clren.
The date shol..,.d rec,d 1108 AS <' p... D i 10 c'. 6 1. as in the second
line of the above verse? the author clear1y writes four
more months t") 1104 .(o,s specified iri' line < 1·). Apart f.rom ,e .
·the presence of Persian words unil\.erlined in tp.e" above· verses
we illustrate bela-r tne spec~men of his poetry containing
many Persian "lords.
5. Naulavi Kamaluddin .. Bha...··mo
/'
, "
H~ belonged t'o Hazar.::.. His father's name vTasMian Khair-
,ud-B'in. He \'las the, Imam of a mosque. and ~sed to-give Is1amic
education t9' old and. young. He wrote a book on religious ,
supject·s in 1112 Ali ( p..1) \7 b'b ) )and g.ave it tp.e title
'IntikhabuI Kutub'. vie get' t'he a.bove informat ion from his
own couplets.' About himself he writes: "" .,
'\
Persian words in the b t ' , e. ove ment.ioned ;ve+ses have been
~derlined.
'196
-By prof'~ ss ion a t e..ilar, C'.nd b y nat,ure a. saint he lived' in
,
'Actually Persian and Ax b' ' -. '_ _,'. a).c v~ca.b.ularies ~e bound to-,'
penetrate into Punjf'~bi when ". B ~rite; writes on the Islamic
·subjects. ,Q
"
H~ was Sh~' Zarif' , s d -' . l' _ ' " 1SC1P e. His f'ather' s' name was Khan
Mohommad. He beionged to Lahore. He wrot,e, 'Jangnoma' of'
197
Im~ Hassan and Hussain' in 1136 AHc
( ~'j) \ 'rl~ ~ .. ). It was.
entitled 'Rozatul-Shohada'·.· The_ date of its ~.mposition is~
He be~onged to Shergadh in Sind. He wrote a pamphlet
'Maiat Name.'. It contains the explo.nation of the whole
-procedure dE'the coffin, burial,' bath and prayers when
'<-, •
. spmeone d:i.es. It was w;':i.tten· ~~ 1140 'AR .( ~ t \ 7~ 1 ). His·
poetry, as usu'~, conta:i.ns Pers:i.an words which are
·198
2 t, Khw ~j a Fard F aq. ir • I
No TD.zkir~ >~f ,Punj?l-bi poets or biography of sufi saints ,
gives ~s his life sketch. The ~nlY bits'of information are ,
prbvided by·A.G. n~reshi; .?nd Lajwariti Ra makrishna which
We' quote here. Mr. Qureshi ... Trites ill his Punjabi book "'\ -
~History of the Punjo.bi lang~u:age end li. tarat ur~ ~ (:P.. 212) :-
'He was an inhabitant of Gujr~t .• > He was a great scholar
D
and a die:tinguished poet of the t",elfth century Hijri. He
taught Qurpn to children'.'
, The learned scholer quotes Prof.' ,Kohli froin his 'Punje.bi
Sahitya, daa
Iteha.s' thc~t -'he €Jx:tsted in the perio~ 1720 to
(Fard Faqir was a pious man of God. He 'vas well-versed in
the.logyand he rejoiced in Love) • . '
_ 19.9
Lajltlanti R8lJlakrisM<:;', 'yri tes in her book 'Punjabi' Suf'i
Poets' (P.1 01) I,ibout Far<:\ Faqi'r:-" ,
'Fard, neverthe~ess, gives enough inf'ormation about
himself' in his "lorks. Though ,he does not give the date of'
his birth, yet, he tells us in his 'K2s'~'t.b N em,a Baf'indgen'
th~t he' lived in the eighteenth cen~ury AD • . ,
(The eleven hundred and sixty third year o,f' the Prophet's
era has come and this journal is complete ~~cording to the . ..' "~ ,oj,> c.i ~ \,;. J.;~ ~ U ~ ~.
order that had come- f'rom eternity. L"'I (,J!l>:::(pl.AI ~·v\,~\..... _,. ~ V./ .... ...7(. V .J _
, , This shows that ,.,hen he f'inished the book in .A.Jrl11 ~~
(AD 1751)' he, would alre a~y have bee.n a man of' '~hirty or
f'orty ye ars •
The learned scholar bases her argume?t 'on the'o
plea that he
wrote Kl3.Sabnama on the-Tequest of, a weaver disciple and a
f'aqir cannot have 'disciples at an eerly age: i I .'
She adds that 'we .an s2.f'ely SCJ¥ that Fard Faqir ,lived,
preach~d and died between the ye8Xs'AD-1720 and 1790'.
His "'orks
!' '
1 •
as alre.:ldy mentioned. A.G. ~Quresh'i .stit'es that it was,
says that he ,,'rote, it on the re~uest of' a weaver disciple .•
It des"ribes weaving on spiritual lines.
~.-.-.~~-.-.-.-.-.-.~·-·-.-·-·~·-~-·-·-·-·7·-·-·-·-·-· -.-.-.-
* Darya-e-Maaraf'at ,p.13 , ... -.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-~-~-.-~-.-.-.-.-.~.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-. -.-.-
200
-, \ - ,
. 3. 'Bara l\i[',h. ' , Mru1uscripts o£ this pqem aJ;'e numerous. - ., ~rrn I
One is > in India 0:(£ ioe Library (MSD,' Fol. 7).c It has b~en
,published several. times in the Punja.bi. Eve;ry m¢nth
. cont€d,n~ fq~r ston~as ·ande~ery s·te.nz,a contains thr~e
couplets'. Thus it has 144 couplet.s.
4. t Siha:x::fi t . It is a p'opular1 verse book. \
·Fard ISS iharfi
:1.S poPu:l:-ar with orthbdox.musli~s, sp.ecially. ba~k;ward
classes,: Many editions of it were published in .<:the Punjabi.
jl popular edi tion w as PUb.J-i,Sh~ d by the Muslim Ste ~ Press
La.hore •. It~ contains Kasab Name Ba"finCigan, l?iharf.i ax>.d
Baramah and i.s enti t]:ed 'Derya-e...;Maarifo.t' •
. \
Persi.axl. and Arabic influence on the langu§llj!:e c;f Fard Fag,ir
~ :A.G .Qureshi holds the vi~w th.at , I his langua.ge is cl~ or
and attractive but. mixed with Arabic and Persiab, at places.'
-**According to Laj\1.anti RamUkrishn£'., .' Ford seems to
5'
have a~go'od knovT ledge of Arab~c. His IRoshandil t abounds , . in words and quote:.tions· from the Quran. About his>
kno,.,ledge of Persian "le do not know anythilmg except, that.:.
in his .If";"'t~n~a2.findg an ~e s ";"", .b () ~ U' ~J ' ~..J.\J ~ :p ... " ~ ~ "<S..Jj.JP~Uv., . ./~ .J V v··
, t.~ - • ~; .... - • - • - • -o!,. - • - • - . - .. . - . - . - . --. - • -. - . - . - . - . - . - . - . - . - • - . - . - . - • - • -~~ ~ -
* Histo'ry; of Punj abi -langUage &. literature p. 215 I .\
** PunjabL.Sufi. poets P: 104 . '," - ."- '
___ _ _ _' "J~' _ _ _ _ _ ~ .' . ~ • T . '. • ,1" • : •
• ,-Ir e • , :---.~ •••• -.-.-'.~-.-.-"-'-.'-'.""";/-.-.-.-.-.-.-,-.- • .:, . ; "P
201 "
• (Abandoning PersiDl1prose,we have composed Hindi poetry)
In hi,s timePunj2.bi w.as· (-,lso kndwn· as Hindi - .the f
lc:tnguti!ge of H{~,dustsn c.nd its pe ople. 'His stg.tement also i$' '"
shows tho.t e a.rlieT he wrqte Persian prose which he gave
up later. . '
His ~unjabi is rustic but devoid of sweet rustic
flavour. '.
