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