It is pqwerful .expression th~t distinguishes·Fard , ~
. Faqir •
It· is 'S urpr~ ing th at he is inclu.ded in the book
( 'Punjabi' Suf~ Poets' becau~e the :thought and 'language Of
'Pard betray his b?ing a sufi of· statuS. Tpe leorned author
of the book E;lso adInits that 'His imagination, his I.o'" and
vulgar thqught,. so conspicuously shown i~ his 'Roshdndil', ~ , ." = -- - - " •
~, '
hi:s lqck. of per~onC\li ty and. his strong fane.t ic c onvic e..t io ns
sQ cleC):rly m£!.r.lif~st ip. his poetry, support our view'. Now
her contradictory view is th<"\t' 'Fard 'tlas a, sufi of popular
school, ·(p~102). Evidently, she is' self-contradict~ry in ~ ~ ~ ,
/' this respe ct. We did not include Fnrd in our chapter on
sufi literature for t'he. obvious reClson that .he was hardly
a s~ufi. ·He vIa::; a'Pir' of weaveers and barbers_. Therefore, \
we have placed'him'in'this chapter dealing with the religious . ..
~iterature.
"
20~ \
" Durin:g the time of Fard Faqir 'the politica.l upheavals
in the Punjab vTeJ;'enot ,only unfavour..rble, out even detri-~ - ,- •• - to - i _ ' -, i.! ~ ~
mental to art: and li tere.tu're • From 1739 AD there was no ,
peace •. Nadi:;r-shah's ,invasion in 1739 and Ahmed ,Shah'· Durremi',s , . attacks from 1748 AD ,o~wards,' the provinciG!l·:r.u'ler raising
"Teak MogP.ul 'Coart at , . ~
, \
Delhi c;reated confusion in the; Punjab.
, Marathas had their sway' but retired in J 761 AD. Then, ,-
'prevai:led,.a continue.l stat'e ,of war, between Si3fhs and A:fghan
nqmine es.~ In 1770 AD Sikhs finally repulse d Afghans and I
hecame rulers~ of 'th~ Punjabis. The political: factions led
'Pirs t t'o preach for their own ends e Thus the sO:"called .. -, .~
'popular sufisms' ha~ political strings which tUt'ned it
into fanaticism. Fard vi,aJ3' the product of these conditions.
He used a large' number of Persian vTords in his poetry as I
is evident from "the ,specimens ,quoted below'. The Pers,iElXl
words are underlined:-
About the ill treatment of e..rtisens F-',t· the hands of
rulers he' f.oJ'ri. tes in KD.S a.bnama Ba.findg:-:-.n.
203
-His vituperative verse against Hindu Avt€lrs Rama and
Krishna poi~tst6 his no~ being a real sufi. Unlike him
sufis were toleront s o.inta : , C» /
~ );~,. ~ =- .> ~Ift. C.''::'''Jv3 - '" ,/
, 0( • .;--,1 ~~ Y (I) , l:3' )Jf o~ f- ) J
(The " names of God thnt are "rri tten in your ve·in are not
to be f.orgotten by you. Be there' ash on the heads of
Rame'and Kris'hna).
-/
The Second line is. the- rende'rmg of a common Indian: Persian/
Urdu. proverb"
/ The third l"ine it:;; the trensl'ation -of famous Persian saying
-'~d t//0< J G~/t>~ ~ !1' I ~ 7 '-0
10. '0 Shaikh Imrun Din
He \,18,S a phYpician (Hakim) in the -Jillage of Thlokar in
Haripu.r Hazara. He wrote a Qipse. tNimani -Jindri' in
1 ~94 AH C t~ 't) \ 78V ). It cont&ins 97 stanzas and de~s .:>- ('
\'Tith Islamic" subjects concerning human life from -birth to o •
death.. His l::mguag.e is a mixture of Pu..~jabi and Persian.
We have underl!ined the ~ersinn words in the fol'lowing
sp e c,ime n,: -
206
- , He was born in AD 1782. His father" s name was
c
, Chau.dhri
He belonged to' Re.jput ,community and lived in
, ( -_Ranian, Tehsil Sirsa ~.istt. Hisser. ~Then he was eight, . years old.he left his hOnle ana settled. in a mosque. He
memori?ed the holy Quran'. Then he set 'for)Delhi and
Bareilly "in pu~suit of knowledge. (
After<c.mp~eting his .. --
, .
._educatio·n he came ~ack -home end st,'arted preaching Islam
through po,etry and < q.iscourses •. He was a Deobe.nd± Hanafi.
His.works
He wrote 'Ab-e-Haye.t'; Khu.tbate r'laulqd; Shahbaze Shariat
Chixaghe Shario,:t" Khurshide Sharil),t arid Me-fa.de Shari at , - '" . \
"
all\ ISle.mic books, Persien ~ords are common in his l-anguage
as in the 'following specimen of his poetry:: '-
207
( ~-';J) LJ J. l..iJ. ~ t! <6.;,
u-i t. ---~. /-->_/ ~ \ -). - . ( , "
, 12. Mo,ulc.vi Ghulmn Nustafa
;; He was born in AD j 751 at. Che.k Qe.zian district Gurdo.spur.
At te~der age' he bec8llle pn _ orphan. He "Tef!{ very poor. ,
Therefore, he c·.ould not get proper education. He learnt .' /
some Fersic.,n ·and Ar,;.bic.,
He wrote SihG.rfis, Abiyc,t and Jangnama Imam"Haq.
He died in A.D1870. A l~ ... rge· number of ,Pers'ian words ere
included in his verse such,as t:p.e underlined words in the'
< •
specimen verses taken from his Jangnama. I
· - /.
V l:, ~ I If''>J ~ ~ :> . '--:-' l£' ~ j"': I .. ..' ~~ ..!' 7 ,
209
\
Hnfiz·fiIoh[~mad. Bora:ikallah
.. HazTP...t, f1b::.u-lan,-;:., H.afi·z .. ~,1oh.3mmr.'.d Barakallah W&S .hornin ..
) • ·.R is f c.t h€fr IS name' was H af i z Ahm ad. , , ". -
. He li.vGd ih ~ak;hoke district Ferozepur. ,The livelihood
#.
'. . 0'£ 'the fcmily TtlaS c ~ned th:r;o ugh agri.cul ture " Hafiz
Mohammp.d,spent his lGiS\1.r.:: ti.me in giving Isl,amic education .{;
to children and ~ld people by discourses and narrating
'Islamic tales. He st'udied Pers·ian Gllld Arabic from hisS
father. His religiou.s guide TtT.as HazrF.'.t Ghul8IIl Ali Shah
Deruavi. He ~:i,~:d in AH 1267 ( Ab· \ <6"$D ) .• His book
'AnTtia-eL:.'Barakallah l 'is w~ll kn,~TtTn. A specimen of his' poetry , . • o~ " '_~ ~
cOhtaini,ng Persian. is giyen below:
,-'----------
210
14. f.tIa.ul~ .. J\:'!.~li Ghul?.Jn Mohiuddin Naqshbandi
He itlas born at C}.&sur in the eleventh century Hijri. ,
In those. de.ys Qnsur like Lahore and lI'!ultan was an 'impprtant
centre 'of IslDJ'llic education~ He uE?ed to teach Hadis and
Quran' at 'Darsg<:ili'. In a pamphlet that he wrote ab..,ut 'Raj I
we find Punjabi es welles Persian verses written by,
him. His Punjabi. ~s full of Persian vocabularies as indi-
'cated in the following specimen:
l~'67A,H ), ( ~ 1), \7;~)
In the end of his p e.IDphlet he t urn,s It 0 Persian:-
211
Rome.ntic Lit~~
The Rom2~tic Period of Punjnbi poetry is between
\ 1 .'j?) to Af: 1 200 ( ~,"b \ 7 ~ ») . In the
twelfth century Hijri 1I11"_en Persiun was the court
languoge, its influonce on the Punjabi poets "'TCS inevitable.
Persian influenced their thought as well as diction. Punjabi
poets were grectly improssed by the Persian Masnavi.
Sha...'mama, Yusaf Zulaikha and Nizami' s Khamsa became their
models of po·etry. Punjabi poets wrote on these patterns
and the Punj abis were enamoure d of the new style and
fluency of love tales.
In the words of Maini* 'The love romances found a
spontaneous and reedy response in Punjabi hearts. Living
in a land of vast, fertile plains washed by the five rivers
e..nd the winds of he2..ven the Punjc.bis h8.ve alwa.ys been clcs e
to earth. A sensuous streak is distinctly perceptible even
in their mystical writings ••••• There is indeed, something
compelling in the grain of this love story (Heer Ranjha)
which has made it a litorary archtype.
A very lcrge porition of th0 Punjubi poetry is romantic.
Its technique, diction, narrative and style reveals immense
influence of the Persian Masnavi. It is in f:lct narrative
poetry that occupies 0. high place in litern.ture, It attracts _. _ • _ • _ • _ • _ • _. _. _ • _ • _ • _ • _. _ • _ • _ • _ • _ ~ri.".-. \ _ • _ • _ • _ , _ • _ • _ • _ • _ • _ ._
... 1" .... '.S,tudies in Punj ~.bi p ::>etry - Dn.rshrul Singh Ma:ln:!' p.5 ~~ - - - - - -.- - - ft·-·-·~·-·-·-1~'~·-... _. - • _. _. _. _. -, -. -. -. -. • • • •• •• ..... I ~ ,. \ '-" '.,
212
senses, ~ppee~s to mind end provides food for thought.
In classiccl poetry too, rom~ce is the blood-stream-line
of the verse. The Punj.:-.bi poets have equally loved and
lived with feith, knowledge and love. The Punjabi Romantiw0
Poetry is dividod into two parts:local and Alien tales.
Alien tales consiEt of Shirin Farhod, Laila Majnun and
Yusai' Zul:::dkho., Loccl tales consist of Heer Ranjha,
Mirza Saheban, Sassi Punnunl Sohni Mahival etc.
The narrative usually comprises a love tale ending in
tragedy but other, sub jects are also de DJ. t with. Actually
the narrative poetry in Punjabi starts from the second'half
of the eighteenth century.
In this period we find Nnjrbnt making a rich contri
bution to the Punj8.bi literr,ture by writing 'WAX Nndirshah'.
He pc.ints be :l.utiful 'ITr...r sccnCE of Ncdir Sh.oh IS invasion.
His longU8ge compares favourably with Firdowsi's language~
Humid, Muqbil and "faris took the t ole of Heer Ranjha to
its zenitho The poetical lcngu~e of Jnngnama Homjd reminds
us of the grcc~t H;;.rsia writers of Urdu:- Anis and Dabir.
Muqbil end Ii/aris used the Bcit form and popul.arised it.
Muqbil started it and v.laris handled it \-lith his magic touch.
Waris Shah is undoubtedly the poet laureate of his period.
So much so that critics call the Rom2ntic period as Waris
Shah I S period.
213
Piloo end Ha:f'.i z Bcrkhurdc:.r wrote the teJ.e of Mirza
Sahiban in common manrs lcngu&ge with 01.1 its rustic
beauty. Ahmed Yer is the pioneer who paints in poetry.
Imom Bakhsh follows him closely. According to AG-Qureshi:'
*Ahmed Yar and Imam Bakhsh are both good artistsi and dra.w
pictures of youth and beauty. The Persian language has
influenced both. All theirsimilies and metcphors are
borrowed from Pe,rsie.n. The 'Sassi' of Hashem is laden with
pathos. Shah Mohammad's diction is botter than historical
narratives of QedOX' Yare He writes about the Anglo-Sikh
war. After Waris he is the second poet who sweetened
Punj o.bi verse.
During the Sikh rule composing poetry became a profe-
ssion to earn tithes from rulers~ The PunJabi language thus
crossed the barrier of preaching. 'Bait' beca.nE very popular
in this reign.
The British forces brought an end to Rc.njit Singh's rule
in 1849 AD and occupied the Punjab. As a result the advance
of romontio literature was stopped and the language started
accepting English words.
The Christian missionaries started converting peopl.&~1 .... ~ They produced and tronsl<:"ted Christian litera.ture in P~iabi •.
The Ahmadiyc, Aryasamaj and the Singh Scbha movements
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.~.~~~.-.-.-.-
* History of Funj~bi Longunge and literature ~.85 -.-.-.-.-.-.-~-.-.-.~.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.~~~.~.-.-.-.-. -.-.-.-
214
cndGvoured to promote the language and literature but
their efforts did not culminate in any spectacular success.
When the Sikh Rule came to an end the liternry trndition
of Punjabi vlas nlrea.dy over four hundred yenrF.i old. The
seco~d half of the nineteenth century witnessed the produc-
tion of gene. ra ly conventionb.l poetry. The dict-ion and
vitality of the Punjcbi p.o~t:r:y, :~?f~e~ed at the romantic
motifs. "'* As Maini points out '.the' onl~ poet of mark in
this transitionru. period' ·was· 'sh~ ·1Vi6ha.mm~d (1782-1862) I
who wrote feelingly .,about th~ di~.i~tcgrE'.tion of the Sikh
empire and brought out the pathoq pf the situation in a ,
language charged with high emotion t.In the next few decades
the old volues were gradually erQde'd, Persian almost lost I . ,
its hold and a tWest-oriented f consc'iousness and the English
liter~ture imposed, its powerful nppe02 on the people. In
the first sixty yenrs of the twentieth century the Punjabi
li tera.ture C1-SS imil E1.ted the Fre udi"on Psychology, Mnrxist
thought ~d European techniquGs;,and thus broke with the
pasta
The only poet who resis ted all these tempt:::.tions e.nd
acted a.s a bridge between the past and present of the Punjabi
-.-.-.-&-.-0- -.-~-.-.-.-.-.-.~~-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-~-
*Studies in Punjo.bi Poetry p.6
-.~.-.-.-.-.-.-9-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-. -.-.-
215
literature wcs Bhei Vir Singh (1872-1957); a name
",. ·-t'r~membei.e!i cind re~ered in the"'F'Un"Jo:b; . H€rindra"N~t'h
Chattopadhya celled him 'a sixth river in the land of
five rivers'.
Poets of Romantic Period
1. Hafiz )arkhurdor i: 1 I
" He w~ born during the reign of Shahjahon. He belonged to
the village MusGllmcni in Lahore. His poems becrune very
popular during the reign of Aurangzeb. As desired by
Nawab Jaafar Kh~n he composed Yus~f Zulaikha in AH 1090
and was c\-larded a robe of honour, a horse"
one hundred rupees in c~Eh and seven bighas of lend. '.
His other works ere Sass~ Punnun; Mirza Sahibnn, Anve-
e -Hc.:fiz Bcu-khurdar (cont 2.ining 15 books) and a. transl ation
of Qasida Gh~usia. His Yusuf Zulakha abounds in Persian
words. We give bel 0'" a specimen underlining Persian words.,
217
. ..'~
A few couplets irom his Sessi PUnun will' also show
A.a.. Qureshi' in his History of the Punjabi Ilmguoge···cmd , ~
1.iteraturo. (Punja.bi) p.236) opines'- that 'his language is , . , ,
simple, .poetic o.nd full of similie:s. It has Po .. ~sicn ?...nd :' .f'~"". I • • ••
Hindi influence'. 'It se'8ms that there weret·w-o._He.f'.iz
.., Maule:vi Dilpazir writes in his book Yusaf' Zul.-aikha
about
,~.---
g~) }.)/_~~ j k (Both ore Hafiz Bnrkhurd(.lXS 1?.ncl both are Qaris. -Both are
f:::mous for ,'Tri ting tho tcl.o I?f Yusaf).
However, - we do not have §mY trace of the' poetry of , - .... • r
the other Ho.fi z 1~.~~. Q'ures,hi deduce S that' one :ijafi z
belonged -to the village Chatti Shaikharl :Sial.kot and the
, '
oth~r to tho v.i:L'l.e.g e', M'u'scL:!-men-i P~ga no. Lahore-;," He' has
committed, a mistake 'in his boolf (p.237).. _-;1e ~tc,tes that' . .. " :.'
the poet~y of the poe:t from Lclloro is not\ available while· , • - 'o!
throughout 'hG has 'quoted hi's p'oetry. _ Eviden.:tlY 'the poetry
of the·poet from SioJ.kot is not a:vailabl.e!md it nas1been
tho.' le erned author 's ove~sight.
2. Siddig- Lali -
His date of birth end death end- place of living are not
known. ':rille wrote Yusuf Zul~kha in 1138 lili ( )\ 1> t 7~ S' ) I .'
in' there ign of M_ohammad Shah Chught u as he wri tos
. . year of his reign. '
,The~reio!ri';' ,1'138' AH C -:~-~ "'7.~ .~:'-' r i's" c~~;e;c~t ~ '1 ... large
~~b~r of Per~i"ari~"woras ci.f~ use d--''oY 'th:ls' poet. 'd's is 0vident
3. Mio..."1. Cnaragh llwrm
He lived in the village Khetor near, the c:i,tJ.of Harind" ,
in District Dern GhD.zikhnn~ During the :::-eign of'~oazzam
Khan olias Bchadur Shah son of 'Au~Ct!lgzeb J:.lamgir h \-Irate - ,
in brief, '[;1..(; talc of Heer ;Ra..1"ljha, He gi-y;es this fet' 'ond
-the d'~te '~f compo,sition (1121 l~H ./p...'t) 17'o~ the 5th Shabon) in the following co~plets:-
.(~ t \~r\ ) ' ......
220
,in his composition I Jong-e-Hamed' th.!:'.t :he completed the
composition in 1191. ·li.H (p...1) .17 ~·1 ). When he was thirty
years old.
'.
, He was .e. permanent, resident of the viUage cha-unto. Pargana . .
Pnthankotdisi;riot Gurdaspur4' There he vias the ,Imf"lTl of th.e , . loc ru. niosqu'e~ H~ writes abcu~ it :i.n J'ong-e-Hamed i..;. .
) (j')~-; ~ ~,JJ }/V l"). .~ l.·, ~ f /( ,., -
221
His wor1fs consist of Jcmg-e-HemGd;, ,"l.khb~~ -Hamed; HGer-e-' - - , , . ' - ,
Hamed; Gulior-e-Hamed; Ta.fseer"'e-HElm~d; Faqr Nomeh Homed; .. j
" . 'Persio.n. In Jang-e~H2.med . , . he presents marty+dom of
Imrun Hussein,' events 'of the' war, of Karbala. '" J.Jchbar-e-Hamed
written' in 1197 AH ( A 'b \:J t, ;~~) and published in
)202'lUI ~Al~::f'7~7) consists of ~he story of il.dem, the
" . world , th~ Miraj of the holy prophet, Hell, Resurrection
, . \
and Paradise l Heer-e"Homed was~ornplet~d. in 1120 Jill ., ( J~ D i7~g , ) '. He ~~ed hi.s composition on the earlier
works by Muqbil, l .. hmed Shah and J3'hai ,Gurdas. Now we' quote
from his poetry' ~d indicate ~he Persian words use~ by . , ~ him. Note t . the Kafia (l~t ,b.ut one r·hyme) in the following'
2:22
, "
· ......
. '
5 t Hcshim She>b
Hashim Sheh N?,S born in AH .1166 (I'D ) . _ ~ 1753 in the village
Jcgdeo, distr:j...ct lunr.:itsa:r' ..... :..G. o.uresh'; ., .... s('~s that his
£athcr is n<:unew!:1.S Ho.ji-NohDlIlma.d Shari£ end his ~r[l.nd-;
£o..thcr; s n8lUe was HaJi Masoom Shoh*.
Lc,jvTentd. R:21Ilakrishn., e. vT;'ites th.,=, .. t 'h . . c was th~ son ,.f '.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-,~.-.~~-.-.-.-.-.-.-. .-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-* History of, the --~un·j.abi l.e.ng ul2.ge arid l/iterat~rc" ·(P. 259)
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.~,~.-.-.-.~.-.-.- - -" . . . - ". -. -. -. -. :"" .'-. -. -. -.-
224
Kasim Sh~" c..' c2Xpentor of Je.gdeo· viL1.age in iunritsar
d'i6tr~ct. '
, .l .. ct~al~y./both s'cholars liavo based their stato~nts
on oraJ. ,tradi tibn onl:Yo " Two other scholars Bri.ba BUdh . ,
-Singh author of ·'Bambiha ,Bol (pp 162-4) and Mohan Singh' I '
, - . . I
,author .of r~he History of PUnjabi l!teratuz,'o (pft2) have
givensbort life sketches 0.0£ H?-shim Shah. These
skotches a.:e. as gbod or as bad as'the oraJ. traditions.
"Lajwanti Ramakrishna f?,~S that .M~han Singh's t inform~tion \ - ~ < ~
seoms to have been taken·from Bombiha Bol and does not . ,
show" any rese arch, at..' all t • Her own reJ:iance "on me~e ~ ,
ora:;}.. 'tradition, in this resp<?ct does ,not me..ke he~ s.tatement
,on the parentage of Hashim, authentic." "
I '
rHD.Sh~Il! died -B.t the, age of scventy;~,!However i all
sources of in:formut,ion agree to/ his 'birth AD '1753 ~d
his '~e as ~eventy at the ,ti~e ,of tdeathi.e.18'23 lJ). ;:' -" .... ' ";7'
In 'Bombip.a BoJ.' :S"aba Budh Singh seys that Hashim was
, ' * Laj .. ,1?Xlti RK p-Q'109 aJ.J~o b,aaed on orol trad;t'ion .,
- • ~ • - G -. - '! - 9 - • - .9- 0 -. ,:.. • - • - • '- • - .- - 0 - e' - • - • - ~ - • - • - • - .' - • - • ~ • ~ e •. -' • .'
225
tro, 'Rc.J ICrwi'" - thc' p6c:~ 1[".ur0[".tc-\:-. Moh911 Singh in'
h{~ 'HiRtor~~ of Punje.bi litcrc.turc sUJ'},-orts him**
. , occ·upying Lc.horc .• It is strange. thct there.is no
earlier. recorded ~vidcilCG of this ,in! D.11Y history about , /
i ,t'he Maharaj a i:;hc.t he :he.d Ha.shim Sheh as his 'Raj Kavi'
Moreover; Hnsh:tm too does not give us any vcrses in . ,
I , :L ' pr~l.s.o of Ranj t ,.Singh' ' I'-'lay be Ranj:i..t ,Si,ngh liked ~s-
verses as' he was e. popular poet'
His works
Punnunt G:yan~ Praka.sh ana DObras.' , " ~ ..
':~.G. Qureshi G.dds to, these! L.aiia M'ajnunj' Chintahcrl
I" ' Zubdatul Romcl j Tika Panj Grcn:thi; Gye.n Malo.; Raj nit it
. . Di wan-c";Hashim t 'Ch9har. B ~hc.r-e-Hash~m, Be yaz-e -Hashim,
. Shlokas and Kafis" af Hashim •
. -.-.-.-.-!-.-.-.-.-.-.~.-.-.-.-~-.~.-~-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.~ *,):>.162
\ , .- ~ -. -. -. - . -. -. - . -. "- . - .' ~ . -" . - . - . - ., - ". "- '. - . -. - ~. - ~ -. -. -. - .... . -. -. '
226.
Laj\,TCl'lti so\ys thl?t she has 'not c.ome a.cross his
"
Laila M::::l,jnl1n \'Thile Qureshi quotes vorses from it. She -II
has includ[9. him in,' Sufi poe.ts and .al.so alleges ·thzt
,:tn Hashim's poems there is 'no exposition of any sufi
doctrine or allusion to his adherence to any particu~ar
sect"'*
L~jwa.nti so..ys** '.Hashim, it e..pper-:.rs-. ha.d '£!. g'ood educe,tion
and must have studied Persian and J;.rabic~ His ,knowiedgc
of _.t1).ese langu8.gcs, in the> words of Sir Richard T0mple
is appa..rent in his fondness for int~rlading'his poetry
~ -, with l~a.bic and Persic.n words ·an~''''phra6es. '
She continues 'His prosody is Punjabi throughout,
though a.s st.a~ed nbove his vocabulary 'abounds in HiIldi, ,.
'Persian DXld ~£!.bic ~Tords t. ·,f .... G. Qureshi opines*** 'He
~ uses a very smell number of Persie.n \'lords and
. ,
-.-.-o-.-~~o-.-.-.-~-.-.~~-.~.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-~~
, * * * Ib i d p" 1 1 2 ~**Ibid p.267.
- •. -. - 0 -.;G .... -. - • - • -,,- ~ - • - .".j - • -. - • - • -. - • -' 41! - • - • - .'-. -. - • - • - .~ L
227
similios' •
The f.::.ct is that, Hashim's punjc..?i :p~etry neither
abounds ~l'1 ~ersi8Xl~I .. rCl.bic Tl1o;ds n~r 'the' ~umber of such"
. \o~or'ds :t~ .. , ';e.:.ry sm£'ll'. Th . t h' " , . ... ' _ " c. poe ' ,05 a. Hindi.,.Punjabi base ." . . .
and ~~e~ Persian word~ :,.hich had '!?ccome popular in Punj·abi. . ' I
To .e,;o.borate our point ::e quote'. his verses' and underl:irne .
. Persiori WOrdel&M I ..
· .
'6, Shah Moh~umad , "
'The only, poet of maxk' :in this ttam:sj.ti-onaJ... peripQ. wa.s
Shah Moh~mo..d (178~-18p2 i.:D) who w,ro'tc t'cel.inglv abo(.rt; (
the. disintcgr _'.tio'n of the Sikh, empire c.nd '9rou~t '
high emo'tion' ~
While ·the q'uotation abovE) gj,.-v,cs dat~ I? of Sh8.h,Moh.smmad .o.s
1782-1862 .:..n Ci,ureshi .yrrites tht ... t SyttdSh.-:Ul. Mohcmmad was ,," - .-
230 .
born in 1700 L.n at Vadala Virem distri'ct 1:.mritsar.None
quotes the source uf info~m2..ti·on. Tne .. poet I s ancestors,
.. rere - Qazis 'rnd Karders 'ofthe Muslim· -kings'; He we.s :. :.<:-;',t (I. '_
,known to the Mir Munshi of Me.hcraja Sher Sin.gh. and was f .
related, to 'his. Topchi (gunner) co
., H4s works
l
He wrote Sassi :Pu.n~un in verse form~ . His, main work "
is th~ versified hist,ory of l..nglo':'Sakh w~s~, an.d the fa.ll
"
'. cff .sikhs as ~..n e'ye-w:i:tn<3~s~ :;rt h~s the fGrceful epic,
.ptYl~. Per~ian words are conveniehtly used bU him as underlined in the' following specimens.
-, , - )~ .. '" u \J <.$)..? c"
! .
231
7. 'Mian im~ Bakhsh ~ !
" He " W8,S bs>rn ct the. village pas~:i~waJ.a in S'i.eikot
"aistrict in 1778 L.n.' He dic~ in 18620 - H~ . ,. e be l.onged -to "-
a Qurds:hi family. He \.Jas'H ... .c.;z r of 'Q - d', " - , ", ........ ... ' - ur an an u.s e.d t,o
teac~ Quran 'to children. He informs us ' . a.b ° l:lt, himseU in
I the moll,m-ling couplet: ,.' -_ .... ./
~~-" _~. ~.y. Q , ~~?" ~.c:::-!y/'}U?~\, cP-~~. ,G" ',.-' .. ' \.....f ./0'" ..........,. "'" '--' . 0 . . ~ ... ~" '-"\, ~
. b f..$IlIJ4 ,..)~ ~ ci W::-0~ j,~b ~ ~ : . "
232
Ho, ];inc"1 Persi:-~n ",oll~ :iG got his instruction .nd
-. educ~·t·ior.. f:::-bn :'-lic.n l;'lc .. ddc., a, s~·i!1t of. L2.horc.
"Hi~~'lorks '
II
Hev/rot c Sh~h 3chron, Lc..il",--riJ£:.jnun, G,u,1-e-Sanoger,
Ch~drc. Bc.d~ I Bc.diul, Jr-.m:--.l'; G~lb2_dan, Men~j pot Nian. /
vI c.ddc..
The tol.e of Shc.h l3ehrcm h<'..t;; been t."'.k..cnfrom the . I 'PersicXl Sh2.hncl!12., and . written in, simple- PI,Ul j ti.bft..
B[\diul Jc..mo?l is b".so¥n thc'rslamic tr2..di. tions.
G~l-?~Sr.nober is, the Punj c.bi tr2ri~1.r-.t.ion of ,t/he
Pcrsi . .:m rildsnn.vi Gul-e-S.:ili.ober, l\'I;'onhj~t Mian ij:::.ddn is
,,'r i t:te n in Sihr..rfi style.' , . -
Ch::-.nclrc. B<.'.d~:n i~ 0. tela ,,,hich (~ureshi Cp.280) "sc..Ys"
w:,.s publishod in 1869' i.D. He US9S· Pcrsir:n w~rd.s frealy~ ,
There is. 2. deep' influence' of the Pcrsic..n. Mc.sno.vi on his , . style. l;lc underline the Pcrsi::-..n ,,,ords in .... the ·foJ::I..ow~ng
233
'" ,. c'
/ mo.snewis of N:tzc.mi, and Khusrovl.' T~hcrc:f,orc I it apounds . - . ~
in Persian similies. He hirnsel~ admits:-
8, Mc.ulavi Ghulcm Rasu~
Though, he we.s a f,icry prcc::.cher of Islom his master;pioce
'is the McBnavi Sassi Punnun. It is written- in thq s:yle
235
Singh in Gu,jrenwp,l~ d' t . I ~s r~ct. J.., ninetc enth century
poet i FAersis.ll 2.bound~ 'in his PunJ' ""bi vers e" 'W'" .: . , . . . ~ • e gJ..ve a , . few e xc>mpl.e s :.
. ,
']'. Naj abet
~ - -'1i. Rajput of Khar31 commun.i ty he was born in the end of .. " " .
\: , the ~ightcenth cerlt~ry. He belonged,to Har~en M&tila
.in Shahpur distr·ict~ We hnve quoted Qureshi from his . . ~.'
• 0
History of Punjabi 1~nguag0 'f'ncl litcrr-,ture (p~283), the
stc.temcnt about' Ntl.j£'.bat.(s birth 'docs 110t secmto be
co:r:rect. The poet is fomous for his Punjebi epic poem. /
'Ne.dir Shah Di vler". 'Ne.di r ShQb, attacked Delhi in
"1739 i...D.' iacc<;>rding ,to Qureshi's own: admission Najabat , .
wrote his. '11{ ex' ~ little -'afte:r tnat. (p .• 283) • Ifhe
was born· in the end of the eighteenth century how could
. he write his ep:ic' co: little' after 1739 liD.
His epic' i's ~, forcefuJ. n:::.rl.'ati ve of ~he battle ~f \
J:t ;'\iaS later publishcc:. in T.ournol of the Punj~l..l? \
Historic2~ Society Voli6, N:o,1 by Pcu1dit Hari Kishcm Kaul. {
"Qureshi, ~t .").tes th,,,,.t-~NC'.j <-,.bat 's lc.-.nguC'.ge shows influence
-of PcrsiF'-"1 to some exten.:t (P. 286) ~ - . I
The. epic: shows the poets extrcrID love for the
/.
We underline tho Persirm \vOraS in the following specimen
. \
238
'He \.,raS born, in Mul troland later l.ive.d in BahawaJ.pur.
He vIP.S J the pupil 'of Maulavi Nur-1VI.')hn.~m;:?d.· His spirited .. ," .
~
His leng,uagc is. Mult8.1'1i that ab')unds, in Persian words. - - ~ ~
11. Maule.vl: Nur Mohomrnad ,
.il. contcmpor2.r;y- of vi oris Shan he lived in Do Bur ji,
L'ahorc. He was 0. great scholar. In 1215 lJI (AJ> \~(')O)· ,\ .... ..
he wrote the Qissa of Cha,ndrn Bc:uian. It is a popular
work ind is commoniy s0ld. in Punjab. Persian influence
. on his language is otivious.
12. Mc.u,lavi ·l1.bdul· Hakim Bahawalpuri
- He" was a compo.nioh o£ Lutf l.J.i Ba.hnwalpur; and also a
pupil of Nur l\1ohtml]Ilad. He hfrn~el£ writes: .
_~;Lli/J? :k~>?.J~ ~-d~:j 'd J' t.., _ ---
H0 t2.ught boys in Bcllnwalpur. .He wrote' Yusu£ Zulcikha
in 1218 i.H (A D '$) 1.J'3. ).. It is !npre in Persi an- than
P'unj ubi. The " content -end metre ::-.xc b'?th borrowed £rom .
';, . . . . I / '~l' .) \ ",) ~ . 1 -- .c:-. b . .....-> ;: ~..,.. 00. j ~
., 4 - ,
Regarding the dates o£ birth end death of. Syed Waris
Shah no two critics of the 'Punjabi literature agree to ~ ,
~ "
ee..ch other. However, his o"'n eternGl. wbr~ 'Hear Rp..njha'
indicates that Wur.is Shah was the /Son 'of Syed QutabShaJ:l~
~. Al)other couple~ 'indicates thl?;~ he wcP" a '~esideiit of
Jandiala Shor Then district Shcikhupura ~d 2. disciple o:f
Inayatullah Shcl1Qaari. Qasuri who, 1.fas 'Co dis'ciple of' Shaikh
241
Regarding his masterpiece Heer Ranjha the date 'of
cbmpositi:)n is given as 176.6 aD .. by both Darshan 'Singh : .
Ma:i,ni *~nd Dr. f\1oh~mo.d Baqi"r**, "
, ;
Qure:;;hi quotes \varis himself who writes the date of
The 10ve-taJ.e of Heer Ranjha ''las written ~arlier by . . \
Damodar, M\.l.qb'il, Piloo, H • .:.f:l.z Bc.rkh-'l~and others. o
References to this tF,lc are foundaJ.so in Guru Gobind I
Singh'sDasam Gr2nth', Bhai Gurd~sts religious poetry,
Shah Hussain, Bulleh Shah and Ghulam Qadir's mystic poetry~
Maini writes**** 'Thus the Heer-Ranjh~ tale was a J
chillenge to itlaris Shah, th~' poet end the man. It is .
as though this fugi ti ve and harrowing love--legend, wandering J
, ,..". ~
.- e. -. - • - .. -. - • - • - ... ~ - • ~. -~. - • - • _ .• - '. -. - • - • ~ • - •. - .",-. - • - • - • ~ • -".-"l - • • ~-
* Studies in Punjabi Po'qtry p.41
** Evening Times K~o.9hi dated 14.8.1951 (p.20·
. *** History of' lPunjapi LClnguagC' &: literature. (p.293)
*'l"** Studies ~n Punj ~b,i' Poet,ry (p .41 ), "
-~-.-.-.-.-.~.-.-.-.~.-~-.-.-.-.-.-~-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-. -.-: ~. 0) ,I v. •
242
like a 1<18.if aver the wicl~ 'sp'o,ce of tho Punjab for more
than thrc 0 centurios ,had ::'I.t last found the marbled and
rnd so storye d hf.)~e where it l:n longed. The legen~ and
the poet ho.d c.t last> coa;Lescrd' •
Maini's one sentence sums up th~ eiperien~e of Waris
Shah's pe n thnt pain~ed the co'mpl~te pictur'Ej ~of .the
/ > •
,Punjab. S:),ys he* 'He has ,caught the quick of Punjabi life, . . .
and his ,unerring,fj,nger ,neve~ misses'its pu1se':beat.
Waris. Shah's expression and l'angu;!>,ge is gloriou s •
.As if the bud of the Punjabi lcinguoge blossomed in the \
hi3llds of 'varis Shah." He u~cd too Majha dialect 'mixe'd ' \
swee~ly ,,,i ~h Lahnda. Maini s'e.:ys that 'Persien vocabulry , ,
~s not eschewed; though its incidence is n6t high'.
Sever:::)l lines 'of vTc-xis have beqome idioom!i.. His Hear is
a treasure house o:f tho Punjabi idiom and expression.' The
poet's mainstay is tho folk idiom-the languoge of 'e~ery ,
se'ct Ond class living in the Punjab J..ncluding peasants',
shop-ke eperfJ, women " :f~'.kirs Md h0usehol.dcrs.
We. are strained to 'differ'w i th Maini as w~ will show
in the foll~wing verses of \vro-is thc.t the incidence' 0 ~ , ) '.
~ . - ,
Persian in his po~try is qui tG high. Moreover, t re pub-
Jished ~diti()ns of,Heer have Persian titles till today.
He' is obviously influenc cd by th~ Persian Masnavis, their
thought and content':-- • -, e.,... - e. - • ~ • - ~ - • - • - • - • - • -9. - . - . - . - . - . - . ...:. . - . - .' -. _. _ . - . - . _ . _ • *S~udi'es 'ip. Funjubi Poetry (p.40); ,
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.~.-.-~-!~;~.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
243
Some specimens o:t: .hi~ titles in fer.sian taken from,
his Hcer published' 'p . . , " i ~n crs~o.n script........ . ' .
}""': _ r / ~ ~ ,,~~g~ven here I-
I 4 f/)..(. ~ k. ,/ J I J L 0. -,- ., ~ '- :7 - - - r .~ .rl' 'Cv - . "\ \ )Jc.JI;~( '--" 7/Y ( tv' /.)- .' ~ J, oL ~ ~.> , ~" ~ _ '-' l...-I
. ~~ U ; ~.9 0~ !J <./ l,," -. ~~ y ~().~ f,-, "" "'I - e t \ I ~ LJ: (' U I . _ {.:.. ,( \JV /~
. • • \ ~ 6' , , ' : .
\
.. . ,
246
~
.L..ccording to Dr. Moh:3lIima'"d B,aqir about :five thOLl,S£llld
couplets o:f ;1aris Shc.h exist*.
Wax-is' is sai'dto havlO)- died in 1798 AD •. 'Qureshi
,V'ri tes th::.~· in p...dd·±tion'" ito He er-Ran jha ''lhich is pis
. . master-piece vTcris Shah wrote; a 'Merajnama 1** •. ' ". "
'" I \I(e quote a':fevl vc:;rses :from the l\1erajn€JTla also to
These t, ... o coupl~ets o:f are sP9cimen o:f War is, Shah's . ./
gha~al hiving Pers ir;-.il words·: J~.-' c..;:. V cd- . 0,.> ~
"./ l "'/ / /. l/\·h.,r-..- ~ I V L .1.1 . ).:::;.- 9-' .' A. J') \ 10 ) /'. 0 l;.,i \ "" . I I J > .).' I ~
".,J J--,o I.>." 1 . ./ '-" < / -/' _ -" I. ',-.,. L ..;.1 J ~ _'.~' '. . ~ '--' ,. '.,.. ...... t r
I /"= I,J ,.../' -, ". I _ -----.-
U",10bL!~l) I-~{(.'{~ -:':...~~ .~')l.(!j~II(~"':'J .~ ~Y Joc,,:,)y .• ..-?' .~/~ .,..... - \. \..,...: __ J-
\ .J ) '? f - • -. - • - • ~ • - • -. ~ e, - • - • - • -~. ~ • - • - ~ - • - • ..;;. • - •• - • - • -. -. -. - • ..;. - .-~~~ • ~ c
*.Evening Tim"es KC'.r~chi datEid 14.8.1951 (p.l8)
'**. '., c (p.302)Hist~rY.,of Purijubi lal?gue,ge & literature) -. - • -. -. -. -. -. - . - • - . - • _c. - . - ..... - '0·· • -. - • .- o. -. - • - • -. -. - .. -. -,.-.
247
\,
'Phalia, d.istrict Gujro.t. Hm<Tever," Bawa Budh Singh v'
. .. author of 'Prem Kahani' <quotes the following couplet.s
by the poet in proof of'.,Islc:ungex;h as' his birt~ p~a~e and
the' ci'ty of jaJ.alPur a.s 1;he' place of his r·e~~de~'e.
, c f
. Even t~en· it is not clear thnt hq was bo~h at IS,lamgarh.
The word ',Jar"'~ ·in thirp. line C8'.J:l have two meanings to go
or to ,be born •. ,
His works
248
Raj Bibi: Ncr2.jnnma, Qissa Hatim Naron, Qissa Titar,
. ' , - -'
T ::m1 im 1:.n. s o.r i ~ 1'1 e,f 0. t n anI a. ; Jcng~o-Uhnd, Jang-e-Badr,
Tib-e-Ahmod Yar.
Dr. Mohon Singh Divlo.na S3.yS -th2.t he wrote fifty
bookso , ,
1\ _
In 1840 .AD RaJa Gulab Singh ca1.led 'him to ~ahore-
and asked him to 'write a Shahname. of the Sikhs. He
- composed it in verse entitled Futuhat''re-Khalsa but before
submitting it to the Oburt he died in 1845 AD. His
language is influenced by Persian. -The- fol;1. )wing spe-
cimens of ~is poct'rywil~ spe rut for themselves.
, J~bout Heer's be1auty he writes:
,." '"
- . , . )" . . /~ '...,' / 249
uUyu_~-? ~'C~fD UL"'~~~~ ~~....Jj . . U ~ ~~l>cJ;'YL;\{.~U-'<..0d.'UL.
" '
250
15. Piloo
, Piloo a muslim poet of the seventeenth century was
a'j at 'of Mc.jha. . He ,"as c cont.emporDXY o:f Guru' Ar j an
DIf v (1 5 63 -1 606 .b.D).' Like vToxis Shcl1., he is immortal _ =-- , 0
with his o.ompositiop iIVI1rza Sahib en , • It is written
It is ~ung throughout the Punjab
" as a folklore-,, Bo.wa Budh Singh has fcl.te'red inca..lling
,\ '
" Piloos.i Rov/ever, Piloo seems to be 0. musLim 'as we find
, ., , , , , ' v- J
a large number o,f Islam references and PersJ..8n ~.nd A. -
251
Pprsi,an TtTor'ds ~ , ~,
appe c:r 'not so ,frequently ~nPiloo t s , .
~
t)J'\..Q...~ "ft;.,e.: ..... a... '" , ,
, , 'j
Mi'an' Qadaryar, a famC2Us pQet of the Punjab in tho last t . ....
epoch of tre_ Sikh ru:t?rs was b6rn in tB02.AD. He was
a ,Sandhu Jo.t of I"1c.chhike dh:;tric"t G1:ljranwru.a," He was
a farmer~ .
. t
He wrote Mcrajhamo., Sohnip 'Pur?ll 1;3hag at, vla:r Hari
Singh NaJ.wa. and R::de. Rasalu •. His Pooran ,Bhegat fs very \
.... ,-,
Pe~sian influence is obvious in his verse as thase " ,
contain s'ize.ble nurp.b~r of Persian \i.rords:- , .
. 252
c::-.J~......,I-":::::'.,IJ". >'71', "1"~' n' . . ~ '': . ...f' v.~,,;/~ '-"" ~ .,IJ- . -...-~ :I"" ~ 0·::> ~ \ u.J \ n ----.; --- (. =--
LJ.:> ~'" 0'> 0y..J(-Ji -Y" \t- 2/, d.. ])0 l~)/ «!..-.J t.
?-} f~J J~'J.';; ?-.> ~. ~ ,!'.> . (J<' j~ 0 IJ.> V.J.) 1£ J t " v." ~....//' ~ '" - -.' ,~" f/ ..> /' . l/. ~ ~~ 0 bJ· ~ J10.~ J.l;. u ~;: IS ~ .J.,)./' 0 __ . ....c
J;. . ~ wf.'7l.k: ~ I u j ~·lP ~ I . L:-y'~ u L u::;:" o
Aooording to l ... G. Q h; (.. .) -' ~ \;b . . ures ~ _p.~35 the use of ('TaJ.e ') in
this o~uplet is a proof of Qadary~ 1 s mas'tery over .
Persian • . : ~. (JI .,. ."", V'\ '" '.,./ •
. ~ 'pi" '-') ~ l,) j ~ -.....;Jj I.r -Y \,;. ~ \ cJy)/) '2./~·2-r.' ~J:!--' U? r:> 1
. ,,/ -. -.-c:::::......) U I:J ,J~. 01 ~).)'J.:> .~.j . .J I '. ,L 'lv-. {---- -
'.c.- J T.:-- ;;- \.N:>-} U,.A/ I 2.-/;; ~.~L J( lb' . .." ------ ...
~ J '-~ I v·;., 8 n :..- ,x: ~.:- u~~:I.:"
•
,In We.rHari Sing~ Nalvla we come .across a large number of ~ _f
P.ersian , .. ords. .h few words are i \ .... gl.ven here:
2.54
17. Bardn PeshawarL
Barda Peshawari "'iCS 6.' Po.th£~ p,;et Who9 was born around'
1844 AD. He took. part in the' poetic symposiums re ld at
Rawalpindi, Lc.hore, and ,wnritsc.'X. His Path2.Xl brothers
, imprisone d at Rawalpindi. Barda .wrot~ a- Siharfi in the
, j ail. It was published in 1885 AD by Mian Sarajdit:l
Ch~aghdin. B.arda·paints the picture of his times 'in his "
./
255
18. 0 Mohcmmad BckhGh Nc~uro~
He belrmgc n. to r·1ub:--.xkpur i.n the Bcl1\'lc~pur st etc. He wrote
in the Mul t ani, didE: ct. :if.is l/uto:t:.cy is mY}3tic and his
language has an ~in£luence o£ the Persien idiom, particularly
his si~ilies and metaphors re£lect Persian.
at ·vTade-"!-e. Vernm, district Amritse..r.. His £ather was the
renovrned PunjF.bi poet .Sh::ili Nohammad. He lc::u-nt. at the
£eet. o£ his £~t4er. He beCL~e a g~od physician too. He
died in' 1895 AD. He wrote .the romance o£ Sassi Punnun.
Persian words o£ten appec>..r in his Punjabi verses.
256
Speci:mons
20. Mir2.l1
__ ~_~ __ ,...r.1~a.nc_exis_t~d i~ ol;he reign -of ;"urangzeb. _-~ ___ -=0.- ____ __~ _______ -
No other deta.il .---~~~':?..=-::--:-=-~-~-- -~~~ -
- about hi:m is av~il:::.b~o. He:: 'tlrote I b.ish Nama I which seems
to be 0. trahsle.tion of. 'KokshaGtra'. He qJ.so w:J:'ote a.
'Si,herfi Heer. We find n ~umber of Persian 'words in his
langu age. Hero is a specimen from 'l..ishnama' whose very
title is-in Persian:
257
/
259
, <
22. r-1ohemme.d Bakhsh Khari
His" father ,'las Hazrat l\iian Shamsuddin who was I Sa.ltada
Nashim t of Pir Pere Shah Ghazi qalandar. Mo h21!lIIl ad
\
Bakhsh had his bl"...sic educc?tion ,It Se.cwcQ Sh8Xif'. He
vias a schc;>la:r:: of Per'sian, Lr:z.bic anc;l Punjnbi. .According -
to Qureshi (p.347) he died at the ag0 o~ 80 years. His
,date of de,£l.th is ascertp...ined from a couplet· on his
Even too 9-ome at his grave was builtin' 1324 A.H ( ~\), I ~ q f;.) as per this couplet .' 'l J\/' L
c)J.>J!J <J.~): ~ /~ ~ ~o~ _JJ:.:~~ :? t!'y.L?
I nit Ar}
260
Every ye.~ his IUra I is celebre.ted :i.t mount Pe.nja~tmd . "" ~ .
Darbar Sharif Kheri Mirpur'in occupied K~shmir on the
7th ZilHr.j • Thu.s he wc.s born in 1244 AH ( A l> \ g;~ ~ ) ~ . ,
His works consist of Sohni M€'.hiwcl, Tohfa l\Uran,
'Kar?m~t-e-Ghausul 1l.azem::" S~~dkh Sanaam, Shirin Farhad,. - ~ ,
Sakhi Khawas Khan, Mirza. Sahiban_- Shah Mansur, Hidayatul.
'Musl imin, Gul.z ar-e':"Fe.qr. T adhkira Muqimi,S aiful.rnul. uk,
Badiul.jamcll, Siharfis, ghe.zal.s and Dohras., Persian
'terms abound in his verses. Some exemples are underlined:/'
·261
23 •. D3lIlode.r
Damodarts nome h,?s alGO" become immortc.l. for his tela
of Heor lili "V.J'eris Shah. Qureshi he-a maintained .that
Damodar wrote his Hear sometime bet1-1een the reigns of
Shahjahan ond il.urcmgzeb. In 1927 AD.Baba Gen~Singh
.acquired the m~uscripts and published the Heor. The
-
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
original. manuscripts were i~ Persian script but the book
was published in Gurmukhi.
His Hear is a IU n-pic-ru.ro of the Punjabi life and
culture. He has used common Persian words li~ T~,
Barkc.\ Qadc:ml, l.iJ.i, Tazi, ·Sifo.t, Zamin, Vida, HeJ., Ishq,
Zat Qabul Nikah. The nU,ber of Persian words in
1
1
1
1
. 1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
262 , I -
B~odar f s longue-go is not ,_l~ge. '
263
,~ J' '{
_2,",,4-=-~ ,--.F..-D._z".;;el S hTh S~cd Fazal Shph NG.'Ile.nkoti "las born at" Nanwankot
district L2.hor,e in 124A AH (A Dds..;( ~ ) •. He was
/ ,
c 20 years nld, ,.,hen he wrote the' folk love tale of Sohni
Mahiwe~a 'Vre.ris She.h immbrtcliscd Heer and Fazel Shah 11 , ' ,
--- -"¢ _--, - _- _~- r -~ :::._";: _ - -:c::-~ =-_--_-:- -. --__ "'-~ -
immortalised Sohni. Besides hcwrot0 Sassi' :t>unnun
in 1 280 AH (.f~ D I ~ 63 )" end He er Ranj ha in 1 284 ~ . . ~
. He, ru..s·o wrote :E,~ilaMajnun and Y\:l.suf
Zulaikhc. ( 1 288. AH
., ''';~ .... ~--':. ;.~:. ,-.:'~.~
e . '
. Eis style is traditional. He· is' a master of words - .
and.variws·usages of words. Fersi~ ·~bounds.in his . ,
<i
Lnst dece~es of the nineteenth century
, " . The ninetces of the - nineteenth century brought a
signific~~t change for the Punjabi literature. During.
th.?,t perio.,-: the Punjab as ~ vitGll. part cff India was :-1:
'awakening into a new life ',. The hold of traditional
" 4'
poetry did not remain tight as the-spirit found freedom
and creatiYity shot-up. The expression acquired new ,
modes and new themes. This lead to new vocabulary, fresh
met aphor, changea tone and style. An epoch . - of the
Punjabi lit~)rature waS over. , The old yielded place to
the new. It was obviously the dawn of the new era -
the Modern P~riod. Bhai Vir Singh wa~ the harbinger-of
the ·writer;:; t response to the sensitivity and strings of
the t{me. A flood of novel ,poetry , epic, biography,
drama and cxe.gesis, flew from his pen. He introduced
Singh: -'
'In a very reAl sense, modern Punjab.i literature
is of Bhai Vir Singh's making I • Bhai: Vir Singh was not
only a poet of Punjabi or a prolific writer of Punjabi
prose but the lyric of t he life .of the Punjab and
265
the stir of the soul of Sikhism ,had glamourously ,
combined. to create and dc"felop'this Punjabi bard.
He waS born ~n Dec 5,/1872 ~t Amritsar. His
father Dro Charan Singh was a pioneer inPul'ljabi prose
, and a poet 9f distinction~ He translated Kalidasa's , '
I Shakuntala I into Punja:.bi. His maternal grandfather
-
Sardar Hazara Singh,. a scholler of So.nskrit and Persian, "' .
translated Saadi t s Gulistan and Bostan into Punjabi., I
/ Bhai Vir Singh began .wi th t m creation of prgmatic
literature. Betl'1een 1898 and 1900 he wrote three ~
Punjabi novels, Sundari Sat"T ant Kaur nnd Bij ay Singh .. "-
Darshan Singh Maini' s~s in 'Studies' in Pun jabi Poetry
'(p.57-) that 'These novels were indeed the first
tentative exercise. in Punjabi fiction, aa genre which
owned its ~mpulse to the ~estern.novel~ ~henoat the
, pe ak of its achievement. 1
the first phase of. Bhai Vir Singh's artistic indust::sY.
By 1902 or so, he ohad absorbed the spirit of renaissance
which informed the Singh Sabha movement. His
ware ready for a transcendental flight and a mysti.o quest.'
266
In poetry his, 'Horks RaJlte. Surat Singh (1905 ).,
Bharte.ri Heri- (1916), L8hrcm .de Her -' 1921) etc. show
that his l ruigu 2.go is simple. ·Persian words are seldom.
His Punj e.bi is purified. A COUp+9 o:f Persian words "
He breathed his la.st on June'10, 1957